- Haven't posted since April 23rd, easily my biggest drought. Several reasons why...

Been extremely busy with school. The fall semester is now over, and since I have five weeks of free-time, I should start posting more often.

I had been unmotivated to post anything because three of my most passionate interests have disintegrated: Michigan football, republican politics and Star Wars.

My friends and I discovered facebook. A vast majority of people who read this website are my friends, so it's easier to express my ideas and get a quicker response using facebook. However, facebook status updates can only be so big. Sometimes I want to ramble on endlessly!

Something else has recently motivated me to post more often, and it's quite noticeable on the right side of this page: an advertisement! I should have been doing this years ago. Google has an adsense program built in to blogger.com (the website I use to write these updates.) I doubt I can make more than a few dollars a year using this advertising, but as the Joker once said, if you are good at something, never do it for free.

- I am a technology junkie, and an anti-Apple soldier. I have never cared for Steve Jobs and his products, nor do I think I ever will. I have yet to own a touchscreen phone mainly due to my backlash against the iPhone. Google is releasing a new touchscreen phone on January 5th. It's called the NexusOne, and if there is a phone that will be the legendary "iPhone killer", then this is the phone. The specs for the phone are off the charts, but what interests me most about this phone is that it uses the Google Android operating system. This OS is completely open-source. That means anyone can do anything they like to the OS. I can hack the hell out of it, even re-code and re-compile it. Here is a website devoted to following the new Nexus One Google phone:

http://www.nexusoneblog.com/

- Fantasy football ends this Monday. I will finish third or fourth in one league, fifth or sixth in my other league. I had blast with both of my fantasy football leagues this year. FF really does make pro football more interesting to watch on a weekly basis. I have about a dozen websites I read everyday for my fantasy football information, but I found one recently that really jumped out at me. The following website conglomerates the weekly rankings of several other fantasy football websites into one ranking. Very useful information for fantasy football fans:

http://www.fantasyfootballnerd.com/

- I need a new pair of sneakers. I have found a few pairs that I like, and my parents are buying me a pair for Christmas, but I just cannot find the sneakers I truly want. The following photo are the sneakers I really want:

- These shoes are men's Nike Xccelerator TR, blue/grey/yellow, size 8.5 US, model number: 602147-403. Nike stopped manufacturing them about three years ago. They are virtually impossible to find! I have looked everywhere (internet, stores, ebay, etc.) I can find this style, and I can find the correct size, what I cannot find is this color. If you can find this shoe with this color, size 8.5 US, in a store or on the net IN STOCK, I will owe you forever!

- For the first time in my life I have become dependent on a to-do list (or task list.) I simply can no longer keep everything I need to do on a daily basis all in my brain. Right now I am using google tasks to write my task lists. This list shows up on my web browser homepage, so I am being constantly reminded of what I need to do next. If I get that Nexus One phone I mentioned earlier, then I can sync my task list from my computer to the phone:

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/tasks/

- Have I previously written about Kyle Smith? If so, I apologize. He is a conservative film critic for the New York Post. I enjoy reading his stuff. Give him a try:

http://kylesmithonline.com/

- Better off Ted. The TV show itself is much better than the name of the show. Very quirky, lots of snappy dialogue, and interesting story lines. I recommend watching it, but you better hurry, it will probably get canceled soon: Find it on ABC Tuesday nights:

http://blogcritics.org/video/article/better-off-with-ted-than-without/page-2/

- I took a cruise to Mexico a few months ago. Had a great time. During one of our stops, I drank a Mexican coca-cola. I couldnt believe how good the soda tasted! In Mexico (and many other countries) they still use sugar in the soda instead of the high-fructose corn syrup we use in the states. Mexican coke has a cleaner taste and with absolutely no after-taste.

So, being a rather curious kind of fellow, when I got back to the states, not only did I find some mexican coke at my local Sams Club (costs about twice as much as regular coke), but I did some research on why the American soda companies (mainly Coca-Cola) no longer use sugar in their soda. Remember the New Coke product introduced by Coca-Cola in the early 1980s? Everyone hated it, and Coca-Cola reverted back to their old Coke...kind of. Well, it turns out that the failure of New Coke was actually a boon to Coca-Cola. New Coke was one of the first soda products to use high-fructose corn syrup. Corn syrup tastes similar to sugar, but it is easier to produce, easier to transport, and doesnt fill you up like sugar does. Coca-Cola pulled New Coke off the shelves after the uproar, but put Old Coke back on the shelves with corn-syrup in it, instead of sugar! Anyways, if you cant find some of the mexican coke at your local grocery store, here is a website that sells it:
http://www.retrosoda.com/cola.html


- I was watching some clips on youtube of Bill Cosby's standup (his rift on boozing is positively brilliant) and some of the voices he uses reminded me that Cosby was the person who created The Fat Albert Show. Not only did he create it, he hosted each show, and did the voices for many of the characters. Remember Russell and lil Bill from the Fat Albert Show? Lil Bill is of course based on Bill Cosby, and Russell is based on Cosby's real-life brother Russell. However, lets not give Cosby too much credit for Fat Albert. He didnt write the shows, and he was only available to record the character dialog a few times each year.

