How to Make a Happy Friar :

Promise him more Iron Man, with Robert Downey, Jr., and Jon Favreau.

The Moon Around the Rings...

Some pretty neat photos of Saturn's moon Enceladus, taken by the Cassini spacecraft, are here.

#6 and #21 are the eye-poppers for me.

It's Over!

Weren't you waiting breathlessly to know what Jamaican-born Grace Jones told a German magazine about the U.S. presidential election?

Wait no longer.

You Keep Using That Word...

In an appearance in Mountain View, California, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi answered some questions and said some things, like this:

Elect us, hold us accountable, and make a judgment and then go from there. But I do tell you that if the Democrats win, and have substantial majorities, Congress of the United States will be more bipartisan.

Now, you should vote for who you want to vote for, and I have no doubt that a lot of people on all sides have thought about the issues and made up their minds and are going to make sincere and thoughtful choices in the upcoming elections.

No matter how you vote though, you won't achieve Speaker Pelosi's scenario, in which she envisions that an increased majority for a politicial party -- in this case, hers -- will make for increased bipartisanship. It fails the Webster test, by which I mean that increased majorities lead to less diversity, not more, and make their constituent bodies less bipartisan, not more.

But Speaker Pelosi has joined with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in creating the only governmental unit in the country with approval ratings lower than President Bush's, so maybe proper word use is an area where we should grade her on a curve.

(H/T The Anchoress)

Huh? (Part 40)

Wouldn't you want your therapist to have paid for her college tuition this way? I mean, there'd be no question she'd be able to diagnose that you were messed up.

But I'd be a little less confident in her ability to help you figure out how to handle it...

You're doing it wrong...

Makers of the new movie The Secret Life of Bees have a website that has film clips and such to talk about the movie's spiritual meanings and messages. E-mails from several marketing groups that target religious folks have gone out to Christian pastors and church leaders, directing them to this site. It even includes a 6-page study guide to help the movie's watchers explore its religious dimension.

But the Bible study guide leaves something out. It doesn't have any Bible verses in it.

Ah'm a Superrrrr-Herro, Laddie!

Yes, many years in an office being around this stuff have overexposed me to radiation and given me super-human abilities! I shall fight crime and evil-doers wherever they may be found!

Dinna make me bust out me Death Brogue, ye villain!