TV: "Globe Trekker"

Channel-surfing between innings of the World Series, caught some of "Globe Trekker" on the Travel Channel (what a bad web site they have). The episode I saw was about China. I was lured in by the host, Megan McCormick strolling through a Shanghai market in a tight white top, "headlights full on". But then she opened her mouth. There's something very annoying about her voice - a quavery, whiny quality reminiscent of Sarah Jessica Parker.

Saturday Miscellany

• Further to my "Wainwright" item, CA wonders if "Rufus Wainwright" means "someone who builds Little Red Wagons"?
  
• Excel version of the boardgame "Black Box" is available here. There's also a link to the rules.
  
• Like independent artists doing irony-filled cover versions of pop songs? Like podcasts? Then check out Coverville. (I like the version of "Sound Of The Underground" by Northern Ireland band, The 4 Of Us.)
  
• What do you get for the man who owns Spencer Gifts?
  
• Remember Heaven 17? They were an offshoot from the Human League. After their first flush of success, the band took a holiday together in Brazil. The highlight of the trip was supposed to be an expedition into the Amazon rainforest. The band hired a native guide for the trek. Everything went swimmingly until they strayed off course and ended up in a hidden city founded by Nazis who fled Germany after WWII. The Nazis, naturally, weren't happy that their hidden city had ben discovered. As they advanced meancingly upon the band, the guide whispered that the only thing that could save them now would be to play totalitarian dance music, as the Nazis were slaves to the rhythm. "Do you have some machine that could play such music?" asked the guide. The band members exchanged sheepish looks. "Um," said Martyn Ware meekly, "we did have a Fascist Groove Thang, but we didn't think we'd need it."
  

Comedy: Sarah Silverman

Heeb magazine has Sarah Silverman on the cover of their "sex" issue. There's a short excerpt of the feature story at their web site. Check out the trailer for her upcoming movie "Jesus Is Magic", sure to offend everyone. She sure is cute. Oh, a New Yorker interview, in full. Good piece. Guess she's offended Joe Franklin.

Lyrics Quiz: Wonder

Some very easy ones, here.

1. Ooh, it makes me wonder. Ooh, it really makes me wonder.
   
2. Wonder how you manage to make ends meet. Who finds the money when you pay the rent?
   
3. It ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe. It don't matter, anyhow.
   
4. If you're wondering why all the love that you long for eludes you, and people are rude and cruel to you. I'll tell you why.
   
5. Is it any wonder I reject you first?
   
6. ...I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger. A brotherhood of man.
   
7. Every day I wake up and it's Sunday. Whatever's in my head won't go away. The radio is playing all the usual. And what's a "wonderwall" anyway?
   
8. 'Cause I wonder where you are, and I wonder what you do. Are you somewhere feeling lonely or is someone loving you?
   
9. They say I must be one of the wonders of God's own creation. And as far as they can see, they can offer no explanation.
   
10. When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it’s a wonder I can think at all.
    
11. Over forty pointed people in the perfect pointed steeple looked to see the lucky number. Yes, the wonder of the tundra.
    

Internet: Onion AV Club

The Onion AV Club has a feature this week called The Underrated List. Underrated actor is Kurt Russell. Underrated guilty pleasure: user comments at IMDb ("uninformed, semi-literate"). Underrated defunct band: The Feelies. I was just thinking about them recently. One of the better Velvet Underground pastiches. Too bad their albums are unavailable on CD.

Music

Go this guy's (Jonathan Coulton) page of songs and vote in the upper right corner for the best solo.

Sports: Appropriate Names

Shell emailed me a story about Southern Illinois football coach Jerry Kill and his medical problems. I think Shell was bringing this sports-appropriate name to my attention, but since there were no comments on the email, it's hard to tell.

I did see Texas Tech safety Dwayne Slay unloading a "frightening shot" on the Kansas State QB. Tech has another safety called Vincent Meeks - not such an intimidating name.

If Sports = War, then the most appropriate name of all time was baseball great Enos Slaughter.

Least attractive name: Albert Pujols, which sounds like "Poo holes". Great home run, though.

Movies: Mixing Up Titles

Here's a fun way to annoy your cinephile friends: confuse similar titles. Shell likes to refer to "Finding Captain Nemo", and he calls that dirty-joke movie "The Aristocats". Here are my offerings.

• "Run Logan Run" - A futuristic policeman tries to escape his mandatory death at age 30. The story is told three times, with small twists of fate leading to three different outcomes.
  
• "Cold Back Mountain" - Two gay Civil War soldiers make their way home after violating the Confederacy's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
  
• "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Horses, Could They?" - A bumbling gang of Italian-American hoods enters a dance marathon.
  
• "Pale Whale Rider" - A Maori girl and her squinting preacher father protect a mining community from a white whale.
  
• "History Of The Violence, Part I" - Mel Brooks plays French king Louis XVI, but menacing thugs come to Versailles and insist that he's really Moses.
  
• "Run Soylent, Run Green" - A US submarine commander discovers the terrible secret about the food on board.
  

Words: Wainwright

What exactly is a Wainwright? Someone who makes wains. And what is a Wain? A horse-drawn wagon.
As in this poem by Robert Bridges:

The hazy darkness deepens,
And up the lane
You may hear, but cannot see,
The homing wain.

Here's an interesting article on the origin of Wainwright ("wright", like "wrought", comes from "work") that also explains the derivation of Smith.

Mathematics: 7-Up Trick

Number trick sponsored by 7-Up. (Click on the guy in the lower right corner to move to the next step.) I'll post my explanation in the Comments later. (Hint: most number puzzles I've seen revolve around a special property of 9.)

Lookalikes: Arte Moreno

You don't think that Walt Disney has been unfrozen, and given a new identity as owner of the Anaheim Angels, do you? This supposed "billboard billionaire" comes out of nowhere to buy a sports team from the Disney company? Whoa, dude - I'm freaking myself out.

Words: Kudos

Kudos is a singular noun (from the Greek) - there is no such thing as a "kudo", DrWeb. Nor is there an apostrophe, Savvy Chick.

What is the opposite of "kudos"? May I suggest "menudos"? As in, "Kudos to Spoon for their angular yet melodic pop-rock. Menudos to Robbers On High Street for sounding so much like Spoon.

There's always "brickbat". Is it a bat made out bricks, or a bat designed for hitting bricks? No, just a piece of brick. (From the Middle English sense of "bat", meaning a "chunk".)

