OT: Who Needs Nostradamus...

When you have the late Raffaele Bendandi? Almost a century ago, Bendandi predicted an earthquake will strike Italy today May 11, 2011. Italians took this prediction so seriously, many residents of Rome stayed home or jumped town, or were planning to:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42942338/ns/world_news-europe/t/romans-gripped-fear-quake-forecast-may/

Bendandi had predicted an earthquake to occur in January 1923 and was off by two days.

Rome is still earthquake-free, but one did hit today in Lorca, Spain, 800 miles away. The death toll now is 10 people. 5.4 isn't all that strong by SoCal standards but unfortunately for Lorca, it was a very shallow quake, only about 1 km deep (of course, that info could change as it often does). Lorca was built by...the ROMANS!!

*Cue X-Files theme.*

(Not to make light out of the poor people killed in this quake.)

Carrie's Weight Loss

TFN linked to this bit on how Carrie Fisher's run on Jenny Craig is coming along. Honestly, this is the best she's looked in years:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20488450,00.html

At Celebration V, I knew she'd gained a lot of weight since I last saw her in person and she wasn't thin back then either; this explains why. It brings to mind what was said about Carrie not taking care of herself in "The Making Of The Empire Strikes Back." I guess when she's busy working, she doesn't look after herself too well. Regular soda is full of sugar and empty calories and protein bars are fine as long as you eat one in place of a meal and you go work out, or you go bike for a few miles. Those suckers have a lot of calories. You're better off eating real food instead.

My opinion of these weight loss programs is that any one of them can work if you can stick with it and you like it. No matter what you pick there's still an element of willpower and discipline. The second trick is maintaining your weight when you get to your goal. (Ask Kirstie Alley and Valerie Bertinelli.)

Anyway, so far so good.