A big happy birthday to my baby sister:

I hope you have a good one. (Well, had a good one, because I know you went to Talladega this weekend. Hope you kept your clothes on.)

Auburn wins an equestrian national title and finishes 3rd overall:

Auburn’s equestrian team won the Hunt Seat national title, defeating Texas A&M 5-2 Saturday in the Varsity Equestrian National Championships in Waco, Texas.

The Tigers finished third overall. They won the overall championship in 2006. Because equestrian is not an NCAA sport, the varsity nationals serve as national championship competition.

“Our Hunt Seat team has been the strongest team at Nationals,” Auburn coach Greg Williams said. “The girls did a phenomenal job. It is so fun to win a discipline title like Hunt Seat We are so proud to be bringing a national championship back to Auburn.”

Fooling around with Photo Booth and PhotoShop:

The Dead Guy has the best summary of last night’s victory by the Kansas Jayhawks over the Memphis Tigers to win the 2008 NCAA men’s basketball championship. Even his title is great: “Score one for Decent Society…”

Could there have been a more fitting end to the college basketball season than what occurred last night? Joey Dorsey – fouled out of the game on a cheap foul he had no business getting. Fatal coaching flaws by Calipari showing a lack of basic understanding about when to foul and when to play defense. And the free throws… ah yes… the free throws. One glorious brick after another. Basically, the Tigers’ season in a microcosm. They lost a 9-point lead quicker than anyone since the Knicks against the Pacers.

Finally free of the shackles of basketball, the Memphis players can get back to doing what they do best… getting arrested. They’ll have plenty of time to beat up ex-girlfriends, incite riots, solicit prostitutes, punch people and take off running, and all the other activities that make their motors hum. Reserve guard Andre Allen was so anxious to get back to real life, that he failed a drug test the week of the Final Four. Good to see that he was taking this opportunity so seriously.

But seriously. Was that an exciting game or what?

On Tuesday, I posted a link to the best April Fool’s joke of the day, produced by the BBC. Today, courtesy of the Laughing Squid, I found out how they made those penguins fly. It’s amazing the kind of magic that studios can accomplish today.

As you might have noticed, today was April Fool’s Day and the Internet was full of jokes, gags, and spoofs as the online crowd, mostly the geek types, tried hard to outdo each other. Most were lame, a few were entertaining, and a few were actually funny. But the best of them all came not from the geek crowd, but from ex-Monty Python chap Terry Jones and the BBC:

Opus would be proud.

(By the way, Wendy recognized Terry Jones right away. And I thought he was David Attenborough.)

Matt Sedensky of the AP says that the end of the Shuttle program could cost 8,000 jobs, almost all in the private sector:

More than 8,000 NASA contractor jobs in the nation’s manned space program could be eliminated after the space shuttle program is shut down in 2010, the agency said today.

The number of civil servants is expected to remain roughly the same, but dramatic job cuts are possible among private contractors as NASA transitions to the Constellation program, which is developing the next-generation vehicle and rockets to go to the moon and later to Mars.

Florida will be hit the hardest:

The bleakest forecast was issued for the flagship Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla., where just 1,600 to 2,300 employees were expected to remain in 2011, a cut of up to 80 percent from its current 8,000 workers. The Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans was forecast to lose as many as 1,300 of its 1,900 jobs.

Houston is not going to get hit quite as hard, because many of the jobs that we do here are similar to jobs that will be required for Constellation, like flight planning and mission operations. Most of the jobs at KSC are very tightly tied to the Shuttle hardware and the craft itself. But we have a few people like that here in Houston.

I’m sure that many of the lost jobs will be those occupied by men and women already close to retirement, or already partially retired. I know a couple of people like that myself. But some of the jobs lost could be young people.

I was telling Wendy just yesterday that I saw a guy in the cafeteria, a guy whose job for at least the past ten years, maybe longer, has been in designing and maintaining the Shuttle GPCs, the General Purpose Computers that fly the shuttle during the most critical mission phases. Unfortunately for him, USA doesn’t have any work — that I know of — dealing with the onboard computers. That guy might be able to find a job with Honeywell in Arizona, or he might be able to find work around Houston, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be able to continue with USA even though he’s a talented and skilled hardware man.

And that’s too bad, even though the guy is a pompous ass.

We’ve known that things were going to change, and we knew it some time ago. But as we approach 2010, the last year for the Shuttle, the changes are no longer way off in some distant future. They’re just around the corner, and as that date gets closer, it’s really going to begin putting pressure on us. Even for those of us fortunate enough to have found a new home in Constellation, it’s likely to be a turbulent time.

Here’s two videos of Bryn riding Laredo at Pine Hill courtesy of Terry Longoria. The first comes from a schooling day on February 24 of this year:

The second is from an eventing day on March 2. Bryn finished fifth place for the day.