Cosby intentionally did not let the writers harp about race-problems in America. He wanted the show to be more universal and appeal to all children. When I watched the show, I didnt see a bunch of black kids from the inner city having problems. I saw kids just like me. In fact, when I first started watching Fat Albert, I thought it was set in Detroit! (It was actually set in Philadelphia, where Cosby grew-up.) I wanted to hang-out with the Fat Albert gang. They seemed like fun. I think the Fat Albert show is further proof that race-relations in America were at their best during the 1970s and 1980s. Here is a wonderful website all about the history of the Fat Albert show:
http://www.tvparty.com/satfat.html


- It's amazing how timely the TV show South Park can be. Last night's show made a reference to Susan Boyle (the English American Idol celebrity), and she only hit the mainstream news a few days ago. An episode of South Park back in November 2008 parodied Obama's presidential victory, and the episode was released the day after Obama won. That particular episode used part of Obama's victory speech! That means they put Obama's speech into the South park episode only hours after Obama gave the speech. Most cartoon shows take months to create. How does South Park create their shows so quickly? Follow the link to find out:
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2009/03/stone-unveils-s.html


- Are lefties better at sports?
http://health.howstuffworks.com/left-handed-sports.htm


-Top ten modern mysteries:
http://www.askmen.com/top_10/entertainment_300/313_top_10_list.html


- Eight brilliant scientific mess-ups:
http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/23600.html


- Religious trends in the U.S, as reported by the Architect, Karl Rove:
Religious trends


- Seven ways to fool your senses:
http://www.newscientist.com/special/tactile-illusions


- Have you ever looked a map that uses different colors for countries, states, counties etc, and noticed that you could color every territory on the map, without any territory of a particular color touching another territory with the same color, by only using four colors? This is called the four-color paradox. It's fun puzzle problem for computer scientists:
Four color problem


-The following statistical evidence blew my mind! Did you know that in an average NCAA men's basketball game, at half-time if one of the teams is down by a single point, that team has a slightly better chance of winning the game than the team with the lead? How can this be!?!? Dont you always want the lead at half-time? Logic dictates that having the lead at any point in a game naturally increases your chances of winning. Read this link for proof otherwise:
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/when-losing-leads-to-winning/


- Ten literary one-hit wonders:
One hit wonders


- Do you know who Lance Henriksen is? I am sure you have seen him in a movie or TV show. He is a small-time actor who somehow wiggled his way into many of the greatest movies ever made, often without even having a speaking part. Here is a partial list of the movies Lance had a part in:
1. Dog Day Afternoon
2. Network
3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
4. The Right Stuff
5. The Terminator
6. Aliens

John Ratzenberger (the mailman from Cheers) is cut from the same cloth. He also has made small appearances in some amazing movies:
1. The Empire Strikes Back (yep, he was a rebel on Hoth.)
2. Superman
3. A Bridge Too Far
4. Superman II
5. Gandhi
6. Reds

Why am I mentioning these two small-time actors? Well, Ratzenberger is openly Republican, making it hard to believe he could have scored a role in all these movies. Henriksen is one of the few actors I have found so far who could play Greymarch in a movie. A circa 1976 Lance Henriksen would make a decent Greymarch. He certainly has the voice for it. Follow these links to learn more about the careers of Lance Henriksen and John Ratzenberger:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000448/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001652/

- I have started a twitter page. For those of you who dont know what I am talking about, twitter is a website which basically allows you to post global text messages. Each message can be up to 140 characters long, and everyone on the internet can read it. Twitter's popularity has exploded in the past year or so. Lots of famous people use it to keep their constituencies abreast of their current activities. For example, the architect Karl Rove has his own twitter site. He uses his twitter page to link political articles he has found, or to let people know which television shows he will be on next. Mr. Rove even follows my own twitter page! Alas, Rove also follows 7,000 other twitter pages, so I suspect he has assistants who read all his subscribed twitter sites and filters the interesting stuff to him. Here is a link to my twitter site. Feel free to share it with anyone you like. I plan on using the twitter site to post links to websites in which I dont feel an over-whelming need to add commentary. Dont worry, greymarch.com isnt going anywhere. I will use greymarch.com when I have something to say about a particular link I have found.
http://twitter.com/Greymarch

