Breaking news all over is that Lebanon’s government has resigned. Well, Lebanon’s Syrian backed government. After a ban on protesting that fell flat, popular opinion for democracy has taken hold apparently.
Foxnews:

BEIRUT, Lebanon  Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami (search) announced the resignation of his pro-Syrian government Monday, two weeks after the assassination of his predecessor, Rafik Hariri (search), triggered protests in the streets and calls for Syria to withdraw its thousands of troops.

CNN’s take:

Karami, whose speech was broadcast by Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, said he would have won a no-confidence vote scheduled for later in the day, but was resigning to avoid making his government a stumbling block to peace.

Looks like another notch in the holster of pro-freedom forces.

Although it looks like the battle lines are hardening, this also from the CNN article:

Syria’s Shaaban also dismissed a report that Syria and Iran — which the United States accuses of harboring a nuclear weapons program — have created a common front against the United States.
Shaaban said the story stemmed from Syria’s prime minister, who said in Arabic that “cooperation existed between Syria and Iran for years and will continue to exist.”

Of course the blogs are all over it, including Vokdapundit, the Corner, Roger L. Simon, and of course, Captain’s Quarters.

Whenever I think of the uncertain future I tend to get a little off kilter You never know what is going to happen, and of course most of us expect the worst.
So I do believe it is time to broaden our horizons for when we think about the “War on Iraq”. From now on, we must includes gains not just in Iraq, but also Libya, the Palestinian territory, and now Lebanon, among others. For it is obviously a direct result of what has happened in Iraq what is starting to spread throughout the world. Even now most who pay attention are looking at Iran as the next, and possibly the most volatile change. A couple of false starts have happened already. Now is the waiting game…

Oh how much do I thank Ghost of a flea for such wonderful items he posts all the time?
Not nearly enough.

Please, see Office Friends!* This will get your TPS reports in on time!

*This link is safe for work as long as you keep the volume down a bit, have head phones available, or just don’t care anymore.

You may soon be able to see Song of the South once again!
Don’t know what it is? Never heard of it? Essentially it was banned.
But legend now has it that Disney, with profits falling off, are willing to try anything to bring money in. Hey, thats fine with me, I’m looking forward to seeing Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox on the screen.
Not that I don’t already have a bootleg copy or anything…

Google AutoLink technology is essentially the same thing used by Microsoft SmartTags. In fact, the same guy developed both of them.
At least MS was nice enough to enable a metatag to disable the SmartTags, however Google is basically telling the content providers (that is you and me boys and girls) to shove it.
If you need more information on this issue, take a look here.

Dan Gillmor has this to say:

Like several other people, I have raised serious questions about this product’s new “AutoLink” tool. It strikes me as an intrusion into people’s browsers by a company that commands great market share.

She listened to my concerns. And she explained Google’s stance — nothing new there, and it amounts to “this is all for the users’ benefit” defense. I am not convinced, however, that Google will end up doing the right thing in the end.

An excellent description and more information about the technology and the contraversy can be found here.

What I have done is taken the code provided at this site and constructed a plug-in wrapper for WordPress 1.5 blogsites.
Simply place both de-google.php and de-google.inc files from the zip file into your wp-content/plugins folder and activate it on the plugins page. This will add a section of javascript to each of your pages that will search for any Google autolinks and remove them.

You can download the plugin here.

An Italian “Jubologist” has linked women’s breast type to their personalities.

Melons: A woman with large, round breasts “likes eating and wants to be spoiled and admired, but seldom likes sex,” says Lorenzi.
Grapefruit: “This woman may look erotic, but in reality is bashful and homely. She spoils her partner but prefers tenderness over sex.”
Pears: “Loves love in all its variations. She can be very religious, but is known to have affairs.”
Pineapples: “A woman with pineapple breasts is intelligent, often has a career but is still romantic. They are also faithful. Whoever wins their heart will not lose it quickly.”
Oranges: “While she is self-confident and knows her goals, she has little interest in sex. She likes conversation and partnerships.”
Lemons: “These women are full of life and can laugh at themselves. They want a balanced life without surprises.”
Cherries: They are entertaining and intelligent. Make great partners both for everyday life and on holiday and are moderately interested in sex.”

So this is the important quote right here: That’s right - the shocking conclusion of Lorenzoni’s study is that women don’t like sex very much and the form and volume of their assets makes little or no difference in the matter.
I am also pretty damn sure this was government funded research.

Delaware Online shows a creative answer to an age old question.

