Jay Leno said, "By now you’ve heard this. It’s been all over TV, all over the news, all over Hollywood. The L.A. Times is reporting that Bill Clinton is interested in having his own show. It’s going to be a cross of "The West Wing” and "Sex and The City.”
"The Russian woman who has been crowned Miss Universe is a policewoman." (via garret)
"Music bosses have unveiled a revolutionary new recording format that they hope will help win the war on illegal file sharing which is thought to be costing the industry millions of dollars in lost revenue." LOL!
Gertz: Missiles Smuggled Into US - "Classified intelligence reports circulated among top Bush administration policymakers during the past two weeks identified the missiles as Russian-made SA-7 surface-to-air missiles or U.S.-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles obtained covertly in Afghanistan, said intelligence officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity."
"The Pearl family is proud to announce the arrival of Adam D. Pearl, son of Daniel and Mariane Pearl."
"After the Blazer pulled over, the officer approached the car and smelled alcohol on Perry's breath and saw several liquor bottles in the car, which Perry said were hers, according to police reports."
Mourning the Still Missing - "Of the 2,823 people believed killed in the attack, 1,102 have been identified, about 300 through DNA alone. About 19,550 body parts have been recovered, some through the sifting process at a Staten Island landfill. New York City officials said the sifting will continue and the identification process will go on for months. Those parts that cannot be identified will be retained, in case new techhnology makes it possible someday. In the meantime, families have held memorial services and planted trees in lieu of funerals and burials."
Wild! Go read this police report, and then listen to the recording of the corresponding 911 call.
"So how does Bush justify attacking Iraq? He doesn't. He shifts the burden of justification to his opponents. The question in the wake of Sept. 11, he argues, isn't whether Saddam did it, but whether we can risk allowing Saddam to do something like it. Imagine al-Qaida's agents armed with Saddam's nukes."
"These three pilots -- two trained in the military, one in civilian life -- are ALPA members. They have a cumulative 75 years of experience flying for commercial airlines. None has an aversion to guns. All three oppose arming pilots. Here is why."
Here's a positive review of the new Tom Clancy movie, Sum of All Fears. More.
Salon.com: "Linux, the open-source operating system with an outsider mystique, is now proliferating on powerful government computer systems in the United States and abroad with technology giants increasingly providing support."
Eminen's new album is number one. on the charts, despite its pre-release proliferation. Here is an interesting footnote to this fact.
CensusScope - "An easy-to-use tool for investigating U.S. demographic trends."
"The most difficult thing about riding the first Segway made available to the public is that so many people stop you with questions."
"It's almost a cliche," Bergman said. "Rich plastic surgeon marries young girl."
Seymour Hersh: Missed Messages - "Why the government didn't know what it knew."
John O'Sullivan: Is Bush Really Wimping Out on Iraq? - "There is one overwhelming reason why Bush will invade Iraq in the next year or so: He will not be reelected if Saddam Hussein is still ruling in Baghdad in 2004. That prediction may sound foolhardy when the president's ratings still hover above 70 percent. But the domestic side of the Bush presidency is going badly — especially from the standpoint of his conservative base."
Here's an item that most of us have guessed, by now: The Klez Virus will soon become the most virulent computer virus to date.
Michael Barone: Our Enemies the Saudis - "Fifteen of the 19 September 11 hijackers were Saudis. Perhaps as many as 80 percent of the prisoners held at Guantánamo are Saudis. Osama bin Laden is a Saudi, and al Qaeda was supported by large contributions from Saudis, including members of the Saudi royal family. The Saudis' cooperation with our efforts to track down the financing of al Qaeda appears to be somewhere between minimal and zero. They got us to let members of the bin Laden family scamper out of the United States on a private jet shortly after September 11. They refuse to provide–as almost every other country has–manifests of plane passengers flying to the United States."
NY Times: Fighting to Live as the Towers Died (Login Required, or use The Generator)
Windows XP / Windows 98 Matchup - "See for yourself how Windows XP Professional delivers four key advantages over Windows 98 SE. Discover how Windows XP is the most secure and reliable Windows ever, with features that make it more dependable, more secure, and easier to use. You’ll also learn how Windows XP keeps you connected, with local networking features and remote desktop access." - from Microsoft
How the U.S. Missed the Clues - "Last summer the White House suspected that a terrorist attack was coming. But four key mistakes kept the U.S. from knowing what to do. An inside look at what went wrong and what must be fixed."
