Scam Alert

Recently received a scam phone call from a heavily accented dude calling from the "Windows Security Center" -- this is a classic cold call scam -- the phone that showed up as coming from was (325) 477-7355.

Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award

The deadline for 2015 Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award applications is 4:30 PM on Thursday, July 24, 2014.

 The funding categories available for 2015 include:

• Non-Classical Music: Composition
• Non-Classical Music: Solo Performance
• Playwriting
• Visual Arts: Crafts 
• Visual Arts: Photography

All applications must be submitted online. Applicants can click here to access the application, guidelines and technical assistance resources. 

Model releases

Any graphic materials that promote something, whether products, a businesses, or charitable causes, and the graphics contain images of recognizable people, always have those people sign a model release.

Read the whole article here.

The fly and the wedding ring

I've transited through the Suez Canal several times, and as anyone who has done this knows, the place is often abuzz with tons of very slow-flying tse-tse flies, ready, willing and able to bite anyone who stands still for more than a nanosecond.

One time, as we moved slowly through the Suez, I was skylarking and enjoying the view of the fishermen and assorted sights in the canal, and I was also screwing around, sloshing my wedding ring in my mouth... I know, I know...

Suddenly one of those giant-sized, slow-flying flies buzzed my face as it tried to land on it... I slapped at it, dislodging my wedding ring from my mouth and sending it hurling through the air.

In one of the great recoveries in modern history, the same hand that had slapped at the fly, accelerated its downward arch, and in a magnificent affirmation of Malcolm Gladwell's Blink theory, snatched the ring in mid flight and saved it from perpetual burial in the murky mud of the canal.

The sailor standing next to me and who had witnessed the whole event, looked at me, shook his head, and then continued to relax by looking at the nearby shore while chewing on a toothpick... "Wife would have never believed the story if you hadn't snatched that puppy in mid air," he commented. "Fear is a powerful motivator," he concluded, still chewing on the toothpick and offering me one.

Proof that aliens are amongst us

This dude is clearly a Ferengi trying to disguise himself as a human, note the two uneven set of ears. I betcha that if Rachel Maddow had rubbed his ears... well, you Trekkies know what happens when Ferengis get their ears rubbed... cough, cough...

Separated at Birth?

On the left from CNN (but I repeat myself, cough, cough) is Anderson Cooper, and on the right (cough, cough) is Univision's Jorge Ramos discussing the immense disaster currently going on at the border.

Congrats to Argentina

So the final for the World Cup is set: the Germans from Europe vs the Germans from South America... Cough, cough...