Sunday afternoon: Weekend recap . . .

Wow, what a great day, yesterday!

Got up and made raspberry chocolate pancakes for alethea_eastrid and me. We made plans to drove to Albanyand run errand. On the way down, we discovered a new (to her) yarn store and anice coffee shop, where she got really good macaroni and cheese. That was in Greenwich.

We then swung into a hand-made ice at the shop next to the Washington County Fairgrounds. Igot cannoli ice cream, and she got pumpkin pie ice cream. Fantastic! We tried the ginger ice cream, which was amazing.Albany then, to a great package store, where we picked up some great hard ciders and some beer. The guy was great, I was chatty, and I got my five-percent "Liam can BS with anyone” discount. Seriously."

When to the Honest Weight Food Co-op, where – believe it or not – I really enjoyed myself shopping. We did really well for what we spent.

We split up so she could go to a crafts store and Target, and I went to “ZombiePlanet,” where the clerk spent 30 minutes pontificating in a loud voice abutWorld of Warcraft and never asked in anyone needed anything. One more craftstore, and on to dinner. jenphalian had called in the morning to invite us to have lbitw’s venisonstew, which rocked! We also got to visit with sideshownate, who has a very spiffy hat

It got to be very late, so we crashed on the couch, hung around and ate pie in the morning. (I got a latte, too. Yay. And Alethea got chai.) Got home,brought stuff in and did some napping. I am sorry we did not get to regional fighter practice.

I do have an unrelated question. Does anyone remember the raspberry whipped drink we used to have at Simplefaire? If you have the recipe, that would be great.

Sunday evening -- Links and news edition . . .

1. Arrgghh. Twentieth Century Fox has nixed Buffy Singalongs. Sheesh. (Via cadhla, the filk guest of honor at Boskone)

2. We want it all!

Canadian airlines flying through U.S. airspace will have to hand over the personal data of everyone aboard the plane if a U.S.-proposedprogram comes into effect — even if the destination is not in theStates.

But the Secure Flight program, the brainchild of the U.S. Departmentof Homeland Security, has already met swift opposition from theorganization that represents all Canadian airlines.

3. We can haz Luddites?

Jammie Thomas is hard to rattle

She doesn't raise her voice or get angry when a reporter asks her to read astory where she is called a "liar" by a member of the jury that found her guilty of copyright violations   and ordered her to pay the recording industry $220,000 in damages.

She calmly reads the quotes by juror Michael Hegg, from Duluth, Minn.,  that appeared Tuesday in a story by Wired.com. She then draws a bead on where Hegg said he is a father, former snowmobile racer and has never been on the Internet

“I don't need to say too much, obviously," Thomas told CNET News.com on Wednesday. "They admit that they are computer illiterate. Thisperson (Hegg) has never been on the Internet, so how can he say whether my story is possible? I've been contacted by Internet security experts who said that spoofing my address would have been trivial. Internet illiterate people are not going to be able to understand that."

Thomas was sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sharing 24 songs online and infringing on intellectual property. Instead of settling for a few thousands dollars like most of those sued by the group, Thomas is the first to take her case to a jury.

In the interview with Wired's David Kravets, Hegg, a steelworker, said that during deliberations, the jury concluded after only five minutes  that Thomas was guilty. He said that they spentfive hours trying to decide what to award the recording industry. Hegg, 38,said the jurors did not believe her story that someone spoofed her IP address. “She should have settled out of court for a few thousand dollars,"Hegg told Wired. "Spoofing? We're thinking, 'Oh my God, you got to be kidding.' She's a liar." 

4. Oh, the temptation would be too much.

MEDFORD, Oregon:  High-school English teacher Shirley Katz won the first round of her legal bout for the right to carry a pistol onto school grounds when a judge said Thursday he would no tdismiss her lawsuit against the school district.

Jackson County Circuit Judge G. Philip Arnold said he would issue a written opinion on Katz's claim that the Medford School District  policy prohibiting teachers from carrying weapons on school grounds violates statelaw.

Katz, who has a concealed-weapons permit, filed a lawsuit challenging theschool policy. The South Medford High School Teacher says she wants to carry her 9 mm Glock automatic pistol to class because she fears an attack by aColumbine-style intruder or her former husband.

“On any given day, we would be naive to not acknowledge there are guns in schools," Katz said after the hearing. "I am just the first one with a concealed-carry permit" to come out in public.

In court, Katz's attorney, James Leuenberger, argued that state law clearly allows holders of concealed weapons permits to carry guns into public buildings, including schools, and the Legislature did not intend to give cities, counties or school districts power to regulate guns.

"The idea that having a gun-free zone makes asafe zone is a fallacious theory," Leuenberger said.

School district attorney Tim Gerking said if Katz wins, "school districts and other bodies could be reduced to armed camps," Gerking said." District officials could be blamed for firearms accidents on campus.

5. And history marches on.

Associated Press

PARIS - Justin Tuveri, who fought forItaly during World War I and was one of the few remaining European veterans ofthe Great War, has died, officials said yesterday. He was 109.

Mr. Tuveri, who spent most of his life in France, remained active despite his advanced age, pruning trees and cleaning out rain gutters at 90 and driving until age 98, according to the newspaper LeMonde. He died Oct. 5 at his home in the southern French resort town of St. Tropez, the mayor'soffice said.

Although Mr. Tuveri became a French citizen in 1940, he did not figure on the French Defense Ministry's list of surviving veterans from the 1914-18 war because he had fought for Italy.

 Only two French veterans from the war are still alive, the ministry said.

Mr. Tuveri, born in Collinas on the island of Sardinia in 1898, was a member of the Sassari Brigade, a Sardinian infantry unit nicknamed the "Dimonios" - "Demons" in the island's dialect.

“We were young and inexperienced, with only the fear of dying," he once told Le Monde.