Here's a job I'd love...

Explainer is looking for a new freelance writer (see job posting here). While I have a day job that I really really love (and would marry, probably, if I could) and I'm not a fit for the freelance job, still...I think it'd be hella-cool.

What is Explainer, you ask? Well, let me...er, explain. It's a regular column that appears on (in? what's the right preposition when a website is involved?) Slate.com. Explainer's tag line is "answers to your questions about the news." They take an issue from current events, and give you some of the story behind the story (today's column is about comments made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor for Sen. Obama).

I'm endlessly fascinated by trivia, and the more obscure the better. It's a running joke with Mrs. jtj3 and me--I'll whip out some obscure factoid, she looks at me and says "How do you know that?", and I invariably respond "I have no freakin' idea."

Like...well, here goes. Did you know that the first product in the world to have a bar code on it was Wrigley's Doublemint gum back in 1971? Or that there was no women's version of the Olympic marathon until 1984--and the first one was won by Joan Benoit Samuelson? Or that there were a total of 7 different shark models used in the filming of "Jaws"? Or...well, I could go on and on and on...

See, folks, not only do I entertain, but I inform. Think of me as your infotainment blog. Or your edutainment blog. Yeah edutainment. That sounds cooler.

Oh and for more answers to those questions that have always bugged you, you can't hardly beat The Straight Dope...check it out also!

More later...

Hey, wanna help me invent a meme?

Just a quick one tonight--I'm a little under the weather so I've mostly been sleeping all day. Therefore, nothing exciting to write about--unless you consider rest, drinking lots of fluids, and sleep to be page-turning excitement! (C:

I know there are several meme-ers out there--SuchSimplePleasures is one, Snowelf has been known to do a meme or two, as has Daniel. I've got this idea for a meme, but I just can't get enough questions/statements in it to feel like I've got critical mass. So...anyone want to help me create it?

Email me at jtj3 at comcast dot net, I'll send you something back with the idea and what I've got so far. Who's with me???

More later...