To clear out undesirables, opera and classical music have been piped into Canadian parks, Australian railway stations, 7-Eleven parking lots and London Underground stops.
According to most reports, it works. Figures from the British capital released in January showed robberies in the subway down by 33 percent, assaults on staff by 25 percent and vandalism of trains and stations by 37 percent. Sources in other locales have reported fewer muggings and drug deals. London authorities now plan to expand Mozart, Vivaldi, Handel and opera (sung by Pavarotti) from three tube stations to an additional 35.

I’m not going to comment further on this one. I just thought it was interesting.

Malika has an opinion about Delaware’s use of the three tiered diploma system. The three tiered diploma is used by Delaware to show those who graduated high school, rating them as basic, standard and distinguished.

High school diploma should be the same for everybody
I am against having a two-tier or three-tier diploma. It sends the wrong message to students. I also think it will have a negative impact on the black community. Everyone should get the same diploma at graduation. No one should get the impression that they are smarter than the next individual because they got a higher diploma. This is not right nor fair to students working hard just to make through high school. Some people struggle just to make passing grades. Stress is added by distinguished, standard and basic diplomas. These students should be treated equally, not humiliated because another person scored higher on the state tests. Some students don’t do well under pressure when taking a test, but do well in class and maintain good grades throughout the school year. Why should we separate the fortunate students from the less fortunate? The next thing, employers will require that a person has a distinguished diploma to get a job. A diploma means that the person completed four years of high school and maintained the average necessary to graduate. Malika K. Lively, Wilmington

Hi Malika. I am the clue train. I am going to run over you right now.
What is the wrong message to students? That those who barely do enough to get by deserve all the same priveledges as those who really worked hard to get A grades? That someone who pulled C’s and D’s should be a valedictorian, so as not to harm their precious little sensibilities?
Ahhh, so now it is a bad impact on the black community. Because you are saying that black students are incapable of working hard and getting good grades? Wow, I was under the impression that the black students were equally capable of getting A’s. I did not know that the color of your skin automatically took a certain number of points off your tests and homework. Is that what they’re teaching in education schools now?
Not right or fair to students working hard? You know what? If you are working hard to just get a diploma, you should feel good about getting a diploma. I think that after 4 years of high school, even the not so intelligent students would have an idea who the “smart kids” were. And you know what? I didn’t graduate top tier in my high school. I did not work that hard. But I am glad that the students who did get a 4.0 had something extra special to show for it. It is rewarding excellence, not mediocrity.
You’re worried about stress? My god girl, you’re going to just explode when it comes time for your first job interview and you’re up against 50 other people.
And why would you be humiliated that someone else scored higher on tests? Guess what? Someone out there is always going to do better than you. Welcome to one of life’s lessons. There is ALWAYS someone better than you, but that should not change what you do. The only person you ever truly compete against is yourself. If you don’t do well on this standardized test, guess what? Study harder, learn more, and retake the test. That is built into the system. The students are treated equally, they are all given the same test.
As for some students not doing well on tests. This is always a funny one. Life is a series of tests. Every day you are tested. You should learn to do better on tests. Unless you are so prejudiced that you believe that people can’t learn to do better.
Employers requiring an advanced diploma? Well, for some jobs, that may be a good thing. Scenario: Your mother has cancer. Which doctor do you want to treat her? The one that has the advanced degrees from top schools? Or the one who barely scored high enough to graduate the Costa Rican Medical and Circus Performer College?
So Malika, let me ask you this. If everyone out there always received the same awards, no matter how much effort you did, what would it be? Ahh, that’s right, you’d be a communist. And if you paid any attention in history class, you’d know that communism has failed, because it does not reward excellence. Why would anyone work harder than the next guy if they aren’t rewarded for it?
The obvious extention of what you are asking for is that college admissions may no longer look at transcripts or anything else than did the student graduate high school, yes or no. The only requirement for a job is that you graduated high school, yes or do. The only requirement for a surgeon operating on your mom is did you graduate high school, yes or no. Anything else is unfair.

Everyone goes through those tough, angst filled teenage years.  Even super heroes.  No, not like you’ll find in the Teen Titans, or even Smallville. 

Nope, this is what really happens in Super Hero Highschool, at IFILM: Fast Times at Hero High

Now, personally, I always liked the film short Grayson which shows Robin coming back 20 years after Batman was murdered to avenge him.  Its one that should be made into a full length film.

Another story in the donut shop series…

This time, I must be at the airport at around 5am Saturday morning to catch a flight to the Howard AFB, right near the Panama Canal.  It is, I believe, summer 1993.  Very nice night, so why bother even sleeping?  That is what the long flight is for.

