Uncle Bill for Prez? Payer's dream: Bill Gates for President (dot Net).

Hawking Hawking is a moron. There, I've said it. For those of you that would like to join Mr. Hawking on his little quest into space, looking for a better home than Earth, please do so. I'll somehow manage without you.

Wovel Say hello to the Wovel, a snow shovel on a wheel. (via Kottke)

Iranian Arms Found in Iraq ABC News: "U.S. officials say they have found smoking-gun evidence of Iranian support for terrorists in Iraq: brand-new weapons fresh from Iranian factories. According to a senior defense official, coalition forces have recently seized Iranian-made weapons and munitions that bear manufacturing dates in 2006."

BitTorrent BitTorrent: "It's the protocol, stupid!" Personally, I don't think the entertainment companies are as stupid as this blog post suggests, but it wouldn't surprise me if they don't fully understand the issue.

Redneck Flatscreen TV

New Bond Casino Royale. Recommended. The new Bond movie, Casino Royale, is not to be missed. This movie is not a formulaic re-tread and it doesn't feature many of the elements that we've come to expect in a Bond movie - and yet, it works!

Why, then, does a movie with very little resemblance to previous Bond movies work? Why did this radical new formula impress me, having seen the previous twenty films? This is a hard question to answer. I will offer two possible explanations. 1) This movie works as a standalone film. If you've never seen a Bond film you can enjoy this movie. You don't need to know anything about James Bond or previous Bond villains. The movie has a complete story and character arc. 2) Casino Royale is chronologically positioned before all previous Bond movies. Dr. No, the very first Bond movie contained only a few of the elements that we've come to expect in a Bond movie. This film takes place before Dr. No. Therefore, the 'formula' has not been established. This movie is about the genesis of Bond.

What were some of the highlights of the movie? The first extended action sequence (chase scene) is a marvel to behold. The scene involving the fuel truck at the Miami airport is also very good, and it even has a Bond ending. Daniel Craig, almost unknown to American audiences, is a terrific actor and he demonstrates that he can turn on the charm, when needed. Eva Green will emerge as one of the more memorable Bond girls, as she is quite beautiful and her character, Vesper Lynd, is complex. The infrequent moments of dry humor were excellent, with one of them being quite unexpected. (I won't spoil the particular scene.)

I do not buy the argument that the Bond franchise needed revamping. To the contrary, if done right, a Bond movie can contain all of the formulaic elements and still be a great movie. However, Casino Royale proves that a Bond movie can also work as something completely different than what we've come to expect.

Laser eye ops could ruin sight Yeah, this is why I haven't had Lasik surgery yet. It's still too early to tell, in my opinion. My eyeglasses work just fine, thank you.

20 Most Overrated Films Premiere Magazine: The 20 Most Overrated Movies of All-Time. I was so happy to see Clerks and A Beautiful Mind on this list. However, I must take issue with having Forrest Gump and Gone with the Wind on it. Let the arguments begin.

Slam Dunk? The evidence against OJ, in case you've forgotten. Can you say overwhelming?

Must-See DVD? Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. Wikipedia has more.

Pure Evil There are some evil people in this world. Their days are numbered. (I couldn't finish reading the article.)

Survivor Update Aitu, the underdog tribe, just keeps kicking butt on Survivor. Yul and Ozzy are incredible atheletes, but more than that, Aitu has a winning spirit. The larger tribe, Raro, is in a state of perpetual self-destruction and negativity. Further, Raro keeps putting people on the jury that will be biased against them. My pick for overall winner at this stage of the game? Yul. He's an all-around good guy, a great athelete and he has the hidden immunity idol.

"Why I Hate Apple" Zed Shaw: "Now this is where Dell and Apple differ and why Dell kicks Apple’s a**. Chris called them up, and they took the laptop back right away without any questions, paid for his shipping, and even were polite about it. He only had to whine for a little while. Dell also promptly fixed the junk plastic in their laptops and now you can get a decent nice looking Dell for fairly little money."

OJ Coffee is bad for you, but OJ will kill you!

Rashida Jones Rashida Jones is the "new girl" that Jim brings back to Scranton on The Office. Since you probably didn't know, Rashida is the daughter of music producer Quincy Jones and actress/singer Peggy Lipton. Rashida looks a lot like her mother.

The Office: Clip Here's a clip from tonight's episode of The Office. If you're not watching this show, you're missing the funniest show currently on TV.

Ouch Everyone loves smart criminals!

OfficeLive Launches Microsoft has officially launched OfficeLive. What is OfficeLive? Uncle Bill says, "Microsoft Office Live services allow you to create a professional online presence without the expense of buying a server, setting up a complicated infrastructure, and hiring technical staff to maintain it. Microsoft Office Live is a hosted service – all you need is a computer and an Internet connection."

