my mummy 3 review (link)
my pineapple express review (link)
my ufc 87 review (link)
my l’edel de cleron review (link)

Regarding the singer from the Olympic opening ceremony.  Miaoke, a third grader, was judged cute and appealing but “not suitable” as a singer. Another girl, Yang Peiyi, 7, was judged the best singer but not as cute. (link)

On Wednesday, Phelps swam into history as the winningest Olympic athlete ever with his 10th and 11th career gold medals -- and five world records in five events at the Beijing Games. (link)

A map of the countries that don't employ the metric system. (link)

Nanoantennas = future of heat capture?  better than solar cells? (link)

Ceasefire in Georgia/Russia conflict lasted about 12 hours. (link)
"Russia and Georgia are actually friends. People are friends," said the Georgian beach volleyball team leader, Levan Akhtulediani. "But you know, it's not, in the 21st century, to bomb a neighbor country, it's not a good idea."

Why Russia/Georgia now?
The first catalyst was recognition of Kosovo's February declaration of independence by the United States and European powers, an angered Putin is moving to recognize South Ossetia's independence.
A second international catalyst for Russia's offensive in Georgia was a decision at NATO's Bucharest summit in April.  The alliance bowed to Russia and didn't consider Georgia or Ukraine yet, but will consider the possibility in December.  This angered Russia greatly. (link)

The President of Georgia's website is hosted on a server in Atlanta... and it was attacked by Russian hackers (using DDoS botnets). (link)

I've been writing, working and living like a madman as of late.
StevenLong.net got prettied up a bit: here (at least it looks prettier to me)
I've been tracking the newest generation of somewhat premium phones, iPhone 3G vs BlackBerry Bold vs Garmin Nuvifone, on my main blog.

How has everyone been?
Well I hope.

RIP Jared Fogel:
http://jaredremembered.com/

Scooby-Doo = Queensland's most wanted:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23922132-1248,00.html

Steampowered landspeed record to be broken:
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=18771

Apparently Katherine Heigle (sp?) said that she didn't want to be considered for an Emmy as she didn't feel she was given material that would warrant one.
no source.  just saying.

British poll about which is more important age or race (re: our election):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/poll/2008/jun/25/uselections2008.race

School shut down on account of a ninja sighting:
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080625/NEWS/80625053&s=d&page=1

Woman caught speeding 22 times in 45 days by highway camera:
http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/2008/06/24/20080624abrk-speeder0624.html

Synergy: Same agency which claimed WMD in Iraq now claims global warming will increase illegal immigration to U.S.
http://www.tampabays10.com/weather/story.aspx?storyid=83355&catid=3

Creative veto: striking characters to form a $270M budget:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=751861

A very musical best man speech:
http://www.break.com/amp/518347_e4da6d33-2709-4366-ac26-cfcdf8407e71_prod_1.html

Realistic Hollywood Sex Scene:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1820859

Jared isn't dead:
http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/subway.asp

My 80gb iPod video just died.
It'd been a bit quirky starting last week.
And now it's gone.
I'll swing by Best Buy tonight to see if my PRP is still active and will cover it.

Why at the beginning of a shift?

A temporary gallery of pictures I took in DC this past weekend with my new camera:
http://flickr.com/photos/cowdefender/tags/washingtondc2008/

I've finally gotten my big story proofread sufficiently (at least for web posting, when my second book is nearing completion it'll get a thorough proofread again).

The story is called Nora.
It can be read in html or pdf.
I'm very enthusiastic.  I think it is very good (I'm biased).  But I know it is very long and it'll only be read from front to back with some measure of commitment.  If you read for 5 or 10 minutes maybe the commitment won't be a hard thing to do.

Ein Mann lässt sich in der Öffentlichkeit von einer Frau verprügeln, die nur halb so groß und halb so schwer ist. A man can be in the public slog of a woman who is only half as big and half as heavy. Er zieht danach keinen Krummdolch aus dem Mantel sondern freut sich wie ein Schnitzel, dass er es zumindest durchgestanden hat. He then pulls no Krumm dagger from the mantle but is looking forward like a cutlet that he at least durchgestanden. Diese Haltung würde man sich auf den Straßen von Berlin-Neukölln häufiger wünschen. This position would be on the streets of Berlin-Neukölln frequent desire.

Germans are awesome.