So around 10pm I head in to town to see everyone.  Everything is relatively busy, lots of cars circling everywhere.  Things start to slow down a bit after 1am, but there are still about a dozen people at the shop.  I am outside talking to a few people about things we thought were important at the time.

A car pulls in, and a naked girl gets out of the back seat.  And another one.  They stretch (very nicely I might add!) and walk into the shop to use the bathroom.  From the front seat two guys get out.  They walk over and start making small talk with us.  We’re not too bothered, we’re "cosmopolitan" and all that, but we do keep an eye through the big glass windows for when the ladies return.

The guys inform us that they are nudists (well, duh, although they could have been pledging a frat or something) and thanked us for not freaking out.  After a few minutes the ladies finally return, chat with us for a minute, and they all finally return to the car and leave.

Yeah, that was a good omen for what turned out to be a really excellent trip to Central America!

Yahoo! News - We’re Here to Bug You: Video Mocks Police

HAVANA (Reuters) - "Good Morning, we’ve come to install your microphones," an agent says at the door in the opening line of an underground video making the rounds in Cuba.

"In what part of the house do you usually talk bad about the government?" he asks the nervous resident, a driver who pilfers gasoline and coffee from the state.

The spoof of Cuba’s feared security police is in hot demand among Cubans, for whom black jokes and complaints about communist bureaucracy is a major pastime.

Made privately by well-known figures of Cuba’s film industry, the 15-minute video is being passed around as a DVD. While many Cubans are talking about the video, not all have seen it because few Cubans have computers and even fewer DVD players.

Films satirizing the state’s inefficiency have been tolerated in Cuba since the early days of President Fidel Castro (news - web sites)’s government, in power since a 1959 revolution.

But the bold video called "Monte Rouge" breaks Cuban taboos by poking fun at the Big Brother aspect of Cuban society, where Cubans feel they are constantly being spied on.

The secret police has received so many complaints, the two agents explain in the video, that it has changed methods to frank and open surveillance with target participation.

"Why me?" asks the perplexed driver.

"Most people just criticize the power blackouts and Granma (Communist Party daily) and ask how long this system will go on for. But you have made very wise comments about our emigration policy that have really been helpful," the agent answers.

"We are not interested in the good things you have to say about the system," he instructs the driver.

Told to say "something subversive" to test the mikes — placed in his toilet where the agents also offered to install a mini-bar — the man blurts out that he wants a satellite dish, an illegal possession prized by Cubans eager to watch foreign television.

One of the agents offers to sell him a dish, but not to say anything to his colleague, in a final jab at state corruption.

The video was director by Eduardo del Llano, who plays the part of one of the agents, with cinema and television soap opera actor Luis Alberto Garcia as the victim. 

It seems to be the day for photography.  Old photography.  In Color!

Not many people know that color photography has been going on since around 1900.  Most people are of the opinion it started in and around WWII.  Well, thats color movies. 

Several sites over the past few days have been linking to some absolutely amazing color photographs from WWI and before.  This site, thanks to Vodkapundit, has French WWI photographs of troops.  None are in combat, but what I find so interesting is the color of the uniforms.  The detail is very nice, and shows troops, doctors and nurses, and others in various scenes, including one with a trooper visiting the head.

Michael Jennings posts on photographs taken before WWI in Russia, commissioned by the Tsar, by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii. Prokudin-Gorskii took pictures with a 3 color camera in black and white.  While astrophotographers still know that technique, what it means is that he took three pictures, one with a red filter, one with a green, and one with a blue.  When displaying them back, he would have three projectors, each also with filters.  This would display on the screen similar to the old video projectors of about 10-20 years ago, which had three picture tubes. 

This process produced absolutely beautiful color pictures.  Absolutely incredible.  Russia is a beautiful country.  These pictures must be seen.  And they are roughly 100 years old.  Some look like they were taken yesterday.

Thanks to the Corner it is another one of those flash games, this one Japanese, and called Nanaca Crash!

The goal:  use your bike to crash into Nanaca and send him flying, running into all the other people.

But 3101.68m has to be a good record.  Can you beat it?  Let me know in the comments…

Took this picture a few of years ago (on the trip that the whole crew took down to that LARP in Atlanta).  It still tears me up…

Story time!!!

Once again, we’re hanging out in the donut shop, back stretch of Main Street, Newark, Delaware.  Either a Friday or Saturday night, probably around 1am.  I was there, and I know Lori was also, not sure who else.  It was around midnight.

People come and go all night long.  Us regulars are sitting there drinking our coffee, watching humanity pass us by.

A car pulls up right in front of the door, instead of parking.  The rear right door opens, and a girl, about 19 or 20, gets out and runs into the shop.  With a muffled voice she asked for a bunch of napkins.  Her mouth was full of something and it was difficult to understand what she was asking for.

