PSoTD

I'm sure we'll hear this one Sunday night...

Any article premise that suggests that something could actually be better with a few more Robert Novaks makes it near impossible to read the article. I can only assume that Jonathan Martin means that the GOP needs more Robert Novaks, the drivers, to run down Democratic voters.

Here's your chance to catch up on some interesting stuff:

"Britain on alert for deadly new knife with exploding tip that freezes victims' organs." It's a legitimate item, clearly not for most people, but what is the alert about?

Have a great moving story? Mad Melancholic Feminista is looking for some.

One Million Served.

Ever see a 96-armed octopus?

Disbarment, obvious, is not enough, but it should come with the territory of those who get Bush pardons.

The termites are immediately back at the lobbyist disclosure provisions on gifts to lawmakers and staff.

If you're looking for the closest place to your barbecue to get your propane tank filled for your barbecue, check this search engine out.

Courtesy of Pen-Elayne, here's a fun little application to play around with...

We finally got around to watching the NetFlix-sent "I Am Legend" a few nights ago.

I think the best analogy is watching a mile race. An underdog runner comes from nowhere to lead the pack by a large distance, running at a pace that would be a new world record. In the middle of the final lap, however, the runner slows, dramatically, and then the other runners begin to pass the early leader, and finally the leader stops running and walks into the stands and eats a hot dog, never finishing the race.

85% of a great movie is still a bad movie if you paste an "and it all worked out after all" at the end.

Of course, we didn't watch the alternative ending (didn't even think of doing so) that was apparently on the DVD. I did watch it online yesterday, and am stunned that the producers didn't select it instead. Much, much better.

The Springsteen Clip Fest will go on through Sunday...

In case you're wondering when they are:

First presidential debate: Friday, September 26 University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS

Vice presidential debate: Thursday, October 2 Washington University in St. Louis, MO

Second presidential debate: Tuesday, October 7 Belmont University, Nashville, TN

Third presidential debate: Wednesday, October 15 Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY

At some point the 15% rule has to be destroyed and replaced with something more open and more effective for voters. One of the criteria for inclusion in the debates:

The CPD's third criterion requires that the candidate have a level of support of at least 15% (fifteen percent) of the national electorate as determined by five selected national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations' most recent publicly-reported results at the time of the determination.

One of these years there's going to be a candidate that comes close, but doesn't quite make, this arbitrary 15% number, and then CPD is going to look like the clique at the country club. This year we're destined to hear from Nader, Barr and others about the unfairness of this debate policy, and I suspect it will have a lot more resonance with voters after watching two primaries chock full of debates where the stage was crowded with candidates. The debate process still worked. The real benefit is that more ideas, and less posturing, came out when there were more candidates - the number of candidates required the candidates to focus on making themselves stand out as opposed to tearing down the sole opposition. Yes, there was some ganging up on the leader, but even that was kept in check by the candidates to prevent the perception of a candidate only being there to "pile on".

Fringe candidates prove themselves as fringe rather quickly. Passable ideas find acceptance amongst all candidates, and some common ground is determined. In the past I would have preferred otherwise, but now I want to see more candidates than two at the debates. CPD needs to figure out a new standard.

The dangers of it - in this case, not a financial institution, but domain registrars.

Such as:

Larry King shot dead at home

Madonna announces retirement, marriage to Alex Rodriguez

These fake "news alert" spams are VERY annoying.

And no comments on this post - anytime I mention spam, the blogspammers come out like the night humanoids of "I Am Legend".

to the Springsteen show...

Cartoon characters should probably keep their mouths closed about such topics. Oh, and I found Waldo, but time has not been kind.

Sounds like a profession that should get a television show like trucking does with Ice Truckers.

I wonder what percentage of new subscriptions for magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and Forbes come from such crew sales. Is there anything less enjoyable to open your door to than two cigarette-perfumed magazine sales people that give you the immediate sense that they'll say ANYTHING to get you to buy some magazines?

Dotster is a good domain registrar, but I tend to think that their second page after registering a new domain - the page which tries to sell privacy and server space and sets the default option as automatically buying it, and requires an additional action to get to the payment for the domain page - is pretty damn crappy. It appears to be designed to charge the inattentive some fees that are likely not to be necessary. Good businesses shouldn't do that. So, Dotster, you know what I think you should do... change the defaults to the non-paying options.

I just have to wonder how well The Mothman Festival is going to do in an era of $4.00 plus gallons of gasoline. Plus, I hadn't even heard of this West Virginia story before, but stumbled across it when I was looking at other web sites for a local retired entomologist.

