More Proof

that some people have less than no sense of humor.

Catching up

Part of the reason I've been non-bloggy this week is I had Monday off, and it seems to have thrown off my rhythm. We had a nice weekend, including Friday night dinner guests. That's pretty unusual, given the smallness of my children and the smallness of most of our friends' kids.

Nonetheless, we had people over for dinner, which was fun but tiring. I can normally count on being asleep on the couch by 8:15, and this time nobody went home till 9:30. And then we had to clean up after. Such problems. The pot roast & Chicken soup were delicious, so it worked out OK.

Sunday began the project Mrs. has been talking about for a while. Normally projects take like 6 months from conception to actual work, but that's mostly because I'm lazy. Anyway, she decided a while back that our formerly white or offwhite dining room chair cushions needed replacing. Their currest shade of "Foodspill Grey" was unattractive enough, so I was game.

Now, I'm sort of handy. I've hung ceiling fans & other fixtures, and I have a decent idea of which is the business end of a screwdriver. But I am by no means Bob Vila. Or Norm Abrams, either. I had spoken to a handy friend about the idea of the chair recovering, and mentioned the idea of renting a fabric stapler for it. He said "Ridiculous. Cost you 30-40 bucks. Buy an electric staplegun for 30, & then you'll always have it."

Buy tools. SURE! So I got a new toy, and Sunday & Monday we did one chair each day. It might have been more, but we're newbies, and the children are a tiny bit interfering. If there's no hockey tonight we'll try & do another one, so maybe by next week we'll have all 6 done. I'm actually pretty proud of getting this far, frankly.

In other great news, I got handed a consulting job on a plate. Funny how by complete word of mouth I've gotten my last three jobs (2 permanent, and this temporary one.) A medical archivy acquaintance suggested me to these folks, and here I am. A chunk of unexpected change, and more fun with anniversary exhibits.

So, that's my week. Wasn't that interesting, was it?

GRRR

IT departments. BAH!

T3

Various things have been doing, which I might get to blogging about sometime. Since you can't have the usual junk, I'll import some by rendering my responses to the fabulous Thursday Three.

1) What is the strangest car you have ever owned?

I've only ever owned three, and they've all been Hondas. I guess some would consider a Civic a strange car. I'll lean on my parents for this one. Mom had an '81 Malibu, and its strangeness lies in the fact that there was no way to open the rear windows. No handles, so no windows. Why would people in the back seat need air?

2) What is the worst car you ever owned?

Back to my folks. Dad had a succession of Plymouth Vomits Valiants. The last one was a doozy that broke down if you looked at it. Naturally, Pop got himself a lease on a newer car, and when Mom finally got her license (at age 40), she got stuck with the Maroon Marooner. I say that because it had a habit of breaking down on her in various places. She finally got sick of the whole thing and leaned hard enough on Pop that she got the aforementioned Malibu.

3) How many wrecks have you been in?

Two that I can recall. Rear-ended (in the Malibu, oddly enough) by some knucklehead on the way to school one day (big brother was driving). Then somebody clipped me while they were pulling out of a parking spot. An older person coming out of a Waldbaum's, which should be no surprise.

4) SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION! Recall for us your most memorable drive-in experience.

What's a Drive-in?

This is awful

Read the posting for 2/16. Brad brings the "update" of Bugs Bunny to my attention, and I'm horrified. Disgusted. Nearly sick. I've been a fan of the Warner Brothers cartoons for years, and they still represent the finest art ever produced in this country. Funny, tremendously well drawn & animated, and did I say funny? And now some dope wants to "update it for a new generation." The accompanying article in the Denver Post Brad links to fills in the details. Bugs Bunny as Bart Simpson. Hideous.

Incidentally, I HIGHLY reccommend Brad's daily webcomic, Greystone Inn. I think Brad is very talented, and the strip is always funny. Some of the subtle things he draws, and the puns he uses are tremendous. He and I disagree politically on almost every subject, but our email and tagboard conversations are funny and polite, and I think he's a good guy. Check him out.

Now, I'm no marketing genius

but I know better than some folks. I have now heard the same commercial twice in the last two days. There's some rule change or something that allows more companies to sell natural gas to home consumers here in New York.

There's a company advertising their services in this field. Fair enough. They're promising you can set one price for your gas delivery for the next three years - "protect yourself from rising prices, etc." Ok, I understand what you're after.

