Internet in Kyrgyzstan

According to the Kyrgyz law, the Internet resources do not fall into the category of mass media and cannot be regulated by the CEC during elections. Malabaev believes that the civil and criminal law says that the owner of the website is responsible for “black PR”, and it is important to warn them about it. [full article]

Kitten has a home! :-)

Toma, whom I know from elementary school, and who lives with her family near Augusta, GA, has adopted kitten! We met today in Swainsboro, GA, which is about halfway between our homes, and she took kitten home. I'm very happy knowing that kitten will be raised in a good home. Thank you, Toma!

And for everyone else, here are some videos of the adorable kitten that you missed the opportunity to adopt:

On my drive back to Waycross, I stopped several times along the way to take photographs. Just south of Swainsboro on US1, I found my dream house. I would LOVE to move this house to my mom's land. It is perfect... a foursquare front with four rooms and a central hallway, with an L addition off the back for the kitchen and bathroom. It has a front porch and a back porch off the L addition. It's structurally sound with no signs (or scents) of water damage. And it's EMPTY and could totally be moved. Although it has a new roof, which makes me suspect someone might be planning to do something with it. Also, moving a house that big roughly 100 miles would be really damn expensive. But still, look at it.... PERFECT!

I thought this was a pretty scenic spot:

Old barn in a cotton field

COTTON!


Can you believe I'd never seen cotton au naturale before?


I also found a pretty neat old cemetery.


And lastly, I photographed this old church on DeVanderene Rd in Ware County.

(More photos at flickr.)

And on a brief and completely different note: I've been watching the CNN/YouTube Republican debate while resizing photos and blogging. I always have a hard time objectively ranking and discussing all-Republican events, simply because I disagree with so much of what they say. For that reason, I'm not going to bother discussing their content. Regarding performance, I thought Huckabee and McCain performed the best. Giuliani needs to stop making every sentence about New York. And I would love to watch Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich debate each other, because they're such weird little gnomes, and that would be entertaining. Tactically, I think that it would be fabulous for the Democratic party for Mitt Romney to be the GOP nominee simply because I am convinced he can't win the Bible belt.

A visit from Gwen

Gwen (as in my good friend for many years who was also my boss last year while I was in Korea) is in the US currently, and she drove up to Waycross today to spend the day with me, exploring this grand metropolis. We drove out to explore my mom's new land, dined at a local cafe, had coffee at Hot Toddy, bought her a crazy Solstice dress at Salvation Army (you'll see pictures of it next month!) and drove down to Folkston to explore the Okefenokee Swamp. I didn't get that many photos, but here are a few of the swamp:

We thought this sign was funny. Sadly, we didn't see a single alligator.

Swamp!

Chesser Prairie, Okefenokee Swamp

What *is* rich?

After the November 15th Democratic debate, when Hillary made that comment about an individual making $97k/yr being middle class, we had a bit of a discussion in the comment section of my post on the debate regarding what *is* middle class and what *is* rich. There was an excellent discussion on this topic on NPR today, which I highly recommend that you listen to.

Trap-Neuter-Release: The Humane Solution

Of kitties, tax dollars, and ghetto cars

A while back, I wrote about the neighbors (presumably) getting busted for something. (You can refresh your memory here.) In case you're interested in an update: the woman and the children have returned, although the various and sundry menfolk have not. Plus, the woman is now driving the infamous Spearmint 22" car. I snuck a picture of it from my back porch today, just to show you this absurd vehicle:

(You really need to see it large for the full effect.)

If I haven't mentioned it already, property taxes inside the City of Waycross are absurd. This past year I had to shell out nearly $500 for the privilige of living in a crime infested ghetto where my street signs proclaim that I reside at the corner of Ass and Ass. You'd think for $500/yr they'd at least put up some new street signs. Or do a better job of policing the place. Something. Well, okay, they did something. They dispatched a crew to do a hatchet job on this large and very Jane's-property-concealing bush today. Allegedly someone called and complained that the bush was blocking their view of the stopsign. I can't imagine who in this neighborhood would bother calling the city to complain about that.

Today a large grey tomcat showed up on the front porch just in time for breakfast. It seems quite likely that he is the father of Kitten, don't you think?

Left: Daddy Cat; Right: Grey Stray Cat

Sadly, Grey Stay has a really bad case of ear mites, so bad that he has scratched his ears raw. I did my best to administer ear mite meds and rub neosporin on his raw spots, but he did not like that one bit! I hope he continues to show up, at least so I can get him fixed.

Oh, Vlad.

You thought our upcoming election was going to be interesting?
We've got nothing on Russia when it comes to interesting.
Listen.

And because I just can't stop myself: K-Punk

More K-pop: The Korean Numa Numa Song

For you K-Pop lovers out there...

...I snagged this off Diana's site, since as I'm no longer addicted to Korea's OnStyle network I'd've had no clue as to it's existence otherwise. It's an ad for Samsung's Anycall phones, filmed in a dystopian future where technology combines with music to save the masses from an oppressive brave new world-ish existence. [more info] I was never all that into K-Pop, but I've found this rather addictive. I think I miss Korea :-)

And in case you're interested in more Korean-related weirdness, check out this episode of The Simpsons. You'll have to watch the first few minutes before you realize why I've linked you there though - but you'll see!