This article on legal language quotes a case from 1631, when English was slowly replacing French:

(The accused) ject un brickbat a le dit justice, que narrowly mist.

Kudos is also the brand name of a granola bar that is very close to being a candy bar.

Sports: A-Rod

Alex Rodriguez - what a putz. He's quoted as saying, "I played great baseball all year...and I played like a dog the last five days."

Yeah, his numbers were pretty good this year but he shouldn't be the one to say it. Zero class. How great was it to see him ground into a double play last night and suck all the air out of the Yankees' rally?

Lyrics Quiz: Secrets

1. It's a little secret, just the Robinsons' affair. Most of all, you've got to hide it from the kids.
   
2. If I were to say to you, "Can you keep a secret?" Would you know just what to do, or where to keep it?
   
3. You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
   
4. Turning and returning to some secret place inside. Watching in slow motion as you turn around and say...
   
5. It's no secret that a conscience can sometimes be a pest. It's no secret ambition bites the nails of success.
   
6. They say you have a secret life. Made sacrifice your key to paradise.
   
7. And ev'ryone will know, because you told the blabbering trees. Yes, you told them once before, and it's no secret any more.
   
8. I'll tell you all my secrets, but I lie about my past. And send me off to bed for evermore.
   

Sunday Miscellany

• Chromewaves has an MP3 of My Morning Jacket covering "Suspicious Minds".
  
• Robb has uncovered a rock feud - 16 years after the fact. In their 1989 song, "Regina", the Sugarcubes sing, "I really don't like lobster!". Obviously a jibe at the B-52's, says Robb, and their 1978 song "Rock Lobster". Robb is researching his next rock feud - looks like there may be trouble between Blur and Oasis.
  
• Would you trust your teeth to someone who can't spell "orthodontics"? No wonder they filed for bankruptcy.
  
• Did I hear Joe Buck say last week that a baseball manager would "have to take another tact"? He wouldn't be the only one.
  
• Another word-substitution I've seen lately: "tenant" for "tenet". This blogger asserts that "Compassion is apparently not a tenant of radical Islam". This one "would like to point out a fundamental tenant of our judicial system: innocent until proven guilty." This one believes in "small government, the smaller the better, which has always been an important tenant of Conservative ideology."
  
• It even happens for George Tenet.
  
• As suggested by Eric, anagrams of "Gloria Steinem", including "Male? Ignores it!" and "On girlie teams". And check out these enormous anagrams by Mike Keith. Jeremy's iron, indeed!
  

Cryptogram: Food

The return of the Cryptogram. This one contains a proper noun, and uses American English spelling.

CTNUAY CI HOTTN DELIT SUCK KUP

AHS QIPP DTIR UAWUE, HRZFINHH

ZTIHFEURHW: "SKHA UC HIRHP CI

PELITN YTOQ, U DELIT HOTTN."

Repeated Words in Song/Album Titles

An album from 1980 contains a word three non-consecutive times. What is this album, and can you think of other album/song titles with multiple, non-consecutive words? For example, "Hey Hey, My My" does not count. But if a song was titled "My Oh My", it would count.

These words, and those like them, obviously do not count: a, an, and, the.

Here's a starter: "It Ain't Over Til It's Over" by Lenny Kravitz.

Sports: Appropriate Names

Atlanta Braves outfielder Ryan Langerhans. "Langer" is Irish slang for an idiot (or the male member), and "hans" sounds like "hands" - so he's Ryan Idiot-Hands.

The Islets of Langerhans are cells in the pancreas, named after the German scientist Paul Langerhans.

What's that other body part (something in the ear?) that sounds like a geographical feature?

The Braves also have a third baseman called Wilson Betemit, which may or may not be pronounced like "Better Mitt".

Celebrities: Nicolas Cage

In a skit on SNL in 1992, Nicolas Cage played a father-to-be, shooting down all his wife's suggestions for baby names as being too easy for other kids to make fun of. (Punchline: his own name is Asswipe, pronounced "Os-wee-pay".) Well, now he's called his own baby Kal-el, which was Superman's baby name.

Music: My Morning Jacket

• The new My Morning Jacket CD, "Z", is only $7.99 at Best Buy this week. Come on, $7.99 - how can you go wrong?
  
• Opening track "Wordless Chorus" has a dub vibe without quite being reggae. Very summery.
  
• Most memorable lyrics on "Z"? "A good showerhead and my right hand. The two best lovers that I ever had."
  
• This is the sound of a band having fun. Is that the "Hawaii 5-0" theme creeping into "Off The Record"?
  
• Robb advises that MMJ's concert at Washington DC's 9:30 Club will be streamed live by npr.org on October 10th.
  
• Chromewaves is also talking about My Morning Jacket today.
  
• Here's how to make a Sextant from a CD.
  
• And, finally, my rant. Those stupid stickers along the top edge of CDs. Anti-theft, presumably. Allow easy browsing in record store. That's fine. But why do they have to use such gummy glue? It seems to be getting worse. Three of my recent purchases ("Z", Neil Young's "Prairie Wind", the Dandy Warhols' "Odditorium") have left most of the glue on the CD case. I'll never chastise my illegal-music-downloading friends again. Sock it to The Man, my brother. They don't care about us.
  

Poem: Harriet Miers

Harriet Miers:
"The Texas Pliers".

Music Video: OK Go

Well worth your time: the video for OK Go's "A Million Ways".

Feeble Attempt At Humour

I told my therapist about my recurring nightmare.

"There's a large grey bird sitting on my head. I try to shoo it away but it just stays there. Then I start to shrink - I get smaller and smaller but the bird stays the same size. Now I'm standing between the bird's legs - and then it sits down, forcing me up its arse. That's when I wake up in a cold sweat."

My therapist nodded slowly. "You're afraid of being pigeonholed."

Overheard

Overheard at the Ballpark In Arlington, during the fireworks show set to Beatles songs:

You don't like the Beatles? That's un-American!

Here's what's really American: all the people around me taking photos of the fireworks with their digital cameras and camera phones, then admiring their photos.

Music: "White Lines"

George W. Bush performing updated version of "White Lines".

TV: Singers In Series

Name these singers who played recurring characters on TV dramas or sitcoms.