However...

What Nimrod came up with the idea of SPECIFICALLY ASKING for the phone number 1-800-I'VE GOT GAS? I kid you not. The guy goes through his shpiel about the pricing, then says "Call 1-800-I'VE GOT GAS now." And then some perky-sounding woman starts singing a jingle to... you got it, I'VE GOT GAS.

Look, it happens to most humans and quite a few other mammals. Some people, usually sophomoric frat boys, get great joy out of methane, occasionally lighting it on fire. To each his own. But what idiot decided to sell a product publicly this way? I can only imagine the poor voice-over woman's face when she read this copy. Clearly she is at the point of starvation, or left whatever shame she had behind years ago.

Sometimes I think copywriters are either 14 years old, or stoned. They're writing this stuff at 3AM, giggling at each other when they think of pulling one over on the client.

Thursday Three Nine

Despite illness, T3 is back. I'm going to shoot for all nine, just to see if I can.

1. What did you give your Valentine this year?

Bupkis. The Mrs. doesn't hold of this particular piece of folderol.

2. What's your most memorable Valentine’s Day?

For a bad reason, the year I turned 19. I broke up with my girlfriend that day, or shortly thereafter. I'm not so proud of that one.

3. In grade school, what was the Valentine’s Day protocol?

Scary question. I went to an all male religious Jewish school. Tweren't no mention, much less protocol.

4. Did you ever have a secret Valentine?

Not Valentine as such, but I had a desperate crush on a girl in second grade (that would be prior to the move to the all-boys school). It went quite unrequited.

5. What would be the most romantic day/gift you could have?

At this point, sleeping till 11AM completely uninterrupted would probably do it.

6. Are you and your Valentine romantically attuned? (Huh? I mean, do you have some need to express and receive romance?)

I think I'm a little more hug-needy than she is, but we're pretty close.

7. Is Valentines Day a non-event for you? If so, what, if any, romantic traditions replace it?

I don't know that we have traditions, exactly. I did buy Mrs. Skinny a candy bar on Tuesday, which was greatly appreciated.

8. What was the most romantic time you had with your Valentine? (Romance, not sex, guys!) [I am not certain that pointing out this distinction should necessarily be directed at the male of the species. But, be that as it may, it is probably best that we stay away from discussing things that require doing a load of laundry the next day. Ed.]

You're right. Talking about the kids throwing up at midnight is probably inappropriate. That's what you meant by the laundry remark, right?

9. What do you and your Valentine find romantic that others wouldn't?

Chocolate chip cookies with no chips in them.

Just of note

I don't have an opinion on Mr. Negroponte's ability to be intelligence chief. I did, however, meet him several years ago. Soon after I started at my first real job, I happened to be going up in the elevator with him, and he said hello and introduced himself. I introduced myself, and explained that I had just started at the company. He explained that he had just started there too, and mind you, he was in a very high position there.

I thought it was an awfully decent thing to do, and I've always remembered him fondly for that one relatively innocuous act of kindness from a bigwig to a peon.

Archives of Interest

In honor of the occasion, I present the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, CA. Pictures, media guides, publications, all kinds of hockey related stuff.

Since I can't see it played, I might as well remember what it was like when they did play.

FINALLY!

The season is dead. I'm glad they killed it. A 28 game season would have been stupid, and the Cup meaningless. They should have sat down the day after they finished the last Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) to hammer out something workable.

So finally in the last three days they sit down seriously and begin negotiating. Where the hell were they for the previous 9 months? Twiddling their thumbs in a stupid game of chicken that neither side was likely to win. I don't have sympathy for either side, really. Millionaires fighting over my money.

I can't really go to more than a game or two a season. The cheap seats at Madison Square Garden where my beloved and hopeless Rangers play now go for upwards of $40. Forty bucks for lousy hockey. Add in transportation and food, and just for ONE PERSON I can expect to spend $65. If I wanted to take the Missus, I'm looking at over a C-Note to watch the game live.

Look, this sport can't afford $10 million top salaries. There's no national TV contract, and no money coming in like in the other sports. This is not a league that can afford NFL-style money. What on earth is wrong with the top guys making $5 million per season? I'll never see that kind of money no matter how long I work. Paul Kariya left something like $9 million per year from Anaheim to go to Colorado for $1.5 Million. Because he wanted to win.

