Slide with confidence, young sir

Figures that this story would zip across my personal radar within a few hours of finishing my copyright exam. I now know exactly which Title 17 subsections I'd pull up to shield Google from the litigious monster that is... the creator of the electric slide.

Three remaining.

What it takes to make Michael Stipe smile

Muppets, apparently. Following comments on the prior post, I am compelled to share this. And why not, smile that is.



(The muppet stand-in for Kate Pierson cracks me up, along with the fact that she lip-syncs better than Mike Mills.)

Saturday Flotsam

Something I've been wondering about criminal law: If the accused claims at trial that his dog told to him do it, is that the same as pleading yzarc?

And as for what is scary: This is scary. You'll want to enlarge the second picture.

3 Syndromes of Spider-Man 3

Sorry if there are spoilers here, if you're sensitive to that kind of thing.

Death of Superman/Doomsday Syndrome -- (from comics) Need a specific villain in a hurry? Have one pop out of the Earth or fall from the sky. 20 feet away, say, in a park. Explanations are for tossers.

Superman III Syndrome -- (from the movie, comics versions are too numerous to mention) Irrational belief that any plot where the good guy goes evil is self-justifying. (Questionable at best.)

Batman & Robin Syndrome -- (from the movie) In place of a coherent plot, fill the movie with bad guys, good guys, minor players, any characters that come from the comics you can find a place for; more can only be better. (There are two corollaries: (a) If the costume has plastic exterior nipples, leave. Leave now. And (b) any Joel Schumacher movie is near-guaranteed to suck.)


Spider-Man 3 has an off-chance of inspiring its own syndrome, one where the good guy goes bad plot culminates with vengeful jazz dancing, but applications appear limited.

How should I feel about this?

Beware the Canadian nanotech spy coin!

My reaction is bifurcated. On one hand, I feel reassured that U.S. defense is just that vigilant (read: paranoid). On the other hand, I feel ashamed that U.S. currency is so far behind the rest of the world that something like color is strange... and confusing... to us. We don't understand this peculiar quarter -- might it be from another world?

Any article that so effortlessly includes numismatist gets props in my book.

A Morning Commute Note

The best thing about the Buick was not the fact that the wooden plank crudely bolted in place of a rear bumper was too wide, protruding noticeably on either side. The best thing was the fact that a license plate was screwed into the wooden plank, perfectly centered.

I admit this point is debatable. That the Buick had that extra bit of sporty lift and rims may reasonably be viewed as remarkable.

Reality Beats Down Dan Brown

This is just neat.

(Thanks to this individual for the link.)