Mr. Yuk is mean. Mr. Yuk is green.
Home is full of lots of things that children shouldn't touch.
Home is full of bad things that can hurt you very much.
Now there's a man whose face is green that you ought to get to know.
He'll warn you when danger's coming, fast or slow.

Mr. Yuk is mean. Mr. Yuk is green.
When you see him stop and think.
Do not smell. Do not drink.
Do not touch. Do not eat.
Or you will be sick.

In my ongoing quest this year to convert my yarn stash to finished projects, I finished off a couple of new items this past month. I've been working on this flowery crocheted afghan for a few months and am very glad to have it done before the warm summer months: Grand Gardenias Afghan. This past week I knocked off this fun little summer sweater for myself, and now I'm just waiting for summer to finally come along so that I can wear it: Braided-Rib Crop Top. Follow the links for larger images and more details about the making of the projects.
[5.14.03]

Is dodgeball the next extreme sport? This article thinks so, as do the World Dodgeball Association and the National Amateur Dodgeball Association. As the article points out, the organized, safety-conscious, rules-based version promoted by the WDA isn't the same game that is popping up on college campuses:

The WDA and other dodgeball organizations tone down the game's violence by using lightweight foam-based balls and outlawing head shots, while emphasizing teamwork. At the WDA website, the extensive rules (four "dodgers" on the inside; three "floaters" on the perimeter) read like a story problem from hell's geometry class.

"Everyone's going to have their own house rules, and that's great," Gelman says. "But we have to have a set of rules, because there are tournaments with money involved."

Kent's current rules could be spelled out on a Post-It note. Two teams line up at opposite ends of the court; play begins with a dash for the balls -- usually about 20 -- which are lined up in the center. Each team then retreats with its ammo, and a rubberized free-for-all ensues, with balls slamming off players and walls until one man is left standing. It usually takes just a few minutes.

Shots to the groin are permitted; shots to the head are applauded.

"If you can't take one to the face, you're in the wrong place. Yoga ended half an hour ago," says Marc Ybarsabal, an Ohio State sophomore who was part of the triumph over Kent.

I think weather.com came up with this new icon, representing "Light Drizzle", just for Ithaca. Note the lack of actual clouds such as are present in the icons for "Showers", "AM Showers", or "Light Rain". What we have here is an attempt to portray the constant background grey of spring weather around here. I'm honestly impressed.
[5.13.03]

Prompted by the call over at pamie.com for donations of books to the underfunded Oakland Public Library, and the latent frustration at all of the books I own that I know I'll never get around to reading, I did a spring cleaning of my shelves and have two bags of books packed up to take to the local Friends of the Library group, who will pick out what they can put on their shelves and what they'll sell in their annual Book Sale. So my shelves are clearer, my unread book list is a bit smaller, and donating the books is even easier than haggling with the local used bookstore. Wheee!
[5.9.03]

Almost everyone seems to have "cash back" credit cards now, whether you get straight money or credit at a particular vendor or service provider. Now you can have a percentage of your credit cards charges go to supporting animal shelters and humane societies through AnimalSafe. I haven't explored the details of the cards or the organization behind them, but it seems like a convenient way to direct some money to a good cause.
[5.7.03]

From the "Please, I'm not that gullible" files, a converstion from earlier this evening:

Them: Did you hear it was announced that the Indiana Jones trilogy will be released on DVD this fall?
Me: No - cool!
Them: Yeah, but they remastered the whip as a cell phone...

I like tessellations, I'm a fan of the Escher gradient tessellations, and I just love these Tessllating Animations. Check out the crouching black cat and the fish on the black backgound in particular. [via The View From Here]
[5.6.03]

What I like best about this NYTimes Magazine article on the unionization of UPenn graduate students is the part where union organizers say they solicited support at a funeral. Given the advance press time on the magazine section, the article is able to allude to the Yale organizing strategy of holding a non-NLRB vote to demonstrate the desire for a grad union, but couldn't include the fact that it turned out Yale grad students didn't want a union. (Of course, their only mention of Cornell was as the recipient of advice on how to resist a union which the university didn't even take...) The Times article focuses on the corporatization of the university as the force necessitating grad student unionization, but it would have been nice to see some of the detailed descriptions of UPenn adminstrative facilities interspersed with descriptions of national labor organizations' facilities. Corporatization is happening on both sides of the equation. I suspect the corporate union is a necessity for handling industrial and large-scale labor disputes, but many graduate students question whether they want to introduce that influence into their doctoral program.
[5.4.03]

Years ago, Duct Tape Creations was selling duct tape wallets in a couple of styles and one variety of purse, but they have expanded into a wide range of accessories, including really cute multicolor checkbook covers, and a fullsize duct tape backpack made out of three rolls of duct tape! The Hanna, with "pinking shear detail" is awfully cute too. [via #!/usr/bin/girl]
[5.1.03]

Working too late leaves me with little substantive to weblog. My latest internet addiction has been loading up on free nickles with Amazon.com trivia. I was very frustrated when only my office computer was offering me trivia questions, and even after clearing my cookies they still won't show up until I visit a subpage or two. But it's a brilliant advertising scheme that has me checking back daily. Hey - those Babylon 5 DVD's are expensive - getting a couple of dollars off doesn't hurt!
[5.1.03]

"Candy" for Photo Friday [full size]

"Urban" for Photo Friday [full size]

"Small" for Photo Friday [full size]