Oddities of the Week

Spent the weekend at and around the Lake of the Ozarks, first camping, then at a resort. Turns out that no tent is waterproof after four inches of rain in three hours. Go figure.

Toured Bridal Cave, one of many in the area. Adam pointed out something odd about the tour guide's script that I entirely overlooked: his only statement about the age of the caves was "nobody knows". Which is pure poppycock, of course, as there are any number of ways of estimating it. Not least the rate at which stalagmites form, which he did mention. Leaving two obvious possibilities: either he himself is a creationist, or many of his visitors are, and he wanted to be politic. One of those moments when I realize that I'm just slightly closer to the Bible Belt than I used to be.

The resort, Tan-tar-a, was a treasure trove of little oddities. Only one of the five buildings has an elevator at all - holy ADA grandfathering, Batman! And then there was a system of skywalks that did a dubious job of knitting together the wildly different architectural styles. We actually got lost more than once just walking back from the pool: a choice of three paths split again into six, and all of them were dead ends! I don't easily get lost indoors, so I suspect a Rose Red of constantly shifting floor plans.

Random story for a few weeks back: I ask for a Liquid Cocaine at a bar. The bartender has to ask a colleague what's in it, which should have warned me. Usually it's some combination of vodka, amaretto, Southern Comfort, and pineapple juice. This one also had Jaegermeister. Possibly the most undrinkable thing I've ever been handed.

Been having really good luck at antique stores and used book sales lately: I've almost finished assembling the seven-volume Death's Gate cycle in hardback. If there are any Dragonlance fans out there, you should check it out: it's by Weis and Hickman.

Too bad everything else Tolkien wrote besides LOTR and the Hobbit remains near-unreadable.

I rarely pay attention to all things sports, but congratulations to Nebraska for making it to the College World Series. Looks like I'll be seeing them play this weekend.