Star Wars Marathon As reported on by a Star Wars virgin: "Before the marathon, I always wondered what exactly was so special about Star Wars. What was I missing? I've never had the urge to stand in front of a theater wearing a costume. Would I want to after tonight?"

Watching these movies in the order in which they were released is the only thing that makes sense for a first-timer, in my opinion. SPOILER ALERT. Let's get specific. Knowing that Darth Vader is Luke's father makes the original films completely anticlimactic. There is NO way George Lucas can explain this away. Further, knowing that Luke and Leia are twins before watching the original films is completely insane. It can be said that much of the excitement in the original films comes from the plot twists that would be non-existent if one were to watch to 'prequels' first.

Video Issue on FoxNews.com For some reason, I cannot play any video clips at Fox News' website. This is the case on two of my PCs. Additionally, many of my coworkers have experienced the same thing. I'm left to conclude that a security/browser setting is improperly configured. Please contact me if you know how to fix this issue.

Geography 101 NOTE - This post has been updated (11/19/06). See below for details.



Question: What's wrong with this caption I snapped from the Washington Post's website today? (Answer below.)



Answer: Russia is in Asia. Therefore, a person cannot be "En Route to Asia" when he or she is already in Asia. UPDATE: Thanks to Peter, a reader that writes to tell me that Moscow is locatd in a portion of Russia that is indeed located in Europe, not Asia. I stand corrected. Here is a quote from the Wikipedia entry for Russa: "Most of the land consists of vast plains, both in the European part and the part of Asian territory, that is largely known as Siberia." Therefore, Russia does indeed have land in Europe and land in Asia. Here is a map, that illustrates this.

Top Beer Cities MSNBC: Top Ten Cities for Beer Lovers.

New Spider-Man 3 Trailer QuickTime Video: Spider-Man 3 Trailer. This sure does look promising.

How to Annoy People 248 Ways to Annoy People - Some of these are old and some of these are lame. But...some of them are gold!

Rules for 'Calling Shotgun' Via Kottke, the Wikipedia entry for Calling Shotgun.

Backside Firework Prank Backfires The herd was almost thinned by one. UPDATE: Oh my, there is a video of the incident.

Office Space "Recut" YouTube: Office Space "Recut". Luv it!

BlueScreen Screen Saver Your worst nightmare? An official Microsoft BlueScreen Screen Saver. You gotta hand it to 'em. They have a sense of humor. In my opinion, this is about the equivalent of Ford releasing an exploding Pinto screen saver.

Windows Vista Review Paul Thurrott: Windows Vista Review. Here'a one important conclusion he reaches in this review: "Do not purchase or use Windows Vista Home Basic. It's that simple."

More here: Is Vista Worth the Wait?

Even More: Four Reasons Vista is Not Worth It.

Vista Completed Microsoft Windows Vista will be available as a retail standalone product on January 30, 2007. With five different versions and a $400 price tag, how can it not be a non-starter? In my opinion, MS did a poor job of convincing businesses to switch from Windows 2000 to Windows XP. How will they convince folks to move from XP to Vista? It will take years.

Corinne Bailey Rae Recommended Music: Corinne Bailey Rae. The entire album is pretty good. If you have DirecTV, you can see her in a taped NYC concert on Channel 101, commercial-free.

Beck on SNL Jeremy Blonde sends along this video of Beck on SNL last week.

Bloggers: We're a Bunch of 'Know it Alls' I suppose all bloggers, at one time or another, provide unintentional laughs to their readers. I won't deal in specifics, because I like to keep the tone of this blog upbeat and civil, if at all possible. What am I talking about? Well, it really cracks me up when bloggers provide commentary on subjects beyond their immediate expertise. For instance, tech bloggers talking politics, science bloggers talking religion, political bloggers talking tech, football bloggers talking baseball, etc, etc. I'm not trying to suggest that persons can only have one expertise. Rather, I do feel that most of us are experts at one or two subjects, and when we comment on other subjects, those outside our own area of expertise, we often bring very little perspective or historical background to the table. Therefore, a blog post about one of these "other subjects" will sometines sound utterly foolish and/or misguided.

As such, I have a confession: I regularly read (or skim) a number of blogs for their unintentional entertainment value. This serves to keep me up-to-date with world views/values/opinions that are the polar opposite of my own. My goal is not to "enlighten" myself, but to have a good laugh. I could avoid these opposing views, but reading them is too darn entertaining.

I'm sure there are people that read my blog and laugh at me, not with me, so I just wanted to give them a shout out.

Cocoa Pebbles Better than drugs?

Waterboarding More Waterboarding. Fox News reporter Steve Harrigan gets waterboarded.

Friday! It's Friday, people! The weather is beautiful, the coffee is hot and life is great!

"Much Love" Tom Cruise is now in charge of a movie studio. Right.