Used books often gain value from forgotten paper -- paper money, for example; the Strand's staff rakes in lots of that. They haven't yet found a "hell scene with fish monster," as Cristiana Romelli did two years ago at Sotheby's in London. The original Hieronymus Bosch sketch fell out of a client's old picture album and sold for $276,000. A few years earlier, her colleague Julien Stock found a Michelangelo stuck in a 19th-century scrap book. In 2001, that one brought its owner $12 million.

Which Historical Lunatic Are You?

You are William John Cavendish-Bentinck-Scott, the Fifth Duke of Portland!

Rat Bastards is an interesting, while disturbing, site about a guy who went to extreme measures to rid his house of rats. If you don't want to see pictures of dead furry animals, don't go here. You can go there if you don't want to see the pictures, just don't click on the My Kills part. If you do like seeing helpless animals cut down in the prime of their life, what the fuck are you still reading this for? Go to the site already!

Somebody buy me an mp3 player, I want one.

I've been looking into getting the shell of a muvo2, since people take the 4GB microdrives out of them for digital cameras and such. I did some research, and 512MB seems like enough for now, it's not a huge amount, but I could have a couple albums. Every mp3 player is crazily expensive.

"He asked me if I wanted a drink, and I said 'Sure,'" she recalls. "Then, out of nowhere, he puts his hand up my dress and, not even knowing me, sticks his finger in my asshole. I didn't even flinch, though, because I knew he was just trying to get a reaction out of me. And right there he said he knew I was his girl."

Link.

So I've been trying to lose weight (sorry, I mean fat) lately, and I thought I was doing an okay job at it, until yesterday in judo class.

I'm working with my 6'3-4", 250lb sensei, when he says: "You know, you're a big guy."

Thanks for the 'ol confidence boost there sensei. It's bad enough that I have to be referred to as "re-pete" because HE is "Pete". I think he's just blaming his deficiencies on me.

Last week I had my first tests in compilers and ethics, conveniently one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. I figured I did pretty well on the ethics one, since most of it was just memorizing the characteristics of certain stances on issues. Most of the difficulty came in writing the responses coherently enough while trying to get my point across. I got an A+. The hippy kid who sits in front of me who talks like he's some great philosopher got a B-. Sweet, sweet shadenfreude.

Sorry to all one of you that read this page, but slashdot wasn't letting me post last week. I've actually already tried almost this exact post 2-3 times and each time it would give me an error. I'm pretty sure it wasn't on my end because I tried from school and home, and neither worked.

So if you see this, I'll probably post more stuff soon.

Stephen Wolfram is a pretty smart guy. He's the guy behind Mathematica, the computer math software, and Mathworld, the site that has tons and tons of interesting and useful math information which isn't really good for concrete stuff, but it's usually a good starting place. Plus it has cool java applets of 3d shit.

So I didn't get the Idaho Transportation Department job. I wasn't qualified for the interview questions they asked me, but the job sure sounded easy on the flier I got from the computer science department!

This is seriously the funniest comic strip I've ever seen. It's kinda sad that I identify with it, but I do, and I still think it's hilarious. I've read all the comics in the archive and while I don't think I've ever done anything quite as embarassing as the stuff they have listed on here, I think it's the sense of embarassment permeating the stories that I like. I don't know. Just go read it all ready.

Carl Weathers is the man. I knew him as Apollo Creed in Rocky, Dillon in Predator, and Chubbs in Happy Gilmore.

From The Obscure Store:

"During proceedings in the rape case Monday before the prosecutor and defense attorney, Stephenson looked at a photograph of the battered victim and said, "Why would he want to rape her? She doesn't look like a day at the beach," according to a transcript reviewed by the Orlando Sentinel."

A pretty big day today, for somebody who doesn't do very much; I had an orthodontist appointment and an interview at the Idaho Transporation Department.