So there are guys who will play for less. And everybody could probably live on the salary capped money. So what's the problem? They're shafting regular guys like me to live slightly more comfortably? One extra Ferrari in the driveway?

I'm glad the season is dead. Dangling the possibility of a shortened season was just cruel. I'll go back to watching hockey if and when they come back. It would suck if the NHL disappears forever, but I would survive. They're killing the goose that lays the silver egg.

I know it's not as good as a gold egg, but it sure beats what these knuckleheads would be doing if they had to go out & get real jobs.

Fun with Referrer Logs, too

Since Terry's out sick, I get to do this too. Aside from someone looking for "stewardess", I think so far this is the oddest site from which to wander my way.

Now, I'm sure this Hong Kong person is lovely, but for all I know it's a skinny Jewish guy over there talking about corn-fried kosher salami. All I recognize are the image of Charlie Brown & Snoopy, and Keanu Reeves. Oddly, there are no Asian letters/characters for "Whoa."

This guy also stopped by. Panem & Circensis indeed. Did the Romans have those big orange peanut things too? Just asking.

Clear Proof

as if anyone needed it, that I need my head examined. I now have a microwave at work, and I went ahead to heat my lunch (very nice and spicy Mexican stuffed shells, made with veggie beef substitute). I figure six shells won't heat as well or as quickly as if I split them up. So I put three of the shells in the container that held the salad I brought (salad being finished & all) and stuck 'em in the nuker.

Putter around, go get them after the beep, take a bite and... they're ice cold. What in the...? Irritated, I go pop 'em back in for another minute. All is well, they're really good. Go to grab the second set of three, in the original container, and... What the...? They're in an advanced thermodynamic state, to say the least. Possibly even hot.

So your intrepid blogger, demonstrating his smarts, removed the hot shells, placed them on the desk, and promptly began to eat the non-irradiated ones first.

Nonidentical containers might be a good idea for next time, methinks.

This article

may be the best argument I've seen made against those who claim you need to serve in order to have an opinion on the war in Iraq.

I think this is my favorite paragraph:

To be clear: the entire notion of "Chicken______" is absurd. A free society should act on the assumption that citizens can reason about military issues without personal military experience, just as they can reason about any issue without needing a doctorate degree to do so. If you can't trust citizens to reason intelligently outside of their personal fields of expertise, you've ceded political control to the experts. A strong insight into human nature gives citizens the capacity for reasonably wise decisions on all subjects. And insight into human nature doesn't require military discharge papers

As Mr. Kern writes, you don't need to have personal experience to have an informed opinion. I can tell you from experience you don't really need a PhD to do anything. Except teach, and apparently that isn't even required if you hold the right pedigree and personal beliefs.

I can live with people being against war, and this war in particular. Telling people they need to have been soldiers to support this war is a ridiculous argument to make. And the left claims they're the intellectuals?

(With a nod to Ramesh Ponnuru at the Corner for the link)

Another odd thought

ocurred to me this AM while listening to talk radio. Curtis & Kuby are on a local AM station, intended so far as I can tell to be somekind of Left/Right Tweedledumb & Tweedledee deal. Anyway, they were talking about the Jose Canseco interview on 60 Minutes ("all the news we feel like making up and preaching to you"), and somebody said "All these kids watching Jose Canseco picked up Canseco's suggestion that they all go do steroids to become great ball players."

Now, maybe indeed that is the message people would pick up. But who on earth thinks young people are watching 60 Minutes? Give up lovely MTV offerings such as Nick & Jessica and Room Raiders (a hideous "program" where a male or a female goes through the room of three members of the opposite gender to decide who to date based on the contents of their underwear drawers. And no, I am not a regular viewer)to watch some washed up ballplayer on a news program? Interviewed by Mike Wallace? Somehow this octogenarian talking to a screwup will connect with the youth of America? I understand where the message is, but I'd be surprised if anyone under 50 watches 60 Minutes on a regular basis.

The lesson of this is that I should probably stop listening to talk radio.

It's all you Southern Types

The gummint says so. All the health food you people eat is supposedly bad for you. They want to take away the fried food group, which suggests problems ahead for Terry's PossumKitchens. How can we deliver high-quality deep-fried kosher foods if the CDC says it's all bad for you?