I saw an item today on Kyrie O’Connor’s blog at the Houston Chronicle that’s a lot of fun. Take the words of a classic rock song, put them and alphabetical order, eliminate duplicates, and then try to recognize the song. It’s harder than it sounds, but it’s fun too. Spoiler warning: if you want to play the game yourself, first go to The Morning News and play the game there, then come back here and read on. (And yes, I stole their page title for this blog post. It was just too good to pass up.)

Some songs have a real economy with words and are hard to recognize. For example, what classic song is made of these 31 words?

always at be by can’t doin’ don’t ever free girl going got i i’m know me night no now oh really see set side sleep so wanna what yeah you your

Yeah, it’s The Kinks and “You Really Got Me“. Easy right?

A key word or two can make a song easier to recognize even if the word count is short. For example, I recognized these 29 words:

a ain’t all and but caught classed cryin’ dog friend high hound just lie mine never no nothin’ of rabbit said that the they time was well when you

Hound and rabbit can only be Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog“.

Some of the giveaway words are even more distinct, but you have to hunt for them:

a albino always an and are assured at been best blessed bored bring contagious dangerous denial dirty do end entertain feel find for forget found friends fun gift group guess guitar guns hard has hello here hey how i i’m it it’s just know less libido lights little load lose low makes me mind mosquito mulatto my never no now oh our out over pretend self she’s smile solo stupid taste the this to until up us we well what whatever why will with word worse yay yeah your

Buried in those 89 words are a mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, and my libido, which grunge fans will recognize as part of the chorus to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit“. (And for that matter, I can’t think of any song that uses even one of the words mulatto, albino, mosquito, or libido. Dead giveaways, they are.)

And then there’s the songs with such vivid imagery that they’re impossible to miss, like these 178 words:

9 a all american amusement an and are at baby back be beach beyond bold bones born boulevard boys break broken but cages can ’cause chrome-wheeled comb come could ’cross day death die don’t down dream dreams drive drones drop engines everlasting everybody’s feels four friend from fuel-injected get girl girls glory go gonna gotta guard hair hands hard hemi-powered heroes hide highway highway’s how huddled i i’ll i’m if in is it it’s jammed just kids kiss know last-chance left legs let like line live lonely look love machines madness mansions me mirrors mist my n never night no of oh on one ooh out over palace park place power rap real really rearview ride rider rims rips rises road ’round run runaway sadness scared scream so someday soul sprung stark steppin’ strap streets suicide sun sweat that the their then there’s these this three through till to together tonight town tramps trap try two us velvet visions walk wanna we we’ll we’re wendy were when where while whoa wild will wire with wrap you young your

So, focus on boulevard, chrome-wheeled, engines, fuel-injected, hemi-powered, highway, rims, road, and streets. On just those words alone you should recognize Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run“. (For me the word Wendy is a giveaway too.)

Here’s another one, a bit shorter at 176 words:

a ahead air alibis all and any are at away back be beast before bell bends boys bring but california called calling calls can can’t candle captain ceiling chambers champagne checkout colitas cool corridor could courtyard dance dark desert device dim distance door doorway down face far feast find for forget friends from gathered got grew had hair haven’t he head hear heard heaven heavy hell her here highway hotel how i ice in is it just kill knives last leave light like lit livin’ lot lovely man master’s me mercedes middle mind mirrors mission my myself never nice night nine nineteen of on or our own passage pink place please plenty pretty prisoners programmed receive relax remember rising room running said saw say she shimmering showed sight since sixty smell so some spirit stab steely still stood stop such summer surprise sweat sweet that the their them then there they thing thinking this those thought through tiffany-twisted time to up voices wake warm was way we welcome were what wind wine with year you your

Hmm… alibis, california, champagne, colitas, mercedes, mirrors, and tiffany-twisted? That can only be “Hotel California” by the Eagles. (On these last two songs, it would have been a bit tougher if the puzzle author had split up the hyphenated words like chrome-wheeled and tiffany-twisted. But I think I still would have recognized them.)

Then there’s a few that are so short and devoid of key words that they’re next to impossible. Try these 32 words on for size:

and arms can’t do feel good got harm hey hold i in knew know like love me my nice no now so spice sugar that when whoa whoa-oa-oa won’t would wrong you

I suppose that if you notice “whoa-oa-oa”, you might recognize this as “I Feel Good” by the late great James Brown. But I didn’t.

And who on earth is going to recognize these 32 words?

“and as blue could crazy crying day did do feeling for hold i i’m in knew leave let lonely long love love-ing loving me my myself new oh so some some-body that the then thinking trying wanted what why wondering world worry you you’d”

That’s Patsy Cline’s “Crazy“. I doubt if even Willie Nelson, who wrote those words, would recognize them like that. I’m glad Patsy Cline didn’t sing them that way.