Kurt Vonnegut

It's entirely possible that, were it not for Joe Satriani, I never would have read a Kurt Vonnegut novel. But in 10th grade, I thought Joe Satriani was the bee's knees, he had a song called "Ice 9", I learned that Ice 9 was a thing from a Kurt Vonnegut book called Cat's Cradle, I needed a book to read for my English project... and if this were a proper memoir, a lifelong appreciation of Kurt Vonnegut would have been born. Didn't happen. I read Cat's Cradle and another one besides, but that's been it.

I did, however, gain an appreciation for Vonnegut's biting quotes, such as: "I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled 'Science Fiction' ... and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics mistake the drawer for a urinal."

And the day after he died, my Google quote gadget served up this one: "If flying-saucer creatures or angels or whatever were to come here in a hundred years, say, and find us gone like the dinosaurs, what might be a good message for humanity to leave for them, maybe carved in great big letters on a Grand Canyon wall? Here is this old poop's suggestion: WE PROBABLY COULD HAVE SAVED OURSELVES, BUT WERE TOO DAMNED LAZY TO TRY VERY HARD..."

More baby guessery

TinyD, aka Genghis, aka Geronimo, aka Shai-Hulud has accumulated aliases faster than Riley Freeman. And yet, Kerry and I have been maddeningly close-lipped about his real name. (Or have we?) You can make your own naming guesses or suggestions at bf2k7, and maybe you'll trick us into giving away something.

There are no instructions for name guessing. The closest would be William's canonical rant.

Hurry hurry, step right up, guess the baby's weight and win a prize

Lournac the Magnificent has already guessed Genghis's gender without benefit of ultrasound or us telling her. But you still have a chance to demonstrate your own powers of prognostication. Go to



and enter your guess for the gender, arrival time, length, and weight of Genghis.

Cousin Carrie has made the first guess. Good for her for breaking the ice. Not so good for her guessing a 30 July delivery. As a hint, it says on the page (in bold) that due date is 27 June.

(I am entitled to give some grief about bad guessing. After all, when I played this game with our friend Jen, I guessed boy after she had already told everyone she was having a girl.)

For heaven's sake, is this The Berlin Zoo Hollerer?

Reuters reports that stuffed polar bear toys were the highlight of recent US-EU talks. (Not that hard to believe, actually.) My favorite quote: "For the remainder of the news conference the participants played with their fist-sized presents and lost interest in telling reporters about the negotiations."