Via BoingBoing, I found this very interesting article on silly - nay, extremely silly - website User Agreements. You may have seen these before; often there’s a link in a small font at the very bottom of the page you’re viewing which when clicked, tells you that you agree to let the website collect anonymous cookies, track your IP address, and other things to limit their legal liability should it ever become an issue. But as with all things in life, there are some who just have to take things to their extremes.

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Last Thanksgiving sort of surprised us. It’s not the kind of holiday that we find easy to keep track of, when living so far away from family and friends. This year would be different though. We noted the day’s approach nearly a week in advance, and discussed plans to attempt preparing and eating some semblance of an actual, bona-fide cooked meal. Turkey would perhaps be biting off more than we could chew (hah!), so we opted instead for a chicken. And being only the two of us, the number and quantity of vegetables would have to be limited - say potatoes, carrots, turnip and sweet-potatoes. Now we’re talking! It sounded delicious.

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I’ve always loved the dedication Sesame Street has to using modern musicians to teach basic concepts to children. Nowhere is this more apparent than using Norah Jones as a spelling instructor.

Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand comedy/musical duo that have been around for a while - perhaps you’ve heard their fly rap skills? They also have a self-titled television show which has been renewed for a second season, with the same dry wit from their comedy tours.

Music is a funny thing. It’s only after reaching “adulthood” that I think I fully understood what people had meant all along by “being moved” by music, or when they said music was “like another language” that could speak to them. It doesn’t convey words or concrete concepts, but it does evoke emotions and impressions in the listener. So listening to music really isn’t the same as listening to someone speak or reading their written words, but some analogies hold. You can often tell when someone is a very good speaker or writer because you are compelled to follow their meaning, even though you might not agree or even understand their message. In the same way, some music just draws you in, regardless of its topic or lyrics.

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The weather has been pretty bipolar of late; things keep warming up well above zero, and then plummeting back down below freezing. But this week, I really thought it had warmed up for good. It had been sunny out for a day or so, and then rainy for another day when all the snow and ice that had built up over the past months was all washed away. So you can imagine our reactions when Care and I looked out the window last night and saw this (picture after the jump).

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