- 65 Historians rank the presidents. They have Georgie at #36! Come on! Good lord that's too low. He was a two-term president who served both terms. Most historians are liberals, and their hatred of Georgie is effecting their voting. Look at the list...the next closest two-term president to Georgie is Nixon, and he is at #27! History will certainly be kinder to George W. Bush than Richard Nixon. Georgie is kind of in the same boat as Truman. Truman was despised when he left office, but nowadays he is near the top of everyone's list. Georgie will never be at the top of any presidential ranking list, but like Truman, he will move up the list as the years pass.
http://www.c-span.org/PresidentialSurvey/Overall-Ranking.aspx

- Top 25 conservative movies of the past 25 years, according to the National Review. I have some serious problems with this list. Some of these movies were never meant to be construed as conservative by the people who made them, and some clear omissions exist, including Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October. How can you not have the Hunt for Red October on this list!!?!
Best conservative movies

- Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the exact same day. In honor of Darwin, here is a website showing the evolution of the various electronic devices we now take for granted:
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/38311?ts0

- Top ten most evil (fictional) computers:
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2009/01/top-10-evil-com.html

- Hurricane paths over the past thirty years. Look at that one hurricane path off the coast of Brazil. I wrote about that hurricane a few years ago:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Global_tropical_cyclone_tracks-edit2.jpg

-12 college room-mates who both became famous:
http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/21634.html

- Three myths about plane crashes:
Plane crashes

- Monty Python now has their own youtube channel. They have posted many of their best skits. Philosopher soccer gets me every time!
http://www.youtube.com/montypython

- The best off-the-shelf macaroni and cheese:
http://food.yahoo.com/blog/yahoofreshpicks/2745/boxing-match-the-new-mac-cheese-winner/

- How to take great naps:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/27/napping-guide-health-wellbeing

-Greg Gutfeld is slowly becoming the conservative version of Jon Stewart. Who is Greg Gutfeld? He hosts a very late-night show on Fox News called Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld. It airs at 1AM Arizona time, and Greg, along with three or four other panelists, discuss the news of the day in a funny, over the top, provocative fashion. I tape the show every night, but I dont usually watch the whole show. No, no, no, I watch when Greg responds to viewer emails, which often takes place towards the end of the show. His responses to viewer emails are some of the funniest, sharpest, and outrageous comments you will find on television! He crushes the hopes, dreams and aspirations of those foolish enough to email him. He also purposely gives incorrect references when referring to songs, movies, television shows, etc, because he knows people watching that late at night will tragically take him seriously, and send him more emails trying to correct him. For example, if an emailer asks Greg what kind of music he prefers, Greg might respond that he prefers listening to the Rolling Stones when Sammy Hagar was the lead singer.

Gutfeld has his own website, and I recommend you read it every day. He is a damn good writer, and he should be. He got his start in journalism:
http://www.dailygut.com/

- Andrew Breitbart, a former cronie of Matt Drudge, has started his own conservative blog-site called Big Hollywood, in hopes of getting more Hollywood conservatives to speak up. A few have come out of the woods so far. Let's hope this website catches on:
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/

- I started learning how to play the piano a few weeks ago. I had never even looked at a note of music, or ever tried any musical instrument. It's a huge under-taking, but its a very healthy hobby to pick-up later in life. If you are interested, here is a good tutorial for how to read music:
http://www.tutorials.com/09/0917/09171.asp

- A few nights ago my brother asked me the difference between direct current and alternating current. I was ashamed that I couldnt answer him, so I looked up the answer. Bottom line is that direct current always flows in one direction, and alternating current frequently changes direction. Apparently it's easier to create alternating current, and it's easier to distribute it over long distances. Thomas Edison was a huge proponent of direct current, but George Westinghouse introduced alternating current to Americans in the late 19th century. Edison tried to destroy Westinghouse and his AC current, but was obviously unsuccessful. You most often find direct current in small batteries. You will find alternating current everywhere else, including the outlets in your home. Here is more about alternating current:
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_2/chpt_1/1.html

- A lengthy, but well-written article about the disintegration of my home town. In the first half of the 20th century, Detroit had close to 1.4 million people, making it the 4th largest city in the U.S. Now Detroit is down to 800,000 people. The most shocking fact I read from this article is that Detroit doesnt have a single super-market chain anywhere in the city. Dont be surprised if someday the city of Detroit simply disappears. Towns come and go all the time in the U.S. Just because Detroit was an important city 50 years ago doesnt guarantee it will survive forever:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/content/public/articles/000/000/015/945aynyk.asp

- So Al Franken is gonna be a senator. Al Franken!?!?! Are you freakin kiddin me? Talk about a human being who isnt even vaguely qualified to lead anyone at anytime, in anything! Good grief. The following picture clearly illustrates how this makes me feel...

