The debate results are in, though they’re not surprising: Bush is a doofus and Gore’s a jerk.

The inventor of Sea Monkeys and X-Ray Specs (as well as 191 other things) was born Harold Nathan Braunhut in a New York Jewish family. At some point, he changed his name to the more German-sounding Harold von Braunhut, though his close friends knew him as Hendrik von Braun. He hung out with his friends (including the recently poor Richard Butler) posing in front of Nazi flags, lighting burning crosses, and writing newsletters that advocated a society where Blacks were forced to make leather sporting goods out of Jewish skin. Braunhut has lost several Sea Monkey distributors because of his activities, but the current distributors (who have managed to reignite sales) would rather not think about it. I learned all this via The Sea Monkeys and the White Supremacist -- a wonderful piece in this week’s LA Times magazine. The best quote from Braunhut: Sea Monkeys will remain naked until “fish wear pants”.

The drug war claimed another high profile victim today. The sheriff of Coffee County, Georgia, was indicted yesterday on charges of conspiracy to grow marijuana. Today, as federal and state agents arrived at his home to arrest him, the sheriff shot himself. This hasn’t made the news yet, so I’ll have to add a link when the wires pick this up.

Three wishes, in no particular order:

• That the refrain to the Baha Men’s smash hit single Who Let the Dogs Out (Woof Woof Woof) wasn’t so catchy.
• That the mascot for the University of Georgia wasn’t the bulldog.
• That I could reasonably expect to tune in to NPR and not have the song played at me. I realize thay consider all things, but upon further consideration, they should have left that out. I’d rather go back to The Grand Old Duke of York, thank you very much.

I saw Man or Astroman? playing at the fabulous 40 Watt Thursday night. It’s very hard to describe this band, but the local paper gave it a try.

The verdict is in, and the Virgin Connect Webplayer, received for free, wasn’t worth my time. Don’t bother with this one. The software is old (early version 4.x browser) and can’t view much beyond standard HTML files. Even txt files give an error. It would’t ever work with Blogger (though recent evidence points to a Blogger problem). I’m trying to return the player (so I’m not charged $400), but I’ve been on hold with the customer service center for over an hour. It’s a toll call. Heads will roll.

Ignore your teeth, and they’ll go away! Dental-Hygiene Tips from The Onion.

While getting to know RedCricket a little better, I found the camtoons. Very clever!

_Ode on a TiVO (With apologies to Keats)

Watched TV shows are sweet, but those unknown
     Are sweeter; so, ye TiVO, record on;
Not on plastic tape, but, with 0 and 1,
     capture the shows I’d like when I am gone:
Fair youth, upon my set, thou canst not leave
     Thy post, for if I were to get a call;
          while watching, never, never willst I miss,
a winning field goal–oh, I would grieve;
     you can pause live TV–oh joy! oh bliss!,
          and instant replay! Oh, you have it all!

Ah, happy, happy days! When “nothing’s on”,
     Your suggestions shows to me that that’s not so;
You are watching, when my TV’s not on,
     For show’s I’d like. You’re smart, that’s how you know;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
     For all season a show should be enjoy’d,
          But the networks move, or delay, and hide;
My VCR would miss. I’m now above
     Their tricks. My own network! I’m not annoyed,
          I have control. I am in charge. The pride!_

That little ditty just won me a free TiVO player. I spent a bit of time on my entry, but it turns out that I needn’t have bothered. They’re giving them away to nearly everyone that enters the contest. It appears they’ve got excess inventory of older models, and rather than dump them on the market, they’re having a contest (and thus get to deduct their cost as marketing expense). The rules say they’re giving away 10 players a day, but don’t you believe it. The catch? It costs $10 a month to subscribe to the service that drives the player. It looks like it’ll be worth it, though. And if you don’t want to settle for an old 14 hour player, don’t despair. Hack it into a 50+ hour player.

What I didn’t learn while obtaining my degree in astrophysics: Phaeton the Lost Planet -- An Astronomer’s Account of the Missing Planet Between Mars and Jupiter as Interpreted from Observations Made Within a Biblical Context