I can live with government being frustrated. I want people to be healthy. I understand there are healthcare costs associated with poor diet. But it's nobody's business what other people eat. Food is supposed to taste good, and sometimes that means fat is included. Andrew Stuttaford over at National Review has a real bug up his English bum about the "Health Mullahs", and he's converted me. I don't really think the Feds have any business telling people what to eat or what not to eat.

Put up the numbers, explain to folks why you think a healthy diet would be a good idea, then shut up.

Mmmm, deep fried gummint forms. Anybody else hungry?

Sometimes I wonder about people

I sometimes listen to Sean Hannity on the drive home, and one of his callers yesterday just irritated me.

Hannity apparently interviewed a certain Western University professor of insane political views (I won't dignify the looney with a mention of his name, much less a link.) Suffice it to say said "Education Professional" believes the dead in the WTC and the Pentagon got what was coming to them. It's a free country, and this jerk is allowed to say what he wants. We ought to see people like this make fools of themselves - it's meant as a warning to us to use our brains when we speak.

Anyway, the caller gets on the line and says (I paraphrase) "well, nothing should have happened to the Trade Center victims, but the Pentagon was a military target, so it's OK." Hannity took the guy to task for equating the US, liberators of millions over the last half century with the terrorist sickos who killed office workers and stewardesses. I'm fully in agreement with Hannity here, as I suspect most people are - there is no possible moral equivalent between the two.

What I wish Hannity had brought up is a few basic problems with the caller's premise. First of all, at the time they attacked us on 9/11, WE WERE NOT AT WAR. I don't care what Bin Laden said - there was no formal declaration of war, ergo there is no such thing as a military target. Granted we're not dealing with people who care for the niceties of international conventions, but I do not believe you can call something a military target when we are not actually engaged in a war. I can live with the idea of the Germans in WWII bombing the Pentagon - we were at war, and if they could have pulled it off, it would have been within legitimate target boundaries, as far as I can tell. Still would have been awful, but one couldn't really be surprised. Calling it a military target for Al Qaida assumes a certain level of common beliefs, which is clearly not the case.

Second, let's assume (as the caller was) that Al Qaida had legitimate gripes. Did they not have an obligation to address us directly to have their complaints addressed? Would the caller side with their approach that either 1) they tried to talk to us but we didn't listen, or 2) we have forfeited any right to explain ourselves? Look, I'll grant you that American foreign policy over the years has not been without issues. We have stepped on a lot of toes and caused many problems. But giving these guys ANY legitimacy is insane. Terrorists are terrorists - their entire approach is that no one is innocent, and I can't find any rational or moral defense for such an approach.

Third, we are not dealing with a recognized government. No one voted these guys any legitimacy. They are self-appointed "defenders of righteousness." Just because they have a beef is no reason why we need to legitimize it, much less bend over and take it. The caller's implication is, as the Perfesser's that we had it coming. If we do (and I don't believe we do), it's not Al Qaida's choice any more than it would be the IRA's, the Weathermen, or Aryan Brotherhood. Civilized people don't act this way.

The moral equivalency the west has developed over the last 30-40 years is among the most pernicious, subversive, and unintellectual schools of thought I can imagine. When everything becomes relative, there's no truth anymore. The end of the Shema prayer says "The Lord, your God, is truth." Without truth, there's nothing left. When you can defend someone who will fly airplanes into buildings, killing ordinary people, you cannot be considered a reasonable person.

Headline Fun - Prince Charles to Marry Parker Bowles

Presumably, Parker Stevenson was already spoken for.

Thursday Three

Computers today:

1) What was your first computer?

My mom had an IBM PC, one of the first that went on general sale for regular folks. One of these, in fact, though she had a NEC printer that weighed about 100 pounds and sounded like a WWI era machine gun. I myself was given a Commodore 64 as a gift - it may have been a Bar Mitzvah present, but I can't remember. I managed to program a Celsius-Fahrenheit converter, but that's about it. Oh, and I got it to repeat rude sentences over & over on the screen.

2) What is the worst thing you ever encountered dealing with a computer?

Where shall I begin? MicroSatan? Spam? Trying to learn how to program in Access? The hands-down winner for me is Tech Support. Either internal or at a company, I've never had an easy time dealing with them, and most techies I've dealt with have been morons or nasty, or both.

3) What is your favorite piece of software?

Mrs. Skinny, of course.

