A headline you don't see every day

Report: French Nightclubs Burned Down in War Between Nudists, Swingers

Entelodonts - postcrossing

Entelodonts - postcrossing
Originally uploaded by Alhazred

A postcard that I picked up at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, sent to a postcrossing chum in Germany.
On back:
Entelodonts
Among the largest animals known from the John Day formations are entelodonts - omnivorous, piglike giants, some reaching the size of bison. The large flanges on the cheek bones and lower jaw are distinctive traits in this group. Top to bottom: Archaeotherium calkinsi (skull), Daeodon sp. (jaw), Daeodon humerosus (forelimb)

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Kimberly, Oregon, USA.
published by Northwest Interpretive Association. www.nwpubliclands.org
photo by Natural Light Photography. printed in the USA JODANM-P007-NWIA2006

View from Astoria motel

View from Astoria motel
Originally uploaded by Alhazred

'Twas a little overcast.

Postcard: Last Smoker in America

Last Smoker in America - postcrossing
Originally uploaded by Alhazred

Sent to a postcrossing chum in Finland.
On back:
The Last Smoker in America
By the late 20th century, anyone who still smoked was regarded as quite weird.
© Vintage Images, P.O. Box 228, Lorton, VA 22199
Printed in the Good Ole USA on recycled paper.

Follow-up: Con-way 'Reduction in Force'

Brief follow-up:

There was a short article in The Oregonian on the layoffs at Con-way Enterprise Services (Portland campus) this last week. I am still around, but my wife was one of those laid off.

Speculations about these matters are always dangerous, but I will stick my neck out and opine that we have not seen the end of layoffs on the Portland campus. We will see what next year brings.

Con-way closures this weekend

This is a big weekend for Con-way Freight: some forty service centers across the country are closing. <Link to one of the representative articles on the subject.>
The Portland campus of Con-way Enterprise Services (the IT and Admin arm of Con-way) will see job losses next week. Many of my co-workers are understandably anxious, and it has been a major topic of conversation this week.

Portland Werewolf Poem

I used this a couple of months ago during a game of Werewolf at the Lucky Lab when my fellow villagers accused me of being a werewolf. Inexplicably, I was still lynched.

I Am Not A werewolf.

A werewolf? Nay, a mere cobbler I.
Content to make solid boots
For my stolid fellow villagers.

A werewolf? Nay, would that I were.
Not for me the taste of blood in the night.
Or soft flesh torn by my pitiless fangs.
Nor the smell of fear on the night air
As my pitiful shrieking victim haplessly flees.

A Werewolf? I? Nay, yet were I wolf
There would be not a man among you safe
From my hideous lust for blood.
My accusers, you are mere lumpen bags of meat.
Yet I am one of you, I swear.