Unbridled, unabridged, unapologetic rage!

- I havent written much about politics. Naturally, I dont like to write about politics when my candidates are going to lose.

Republicans have dominated the presidential election the past four decades. We have owned the presidency for 28 out of the past 40 years. The only other time Republicans have dominated the presidency in such a fashion was from 1860 to 1932, when only two democratic presidents were elected. Grover Cleveland won in 1884, lost in 1888, and won again in 1892. Woodrow Wilson won in 1912, because Teddy Roosevelt ran as an independent and split the Republican votes with Taft.

This had to happen eventually. In a representative democracy, no party can hold on forever. Honestly, did any of you really think Republicans would never lose the presidency ever again? It's just not realistic to think like that.

I think McCain ran a fine campaign. He was our best option out of the Republicans who decided to run in 2008. He lost because people HATE GEORGE BUSH! It's that simple. His 25% approval rating sunk Republicans this year. Obama would have beaten almost any Republican in 2008.

My final prediction: Obama 52, McCain 48. Electoral votes: Obama 286, McCain 252. Obama wins the following battleground states:
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
Virginia (huge demographic shift in Virginia. It aint a red state anymore. Liberals from the urban areas of Washington DC, New Jersey and Maryland have moved into Virginia)
Iowa
New Mexico
Colorado (also no longer a red state. Bad economy and a big environmental push.)

McCain wins the following battleground states:
Florida
Ohio
Missouri
North Carolina

The above states are the only close states. If anyone tells you otherwise, they are a dirty, no-good liar.

The democrats will gain 22 house seats. They will also gain 7 senate seats, allowing Republicans to keep the filibuster. Fortunately Coleman in Minnesota will squeak out a victory against Al Franken. Unfortunately Sunnunu will lose in New Hampshire. Sunnunu was a darn good senator. He doesnt deserve this.

For goodness's sake, ignore the exit polls today! They always heavily favor the democrats. In 2004, the exit polls made it appear that Kerry would win in a landslide. Exit polls are done in the morning and afternoon. Democrats are more likely to have jobs with irregular hours, or not work at all, so democrats are the people who vote during the day. Republicans vote after they leave work. I guarantee the exit polls will show a 20-point Obama blowout. That cant actually happen, so ignore them and go vote!

Indiana will be the first state to close its polls. Watch the numbers from Indiana, but not until roughly 90% of the votes are in. The Republican votes in Indiana come from the rural areas (like Bloomington, Fort Wayne, etc.) These votes come in late. If McCain is up by 5 or more in Indiana, it could be a good night for him. If he wins Indiana by less than 5, he is in deep trouble. Remember, Obama is from Chicago.

How strong will the Bradley effect be? My guess is 2 to 3 points. Some think (including a few of my friends) that it will be six to seven points.

If you need some McCain optimism, here it is...in every single democratic primary this election year, Obama polled higher than the actual vote totals. According to the polls, he was favored by six or more in PA, NH and OH. He lost all three of those by significant numbers to Hillary Clinton. Democrats tend to be more open-minded than Republicans or independents, so if the Bradley effect is so pronounced in the democratic primaries, then it should be even more so in the general election.

I think my biggest regret about tonight's election is that people will claim America is now a center-left country, after 28 years (starting with Reagan) of being a center-right country. I truly believe America is still a center-right country. Once again, people are voting for Obama because they HATE GEORGE BUSH! Ugh.

I like Georgie. I think history will be kind to him. All two-term presidents who serve the full two terms are considered successful presidents.

Here is a link to a very useful map showing when the polls close in each state:
http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2008/11/03/poll-closing-times/

- Intelligent computers put to the test:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/05/artificialintelligenceai

- Dont like paying for wi-fi access at a hotel or airport? Try this trick:
http://lifehacker.com/5040118/get-free-airport-wi+fi-with-a-simple-url-hack

- Usain Bolt smashed the record for the 100 meter dash at the Olympics last summer, and he slowed down towards the end of the race! However, he is no where near the human limits for speed potential:
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/08/bolt-is-freaky.html?npu=1&mbid=yhp

-Frank Rosenthal passed away. He inspired the movie Casino:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/obituaries/1223200,rosenthal-casino-died-101508.article

-Jack the Ripper finally revealed?
Jack the Ripper

-Largest stadiums in the world:
http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_menu/stadium_list/100000.shtml

