In 1902, German archaeologist Robert Koldewey unearthed the fabled Ishtar Gate in the ruins of Babylon. The gateway was decorated with bas-reliefs depicting three animals, a lion, a wild oxen, and one mythical creature: the Sirrush.

The Sirrush [Mushrushu] was described as having a slender body covered with scales, a long slender scaly tail, and a long slim scaly neck bearing a serpent’s head … [from the mouth] a long forked tongue protrudes. There are flaps of skin attached to the back of the head, which is adorned (and armed) with a straight horn.

Great. Just a few months after I move away from Huntsville, some company decides to demonstrate antigravity, just a few miles from where I used to live. If Rod doesn’t go to this thing and take pictures, I’ll be so disappointed.

In the year 2001, humans became able to tap into their own cultural Zeitgeist, via the Internet.

Yay! It’s the first day of a new month, so it’s time to see which person spent too much time clicking his own link! The winner for the month of June, with 115 clickthroughs, is Matt Rossi!!

I’ve spoken with Matt about his recent victory, and he said that it was achieved through the creative use of aardvarks, Perl scripts, and tequila. Way to go, Matt!

I highly recommend reading Matt’s page. It’ll melt your head!

For the record, I’d like to state that Best Buy officially sucks. I don’t mean in merely a polite soda-straw slurping suck, I mean in a massive vortex-of-doom cosmic sense of sucking. Think about how bad Real Networks sucks, then multiply that suckage by a million.

Best Buy’s scam is that they supposedly charge a little less than their competitors. Suppose you purchase something for $200. When you get to the register, they push this ”service plan” of an extra $40. This obviously jacks the price up far more than their competitors’ prices. Now, if you don’t purchase their service plan, and your purchase breaks after 1 month, tough. Their stupidly stringent policy denies you any refund, exchange, or repair. You will not get your money back, or be able to return the broken device.

When did Shelli make her own site, and why wasn’t I paged?

Hey kids! You too can meet hot sexy time travellers!

Great news! With this exciting new development, Daniel may be able to eat Chinese cuisine without swelling up and choking to death!

In case you live under a rock, Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction was released today, two days early.

I won’t be sleeping for a few days, I suspect.

On June 30th, 1908, the Tunguska Blast flattened a whole lot of Siberian Taiga. On August 13, 1930, a blast at Rio Curaca in Brazil wipes out hundreds of square miles of jungle. On December 11th, 1935, a blast in the Rupununi region of British Guiana may have even been more devastating than the Tunguska Blast itself. Here is a list of impact events through history.

Props to Matt for the original statement and research.