The Great Middle Earth Meltdown

Every Tuesday morning I look forward to a review of the previous night's episode of "24." The Right Wing Nut House pulls no punches in criticizing some of the characters such as President Jellyfish [President Logan] and the Fat Hobbitt [Lynn McDill]. One of the more interesting stats is the weekly body count!

Read more at rightwingnuthouse.com/a...

Funny Bode Miller line

The Chicago Tribune's Rick Telander on Bode Miller saying that his Olympic experience had been "...an awesome two weeks":

If he had an awesome Olympics, then France had an awesome World War II.

Technorati tags: Winter Olympics

World War I draft registration cards

Thanks to a tip from a distant relative in the Czech Republic, I became aware of a free offer from Ancestry.com where you can obtain copies of World War I draft registration cards. The free offer runs through the end of February and is available at: http://www.researchguides.net/free.htm.

I found the above draft registration card of my grandfather, Edward Kostal. The card dates from 1917. Interestingly, there were three Edward Kostals available for the draft that year -- two from Nebraska. I wonder if they ever met.

Technorati tags: Kostal, Genealogy

I'm trying as best as I can

As much as I want to, I just cannot get into the Winter Olympics this year. Maybe it's the 7-hour time difference between Turin and Chicago. Maybe it's just lack of interest. Maybe also it's because the U.S. team isn't doing as well as they hoped. Seems like I know the outcome of the event before they are televised in the United Stattes. With Internet access and sports radio, it's a battle to be kept in the dark as far as the outcomes are concerned.

Is anyone else having trouble getting into the mood this year?

Technorati tags: Winter Olympics

The Cheney situation

I have intentionally not commented on the fallout over Vice President Cheney's wounding of a fellow hunter while shooting quail last Saturday. I know the late-night comics are having a field day over this...as well they should. The best line I’ve heard so far is that the shooting “…is the worst shot from anyone from the White House since Clinton hit Monica’s dress.” -- comic Alex Kaseberg.

I'm troubled that the person he shot now has more serious medical issues having suffered a minor heart attack. I'm more troubled by the delay in reporting the news to the public. The shooting took place on Saturday and was not reported until sometime Sunday afternoon. Obviously the damage control team was called in to craft the message sent to the media. Now I hear that the local small-town newspaper was the first to get the story.

Hunting accidents, unfortunately, are not rare occurrences. These things happen. Public officials should be quick to admit when things go bad. As a Republican, it's really getting harder and harder to defend these guys.

'Chief' out of office until April

ABC's Commander in Chief is one of the few new TV shows that I watch. With The West Wing scheduled to end its run this spring, CIC will be one of the few political shows worth watching.

Read more here.

Yahoo! Photos updated

I'm a big fan of Flickr -- the photo-sharing site that's one of the most popular community sites on the web. I joined a year ago and recently upgraded my membership. Yes, I actually paid money! In 2004, Yahoo! bought Flickr and both companies have benefited from the partnership. Flickr got needed investment and an expanded network; Yahoo! got access to the new "Web 2.0" technology.

Now comes word that Yahoo's photo site -- Yahoo! Photos -- is undergoing a Flickr-like transition and will be upgraded sometime this spring. As this article mentions, Flickr gets the press and about 2 million monthly visitors while Yahoo! Photos quietly gets 30 million monthly visitors! Yahoo! Photos and Flickr will continue to share access to Target stores for photo printing, something I've used in the past and heartily recommend.

GoDaddy's steamy car wash commercial

Although GoDaddy ran two ads during tonight's Super Bowl, this commercial was turned down by ABC and the NFL. Can't imagine why!

GoDaddy's Steamy Car Wash - Denied



Courtesy of IFILM

Super Bowl commercial - FedEx: Caveman

I fortunately missed the Super Bowl pre-game so I missed a few of the commercials. Of the commercials I did see during the game, I think this FedEx commercial was my favorite.

FedEx: Caveman
Sending packages today is so much easier than it was during the Paleozoic era.


Courtesy of IFILM

French AIDS public service announcement

French AIDS PSA
Apparently, they do PSAs a little differently in France. This one's a music video about safe sex.


Courtesy of IFILM

Easy like Sunday morning

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. The week of non-stop hype is nearly over. I enjoy both pro and college football (go Huskers!), but I'm ready for the season to end.

I'm picking Pittsburgh to win today's game. Just a hunch.

I'm writing this early in the morning and the house is still quiet. It's just me and the dogs who are up right now. They've already eaten and I just made a fresh pot of coffee and am sitting at the computer perusing news stories, checking Flickr images and adding to this blog.

This is my favorite part of the weekend -- just me and my friends enjoying some quiet bonding time.

"Pitchers and catchers report"

My four favorite words!

Twelve more days to go.

Thank God!