- World's first double-arm transplants. Yes, that's right, they gave a guy two real arms, and they actually work!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,434385,00.html

-Berkeley Breathed (I still havent found his real name) is once again ending the comic-strip Bloom County. The first time he pulled the plug on Opus, it made me very sad. This time, I say good riddance. His strips from the past several years have all been pale imitations of his salad days. He never should have brought Opus back in the first place:
http://www.tampabay.com/features/popculture/article841630.ece

- 3-d images on your 2-d computer monitor:
http://gizmodo.com/5017847/3d-gifs-made-from-old-stereo-cards-are-stupidly-simple-effective

- How Animal House changed American movie comedies. Definitely a top five comedy for me. I once read an article about John Landis first screening this movie for the kids attending Oregon State University. Apparently they went completely berserk while watching it. Tore the movie theater to pieces. Doesnt surprise me at all. I would have flipped out too:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/arts/story.html?id=80d64c36-4fb4-402e-98f1-0932df3c8973

- Did Steve Fossett fake his own death? It's unlikely, but part of me thinks this is true. We live in the 21st century. It aint that tough finding a whole plane, especially in the U.S.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2462912/Adventurer-Steve-Fossett-%27may-have-faked-his-own-death%27.html

- What's it like to be on Jeopardy?
http://joshreads.com/?page_id=1650

- How to win at rock-paper-scissors. Sound advice:
http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Win_at_Rock_Paper_Scissors

- Kudos to my brother for sending me this link. Johnson and Johnson invents a Nothing But Tears shampoo for children:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/johnson_johnson_introduces_nothing

- College football starts in less than two weeks. The lord's chosen of Ann Arbor are ranked 24th in the coaches poll, but unranked in the AP poll. Its gonna be a rough season for my team, but I am looking forward to it. If Michigan beats Mr. Sweater Vest this year, all of the following bad things will disappear from our lives:

1. Scrapped knees
2. Bad credit
3. Bug bites
4. Obamaniacs
5. Brain freeze from cold ice-cream
6. Celebrities giving their children absurd names
7. Poor cell-phone service
8. Pebbles in your shoes
9. The Ninth Circuit
10. Wet dogs
11. Hang-nails
12. Itchy t-shirt tags
13. Watered-down drinks
14. The Clone Wars movie
15. Paper cuts
16. Awkward silence
17. Restrooms for paying customers only.

Here is the college football AP poll:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/rankingsindex

- The movie WarGames was released 25 years ago. The accuracy of this movie was absurd! The government would have to be stark-raving mad to allow a single computer to control our entire nuclear arsenal, especially a 1983 computer that is less powerful than the microprocessor running my cell-phone (no joke.) Nevertheless, it was a fun movie. It introduced America to the concept of hackers and hacking. Before Wargames, there were very few hackers. After Wargames, there were plenty of hackers.

You might think Mathew Broderick is my favorite character from Wargames, but in fact I prefer Professor Falken. I want to be the genius computer scientist who writes brilliant new code, gets burned-out, abandons the world, and becomes a hermit in a log cabin (unlike Falken, I would have a tricked-out computer in that cabin.) Yeah, thats me. Come to think of it, Falken is just another version of Obiwan. The old coot in the mountains who gets convinced to come out of retirement and help save the world.

Here is an article about how Wargames got made and its ramifications on the movie-going public:
http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/magazine/16-08/ff_wargames

- I figured I would wait a few days before I wrote my review of Dark Knight, so you kids could see the movie and compare your feelings to mine. Besides, I cannot possibly write a review of Dark Knight without significant spoilers. You have been warned, and here...we...go!

I thought it was better than Batman Begins, but not the life-changing classic many movie critics made it out to be. It was 15 minutes too long. Slice the last 15 minutes with Two-Face, and you have the exact same movie.

Christian Bale was a better Bruce Wayne than in the previous movie. No more pissed-off college drop-out looking for revenge. His Batman was once again very good. Finally Batman did some detective work! It's about freakin time! I have been waiting through six Batman movies to see him act like The Dark Knight Detective (my favorite incarnation of Batman.)

When I see Heath Ledger in interviews before his death, it's hard to believe that he and the Joker are the same person. It's a complete transformation. He can play a very convincing super-psycho nihilist. He should get nominated for an Oscar. The problem is, did he play the Joker, or something else? The Joker is a psycho, no doubt about it, but the Joker has a wicked, non-stop sense of humor, which is definitely missing from Dark Knight. The Joker never shuts-up! Also, the Joker usually kept the money he made from his crimes because he needed to finance even bigger, more spectacular crimes. Ledger's Joker had enough sadism, but he needed more twisted humor. The Joker should be bombing hospitals and kidnapping little boys, but there should be a point behind those crimes.

