Fairly Balanced

Looking at all the "Fair and Balanced" weblogs, I spotted Legomancer.net. Naturally, I had to check it out, being a big LEGO fan. I'm pleased with it, and I think it'll be on my blogroll soon.

By the way, Friday is "Fair and Balanced" day on the blogosphere. All you bloggers who want to participate must simply use the phrase "Fair and Balanced" throughout the day, sprinkled in your daily thoughts. Go to it, folks! Let's see some creative uses of the phrase.

I got a letter today from my fellow Aquaman fan who is soldiering in Iraq. I've been sending him the latest Aquaman comic book along with the Sunday Funnies. I need to send him another package of cookies to share with his men. And members of the Aquaman mailing list have been sending him various comics and DVDs also. Anyway, he sent a nice letter with a little souvenir enclosed: a Five Dinar note complete with Saddam's image on the front.

Now, you must understand. Patrick couldn't have made me happier with any other item he could have sent, as I have collected (idly collected) foreign currency for many years. I was delighted to learn, when I married my husband, that he had (among other neat items) a Japanese Peso. Thus a tattered old piece of worthless currency will have a neat spot in my collection of other tattered old worthless pieces of currency, and I'm left just a little happier. I'm quite fond of worthless currency.

Mark Evanier is continuing his fun with the non-existent Dick Van Dyke Show comic book. In fact, he's beginning to make me doubt my certainty that the thing never existed. He also mentions the Baseball Prospectus article on Pete Rose, which has also been reported on ESPN, and which Major League Baseball firmly denies. Interesting.

I let a friend borrow Leave it to Chance: Shaman's Rain to see if her son would like it. After reading it herself to make sure there was nothing she objected to (there wasn't, she loved the book), she left it out on a table but didn't mention it. Sure enough, the child took the bait: when she got up this morning he was reading it. She'll be reporting to me how much he likes it soon. Wahoo! Another one hooked!

Whoa, is this true? Here's another sighting of the same story, but it seems a little far-fetched to me. Aren't there laws against libel and slander that would cover this situation? See, after a little more research, I found that FOX didn't like a report on growth hormone being used in dairy cows. Instead of simply squashing the report to protect themselves from the wrath of advertisers, they ordered the reporters to change the facts and omit sources from the story. When the reporters refused, they were fired. Wow. So TV news is allowed to lie about important health issues, according to the Florida Appeals Court. That explains an awful lot. via Geek and Proud

If you live in California, you should check out these great Japanese commercials starring Arnold Schwarzeneggar. via the Insolvent Republic of Blogistan

The Pulse at Comicon has posted their own photo albums, here's the first and here's the second. And Comic Book Resources also has their final photo parade up. I don't know why I link to these. Anyone who's not a fan will just think we're all geeks if they check them out.

Dennis Kucinich continues to guest-blog at the Lessig's place, and he's actually answering questions posed by readers. As long as he doesn't compare himself to Harry Potter again.

MSNBC is trying to frighten those of us who live in the shadow of Mount Rainier. Won't work, guys. We know the danger. At least, all the natives do... all of us who were here in 1980. By the way, "Rainier" is pronounced "Ray-Near" around here (not rainy-er, ug!). Just like "Spokane" is pronounced "Spo-Can", not cane. Oh yeah, and there is no "R" in "Washington".

And lastly: an update on the state of my sunburn. Uninterested readers should skip this paragraph. Blistering and weeping continues on both shoulders, and has started in very small blisters on my chest. The blisters become incredibly painful when they start to weep, causing me to weep with them. All the rest of the sunburn is now peeling and itching, leading my husband to remark that I'm a very appealing woman as he rapidly retreated from throttling distance. I once again must give thanks that I wasn't wearing a bikini, as I would probably not have survived the experience in that case.