Random Thought of the Day
Do typesetters have reggae music?

"I set the serif /
But I did not set the ogonek!"

I guess it's for the best if they don't.

This is Good Writing How?
I admit that I come from a bit of a backwater state - West Virginia's largest city, after all, hovers around 51,000 people in terms of residency. The second-largest city is effectively the same size.

But we have a newspaper that prides itself on being of a high quality, one that provides hard-hitting journalism and quality stories. Actually, we have two daily papers, which is more than I can say for St. Louis.

This morning, I was reading the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, half of which (the Post part) was founded by Joseph Pulitzer, the same guy who created the Pulitzer Prizes for journalism. I would expect his paper to be full of the same sort of journalism and quality that the Charleston Gazette and Daily Mail pride themselves on.

Instead, I get a story about geese in a suburban St. Louis city.
"Owl decoys proved ineffective. They were erected in Ballwin's Vlasis Park to terrify the Canada geese, but the geese were undeceived and ignored the decoys or pooped on them sociably."

And that's not the end, either. It's as if the word "poop" has become THE word to replace feces, or defecant, or anything else. But I can't see Snoop Dogg replacing his beloved "shiznit" with "pizzoop," because among other things, it sounds even dumber, if that's possible.

Wicky word.

Movie Review: Batman Begins
See.

This.

Movie.

Chinese Government: Emphysema is Awesome!
China, unlike the US, doesn't have separate companies for marketing tobacco products - they have a state-owned monopoly company that provides 99 out of every 100 cigarettes sold in the country. That means, of course, that the government can't sue the company to release documents relating to, say, marketing efforts to kids; it also means that the government isn't likely to allow the company's sales to suffer.

So when it comes to, say, cancer or other lung diseases, hypertension, premature wrinkles, and the like, the Chinese government's own company denies that any of them are linked to cancer.

Listen to this:
"Cigarettes prevent ulcers."
"Cigarettes reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease, relieve the symptoms of schizophrenia, and boost your brain activity."
"You are more likely to get cancer from cooking than smoking."

All of these are statements that have come out of the company's mouthpieces at one time or another, in the last year. All of them are intended for marketing their product. And last I checked, all of them were false everywhere but China. Perhaps they have some sort of magic cigarette?

Two-thirds of Chinese men smoke, and of those, 90% believe that cigarette smoking has little to no effect on their health. Few Chinese doctors are aware that cigarette-related illnesses will be the death of 33% of Chinese patients in the future. All in all, there are 360 million active smokers in China, which is 20% more than the entire population of the United States.

I can't believe anyone would ever worry about the Chinese taking over the world. At this rate, they won't live long enough.

Michael Jackson Found Freakish!
Did you know that so many people were updating their livejournals right after the MJ verdict, that it took me an average of 2 minutes per journal just to LOAD them? Seriously, I timed it.

People, get a grip. He's an aging pop star with a greedy brother, no sense of self-responsibility, and his own freaking giraffe. He's like Mike Tyson, except without the tattoos.

Performing Arts Quote of the Week
"I can't believe Hugh Jackman is such a pussy!"
-Kirsten

Because Everyone Else Hasn't Posted it First

PostSecret

Criminy!
So, the livejournal community has some sort of ...well, for lack of a better word, community-type feel to it. Like people on livejournal know one another, or something. I guess I know a few Blogspot posters, but it doesn't seem to be the same. Maybe it's because I'm not a keep-in-touch kind of guy (Berney, Liz, Chris, Adam, Ryan, Samarth, Antonio, Neal, Travis, Samit, Kristen, Mark, Julie, Jason, Bubba, Mom, Dad, Cousin Steve, Rich...you guys all know this. No offense, I'm just lazy).

So Kirsten gets to do all these cool livejournal-based quizzes and questionaires and what not, that I guess aren't really cool so much as they help to maintain relationships over long distances. Which is nice, really.

And nevermind that I do have my own livejournal, but I never get invited to do these things.

Until today.

So, without further ado, I'm joining the world of active friendships. Or something.

---

Not because you have to, but because you WANT to! Things you enjoy, even when no one around you wants to go out and play. What lowers your stress/blood pressure/anxiety level? Make a list, post it to your journal... and then tag 5 friends and ask them to post it to theirs.

Stuff:
-Golfing: even when it's bad, it's still better than laying around the house
-Lifting weights: because I want to be big and strong and impress all of the ladies and the what-not </Ahhhhnold>
-Watching baseball; if David Wells can make it big, any fat bastard can.
-Playing dorky video games.
-Rubbing on the cats.

By the way - I ain't taggin' nobody. Beeeeyatch.