Christopher Nolan wants his Batman movies grounded in realism, but if you are going to ground super-hero movies in realism, you better stick to that realism through-out the movie. In several scenes, characters seem to magically find the location of other characters. I hate that! I need explanations. I cannot simply accept those kind of plot holes. I know its a super-hero movie, and I should give it plenty of leeway, but Nolan tries to base these Batman movies in reality. I just cannot give him the benefit of the doubt.

Batman's take-over of cell-phones throughout Gotham also drove me batty. Silly special effects like that arent necessary. Simply have Batman do some detective work to find the location of the Joker and his hostages. Sometimes, less is more.

I give the movie an 85 out of 100. That's a slightly higher score than I gave Iron Man. Dark Knight is more ambitious and technically sound than Iron Man, so it deserves a higher score. However, if you asked me which movie I want to see again, I would pick Iron Man first. To me, Iron Man is fresher, and I can relate better to Tony Stark than I can Bruce Wayne.

A few more points related to Iron Man, Dark Knight, and the movies from this summer...

1. Did the bad guys win in Dark Knight? Did the movie end on a sour note? I am leaning towards the bad guys winning in this film.

2. I feel unresolved towards the Joker's character (but maybe that's the point.) Walking out of the movie, I didnt feel convinced that the Joker had even been captured. Some SWAT members are pointing guns at his face, which is suppose to represent him being captured, but so what? He has already broken out of jail once. If the Joker can escape from the middle of Gotham lock-up, then he is gonna get away from those SWAT members too.

3. Is Batman immoral? Wouldnt killing the Joker be the moral thing to do? If the Joker shoots at a cop car, the cops try to run him over. Batman instead swerves around him? How many lives would Batman save if he killed the Joker? Isnt saving lives the most moral thing to do? I have never been a fan of Batman's "refuse to take a life" philosophy, especially in a completely corrupt city like Gotham. Putting the Joker back in jail guarantees nothing. Killing him is your only guarantee of stopping him.

4. Iron Man and Indiana Jones are neck and neck in the domestic box office (Indy crushed Iron Man in the international market.) As of this writing, Iron Man is at 315 million and Indy is at 312 million. Indy came out three weeks after Iron Man, but both movies are near the end of their run. Iron Man made 400k last weekend, Indy made 900k. Both will continue to drop. The safe bet right now is that Iron Man will finish ahead of Indy. Of course, its all kind of moot. Dark Knight is guaranteed of being the highest grossing movie of the year. Iron Man and Indy will fight it out for second. If Iron Man or Indy had a shot at being first, their respective studios might keep them in the theaters longer or re-release them in the fall to make a few extra bucks, but that wont happen now. Why spend extra money on advertising just to claim your film finished second?

5. The executives at Paramount must be extremely disappointed in the performance of Indy. One of the most popular movie heroes of all-time can only muster 316 million at the box office? Compare that to what Dark Knight will do. Indy should have grossed 400 million easy.

By the way, my score for Indy 4 is 62 out of 100. I aint writing a review of Indy because I would be tempted to ramble on forever regarding all the things wrong with that movie.

As with any popular movie, liberals and conservatives try to claim it as their own. My initial impression is that Dark Knight is slightly conservative, but not intentionally so. Here are some articles claiming Dark Knight makes conservative points:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121694247343482821.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-dark-knight-not-just-another-superhero-movie/

http://www.modernconservative.com/metablog_single.php?p=2021

- On a related note, filmmaker David Zucker (of Airplane and Naked Gun fame) has made a conservative comedy film! Read more about it here:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11959.html

- Ever heard of Bletchley Park? The Enigma Code? Alan Turing? (I mentioned him a few years ago on this website.) Bletchley Park played a significant role in the Allies victory during World War II. Many modern theories of computer science and cryptology can be traced back to this historic British landmark. Now Bletchley Park is in danger of disappearing. In 2002 Doug Ray Scott and Jeremy Northam starred in a movie loosely based upon the events at Bletchley Park. Here is an article about the famous location:
Bletchley Park

- Are people moving back to the cities? With high gas prices, it certainly makes sense.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121642866373567057.html?mod=yhoofront

- What if you were suddenly flung back into the past. Specifically 1000 AD, in the middle of Europe. You, sitting right there, right now as you read this, with only what you are wearing and what you have in your pockets. How would you survive? It's tougher than you think.

