I can't stop watching this over and over.

I think people like this are the reason other people go insane and start shooting.

Dammit Sarah, don't send me videos that make me agree with Sean Hannity!

2 Bombers Strike Outside Base in Egypt -- Newsday.com:

Two suicide bombers struck Wednesday outside the main base of the multinational peacekeeping force near the Gaza border in Sinai, killing themselves but causing no other casualties

If you kill yourself but fail to kill anyone else in your suicide bombing, do the 70 virgins in heaven refuse to have sex with you?

This has been the Ponderable of the Day.

Mars rovers are in good shape for winter - Space.com - MSNBC.com:

Those long-lived NASA Mars rovers — Spirit and Opportunity — remain in fairly good shape, with one robot in survival mode as Martian winter arrives while its twin snakes its way across a taxing terrain of sand dunes to reach a striking target.

'Both rovers are doing really well right now,' said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Rover project. 'We had a bit of a scare with Spirit a while back, losing use of the right front wheel less than a hundred meters shy of our intended wintering spot on McCool Hill,' he told Space.com.

Pretty awesome, considering that they were only expected to last 90 days.

Bush seeks to ease gas pressure - Politics - MSNBC.com:

Bush also urged oil companies, which are enjoying record profits, to increase their investments in alternatives to oil and announced that some environmental rules were being relaxed to ease fuel supplies.

Republicans can turn anything into an excuse to screw the environment a little bit more, can't they?

FindLaw's Writ - Dean: If Past Is Prologue, George Bush Is Becoming An Increasingly Dangerous President:

As the 2006 midterm elections approach, this active/negative president can be expected to take further risks. If anyone doubts that Bush, Cheney, Rove and their confidants are planning an 'October Surprise' to prevent the Republicans from losing control of Congress, then he or she has not been observing this presidency very closely.

What will that surprise be? It's the most closely held secret of the Administration.

John W. Dean is smart, and he frightens me.

Greg Maddux is the most modest professional athlete, and has been as long as he's played. He's 40 years old and is having a killer year, winning all four of his starts, and yet this is how he explains it:

Maddux helps Cubs avert sweep against Cards - Baseball - MSNBC.com:

All month, Maddux has insisted that he’s doing nothing different and not trying to fill the void.

“I wish I could explain it,” Maddux said. “Personally, I’m just getting ready to pitch like I always have, I’m just catching a lot of breaks.”

Holy crap, a pro athlete admitting that a winning streak might involve some luck? Hope the devil's got Gore-Tex.

Never thought I'd say this, but I didn't particularly enjoy seeing George Carlin live last night. Tons of respect for him, of course, but... I dunno. There wasn't enough of the really sharp commentary on society that he used to be all about. It was mostly dick jokes, sort of a "how offensive can I possibly get?" mentality. He went on and on about how whenever he sees a natural disaster, he hopes against hope for it to get worse. I mean, ON AND ON. I wasn't offended by the joke, but by the sheer amount of time he wasted pounding it into our heads. I almost fell asleep. A bunch of people left before it was over, and I suspect it was more out of boredom than anything else.

Also of note: The SAME GODDAM CELL PHONE went off near me at least fifteen times throughout the show, no exaggeration. Did the person not think people would mind? Some girl repeatedly tried to shout to the idiot to turn it off, to no avail. I wonder if it was some extremely shy individual who wouldn't turn it off for fear of incriminating themselves when they reached for their bag, then sat in horror as it continued to ring and the situation got worse and worse.

Let's get this straight now before we do anything stupid, like letting public support for war in Iran get to the point where Bush might feel like he could get away with it. Iran isn't anywhere close to building a nuclear bomb. The media appears to be doing all it can to make it seem like they've damn near already got one, and the Bushies sure aren't doing anything to downplay that notion, but it's not true. Nothing would be more frustrating than watching as we invade yet another country for having WMDs that don't actually exist.

Isn't it amazing how we always find ourselves in the same situation: All the experts and informed people in the world say one thing, and Bush says exactly the opposite? Does he have an ongoing feud with reality? (See: global warming, Iraq, domestic spying, etc.)