"Is the president preparing to back off the bold pledges he made to the American people four months ago in his State of the Union address? The president warned us then that the clock was ticking in Iraq. Saddam Hussein was working hard to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Bin Laden, al Qaeda, and other terrorists were eager to get their hands on such weapons. Bush proclaimed that he was determined to confront and eliminate this threat, and he called on Americans to gird themselves for the difficult struggle that lay ahead. In the weeks and months that followed, Bush repeatedly let it be known, publicly and privately, that he was committed to removing Saddam Hussein from power, and by military force if necessary, which he presumed it would be. Was it all hot air?" - by William Kristol & Robert Kagan, from Going Wobbly?, The Weekly Standard
More on Harold Lloyd. TCM will be playing some of his best films, beginning Tuesday, May 28th. Don't miss Safety Last!
"California fish and game officials are investigating a San Diego-area man who kept a rare 500-pound pygmy hippopotamus as a pet in his suburban backyard for at least a decade, a newspaper reported Saturday."
Ambush in Takur Ghar, Part II - "The other half of their unit was stranded at the top of the ridge, their helicopter shot down shortly after sunrise. They had flown in to rescue a Navy SEAL team, only to be ambushed by enemy fighters. Four of the quick-reaction force were dead, three aircrew members were seriously wounded and the rest of the contingent was pinned down."
Most people have never heard of Harold Lloyd. He was a comedic genius! He's getting some attention. If you ever see his 1923 film entitled Safety Last, you'll be an instant fan. I was first introduced to Lloyd by the PBS documentary called The Third Genius. (thanks, garret)
CloneCD 4.0.1.3 is available for download. This is by far the best CD-duplicating software, in my opinion.
J Lo's new movie is getting dreadful reviews, across the board. While in NY, we were offered free tickets to see a special screening of this movie, with J Lo present. We left Monday, however, and the show was on Tuesday. UPDATE: Here's a very positive review.
Ambush at Takur Ghar - "A call had come in to headquarters just before daybreak: A Navy SEAL team was taking fire on an Afghan mountain ridge and needed help. As they raced in helicopters toward the site, Capt. Nathan Self and his platoon of Army Rangers were excited about the prospect of engaging al Qaeda. They'd spent more than two months in Afghanistan without a firefight." - The Washington Post, the first of two articles about a mission in Afghanistan.
The Stained Apron - "Dedicated to the venting of food servers' frustrations and a harsh education of the dining public!"
For me, a trip to New York would be incomplete without fresh beer on tap from the Brooklyn Brewery. We enjoyed one of their finest beers, a wheat beer, the Brooklyner Weisse on Sunday night. It is available only on draft at various pubs around the city, including Pete's Waterfront Ale House.
Here is my one sentence review of Episode II: Yoda kicks butt! Go see it and enjoy it. I've seen it twice and I enjoyed the second viewing even more than the first. It delivers big-time for old and new fans, and it sets things in motion for Episode III. The CGI is nothing short of amazing.
10 Great Beatles Moments - Not a bad list, but some great moments have been left out. For instance, the rooftop concert.
Airport security procedures are a joke. In the last few months, Courtney has been pulled aside twice for what the FAA calls a 'random screening'. Courtney is five feet tall. She's incredibly cute and she has a charming smile. Does she really look like a terrorist? We saw an elderly couple get screened at LaGuardia. After the older gentleman removed his jacket to allow the security personnel to repeatedly wave their metal detectors under his armpits, he couldn't get his jacket back on without the assistance of one of the wand wavers. What an outrage! The frisking of young women and older couples at airports does not translate into making me feel safer while traveling by air.
Tony, on PETA: "It's time to retaliate, people. Go eat some meat. I don't mean a Taco Bell Chicken Soft Taco, either. I'm talking about a substantial portion of an animal -- enough that they have to kill another one just to fill your order. Recall that scene in "The Untouchables," when Sean Connery explains to Kevin Costner's Eliot Ness, "If they bring a knife, you bring a gun. If they send one of yours to the hospital, you send one of theirs to the morgue!" That's the mindset we need here. Every time these parsley-chewers get together at the local alternative book store to sip herbal tea and plot their next move, we need for them to envision legions of angry carnivores happily putting Elsie, Lamb Chop, and Foghorn Leghorn to the knife in a glorious act of epicurean retaliation. It may mean that a few of us kick off a year or two sooner, but remember, every war has casualties."
