GAFilk '08 update: The Super Secret Guest is secret no more!

...but rather than stealing anyone's thunder, I'll simply point you at autographedcat's page wherein our new con chair reveals the identity of the Super Secret Guest for the upcoming 10th-anniversary edition of GAFilk. (G minus six weeks and counting...)

Happy birthday to an old friend

gimmeahand has a birthday today; which one, i have no clue, and my Southern upbringing taught me a gentleman does not ask a lady's age. But she is an old and dear friend, and a damn talented writer of filks, and a genuinely good and loving person....as well as one of the earliest to make the mistake of encouraging me in my filkish pursuits. So here's a birthday hug (and one apiece for Mike and Liam) and many happy returns. (What's the female equivalent of "mensch"?) Thanks for believing in me all these years.

Today's Meme: What HTML color am I?

Multichromatically mooched from blueeyedtigress: Opinions as to result's accuracy welcome.
( Well, I figured it had to be some shade of blue... )

Redemption: My Tigers are SEC champs!

Playing the U of Tennessee Volunteers right here in No-Longer-So-Hotlanta at the Georgia Dome this afternoon, my alma mater's Division I-A NCAA men's football team made up for their inability to pull out a victory against Arkansas last week (even with triple overtime, something NCAA teams didn't have when I was in school) by beating the Vols 21-14 and winning the Southeastern Conference championship. My local paper reports the story here.

At a minimum, they're guaranteed a slot in this year's Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on New Year's Day...and if luck is with them (meaning if Missouri and West Virginia both lose their games today), they still have a slim chance to be playing the same field again six days later in the BCS Championship Game. And if even better luck is with them, all those rumors head coach Les Miles is so frantically trying to quash of his planning to quit LSU and go coach at Michigan won't be true, and the Tigers will have him calling the shots again next season.

Maybe the thieves are having a really big kegger this weekend

My local paper told me about this first, with the headline "Whoever did it must have had a mighty thirst":
Dublin's Famed Guinness Brewery Has 450 Kegs of Beer Stolen

Today is World AIDS Day

My Songbird has asked me to remind you all that today is World AIDS Day. As she is currently one of those gainfully employed in the worldwide battle against HIV/AIDS (especially in Africa, where its toll boggles the mind), this is a matter of both personal and professional concern to her...and to me, as well.

The image at left is linked to the World AIDS Campaign's website, where you can find ways to help bring this global pandemic to a swifter end—including motivating our political leaders to do more. If you don't find anything to your taste there, look up what events around the day are happening in your corner of the world and consider participating in some fashion. Even a small donation to your local AIDS hospice or activist group would be more than sufficient.

To paraphrase an AIDS Walk ad in a Philaldelphia newspaper years ago, which SB used to keep on her fridge door: "25 years. 25 million dead. 4.3 million more infected last year alone. Still no cure. What part of AIDS do you think is 'over'? Your part?"