Wednesday, June 05, 2002

Esmé (5) and Jasmine (2) had just sat down to watch Scooby Doo. I asked them "is this the one with the guy, in the disguise, you know, where the gang solves a mystery?" Esmé looked at me as if to respond, thought better of it, stared at me for a few more seconds, then returned to the show. Any bets than in ten years, the response isn't stunned silence, but a simple declaration: "dork." 6:42:53 PM

A front loose tooth has been wiggling around inside Esmé's mouth for about a week. Last night she was showing me how far (45 degree angle) she could push it with her tongue. This e-mail just came from my wife, returning from lunch with the girls: Esmé's tooth came out today as I was checking them back into daycare. We were in the lobby. Henry was there and so was the receptionist. Esmé was very excited. Make like you don't know in case she wants to surprise you! We'll have to discuss the price with the Tooth Fairy. Inflation you know. 2:14:30 PM

From the front page of USA Today: Any way you spin it, music industry in trouble. The $14 billion recording industry, struggling through its first sales slump in a decade, faces challenges on several fronts, not the least of which is a tarnished image in the eyes and ears of fans who feel ripped off by greedy, tone-deaf bean counters. Imagine if book publishing worked the same way as music and television. We could almost certainly shut down all of those libraries, where people are given free reign to download content (images, text, you name it) directly from any number of books into their own brains, without even having to pay for it. Worse, they can also take these books home with them -- at no charge -- where they can "illicitly download" more material, or even share the book with family or friends. Perhaps a simple literacy tax could be implemented to help right these wrongs, and to return some much-needed profit margins back to the publishing industry. As the quote from Alan Light (former editor of Spin) near the end of the article clearly states: The obligation of a multimedia corporation is to generate money for stockholders, not to make the best records, and it's naive to pretend otherwise. Hurm. 12:27:01 PM

Perhaps one of the greatest movies of all time (as defined by the double-digit number of viewings) just came up in a conversation with a co-worker. Random conversation about cooking popcorn in a small office led to the memory of laser redirection and a giant Jiffy-Pop. And, as luck would have it, it's being released on DVD next Tuesday. 11:54:21 AM

Perhaps no development has so consumed the nation as the torn knee ligament suffered by defensive midfielder Chris Armas in a recent game against Uruguay. The day after it happened, newspapers splattered the story across their front pages, with angst-driven headlines such as "Rain Expected Across Midwest," and "Lost Girl, 15, Found in Truck Stop." Heh. Thanks to Mark for the pointer to SatireWire. 11:40:21 AM

Also courtesy of daypop, here's an op-ed piece by Nicholas D. Kristof, discussing a loophole where instant background checks are not required when purchasing a gun from an unlicensed dealer at a gun show. I found three other recent examples of people with terrorist connections - an Irishman and two Pakistanis - also shopping for weapons at American gun shows. Of course this isn't primarily an issue of international terrorism, but rather an urgent public health crisis: guns kill one American every 20 minutes. Even since Sept. 10, six times as many Americans have died from guns as from international terrorism. 10:35:00 AM

The U.S. doesn't get throttled at the World Cup. Indeed. They stun Portugal 3-2. 10:08:10 AM

Speaking of those beloved Twinkies (local sports teams always have to be "beloved"), this story about deep-fried desserts has been moving up daypop. 9:04:33 AM

Twins stomp Cleveland 23-2. Suppose it's better to give than receive when it comes to a twenty-one point blowout. 6:40:29 AM