But I am glad to find out...

MOTHMAN DOES NOT KILL PEOPLE

Whew.

Springsteen.

That's the value of this website according to Website Outlook.

I'm sure that's due to higher gas prices.

It's actually... within a 4 hour drive!

Note to Nickelodeon - we were unable to watch the Season 3 finale to Avatar, the Last Airbender, and the kids (AND I) want to see the final four episodes. We have truly enjoyed Avatar and we want to see this final episode. I don't see it on Nick's schedule this week - c'mon, quit holding out!

And it doesn't help to see so many bloggers say it was the coolest show, ever.

I may have gone my whole life without really considering the definition of the term "nanosecond" except our 7-year-old finds the whole nanosecond measurement idea pretty fascinating. Like in, "how many nanoseconds will it take for us to get to Hersheypark?"

For anyone that does web work, one of the pass-along costs that can really surprise is the price for stock photography. Don't get me wrong - it is a necessary and important product and people deserve to make a living building up quality libraries of images. But there's also a reality of value and budget on the web that sometimes doesn't feel "reflected" in pricing.

Which is why I like the pricing structure of iStockPhoto. When you're looking for a more "generic" image for a particular viewpoint or sentiment, it comes in quite handy. Sometimes you don't need a photo of a child holding a hat pointing at the Eiffel Tower, you just need a photo of a person pointing at a building.

With Potato Radio.

If this blogger caught photos of us when WE were on the Skyview yesterday at Hersheypark.

I think I really noticed them back on Monday... the cicadas.

I kinda wonder why nobody highlights anymore the drums and the percussion like War did in Lowrider... our kids LOVE that song.

It all began in 1865 with a horse drawn trolley...

How long do motion picture companies keep their movie web sites?

I don't know why The Kings weren't more successful.

You may know them better from this hit.

Eight year olds will be asking the question:

Grandma, what is this i-mod stuff? What did you use it for?

Wow, this seriously could be the worst effort to select the top 25 of anything, ever. I don't know who Rob O'Connor is, but he's destined to be the drivetime DJ of hell.

Like I said, I'm in my own little summer world right now, and I didn't even realize that Senator John Warner has reintroduced the idea (not a bill) of reducing the national speed limit. But where's the bill, Senator?

I had not even heard of Taca Airlines.

MoxieGrrl is winding down her blogging. There's a lot of that going on, I feel it too.

It would probably improve the ratings for the Summer Olympics, too.

Pantone doesn't own me!

Like everywhere else, you can go to jail for crack in Flint, Michigan. Not like everywhere else, the crack involved is from having your pants hang too low.

One of the first bloggers to blogroll PSoTD was Melanie at A Bump in the Beltway. She followed my transition to blogging from the original Political Site of the Day, and just added this blog without request.

The past few months I have not been reading other blogs as much as I used to - I think the anguish between the Obama and Clinton camps bothered me so much that I really reduced my blog reading to avoid the finger pointing - and somehow I missed this news earlier this month:

My friend Melanie Mattson died a few weeks ago. One week from today is her birthday and she would have been 54. (I’ll have a piece of cake for you, Mel.)

An original Daily Kos regular, she was the publisher of Just A Bump in the Beltway, one of the first wave of political blogs. She was also one of the founders of the FluWiki, a comprehensive resource for those studying pandemic flu, and a contributor at Effect Measure.

Melanie will definitely be missed by many bloggers, myself included. She made a difference, and it was recognizable online, and there will be others that will continue the efforts she started. But it's a sorrow that Melanie won't be there to pursue it as well. If there's an afterlife with Bloglines, I hope she realizes how many bloggers were touched by her.

Yeah, I have opinions on almost anything.

Original Productions, Inc., should be getting some serious Emmy consideration. Have you ever tried to turn the channel off of Deadliest Catch? It's remote dropping television.

On the other hand, this must be the absolute crappiest category in all the Emmy Awards:

Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality - Competition Program

Maybe that should be the epitaph for our television society -

American Television
We Actually Felt There Should Be An Honor Called Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality - Competition Program

And finally, I think there's clearly only one choice in the category of

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series

although I have to admit, I haven't seen all the programs listed, anyways. Still, I watch The Office, and there's no way to ignore:

Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute

Yeah, another year that I didn't make it. I do know a couple of people on the list - not well, but on a first name basis - but I have no clue how this list is constructed. What does it even mean?