1. This head of a musical dynasty played Capt. Calvin Spalding on "M*A*S*H".
   
2. This chap appears as the town troubadour on "Gilmore Girls". (I think he only sings, so this doesn't really count.)
   
3. This rock chick was Leather Tuscadero on "Happy Days".
   
4. This '80s singer thought it was hip to be seen on "One Tree Hill". That's news to me.
   
5. This '80s Scottish singer says she could be happy appearing on "EastEnders".
   
6. Nickelodeon's "The Adventures Of Pete & Pete" had a lot of rock & roll guest stars (Debbie Harry, Gordon Gano, Juliana Hatfield, Kate Pierson, Michael Stipe), and this punk godfather played someone's father in two episodes.
   

Cryptic Football Players

Can you guess these American Football players from the cryptic clues?

1. Sketched a light wind.
   
2. Sticky liquid from a rabbit hole.
   
3. Chauffeur for Trump.
   
4. One who conceals a deceased talk show host in his hand.
   
5. Big room for Italian poet.
   
6. Arrow-maker from English city.
   
7. German dark beer.
   

And one very cryptic player:

• July through November starters meet male Running Back.
  

Sports: Appropriate Names

Raiders' Defensive Back Stanford Routt. Pity he went to college in Houston instead of Stanford. And he doesn't run routes. But I'm sure he's been involved in some one-sided games.

Movies: William Fichtner

Pity poor William Fichtner. Usually cast as the creepy cop, the sleazy husband or the violent co-worker. Now he's the (probably) evil Sheriff on ABC's "Invasion". (Show seems okay - could do with more main characters.) How does it feel when your agent tells you, "Sorry, Bill, but they don't want you for the hero. They think you'd make the perfect baddie."

TV: Pot Pourri

• Is there any better feeling than when "The Daily Show" begins with today's date, so you know it's not a repeat?
  
• What's up with the sound of the theme music when "The Daily Show" comes back from a commercial break? Is it "phasing" or "flanging"? I'm not the only one who noticed this.
  
• "The Amazing Race: Family Edition" looks pretty good so far. Amish buggy accident! Woman who said Pennsylvania "might be a state"! Little girl calling her older brother a dork! Edith Bunker dropping the clue, then having a meltdown!
  
• Norm Chad is supposed to be the funny one on ESPN's World Series Of Poker, but Lon McEachern had the best line tonight. When the camera showed Chris Grigorian's girlfriend cheering him on, Lon said she was "leading the Grigorian chant".
  

TV: Dylan On PBS

• I watched the first part of the Dylan documentary on PBS. Favourite quote: "Bob Dylan was a bastard in the second half." (Unhappy English fan, talking about the "electric" part of Dylan's concert.)
  
• For commercial-free TV, there sure are a lot of commercials on PBS.
  
• Worth it for the clips of Odetta and John Jacob Niles. Go to his page to hear his "bone chilling soprano voice". Freaky!
  
• Part 2 tomorrow unfortunately coincides with the season premiere of "The Amazing Race". I'll be pulling for the Bransen girls.
  

Movie Quiz: Names

In which movies do you find these names? They're not necessarily the names of characters. (The year the movie was released is given in parentheses.)

1. Keyser Soze (1995)
   
2. Dapper Dan (2000)
   
3. Bingo Crepuscule (2004)
   
4. Trudy Kockenlocker (1944)
   
5. Citizen Dick (1992)
   

Cookies: Morelianas

Is there a more delicious bilingual cookie than Nabisco's Morelianas? The box says "Sandwich Cookies - Galletas Sandwich" and "Orange Flavor - Sabor Naranja". They're made in Mexico, then shipped to the US. Part of a trend of foods targeted at the Hispanic market. Named after a town in Mexico, they seem to be quite different from the original Morelianas - "flat caramel-like disks of burnt milk and sugar"

Words: Fr-

Words that start with "fr-".

• Frass: (noun) Insect excrement.
  
• Fribbler: (noun) A trifler. "One who professes rapture for the woman, and dreads her consent."
  
• Froward: (adjective) Stubbornly contrary, obstinate.
  
• Fraktur: A Germanic typeface.
  
• Frist: (verb) to sell stock from a "blind" trust before it takes a nose-dive (stock from your family's company).
  

Appropriate Names: Movies

Stunt man Stuart Fell - as mentioned by Michael Palin on the commentary track for "Ripping Yarns". There is also a stunt man called Chester Tripp

Facial Hair

You know who'd look good with a chin puff (like the Chef Sauce chef)? Joe Lieberman.

Lyrics Quiz: Mystery Theme

• 'Steada treated - We get tricked! 'Steada kisses - We get kicked!
  
• Like the mountains in springtime. Like a walk in the rain. Like a storm in the desert. Like a sleepy blue ocean.
  
• She goes for her medical. She’s passed, it’s a miracle. She’s up over the moon. She whistles nonsense tunes.
  
• Heading out this morning into the sun, riding on the diamond waves, little darlin' one.
  
• They say that all is fair in love and war, and child, believe it. When mama stayed in Saint Tropez, she had a fall or two.
  
• Annie, are you okay? Are you okay, Annie?
  
• I tell myself too many times, Why don't you ever learn to keep your big mouth shut? That's why it hurts so bad to hear the words tThat keep on falling from your mouth.
  

Advertising: Budweiser

That August Busch IV - what a stiff. Is he really the best person for their TV commercials?

He "has a reputation as a party boy" - could have fooled me. Maybe they should show him whooping it up like a drunken frat boy. (Other choice quote: ""Wall Street doesn't know how bright he is.")

Apparently, the Busch family has supported the Demmy-crats ever since FDR repealed Prohibition.

That still doesn't change the fact that so many people compare Bud unfavourably to urine.

Song List: Borrowed Lyrics

Songs that borrow from other songs. It can be a straight quote, with proper attribution, like Prince in "The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker":

"Oh, my favorite song" she said.
And it was Joni singing "Help me I think I'm falling".

It can be the ironic use of pop lyrics, like The Brunettes quoting the Spice Girls in "Leonard Says":

Please don't scare me like that ever again.
I won't be an audience for your self-aggression.
And if you wanna be my lover,
You've gotta get with my friends.

It can be a slight variation on the original, like The Silent League borrowing a melody from George Michael in "The Catbird Seat":

You're never gonna wanna dance again.

It can be hero-worship that crosses over into spooky "SWF" territory, as when Ian McNabb of The Icicle Works tries to become Neil Young in "A Factory In The Desert":

Dream up, dream up,
Let me fill your cup.

If you count psalms as songs, there's U2 in (Psalm) "40":

I waited patiently for the Lord.
He inclined and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit,
Out of the miry clay.

