More Random Thoughts

I didn't give you enough links yesterday, so here's some more.

My Aquaman site has a little round-up of reviews coming in for Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #40... as well as a piece of advice on what to look for if you read the book.

OOOOH! Firefly is available at Amazon.com for $20 (maybe for a limited time?). Buy it with the movie Serenity for about $40... I really would like to buy it...

Chocolate is good for you. Particularly dark chocolate.

But this thing probably isn't very good for you. That's a German Pancake. Yum.

Florida Police threaten people who ask for complaint forms. One of the cops involved attempted to sue CBS to keep the story from airing (if you can, watch the video). Who watches the Watchmen?

These fraternal twins are a million to one.

Stupid kids pull stupid stunt to attempt to prove a point about speed limit laws. I've heard of this being done elsewhere, and all it does is irritate the drivers behind you. The laws don't get changed. And in this case, the dangers are shown when a van nearly wrecks with a car stopped on the shoulder trying to get around the kids. My favorite comment in the discussion thread: "The US is broken in weird little ways when you look too closely." Heh.

The Museum of Hoaxes has a bit on the Turkish wrist walkers, who appear to be developmentally damaged. Scientists have differing opinions on the whole thing, but it's very interesting. Well, to me, at least. YMMV.

Here's yet another vicious lie about a service station. Whoever started the rumor should be liable for damages done to the station owner.

Ya know, I don't much like abstract art, either, but this is inexcusable. At 12 years, a kid should know better than to vandalize a painting in a freaking museum. They should give the kid a bill for the repair work and make him pay it off out of his future earnings.

Concerns about Free TV Downloads. I can think of a number of ways companies can usefully take advantage of the new paradigm, but I'm sure the various companies involved will instead make clumsy attempts to sue or shut down bittorrent networks. Jim Baen's statement still stands: most people would rather be honest than dishonest. It's up to the company to find a way to satisfy the customer.

Speaking of satisfying the customers, a music company is actively fighting the RIAA and their lawsuits against customers.

The New York Times has an article about a program that turns blogs into books. Really. Real books. Printed. The problem is Blurb. I'm not sure anyone in their right mind would buy a book made up of my blog entries, but it seems like a cool idea for some bloggers.

One reason that I haven't been writing as much lately has been all the celebrity deaths. There isn't much to say about them that hasn't already been said. I will direct you to this article about Octavia Butler. She lived in Lake Forest Park, which is only a few miles from my home. I never knew.

I really like this Simple Proposal. Having congresscritters give up an hour a month to honor war dead might bring home to them just how much is at stake when they play their political games. Not that the proposal itself isn't a political game the way it's stated... but I'd like to see the thing really happen.