Sweden plans to spend 500 million crowns (that’s 69 million dollars) on a project that will put one of its distinctive little red cottages on the surface of the Moon:

The state agency SSC has carried out a technical study showing that it is indeed possible to put a little red cottage on the moon.

“If we manage to do this Sweden will be the third country to occupy the moon”, said SSC’s Fredrik von Schéele…

He explains how the last few years have seen a new race to the moon… putting a house on the moon would strengthen the impression of Sweden as a hi-tech country.

“Everybody sees the moon, so the house should be a symbol for mankind, as well as a sort of all-seeing eye looking over us,” said Genberg.

The giant eye, of course, will be used to monitor the public for evidence of tax evasion.

[link]

More Hillbilly Hijinx from the Dep’t of Homeland SHAME:

A puppy that was fed crack cocaine by a driver who was stopped at a DUI checkpoint appears to be healthy and unharmed by the incident[...] “The plan is that the dog is not going back to that owner,” Dr. Smolen said. Crack puppy OK, under veterinary care

Oh Pennsyltucky, my home and native land:

MCKEESPORT, Pa. –A woman pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in connection with a bizarre incident in February that resulted in a fake penis being microwaved at a convenience store. Woman pleads guilty in fake penis case - Boston.com

Apparently, microwaving a fake penis is punishable by 90 days in jail.

You know, it constantly amazes me that some people refuse to see homosexuality as anything other than a purely modern phenomenon:

<< What may be the first depiction of a gay kiss was discovered in a 4,000-year-old Egyptian tomb… Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were painted together for eternity in an embrace usually associated with heterosexual couples

<< One of the largest and most beautiful of all the tombs in the necropolis at Saqqara… The “Tomb of the Hairdressers” or “Tomb of Two Brothers” as it has become known was in fact the burial place of King Niuserre’s manicurists.

<< The official view by one of the world’s most eminent Egyptologists, Zahi Hawass, is that they were brothers, perhaps even conjoined twins… and there is a danger that modern European eyes fail to resist the temptation of seeing the images as homoerotic. >>

So… let’s recap. Two cosmetologists hole up together in a big showy house full of antiques and we’re supposed to think that they’re conjoined twins? Uh, right. Even if these two were brothers, that doesn’t make it unthinkable that there were homos in ancient Egypt. (I also love the implication that only white people would think this.)

I am a little out of sorts today because my grandmother had a heart attack yesterday, and is lying in the hospital, barely conscious. I may have to fly back to PA this week depending on what my mother thinks when she gets there. If you’re the sort that prays, please everyone say a few words for my grandma.

UPDADATE: My grandmother woke up and is making a recovery. Thanks everyone for your kind words the past few days.