man, i need better categories.
then again, i need a better clue and a better concept.
so, for now, we'll just type away and label later.

the current heat wave nestling on top of north america brings to mind the wonders of europe. i think of my ancestral land of finland, where july is an off month. everywhere. when's the last time you heard of a newspaper taking 3 weeks off from updating? they're catching up now with a quick recap of all matters finn that have happened their nukkuaika, so if you want to see what happened there with the usual finn pragmatism (the carbomb explanation almost (almost) sounds dismissive), the international edition of the helsingin sanomat is your romper room.

to the south, across the gulf, we have news from estonia that an album of black sabbath songs converted into mediaeval songs and translated into latin. as the producer said, "really." though it sounds loopy, listening to the samples brings a brilliant sense of beauty and preciousness to the typically heavy black sabbath sound. the album, sabbatum, though firmly establishes that the heavy satanic stuff wasn't covered due to the sensitive nature of the church it was recorded in. it's a long way from estonia's eurosong victory.

back here, there's an odd little toy called the weather pixie:

a quick graphical summary of the existing synopsis of weather around the world. there's thunder bay weather for you, live when you load the page. (man, i thought i picked the mohawk guy. ah well, geisha girl for you.)

speaking about thunder bay, my hometown (don't use it as blackmail; i did live in wawa for two years), the globe and mail had an interview with bill goldthorpe, the bruising minor league hockey player that partly inspired the movie slap shot. born in hornepayne, he played for the port arthur marrs (thunder bay's northern half, don't ask; one day, i'll tell) and referred to thunder bay with the nickname "tea bag bay" (land of the tough guys), which i hadn't heard before, but strikes me as being semi-appropriate. then again, it sounds like a boston thing, an american revolution shebang, but i don't want to argue with goldie. tough hombre you do not disparage.

all right, one parting shot: can a guy in a pickle hat stop an invasion of goldfish? i'm somewhere off the boat here: those pepperidge farm crackers are mighty addictive, but how can you stop a parade featuring a goldfish mobile? when you're competing with the classic weinermobile, the banana-split looking hershey kissmobile and the please run it over spammobile, you have to have road to hit. you know, they should race them like the milwaukee brewer sausage race.