So Happy Friday. What a week, huh?

I started a new work project on Monday, the first step of which is gathering information from various local governments. Lots of phone calls and emails. Responses vary from, “Sure, have my data. Would you like a sandwich with that?” to “It’s a violation of national security for you to even be asking and operatives from Washington are bugging your house as we speak.” This is for the same data set, mind you. The Public Information Act meets Homeland Security, ladies and gentlemen. Please hold your applause.

According to a report sponsored by the California Academy of Science, 77% of Americans can't answer the following three science questions correctly.

1. How long does it take for the Earth to revolve around the sun?
2. Did the earliest humans and dinosaurs live at the same time?
3. What percentage of the Earth's surface is covered in water?

Dude.

A few folks have told me they’ve been having minor problems accessing my site, particularly in getting error messages when leaving comments. You’re probably hitting the site from the old url. Try updating your bookmark to http://web.me.com/swingbug/ and see if that fixes your problem. The site will look the same but might work better. Doesn’t seem like that should make a difference but so be it.

Here’s to Obi Wan, a good cat who wandered into our lives about the same time Episode I graced the theaters, thus the name. He was itsy bitsy and showed no fear. And then he grew and grew. We called him Ben for short. I always figured we’d get around to calling him Old Ben. Turns out we ran out of time.

I return from Stitches West! What is Stitches, you ask? It’s a yarn conference. It’s the Santa Clara Convention Center packed full of classes and vendors and knitters and crocheters and spinners and weavers and so much yarn that you wouldn’t believe it. I was totally fiber-drunk within a few minutes of stepping in the building. It goes on for days, but on this first adventure, my compatriot and I decided that we’d start with a day at the market and tackle classes next year.