You cant just walk into any village, town, hamlet, monastery, etc and start telling people about the future. First off, the English language didn't exist 1000 years ago. A stranger walking into a town and speaking an unknown language is a great way to get killed. Your clothes would also be a problem, but not a serious one. They would eventually become torn and soiled like everyone else. You might not even be able to open your mouth. If you have perfect teeth (like my girlfriend) that's another great way of getting killed. So how would you survive? Here is what I would try to do...

First, like all survival situations, I would try to find water and shelter. You can go weeks without food, but only a few days without water. Since I have very few survival skills, there is a good chance I would die in a few days. If I could find water and shelter, I would then try to find a town or village. I would hang on the outskirts of town, stealing stuff and trying to pick up the local language. After a few weeks or months, depending on how well I picked up the language, I would then wander into town and ask someone where I might find the nearest monastery.

If I can find and get accepted into a monastery, my chances of survival dramatically increase. Monasteries contained the very few places of learning during the Dark Ages. Monasteries, like current businesses, just didnt take anyone, so I have no idea if I could get into one, but if I did, I could start putting my future-knowledge and education to good use. Once again though, the key to survival in the monastery is caution. You cant immediately start showing the monks the secrets behind computer science theory, space travel, or radio waves. They will think you are crazy. You have to figure out exactly what they know, and then add little bits to it. For example, if the priests knew basic algebra, I might show them the quadratic equation or binomial factoring. If they knew advanced algebra, I would show them how to find the area underneath a curve or vector theory (both calculus.) Here are some things I would definitely show them, that probably wouldnt get me killed:

1. Double-book keeping. Hard to believe they didn't do this 1000 years ago.
2. Creating electricity by spinning a magnet.
3. A water wheel.
4. A basic steam engine.
5. 3-D perspective drawing. Artists drew everything in 2-dimensions back then. Shadows and perspective in art hadn't been invented yet.

Even though it was the dark ages, knowledge was still a valuable commodity. If you could prove to the monks that you were smart and can improve their lives, then you would have value, and thus survive. A local nobleman might hear about you, and then who knows where you could take this.

The following two websites hypothesize about what a modern human-being should do if they wanted to survive in 1000 AD. Both websites make for a fascinating read:

I am turning the comments section back on, if you want to voice your opinion on how you would survive in the dark ages.
http://www.kottke.org/08/06/survival-tips-for-the-middle-ages

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/06/time-travel-bac.html

- Two conservative websites devoted to cinema reviews:
http://dirtyharrysplace.com/

http://kylesmithonline.com/

- Current technologies that will disappear in five years:
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/06/24/castoff-home-technologies-2013

- Three people who are pushing the edge of science:
http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jun/30-3-people-who-are-pushing-the-edge-of-science

- My hero, Bill Gates retired a few weeks ago. Dont let anyone tell you otherwise...thirty years ago Bill Gates was the greatest programmer on the planet. Even ten years ago, when Microsoft was booming and Billy-boy was a multi-billionaire, he still helped write code for Windows. Despite his brilliance (Billy got 800 on the math part of the SAT, but only 780 on the verbal, poor kid) Gates really was a lucky SoB. He came along at the right time, in the right place. A few facts about Mr. Gates that you may not have been aware of:

1. Bill never graduated from college. Of course, neither did Karl Rove nor Albert Einstein
2. Bill came from money, and he obviously is going to leave this life with even more of it. His father was loaded. How do you think he could afford that freshman year at Harvard?
3. Bill Gates loves spray-cheese. This makes perfect sense to me, and explains everything.

Here is a timeline of Bill Gate's life:
http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/06/Bill-Gates-Timeline2.jpg

- The ten worst TV sports broadcasters. I like this list, although I do give Bill Walton kudos for agreeing with me that Michael Jordan is not the greatest basketball player ever:
http://maxim.com/The10worstbroadcastersinsports/articles/1/24558.aspx

-The roundest objects in the world. Archimedes would be proud:
http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14229-roundest-objects-in-the-world-created.htm

- The next president of the United States will be left-handed. Five of the past eight presidents have been left-handed, although I dispute Ronald Reagan's left-handedness. He wrote with his right hand, which makes you right-handed in my book:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/03/AR2008070304046.html?hpid=topnews

- I guess I better get use to Robert Downey Jr. He is set to play another one of my favorite fictional characters:
http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/va/20080710/121568067200.html

- A mother's diet can help determine the gender of a child:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/health_diet_sex_children

- The ten best moments from the TV show 30 Rock. I highly recommend watching this show. The ratings have always been poor for 30 Rock, but NBC has wisely ignored the ratings for the past two seasons. They won't be so kind next season:
http://www.cracked.com/article_15283_10-best-moments-from-30-rock.html

