The Seattle of the Balkans, a hexagon on Saturn, and Jesus is Lord Kirk

It hasn’t been a very good week. I’m always in a bit of funk around Easter, and to add insult to injury, my parents had to euthanize one of their cats who incidentally was my first cat. Yes, I abandoned her, because I moved to an apartment that didn’t allow cats at the time, and my parents took her in. But it doesn’t mean I’m not sad to see her go. She had kidney failure – not because of the pet food scandal, but because of old age (she was nearly 18). Meow, dear Isadora. You were a fine feline.

I’ve had headaches almost every night, probably because of the sudden return of meat and cheese to my diet. No, actually, I’m almost sure it is an allergy thing, what with the nice weather and having windows and doors open all the time.

At any rate, since I’m not in any shape to entertain, here are a few tidbits from around the web to titillate.

Firstly, there is this fabulous article about Thessaloniki in the New York Times by a fabulous journalist I had the pleasure of meeting a month or so ago. A slice:

Although Salonika, called Thessaloniki in Greece, often loses tourist-brochure headlines to Athens, its growing appeal as a youthful city with an intriguing multiethnic history and an arty counterculture is turning it into something of a Seattle of the Balkans.

Secondly, what the HELL is going on with the hexagon over the North Pole of Saturn? Sure, there are lots of geometric shapes occurring naturally in the universe, but a hexagon? What makes those angles???

And thirdly, the biggest showdown in the Nashville blogosphere since the gas guy was actually a girl, blogger Kat Coble has been threatened with a lawsuit by a business she reviewed honestly on her site. Here is her post detailing the initial response by JL Kirk and Associates, and her posts regarding the lawsuit. The blogsophere is exploding with posts about this, including this really funny one. Does freedom of speech include the right for a business to sue over a bad review? In this case, I don’t think so, because Ms. Coble’s post was opinion and commentary of her own experience, not libelous. Should she be forced to remove the posts? I don’t think so. Did the company in question shoot their own foot with this whole imbroglio? I’m thinking yes.