People keep sending me links to strange things. It's not my fault. Honest!

Story in Newsweek about a children's book for kids whose moms are getting cosmetic surgery. The book is called "My Beautiful Mommy."

Old forum thread from 2003 with joke suggestions for future Harry Potter book titles. My favorites:
Harry Potter Reloaded
Harry Potter and the OTHER Chamber of Secrets That We Didn't Tell You About
Harry Potter and the big movie deal
Harry Potter and the Restraining Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Azkaban in which there is a Sorcerer's Goblet of Fire (way to hit all the high notes at once!)

And, OK, I admit it, I found this link all by myself... Bible Adventures for Children with Earl the Emu: A Children's Book Series with a Purpose!

It's all so scary. Hold me.

Random linkage!

If you come up with the winning caption for this cartoon, you can get a free year of "Brain, Child Magazine" -- my favorite parenting magazine. Actually, my only parenting magazine. Or you could choose their "Greatest Hits" compilation of past essays, which I own and recommend, especially the essay on "Why I Hate Dr. Sears." Or you could choose to -- gasp -- give your gift subscription to someone you know, someone you like, someone who reads this magazine... *hint hint*


A real-life personal story, written by Get Rich Slowly.org guy J.D., that I found riveting -- the story of the worst job he ever had.
In the comments, he writes:

"I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m moaning or complaining here. I’m not. I realize perfectly well that this job came as a consequence of my choices. I tell the story because it’s amusing (in a nightmarish sort of way), because it illustrates the consequences of a failure to plan, and because those three months form the bedrock of all my debt. The choices I made then still affect me every day, fifteen years down the road.

I think this is important for young adults to realize: small decicions you make now can have a huge impact on future happiness."

And finally, Have you ever wondered whether there are ratites in the Bible? Not Hittites or Amelikites or Jebusites -- we all know the Bible is filled with those, usually being slaughtered by the righteous fury of the Israelites, but ratites -- the family of flightless bird that includes the emu? Of course you have!

Well, the Bible is, sadly, emu-free, since they are native to Australia. Ostriches do appear in the Bible, however, and here is one of the places.

Lamentations 4:3
    Even jackals offer their breasts
       to nurse their young,
       but my people have become heartless
       like ostriches in the desert.

Happy Friday!

And another funny animal story for today.

From http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070828/D8R9Q0T00.html:


Wayward Emu Corralled in Parking Lot
Aug 28, 12:09 AM (ET)

(AP) Rick Takacs hugs his emu Myron in West Bend, Wis., Monday, Aug. 27, 2007 afternoon. Myron escaped... Full Image

WEST BEND, Wis. (AP) - Attention, Wal-Mart shoppers: The emu in the parking lot is not for sale.

Employees of a Wal-Mart Supercenter used shopping carts to corral a wayward emu outside the store Monday about 6 a.m., West Bend police said.

A manager fed the emu grapes and apples in an attempt to calm the bird inside the makeshift enclosure.

Richard Takacs, the owner of 3-year-old Myron, speculated the bird had been chased from his nearby farm by a coyote.

Emus can't fly, but Takacs said he wasn't surprised when police contacted him from the store, about two miles north of his Meadowbrook Market and Pumpkin Farm.

"They can run 40 miles an hour, so that was just a quick sprint for Myron," Takacs said.

Two other emus from the farm also bolted from their pen but were found unharmed in a nearby pumpkin field.

Takacs retrieved the apparently frightened Myron from the 24-hour Wal-Mart and placed the bird by itself in a pasture so it could feel safe and relax.

Emus can grow up to six feet tall and weigh as much as 100 pounds.

West Bend is in southeastern Wisconsin, about 35 miles northwest of Milwaukee.