OK, I admit it. I’m one of those people that follows a bunch of celebrities on Twitter. And yes, that includes Paris Hilton (@ParisHilton). What can I say, she leads an interesting life! I love seeing all the places she visits, the clothes she wears, the private jets and helicopters, the five-star hotels… Those are all things that I would never have access to on my own, so it’s kind of cool for me to see how the other half lives. I mean, take a look at the following photo she posted last week.

She’s on her way to South Africa to watch a few World Cup matches. She’s obviously on a private plane, and has an awesome handbag, cute jacket, and great boots on. I don’t know, I just like her style — even though she does end up in some terrible outfits sometimes.

Oh, and one more thing: it’s clear from her tweets that she’s not as much of an airhead blond bimbo as everyone makes her out to be!

I just wanted to take a moment here to wish everyone a happy Fourth of July! I hope you’ve been able to spend the day with friends and/or family doing some fun things. Also, it would be nice to take a moment to reflect on the freedoms that we enjoy in America. It’s certainly not the same in every country.

For my part, I’m kind of hoping the revelers don’t get carried overboard with their fireworks tonight. I don’t have any sleep aids on hand, so the least thing I need is to be kept awake until the wee hours by people setting off loud firecrackers. I’ve got a lot to do tomorrow, and want to be well-rested to start the week off right!

Have you heard about these Panera Bread shops that operate as nonprofits and just ask customers to pay what they wish for their orders? It’s an experimental thing, with a few stores in Missouri and other places. Apparently, people don’t take advantage of the system that much, and the store is running in the black — which means the profits will be given to worthy programs in the community.

According to the article I read, most people either paid what the meal would have cost, or else gave even more. A few people paid less, and some paid nothing at all.

To be honest, I probably wouldn’t pay anything, and I’d probably go there every day, too. Think they’d ban me after a while? I hope this place comes to the Chicago area soon!

(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, file)

I came across a couple of Blogspot blogs that had blatantly stolen my articles and republished them without permission. They included my name and said “Thanks to [first name] [last name] for the post.” Uh, whatever. As if giving me attribution like that makes up for the theft.

Anyway, I filled out a DCMA complaint form on Blogger, with links to the offending posts and the original posts on my own sites. I honestly wasn’t expecting Google to do much, but to my surprise, they handled the issue very quickly and satisfactorily. The offending posts were all removed within 24 hours of my complaint. Wow!

Kudos to the big G for protecting the intellectual property of even a lowly nobody like myself!

I just read some article on Yahoo about the 10 most popular haircuts of all-time. It’s not surprising to see that “The Rachel”, Jennifer Aniston’s ‘do from the ’90s TV show Friends, is on the list and is still requested by women everywhere. That was an awesome hairstyle for her, and I’m not the kind of person who pays attention to that sort of thing.

Other haircuts on the list included Farrah Fawcett’s feathered look, Victoria Beckham’s pageboy, Princess Diana’s short cut, and — Michelle Obama??? What??? Does she even have a hairstyle to speak of? Come on, if that’s not pandering than what it? I hate how the media are trying to push Michelle as some kind of fashion and style icon a la Jackie Kennedy. Gimme a break. Some of her outfits have been godawful, and her hair is just plain boring.

Have you heard about this yet? A team of archaeologists from the University College Cork in Cork, Ireland found uncovered the “oldest leather shoe” ever found. The discovery was made in a cave in Armenia, along with other “evidence of human occupation”. The researchers estimate that the shoe, a moccasin with laces, is around 5,000 years old.

I usually don’t get too excited about these types of discoveries, as they’re mostly broken pots or whatever, but I think this is kind of cool. It gives us a glimpse into what these ancient people wore and allows us to speculate about what their society might have been like.

According to the article I read, older shoes have been found, but those have always been sandals made of fiber or some other material. This was the first leather shoe of its kind. How can you not at least take a moment to read about that?!

I know this is several years late, but I’m just getting around to reading about Dewey the library cat from Spencer, IA. I checked the book out from my own library, and really love the story so far — and I’m not even a cat person! Dewey truly sounds like he was an incredible animal. Take a look at this video to see him in action.