And finally, there's the full-blown appropriation of someone else's lyrics, put to a different tune, like Spiritualized using JJ Cale's words in "Run":

They call me the breeze.
I keep rollin’ down the road.

Sudoku: Software

For Sudoku solvers, I recommend Simple Sudoku, a freeware Sudoku generator/solver. The website also contains a page of Hints, with some advanced techniques. (While I was running Simple Sudoku for the first time, I heard my hard drive grinding away big time. Turns out the program generates a respository of puzzles in the background the first time it's run, so don't panic.)

More Sudoku techniques.

Evolution: Darwin Not A Racist

The Dallas Morning News' Religion section has a letter today from a Wylie creationist. He writes:

That full title of Darwin's book is: The Origin Of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
For anyone who has read Darwin, there can be no doubt that he was an outspoken racist. Anyone with black skin, according to him, represented a lower, less advanced form of civilization.

The writer goes on to infer that Evolutionists must welcome Hurricane Katrina as "a good and natural thing".

Talk.Origins debunks that canard, pointing out that Darwin used "Races" in his title to refer to varieties within a species. It also links to Darwin's writings, where it is clear that Darwin held advanced views for his time. He describes convicts from India as "noble-looking figures", and compares them favourably ("from their outward conduct, their cleanliness and faithful observance of their strange religious rites") to British convicts sent to Australia. (Although he does make reference to "the disagreeable expression of a mulatto".)

Darwin also writes of the only time on his trip when he encountered "a want of politeness":

I feel glad that this happened in the land of the Brazilians, for I bear them no good will — a land also of slavery, and therefore of moral debasement.

There is more, if you're interested, at the EvoWiki.

Music Quiz: Band Names

What do the following bands have in common? Deacon Blue, Death Cab For Cutie, Radiohead and Shakespear's Sister.

Current Events: George W. Bush

This one's for Rarb: Sky News caption under Pres. Bush.

Feeble Attempt At Humour

Apple has announced its latest winner: the iPod nana. Measuring just 4" x 2.5" and weighing less than an ounce, it smells of cat pee, squeezes your cheeks and tells you that you look just like her cousin who died in 1928 when he fell through the ice on a frozen lake.

Music: Country

Country Music Round-up.

• What's up with the crappy English accent that Dwight Yoakam adopts on the spoken intro to "She'll Remember"? (Hear an NPR review with samples - but not of the accent.) It's Dick Van Dyke-ish.
  
• And what was behind Dwight's acrimonious split from longtime producer Pete Anderson?
  
• Worst song title in Country Music History? "Riding My Thumb To Mexico" from 1973 (Johnny Rodriguez).
  
• My least favorite song in rotation on KHYI? "Mr. Wolf And Mamabear" by Robert Earl Keen. If I want to hear an unrelenting litany of animals set to music, I'll choose "The Unicorn Song", thank you very much.
  
• Best Americana couplet of recent years? In "Down The Road Tonight" (scroll down) by Hayes Carll where he sings, "My Grandmother's name was Spiller. Michael Jackson peaked at Thriller." (And check out his unique version of "I've Been Everywhere".)
  

Sports: Appropriate Names

More sports people with names appropriate to their sport.

• Quentin Jammer - cornerback for the San Diego Chargers. Troy Aikman described Jammer as "jamming" a Cowboys' player during Sunday's game, without making the connection. Dumbass. He'll never have a blog.
  
• Falcons' tight end Alge Crumpler. What? He crumples people.
  
• Eagles' linebacker Jeremiah Trotter. He trotted on the field last night for Monday Night Football, then trotted right off again.
  
• NASCAR brothers Michael and Darrell Waltrip - if they should ever (God forbid) hit the retaining wall at a racetrack. Wait - Michael already has.
  

Placenames: Sleeping Giants

• Sleeping Giant, Thunder Bay, ON
  
• Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden, CT
  
• Sleeping Giant Ski Area, WY
  
• Sleeping Giant Wilderness Area, Helena, MT
  
• Sleeping Giant, Kauai, HI
  
• Sleeping Giant, Wales
  
• Sleeping Giant Mountain, Fiji
  
• Sleeping Giant Island, Kerry, Ireland
  

Yet none of them looks as much like a sleeping giant as Ireland's Eye, an island off Howth, Co. Dublin.

Office Pools: Emmys

Enterpool has added a pool for the primetime Emmy awards, being held next Sunday. There's a public group anyone can join, "A Lifetime Achievement Award For Screech".

Having "Desperate Housewives" in the comedy category makes it difficult to pick, especially when it's up against the last season of "Everybody Loves Raymond". In the Reality category, look for "The Amazing Race" to repeat. And you'd expect "The Daily Show" to win again in the oddly named "Variety, Music Or Comedy Series" category.

Music: Classical

Dallas Morning News article about a piano concerto by George Tsontakis being premiered by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra next weekend. Pianist Stephen Hough is quoted as saying:

"There's no soft center to this music. It is very muscular, and dare I say masculine? He's a Greek-American. He's got a mustache."

"He's got a mustache"? Several members of the Village People also had mustaches.

In the same article, the composer says:

"Yesterday I went to take a quiet walk, and there was a guy on the other side on a cellphone, just yelling into a cellphone. I couldn't get away from him. There's no contemplation left. That's worse to me than the wars that are happening."

I'm no fan of cellphones but I think I'd rank them below wars in my list of irritants.

Lyrics Quiz: Tell

Here's a great songwriting tip. Add an extra dimension to a conversational song by telling the listener to tell someone else.

1. And you can tell your friend there with you, he'll have to go.
   
2. Tell him that you're never gonna leave him.
   
3. So say hey Willie, tell Ty Cobb and Joe Dimaggio.
   
4. ...And tell Tchaikovsky the news.
   
5. Tell my wife I love her very much. She knows.
   
6. Tell her I'm sorry, tell her I need my baby. Oh, won't you tell her that I love her?
   
7. You better tell that girl I'm gonna beat her up.
   
8. Please tell my mother I miss her the most.
   
9. Tell those girls with rifles for minds that their jokes don't make me laugh.
   
10. So tell my baby I said so long. Tell my mother I did no wrong. Tell my brother to watch his own. And tell my friends to mourn me none.
    

Words: Antivenin

Memo to Shell: Yes, Antivenom and Antivenin are both correct. I'd never heard of Antivenin before. "Venin" is the French word for "venom".

