The crazy lady strikes again for Tuesday, August 29, 2006

A Maryland electrician won a contest to blow up the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, in an area near Washington, DC known as the Capital Beltway. Apparently, this bridge had become well-known for causing bottlenecks; when one had to cross the bridge, one went from an eight-lane highway to a six-lane highway, and the bridge was raised frequently to allow boat traffic to cross under it. This caused no end of frustration for Beltway commuters who needed to get to work. The electrician who won the contest to... Sign in to see full entry.

This afternoon, I discovered something about the Total Living Network, which I mentioned in passing yesterday. I had mentioned in one of yesterday's entries that Jerry Rose, the president of the organization operating this Chicagoland cable network, had once been a fierce advocate of the colon-cleansing products produced by an alternative-medicine company called Kylea. This decision on his part seemed to me to be a direct result of his own experiences with colon cancer many years ago; many... Sign in to see full entry.

Yes, the title seems somewhat innocuous, perhaps leading a reader to believe someone got arrested solely for marrying one woman after another, divorcing the previous spouse before marrying again. I'm not talking about that type of person. Instead, I'm talking about Warren Jeffs, the leader of a Mormon cult which still adheres to the practice of polygamy. (The mainstream Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, renounced polygamy in the late 19th century, during Utah's... Sign in to see full entry.

Because Hurricane Katrina made landfall one year ago on this date, the morning news programs have been saturated with coverage of how Gulf Coast residents are doing one year later. Even Oprah Winfrey is getting into the act, by doing a show on what her Angel Network is doing for Houston-area Katrina survivors (people who relocated to Houston in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina), in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity. The CBS morning-news program The Early Show had features which were about... Sign in to see full entry.

This AOL article details the story of former major-league relief pitcher Jeff Reardon, who was recently declared not guilty by reason of insanity after a trial on robbery charges. Apparently, Reardon robbed a jewelry store while under the influence of antidepressants and other medication. The antidepressants in particular are noted for causing such problems as hypomania. I've had that happen myself; I had to be taken off Zoloft because it caused a relapse of the hypomania associated with type 2... Sign in to see full entry.

Remind me never to get a job in a white-collar environment. This AOL article talks about ten fashion faux pas to avoid in the workplace - things like torn or ripped jeans, baggy or skin-tight clothing (either extreme is equally bad), and the like. I imagine that when readers see the words "poor-fitting clothing" in the aforementioned article, the first thing that comes to mind is hip-hop fashions - very baggy clothing. However, a fashion faux pas to which women seem particularly prone is the use... Sign in to see full entry.

The USS Minnow is for sale. For those Gen-Xers and echoboomers (my daughter is an echoboomer) among my readers who don't know what I'm talking about, this boat achieved fame as the boat that ran aground on a deserted island, setting up the premise for the television show Gilligan's Island. The man selling the USS Minnow is selling it for $99,000 in Canadian dollars, which translates into just over US$89,000 given current exchange rates. According to the AOL story I read, this particular Minnow... Sign in to see full entry.

Plans were "leaked" yesterday for a disaster-preparedness drill to be held in downtown Chicago sometime next week. This has Chicagoland commentators up in arms. One city official was quoted as saying that there has to be some "chaos" involved in the whole operation. Employees in the designated downtown areas have not been notified of just when the drill is to take place, nor will bystanders know that "it's just a drill" when it happens. City officials want people to be just as dazed, confused... Sign in to see full entry.