two little mysteries

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On two rural roads in Westfield, signs appeared that said "JAKE BRAKE PROHIBITED." I mentioned it to somebody who explained to me that meant big trucks (dump truck size) using their engines to slow down -- very noisy. After a week, the signs all vanished. This week, they reappeared, only now they say "ENGINE BRAKE PROHIBITED." I mentioned it to the same someone, and she said she had read that there was a company called "Jake Brake," and they didn't much care for the signs.

Makes sense.

The other little mystery is even simpler: the name of a song I hear in my head every so often. Thanks to the blog "Crooks and Liars," I now know it's "Sempre Libera" from "La Traviata" by Verdi. Here it is.

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"you'll run your bill up!"

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call me mr. mcBoingboing

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From bOINGbOING:

007 Title Sequences. I see this as a companion piece to the Alfred Hitchcock cameos I ran here a while back. (bOINGbOING article)

Chris Ware New Yorker covers and comic strip. (bOINGbOING article)

Maybe I could just change my LJ handle to something that automatically links to bOINGbOING. Save some time.

That reminds me, there's a new 1-hour special on Comedy Central featuring "The Amazing Johnathan," my favorite scary magician comic. It's pretty harsh and amusing. His stage persona of a dangerous and abusive magician, is quite effective. Highly recommended.

YouTube has 7 clips with him in it (even more if you spell his name "Jonathon" or "Jonathan"). Here's the longest one:

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