Movies: Miscasting

Creepy Elijah Wood has been quoted recently as saying about his role in "Green Street Hooligans" that the plot is "pretty far-fetched", and ""I just played the character I was meant to play and make that transition as believable as I possibly could in the context of the story." Sounds like someone is trying to distance himself from his film.

The Daily Telegraph calls it, "a lager-lout melodrama so consummately rubbish it's impossible to take seriously." Zap2It makes fun of the marketing of the film as "The movie Hollywood doesn't want you to see." (Roger Ebert (who has gone soft) gives it a much kinder review.) See summaries of more reviews at Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.

The residents of the real Green Street are upset at the portrayal of their neighbourhood. Among those quoted: the owners of a cafe called "Pie, Mash and Eels". Hmmmmm, eels!

Now Ezekiel Wood says he's nervous about playing Iggy Pop. As well he should. He looks nothing like young Iggy and lacks his dangerous charisma. So why doesn't Zephaniah just back out of this project quietly and let a more suitable actor take over?

Music: Swedish

New Cardigans video for their next single, "I need some fine wine and you, you need to be nicer". That's a long title. The new album, "Super Extra Gravity", comes out in the US on October 25th. In the meantime, buy "Long Gone Before Daylight". You won't be sorry.

TV: Fall 2005 Guide

Your guide to the new shows on Fall TV.

• "Commander In Chief" (ABC) - Remember how great it was for liberals when Martin Sheen was pretend-President? Well, now Geena Davis is pretend-President! A woman! Can you believe it? (But don't worry - she's not elected President: she's Veep when the real President dies.)
  
• "The War At Home" (FOX) - Michael Rapaport has made a career out of playing tough guys. I'm sure he really is a tough guy. Now we're supposed to buy him as a lovable father? The studio audience will laugh for fear he'll come after them with a baseball bat.
  
• "Night Stalker" (ABC) - This remake stars Stuart Townsend. Stuart Townsend can't act. His only notable achievement is bagging Charlize Theron. (Why is his character called the Night Stalker? Because he "stalks the night".)
  
• "How I Met Your Mother" (CBS) - Doogie Hauser is about as funny as Michael Rapaport (although far less threatening).
  
• "Ghost Whisperer" (CBS) - Jennifer Love Hewitt in tight white t-shirts.
  
• "Eggz Benedict" (MTV) - The last remnants of the "Jackass" crew travel to the Vatican, where they try to evade the Swiss Guard and pelt the Pope. "You've been Eggz'd, Benedict!"
  
• "Whipper & Snapper" (NBC) - A Dominatrix and a tabloid photographer become unlikely roommates after a mix-up by their zany realtor. The two join together to solve crimes, run a Montessori school and play Cupid to the ghosts who live in their basement. Sounds like another winner for NBC!
  

Music: Indie

Some crazy Italians have made a list of the top 100 "indiepop" albums. They write: "Many of enclosed discs are collections of single: it is not strange, in a kind that has been above all issue of seven inches and 45 turns, to find therefore many late collections or esumazioni posthumous; the riscoperta one is in the game of the indiepop." There are many artists here that I have never heard of (Biff Bang Pow?). Note that the list is in alphabetical order. (Found via Indie MP3.)

Cryptic Crossword: 7x5

The whales are starting to learn new tricks - but they still can't solve Cryptic Crosswords. That's what separates us from the animals. If you don't solve these clues, it means the filthy beasts have won.

1		2		3		4
5
6

Across

1. American car for esteemed French lady, we hear. (5,2)
5. Gold found by FBI agents. Treasury starts to increase. (7)
6. Football player wrapped in sheet makes frozen dessert. (7)

Down

1. Aquatic bird rises against gravity and bites. (5)
2. Debate Republican caught in fever. (5)
3. Database shelters itty-bitty nerd. (5)
4. Salute to music includes sacred choral work, played backwards. (5)

Automobiles: Safety

Toyota is introducing a safety system to ensure that drivers keep their eyes on the road. Three cheers for Toyota! Jeers to those drivers who think that they have to maintain eye contact with their passengers while they chat, even if the passenger is in the back seat or strapped to the roof rack.

The Simpsons: Curse

The Curse Of The Simpsons strikes again - Bob Denver i dead. He played himself on the episode where Homer joined the Naval Reserve. Guess we'll never be able to say "Hey, little buddy!" and hit him over the head with a hat ever again.

Office Pools: Supreme Court

The following anecdote appeared in an article about judges' instructions to juries.

The case was a murder trial in which jurors had to decide whether the defendant killed his victim with "malice," which has a complex definition involving an intentional act performed with conscious disregard for human life. After a couple of days of deliberations, Corrigan said, the jurors approached the judge in bewilderment, pointed out that the trial involved a fatal shooting, and asked, "What's this mallet you keep talking about?"

Speaking of judicial matters, those crazy cats over at Enterpool have set up a pool to pick President Bush's next Supreme Court nominee. It's a public contest, so just sign up, join the group and make your pick. They have helpfully provided links to Wikipedia articles on all the likely nominees. The deadline to make your pick is Midnight on Sunday, September 11. My prediction: it's going to be a woman.

Words: Furphy

A headline at Google News caught my eye: Fling 'a furphy'. The brief excerpt at Google began: "HOLLYWOOD beauty Kirsten Dunst has denied she and Orlando Bloom had a fling..."

So what is a "furphy"? I clicked on the story at this Australian website (part of Rupert Murdoch's (spit) News Corp) but the word is never used in the body.

The word turns out to be Australian slang for a false rumour, deriving from the water-carts made by J. Furphy which were used in World War I. (Soldiers would gather by these tanks and gossip - or perhaps the drivers of the carts brought rumours with them. The article points out that scuttlebutt has a similar origin.) J. Furphy & Sons are still in business.

Feeble Attempt At Humour

Tinactin may act tough, but it's really a pussy-cat.

Office Pools: American Football

(American) Football season starts on Thursday. Enterpool has upgraded its site to help manage your office Football pool. You can now create your own group and invite friends to play - automatically. Best of all, it's free. Sign up today.

Music: Opera

From the New York Times, Garry Marshall is directing an opera in L.A.

Monarchy

Poor old King Carl Gustaf of Sweden. Yes, he has a lovely wife (Abba sang "Dancing Queen" the night before the wedding), but some religious nutjob in Topeka, Kansas has included Sweden and its monarch in his anti-"fag" railings. Unsurprisingly, this "church" thanks God for Hurricane Katrina.

