Silliness in the news

It looks like video games are becoming reality with the new Halo body armor. I don't think the morphine feature of the suit is a good idea and I'm still not quite sure whether the cod piece is for protection or just to show who really is has a bigger dick. However, in a world where the Pentagon is willing to shell out $35,000 for a screwdriver, I think $2000 for the armor is a bargain.

For those people who have a lot of disposable income and no sense of what to do with it, having R2D2 project your DVDs onto your very own home theater is the only way to go and the remote control is the Millennium Falcon. I have to say they looked a lot bigger on the screen in the theater when I saw Star Wars but size is definitely relative here.

Then there's a way to freshen the air outside, especially in smog-laden cities where you can barely see through the murk, with scented tires. Lavender is the first available scent for $119-138 per tire. Orange and jasmine are the next scents to roll off the rubber. As someone who works with essential oils I can tell you that too much jasmine smells like feces. I wonder if the inventors figured that into their equation or of they are saying something else with their new product. Hmmmm.

Over here in the unscented mountain air of Colorado, the sun is making an attempt to warm things up and striking gold from the withered leaves still desperately clinging to a few trees. The sky is a wan Colorado blue but it is empty of clouds of any kind. It won't last long since there is more snow on the way on Saturday. The weather was full of snow and rain and hail when I lived northwest of here at the cabin, more snow and rain and hail than the area had seen in years--six to be exact. The ski slopes were busy and the snow machines were quiet while the avalanches roared occasionally down onto the twisting roads leading into and out of the valley and through the pass. The three chiefs rested beneath a deep cover of packed snow and nearly daily powder.

Every time I came down the mountain to Colorado Springs it was as if this side of the Continental Divide was at least a season behind. No snow lay on the ground and the aspens were still golden and well leafed. After I moved here I danced for a whole three minutes in a sprinkling of rain that barely wet the ground while last July and August rain fell most days and the temperatures were far from the dog days I had come to expect. This winter is just as wet and cold and snowy. The landlady says it's El Nino, but I wonder what the real reason for this sudden change in weather habits is all about. One thing I do know is that I am enjoying the cold and the snow and watching skiers glide down the street and past the window where I spend most of my days.

That is all. Disperse.