When I first heard about Salon back in '95, (Web goes boom) I was like, "Cool! Smart design and well-written commentary. What's not to like?" As I read their stories I saw conservative bashing taken to an art form. David Talbot, a lifelong liberal from San Francisco founded the ezine but could never make a profit. [Careful now, profit is a "bad" word among many liberals.]

Anyway, Salon had financial difficulties from the outset. In March of '01, responding to rumors Salon denied being up for sale. Early '02, despite some "creative" accounting, actual revenue numbers were very weak. Getting to June was no easy task. Today it appears that even Salon believes their end is near.

So, why would I mention this sad story? Because reports lead you to believe that the reason for their failure was that subscribers aren't willing to pay for content. I would counter with, subscribers aren't willing to pay for their content. Big difference. When 70% of their content is designed to put conservatives down, you're turning off a good portion of potential customers. Look at today's lead, written by none other than Mr. Talbot himself... maybe this is his last chance to bash.

Canada exports hate-speech. America reduces their warm blankets quota.

Remember Dana Carvey doing George Micheals on SNL? Well, it's true.

If you're looking for a new job, don't be fooled by some job posters on Monster looking for people to surf porn for $100k and more. Truthfully, I don't think I'd want the personal information of the individuals responding to these kinds of ads. In other news, eBay is great for catching criminals.

Equine over canine? "Sure, you can get a seeing eye horse!"

Serious online gaming network, Butterfly.net, got good news from Sony today. Guess we're one step closer to lag-free utopia. Still no dates though, so don't hyperventilate or anything.

Remember when I posted those pics of the proposed new World Trade Center concepts? Looks like "Shards" is the winner. Long live tall, pointy, sharp things! Yay!

Referees Gone Wild. No that's not a new videotape hawked on late-night TV, it's the state of the nation in the NBA. Finally, the league punishes two refs for their recent lack of impartiality.

Judge Miguel Estrada is hispanic. He is utterly qualified. He was nominated over 500 days ago. And the Democrats have opposed his nomination like he was the devil himself. Now, they've gone where no political party has gone before, they are filibustering a judicial nonimation to a lower court. This has never happened before. Ever.

It is obvious that they are behaving this way for partisan reasons. I thought the Democrats taught us that they were the party for minorities? Also, weren't the Democrats that ones who opposed using a litmus test for Reagan's judicial appointments? This is blatant hypocracy.

Don't stand for it. Contact your Senators.

Are any of you wise to the "powers" of clustered water? It's not super ionized water, so know the difference.

Really getting heavy here lately, but my brain needs a good workout. Heaven knows my work isn't challenging. ;^)

Every so often I come across a situation where I don't immediately know where I stand. Guess that makes me opinionated. Anyway, here's this sitation. A robber (high on cocaine at the time) breaks into a bar that had warning signs saying something to the effect, "Break through this window and you'll die." So the guy does, and he does die. Now the verdict comes back that the wife of the since deceased bar-owner has to pay $75k to the family of the dead robber.

Is that right? Punishment should fit the crime, right? Breaking and Entering hardly deserves death. Does his state of mind make a difference? Or the fact that he was a career criminal? Should the jury have been told? [thanks to MeFi]

We're living in a scary day and age. Fetal tissue research needs aborted babies. If that's the price, then I don't want the cure.

Any of you heard of the MMORPG A Tale in the Desert? Here's the scene: You wander across miles of uninhabited, desolate terrain, searching for water, fighting chapped lips, trying to stay alive, all the while, trying to keep the sand out of your hair and clothes. We all know how well this scenario served The Mummy. *shudder*

Blasting the French dates back hundreds of years.

Did you hear that the French government has banned fireworks at Euro Disney? They are afraid that the sounds of the explosions might cause soldiers at a nearby French army garrison to surrender.

If Dan Rather were a real, red-blooded American, he would have pulled out a gun and shot Saddam and saved us all a ton of grief.

"The names Rather. Dan Rather."
[/music rises with 007 theme]

For all you Marketing wanks out there, the Super Bowl Advertising Research is here! Pepsi Twist (Osbournes) edges Anheuser-Busch (Zebra Ref) for the top spot. PETA demands recount.