She asked again, was given some napkins.  She proceeded to spit into the napkins, threw them away, and ran back to the car. 

The very happy guy on the other side of the back seat was laughing the entire time.

CNN.com is running a story… uh.. huh… huh.. about a woman who got pregnant… well, uhhh… go read the story. Then come back here.

You’re back? OK… you may have missed this part.

They’re both Doctors. I just think that is the hilarious!

From ABC News: Family of Suspect in Bush Plot to Sue U.S.
Can’t wait for this one to get thrown out of court. However, this is the most interesting thing:

Outside the courtroom, Omar Abu Ali said he knew his son was being tortured at the Alhair prison in Riyadh because of the words the young man blurted out in his first phone call home after being arrested.

“I’ve been on a long trip in a wild jungle,” Omar Abu Ali said his son told him. The father said he was terrified by the call because he knew it was code that he was being tortured.

OK… so the son is off to Saudi Arabia to be a student. The conversation before he leaves his family goes something like this:
Dad: Be good out there, and don’t drink the water.
Son: Thanks dad, and if I get caught in a plot to kill the president, I will say “I’ve been on a long trip in a wild jungle,” so that you will know I am being tortured.
Dad: OK, have a good flight!

so close to twelve years ago I was working in a halloween shop,just really discovering the vampire subculture,and planning a trip to a "masquerade" (read as,to those that don’t know,a Live Action Role Playing Game,or Larp-more on those later.)

   ANyhey,at this larp I meet a girl. Actually,I approched an ethereal goddess holding court to noone and holding the world at bay with a gaze that surveyed all in her domain and considered it worthless.

  Me being the horndog I was (am) I waltzed right into her litttle Zone of death and introduced myself. to make a long story short,we hooked up,sorta,and she popped by my halloween store a couple times afterward for whatever.

  She had told me about her friends,and being one to whom friends is a rarity,I was intrigued to say the least. We made plans to get together for coffee at a local Dunkin Donuts and hang.

  I got there alittle early,and after two Great Ones coffee’s,my nerves were just starting to relax,when in she walked. With HIM.

  Didja ever just KNOW someone was carousing with someone else? instinctively?same  here. Here’s the SOB right in front of me.

Damn,he’s over 6ft tall. (I’m 5′8") Damn,he’s not bad looking. WTF? He’s wearing the same damn thing I am,Cowboy boots,jeans,the EXACT same Tasmanian Devil t-shirt,and a trenchcoat. Can’t like him. nope. goes against everything I stand (or by this time,vibrate) for. Nope.

Damn. he’s sitting down with us. Fine. I’ll make small talk and give him the cold shoulder in the process…wow. he’s smart for a Marylander. All his teeth too. Actually,he’s not to bad a cat. Kinda me,but taller. and more laid back.I thought I was laid back. he makes me seem hyper.

Cut to a year later.and other than conversations with the girl,I’ve heard little from or about him. Another Larp,another city,another BLIZZARD. I and my buddy come rolling in and there he stands,next to her and her battallion of pygmy baggage handlers (sorry,Lor,had to say it) It’s too much. I can’t stand it. I dropped my bags and Yelled "MATT!"" He turned,rather unsure of what to expect and I could see his mind racing. "can I duck,that little psyco’s heading for me. awsh*t,what do I do? "

The last thing he expected was a hug and a howyadoon. Been friends ever since. No Idea what changed in me. But I’m glad it did.

Tetsujin 28 trailer available on the Apple Quicktime site.

Once again, many thanks to the Flea!!!

You must see it to believe it.
Thanks to Pike Speak

A Simple Test from Johnny Knuckles to find out if you are a liberal. Even though he downplays it because he’s all liquored up from being sick, it is one of the best I’ve seen.

10 Ways to Know If You’re a Liberal.
1. You love humanity but hate people.
2. You define rich as anyone who earns more money than you.
3. You believe that government should run everyone’s life except your own.
4. You believe that Stalin and Hitler could have used their absolute power as a force of good.
5. You have an endless supply of labels for your enemies without ever attaching one to yourself.
6. You distrust the free market’s invisible hand but trust Big Brother’s iron fist.
7. You claim to be a religious skeptic but never question primitive or New Age beliefs.
8. Your education could be better described as indoctrination. e.g. A liberal cannot remember hearing any of their teachers attributing any positive actions to Ronald Reagan.
9. You distrust the “hard left” and the “extreme right” and claim you have a solution “somewhere in the middle.”
10. You can only win elections by masquerading as a libertarian or conservative.