Again Wal-Mart won't sell a "liberal" comedian's book in its stores. They claim that it

would not appeal to a majority of our customers.

That sounds like a familar excuse. What type of book does appeal to Wal-Mart customers?

The top 3 are Fletcher Christian's decendents, who, I might add, are going to jail. (It's about time some one paid for setting Bligh adrift!) Do you see any relation? How about here?

Awesome. I am sure those shirts will end up at Building #19.

Sweet!

Better eat your Wheaties.

Interesting post in a guitar forum:

If I and all other people who don't live in the USA try to access

http://www.georgewbush.com/

we get the error message

"You don't have permission to access 'http://www.georgewbush.com/' on this server."

This site uses the service EdgeScape by Akamai which can adapt (or block) the content by 'Country, Region (State or Province), City, Market area, MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) und PMSA (Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area), Area code, Latitude and Longitude, Time zone, County, Zip code'.

Of course, I still can access the site if I use an anonymous surfing service.

That is pretty on. Further on in the forum some one notes that they don't have any trouble with http://www.johnkerry.com. It is odd the the president would restrict in that manner.

Maybe he is playing a premium for bandwidth.

Like every other New Englander, I know Kerry is absolutely elated about thier World Series victory. I just know, though, that he is thinking about the horrible case of hat head (or hat hair) he is going to have.

At last! Red Sox fans see team break 'the curse'. Which leaves the question:

Can Sox fans learn how to root for a winning team?

You get so used to the disappointment. I don't know what to do with myself. There is something magical to being "cursed," to having a complex about Babe Ruth, to always being ready to lose and prepared for disappointment. Maybe next year the team will be back to its old losing ways--but I hope not.

It turns out that the TV meteorologist accused of soliciting sex with a minor had a few things with him when he was caught:

The St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office said Kamal had two condoms when he was arrested as well as two toys, one of which was a water gun.

I saw a shot of the water blasters on TV. You can breath easy and chuckle to yourself. The blaster that was found was Mattel's Shield Blaster.

AWESOME! This is a nerd's dream. Maybe a trip to DC is in order? Are you with me?

Wal-Mart is not putting a Daily Show book on its shelves. I understand that, they are Wal-Mart. They have weird complexes about sware words and nudity. What is odd is that

The chain is offering the book on its Web site. Burk said the store's online customers are a 'different audience' and that the company wanted to give an option to people looking to buy the book from Wal-Mart.

Who buys from Wal-Mart on-line? Red necks with computers? Is there such a thing? And they won't be offended by the book if it is on-line? So much for consistant corperate policy.

Suck it New York. You guys are bad losers.

"It's never fun to lose, I don't care who we play. And I'm not going to sit here and rate each loss. But, yeah," he said, "the fact it's Boston without question makes it worse.

I thought you guys didn't worry about the rivalry? I thought it was all in Boston's head? Well, maybe not last night.

GO SOX!

I, personally, love blackboards. I understand the concern, but I agree that:

downloading a computer file would never be as interesting as watching a professor write

and

Students are forced to stay with the teacher when they use the blackboard to lecture

I hate white boards. They are very hard to clean, the markers dry out too easily, and you don't get the contrast that you do with chalk and a blackboard. Overheads and slides work, but you can't look back at the previous information as easily as when you have 6 or 8 blackboards at the front of the room.

My current prof. lectures with a tablet PC. It works well, but you can't look back at something very easily. If you missed what he wrote, you have to ask him to scroll up, or just live without it. And believe me, it can be very hard to interupt a prof. when he is in a lecture swing.

More proof that Mr. Christian was just a no-good SOB. Even his decendents are still looking for easy sex. So he threw Bligh and the men in the boat cutlasses? Big deal. I'd like to see Christian navigate an open boat a couple thousand miles.

I have been poking around the internet this morning for some information on Pyongyang after reading Wally's post about the insanity of North Korea. A year or so ago there was a piece on 60 Minutes that showed some shots of Pyongyang. There were two things that stuck with me from that:

1. Pyongyang has traffic cops that direct non-existent traffic with an elaborate sequence of movements.

2. There is a really cool looking hotel in Pyongyang. Unfortunately, it can't be used because of a complete lack of structural integrity.

As while searching I found this site which has a bunch of photos of the metro in Pyongyang. I guess they are having trouble finding the money to keep it running as

Station lights are dim or switched off altogether, and many sources report that trains in tunnels are often caught by power cuts, forcing passengers to wait in the darkness, sometimes for hours.

And I am sure the passengers can't complain. And I bet they don't get their fare refunded. So much for the glory of the working men uniting.

Article in Slate about what exactly Kerry meant by a global test when it comes to making decision that effect the world. One thing that Saletan brings up that I hadn't thought about, as I haven't reread and analyzed the entire debate. Kerry stated, in reference to gaining global approval:

you've got to do in a way that passes the test--that passes the global test--where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you're doing what you're doing, and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons.

Kerry is saying that not only do you need to use that evidence to convince other countries that what you are doing is legitimate, you have to convince the American people. Saletan (and Kerry in the debate) argues that Bush isn't even giving the American people a chance to evaluate the president's actions and hold him accountable.

What he's protecting you from is the ability to measure his assertions against the world that you and I can see. That's the global test he's mocking. And he expects you to applaud him for it, because he thinks you resent the French so much you'd rather have a president accountable to no one.

Man, the more I listen to what Bush says, the more his lack of intellect frightens me. He just doesn't get the whole structure of foreign policy. He doesn't understand that it is important that the world understands your reasons for taking an action. If the world has no comprehension, you are no better than Saddam or Kim Jung Il. You are a madman.

Excellent issue by issue recap of last night's Presidential Debate. I agree with Kaplan that

Kerry slammed this thing out of the ballpark, not just on points but also on punch lines, style, and demeanor.

Bush sounded bad. Listen to the sound bites that are being used by radio and TV news. There is hardly a single one where Bush doesn't stumble to some extent. There were a lot of "ums" and "ahs" and out right pauses. That is not how you convince people. That is how you sound like fourth-grader who finished the book for your oral book report the night before. (I read a comment like this some where, but can't find where--just wanted to admit that it isn't original to me.)

Bush also got exasperated way too early. I was listening to parts (as I surfed atlases to figure out just where different countries are), and had to look up to see if Bush looked as desperate as he sounded. Mickey Kaus puts it well:

He looked--as a friend of mine put it--a bit like a gargoyle, or someone who needed the podium for protection

Overall, Kerry did a lot better than I expected. Everyone had been talking him up, much like Gore was talked up 4 years ago, but he delivered. There was no eye rolling. He appeared confident, but not smug. He was continually polite to Jim Lehrer (unlike the President, who kept audibly requesting extensions). He was good. I just hope that the next two debates are just a clean.