Congratulations to my friend Nat, who has become the first of my college friends to have a baby. He and his wife Staci welcomed little Marianne Elizabeth Cunningham into the world two weeks ago. Isn’t she cute? The last time I saw Nat we were drinking our faces off at a tailgater… and now he’s a Dad. It’s a weird feeling.

Uh oh.

Snookums sent me a link to this story about a huge iceberg that just broke in half. He especially liked this quote from the end: “The Ross Sea is on the northern Antarctic coast, 3,832 kilometers (2,395 miles) south of New Zealand.” As he put it: The northern coast of Antarctica, eh? Where exactly are the other coasts?

Happy 21st birthday to my brother Anthony! Don’t party too hard, bruder. 🙂

The Herald published my letter… and the bastards gutted it! That’s literally less than half, and they cut the whole bit about crusty old curmudgeons who pooh-pooh everybody else’s fun. That was the whole damn point!

The Herald is reporting that Ten will refund the cost of votes for Cosima that came in after they closed the voting. Apparently you have to show them your phone bill to get the cash. That sucks for all the folks (like me) who have pay-as-you-go phones and thus don’t get any friggin’ bill. Not that I voted for her, of course, but it’s still a pretty crappy maneuver.

The Guardian lists the 40 Greatest US Bands Today. REM’s in there at #22 and the Flaming Lips top the list at #1. Sounds good to me.

“Beer mat ‘flipping’ perfected.” The Snook’s gonna love this. He practices flipping every damn time we go to the pub. (Link courtesy of John.)

It’s Melbourne Cup Day, the day all of Australia stops to watch a horse race. I’m not kidding. (Apparently the whole state of Victoria gets the day off!) From what I gather, it’s all about gambling and big hats. Our office is running a couple “sweeps”, where you bet a certain amount and then pull a horse’s name out of a hat. I’m in for $7. Cross your fingers for “Mamool” and “Hugs Dancer”! (Doesn’t that second one sound like a My Little Pony? In my imagination it’s pink with twinkly stars on its bum.)

Update: Hooray! Neither of my horses won, but Mamool came dead last. That means I get my money back!

Nooooooooo! Dear God, say it isn’t so! Millsy and Paris Hilton? I’m going to go retch.