No, she’s an atheist. LOL.

Thanking a god for surviving a tragedy when other people died is the height of religious solipsism.

From the Casual Cynic Blog:

So my mom and I have been working the same waitress job for 5-6 years now. She had been waitressing years before, but this is recently. Anyway, about… 15 minutes ago this guy she waited on left and told her to take care. Just that. Prior to this she had talked to him about Italy. Her people are from Florence, this and that, and she said she’s never been. She’s got 8 years of art education and she’s working a waitress job. It’s pretty… Sad and disappointing, I guess. Her and my father divorced 6 years ago and she hasn’t had a real job ever. Just been stuck in a small town she’s not from.

This man who we have never seen before tipped her 1000 dollars for a trip to Italy. Walked out, not another word.

Oh, Nutella — that hazelnut chocolate spread beloved by so many as a spreadable form of candy. Maybe you love Nutella so much you were planning on celebrating with World Nutella Day. Too bad, as the company apparently isn’t a fan of its fans, and apparently issued a cease-and-desist letter to the woman who founded the celebration seven years ago.

Over on her site dedicated to World Nutella Day, the founder writes that there’s one thing that doesn’t go perfectly with Nutella, and that’s company lawyers.

Neatorama gives a little background on the situation, noting that the event has grown from just couple foodies posting recipes on their blogs to thousands of people devoting various forms of art to the stuff, all out of an overwhelming love of chocolate hazelnut spread.

As the founder writes in part on her site, that’s all about to end this week:

From CNN:

The Doors’ founding keyboardist, Ray Manzarek, died in Germany Monday after a long fight with cancer, his publicist said in a statement. He was 74.

The artist had been diagnosed with bile duct cancer.

The Doors formed in 1965 after Manzarek happened to meet Jim Morrison on California’s Venice Beach. The legendary rock group went on to sell 100 million albums worldwide, establishing five multiplatinum discs in the U.S.

Morrison died in 1971, but Manzarek carried on The Doors’ legacy, continuing to work as a musician and also as an author.

More here.

Someone suggested NewsBlur which is a paid service (or at least it is for the amount of feeds I use) but I decided to give it a shot and I’ve decided to stick with it. The cost is about $20 a year which is reasonable considering that most of my online time revolves around rss feeds which is why it’s essential that I have an online reader that I can stomach.

(via Boing Boing)

Above is Joseph Heller’s characters outline for Catch-22.

Anastasia Adair, a 22-year-old Colorado woman, died after she was accidentally shot with an assault rifle she had recently purchased, TV station KMGH reported on Thursday.

Adair’s husband, Shane, and other witnesses told police she was drinking with friends in her garage Tuesday night and wanted to show off the weapon. It fired twice, hitting her once in the head as she brought it to the room and passed it to Shane.

Lt. Gary Toldness, of the Federal Heights, Colo., police department, told KMGH initial analysis appeared to be consistent with the reports of an accidental shooting, though the investigation was continuing. He also said Adair purchased the weapon at a gun show in March and described it as an AK-47-type rifle.

They’re just like people!