We saw Attack of the Clones at a theater using the new digital projection equipment. Here's the easiest way to describe the difference between regular projection and digital projection: VHS vs. DVD. Enough said. It's too bad that the equipment is so expensive.
We're back from our whirlwind trip to NY. Congratulations to Jason and Lenore! Lenore's dress was simply gorgeous and they make a very cute couple. More about the trip, later. My review of the new Star Wars movie is coming soon.
Courtney and I will be in NY until next Tuesday. Highlights: Jason's wedding and Episode II at the Ziegfeld.
Here are two positive reviews of Episode II: Buffalo News and The Baltimore Sun.
University of Michigan Law School commentary by Tony Woodleif. He's commenting on his personal experience as well as this Washington Post article.
Saddam Hussein's Iraq: Not a Threat? - "Whether Iraq was involved in events of September 11 or not--Atta meeting or no Atta meeting, something that cannot be ruled out--those attacks offer a stark reminder that threats come in many forms. The same is true of the suicide bombings in Israel, and Saddam has publicly acknowledged paying $25,000 for every one of those "martyrdom" missions. Each one, of course, not only threatens, but kills and maims innocent civilians."
Starving Dog Eats Its Owner - Man's best friend? Well, it was a woman, and she was dead. Gross.
I've setup a Star Wars post for the purpose of feedback, at Ting-a-Ling! Feel free to leave your remarks.
The official site of Vanilla Coke. Full Disclosure: I will try this drink. I already enjoy a certain odd combination of soft drinks. Namely, root beer mixed with orange soda. My parents used to own and operate a 'burger joint'. I had full access to the soda fountain, which allowed me to stumble onto this creation. Go ahead, give it a try.
The Force is Arriving - "It doesn't matter that the new movie, which was "filmed" digitally, will be projected that way on only a handful of its 5,800 screens, or that "Spider-Man" has broken box office records in advance of "Clones" or even that the new film isn't even the final chapter in the long-running "Star Wars" saga. All that matters is, it's here."
"Summer of 2002, and George Lucas has once again roused himself to deliver another installment of "Star Wars." This is space opera, a form of science fiction that engulfs and devours every rival mode of pulp entertainment." (It's a NY Times article, so you'll need to paste the URL into the Login Generator if you haven't completed the free registration.)
Segway Update - "The Segway scooter enjoyed more than its fair share of pre-launch hype, but what's happened to this "revolutionary" invention since its unveiling?"
If you want to see Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones as the filmmakers truly intended it to be seen, you have to see it projected digitally. Click here for the list of participating theaters, or click on the image above. You'll be happy to learn that there are now 52 theaters on the list, not a mere 19, like before.
Rober Ebert: "After seeing the new ''Star Wars'' movie projected on film, I wrote that the images had "a certain fuzziness, an indistinctness that seemed to undermine their potential power." But I knew the film had been shot on digital video, and that George Lucas believed that it should preferably be seen, not on film, but projected digitally. Sunday I was able to see the digital version, and Lucas is right: "Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones" is sharper, crisper, brighter and punchier on digital than on film."
Got Klez? I am still receiving free copies of it every few hours. The tenacity!
Jeff Jarvis has proposed a Weblog Foundation. It seems to me that he has received a lukewarm response from several bloggers that comprise his target audience. Update: Rebecca Blood weighs in.
By now you've heard that Episode II will be shown using digital projection at certain theaters. By now, you've likely asked yourself, "What the heck does that mean?" Here is the answer.
Segway Hurdle? "The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has asked Congress to consider the potential risks of injury caused by motorized scooters before passing any federal legislation that would permit them to be used on sidewalks."
Dear Readers, there is much talk of how one film has earned more cash than another film, etc, etc. I present Exhibit A, which is a list of Box Office Greats, with revenues adjusted for inflation. Here you'll notice that Star Wars is number two, second to Gone with the Wind. That is all. Thank you.
"But on a purely visceral level, "Clones" is a delightfully rousing, eye-popping, crowd-pleasing homage to Saturday-morning serials of the '30s and '40s. For my money, the rip-roaring light-saber battle that climaxes this blockbuster alone justifies the price of admission."
Local News: Got Blog? An article by Timothy Boone, a Biloxi, MS reporter. Several Mississippi bloggers are featured.
Priceless. For a little perspective, please go here and read the NY Times' negative review of The Empire Strikes Back, which is arguably the best Star Wars movie. LOL! If you haven't read my Attack of the Clones rant, please do so. Feedback.
