Life of Smiley

The Crusade Against Religion It's an interesting article on atheism; If you don't have time to read all eight pages, here are a few choice excerpts: At dinner parties or over drinks, I ask people to declare themselves. "Who here is an atheist?" I ask. Usually, the first response is silence, accompanied by glances all around in the hope that somebody else will speak first. Then, after a moment, somebody does, almost always a man, almost always with a defiant smile and a tone of enthusiasm. He says happily, "I am!" But it is the next comment that is telling. Somebody turns to him and says: "You would be." "Why?" "Because you enjoy pissing people off." "Well, that's true." This type of conversation takes place not in central Ohio, where I was born, or in Utah, where I was a teenager, but on the West Coast, among technical and scientific people, possibly the social group that is least likely among all Americans to be r...

Weird Al's still got it. It being the weirdness.

Only integrity is revealed He has already sat down with his 6-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son and explained that their daddy might be going to jail. This is the part that cuts hardest at San Francisco Chronicle reporter Mark Fainaru-Wada, but he has pledged to endure it to preserve the integrity of his work. "Yes, the family issue clearly has been the most difficult part of all of this," said Fainaru-Wada, who along with fellow Chronicle reporter Lance Williams faces up to 18 months in jail for refusing to give up the sources that leaked them grand jury testimony in the Barry Bonds/BALCO case, information they used to write some of the most significant stories the sport has ever seen and the best-selling book "Game of Shadows." "My wife and I did sit down with the kids," said Fainaru-Wada. "It was a very difficult conversation. We just tried to tell them that I made a promise that I felt was really important to keep and that I might have to go to...

Just in case you're still wondering whatever happened to Saturday Night Live, look no further than the opening credits. Did you ever notice how they would list the regular cast members and then say "featuring" before listing the rookies? That's because those rookies had yet to prove that they could contribute to making the show funny on a regular basis. On Saturday night there was no list of "featured" cast members. That's not because they've all proven themselves. With the possible exceptions of Darrell Hammond and Amy Poehler, none of them has. Here's the Comcast cable guide entry: "Dane Cook; the Killers", (2006), Dane Cook hosts and the Killers perform as the 32nd season premieres. Cast members include Darrell Hammond, Maya Rudolph, Seth Meyers, Amy Phoehler, Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Kenan Thompson, Jason Sudeikis, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig (Comedy). The original SNL cast called themselves the "Not Ready ...