Email: Flakiness [EH]

I know men can be flaky, contact you then disappear. (Some women do that too. One used to write me dusky emails then never respond, until I realized she wrote those emails in the wee hours of Saturday night -- the witching hours for loneliness.) Women are flaky in this way for real reasons (emotions); men [generally] do so for false ones (the hunter/gatherer gone awry).

Email: Mercy dates [DK]

I didn't know women go on mercy dates with each other. I think you should trust your intuition and if a guy seems negative before you meet him, agree with yourself that he will probably be more negative after you meet him. (People don't reform themselves, no matter how super a person you are!) Life is too short, you know? Focus on guys that would be good for you to meet, not just meeting anyone who wants to meet you because you would be good for them to meet.

Words: coterie [MW]

Function: noun
Etymology: French, from Middle French, tenants, from Old French cotier, cotter, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English cot hut
: an intimate and often exclusive group of persons with a unifying common interest or purpose

Trivia: Zambian kwacha

Did you know that the national currency in Zambia is the kwacha?

Words: cosset [AHED]

TRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: cos·set·ed, cos·set·ing, cos·sets
To pamper.
NOUN: A pet, especially a pet lamb.
ETYMOLOGY: Possibly from Anglo-Norman coscet, pet lamb, from Middle English cotsete, cottage-dweller.

Internet: It's spam, all right

I have used Spamcop for four years to analyze and report my spam -- and I highly recommend it. Anyway, this clearly contrived email address just came in over the electronic transom yesterday:

Please make sure this email IS spam:
From: "blatz" chastitycontinuation@catlover.com

Email: City of God [MG]

I saw that [movie] in the theatre and I give it three stars. It's very powerful but the redemptive value at the end is presented minimally--sort of as if the message of Easter was that Christ did a high-five with Peter. ;-}

Media: Cartoons - The Comic Critic

Media: Cartoons - You Damn Kid!

Media: Cartoons - Unshelved

Media: Movies - The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2004)

Media: Books - Samurai Cat

Media: Conan the Librarian

Musings: Garfield and his coffee

Almost every time I get a cup of coffee -- especially if I feel like I could really use a cuppa joe -- I remember a cartoon strip where Garfield was more than splashing coffee from his mug to his face, he was virtually dunking his head and scrubbing behind his ears with it -- much like a morning ewer of cold water in the old days. It's a hilarious and bracing image for me. Garfield does love his coffee. (There's another strip where he's sitting back in his coffee mug like it's a hot tub. Being drawn to scale isn't always a slavish quality of the Garfield strip, but I suspect the coffee mugs at Garfield's house are slightly larger than even my own 24-oz-capacity paperweights.)