"Faced with increasing pressure to resign his post, Tom DeLay prepares to address Congress..." 

Apropos of nothing save my continuing reluctance to grade the first draft term papers on my desk...

...but can someone please take a picture of the new pope that doesn't look like he's about to teach Anakin Skywalker about the advantages to the Dark Side of the Force?

Господи, дура такая... (Christ, what an idiot).

Condi's got a Ph.D. in Russian Studies. So do I. So does C. Franz. None of us are qualified to be Secretary of State, but at least Franz and I know the difference between "da" and "nyet".

Complaining about the cases? Lord, that's the sort of sh*t I heard when I was a TA in RUS 101. And there are only six; be thankful you didn't study Estonian...

Doesn't anyone ever get tired of our representatives abroad acting like children who found their parents' old clothes in the attic?

Oh, there's a Kos diary on this...

CHARGE THE MOUND! CHARGE THE MOUND!

OK, a bit childish for me to wish this, we don't need to inject politics into something as innocuous as the first pitch of the Nationals game.

And Bush was busy looking busy while using taxpayer money to get perks for the Texas Rangers, so I'm guessing that he's been around enough baseball diamonds to know that those white lines aren't made of cocaine and he shouldn't snort them.

Though you'd think he would know not to pick his nose at a televised game.

I've been out of the baseball loop for a while, but I have been doing some Mets blogging this year.

Best. Post. Ever.

That's my brother for you...

YOU HAVE 20 SECONDS TO COMPLY!

About goddamn time someone decided to deal with the pressing need for home security robots. But only 15 inches tall? I hope they pack some mean firepower, I'd personally prefer the plasma gun, but would settle for laser beam eyes.

Hope they're not as easy to pick off as Trade Federation droids. Hell, even Empire Stormtroopers can defeat them...

After so many geeky references in one post, I'll go off to the corner and hate myself now...

Just in case you were wondering (and even if you weren't)...

I took advantage of our local music store's liberal "try before you buy" policy to listen to this album...and the singer wasn't suffering from a cold. The band replicated their sound pretty accurately onstage...they just stink.

Just so you know.

Maybe I'm missing the point of opening acts...

I thought the whole point was to excite the crowd and get them psyched for the main attraction, just as when the fantabulous Corn Mo left the crowd at Starr Hill breathless, only to be followed by an even better show from They Might Be Giants. But after witnessing the sorrowful performance of Blonde Redhead, Mrs. Nevskaia and I were tortured for at what seemed like hours as Andy Waldeck cooled down the crowd watching and waiting for David Lowery and Johnny Hickman, billed as "Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker Unplugged". Mr. Waldeck's first song, "Infidel", was a pretty decent folk song I must admit, but the next 83 wore on the nerves. I was a bit annoyed by Waldeck's INSISTENCE we listen to a song under the pretext that the uninteresting first line was clever; if you can't maintain our interest that's hardly our fault (and that line wasn't funny at all). By the time we got to Johnny Hickman's solo set (panned in the comments by the irrepressibleC.Franz) we were thankful for a little bit of energy and humor, esp. since it was 10:30 and we were sitting in the Music Hall for 2 hours...

Though that's partly my fault, because I can never figure out the goddamn Time Doors Open to Main Attraction formula...

"Fortunately, I'm a master of disguise, so my research could continue..."