A not terribly impressive 122 mph, at least compared to Emperor Misha's minions.

Only to be viewed by those who have taken their blood pressure medication recently: Technical Difficulties. Yes, I'm about to explode. I especially appreciated the "criminalizing dissent" part. I'm sure the author(s) of this particular animation are currently being tortured in the secret dungeons under the White House even as we speak. What? You mean they're still allowed to roam the streets freely even after saying things like "it's all about the ooooooiiiil" and the like? What kind of jackbooted thugocracy are we running here anyway?

One of the simple pleasures of owning a telescope (even if it's just an amateur one), is viewing Saturn. Sky and Telescope was kind enough to publish an entire article on vieweing Saturn targeted towards the backyard dilettante such as m'self.

BWA-hahahahaha! Fun and games! Play Busy Marquee!

WARNING: Full-blown geek alert:

Two things I recently needed but found too late:

• Enterprise Integration Patterns - Overview
• Patterns for things that change with time

What the f*cking f*ck does this mean? Can somebody please explain how these words can be arranged into this sequence and a meaningful communication takes place as a result? I roughly (very roughly, mind you) understand how the game is played, but this just continues to be a nonsensical arrangement of otherwise useful English words. Lee, come on man ... help me out here.

UPDATE: Tim Blair himself deigned to descend from Olympus merely to call me a "Cricket-hating U.S. scum." I'm truly honored, and couldn't be happier. Surely now I'm on my way to fame, fortune, and world domination.

I was completely unstuck by the news that Senator Lieberman is meeting with King Fahd in Saudi. I mean, I just boggled. I see I'm not the only one at a lack for words.

If I believed in God, I'd be thanking him for this evidence of clear thinking from a generous man.

The Matrix. The Matrix. The Matrix. It just feels good to say it, doesn't it? The Matrix. I can't effing wait.

Spider Robinson is a victim of identity theft and eBay. Guess how the story ends. Go ahead. I'll wait.

Arrrrrrgh! Frustrating Flash games for your blood-pressure elevation.

I've tried to find a self-characterized "left wing" blogger that I could read without foaming at the mouth. I want to find someone who espouses group identity politics and wealth redistribution economics and is willing to back it up with something other than "the Repugnicans are eeeeeeeevil". So far, I'm coming up empty. Hesiod? Don't make me laugh. Atrios? Marginally better, but still lacking that intellectual rigor I was hoping to find. Ted Barlow seems like the go-to guy, but (since it's my wishlist) I was hoping for more volume. Damn him for not spending all his time the way I want him too!

So who's the standard-bearer for the leftists these days?

Okay, Ted Barlow is a bigger man than I am. He's actually studied relationship dynamics and written a report thereon. I'm a feeble sort of troll who just say "yes, dear" and does whatever my wife tells me too unless I'm fully enshrouded in my passive-aggresivity in which case I say "yes, dear" and continue to play Super Mario Sunshine.

Sun continues to hammer Microsoft over their Java lack-of-strategy. A little history: way back when, Sun stupidly announced that Java would let them virtualize the desktop before they had managed to get themselves irretrievably ensconced as the market leader. Microsoft responded by releasing a version of the Java interpreter that (a) ran only on Windows, and (b) had some unapproved-by-Sun hooks in it that allowed developers to write Windows-only Java apps that did things that 100% Java apps couldn't (like script COM objects, f'rinstance). Sun took them to court over the license violation, since the Java license says you can't change the language and still call it Java. Microsoft renamed the product, and started getting rid of Java completely (this eventually turned into C# and dot-NET).

To thumb their noses at Sun, Microsoft began carrying a particular broken interpreter in the O.S. which had the "unforseen" side-effect of making Java apps look bad and break strangely. A previous lawsuit managed to get a court to enjoin Microsoft from doing this anymore. Next, Microsoft began shipping the O.S. without any Java at all, secure in the knowledge that the vast majority of people would never go get a JVM, so Java will (again) be a non-starter on Windows as an application development environment.

Now, Sun has gotten a court to rule that Microsoft's Windows must use Java. As much as I don't like Microsoft, and often spend valuable hours of my life cursing them and their bug-infested security holes, this isn't right either. I haven't read the court's opinion, but how do you justify forcing Microsoft to bundle their competitor's products with their own? And why just Sun's product? Why are they special? This just seems like a bad idea.

Did I say I wasn't a big Microsoft fan? Just wanted to make sure.

Note that this doesn't affect the viability of Java as a server-side environment. As far as I can tell from my individual perch, there is so much Java servlet/JSP development going on that dot-NET has approximately zero chance of really taking the niche.

Just when you thought the case mods had reached as far out as they could go before circling back in, the Japanese come up with this lovely. I wonder if I can stuff an iMac into that?

Scott Ottt has ripped the mask off the Republicans. The jig is up! We've got your number, now, me bucko!

I'll just quote James Lileks here:

Ask yourself: if you and your friends decided to shoot an entire episode of TOS Star Trek, and you wrote a script set on the recommissioned Exeter, and you rented a warehouse, built a replica of a Constitution-class starship, designed all the sets and lighting to look like 1967 TV, and spent SEVEN YEARS on the project, meticulously recreating the look and sound of a TOS episode, what would the result look like? It might go something like this. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Starship Exeter.

Note to self: stop writing network monitoring crap.

WARNINGNot to be viewed if you have a weak stomach.

How Americans treat their dogs.

How the Peruvian Army treats theirs.

Peggy Noonan has quite a bit to say about Trent Lott and why Republicans are glad to be rid of him.