Filk on the Wire

Specifically, this article on filk by Xeni Jardin in Wired News.

I even get a mention, with link:

Bay Area filker Steve Savitzky sings a "rocket rider's prayer" to the "gods of flight and physics," praying that the aerospace parts "constructed by the lowest bidders" will hold out.

(The fact that my last name is spelled incorrectly in the very next paragraph does not even rise to the level of a minor annoyance, and isn't at all unusual. I think GaFilk had four different spellings in their program book.)

The flower_cat also got noticed, though not by name:

The man wearing a button-down shirt and pocket protector rocks gently in his chair to the rhythm. A white-haired lady in the corner knits what looks like a spacesuit with rainbow yarn. The matron in a muumuu completes a crossword puzzle while she listens, smiling.

... and that might be cflute knitting in the corner, though she doesn't have white hair. Anybody remember who else was knitting?

So now you know what I was doing this weekend...
The NPR article is supposed to air next week...

!@#$!@#$*()!@#$

Kepler's Bookstore goes out of business

Kepler's was a Menlo Park (CA) landmark, and just celebrated their 50th anniversary this year.

See also, 'Pre-bubble' rent helped kill Kepler's and How Keplers changed the world. The combination of Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and a greedy landlord did them in. The other old bookstore in the area, Bell's in Palo Alto, is still around only because they bought their building back in the 1950's.

The flower_cat is heartbroken -- she practically grew up in that store.

Update: more stories:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/12532188.htm
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/12525933.htm
http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_244094818.html
http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/09/01/peninsula/20050901_pe02_bookseller.txt
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/01/BAGB7EG5EJ1.DTL&type=books
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/12525440.htm

Don't just sit there: send money

Yahoo has set up a donation site for hurricane Katrina relief, to help the Red Cross with their bandwidth. From the RC's site:

Due to the overwhelming generosity of the American public, we have received volumes of gift activity not experienced since the events of the recent Tsunami and September 11, 2001. While we have worked to increase capacity, there will be delays in processing gifts received by phone and through the mail. As a result, it may take up to eight weeks for donors to receive acknowledgment letters and tax receipts.

Yes, I have. Probably not for the last time this season.