The more you dig, the more you unearth. One of the primary court decisions in favor of late-term abortions was Doe vs. Bolton. But if you were to speak with Sandra Cano (Doe), she would tell you that she was tricked into signing an affidavit. This is similar to what lawyer Sarah Weddington did with Norma McCorvey (Roe) in Roe v. Wade. McCorvey was a pawn in the hands of the lawyers using her to further their own goals. In both cases, there was only 1 plantiff listed. And in both cases, that plantiff was duped.

Today, both Cano and McCorvey denounce abortion and are working to expose the pro-abortion lawyers for the devious manipulators they really are. But if you hadn't read it here, would you have learned the truth?

"First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." -William Shakespear

So many times people object to America spending money on national defense. I, preferring (relative) safety to unknown dangers, wonder why. Do you think they'd be upset to find these three mystery ships are carrying weapons of mass destruction?

Synthetic tress could be a "thousand times better than a living tree" at purifying the air. Yeah, but would they drop their synthetic leaves in autumn? No? Where can I buy one?

I came across They Don't Like Us Anymore on a message board last week. See what you think.

Work in Progress is simply brilliant.

Mel Gibson is on the hotseat for making a totally realistic movie about the death of Jesus, all the way down to speaking in Aramaic and Latin. The interviewer asks, "Is it going to upset any Jewish people?" Gibson replied, "It may. It's not meant to. I think it's meant to just tell the truth. I want to be as truthful as possible."

Now the opposition is working to dig up dirt on Gibson and/or his family. Truly pathetic.

In need of some light humor, so let's make fun of Matthew McConaughey saying his house is haunted. As it turns out, I don't find it that funny. In fact, it's not even amusing. Oh well, how about a joke?

Crowd counting is more "art" than science. At least to the morally unscrupulous. Reminds me of, "That depends on what your definition of 'is' is."

HR 4965 was introduced this week to ban partial-birth abortions. Please contact your representatives to support this bill. In my opinion, supporting abortion is simply wrong, supporting partial-birth abortions is abominable.

Went back and checked our old email and found messages from Cookie and Brown wondering where everyone was? If you don't know, send Poison an email and he'll set you up. Brown even sent these pics as incentive. He's a very brave berry because now people everywhere will be Photoshopping his head onto some scary naked dudes.

Heard the term, "slap on the wrist"? Apparently in Germany, you can work towards killing 3,000+ innocents and only get 15 years in prison. And that's the max! I'm sure Mounir will out in 8. Good behavior and all.

Troubled by the way Chirac is acting towards Iraq? I know I was.

Yesterday, Chirac told East Europe to "Shut Up". Not very diplomatic, huh? So it followed that East Europe was pretty much pissed. In fact, that outrage wasn't limited to Europe. Nations around the world who support the war on terrorism, were upset with Chirac's comments. This tells me that there is a lack of unity in the EU. So this is just a European issue, right? Wrong.

All of this isn't news... it's in the Times for goodness sake. But did you know that back in 1974, before each had assumed the top post in their perspective countries, Chirac met Hussein in Iraq and they made oil deals? It was France, with or without their Prime Minister's authority, that built the controversial nuclear reactor near Baghdad (later destroyed by Isreal). Chirac apparently promised to supply uranium enriched to 93% (weapons grade) which his boss later "re-negotiated" down to 3%. Iraq decided to pass.

France was Iraqs' biggest supporter in their war against Iran. Even today, France is one of Iraq's leading trade partners. There is plenty of evidence that France is Iraq's best friend outside the Middle East.

So with Chirac considering Saddam "a personal friend", it's a bit easier to understand why Chirac is behaving the way he is.

You know a game (EQ) is addictive when it's got it's own online support group for the player's relatives. It would be funny if it weren't so tragic. Tough love would say, "Take their computers away. Right?"

How many people knew that France is 10% Muslim? (Apparently, they have more pull than our 50% who want some tax relief.) Chirac seems to believe that France (and Germany) speaks for all of Europe. The reason I was opposed to the E.U. is the same reason I'll be opposed to any suggestions regarding a one-world government. Namely, "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts aboslutely." If France is able to "influence" other European nations out of supporting the U.S. then my case is made.

Sorry I haven't posted anything recently. I've been as busy as a war protester making up new reasons why we shouldn't eradicate Saddam. [sarcasm]

Not that Mike Tyson could ever claim clear thinking, but now he's gone and got a big tattoo... on his face!