Good old King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great of Thailand, the world's longest-reigning head of state. Not only did he help shepherd Thailand to democracy, he translated "A Man Called Intrepid" to Thai and holds several patents for rainmaking.

Pot Pourri

• If Nancy Grace is not the most despised woman on TV, she's certainly the most despicable.
  
• Quite frankly, I think there's not enough monkey business.
  
• Most delicious apple: Royal Gala. Good old 4174.
  
• And who assigns those 4-digit produce numbers? The International Federation for Produce Coding.
  
• The DVD release of "Leonard, Part 6" has 4 stars from Amazon customers. "Overlooked gem", "stroke of genius", "Best Movie Ever!"
  
• A lovely photo of a wrecked Hummer H2.
  
• What do Gary Glitter and Stevie Wonder have in common? (There's a hint in one of the items above.)
  

Poem: Nigel Mansell

Poem

You can't make plans for Nigel Mansell.
At the last minute, he'll call to cancel.

Current Events: Hurricane Katrina

This BBC report has a good cross-section diagram of New Orleans at the bottom of the page.

Peeves: Office Etiquette

• Today (Wednesday) I heard someone ask a co-worker, "How was your weekend?" This question may only be posed on a Monday (or Tuesday if Monday was a public holiday).
  
• I got a business email today with a blank Subject line. There is no excuse for this.
  

Cyber-Stalking

The Dallas Morning News featured art gallery director Ashley Tatum in their Sunday "High Profile" feature. She looked very cute so I thought I'd try a little cyber-stalking. And here she is at the bottom of the page for this personal trainer, where she's described as " Fine Art Gallery Director/Model". Some interesting quotes from the other clients. She's also in a photo with Carolyn Farb (self-styled "First Lady of Philanthropy") and Caroline Hunt. How Texas is that? I love how Farb has the same superior smirk in every photo.

Music: MP3 Blogs

elbo.ws - another MP3 Blog aggregator. I like it better than Web Nymph because they show which files are available. (For evaluation purposes only, naturally.)

Note that Aquarium Drunk has a couple of tracks from the forthcoming Ryan Adams & The Cardinals honkytonk album. (And a slogan taken from "The Simpsons".)

And, in case you're wondering, the ".ws" suffix is for Samoa (some say Western Samoa). Someone already has windo.ws.

The Simpsons: Charles Nelson Reilly

My least favourite recurring gag on "The Simpsons" is when a character, after making a mistake or getting in a bad situation, tugs at their collar and makes a strangulated "Euuawwww" noise (impossible to spell). From a commentary on the Season 6 DVD, I learn that this is based on Charles Nelson Reilly in the TV version of "The Ghost And Mrs. Muir". Interesting that Reilly's most recent credits include a short film called "Gaydar" and "SpongeBob SquarePants".

Words: Bully

The Word Detective says that the positive meaning of "bully" (as in Theodore Roosevelt exclaiming "Bully!", meaning "Splendid!") is older than the negative sense of "thug". It comes from the Dutch word for "lover" or "brother". (The Dutch use the same word for both? That's a trifle unseemly.) Ink magazine agrees, and suggests (plausibly) that Roosevelt's Dutch ancestry explains his usage of the word. Therefore, when Roosevelt spoke of the Presidency as a "bully pulpit", he meant it was a splendid platform.

Band List: 3-Letter Acronyms

An alphabet of 3-letter band acronyms. Rules: (1) The band must have started with a non-acronym name (so REM is out, but Public Image Ltd is okay). (2) The acronym must be used by fans of the band. (3) The band may have adopted the acronym later (like ELO). So how many of these acronyms do you recognise?

• AWB
  
• BÖC
  
• CCR
  
• DMB
  
• ELO
  
• FoW
  
• GNR
  
• HHF
  
• ICP
  
• JEW
  
• K?
  
• LTC
  
• MBV
  
• NIN
  
• OMD
  
• PiL
  
• Q?
  
• RHP
  
• STP
  
• TBS
  
• UVS
  
• V?
  
• W?
  
• X?
  
• YFF
  
• Z?
  

Religion: Ayatollah Sistani

Official web site of Grand Ayatullah Sistani (thanks Robb). Some doubt its authenticity, but only a true holy man could have this many scrolling windows on one web page. Also, the web site is linked from Wikipedia and the Whois lookup checks out.

The Ayatollah answers questions from the faithful on many interesting topics. No shaking hands with girls, "temporary marriages" are okay, and no, Imam Hussain did not combine the prayers of zuhr and `asr on the day of `Ashura.

Of course, you're going to head straight to the questions about sex. Just notice the repetition of questions in each topic - very strange.

You will need the Glossary, but good luck scrolling to a letter (at least in Firefox).

In the interests of equal time, here's an American Catholic Q & A, and the official Catechism from the Vatican. Also, a bonus anti-Scientology website, which is redundant now that Tom Cruise is running around like a crazy man.

Current Events: George W. Bush

Let's honour our Veterans - starting with this one.

Song List: Cannonballs

Topic suggested by Shell: has there ever been a song that mentioned cannonballs in a meaningfulway?

The greatest "Cannonball" song ever is the one by the Breeders, but Shell's right. What the hell does this mean?

Hey now, hey now, Want you, Koo Koo, Cannonball [2x] In the shade [4x]. I know you, little libertine. I know you're a cannonball. I'll be your whatever you want. The bong in this Reggae Song.

Supertramp's "Cannonball" is not as great as I remembered it being. And "cannonball" seems to be chosen for its rhyme alone.

I paid the price, for taking your advice. I felt it all, just like a cannonball.

And as for "Champagne Supernova" by Oasis, yes, it's nonsensical (but defended by some). Noel admits that he couldn't think of anything else that rhymed with "hall".

Slowly walking down the hall. Faster than a cannonball

The brass ring goes to Ryan Adams for mentioning cannonballs in two songs: "Cannonball Days" and "English Girls Approximately". Must be part of his Oasis fixation.

I'll miss you but go on, goodbye. I feel like a straight from his cannonball days, When all of your roses were mine.

Tall drink of water, she's a Norfolk waterfall. Little daybreaker, she's a shootin' like a cannonball.

Damien Rice seems to be the only one who uses it thoughtfully. Well, he is Irish. Would you call "float like a cannonball" a simile, a contradiction in terms, or an oxymoron?

Stones taught me to fly. Love taught me to lie. Life, it taught me to die. So it's not hard to fall when you float like a cannonball.