Analysts Say a Nuclear Iran Is Years Away - New York Times:

Western nuclear analysts said yesterday that Tehran lacked the skills, materials and equipment to make good on its immediate nuclear ambitions, even as a senior Iranian official said Iran would defy international pressure and rapidly expand its ability to enrich uranium for fuel.

The official, Muhammad Saeedi, the deputy head of Iran's atomic energy organization, said Iran would push quickly to put 54,000 centrifuges on line — a vast increase from the 164 the Iranians said Tuesday that they had used to enrich uranium to levels that could fuel a nuclear reactor.

Still, nuclear analysts called the claims exaggerated. They said nothing had changed to alter current estimates of when Iran might be able to make a single nuclear weapon, assuming that is its ultimate goal. The United States government has put that at 5 to 10 years, and some analysts have said it could come as late as 2020.

Iran's announcement brought criticism from several Western nations and to a lesser degree from Russia and China. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for 'strong steps' against Iran, using the country's clear statement of defiance to persuade reluctant countries like Russia and China to support tough international penalties. But Russian officials said they had not changed their opposition to such penalties. Nuclear analysts said Iran's boast that it had enriched uranium using 164 centrifuges meant that it had now moved one small but significant step beyond what it had been ready to do nearly three years ago, when it agreed to suspend enrichment while negotiating the fate of its nuclear program.

'They're hyping it,' said David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, a private group that monitors the Iranian nuclear program. Anthony H. Cordesman and Khalid R. al-Rodhan of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington called the new Iranian claims "little more than vacuous political posturing" meant to promote Iranian nationalism and a global sense of atomic inevitability.

This thing is going to ruin kids' lives.

Sprint - Family Locator:

Sprint Family Locator is an inexpensive way for families on the go to stay in constant touch. Mom, Dad or a trusted caregiver can locate loved ones without disturbing their activities, receive notification when a child enters or leaves a designated area, and quickly and easily send text messages to one or more family members.

The application uses GPS technology to determine the location of authorized mobile handsets, which it then displays on an interactive map. Sprint Family Locator also provides an intuitive interface for text-message communication and account management. These features are accessible from both a registered mobile handset and the secure Sprint Family Locator Web site.

Something's very, very wrong with this ad.

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Texas Judge Orders Medication for Inmate:

A judge who halted an execution because the inmate was mentally ill has agreed to force the man to take anti-psychotic medication so he can be put to death.

...

In 1986, the Supreme Court held the Eighth Amendment's cruel and unusual punishment clause bars states from executing prisoners who aren't aware of the punishment they are about to face and don't understand why they are facing it.

OK, I get the legality, I guess, but at what point do you step back and say, "Um, what the hell are we doing?"

Check Your Sitter

Spent all day yesterday on that one. It's still a work-in-progress, so that photo at right is low-res garbage that won't stay, and obviously the text is filler. The FAQ button is clickable to see the next level (though HSR fans will enjoy the 404 error page you get if you click another one).

After spending Saturday on one web site, I get to spend Sunday on another work-in-progress. And I've got a midterm coming up in class Thursday night. I need coffee.

Step 1: Find funny photo of cat.

Step 2: Add hilarious caption!

Step 3: Laugh and laugh.

Step 4: Post it on your blog.

Step 5: Sit back and wait for it to become a phenomenon, which is of course inevitable.

I'll tell you how: It has to be called The Big Lebowski.

Do you see what happens, Larry?

Artificial sweetener cleared of cancer link - Cancer - MSNBC.com:

A huge federal study in people — not rats — takes the fizz out of arguments that the diet soda sweetener aspartame might raise the risk of cancer.

No increased risk was seen even among people who gulped down many artificially sweetened drinks a day, said researchers who studied the diets of more than half a million older Americans.

Considering that I down an average of 4 Diet Mountain Dews a day, this is welcome news. What's next, beer is good for you?

Did you like my headline? It's a pun.

Or actually, not really. But I wish I was. I thought we were done with weekends like this one. This will probably spell the end for those purty flowers.

...for this? I don't think so, but a lot of people do, and I can't blame them.

I'll probably go opening day. It sounds like they did it the right way.

I'm a big fan of spring, and these flowers Steph planted last fall are putting me in a good mood today. Well, that and the gin and juice.