Meg pointed to “Tips for Dating Emotional Cripples.” Let’s see, I’ve experienced the musician, the best friend, the long-distance boy, the artist, and the punker. (That sounds like a lot, but really it’s only two people. The categories overlap a lot.)

I sent Snookums a link to the hacker page and he responded, “YOU are the hacker around here these days.” I said I wasn’t, and he added, “Who’s the one upstairs hacking while I cook dinner eh?” He’s got me there.

I’ve been reading Jim Romenesko’s MediaNews for a while now, ever since I saw it mentioned on Ironminds. It’s sorta like a weblog that keeps tabs on the media. Today I was reading about a plagiarism case at the Indiana Daily Student. I clicked on a link for a related story, and my eyes immediately widened at the byline. It was by sister’s ex-boyfriend! He took over my job at the local paper back home in Indiana after I graduated. Lucky bastard…

London houses are the “most costly in the world”. Well, DUH. I won’t even bother to stun you with the amount of rent we pay for our place, which (although not as much as the folks mentioned here) is a hefty chunk of change indeed. I was also disappointed to note that the two other cities I might consider living in (Chicago and Sydney) both make the top ten as well. I need to develop cheaper tastes.

“Domestic abuse agencies criticize ‘wife beater’ Web site.” So, okay, I was all ready to defend this guy’s right to sell wife-beater shirts. I mean, pretty much everybody calls them that nowadays (aside from the Australians, who call them “singlets”). It’s not very politically-correct, but I don’t think the name itself is going to encourage domestic violence. It turns out, though, that he’s not selling undershirts… He’s selling long-sleeved shirts that have “Wife Beater” embroidered on them. And he’s offering a discount if you’ve got a conviction for spousal abuse on your record. He says he got the idea after watching “Cops” and seeing all the arrested batterers wearing sleeveless shirts. Isn’t that the sickest thing you’ve ever heard? What an asshole.

Max wondered how that UK man managed to contract foot-and-mouth disease. I’m happy to say that I actually came across this nugget of information yesterday on Plastic. As an anonymous (yet helpful) visitor related, the slaughterman in question was swinging a calf carcass over his head, when the creature’s distended stomach burst and the contents poured out – some of them going right into the unfortunate slaughterman’s open mouth. EWWWW. (Apparently Newsnight was the only program that gave the full and disgusting explanation.)

In other words, folks, don’t reach for the gas masks just yet. “Unless we all start gargling with cow stomach juices we are probably okay…”