I'll also cut Van Morrison a break for his "(Straight To Your Heart) Like A Cannonball", which is probably so named in tribute to Cannonball Adderley.

We move along. Keep singing our song. Straight to your heart like a cannonball.

Music: MP3 Blogs

Music blog Turquoise Days is posting cover versions from an NME 1992 compilation, and taking requests. He has fulfilled half of my request (so far) - Suede doing "Brass In Pocket".

Apples v Oranges: Christie

Who is the greatest Christie of all time?

• NBA player Doug Christie, known for his uxoriousness. Also, repeatedly used the phrase "That's the just of it" when interviewed on The Ticket (thanks Robb and Shell). Maybe his version is an improvement on the more usual "That's the gist of it". According to the Word Detective, the word "gist" is itself taken from the wrong part of a French phrase.
  
• Doug's wife Jackie Christie, who has a clothing and home decor business when she's not whipping her husband.
  
• Yorkshire singer Tony Christie. Tony's specialty was songs that mentioned US cities: "Is This The Way To Amarillo?", "Las Vegas", "Don't Go Down To Reno". He's back in the spotlight in Britain thanks to Peter Kay. He even toured with Anastacia, which seems an odd pairing.
  
• Mystery writer Agatha Christie. Creator of Miss Marple (transparent attempt to get more visitors from Germany.
  
• British sprinter Linford Christie, tainted by drug scandals, famous for his "lunchbox".
  
• Auction house Christie's, founded by James Christie in 1766. Both Christie's and Sotheby's were indicted in 2001 in a price-fixing conspiracy.
  
• Sixties singer Lou Christie. Born Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco. His web site requires QuickTime, so he's automatically on my Enemies List.
  
• Serial killer John Reginald Halliday Christie.
  
• Wisconsin ski resort Christie Mountain.
  

I've got to go with the mountain.

Lyrics Quiz: Tomorrow

Lyrics Quiz all about Tomorrow. (I woke up with Song #1 in my head.)

1. Maybe tomorrow, maybe someday. Maybe tomorrow, maybe someday. You've changed your place in this world. You've changed your place in this world.
   
2. If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?
   
3. Let the devil take tomorrow ’cause tonight I need a friend.
   
4. I'm feeling good, I'm feeling oh so fine. Until tomorrow, but that's just some other time.
   
5. Learn to love me. Assemble the ways. Now, today, tomorrow and always.
   
6. If your life was bad to you, just think what tomorrow will do.
   
7. There’s a man I’ve found could remove his sorrow. He lives in this town, let’s see him tomorrow.
   
8. But how beautiful it was - ’tomorrow’. We’ll never have a day of sorrow. We got through the ’30s, but our belts were tight. We conceived of a future with no hope in sight.
   
9. And if it’s the price I pay. Some say, tomorrow’s another day. You’ll stay. I may as well play.
   
10. Tomorrow we can drive around this town and let the cops chase us around. The past is gone but something might be found to take its place.
    
11. If you feel like leaving, you know you can go. But why don't you stay until tomorrow. If you want to be free, you know, all you got to do is say so.
    
12. Well let the boys all sing and the boys all shout for tomorrow.
    

Automobiles: Hybrids

Here's a bumper sticker idea for someone to make a fortune off: "My next car will be a hybrid". A Google search shows it's a popular sentiment. A sticker like that would look great on the back of a Hummer. Wait, they've had a hybrid Hummer in the military since 1998.

Celebrities: Connections

Some bizarre connections:

• The News Of The World reports that Courtney Love is pregnant with Steve Coogan's child after a "two-week, drug-fuelled sex fling".
  
• Dido is related to Irish politician Des O'Malley.
  

The strangest connection of all time? Robert Fripp marrying Toyah. "It's A Mystewy", indeed.

Optical Illusions

Very cool optical illusion (with explanation). Index of all 57 illusions/phenomena on this well-designed site.

Music: Classical

You can listen online to the BBC Proms. Click on the "BBC Proms Radio Player". Concerts are available for 7 days. Right now, I'm listening to Prom 48 with Elgar, Maw, MacRae and Shostakovich - all music for strings.

Genealogy: Ireland 1837

Now online - Samuel Lewis' 1837 Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. From the entry for Longford:

The lower orders are shrewd, intelligent, and industrious, fond of manly exercises and amusements, such as foot-ball, hurling, and wrestling, but on Sunday evenings the chief and invariable amusement is dancing. They are of a very proud and independent spirit, which manifests itself most conspicuously in their great repugnance to hire as servants, an occupation considered by them to be highly disreputable; hence they remain at home living in penury in a cabin and on a small patch of ground. They are exceedingly litigious, ever ready to have recourse to the law upon the most trivial subjects.

And for Mayo:

Killery harbour is known to be one of the best fisheries for herring; but this branch has been much crippled by the restrictions of the fishery laws. Herrings have been known to set in to some of the bays in vast shoals, yet, from the want of salt, they were left to rot on the shore in heaps; and the wretched fisherman, whose little stock had been expended in fitting out his sea equipage, witnessed his own ruin with abundance apparently within his grasp. To obviate this calamity, salt is now stored at Clifden, Westport, and Bellmullet.

Music: Rock and/or Roll

Wreckless Eric expresses his dislike of Chris Martin, Glastonbury, Elvis Costello, Live Aid, Live 8, Status Quo, Queen, Bob Geldof. But he liked the Who. Scroll down to listen to an hour-long solo radio performance by Wreckless Eric. His chatter between songs is best - I like his speaking voice. Which is actually very similar to his singing voice. "Whole Wide World" is at the 47 minute mark.

Music: Novelty

Listen to "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?" by North American Hallowe'en Prevention, Inc.

The Simpsons: 1-800 Number

1-800-223-2369.

This is the phone number to order a different case for the Simpsons Season 6 DVD set. Call outside business hours (Pacific Time) to hear a message from Homer. Or is it? You can also go to Simpsonsbox.com.

Hoax: Space Shuttle

Company reorganisation seminar today began with story of how the range of the Space Shuttle was indirectly determined by the width of a horse's ass. I'd heard the story before, but a couple of details didn't ring true. The railway tunnel could have been made wider to take bigger rockets (or, as Robb says, they could have built the rockets closer to the launch site). Snopes says it's false (or "True, but for trivial and unremarkable reasons").

Automobiles: Which Side Of The Road?

