Blues legend Johnny Johnson, who was born just up the road from here, has died.

For the past several years, Fairmont has had a Blues and Jazz festival in honor of Johnny Johnson.

A lobbyist… said they want the “privilege of participating” in the state tax system.

Wow, it’s possible that there may be a worse paper than the Diminishing Pest.

However, the Diminishing Pest has had years to convince me how terrible it is. This is only a single story.

Not quite a fresh coat of paint, but similar.

I’ve redone the main page to the site. Enjoy the pastel goodness while you can, it certainly won’t last long.

Today’s news quiz was “Which senator holds the record for most votes cast?”

Easy!

Robert C. Byrd

I’ve been writing documentation all week. Time for a short break.
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Coming in from all over the place, apparently our legislators have decided to make English the official language of West Virginia.

As my friend Del (a WV native) said:

I hope this means the natives will finally learn to speak it.

Score one for the forces of jingoism!

ADDENDUM the First According to the Charleston Gazette, this language amendment won’t cause problems in the state. Well, no. We don’t have a lot of non-English speakers here. But that really isn’t the point of the bill, is it? The point of the bill isn’t to save money by not having to write alternative language versions of state publications.

What would make someone think that this would be a good idea?

Most disturbingly, it reminds me of this.

And if you’re also curious, here is a bit on idolatry.

Idolatry etymologically denotes Divine worship given to an image, but its signification has been extended to all Divine worship given to anyone or anything but the true God. St. Thomas (Summa Theol., II-II, q. xciv) treats of it as a species of the genus superstition, which is a vice opposed to the virtue of religion and consists in giving Divine honour (cultus) to things that are not God, or to God Himself in a wrong way.

For some reason, this made me laugh out loud at work. My co-workers would wonder about my sanity, except that they already know.

Remember, it’s child like, not childish.

I highly suggest S’s post on hair, for today’s viewing pleasure.

It had both Gina and me giggling.

Am I hiding from reality by burying myself in fiction?

Yup.

Just so you know.

Gorgeous weather for gardening. This weekend I mulched and weeded, after looking to see what seeds came up and which didn’t, bought some more seeds, and now have pots and planters all over the place.

Okay, I also bought a new azalea and a cold hardy pansy. (Yes, the azalea looks a lot like the one I got last spring. That’s because I killed the one I got last spring, so I’m trying again.)

But really, the weather’s gorgeous, how can I resist? (Temperatures were in the high 70s, low 80s for the second day in a row.)

As far as spam goes, I have to admit that I kinda like this name: Moose C. Triviality.

China’s break-dancing grandmother