For those of you not bombarded with the (drumroll please) Presidents' Day Storm, you may not be aware that there's tons of freakin' ice everywhere. Not that I recommend what the Virginia Gov. did, he made driving illegal.

Not familiar with Strong Bad? He's kinda funny... sometimes.

In case you were wondering, the rules for declaring a jihad rule out declaring one on that lunatic driver who just cut you off on I-64.

Man builds 3-story tree house for less than $2k. Monkeys replace Jehovah's Witnesses.

Kentucky thinks broadband is a right. This coming from a state that's running a pretty hefty budget deficit. Oh those politicians and their promises. God love 'em.

Lenin predicted that liberals and other weak-minded souls in the West could be relied upon to be Useful Idiots for the Soviet Union. Today, many liberals blame America first before looking at the obvious parties.

Kottke has an interesting weblog entry on power laws.

Simplify. That is my mantra. In works across disciplines. Design, eCommerce, and even Branding, as is shown by Google being a more memorable brand than Apple or Coke.

Today Washington County, tomorrow the World!! mwhahaha

In the interests of disclosure, I am announcing that I am--as of 2:30 on Sunday the 9th--the current Vice-Chair of the Republican Party of Washington County. Prepare to be assimilated.

So now France, Germany and Belgium are using their NATO affiliation to try and stop the war with Hussein. This gives further credibility to the claims that Russia, France and (to a lesser degree) Germany are opposed to the war because they have oil interests with Iraq. A war would upset the agreements they already have in place with Hussein's regime. (Syria has their deals too, but they are considered illegal as they don't go through the prescribed UN channels.)

This trade data is in the public domain, so why doesn't popular media talk about it? I think we already know the answer to that.

Don't forget the 2000 Iraq decision to move to the Euro. <sarcasm>I don't think that had anything to do with it. Nah.</sarcasm>

In all seriousness *snicker* I think Cause Celeb is truly *snicker* worthwhile and... *snort* deserving charity. I mean... *giggle* if we don't act, who will? C'mon on now.. Janeane needs our help! Bwwahahhahha

Michael Spencer writes a very interesting article titled, Everybody Hates Us. In it he notes that evangelical Christians are almost universally disliked. Are there good reasons? Yes, there are. And being a Christian, I fall far short in several of these categories and have a great deal of room for improvement. [thanks to MeFi]

Think you can beat Frued in an arm-wrestling content?

There is no way that vote swapping should be legal. But then again, this was a California court that upheld the decision. And we never see them rewrite the Constitution to favor their liberal politics. Right.

From ZDNet comes, Net's no longer a haven from sales taxes. It's not really unfair, yet. Just wait until they try and raise those rates to higher of two states existing rate.

Terry Tate: Office Linebacker It's this "outside the box thinking" that could end our current economic slump. "The pain train is coming!"

eWeek has published it's Top 10 Web App Vulnerabilities. Are you on top of it?

In a related story, perpetrating a fraud isn't so tough. Especially online. So who's the hoaxer? And who's being hoaxed? Unless you're willing to put the time in and do some real research, you may never find out.

As if we didn't have enough to worry about with madman Hussein, now North Korea Reactivates Nuclear Facilities. To quote Seinfeld, "That won't be good. That won't be good for anyone."

#7 Kentucky Dismantles #1 Florida

Kentucky is having a wonderful season and with their defense being as dominant as it is, they have the potential to go a long way in the NCAA Tournament.

So, would you have stopped to help? Whether we would or wouldn't we should. Remember this next time you're driving by the scene of an accident.

Not the big fan of the constant barrage of "forwarded emails" but this one is remarkable. Apparently, there is some Presidential Strangeness going on here. If you don't believe it, you can look it up yourself. (I did.)

More links than you can shade a stick at, and why!

• Internet Archive | Keeping track of the literally untrackable. (+ old CB sites, kinda)
• The Straight Dope | Answers to odd questions, submit your own!
• World Fact Book 2002 | Tons of info about every country, maps too.
• Motivark | All about exciting. Need to find a place to bungee?
• I want one of those.com | Gadgets & gizmos out the wazoo!
• The Archive of Misheard Lyrics | Classic site idea that you knew someone would do.

Unreal II is ready to ship tomorrow (pre-ordered mine), so you might want to check out a Gamers.com review of this upcoming sequel to a classic game.

Nothing says February like a new DVD writer. Don't you agree?