A distant second would be the database program I use here at the office, Inmagic's DB/Textworks. I can do just about anything with this DB, and in a hundredth of the time it would take to do it in Access. Heck, I could get Terry's "Check Engine Light" to go off with this thing if I wanted to. Adobe's GoLive is another favorite.

4) Big Mac or Whopper?

I'm not much use for this question. My answer is I only eat grilled burgers, and I only eat my own. Which are a mix of ground beef and ground turkey. Does this answer the question?

This seemed odd...

and I was all set to get mad about it. Dumbing-down of the curriculum and all that. Then I read it was a non-credit course, and in that case they are free to do what they want.

I do think calling this "Community Service" is a bit of a stretch.

Happy Birthday, Ma

There's something about winter birthdays on the distaff side in my family.

Mind you, so far as I know Mom has no idea this exists, and I see no real reason to bring it to her attention. She's quite computer savvy, so it's not a technophobe thing. Her tastes just run more towards sewing.

Anyway, Happy Birthday.

Archives of Interest

Feeling a bit international, I went looking for something overseas. There's a member of one of my email lists from Wales, and for some reason it made me think to find a Welsh archive today.

So, without further ado, the National Library of Wales. I leave it up to the reader if they prefer to read it in English or Welsh. The latter is one of those languages with a few too many consonants for my taste, but Hebrew comes with it's own issues, so I shouldn't complain. Once again they have a useful interactive catalog here. I object to its simplicity, though. It's helpful to have a few more fields to search on, or at least add a link to an advanced search. If you're just browsing, it's hard to know where to begin. A minor quibble, anyway.

There's a neat section on Crime and Punishment from the Circuit Courts in Wales from the 18-19th centuries. Fun reading, if you like that sort of thing.

Things I Learned this Weekend

1) While as a rule I don't think it's essential to measure the amount of beans & barley going into the cholent pot, there is such a thing as too much. Which leads one skinny person to start removing the overage perhaps 10 minutes before candlelighting this shabbos. Time that would have been wiser spent elsewhere.

2) Announcements after services can indeed last longer than human endurance. Bad enough the poor kids are sitting there drooling over the post-services snacktime (technical term is kiddush), but even the adults like me that always escape before announcements start were getting a little punchy. How are you supposed to tell a 34 year old man he has to wait for M &Ms, much less a five year old? Especially since almost everybody in the place gets the announcements by email, there's no burning reason to torture everyone.

3) You can, in fact, leave the dishes until Sunday morning to wash. It killed no one, and probably prevented a spousal spat. They're certainly clean now.

4) MOST IMPORTANT - leaving your pepper plant in its container until the first week in February is a bad idea. Aside from the fact that it looks silly having dead plants in the yard, but dirt and the water in the pot holding the dirt do, in fact, freeze.

I realize this is not news to many of you, but it is a bit of a revelation to me. We did manage to unseat the dirt in its frozen state from the base of the pot, and come warmer times we will wash it and prepare it for new peppers this year. I do intend, however, to actually remove the soil & water from the pot a tad earlier this fall. Say, in the fall proper rather than in, oh, WINTER?

On the other hand...

As for the Democratic response, I shut it off after Senator Mousy's three minute tale of growing up in Nevada where his mother took in wash to make ends meet. Depression-era stories of hardship don't cut it anymore, more than sixty years after that period. Moreover, if you're going to respond, cut to the chase. "The president offered this, we disagree about it, and here's what we want to do instead"

Don't give me crap about "Spurring research and development in new technologies to help create the jobs of the future." Read my lips - THAT IS NOT THE GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSIBILITY. That's what private industry is for. We are still the most technologically advanced nation in the world. There's more to the economy than getting technology to move ahead, which will happen anyway.

The rest was the old liberal lines about powerful corporate interests vs. "regular Americans." It's tired, stale, and unhelpful. Millions of people in this country work for corporations, and corporations provide the energy that fuels our economy. Many people's health care is only affordable because their corporate employers pay a huge chunk of it. I'm tired of the demonization of Corporate America. Corporate America is many of us who work for it, and we should be grateful for the chance to work for dynamic, and profitable organizations.

(Incidentally, I caught a Frontline the other day where they were discussing the credit card industry. They asked the head lobbyist of the American Banking Association about how the industry made $30 billion in profit last year. For some reason I can't figure, the guy hemmed & hawed about it. What's the problem? You're in the business of making money, and you made money. You should be crowing about it. Investors and the company made money, and that's what you're in business to do. I don't see why anyone should apologize for it - that's what our economy is based on. I grant you many people are in credit card debt, but there's an element of personal responsibility there. Don't blame the company if people can't control their spending.)

