Which is it? - One of the following statements is true. Please choose.

1. This man is your president and he needs your help.


2. This man is in front of you in line at Cumberland Farms. The guy at the cash register just stiffed him on the change for a bag of Fritos and he needs your help.

Romney admits to not filing as resident of MA - Suddenly it's in Romney's interest to admit that he filed as a nonresident and later (when he announced his candidacy) went back and ammended his tax returns.

Behold the Lizardman - The Lizardman is a performance artist and body modification enthusiast. He's slowly turning himself into a lizard. At least, that's the theme of his body modifications. My favorite quote from his website? "The Lizardman is a preferred customer with Avis Rent-a-Car."

Fun with Global Warming - Don't miss Mark Fiore's latest cartoon, this one dealing with the administration's report on the inevitability of global warming. I can hear you thinking: "The administration!!!?" - Well, yes. But Bush, of course, has dismissed the report as the product of "the bureaucracy" whatever that's supposed to mean.
Fact is, we now have most sane people and some of the ones that only aspire to sanity agreeing that there is global climate change caused, at the very least in part, by human actions. Don't expect the government to go out on a limb and try to do anything to safeguard the future, though.

Update! - New York Exams to Regain Intact Literary Passages

Spaced Penguin - Bored? You have to visit Spaced Penguin. It's an addictive Flash game that reminds me of an orbital simulation Chuck and I used to play with. While you're at it, check out curious frog which is where I got the link.

Mitt Romney, Nomad for hire - Now when you say you've been a Massachusetts resident for the last 28 years, it doesn't look good if you've been listing your primary residence back to 1999 as being Park City, Utah. Especially if you're the out of towner new Republican contender for MA governor. "Oops."

Not so fast, media giants - The New York Times reports that Hollywood studios suffered a setback yesterday in their efforts to place strict controls on digital content which would inconvenience the user (and prevent fair use) while not protecting their property from piracy anyhow.

It seems that the device makers sense that consumers will not go for some of the ridiculous restrictions that Hollywood would like to see on digital content.

Standardized and sanitized - The Elderly Man and the Sea? Test Sanitizes Literary Texts - NYT

Yes, it's true. The New York State High School Regent's Exams contain literary passages from speeches and well known works, except that they have been modified to remove references to race, religion, alcohol and nationality. Some of the examples are amazing.

Certain revisions bordered on the absurd. In a speech by Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, in addition to deletions about the United States' unpaid debt to the United Nations, any mention of wine and drinking was removed. Instead of praising "fine California wine and seafood," he ends up praising "fine California seafood." In Carol Saline's "Mothers and Daughters" a daughter no longer says she "went out to a bar" with her mother; on the Regents, they simply "went out."

Play the money-making game - Calif. man jailed after grandchildren show off his counterfeit bills. It bugs me that this guy is a grandfather (2 grandchildren) and he's 42. Am I getting old?

I can picture these kids with over a grand in conterfeit bills at show and tell. A coin from another country was good enough when I was a kid.

Training Day - It takes me a while to see films because i don't get out to the theatre much. I know Denzel won an Oscar for his role in this film, and I have to agree on that decision. Was it Chuck who recommended this film to me? I can't recall, but it was a good recommendation.

I'd write a review, but I stink at movie reviews. Stink!

Check out the DVD if you get a chance and are looking for a moody cop drama that takes place over the course of one day.

And speaking of moody, Johnny Depp is not bad in From Hell, a Jack the Ripper "based" adaptation of Alan Moore's comic of the same name. That's Alan Moore of "Batman: The Killing Joke", "Swamp Thing," "The Watchmen" and a ton of other good stuff.


If you're familiar with Alan Moore's work, you won't be surprised that From Hell is blunt, brutal but not completely without compassion. It takes off wildly from the "ripper" theme, and enjoyably so. Depp is good as the inspector who is "chasing the dragon" for visions having to do with his cases and gets a little too close to the Ripper case for his own safety. Especially good if you like these victorian era movies. Has a little bit of that Bram Stoker's Dracula feel, mixed with Se7en.

Quality Control Problems - Wow - what's with my proofreading lately? I know I'm often a little off, but "compouter"? And the Spike and Mike's entry is barely readable. ARGH! I don't even have the excuse that I was posting late at night, because the time stamp shows it was early afternoon. Folks, it's not that I don't care. It's that my typing and editing stink.