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Wow, and I kinda thought my paranoid concerns about America turning into a military/industrial complex (like the Empire in Star Wars) were unfounded. Sadly, I was wrong. According to CNN.com: The Army is considering a proposal to allow a private developer to build a military-themed park that would include Cobra Gunship rides and bars including a '1st Division Lounge.' Seriously, how else will The Army be able to breed a new generation of Storm Troopers? Unrelated fun: check out Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager.

Things a Bond flick must have to be a real Bond flick.

I just saw the new movie, Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig, and enjoyed it. Too bad, it's not a Bond flick. Yes, the lead character is named James Bond, but that alone doesn't make it a Bond flick (see Never Say Never Again). In fact, while the Broccolis think there have already been 21 or 22 Bond films, there have really only been about six: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, and Diamonds Are Forever. In short, the Sean Connery ones. And not because I think Sean Connery is the best Bond. Frankly, I don't care who the actor is. No, there have only been 6 real Bond flicks because most of the scripts lack the requisite Bond-ness to qualify.

‘Online privacy’ is not an oxymoron (but ‘ethical business’ damn sure is).

The days when you could anonymously visit websites about big-breasted women with glasses, or guys wearing diapers while getting spanked are fast coming to a close. Is it the end of the Internet? Not necessarily. But probably.

Arenaball, like real football, only not really.

They got this sport called Arenaball. It looks a lot like football, but it's played indoors on a field half as big. (If you're really curious, it's on ESPN too much. It's marginally entertaining if you're really bored and Quayle isn't on C-SPAN putting to rest any doubt that he's an idiot.) The Tampa Bay Storm is the reigning butt-kickers in the league. We beat everybody last year and only lost once this year. Frankly, since it's not real football, I haven't been keeping up. The games are ridiculously high-scoring. Since the field is only 50 yards long, they score on a decent run up the middle. It seems kinda stupid, but you do get to cheer a lot. (Very important after a few too many beers.)

Who sucks less? Comcast plus Tivo, or AT&T plus DishNetwork?

I hate paying monthly fees. In fact, I hate paying monthly fees so much that I'm willing to spend stupid amounts of money upfront to avoid them. How stupid? How does $1200 sound? That's how much I almost spent when I was considering a MythTV box (specifically, the MonolithMC, a kick-ass Linux-based Media PC) to avoid paying Tivo their $13 a month service fee.

BOOKS

I am America (And so can you!), Stephen Colbert—Sage advice for an ailing nation.
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Christopher Hitchens—The case against belief.
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality, Brian Greene—A mind-bending romp through quantum physics.
Adam's Curse: A Future without Men, Bryan Sykes—It's not MY fault, it's my chromosome's.
1984, George Orwell—Who says no one can predict the future?
Nonzero : The Logic of Human Destiny, Robert Wright—It gives you hope for the future.
The Stranger, Albert Camus—Alienated existentialism at its best.
A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson—Why aren't textbooks this funny?

POLITICS

Change Congress Help keep Big Money out of politics
Earmark Watch Bringing citizen oversight to congressional spending
Money And Politics Illuminating the connection
Open Congress The real story behind what's happening in Congress
Fortune 535 Find out how wealthy your local politicians are
OpenSecrets Center for responsive politics
Citability Making government accessible, reliable, and transparent
Data.gov Public access to high-value, machine-readable data sets
Public Markup Review and comment on proposed bills before they are even introduced
FedSpending Find out where your tax money is going
The Sunlight Foundation Shining light on money, lobbying, and government
Transparency Int'l. Stop corruption to save lives.
Congresspedia The citizen's encyclopedia of Congress

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