Today To Date: The best thing about today so far is that it's no longer yesterday. And that you can count on that pretty much being the case tomorrow, too. The morning in these parts was graced by a lovely covering of about an inch of pristine high-quality skiing snow, which, while wasted on the city, nonetheless looks nice. More to come, I'm sure.

blog*spot update: Sprained ISP backbone. Tech support is on the case, as always......~sigh~.....

Heard some high-tech minion on NPR this morning talking about computer virusses. This guy, who sounded like One of Those Mega-Dweebs, actually said that you should never leave a message on a usenet group, in order to protect your pc from virusses, because you have to leave your e-mail address when you post, and this apparently poses as much of a threat to the well-being of You and Your PC as would second-hand smoke. Can we assume that newsgroups are on the way out?

Well, the world should be so lucky. But, B4 you post your carpel tunnel wrist brace on e-Bay, take a breath, 'cuz this dauntless blogger doubts it. Nay, blog on, friends, because somehow I really don't think we need to worry. More likely, the speaker was a software company's sales rep, specializing in the firewall line of products. Perhaps we should give some thought to how we could go about preventing the media from broadcasting such paranoid little messages near and far. Have an idea?? -- send it to TBH. The band's as curious as The Monkey Named George to hear your proposed solutions.

While you're pondering that word problem, or perhaps to stimulate your creativity, visit Ding an sich (translation: "the thing itself"), part of self-described (and true) artist/ teacher/ citizen/ patriot/ web-worker Piotr Szyhalski's site, The Spleen, which resides at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, where Szyhalski works and teaches. MCAD is a decidedly non-shy place that hails itself as "the most progressive art school in the World." TBH is prone to believe this claim, judging by this and other offerings on display in the school's Walker Art Gallery.

Billed by reviewer Kristine Malden as a "poetic but wittily disturbing exploration of propaganda," (I.D. Magazine, Webwatch Review, January/February 1997), The Spleen remains one of the most compelling multimedia presentations that This Veteran Webnaut has yet encountered. See it And Believe.

In the meantime, here's a taste, excerpted from the artist's description of his subject:
__________

Some authorities class this organ with the ductless glands and others class it with the lymph-nodes. It is situated directly beneath the diaphragm, behind and to the left of the stomach, and is covered by peritoneum from which folds extend to the diaphragm, stomach, and left kidney, and help to hold the organ in place.

All attempts to show indispensable or important functions of the spleen have been unsuccessful. It may be removed from the body without serious injury to the animal. The most important facts known about the spleen are the slow expansion and contraction of the organ occurring during digestion. After a meal the spleen increases in size and reaches a maximum about the fifth hour of digestion. Then it slowly decreases to its former size.

The significance of this is not known.

- ## -Food for thought, eh?

Much to Our Chagrin: TBH has been notified that certain people have taken mild offense at its blog about Bitch UK, apparently triggered by Yours Truly's carefree use of the phrase "spirited hussies." No offense was intended. For future reference, no offense is ever intended, but, if you take offense, feel free to leave and never return! You'll always be welcome, either way.

Are you a shameless strumpet? A strutting harlot? Ever been described as a random wench? Have you descended from a long line of trollops? Send us your family history in 200 words or less, and we'll post it, if it's really amusing. If it's really really amusing, we'll even stretch the word-count limit.