Half-moon scars.

It's always going to be a fun weekend when you spend it with the
'rents.  I didn't share any of this with the fam' while I was still
in Little Rock, AR.  So it might shock them if they use the WU to
check up on me.

Friday night I accompanied my folks to a local restaurant turned bar,
after-hours.  There we saw one of Mom's co-workers in a band called 
Fables.  When these guys start playing elsewhere you'd do your soul 
good to see them.  This trio layed down some acoustical music in the 
style of old-school Indigo Girls.  Most of the songs were their own,
and the few covers they did were Little Feet, Gordon Lightfoot, Van 
Morrison or the like.

The lead singer/song-writer, Amy Garland, actually knows several of
the same people in bands that I mentioned last week (the Apples, HSO).
It really _is_ a small world.

Firday after-after-hours I accompanied a foaf (who after several drinks
and a wild night has become a friend) to the Democrat-Gazette Intern
party.  I wish I could remember more of the party goer's names, but 
inebriation has left me with only Carla, Jeff, Martha, Sara, Jaquelyn, 
and Holly (Hi Holly!), but thanks to them all for a great evening.
All in all the highlight of the night was getting kicked out of the
pool at 3:00am by a Little Rock police detective.  !Mucho Fun!

********************************************************************

This sample of "Rotten First Lines for Novels" comes from
http://www.cc.columbia.edu/~emj5/yourmom/ym31/rotten.html:
 
 Leroy began his day with a trip to the insurance agency, where he
 purchased exhaustive life insurance, which was fortunate since he
 dies at the end of the book.
 
 .....
 
 Percival's mind often wandered as he worked, and he would think
 endlessly, thinking about thinking, thinking about thinking about
 thoughts about thinking, and thoughts thereupon thunk, until in his
 reverie he fell from the mizzen mast into the briny depths of the
 great sea and was never heard from again, which is why this story
 does not involve him.
 
 .....
 
 """"They'd cried "No!", Arthur said," was what Leslie intoned,"
 muttered Max, to no one in particular," Henry recounted.
 
 .....

 Jerome's life was particularly dull at that time, and showed no
 prospect of improvement in the near future, so you might as well hop
 ahead to page 53 so you won't be bored out of your skull.
 
 .....
 
 He walked into the place, looking at the stuff the guy had given
 him, comparing it to the things at the other place, and his face
 erupted in a big expression.
 
 .....
 
 Her face faced his face, because they were face-to-face, their faces
 facing one another's faced faces, and then his head exploded .
 
********************************************************************

Surprise your friends on their birthday!  Find other people on the 
net with the same birthday.  

The URL listed below will take you to "The Birthday Server".  From 
there you'll be able to see the URL's and e-mail addresses of people 
who are having a birthday today and if you register your birthday
(or someone else's birthday) an e'card will be delivered on that
date.

Of course, if you had someone you really didn't like and you wanted
to remind them of how old they're getting...  I would never suggest
anything like that, though...

Just so you'll know.  My birthday is April 29th.  That's right, this
past year I came out of the birthday closet, so look there and you'll
see the WU home page listed.

http://sunsite.unc.edu/btbin/birthday

********************************************************************

For those of us "in the industry" there is a very insightful article
by Orson Scott Card about "How Software Companies Die".

                          + dual sidebar +
                          \______________/
If you aren't "in the industry", |  Orson Scott Card is one of the best
you might want to read this ar-  |  "soft" sci-fi readers in the indu-
ticle so that you can get some   |  stry.  "Soft" sci-fi focuses on peo-
the jokes in Dilbert that didn't |  ple with technology as a backdrop 
previously make sense.           |  (vs. "Hard" sci-fi where the focus
                                 |  is the technology.)  I reccommend
                                 |  Hart's_Hope, or Songmaster.

http://carolyn.org/~clburke/osc.html to read up on this.

********************************************************************

Phrantic Public Housing Project

If you want to walk through a virtual Trailer-Park-Trash neghborhood
(it's _very_ mind boggling that people would keep their home pages
like that), then blow over to http://www.clever.net/phrantic/pphp.html.

This provider will actually give you free home page space if they
deem you techno-poor enough to warrant aid.  (That's not really
the criteria but if you can't get a home page of your own, this is
a good option.)

Actually, here's their Mission:

"PPhP is leading the fight for squatters rights in cyberspace! We 
have worked since December of 1994 to ensure that everyone who has 
an internet email address can have access to their own "homepage" 
on the WWW. Not a mere personal ad, or a .plan file, not even a 
bland little "bio" in some member directory, a "Homepage" is a fun, 
sexy, interactive spot on the www where a person can display their 
own indiviuality, their favorite photos, lists of useful & curious 
links, even their resume! Just about anything!"

"PPhP is a collection of generous people on the 'net willing to 
share their webspace with you. If you would like a homepage of your 
own, you've come to the right place! We can move you into one of 
several "Web-Communities" where your homepage will reside. Its a 
terrific way to make friends, learn your way around the net, and 
fill up your mailbox with interesting email!!"

If you need a place to squat, try 'em out.

********************************************************************

For those who don't believe there is a heaven on earth, let me en-
lighten you to one of the tricks of nature.  Heaven on earth does 
not take the form of an ever-constant location.  Heaven on earth is
actually a culmination of items and places and people.  The more of
these ingredients you have the closer you'll be to heaven.

Without question (just ask any Austinite) the land of milk and honey
is nestled here in Travis County along the Lower Colorado River (Lake
Austin and Town Lake).  That means Austin, Texas, USA!

And with no surprise at all, the best beer in the world is brewed
not far from here in the town of Shiner, TX.  If you don't get Shiner
Bock in your town, ask for it.  Shiner has gone to Nationwide Dis-
tribution so you should be able to get it anywhere.  If you can't get
it there, then you should come here.  Actually, you should come here
anyway, because the best place to drink a Shiner Bock is in Austin.
You'll be that much closer to heaven.

Shiner can be found on the web at: http://www.shiner.com/

********************************************************************

Next week look for a concert/tour URL, sex-related URL's (since Newt
wants to be sure you know they exist we might as well tell you exactly
where they are), the Boston music home page, and much much more!