Sacramento: Well, despite it's poor showing in the polls, I am happy to see that my favorite quarter has been chosen as one of the 5 finalists to be the CA state quarter. Here are the final 5. The one with John Muir would be my second choice.

[all known proposals here]

I ordered a new battery from Dell for my laptop today. Among the littany of questions concerning my intentions for the use of this battery (I intend to use it to power my laptop), was this:

"Q4. Will the product(s) be used in connection with weapons of mass destruction, i.e. nuclear applications, missile technology, or chemical or biological weapons purposes?" Yes/No

Umm.... no.

Thus... the explanation for the dearth of postings lately. A major overhaul of the website. 95% done, but good enough to be released. Like it? The pictures on the top change each time you visit the page. Hopefully dosn't load too slowly.

This revision will be followed shortly by a revision of Beyond, Beyond and a general clean up of some of the disorganized junk around here.

I would have a bunch of cool photos of Wales to show off, had my camera's battery not died a horrible death. I take back everything good I ever said about Sony cameras. Never buy a camera with a proprietary battery.

In other news, I highly recommend checking out the band Mercury Rev. They're great. It's late. Out.

Corvatsh, St. Moritz: Most ski areas have some good Apres Ski facilities, but not every ski area has a Pingo Bar! A giant greenhouse/igloo with raging heavy metal music inside, no shortage of ski-bum personalities, a fabulous view of the St. Moritz valley, and (for some reason) a giant cow, is the ideal place for a quick weiss bier in your ski-boots. American ski resorts are crying for one of these.

Here's a better photo from someone else's site.

I'm convinced the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal is the secret inspiration for The Onion.

My favorite quote from this article:

"Truth be told, Sadegh doesn't want anyone to simply shoot the Iraqi president. He'd prefer to see him tortured. 'I only want peace and happiness in this country,' Sadegh said."

Among the best reasons for living in London, is its proximity to exotic European destinations. (Posting from Nice as the sun sets over the sea). One of the best things about the internet is the ability to showcase photography. One of the best photographers online right now is Merci Niebres, and 'twas in Nice that she showed me her photos. Full circle? Well, check out her new site, it rocks.

Normally, buying in bulk saves you money when you calculate the cost per item. That's what makes Costco so successful. This is also the case with many transportation systems where you can buy a dozen tickets at once for a lower per-ticket rate. Anyway, I have found a bizarre exception to the rule:

Heathrow Express "carnets" of tickets actually cost more per ticket than buying them individually. See for yourself here. Return tickets purchased online cost £11.25 apiece. If you buy the allegedly convenient carnet of 12 tickets they cost £11.91 each.

The only advantage is that you don't have to specify your date of travel. Obviously the idea is to sell the carnets to business people who go on lots of spontaneous trips that don't give them enough time to order tickets online. This saves them the £13 walk up fare at the station. So... we're really talking about 2 different economies at once. But I'm still curious how this all works out in terms of profitability, since most business travellers wouldn't blink at the extra walk-up cost, but I'd gladly buy 12 tickets right now if it would actually save me money!

Ed Note:

The Gatwick Express also sells carnets, but they are in fact a better deal than if purchased individually: £9 each instead of £10.75. Go figure.