Status Update_ Je Suis Tres Burned Out

If folks are wondering why a seemingly compulsive blogger like myself has not blogged in a full 48 hours, the reason is very simple. I am toast!

Recently, my friend Chris Knight made a highly confessional series about his a serious health condition that he was dealing with, and I thought to myself: "Hmmmm.....I'm not sure I could do that!" And, as a general rule, I've tried to avoid personal matters, except my political beliefs (memo to Newt Gingrich: Bring It On!).

But, the strains of teaching summer school are quite challenging, and it never seem to end. However, we are hoping to have some new entries up again as soon as tomorrow. Of course, grading mountains of papers will have to be the priority.

Interestingly enough, an image of burnt toast was used for the web site of Valley Bible Fellowship, a seemingly quite evangelical outfit in Boonville, Calif. (hey, I thought California was a blue state?). I read the post on the assumption that they were implying if one did not come to their church, they might find themselves in Hot Stuff's lair. But, upon reading the passage that went along with the entry, I could not quite figure out what they were saying at all.

That does remind me, all the "World is Coming to an End" billboards put up Harold Camping to promote May 21, 2011, as doomsday, have come down. There were about four on Route 220 between Roanoke, Va., and Greensboro, NC. I suppose we'll see them again with a new date some time next year!

SIDEBAR: The "If you gotta go, you gotta go" sentiment apparently does not apply to residents of Zimbabwe. While dictators in Syria, Yemen and Libya are making headlines due to their violent reactions towards political protests against their Orwellian leadership, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has gone under the radar.

But, on May 7th, Alois Mabhunu, a police sergeant in (we presume) the capital city of Harare, made the mistake of using Mugabe's own personal throne. So for using the designated toilet, Mabhunu got a ten-day jail sentence for invading the dictator's privacy.

I actually heard this on the BBC_ of all places!