MSNBC - Major Tokyo quake expected within 50 years - It's worth recalling the impact 9/11 had on the world economy -- I don't mean to trivialize it, but that was only a few buildings. Imagine if half of Tokyo were to bite the dust...

CNN.com - Internet machine shop offers custom tooling - Aug 26, 2004 - That's awesome.

CNN.com - 50,000 beers stolen in 'dumb-crook' caper - Aug 26, 2004 - "The shipment of Moosehead was labeled in English and Spanish for export to Mexico, so it could not be sold in Canada. Nor could it be shipped into or through the United States without proper documentation.

"Its one of these classic, dumb-crook stories," said Joel Levesque, a spokesman for Moosehead.

"They can't sell it anywhere in Canada without giving away the immediate fact that it's been stolen... So we have crooks stuck with 50,000 plus cans of beer that basically they can't fence."

Sorry Joel, but if you think they're worried about not being able to sell all that beer, the crooks aren't the dumb ones here.

MSNBC - Report: 1.3 million more Americans in poverty: "In releasing a massive collection of data describing the state of the economy in hundreds of states, counties and localities, the Census Bureau said the median household income was unchanged last year after adjusting for inflation, at about $43,300. But a total of 35.9 million people, or 12.5 percent of the population, were living in poverty, up 1.3 million from 2002 when the rate was 12.1 percent."

I mean... not shocking at all. The poor have gotten significantly poorer, yet the median income has not changed. What could that possibly mean? Oh yeah, the rich are a whole lot richer than they ever have been before, at the expense of the lower class, which this administration hasn't lifted a finger to help since day one.

AWOL - I can't decide if this is a really bad idea or a really good one.

CNN.com - Matthews Band sued over waste dumping - Aug 25, 2004 - "The state of Illinois sued the Dave Matthews Band on Tuesday for allegedly dumping up to 800 pounds of liquid human waste from a bus into the Chicago River, dousing a tour boat filled with passengers."

This is my nominee for the funniest story of the year (did I already nominate something else? If so, I'm sure this replaces it easily). Seriously, read the rest of the story, it gets better.

MSNBC - Beer in aluminum bottles on the way: Why do you need beer that stays cold for 50 minutes longer in the bottle? Who takes a damn hour to finish a beer? However, if they were talking about doing this for 40's...

MSNBC - Seriously, Kerry picks 'Daily Show' for interview: "'...George W. Bush has put a moratorium on talk about his behavior under the age of 40 and everyone [in the press] is abiding by it. 'Were you or were you not an alcoholic or did you just have a drinking problem?,' 'Were you or were you not a drug abuser?' Meanwhile they're debating whether [Kerry's war] wounds drew blood or were they superficial, or occurred in the same day, or whether he shot a guy wearing a toga. . . . How is that possible?'"

MSNBC - Pentagon panel faults top brass for Abu Ghraib - I hate seeing this in the news, because every time it's there, people in other countries are reminded that they have a real reason to hate the American people, not just the leadership.

Just imagine if soldiers from Pakistan or something did the exact same thing... how would Americans feel about the Pakistani people? We'd think they were a bunch of assholes, that's how we'd feel, because we don't know any better than to make that generalization. All I know is that this isn't the best time to travel abroad.

MSNBC - Hamm should give up the gold - I hadn't thought about this, but it would definitely be better for Hamm to give up his gold than to forever be "the guy who shouldn't have won in the first place."

MSNBC - Olympic game is foreign to NBA players: "Even the ball is different, measuring 30.7 inches in circumference -- about an inch bigger than the NBA's. And if history repeats itself, that ball will be rock hard and slippery -- just as it was in Atlanta and Sydney when it caught the Americans off-guard." I didn't know that. That makes a big difference.

MSNBC - Peterson-Frey telephone chats take center stage - "Days after his wife vanished, Scott Peterson called his lover and pretended to be in Europe, saying he wanted to kill a barking dog and praising the horror film "The Shining," according to secretly taped phone conversations played in court Wednesday."

MSNBC - Will Smith may dive into politics: "'Of course I could be president if I wanted to,' Smith told the newspaper Aftonbladet..." Really, Will? I mean, Independence Day was pretty cool and all, but you still don't have my vote.

eBay item 5508453273 (Ends Jul-22-04 13:39:56 PDT) - Rubber Ducky, Unbelievable story, Haunted? Possesed? -- Update: people are still stupid.