(see how I beat Jank and Reeder to the punch!)

The battle for redistricting Texas finally made NPR’s Morning Edition. Texas State Senators ducked out of the capitol building yesterday after Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst threatened to change the rules. The senators have been refusing to allow the redistricting map to be brought up for a vote, so Dewhurst was going to dispense with the rule that requires a two-thirds agreement before a measure can be brought up for debate (and subsequently a vote.) Here’s a couple of my favorite quotes.

I find myself always having to explain my tatoo. Maybe if I put it down in (e)writing I can avoid having to do it as often. When Microsoft introduced Microsoft Bob in 1995 the logo really hit home in an unintended fashion. It was a perfect representation of how I view me: a contented geek — even a geek that revels in his geekness. Once the product (MSBob) had failed miserably, I decided that I could co-opt the symbol and change it’s meaning. (Much like the gay community has co-opted “queer” and the pink triangle.) Instead of representing a product that demeans it’s users by treating them like morons, I hoped that it could represent a freshly emerging cross-section of the population that finds the joy of being a geek. Now that geeks are rampant (see [any blog]) it’s just a matter of time before I won’t have to explain my tat anymore.

Ok, here’s the deal. I’m going to throw a benfit concert next July, but I don’t know who the headliner is going to be. I tell you what, though, I will know by March and I will tell you then. In preparation, though, I want you to pay for a ticket now and that way you can support the cause even before you know who’s playing the show! Doesn’t that sound great?

GameSpy.com has a review of a pretty bizarre game that they describe as “Half Pokémon. Half Mario Paint. Three-quarters fun.” As best I can tell, you start the game with a 2D drawing screen (that seems to cast easily into 3D) where you create your characters and then you follow the story line trying to save the kingdom in arena battles. This game was “[w]ritten by Studio Ghibli, creators of the Oscar-winning Spirited Away“ so it should be pretty damn cool.

I was going to let Salon’s interview with the great blond satan slide, but the last “Letter to the Editor” they printed is just too damn funny.

“Thanks for David Bowman’s up-close and personal interview with Ann Coulter. How about Osama bin Laden next? I’ve always wondered whether his height and long beard make it difficult for him to meet girls.

— Kyle Gann”