Here’s a release on statistics about Internet usage across the U.S. by Pew (see the full numbers here .) I wish I had the time and drive to read through the whole thing, but really I just wanted to see these two maps next to each other.

hmmm…It’s a tenuous correlation. It probably doesn’t mean a thing.

I owned one of those butterfly knifes when I was in high school. I learned a couple tricks just by watching USA’s Kung Fu Theater (remember that?) and trial and error (with no serious cuts.) This website has instructions on many different techniques. Maybe I can talk Becky into letting me get one, now…ok, maybe not.

It will probably be awhile before we get to see the BBC spy show Spooks (unless it comes on BBC America) but you can play their Flash© game to see if you could be a spy.

There’s another label to keep track of: Rejuveniles. Seems like the hip and with-it thing to be is a kid. I’d like to make fun of these folks, but truth is I kind of identify with them. Well, except for ““adultolescents,” those 20- and 30-somethings who live at home and still depend on their parents for emotional and financial support.

What I’d like to pose for discussion, though is the following: “(A)dulthood has lost its appeal,” said Frank Furendi, a professor of sociology at the University of Kent at Canterbury in England. “Adulthood has got nothing attractive about it anymore. That’s actually quite sad.” I’d like to challenge that adulthood may never have been more attractive than childhood. I’d also insist that the growing trend to absolve adults of responsibility for their own lives adds to this alienation of adulthood.

I’ll come out of the closet: I really like Enterprise, the latest franchise from the Star Trek cash cow.

Wow. Uncle Sam may soon be spending your money on Macs. In a move that completely contradicts the last half decade of accepting Windows hegemony by the Feds, OS X and Linux have been added to OMB’s Technical Reference Model, whatever the hell that is. Inertia will probably protect Microsoft, but hey, at least it’s a step.

I’m always fascinated by good, practical engineering. Solutions that actually work, and that make use of commonly available materials especially intrigue me. So I was pleased to find the Prisioners’ inventions page that features the efforts of guests of the state to make their lives more pleasant.

Ah, is there nothing that Dave Barry can’t do? I think he’s got my new favorite blog, he’s a heck of a writer, and he ditched his first wife for a trophy wife. Plus, the Judge from Night Court played him (BTW- the Night court link has really bad music associated with it) on TV (sadly cut short two episodes short of 100).

Featured posts include Terrorist Carp, Stripping Mom, (Doc, I hope you got the same terrible mental image as me) and the peeing game. Folks, I’m hooked. Better than The Corner.

Back when we all were too young to drive, had only been drunk a few times, and had never even come close to having sex (except maybe with ourselves), Madonna seemed kinda cool, subversive, hip, and radical. Hell, I was excited when she first performed “Like a Virgin” at the MTV VMA’s way back when, and I probably could not have coherently explained why.

My, how things have changed.

Madonna has become something that bores me. Actually, pity might be a better word to describe how she makes me feel. It is interesting, if predictable, when an up and coming singer or actress pushes sexual boundaries when establishing herself as a star. (The attempt can fail spectacularly, but it is usually a pretty safe bet.)

Madonna, however, has been around for over twenty years. Granted, her last movie could not have been more of a bomb, and her last album continues to suck Kelly Clarkson’s dust (at least in terms of sales). Still, watching this supposed pop icon (who also happens to be well into her fifth decade) resort to kissing young girls in an attempt to kick-start her stalled career is depressing, sad, and, really, a little boring.

Ah, thanks to the folks at Wired for today’s Lunchtime Diversion.

Instead of hawking mortgages, penis-enlargement pills or weight-loss products, a (spam) message arrived that seemed straight out of a science-fiction novel.

The anonymous e-mail offered $5,000 to any vendor capable of promptly delivering a collection of far-fetched gadgets for conducting time travel. Among the mysterious devices sought by the message’s author were an “Acme 5X24 series time transducing capacitor with built-in temporal displacement” and an “AMD Dimensional Warp Generator module containing the GRC79 induction motor.”

The rest of the article goes on to describe the sub-culture of time-travel spam. I’m kind of jealous, as I get only the free porn, mortgage, and penis enlargement variety of spam, and time travel seems more interesting than these. NB(In a subnote, one of the side-effects of both the rise of spam and the expansion of the blogosphere has been the death of the rambling e-mail. Now, it’s mind expansion on the pull concept instead of the push.)

*Updated

This guy collects images of odd documentation he finds. It’s nice to see the Dell lead-off (who coincidentally has won several awards for their innovative packaging on top of being such an amazing computer maker.) This is my favorite, though it is not really that outrageous.

Exhibit 5 – Instructions for a trousers press, a particularly British
device. I like any documentation that includes the phrase ‘Insert trousers’.

What are the arguments against Stem Cell Research? Are they purely religous hang-ups? It is hard to read an article like this one and not think that Stem Cell Research is a good thing.

I played a game today with my six-year-old son, Wyndham, which involved kicking a ball back and forth. It was a very visual game: the object was to catch the ball. As it progressed, I was able to run six to 10ft and catch the ball in the air. At other times, it would slip right through my hands. I am taller and faster than Wyndham and he can see much better than me, so we were quite evenly matched. He was better at kicking the ball straight than I was. We each caught the ball 20 times over the course of an hour.

“She said `Honey, it’s over. They got all the cancer.’ She waited a few minutes and then said `But they had to remove your penis.’ And I was one mad dude, you know.”

The guy has settled.

Courtesy of The Corner:

If it makes you feel any more brainy (I know it does me), did you know that you can sing almost any Emily Dickinson poem to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas”?
Try it:
Because I could not stop for Death —
He kindly stopped for me —
The Carriage held but just ourselves —
And Immortality.

and

My Life had stood — a Loaded Gun —
In Corners — till a Day
The Owner passed — identified —
And carried Me away_

More high sulfur coal for the environmental fire: The EPA will not regulate CO2 as a pollutant. Which is good news for those of us who breathe. I won’t have to worry about getting a permit for producing excess pollutants when I go jogging tonight.

“I don’t think it’s our place to be looking for creative interpretations of an act to deal with a major policy issue like this before Congress has spoken with it,” (said Jeff Holmstead, EPA’s assistant administrator for air quality).

Truthfully, I’m split on this. I’m all about more efficient cars, etc, but I think it’s up to the automakers to come up with attractive fuel efficient models. Which I think is happening via hybrids, efficient diesels, etc, without gvmt intervention, due to environmental concerns, concerns about supporting terrorists w/ oil money, and generally rising gas prices. I’m for more efficient power plants and alternative sources, but again, I think it’s up to researchers to make alternatives more affordable instead of mandating changes, with all costs passed directly to consumers.

Fire at will.