I've been offline for a week or so.

Between being sick last weekend and lots of work this week--including a trip to a conference--I haven't had any time to read my LJ lately. So if you actually had something you wanted to tell me about using this particular medium, I didn't get it. :(

(Work is ramping up. My LJ time is suffering.)

I have a paid account, so if you email my username at LJ, I'll get it. Commenting on this post will work, too. :)

Hope things are going as well as ever with everyone on my friends list!

Punkin Chunkin, in the Economist.

From JW, a friend without an LJ!

(Economist articles expire, so I'm including the full text of
http://www.economist.com/World/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5139909
behind a cut.)

( All in all, Punkin Chunkin is a symbol of what makes America great. Only in the richest country on earth could regular guys spend tens of thousands of dollars building a pumpkin gun. Only in a nation with such a fine tradition of inventiveness, not to mention martial prowess, would so many choose to. And only in a land of wide open spaces would they be able to practise their chunkin without killing their neighbours. Alas, the 285-acre cornfield where Punkin Chunkin has been held for the past 20 years is soon to be sold and developed. But the chunkers will probably move to Maryland. )