Australian Brush Fires

Updated: Over 150 lives lost in the worst fires of Australia modern history.

This photo is from The Big Picture:

More 700 homes have been lost to date in Southern Australia.    More information about the ongoing tragedy below on the updated map.

Bonus Point Leader Board

In case you missed it on ESPN Sports Center night, here is the most current standings on the Bonus Points Leader Board.  They are always available on the sidebar in case you want to feverishly check where you're on the heap.  And you know you want to be feverish about this!

Points Name

74.5 Rocket Scientist

45   The Deeps of Time

33          Letters from Lausanne

26          Black Holes and Astrostuff

22          Lea (early reader of "A Body at Rest")

20 Newton's Ocean

20 Leave the Lights On

20         Imagining the Tenth Dimension

15          Make

15 Dallin

10          Glue4Families

10          Shakespeare Mom

10          Thom L.

10 Arash's World

10 Nested Universe

10 Ether Wave Propaganda

5            Nonfiction Lover

Bonus Points are for those who make great contributions to The Secret of Newton.  See the FAQ for more info about how to get these highly coveted points and be the envy of your peers.

Or, if you want to forsake the honor, fame and respect of your peers on the Leader Board you can buy neat stuff with your Bonus Points.  Just visit the Store House O' Prizes.

Free Comedy Gold From Craig's List: Large Pumpkin

[WARNING, GRAPHIC IMAGE OF MOLDY PUMPKIN BELOW.  NOT WORK SAFE, OR HOME SAFE, OR DINNER SAFE, OR LUNCH SAFE, OR BREAKFAST SAFE, OR MIDDLE AFTERNOON SNACK SAFE, OR FREE-SAMPLE-TABLE-AT-COSTCO SAFE.  But you know you want to see it anyway.]

OK, it is Friday, and I'm really in the mood for a pumpkin.  An old pumpkin, left over from Fall.  A big one! A large, old pumpkin. But I don't want to eat it, so it should be an inedible, large, old pumpkin.  And I don't want to pay for it.  What to do?  Ah... check the Craig's List free classifieds and see if I'm in luck.

Bingo!

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Large Pumpkin (Bellingham)

via craigslist | free stuff in bellingham on 2/2/09

We have a large (approx. 10" in diameter) pumpkin left over from fall. It is probably not edible so we're giving it away to anyone that has a use for it. Email if interested; can meet at a mutually convenient location.

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It is now almost the middle of February.  I don't know about you, but my pumpkin looked like this after about Mid November.  I suppose that's why it is a free pumpkin.  And comedy gold!

Image from Glitch City.

Snap Shots: A Bonus for Those on the Leader Board

2/4/09 Update: Snap Shots went down like a lead ballon.  Didn't work for folks.  5 Bonus Points also to Boris for alerting me to the dark, dark underbelly of the widget.  Snap Shots are no more.  I'll have to find a much less evil way of rewarding followers of the blog than Snap Shot Shares!  Cheers!

Three announcements:

1. I'm trying out Snap Shots, which allows you to take a sneak peak at links on my blog before clicking.  More details about this below.
2. Snap Shots has a feature called "Snap Shares" which gives me a percentage of the ad space on the Snap displays.  Because I'm grateful to the visitors and participants to TSON, I'm dedicating my Snap Shares to the top three sites on the Bonus Points Leader Board.  Each of the top three will get  a week's worth of Snap Shares where their blogs and links will be  plugged.  Since Rocket Scientist is in the BP lead, she will be getting the first round of Snap Shares.
3. I made sixth place on the "Top Ten Coolest People You Meet" list on the Nonfiction Lover blog.  (Being new to blogging, I appreciate the back-pat.)  Because the blog author, Hava, didn't put me on the "Top Ten Creepiest People You Meet" list and because her blog is a must read for book lovers, she is now on the Bonus Point Leader Board.  I've also added her to the blog roll.

Curious about Snap Shots?  This widget enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more.

Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

Cheers.

Go Cardinals!