That kid is clearly not consenting to this, and given that she's (?) wearing the clothing that is being simultaneously lost as she tries to escape and also signed, it's much more like the kid is being signed than the clothing. What do we autograph? Objects, not people.

This is disturbing on many levels, and I don't even need to reference what I learned from the how-to-root-out-and-prevent-child-abuse classes to know that.

I buy the NYT on Monday's because the crossword puzzle is easy (important because (1)Monday and (2)I'm out of practice), not to have my brain broken before I even get to work.

In other news, my father has a Hello Kitty band aid.

Stalker!'s family's parties are the best ever.

In other news, I will not let the cat out because it is the fourth of July, and now she is sneaking up behind me to express her dissatisfaction on my head.

Someone who has been holding out made an email address, promptly. I am suspicious.

But I'm more worried about the cat.

The red velvet cupcakes are for Stalker and co., tomorrow. In the morning I plan to frost them, do something with the glitter decorating gel that I have, and then do something else with the oversized dot sprinkle things. It should all be very cute, and I may make some more sometime in the next few weeks to take to work with me.

Dead Like Me is kind of cool. I like the toad.



Also: when I did the whole Sears Tower thing a few years ago I figured it was a one off, and I wouldn't have a reason to go up again. This helped to mediate the fact that it is insanely overpriced and the elevators are entirely too cramped for me to be anywhere close to comfortable. But, no. Now, there are glass ledges. They look freaking awesome, and now the trip to Catholics on Call is even more appealing. There is some free time in the evenings, and I think I may have enough time to catch the last elevator up at some point.



The recipes I'm using for the cupcakes are by Martha Stewart, for both the cakes themselves and the cream cheese frosting. They are simple and reliable, as most of her recipes are. Also, I really kind of want the cupcake book.

The commercial is downright anxiety inducing. Gob Dylan pointed this out to me before I could point this out to her. It goes on for entirely too long, and features way too much yelling and compulsive, tic-like behaviour.

Also, decision engine? That is freaky. This is not like google big brother-y, which mostly manages to be ostensibly benign, but dystopian rise of the machines big brother-y.

Conclusion: lame.

Today's awesome Nebula!APOD is to make everything better.

Also blatantly stolen from NASA:

These clouds of interstellar dust and gas have blossomed 1,300 light-years away in the fertile star fields of the constellation Cepheus. Sometimes called the Iris Nebula and dutifully cataloged as NGC 7023, this is not the only nebula in the sky to evoke the imagery of flowers. Surrounding it, obscuring clouds of dust and cold molecular gas are also present and can suggest other convoluted and fantastic shapes. Within the Iris, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star. The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Central filaments of the cosmic dust glow with a faint reddish photoluminesence as some dust grains effectively convert the star's invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Infrared observations indicate that this nebula may contain complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. At the estimated distance of the Iris Nebula this remarkable wide field view is over 30 light-years across