Russia Goes to War

Ivan's marched into South Ossetia in support of the separatists against Georgia. Given the state of the world, one might ask "so what?"

Well, this isn't just another G-8 war machine rolling on a relatively helpless country full of brown people; Georgia's a US ally with about 2,000 troops in Iraq right now (half of which are being recalled to fight the Russians), and their arsenal actually consists of more than 20-year-old Kalashnikovs. Considering there are plenty of other former Soviet Republics turned US Allies in the region with their own little Russian separatist problems (some of which have actually weighed in on the latest conflict by launching rockets into Georgia), it looks like things are set for an old fashioned brawl between well armed caucasians in none other than the caucasus.

George W. Bush: Pimp

AP's caption:

President Bush playfully taps the lower back of U.S. women's beach volleyball star Misty May-Treanor at her invitation while visiting the Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Grounds at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday. May-Treanor's teammate, Kerri Walsh, enjoys the moment.

I'm sure we can think of something a little more fitting.

Amen

The Wii's brought the pastime to the proles. Some lessons in etiquette might be in order.

Things People Do

Hey kids, you should try exactly what this guy is doing. Not only is it safe and cool, but if you do it well enough, you'll get superpowers, candy will fall from the sky, and mommy and daddy will stop fighting and start loving you again.

(Message brought to you by Nibbles the hamster.)


btw, I'm pretty sure the city shots are Beijing; he picked some pretty good days to shoot.

Eee does the Wii

Asus' latest push into the full-built PC market has yielded some rather interesting products in the Eee laptop and desktop. If you've seen the things, if becomes clear that they are aiming for Apple's jugular, which I whole-heatedly approve of. Now they've unveiled a new gaming controller for PC's that look rather familiar.

Despite being a lifelong Nintendo fan, their obsession with bringing gaming to the shambling mass of "casuals" with lightweight, Toys 'R Us offerings has left a sour taste in my mouth, to the point where I'm almost morally detered from getting a Wii. I'm glad Asus has brought an alternative to the table that leverages everything that makes Wii such a hot item.

Also, love how the fanboys have already started camping on the comments page here. Chavs of the internet indeed, though I am interested in how Nintendo will respond to this rather blatant incursion into their intellectual territory. They're known for being on the draconian side in this respect, and I can imagine this turning into a reenactment of the legal brawl they fought over unlicensed NES cartridges almost two decades ago. I'm rooting for Asus.

Your laptop (and tech stuff) can be seized at the border!

US Agents now have the power to seize your laptop and other electronics without suspicion and they can share your data with agencies and private companies for decryption. The policies cover hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes -- as well as books, pamphlets and other written materials, the report said. At the very least, the policy does protect business info and attorney-client privileged info and apparently they aren't allowed to retain a copy of your data once you've been reviewed.

Cop demands hot coffee

So it turns out there's this Chicago cop who feels entitled to free coffee at Starbucks just for showing up. She's a 14 year veteran of the force and the charges are over the last 5 years. She's also 55. So a little math suggests that she spent 20 years as a mall cop shoplifting from the mall food court before moving up to the big time.

And this is the police force who Mayor Daley wants to give assault rifles to. Oh boy.

Shia to lose a pinky???

I feel a little guilty for using my power to will pizzas into being to will Shia's pinky to fall off...

Just a rumor for now, I promise reasonably tasteful coverage if it turns out to be true, I would hate to lose a finger myself.

Fun Times at Coney Island

Waterboarding, the ride.

'nuff said.

News Jay REALLY Doesn't Want to Hear

I mean it, this time.

Apparently, they don't have spellcheck in the UK, though I have to admit that because of modern technology, my own spelling would be pretty bad.