- Please, please...I am on my hand and knees, begging the following two articles become true. The average lifespan of 76 years for an American male isn't enough time for me! I really do have a lot things on my list that need to get done:
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/06/exponential-tec.html

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/06/pharmaceutical.html

- List of the top grossing movies (domestic) of all-time. Iron Man should finish around 305-310 million:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/features/special/battle_of_the_blockbusters/

- Speaking of Iron Man, here is a small snippet from his cameo in the new Hulk movie. Even with Tony Stark in the movie, I will not see this in the theaters. I have never been a big Hulk fan. I hear this new movie is better than the dreadful Hulk movie from a few years ago, but not much better:
http://gizmodo.com/5014528/hulk-likes-tony-stark

- An interview with Clint Eastwood. Honestly, if you don't like Clint Eastwood, then you are worse than Hitler!
http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,2283921,00.html

- Lakers against the Celtics. What was old, is new again. The Boston faithful love to chant "Beat LA! Beat LA! Beat LA!" It's their rallying cry. As a Laker fan, you would think that I would despise this chant, but I actually get a huge kick out of it. It gets my blood boiling, and reminds of the good ol' days, when Magic Johnson defeated the Celtics in two out of three NBA finals. Here is where the chant comes from. It's a nice read:
http://www.realclearsports.com/articles/2008/06/beat_la_simple_chant_with_a_cl.html

- Saw the new Iron Man movie Tuesday night at special sneak-preview. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a very good comic-book movie, and a decent movie overall. Out of a score of 1 to 100, I give it an 82. I put it into the upper-echelon of comic-book movies, along with Batman (1989), Batman Begins, Superman and Superman 2.

Downey Jr was wonderful! He poured his heart and soul into his performance. If you have no expectations of who or what Tony Stark is about, then you will walk away thinking Downey Jr makes an amazing Tony Stark. Downey definitely sold me on the techno-babble, and he made Stark into a witty, caring character. Unfortunately, I was still disappointed in his portrayal of Tony Stark, when compared to the comic-book version. The comic-book version of Tony Stark is sophisticated, suave, worldly, devastatingly handsome, and completely sure of himself at all times. Downey often came across as smarmy and irreverent, two qualities you would never find in the comic-book Tony Stark.

The scenes where Stark designs, builds and tests the Mark 2 and Mark 3 armors floored me! It's like they stripped those scenes straight from the comic-books. I was as giddy as a school-girl watching those scenes. I think I embarrassed my friend sitting next to me. I dont care though. I had fun watching those scenes.

The script was overall satisfactory. The plot seemed to get sillier and sillier as the movie moved along, but that's typical in comic-book movies. Big plot holes towards the end of the flick.

There are at least a dozen little easter-eggs to watch for in the movie. I wont point them all out here, because I dont want to spoil them, and besides, anyone reading this review will be able to spot them on their own anyhow. However, here are three I hope you dont miss..

1. Listen to the music played in the casino when Stark is gambling. If you have ever watched the old Iron Man cartoon from the late 60s, you will recognize the music. My last update led you to this music.

2. Look for a nod to Howard Hughes in Tony's office, later in the film.

3. You have to be a true-blue Marvel fan to catch this one..listen for the call-sign of a particular F-22 raptor.

The movie, as of this writing, is at 95% at Rotten Tomatoes (90 fresh/5 rotten.) Much to my surprise, it's gonna be one of the big movies of the summer. It's guaranteed of making 200 million. Will it break 300 million? I hope so. The movie is good enough to warrant sequels.

Here are some Iron Man related links, to tide you over until you see the movie:

I wrote a longer, and spoiler-filled review, at super-hero hype.com:
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=300981&page=2

Iron Man at Rotten Tomatoes:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/iron_man/

The Iron Man video game comes out May 2nd. I pre-ordered it. Here are the various Iron Man suits you can un-cover in the game. Very good historical descriptions of each suit:
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2008/04/10/sega_unveils_iron_man_video_game_suits

Real-life Iron Man suits. This stuff motivates me to try for A's in my calculus classes:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080421/sc_livescience/realironmansuits

George Orwell's five tips to effective writing:
http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/george-orwells-5-rules-for-effective-writing/

The ten most historically inaccurate films:
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/10mosthistoricallyinaccurate.html

On a related note...the five most ridiculous lies you were taught in history class:
http://www.cracked.com/article_16101_5-most-ridiculous-lies-you-were-taught-in-history-class.html

A true bionic eye. Some day Steve Austin and Iron Man wont be science-fiction:
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1078909

The answer is 42, but what exactly is the question?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7283155.stm