[WWW] -Random Web - If you try to liken the Web to a book, you quickly realize that there is no beginning or end, just one big middle. (Actually, there are dead ends, but they are like the dead ends in the middle of a big labyrinth). A fun pastime when I was a child was to take an encyclopedia and open it to a random page. You can't open the www to a random page without help. Well, here's the help: random website dot com. With this tool you can open the web to a random page and perhaps find somehtign interesting.

As the site states, "how bad could it be?"

[LAW] - Your Right To Appear In A Movie - Let's say I was walking down a street in New York and a film crew happened to catch me while filming a big production. Do I have the right to complain if they digitally remove me from their final release? Do I have a right to be in that movie?

Samsung is suing the new Spider-Man movie because they removed a sign from the side of a building in New York, replacing the Samsung ad with another ad. The movie company is owned by Sony - a Samsung competitor.

Is it just me, or is it an incredibly ridiculous stretch to presume that you have the right to have your ad show up in someone else's movie just because you bought ad space on the side of a building?
Spider-Man caught in legal web

[FOOD] - The Everlasting Sandwich - Thank goodness the military has invented the everlasting sandwich. The question is, if bacteria can't digest it, how is my colon going to fare?
CNN.com - Soldiers snack on 3-year sandwich

[ENTERTAINMENT] - Dissing George Lucas - Salon has an article which takes every possible potshot at Mr. Lucas. Particularly interesting to me is the second page of the article which concerns the possible sources of many of the imporatnt elements of the Star Wars universe. I had heard the criticisms concerning that Japanese movie (the name escapes me now - someone leave an appropriate comment?) but this is all new to me. The "Lensmen?" Read it and let me know what you think.
Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | Galactic gasbag
[UPDATE] - Oh yeah, now I remember. The movie was Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress".

[PERSONAL] - Work and TAXES - The updates have been sporadic the last couple of weeks because of work and taxes. If anyone is looking for adventure, look no further than the instructions for the Massachusetts state taxes. If you're not used to them, they can be a real pain. Extremely good records are a must for living in this state and filing your taxes successfully.


But, the taxes are done, and filed electronically. My dream is that, one day, I will just be able to scan all my pertinent information into my computer and have it do all the work. TurboTax is pretty good, but it just ain't there yet.
Look for more regular updates here as my sanity is now returning.

[TV] - Simpsons deemed not Rio-friendly - If you happened to catch the Simpson's about 2 weeks ago, you saw that funny episode with the orphan from Rio who is lost, prompting a concerned Lisa and the rest of her family to fly to Rio in search of the waif. Who wouldn't, when the child was in danger of being bitten by crazed monkeys?
Well, the city of Rio is not too pleased at the portrayal they received in the episode. Legal action has begun.
The moral? Don't make a joke about anything that people have spent a lot of money trying to fool other peope about.

BBC News | TV AND RADIO | Simpsons challenged over Rio 'jokes'