Creepy. "A man convicted of raping and killing a 19-year-old college student in 1991 was executed by injection Friday night. Leslie Martin, 35, made no final statement but, after the drugs were injected, could be seen mouthing the words "You're fired," to his defense attorney who watched the execution."
Mozilla 1.0 RC2 is available for download. Personally, I've found that IE 6 works just fine under Windows 2000 and Windows XP. I'm honestly not motivated to abandon IE just to learn a non-Microsoft product, as I have no complaints with IE. I will point out that my experience with IE 6 with both Windows 98 and Windows ME was very negative.
"Sites listed here are either useful, beautiful, or entertaining. A few meet all three criteria. This is in no way a comprehensive listing of the world’s best sites. Like we could come up with that if we tried."
"The militant Hezbollah organization is operating in the United States and could be planning attacks on U.S. soil, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham said Wednesday. Graham has said in the past that there are 100 al-Qaeda terrorists still in the United States awaiting attack orders. But his comments Wednesday raised a dangerous new possibility that Hezbollah has broadened its focus after two decades of battling Israel in Lebanon."
Jay Leno: "Bose Labs say they have recorded the lowest decibel sound ever made. The softest sounds ever heard – that would be Yasser Arafat denouncing terrorism."
Gertz: Iraq Deploys Missiles, Violates No-Fly Zones - It won't be long now.
The latest Newsletter by Scott Finnie. Topics include, 'Don't Get Klezed' and a rant about Windows XP's Recovery Console.
Attack of the Clones
It’s Star Wars time again! Only one more week!
Early reviews of Star Wars, Episode II, Attack of the Clones, have been negative, of course. These reviews, in my opinion, are irrelevant. Reading these reviews is comparable to listening to a Yankees game on the radio being announced by a Red Sox fan, or worse yet, listening to a baseball game being announced by someone who not only hates baseball, but also doesn't understand the game. Did Episode I, The Phantom Menace, compare to the first three films? No. Admittedly, the story and camaraderie present in the first three films were nowhere to be found. But, it simply didn’t matter to us (read: fanatics). We hadn't seen a Star Wars film in 16 years! Writing a negative review of a new Star Wars film is akin to a thirsty man in a desert complaining about the brand of bottled water that he's been handed, at long last. The reality of the matter is this: Star Wars, even on a bad day, with bad dialogue and all, is better than any other science fiction franchise! (Yes, this is the part where Star Trek fans may tune me out.) Recall that Mark Hamill, aka Luke Skywalker couldn't act himself out of a paper bag. The result? Nothing. It wasn’t a topic that distracted us from enjoying the films then, and we still enjoy them now. After all, he was Luke Freaking Skywalker, Jedi Knight! Appreciation of the new movie hinges on your appreciation of Star Wars, not on your appreciation of film. When I saw The Phantom Menace on opening night three years ago, I was blown away. The saga transcended the world of movies and movie critics, and it even transcended that horrid creature known as Jar Jar Binks. (I apologize for bringing him to mind.) Sure, I missed Han Solo and the chemistry that existed in the previous films. But who cares? There were lightsabers! People were using The Force! The Freaking Force!
Millions of us will be there the first week, spending millions of dollars and enjoying ourselves as John Williams' score blasts from the THX sound systems. Many of us, after criticizing this or that, will go back again! And again! We'll purchase the DVD a few months later. We'll invite people to our homes to watch the DVD. We'll make lightsaber noises as we brandish household items, pretending that we're Jedi Knights. Critically acclaimed or not, Star Wars, any 'episode', is both the movie and the movie experience, that has no legitimate competitor.
"Users of the latest versions of Microsoft's popular MSN Messenger program are vulnerable to computer hackers, the company warned on Wednesday. The "critical" flaw in the Internet-based program, which has millions of users, is the latest serious security flaw to be discovered in a program from the world's dominant software company."
"Analysts at Goldman Sachs estimate that if the disruption were isolated to Iraq, prices would likely reach $40, a significant jump from the current $26 per barrel level. That spike would, they estimate, cut "a rather modest" one-half of a percentage point off our GDP by 2003. In a $10 trillion economy, that would come to $50 billion in lost output--not exactly chopped liver, but hardly devastating. And certainly not as costly as a terrorist attack using the weapons of mass destruction that Saddam has available."
I keep getting more copies of Klez. McAfee only catches some of them. This is scary. It allows the innocent to be infected, even if they're running antivirus software.
Here are photos of the F5 tornado that gobbled up Maryland last month. Yikes.