Why do some countries drive on the right and some on the left? Historical table and country-by-country guide here. Some very interesting tidbits.

A-Z: Musicians

• A?
  
• Eric B. - pioneering hip-hop artist, rarely seen without Rakim.
  
• Vitamin C - girl from Eve's Plum makes happy pop music.
  
• Chuck D - rapper from Public Enemy.
  
• Eazy-E - another rapper, this time from N.W.A.
  
• Adam F - Drum & Bass artist, worked with Tracy Thorn.
  
• Gina G - the "Ooh Aah...Just A Little Bit" Aussie singer.
  
• Arthur H - French jazz/pop band.
  
• Prince Far I - reggae great.
  
• David J - former member of Bauhaus/Tones On Tail/Love & Rockets.
  
• Josef K - jangly Scottish band from early 80s.
  
• Jack L - would-be Jacques Brel from Ireland.
  
• Aerial M - "post-rock" instrumental band featuring guitarist David Pajo.
  
• N?
  
• Candy-O - a Cars tribute band from Canada.
  
• Master P - rap mogul.
  
• Stacey Q - had a hit in the 80s with "Two Of Hearts".
  
• R?
  
• Department S - one-hit Brits ("Is Vic There?").
  
• Mr. T - don't say Mr. T isn't a musical genius until you've heard his "Treat Your Mother Right". Then you can say it.
  
• Thriller U - easy-listening reggae singer.
  
• V?
  
• W?
  
• Generation X - punk band that spawned Billy Idol.
  
• Y?
  
• David Z - engineer/producer who worked with Prince and Fine Young Cannibals, among others.
  

Feeble Attempt At Humour

Costume party ideas.

• If your name is Eric, carry a wet sponge and dab the side of your head with it. When asked why you're not wearing a costume, say, "What do you mean? I'm Erick Dampier."
  
• If your name is Steve, wear a raincoat and a tiara. It will be obvious to all that you are Steve McQueen.
  
• If your name is Rob(b), set yourself on fire and say, "Look everyone! I'm Robert Burns!"
  
• If your name is Pat, jump on people from behind and announce that you're a Pat on the back.
  
• If your name is Shell, shave off your eyebrows, then paint on new ones about an inch above the originals. Walk around with your mouth hanging open. "I'm Shell-shocked."
  
• If your name is Jim, have a more talented older brother named John and get him to die young from a drug overdose. Then land a mediocre sitcom where your wife is played by an actress far too beautiful to be your real-life wife. You can then pass yourself off as Jim Belushi.
  

Lyrics Quiz: America

In honour of my return to these shores, an American Lyrics Quiz. Hint: one of these is by Morrissey.

1. She’s a good girl, loves her mama. Loves Jesus and America too.
   
2. Oh but ain’t that America for you and me. Ain’t that America, we’re something to see baby. Ain’t that America, home of the free.
   
3. Good morning, America, how are you? Don't you know me? I'm your native son.
   
4. Take a jumbo across the water. Like to see America. See the girls in California. I’m hoping it’s going to come true, but there’s not a lot I can do.
   
5. It’s on America’s tortured brow that Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow. Now the workers have struck for fame ‘cause Lennon’s on sale again.
   
6. Turn the key and slowly unlock the door, as a man breathes into a saxophone, and through the walls you hear the city groan. Outside is America.
   
7. Holly came from Miami F.L.A. Hitch-hiked her way across the U.S.A.
   
8. In Europe and America, there’s a growing feeling of hysteria, conditioned to respond to all the threats in the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets.
   
9. Every child had a pretty good shot to get at least as far as their old man got. But something happened on the way to that place. They threw an American flag in our face.
   
10. It’s coming to America first. The cradle of the best and of the worst. It’s here they got the range and the machinery for change. And it’s here they got the spiritual thirst.
    
11. In America, it brought you the hamburger. Well, America, you know where you can shove your hamburger. And don't you wonder why in Estonia they say, Hey you, Big fat pig, You fat pig, You fat pig.
    

Lyrics: Annette or Aimee

Fun lyrics game: Annette Funicello or Aimee Mann?. I scored 11 out of 16. Hooray for whoever created this quiz!

Song List: Johnny

Shell buries his contribution once again in the Comments section. Doesn't he know that no one ever reads the Comments? Here it is again:

Songs with "Johnny" either in the title or somewhere in the lyrics. For starters:

• "Angry Johnny" - Poe
• "Johnny Be Good" (sic) - Chuck Berry
• "Be Good" - Men at Work
• "Johnny Are You Queer" - Josie Cotton

Some he missed:

• "Johnny And Mary" - Robert Palmer
• "Johnny Was" - Bob Marley (and Stiff Little Fingers)
• "Johnny In The Echo Cafe" - Saint Etienne
• "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" - traditional
• "Johnny Mathis' Feet" - American Music Club

And songs that mention "Johnny":

• "Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)" and "My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)" by Neil Young
• "Walk Of Life" by Dire Straits
• "It's My Party" by Lesley Gore

Sports: Football

The headline at the Basque News And Information Channel is "Asier Del Horno's Chelsea beat Arsenal in the Community Shield". A bit parochial, no? Silly Basques. An anagram of his name is "El Senor Hairdo". Meanwhile, Didier Drogba (who actually scored the two goals) is "Odd Brigadier". And manager Jose Mourinho is "I'm Joe Honours".

And why did the Charity Shield become the Community Shield? Minor scandal, apparently, "for failing to disclose to ticket purchasers that only "profits" from the game would go to good causes, and for delaying the distribution of proceeds."

Advertising: Mazda

Risque commercial for Mazda, featuring a mannequin. As seen on British TV (but not, probably, US TV). Mind you, I haven't seen this ad on TV yet. (And while you're at Fat Campus, don't miss the early Jim Morrison video.

Health

Good news for women's health.

Words: Numpty, Sledging

The Brits do have some funny words, don't they? Numpty means "idiot", but sounds much nicer. Sledging means "insulting your opponent" in Cricket. More sledging.

And if you're missing baseball like I am, some Texas Rangers lowlights.

Sudoku etc.

USA Today has a nice Sudoku puzzle done in Flash. (Too easy though.)

Gizmodo has an interview with Jonathon Keats, a conceptual artist who has created a "camera" with a hundred year exposure.

Explanation of British number plates, including those tricksy Norn Iron plates.

Furniture: Funny Store Names

The name of this Northern Ireland furniture store makes me laugh: All Things Nice.