Like this would really happen, right?

Meaning to apply for a job, a nurse accidentally admits herself to a mental institution.

link: Committed - Hulu

Oh. Ya think?

Moe, Larry, and Curly fight terrorism in the Middle East

The US military in 2008 shut down a website set up by the CIA and Saudi Arabia to expose terror plots, angering both parties, who saw the site as a vital intelligence tool, the Washington Post reported Friday.

link: For the story from Agence France-Presse click here

link: For more about Moe, Larry, and Curly click here

If you were in the Army you already know this...

...but JIC you weren't, pay attention boys and girls:

Never, ever, ever under any circumstances make a deal where your part of the deal is delayed to some later time.

Example: You pull guard duty this weekend and then next weekend you can have a three-day pass. Like that.

You. Will. Get. Screwed.

Just pointing out, for what it's worth.

Waiting by the shore

Photo: Phil Compton

Growing. Nationwide.

Georgia’s Supreme Court is upholding the government’s right to put non-sex offenders on the state’s sex-offender registry, highlighting a little-noticed (but growing) nationwide practice.

link: Court: State Can Dump Non-Sex Offenders Into Registry | Threat Level | Wired.com

Top down

We hit 60º today for the second afternoon in a row, which is the reason I didn't get all the work I was planning to do today done. I was out walking around soaking up some sun and I saw my first top-down car of the year. I saw two cars with open sunroofs yesterday but I'm not sure that counts. Top down does.

While I was out walking around I went to the library to return a book and noticed the new Richard Russo novel, "That Old Cape Magic," on the best-seller rack, so I brought it home. Turns out it's a one-week book so I'll have to read it next, right after the one I just started this morning, "A Helmet For My Pillow." "Helmet" is a memoir written by a marine who served in the Pacific during WWII, a guy named Robert Leckie, and one of the books the new HBO series, "The Pacific," is said to be based on.

I'm reading it in its ebook version, mostly on my iPhone but on my computer too using Barnes & Nobel software on both devices. Turns out I really like having a good book on my phone - the best book being the book you have with you, after all - and I find it comfortable even for relatively long sessions, and perfect for a quick read over a cup of coffee, that kind of thing. But then I'm the kind of guy who compulsively reads everything in sight, even the backs of breakfast cereal boxes, and also I just got new glasses so hey, bring that small type on.

I'm still clinging pretty comfortably to my decision not to buy an iPad, at least not until next year some time, but the new Apple device has got me thinking again about ebook readers and the "nook," Barnes & Nobel's answer to the Kindle, is looking pretty attractive at the moment. Its about the same size as the smaller of the two Kindles, costs the same, and uses the same digital ink technology, but it includes wi-fi as well as wireless connectivity (Kindle - at leas the smaller one - is wireless only), which seems like a good feature for those of us who live outside 3G land. (Yes! That's right! We're still using the EDGE network the Pilgrims built.)

Whatever. I do need to get some work done - plan a class on resume formatting in Word and another on basic, introductory Windows and I'll get around to it, Boss, I really will, soon, but who could work on a day like today?

Right. Except you.

Do Republicans have sex?

On Feb. 17, 2007, New Jersey state troopers arrived at McGacken's home, responding to an anonymous 911 call complaining of screams coming from McGacken's home. McGacken explained the noise was a bout of loud sex; his girlfriend appeared at the front door and corroborated his claim.

But officers searched his home anyway, and found enough marijuana -- including potted plants -- to put him away for 10 years on charges of producing a controlled substance.

link: Loud sex enough for cops to search your home, court rules | Raw Story

Eeeew. Sorry about the ick. But really. If we could find a little potted pot at that doofus Dubya's house (and what are the odds?) we could at least put him away for "producing a controlled substance," never mind starting two wars, killing hundreds of millions, trashing the economy, and crushing souls. Just a bit of weed is all we'd need.

And, come to think of it, how screwed up is that?

The end of insomnia

C-Span has uploaded virtually every minute of its video archives to the Internet....

The archives, at C-SpanVideo.org, cover 23 years of history and five presidential administrations....

link: C-Span Puts Its Full Archives on the Web - NYTimes.com

If I'd only known last night.

Imagine it on a T-shirt

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, already one of Washington's largest lobbying groups, is gearing up to play a major role in this year's midterm elections...

...the group has built a grass-roots operation known as "Friends of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce."

link: U.S. Chamber sets sights on vulnerable Democrats ahead of midterm vote - washingtonpost.com

(Boldface mine)

Catchy, huh?

Probably seemed like a good design at the time

-Noted by Formerly From California Charlie.

Some serious tax geekery going on here

Chocolate Chip Mint: Funny Business

We are be impressed.

Now you're talkin', Pilgrim

On an Orlando radio station Sunday, McCain challenger J.D. Hayworth said that gay marriages, under Massachusetts law, could lead to "man on horse" unions.

link: GOP candidate: Gay marriage may lead to ‘man on horse’ unions | Raw Story

And more:

I mean, I don't mean to be absurd about it, but I guess I can make the point of absurdity with an absurd point...

Should have stopped while you were ahead, J.D.

What I can't figure out is, have these wingnutjobs watched too many cowboy movies or too few?

Drums

Photo: Phil Compton

OK, I'm not kidding...

This is the story of Melvin, the Tromaville Health Club mop boy, who inadvertently ends up in a vat of toxic waste. The Toxic Avenger is born...

link: The Toxic Avenger - Hulu

...this is absolutely the B-est B movie you'll ever see. Or maybe C. You can catch it on Hulu, along with Toxic Avenger 2 and 3.

Bliss out.

Daily Beast ranks craziest cities in America

The winner?

Here’s a hint: it’s a bit north (and east) of Austin and better known for chili than crazy.

Check out the story.

(And thanks to our Seattle Bureau)

An idea whose time has come

Meet Murray Hill, Inc., the first corporation to run for Congress in the United States....

"It's a new day," Hill's ad says. "Until now, corporations influenced politics with high paid lobbyists and backroom deals. However, as much as corporate interests gave to politicians, we could never be absolutely sure they would do our bidding. But today, thanks to an enlightened Supreme Court, corporations now have all the rights the founding fathers meant for us. It's our democracy: we bought it, we paid for it and we're going to keep it."

link: Corporate entity becomes ‘candidate’, kicks off bid for Congress | Raw Story

Really. If corporations have the same rights as people when it comes to backing political candidates financially, why not cut to the chase and let corporations run for office? Just think about it. General Motors for President. Well, OK, maybe that's not the best example but you know what I mean.

Vice President Haliburton - we know that works.

At the very least, we're not likely to find ConAgra hot-tubbing with a teen-aged girl. And, instead of buttons and the occasional t-shirt candidates might hand out really cool stuff, like granola bars.

Don't forget, boys and girls...

...it's pi day.

Oh yeah, you'll want to pre-order the DVD of this one

TELEGRAPH, UK - The Devil is lurking in the very heart of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican's chief exorcist claimed. Father Gabriele Amorth said people who are possessed by Satan vomit shards of glass and pieces of iron.

He added that the assault on Pope Benedict XVI on Christmas Eve by a mentally unstable woman and the sex abuse scandals which have engulfed the Church in the US, Ireland, Germany and other countries, were proof that the Anti-Christ was waging a war against the Holy See.

link: UNDERNEWS: CHIEF CATHOLIC EXORCIST SAYS DEVIL IS IN VATICAN