Economic Left/Right: -0.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.74

[ The Political Compass ]

And if these guys know there stuff, they've pegged me as a supporter of Nader and/or Cobb. Of course since I live in Virginia, I can't vote for either without writing them in...

Update: I should reveal the source: IndoMerchant

The French protect the French language through legislation and FUD, and it is possible it has saved their language from a fate worse than death:

Chat Speak

I too would like to send good wishes to Mr. Makembe, but in not such a cryptic and regressive manner.

I meant to do this a month ago

create your own visited country map or write about it on the open travel guide

In a stunning move (which I am still reeling from) I have canceled my NetFlix subscription. Not because NetFlix is bad in any way, on the contrary, but because I am just not into movies these days. My NetFlix queue was down to 12 items, and I wasn't looking forward to any of them.

On the flip-side, my GameFly queue is up to 32 items, and I'm rather excited about most of them. I even find myself contemplating what life without cable might be like, but I don't think I can do that to my daughter, plus it's nice to watch G4TV every now and then, especially for Cinematech.

Even though I had seen this skit before, it just hit me when they got to this line:

That's right. Turkey of the Jungle brand bananas. From the makers of Chicken of the Sea brand tuna, and Tuna of the Dirt brand chicken. If fish grew on treees, they'd be Turkey of the Jungle brand bananas!

[ DynaCorp ]

Oh man, SNL is good stuff.

For a few years now I've been fighting some seriously dry hands, I've got more lotions and cremes than I know what to do with, and some help a little, others more, but I've found one product that does amazing things:

La Source™ Hand Recovery (100 ml) You’ll notice softer skin after just one treatment. Winner of the (HK) Cosmopolitan Beauty Award for Best Hand Care product, this revolutionary hand treatment exfoliates and deeply conditions even the driest hands leaving them unbelievably soft and supple.

[ Crabtree & Evelyn La Source™ Hand Recovery (100 ml) ]

It just takes a minute, doesn't leave your hands greasy, and so far (after one try) has amazing results.

A model wears a design by Jose Miro during the last day of the Pasarela Cibeles fashion show in Madrid Thursday Sept. 23, 2004.

[ Yahoo! News - World Photos - AP ]

I can't imagine why this would do anything for anybody, anywhere.

And for those of us who just hate making phone calls, that's a good thing. Ordering your pizza is easier, faster, and more attractive then ever.

Pizza can be a part of a well-balanced meal. Ingredients in our pizzas include protein, complex carbohydrates, Vitamin A and calcium. And, depending on the toppings you choose, our pizzas have items from all of the four major food groups - meat, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, and grains! So take a closer look within our menu for suggestions when counting calories and fat grams.

[ Pizza Hut Nutrition Information ]

OK, I'll buy that. Anything to help me rationalize my love of pizza.

One word of caution. If you do order, and at the last step your browser shows a dialog about being redirected to an insecure connection, and your data may be transmitted, it appears to me that the redirect happens after the data has been transmitted, and your data isn't sent in the clear. I have notified the website about this confusion, but only after accidentally placing my order 3 times.

I plunked down (via billing at a later date) $200 and I am forking over my original Sidekick, and I didn't even check to see what's improved:

Intellisync: Users can now synchronize their Microsoft Outlook/Exchange Calendar, contacts and to do list with their hiptop2.

Integrated, higher resolution camera: The flash -enabled camera is a great addition to the device.

Photo Caller ID: A fun feature that will allow you to see a photo of who is calling you. This offers new choice in how users integrate the camera application into their experience with the product.

Support for vCards: The new hiptop2 device allows you to send and receive virtual contact cards (vCards). vCards are a great way to easily save and share contact information with friends and colleagues.

SMS enhancements: This popular application will have new features and the ability to save up to 130 SMS messages on the device.

Yahoo! Messenger: The popular Yahoo! Messenger has been added as a choice for instant messaging.

[ Danger ]

All great enhancements. The Yahoo! and SMS will really come in handy. There are a bunch of other hardware improvements, form factor improvements, camera is now usable, battery life is longer, and on and on.

Didn't get the Sidekick, but still want a good deal? Sidekick II is only $200 (new contracts only, after $100 rebate).

It's like I've been saying all along, the fine people of Mansfield know what they speak of:

If you don't enjoy coffee, or if it bothers you, don't drink it. But if you consider coffee to be one of life's pleasures, perhaps you will be interested in some of the latest findings about coffee's health effects, as reported in Harvard's Women's Health Watch. We're talking here about regular coffee, with its full content of caffeine, not decaffeinated coffee.

[ mansfieldnewsjournal.com ]

YES!

Conan O'Brien will take over from Jay Leno as host of the "Tonight" show.

[ Yahoo! News ]

Who's taking over for Conan? I am suspecting Carrot Top.

Hopefully NBC will follow up with an exact date so I can make my big countdown clock to the day I won't have to see Leno on TV anymore.

Oh, and Kudos to you Conan! You deserve it, man! Erin go bragh!

Props to Dari

AT&T's new IM/SMS/Email jobby: Ogo

Seems like a cool idea. For about $100 ($20 set up) and $18 a month you get unlimited IM, SMS, and Email. Here are the caveats:

• No details on what type of access you have to Email
• The website is hideous
• Only 1 IM profile appears to be setup-able
• The website is hideous
• SMS to international numbers is an extra $.25 a pop
• The website is hideous

However it is still a good deal, and no one can call you on it!

Security officials can't quite explain why singer Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, was on a U.S. government "no fly" list.

[ MSNBC - Homeland Security's Info: Miles from Nowhere ]

Since when is a casual association with someone reason to suspect them? Yusuf Islam lives his life in the public eye, at least in the UK, and to the best of my knowledge, no credible “intelligence” indicates any “terrorist” leanings by him. The quicker the US apologizes, the quicker we can get back to harassing the real bad guys...

update: Time says it was a spelling mistake. Here's hoping that all of the David Kearnses in the world, regardless of spelling, keep their noses clean.