Ancient writings now visible (but what about the fonts?!)

Just saw a story on DiscoveryChannel.com that covered the use of x-rays to view ancient, carved text that had been heretofore unreadable due to wear and erosion.

I realize that the x-ray technique will be used by historians for historical purposes, but hopefully it will also help inspire type foundries to come up with some "new" ancient fonts. In 1989 Carol Twombly designed a font called Trajan that was based on chiseled Roman writing from the first century A.D. Trajan rocks (get it? carving...rock...never mind), but it would be nice to see a few other ancient-history-based fonts that aren't all Herculanum.

I thought I was the only one who did this

I always wanted to redistribute my ear cartilage, and this just seemed the best way...

Nipple Enlargements: Now More Common

NEW YORK (Wireless Flash) — Breast implants are one thing, but some folks are so unsatisfied with the size of their nipples that they're having them surgically enhanced.

It sounds like "nip-picking," but according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 501 women and 40 men had "breast nipple enlargement" surgery last year.

New York-based plastic surgeon Bruce Nadler performs the procedure on half a dozen people a year and says most do it because they want the "teasing look" of an erect nipple at all times.

Still others — mostly men — are nipple fetishists who want their nipples to be the biggest, most desirable nipples possible.

The "super-sizing" is done with injections of collagen or silicone, cartilage taken from the patient's ear or implants.

Dr. Nadler says still more common is nipple reduction surgery, which is done by men who feel their chests look too feminine and women who are self conscious about looking nippy in cold weather.

And she's not even white!

The national media actually reported on a missing 24-year-old pregnant woman who wasn't perky and white! Check it out at CNN, MSNBC, and ABC News. Shocking, isn't it? Sure, the actual crime, but also that anyone outside Philadelphia actually got to hear about it.

I still don't feel safer

From a source I wouldn't normally consult, Human Events Online:

A map of the Washington Metro subway system was posted last Thursday on a [password-protected] Internet site that has been linked to Al-Qaeda. The poster noted that a chemical weapons attack in the Washington subways would bring “amazing results” and advocated attacks in the U.S. on the scale of the one executed by Muhammad Atta.

This following on earlier comments by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that the country can't afford to waste precious dollars trying to stop attacks on America's transit systems:

"A fully loaded airplane with jet fuel, a commercial airliner, has the capacity to kill 3,000 people. A bomb in a subway car may kill 30 people," Chertoff said. "When you start to think about your priorities, you're going to think about making sure you don't have a catastrophic thing first."

So the solution, I guess, if you live in a metropolitan area with a subway system, is to try not to be one of the 30 people. Easy to recommend if you're driven to work every day in an armor-plated sedan.

Duck and cover, people. Duck and cover.

A little Hell, anyone?

Today's items of note:

• high temperature: 97F (36C)
  
• heat index: 105F–110F (40.5C–43.3C)
  
• Code Red AQI (also known as "chewy")
  
• Excessive heat warning (as if it were even necessary) until 8:00 p.m.
  
• delays on the Red, Yellow, Blue, and Orange Lines
  
• four lanes of the Inner Loop cut down to one lane due to the Wilson Bridge construction, resulting in a 15-mile backup on the Beltway

Ahhh—D.C. in the summertime....

You think there may be peanuts in them there goobers?

I'm spending the afternoon at the office today, catching up on everything that I couldn't get done during the week. I went downstairs to the vending machines, where I purchased a bag of Brother Kane's Big & Crunchy Peanuts, because that's the kind of guy I am. Because being the kind of guy I am also includes reading nutrional information, I looked over the various percentages of sodium, protein, etc. contained in my chosen snack. Did you know that, according to Brother Kane, this product "may contain trace amounts of peanuts and other tree nuts"? Go figure. Stupid overly litigious American society...

Recent Metro adventures

Tonight on my way home from work, I saw the station operator run toward the platform as I was leaving the turnstiles. I figure he was chasing someone who had not paid a fare. Then, as I was working my way up the nearly 400-foot escalator, six of Montgomery County's finest barrelled into the station. That's when I started thinking that it might be more than a fare jumper. As it turned out, an escaped prisoner/fugitive had bolted from the police and made a beeline for the Metro. Turns out the guy actually made it onto a train, thus eluding his pursuers. Can't wait to see the reports.

On a slightly more serious note, seeing six policepersons hauling ass into a Metro station during the current state of affairs was really jarring. Considering that on a prior trip home our train operator spotted an unattended bag on the Van Ness-UDC platform, I'm watching things Metro-wise quite carefully.

When I was home in the Midwest a few weekends ago, I was discussing current events with a college student friend of the family. When the subject turned to terrorism, more specifically the recent bombings in London, he became dismissive, mentioning something under his breath about "Michael Moore liberal bullshit" in response to something I said about it being scary to get around Washington. That's when I lost it. I told him rather loudly and quite definitively (in the middle of a celebratory dinner for my mother's retirement, unfortunately) that I went to work every morning wondering whether I would actually make it out of the subway system alive or dead. As I ranted, I think I said something about him knowing nothing while being safely ensconced in his dorm room. It was unpleasant. Of course, not knowing if tomorrow is the day the backpack bombers will go for the DC Metro is also unpleasant. Telecommuting becomes more appealing by the day.

A tidbit to tide you over

Sorry I've been skimping on the blog pâté of late. I'll try to be a tad more prolific in days to come.

In the meantime, take a gander at this. Who would have thought that combining Yoda with Britney Spears could be so much fun?