Life of Smiley

The Supreme Court melts down over greenhouse gasses. Scalia observes that there is a difference between an "air pollutant" and a "stratospheric pollutant." Milkey interrupts: "Respectfully, Your Honor. It is not the stratosphere. It's the troposphere." Scalia shoots back that he's not a scientist, laughing, "That's why I don't want to have to deal with global warming, to tell you the truth." Nice. Dude, you have nine children ! I looked it up.

Unfortunately, not enough other people like The Nine . What the hell else are people doing Wednesday night at 10? If you're having sex or reading a book, that's cool, but if you've been watching something other than the Nine I want to talk to you. Oh, apparently you're watching CSI:NY, currently rated #9 (ouch). Well, I guess that's okay. I like Gary Sinise, I've just never gotten into that show. The writing on all those CSIs is pedestrian at best. You know what's really unforgiveable? CSI:Miami is #2! Unless 18.5 million of you are watching for the unintentional comedy of David Caruso's "I'm not a good actor but it's okay because I'm aware of it" performance, you're all on notice. (I know I don't have 18.5 million readers but it's okay because I'm aware of it.) The same thing happened with Over There last season. A timely, well-written and -acted drama about the war in Iraq, it was cancelled after one seas...

What do you do if you're the world's worst director? You challenge your critics to a boxing match . How Uwe Boll fulfilled every filmmaker's deepest fantasy.

Oh, look who's suddenly back in the news ! I guess we're "lucky" to have even this low-quality video record of the event, but I wish it were better. I think the patrons showed remarkable restraint. In a different part of town I'm not sure Kramer would have made it out of there in one piece. They say no publicity is bad publicity. In Richards' case, I don't see how this helps but I guess it couldn't hurt. In Gibsons's case, I think he just confirmed that he wasn't acting crazy in those Lethal Weapon movies. They also say these things come in threes. Or at least that's what the radio DJ said this morning on my way to work. Anyone care to predict who will be next? "That's hot"

With giant Saturn hanging in the blackness and sheltering Cassini from the sun's blinding glare, the spacecraft viewed the rings as never before, revealing previously unknown faint rings and even glimpsing its home world. This marvelous panoramic view was created by combining a total of 165 images taken by the Cassini wide-angle camera over nearly three hours on Sept. 15, 2006. The full mosaic consists of three rows of nine wide-angle camera footprints; only a portion of the full mosaic is shown here. Color in the view was created by digitally compositing ultraviolet, infrared and clear filter images and was then adjusted to resemble natural color. The mosaic images were acquired as the spacecraft drifted in the darkness of Saturn's shadow for about 12 hours, allowing a multitude of unique observations of the microscopic particles that compose Saturn's faint rings. The narrowly confined G ring is easily seen here, outside the bright main rings. Encircling the entire system ...

So...why don't I have to show identification to vote? I could walk in there with a phone book at 7 am and cast a dozen ballots easily. There's no line. Not that I would, but I could. It's such an obvious loophole that could be so easily fixed, I don't understand why it exists. I'm a six-year-old. Explain.

It has been brought to my attention that, for better or worse, the most important issue to me in this election may just be Ballot Question 1 , concerning the sale of wine in grocery stores. The Prizblog invokes the classic argument about the benefits of a free market economy in lobbying for a Yes vote. The Bomber raises a more practical concern as reason to vote No. But as I visited my neighborhood liquor store today to stock up before the games, a third argument occurred to me. Today's loss leader was Bud and Bud Light 30-packs for $19.99. A tempting offer, but there was never a real chance I would be swayed from my old standby Miller Lite. And yet, as I pondered just how much more I would be willing to pay for my preferred brand of cheap domestic beer, I began to wonder about the economic repercussions of voting Yes on 1. Suppose this legislation passes and more grocery stores begin selling wine. The expectation is that they will be able to sell it for less, forcing liq...