Anyway, I never saw Nancy Pelosi's comments. I can't imagine, from reading it, that it was worth seeing. Listening to the left carp about Civil Liberties and our so-called police state, it's beyond disingenuous for her to be criticizing the Administration's response to terrorism. They wanted us to go crawl to the UN for protection from the bad guys, and she's whining about a lack of a defense plan? She didn't want us to go to war & she's the military's best friend? She still thinks all of Iraq is chaos - she has no idea what's going on there, I'm sure. Perhaps she ought to talk to Cap'n Frank over in Baghdad. I have a feeling he could enlighten her, if she were to bother listening.

She gets my "Just Shut Up" award.

The State of Our Union

Terry reminds me that I had some comments on the State of the Union address from last night. Now I admit to being a strong supporter of the president. He's not perfect, but I think he's handled his responsibilities well and I'm glad he's our president. I'm not certain if my reactions to the speech last night are because of my support, and how much were because it was a good speech.

I think overall it was a good speech, and I thought the president was forceful, well spoken, and completely believed what he was saying. Some lines that resonated with me:

"The principle here is clear: taxpayer dollars must be spent wisely, or not at all. "

I believe he has it exactly right - I'd just like to know that he's planning on following through. Let's cut everything, and we can all stop sucking at the the government trough. I don't believe it's government's responsibility to run everything, and maybe we don't actually need most of what's out there.

"Four years of debate is enough — I urge Congress to pass legislation that makes America more secure and less dependent on foreign energy. "

I'm not so in tune with a lot of what the President said in this passage, but the "four years is enough" line resonated with me. I took as him telling congress to get up off it's fat behind and do things instead of yammering all the time.

"Because a society is measured by how it treats the weak and vulnerable, we must strive to build a culture of life. "

A shot across the bow of the Abortion lobby, near as I can tell. I'm just glad to hear him articulate "culture of life" as a goal.

"The Constitution also gives the Senate a responsibility: Every judicial nominee deserves an up-or-down vote."

Amen, brother. I'm sick of my state's senior senator standing in the way of nominations because he can. You're either fer 'em or agin 'em - let's cut the filibuster crap, okay?

"And because democracies respect their own people and their neighbors, the advance of freedom will lead to peace. "

Here's the Bush Doctrine laid out for all to see. Freedom=Peace, and bringing freedom to people is what America should be about.

There were things I didn't care for - the nods to the left about HIV, ethanol, additional social programs, whatever. On the whole I thought it was a conservative (politically) speech, and it rang notes I wanted to hear.

Thursday Three...

is here again. Thus, oddly enough, I am posting to respond. Go figure.

1) Do you have any phobias, and if so, what are they?

One, but it's a biggie. I have a tremendous phobia about medical issues. I don't want to hear about procedures described, and I certainly don't want to see procedures performed. Movie blood doesn't do it to me, but reading about brain surgery will. Naturally, I work in a medical archives. Happily, it's almost all administrative and not medical in the slightest.

2) If you do have one (or several) has it (or have they) ever been so intrusive in your life that it (or they) caused you embarrassment?

I have passed out numerous times (though not in years), including at least once in science class. Scared the blazes out of the teacher, so perhaps it wasn't all bad. You wake up & wonder why everyone is staring at you. And why are they so tall?

3) Eagles or Patriots?

I have no strong opinions, but I'm going Patriots by 10. Certain teams have an ability to put it together at the right time. Four times in the last five years? I don't think the Eagles will be able to take it away from them, barring a superior effort from McNabb - i.e. MVP effort. I'm just hoping it's not a blowout - there's no point in watching if it's 35-0 at the end of the 1st Q.

And I can always get the commercials on the net later.

Archives of Interest

A bit late in the day, but here's the Western History/Genealogy Department of the Denver Public Library. They seem to rotate photos on the front page, and at the moment there's a chap in kilt with a bloody great sporran peeking out at me.

Dunno if the site includes Western Scotland, but they've got at least one celtic image in the place. Looks like fun surfing. (Turns out it's a self-portait by photographer Joseph Collier)

For some reason I thought Western History might be of interest this week.