"A Kearney man is in the intensive care unit at Good Samaritan Hospital after the van he was driving was struck by three trains Monday night on the east edge of Kearney." Three trains! (via Scott)
New intelligence from Turkey indicates that Saddam already has nuclear weapons.
"Five Palm Beach County adults came to the McDonald's drive-through looking for a cheap dinner of burgers and fries, but when they asked for some ketchup and straws to go with, they say they triggered a ketchup-throwing melee that ended with one customer sprawled on the floor inside under a pile of kicking, hair-pulling burger flippers."
I know this is rude, wrong and insensitive, but it's hilarious: Midget Tossing!
Attack of the Clones TV Commercials - The small links on the right-hand side of the page. Watch these and then try to tell me that this movie isn't going to rock. 'Bounty Hunter' and 'Clonetrooper' are among the best.
I.Q. Test - Eleven simple questions. Give it a try. I remember this one from my school days.
The Pop-Up Campaign from Hell - "Thousands of unsuspecting visitors to a family entertainment site are discovering a cornucopia of unwanted, potentially malicious software on their computers -- the result of a pop-up ad campaign, a booby-trapped Web site, a compromised Web browser, and strange doings at a shadowy Los Angeles company."
James Lileks on Spider-Man, "..when historians sift through the pop-culture of America looking for hints and clues, they will notice that a character born in Vietnam-era 1963 reached a mass appeal in 2002, shortly before the Second Iraq War, and they will pay particular attention to the recurring phrase: With great power comes great responsibility." He really liked Spider-Man.
Time.com: The Matrix Reloads - "It's high kicks, high tech and high concepts, as we peek inside the two Matrix sequels now shooting Down Under."
Ocean's Eleven is out on DVD today. If you like George Clooney, you'll like this movie. (MetaCritic/Ebert)
Against Depression, A Sugar Pill is Hard to Beat - "After thousands of studies, hundreds of millions of prescriptions and tens of billions of dollars in sales, two things are certain about pills that treat depression: Antidepressants like Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft work. And so do sugar pills."
Last week I purchased The Incredible Adventures of Wallace & Gromit on DVD. This disc contains three Wallace & Gromit films. My favorite is The Wrong Trousers. If you've never seen it, check it out.
Will Clinton become a talk show host? Peggy Noonan says, "Nah. He's too lazy, and Hillary won't let him."
The Dish - This film from last year got great reviews from quite a few film critics, and I've yet to speak with anyone who has seen it. Did anyone see it? Was it any good? Tell me.
Above the Impact: A Survivor's Story - A couple of people have told me that they enjoyed this article, so I'm going to link to it again. It's the story told by Brian Clark, who worked for a brokerage firm that had offices on the 84th floor of 2 World Trade Center. Brian was one of only four people to escape either tower from above the floors where the planes struck.
"Napster scared the vinyl right out of the RIAA, and despite the fact that thousands of people said they'd pay for a service like Napster to access music they would not otherwise buy, the RIAA has spent years and millions of dollars trying to stop any technology or person who would dare loan a CD track to a friend." - Extreme Copyright
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper received a sneak peek at Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones at the comfortable surroundings of George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. He talked Monday morning with Jack Cafferty about his experience. Read the transcript.
"Beyond Bush's advisers, objective monitors too are convinced that Saddam possesses hidden chemical and biological weapons and is working feverishly to build a still elusive nuclear bomb."
"The Bush administration wants new leadership in Iraq even if Saddam Hussein lets U.N. inspectors resume their search for weapons of mass destruction, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday. President Bush has declared Saddam a menace and pledged to remove him from power, although the administration says it has not decided how or when that goal will be achieved. Bush has said all options are available, including a military campaign to overthrow Saddam if he continued to deny admission to the weapons inspectors."
Douglas Dorhauer is being sued by LSU because of his website. Did I mention that he's a student there? The NY Times has an article about it. (Login Generator)
Spider-Man earned $114 million this past weekend. Surely Episode II will earn more.
We rented Bandits last night. It has its moments, but it's mostly a bore.
"It's easy to see why blogs would seduce. Logging on once or twice a day not only gains you access to the idiosyncrasies of someone's mind but, with every new post, reassurance as to his or her existence. The most popular bloggers post several times daily." - At Large in the Blogosphere, NY Times (Free Registration Required, or paste the URL into the Registration Generator)
Spider-Man shattered Harry Potter's $32.3 million opening day record by taking in over $41 million yesterday.
