From Twitter 09-22-2009

• 08:11:36: What, me worry? RT DentonPolice: http://twitpic.com/iobpa - 09/22/2009 00:20:05 | 17 yrs | Bond: $419 | NO DRIVER'S LICENSE
  
• 08:13:00: Send it to me without laundering, please RT @edricliew: My tee shirt looks like an old rag. Stained with greese and oil.
  
• 08:14:38: Very cool:RT @JoexEd: Link: [Eduardo]™ http://tumblr.com/xxv37fuzg
  
• 08:16:35: @littlepigy i think you look good in short hair. accentuates your smile.
  
• 08:18:27: Tony, don't flee! Feel! RT DentonPolice: http://twitpic.com/inxdm - 09/21/2009 22:09:13 | 22 yrs | FLEEING POLICE OFFICER
  
• 08:19:09: @littlepigy plus, short hair is cooler. temperature-wise as well as looks-wise.
  
• 08:21:07: Very cute, worth speeding for RT DentonPolice: http://twitpic.com/inrpk - 09/21/2009 21:26 | 29 yrs | SPEEDING | NO DRIVERS LICENSE
  
• 08:22:56: @jerricklim where in the UK will you be?
  
• 08:26:31: @jerricklim oh, Warwickshire. If u ever get to London look us up for dinner.
  
• 08:28:29: good morning, all. Had a near-hypo this AM so just got up an hour early for breakfast. landlord installing fire alarm today, then meetings.
  
• 13:51:34: @se1 well, it's back on here at the Elephant at 13:50; it was only a momentary cut. took 10 mins for me to get back online.
  
• 14:24:09: Power is out at the Elephant. :-(
  
• 16:57:56: @jjjap can I add my condolences to the rest?
  
• 20:28:38: Power has been off for 6 hrs now. Concerned about my insulin...& my elderly neighbours.
  
• 21:07:12: @oletalk yeah, that's me, in the dark. 11 pm at the earliest to restore power.
  

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

Dust storms in Sydney

tim1965 has a picture of the Sydney dust storm in his latest blog post, and phornax has one that, if anything, is even more stark. It reminds me of something that I witnessed in Phoenix in 1991.

I had given notice at Quantime in New York to move to Market Facts in Chicago. While I was serving out my notice, both Quantime and Market Facts asked me to go to Phoenix to do some work there with a client who was having some problems with a Quantime product. My first time in Phoenix (and, so far, my only time in Phoenix). It was a few weeks after the Episcopal Church's General Convention had met there.

I remember that the evening we got there it rained cats and dogs (which is out-of-the-ordinary for Phoenix, I think). So I went to the client's office building, which towered over most of the rest of Phoenix (I won't say who it was but it is a big company—gold faucets in the Gents', and so on).

I was sitting working at a computer terminal and looking out over the city while I worked. On the horizon I saw what I thought was some sort of cloud in the sky. However, as time went on it seemed to get closer and closer and turned brown. I asked the client what it was and he shrugged and said, "It's a dust storm. We get them from time to time."

Some dust storm. It moved rapidly toward the building and, suddenly, the entire skyline of Phoenix had disappeared into a brown haze of dust and dirt. This continued for a few minutes and then, as suddenly as it had arrived, it departed.

At that point I swore never to move to Phoenix. I guess I'll have to say much the same about Sydney—although, to be fair, our former flatmate Wyn MSNed me this morning and said that it had never happened before in his experience.

I'll probably still give Sydney a miss (except for a long-hoped-for sightseeing trip).

Today's Education URL

When I was in middle school, I had my first same-sex sexual experience (my first sexual experience as well). But homosexuality wasn't discussed. In fact, I suspect that most of us, gay or straight, wouldn't have known what the word meant.

Things have changed. God, have they changed! I am so envious of the kids who not only know what homosexuality is, and who know they are gay or lesbian, but who also come out at school, and are allowed to do so.

Thank goodness for the people who fought for lesbian and gay equality years ago—these advances would not have happened without you!