Eggs that never expire.

A spammer who's been impersonating me (i.e., using forged email headers with my domain name) is promoting what looks like a business in the USA. This looked like a chance to take action, as they're breaking US law.

Looks are deceiving. The Tennessee address on their web site is a sham; the USPS says it's undeliverable.

Spammers used to impersonate me for a day or so and then move on to another domain name. It's now chronic; I've been getting as many as 20,000 bounced emails a day courtesy of spammers.

Because of this, I have configured the mail server for my domain names to no longer accept email with any arbitrary name before the at sign. That rejects >99% of the junk email impinging upon me. Readers can still reach me at the contact addresses you've had for me all along.

We had a nice little earthquake this morning; the epicenter was only about 4 miles east of my house. This was the first one I've felt in a few years.

Speaking of natural phenomena--there'll be an eclipse of the moon Wednesday evening, with totality lasting from 7:01 to 7:51 PST.

A few years ago, a straight friend asked me how gay men decide who is going to be the woman in a relationship. I controlled myself and didn't laugh at the question. I asked whether she wanted to know about sexual roles, or about who says "jump" and who says "how high", or what. And I explained that gay men are not so easily generalized and that many are versatile.

I also didn't ask her whether it gets boring always being the one who is penetrated. I know I'm biased, but I have found that balance is a good thing (in general, not just in sex). We are not pure male and female; each of us embodies complementary aspects, both of which deserve to be exercised and experienced (not that the mere mechanics of sex are all that matters; I'm not talking just about who pokes who).

I knew a young man in San Francisco who dominated men for a living. It wasn't prostitution in the sense that his pants stayed on. Guys paid him just to be spanked, humiliated, caged, and so on. I saw a large dog carrier in his playroom; he said "that's for overnight guests." He told that me a number of his clients were in positions of authority and control in their professional lives: they were executives, politicians, and so on.

It makes sense to me that any social animal will be endowed with the capacity both to lead and to follow (just to name one instance of complementary roles), as a group needs some of both to function. Any individual may be more drawn to one role or another, but there is value in acknowledging one's capacity for both. Or so it seems to me.

This photo (slightly cropped here)

runs in today's NY Times with a caption saying that the owners "wanted their house in Joshua Tree, Calif., to match rocks and lichen in the landscape."

Setting aside whether lichen comes in quite those colors--this is supposed to match the rocks?

It's a bird, it's a plane, ...

Don't plant a tree two feet from a septic tank like the previous owner of my house did. No, the roots haven't compromised the plumbing--but they did make unearthing the lids of the tank a pain.

Bill Poser, writing in Language Log today:

Today is the 199th^* anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves, and Charles Darwin, who freed the mind.

Mike Huckabee in 2007, backhandedly affirming freedom:

If anybody wants to believe that they are the descendants of a primate, they are certainly welcome to do it.

*	Note: 199 is prime.
	Note also that Darwin sailed on the HMS Beagle, and a beagle won best in show at Westminster tonight. Coincidence, you say.

At the end of 2007, a neighbor's husband of 27 years announced out of the blue that he wants a divorce. He's made up his mind; he won't try to work things out. They have kids. The wife hadn't seen it coming, and is devastated. I got a phone call from her this morning; she was in tears.

About five minutes after that call, a friend called to tell me what horrible things her fiancé has been telling her, how unreasonable he is, and so on. And yet, they remain engaged.

Readers may recall that I played the music at the ceremony when two friends of mine got married 15 months ago. They had been lovers for over ten years, and they have a kid. That marriage disintegrated spectacularly last month. In this case, the wife ditched the husband and he hadn't seen it coming. No, I won't be playing any music at divorce proceedings.

With full respect to those who are in worthwhile relationships: I'm glad I like being single.

From the Dude Corpus, a collection of instances of dude used as a term of address:

139.	(friendly chat)
	Dude, bandwidth is better than sex.
293.	(discussing a game, Internet)
	Dude, you can't be a samurai and not have honor.
410.	(algebra teaching assistant explaining concept to class)
	So this variable's like, "dude, can I come party with you?" And this other variable's like, "no way, dude, there aren't any x's allowed over here;" so x says, "screw you, dude, I'll just party on this side of the equation."

Scholarly explication in this paper (shorter version: dude indicates "I like you, but I don't want to suck your dick").

I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour
drinking milkshakes cold and long
smiling and waving and looking so fine
I don't think you knew you were in this song

Assorted reflections on five years of blogging:

• Looking back at things I wrote years ago, I'm sometimes struck by how concerned I got over things that now don't seem like a big deal at all. The blog (specifically its archive) is good for reminding me of things I said that I might otherwise have forgotten. Writing privately would do the trick too, but the allure of having an audience--even a smallish one in the case of a trifle of a blog like this--has gotten me to write more than I ever did in private journals.
• Readers are more inclined to post public comments than they are to send email--the allure of an audience again. This is all to the good: anything to promote feedback.
• Making e-friends by blogging is nice, but I look at that as a bonus--i.e., I'd blog no matter what.
• Thanks to everyone reading...!

And as long as I'm on the topic of five years, it was on February 5, 2003 that Colin Powell disgraced himself and the USA at the United Nations. I see that episode as one of the lowest points in the tenure of this administration--which is saying something, considering how low it routinely sinks.

What is it with (some) Democrats.
Hillary last night, sounding every bit as worthless as DiFi:

Clinton:	I think what no one could have fully appreciated is how obsessed this president was with this particular mission. [...]
moderator:	So what I hear you saying--and correct me if I'm wrong--is that you were naïve in trusting President Bush?

I'm voting for Barack Obama in Tuesday's primary.

And now, two unrelated lines I found entertaining yesterday.
Click to see 'em in context.

• There's no real reason why a flight in which one flies naked should be more expensive than any other.
  
  
• Man, bodies are nasty! I can TOTALLY SEE why nascent machine intelligences don't wanna hang with us.