Hulk Trailer - In theaters next summer. Isn't it a bit early for a trailer?
"I normally don't do interviews with women unless I fornicate with them." - Mike Tyson
First Segway Casualty - "The heralded Segway has claimed its first Atlanta victim. A member of the Central Atlanta Progress Ambassador Force toppled from one of the personal scooters on Cone Street near Luckie Street about 8:40 p.m. Thursday. The officer, whose name was not released, injured his knee going up a driveway onto the sidewalk, said Atlanta Police Sgt. Michael Giugliano. He was taken to Grady Hospital."
"So Diehl opened up on them with a .50 caliber machine gun. Seems they got the message and vacated the area. A .50 delivers a message that is understood in all languages." - Den Beste, on this CNN report.
A new report from the research firm Jupiter Media Metrix says that Internet users who download songs for free from unauthorized "peer to peer" services are more likely to increase their music purchases than regular Internet users.
The Crash of Egypt Air 990 - "Two years afterward the U.S. and Egyptian governments are still quarreling over the cause—a clash that grows out of cultural division, not factual uncertainty. A look at the flight data from a pilot's perspective, with the help of simulations of the accident, points to what the Egyptians already know: the crash was caused not by any mechanical failure but by a pilot's intentional act."
We saw Spider-Man tonight, and we loved it. Tobey Maguire pulled through! If you don't see this one on the big screen, you'll regret it later, so check it out.
"A new report from Total Telecommunications indicates 75 percent of users are currently satisfied with their dial-up speeds, limiting the potential broadband market to one-fourth of the current access market."
Spider-Man is getting good reviews. Ebert didn't like it, but that's not saying much, because he didn't like Batman, either. We all know that Batman was great. Note: We don't trust Ebert's judgement of movies based on comic books.
Go watch this video footage of a phony Palestinian funeral. Charles says, "My favorite part is when they drop the poor schlub who’s playing the corpse for the second time, and the people following the parade—who apparently weren’t in on the scam—flee in terror when Mr. Stiffy comes back to life!" LOL!
Mission Accomplished - I was able to purchase tickets (by phone) for Episode II at the Ziegfeld Theater, which will be showing it in the digital format. (Note to Self: I wonder how long it will take Jason to figure out that I'm not really going to NY for his wedding. Hee-hee.)
Someone is spoofing my email address and sending out the Klez virus. Lovely. UPDATE: The Llama tells me that someone I know must have the virus, and it simply grabbed my name/address from their address book. So, it's not a spoofing issue.
Download this 5.7 MB video clip now! It's great! Read more about it here. 56k users can download this one, instead. (via foreachperl.org)
The New Addams Family (via Asparagirl, via Ed Murray) I think perhaps this photo deserves a classic Leon Phelps, "Yeah, that's just nasty", don't you?
James Lileks' latest Bleat is quite interesting. He responds at length to those who would argue that Sharon is similar to Hitler.
Nothing Like the Sun - A not-so-sterling recommendation of NY's latest newspaper, The NY Sun, by The Morning News.
Ann Coulter says "I propose a new term for people opposed to Third World immigrants coming to their countries: "Westerners Against Genital Mutilation." Other apt labels include: "Westerners Against Arranged Marriages for 12-Year-Old Girls," "Westerners Against Beating Women Whose Shoes Make Noise," and "Westerners Against Barbarians Committing Acts of Savage Violence and Then Explaining They Felt 'Humiliated.'"
The Dallas Morning News says this about linking to their site: "If you operate a Web site and wish to link to this Site, you may link only to the home page of the Site and not to any other page or subdomain of us." (via Dave) It should be noted that my link to their site is not to their main page, but to their Terms of Service page. Therefore, my link is in clear violation of their terms of service. More.
Tales of the Tyrant - "What does Saddam Hussein see in himself that no one else in the world seems to see? The answer is perhaps best revealed by the intimate details of the Iraqi leader's daily life." - by Mark Bowden
"Packing winds of more than 261 miles per hour, the strongest tornado in Maryland's history passed within an estimated two miles of the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Calvert County on Sunday."
Washington Post, with a WTC report: "Saying it was "remarkable" that the towers remained standing as long as they did, the engineers warned that it "may not be technically feasible" or cost-effective to design structural safeguards to protect other skyscrapers from toppling in similar attacks."
"PBS has picked up an additional nine episodes of the Latino-themed drama American Family, with the new shows set to air as early as July."
Good morning, and here's your daily Klez report: 5 more copies. Get your free antivirus software.