Scotland is not technically an independant country, but somehow it prints its own money. The Scotish pound is the same thing as the English pound, and both are completely interchangeable. What's even wackier is the fact that there are three different kinds of Scottish bank notes, from the three main Scottish banks: The Bank of Scotland, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and the Clydesdale Bank. All of these are in regular circulation, along with the regular English notes.

As stated earlier, Scotland was amazing. One of the best parts was staying in a bothy on the west coast. (what's a bothy?) We spent two nights here on a remote peninsula with a few fellow travellers and few hundred sheep.

I won't tell you where the Bothy is exactly, but it's somewhere near this beach.

Well, I've been out of town since Thursday... posted some thoughts on Scotland at Charlie and Karen's website. Read all about it! More to come...

Japan is supposed to look like a dragon. But, I've always thought it looked more like a seahorse. China looks like a big rooster with the Koreas as the gobbly bit. Burma looks like Gorbachev's birthmark. Hmm... I'll have to think of some others.

Verona: While scampering around the Roman Arena in Verona, Italy on Saturday, I noticed this large fossil shell imbedded in one of the marble steps. I wonder if the Romans noticed these while building the place. They're all over the Arena and are very easy to spot.

A cursory search via Google reveals that very little has been written about ancient attitudes toward fossils. Searches repeatedly point to a book called "The First Fossil Hunters", which suggests fossils may have had a key role in generating some of the mythology of Greece and Rome.

The classic story is that elephant skulls, with their giant nasal cavity, look like the skulls of a huge one-eyed creature, and are often credited with generating the Cyclops myth. As for these shells in the steps of the Arena... who knows!

A few words not used in the US or used so sparingly they're almost unknown...

envisage, whilst, queue, aubergine, courgette, servillette (are we French yet?), caff (guess not), bespoke, plaster, sellotape, carriageway, crisps, spanner, pram, adverse camber...

That's what I came up with in a few minutes anyway. I still don't totally understand bespoke.

I've noticed recently that when I read CNN, the advertisements are directed at a UK audience and the spelling on the site is adjusted to UK style. I've been anticipating this, and it's quite interesting, at least from an advertiser's point of view. It's all made possible by a little program that figures out where you are based on your IP address.

Anyway, I was clicking around on someone's website and, trying to reach a page on the "Showtime" website, got this error: "Sorry: We at Showtime Online express our apologies; however, these pages are intended for access only from within the United States." [link here - might only show error if you're out of the US]

Now that really irritates me.

There must be a way to mask where I'm coming from. The anarchist in me wants to defeat this system, despite my appreciation of its utility.

Start a war, get nominated for Nobel peace prize! Hmm....

The "giant games" craze sweeping the UK has taken an unprecidented spin.

"Giant Jenga Chair" combines the British passions for Jenga, schadenfreude, and alcohol consumption.

The rules: The challenger must construct a sophisticated chair out of Giant Jenga blocks and sit on it. Then the players take turns removing blocks until the chair collapses and the unfortunate challenger falls to the ground. The challenger who engineers the longest lasting chair wins!

Giant Jenga Chair was invented by a decorated member of Mensa, so it's clearly a wise thing to do. Hmmm...

Pittsburgh: Apparantly Blue Ketchup is about to make it's debut. As with most people, my initial reaction is "my god, what fools, it will never sell", even if it is just an irrational reaction to a tasteless color additive.

Thing is, that dosn't matter. Apparantly, by messing with tradition and promoting weird stuff that no one will buy, sales of regular ketchup will probably rise. People will think: "man, that blue ketchup sure is weird...speaking of ketchup... i think my supply is running low, better get some of the red stuff quick!"

Or will they?