This seems to be an appropriate use for Windows XP technology... (Thanks, Jason.)

Steve Jobs' other company has released a teaser for their next film, The Incredibles, due out in November next year. Consider this your splatter warning.

The LSU Tigers crushed Baylor 20-5 in game three of their NCAA super regional to earn their 12th trip to the College World Series since 1986. Yeah, that's right, bub: LSU has been one of -four- eight teams in the CWS 12 times in 17 years!

The Tigers will face CWS arch-nemesis Cal State-Fullerton in the first round of the CWS. South Carolina and Stanford play in the other bracket. Geaux Tigers!!! UPDATE, 6/10: The rest of the field is SW Missouri St. vs. Rice, and Texas takes on Miami (FL).

Dan notes NASA's sense of humor with regard to Mars rover naming conventions and mission patches. This is what happens when guys our age, who grew up with Looney Tunes, are put in charge...

One of my favorite sports-talk hosts is moving from WBAP, 820 AM, to the station's ESPN radio affiliate. This stinks, since I never listen to ESPN radio, keeping the radio--when I listen to the radio--on either WBAP or KWRD 100.7 FM (Christian talk radio). This is all in the D/FW metro area, by the way. One problem I have with ESPN radio, or, at least, the affiliate here in town: when I'm watching the freaking Stanley Cup Finals on your company's main network, it sure would be nice to have the game on the radio, if I have to leave the house, as I did this weekend. I wonder if the same would be true if ESPN was carrying the NBA Finals, or the World Series?

For the first time this season, the LSU Tigers win an extra-inning game, and in doing so take their 8th consecutive regional championship. The Tigers, 20-1 all-time in regional championship games, were 0-4 this year in extra-inning games. LSU now moves on to a best-of-three super-regional against Baylor to determine who goes to the College World Series. Geaux Tigers!!

More accurately, I possess 31.36095% geekish qualities. Take the test yourself, unless you're Erik.

My good friend Francisco informed me this morning that our up-and-coming Texas Rangers have made baseball history. No MLB club has ever fielded a team in one season that had three players with 500 home runs, 400 home runs, and 300 home runs, respectively...until now. Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez, and Alex Rodriguez take those honors, respectively, and 2001 "Comeback Player of the Year" Ruben Sierra currently stands at 278 home runs in his career, so he's knocking on the 300-club door as well. If we could just get some consistency out of the pitching staff, like we did during the last 7-game winning streak (which included a sweep of the playoff-nemesis NY Yankees club), this team would be contending for a pennant. For now, we have to struggle to win two just to get back to .500. UPDATE, 6/13: Well, this was short-lived. The Rangers traded Sierra last week to the Yankees.

1. What brand of toothpaste do you use? Colgate Total. 2. What brand of toilet paper do you prefer? Angel Soft. 3. What brand(s) of shoes do you wear? Rockport boots and casual shoes; Reebok or K-Swiss sneakers. 4. What brand of soda do you drink? Trying to cut out soda from my diet, but when I do, I prefer Cherry Coke. 5. What brand of gum do you chew? Don't chew gum.

The questions, with my answers, from last Friday's Five (which I only saw yesterday): 1. What drinking water do you prefer -- tap, bottle, purifier, etc.? Honestly, it depends on where I am. Most of the time, especially at home, I'm fine with the tap, unpurified. When I travel, even to other parts of the metroplex, unless I've been there before and have tried the tap, it's from a bottle. 2. What are your favorite flavor of chips? Tough one; I'd have to say Cool Ranch Doritos (now in a low-fat baked variety!). 3. Of all the things you can cook, what dish do you like the most? Red beans and rice. 4. How do you have your eggs? Scrambled. 5. Who was the last person who cooked you a meal? How did it turn out? The Morrisses and Leaumonts; great grilled burgers and baked fries for a Sunday afternoon pool-side get-together.

The LSU baseball team has won the regular season Southeastern Conference championship (again) for 2003, its first since 1997. LSU's head coach has been named SEC Coach of the Year (again, though a first for current head coach Smoke Laval). Junior shortstop Aaron Hill has been named the conference's Position Player of the Year. The Fighting Tigers finished the regular season 37-18-1, and begin play against Arkansas in Hoover, Alabama, tomorrow, in the SEC Tournament. (I wish I could come out for it, Dad!) Looking for another SEC Tournament championship, and a berth in the College World Series, LSU has rebounded from several major injuries throughout the season to clinch the SEC championship. Geaux Tigers!

Go Mavs! After Najera missed his first free throw in the first quarter, the Mavs combined for 49 straight free throws to help catapult them to an upset victory, 113-110. The Mavericks were down by as much as 18 at one point in the game. Dirk Nowitzki was monster on the court for Dallas, proving in every facet of his game to be Tim Duncan's equal. I'm not so much a NBA basketball fan as I am a Dallas Mavericks fan, and it's nice to see them hang in there and pull this one out. Around the office yesterday, we all agreed that we wouldn't be surprised to see the Mavs drop Game 1, having just come off their second seven-game series in the playoffs. The Spurs had an extra day of rest after knocking off the defending champ Lakers in six games. Finally, it seems the ineptitude and need for sharper contact lenses that pervades the NHL has crept in to the NBA as well. The officiating for this game was inconsistent at several points throughout, and overbearing at others. Both sides suffered and benefited from this behavior, so many would say it was a wash. The fact is that consistency amongst those officiating is greatly needed in professional sports, and this begins at the top of the leagues' front offices (are you listening, Gary Bettman?). Officials are going to miss things that happen on the hardwoord and ice; that's a fact of life, and one most fans can live with. What we don't like is the inconsistency of what constitutes a foul/penalty from team to team, game to game, series to series.

[Possible spoilers] So my lovely bride and I caught The Matrix Reloaded Saturday night. My overall feelings with the film mirror Jason Kottke's. In addition to what Jason has to say, allow me to add the following. As much as the production touted the Twins in teasers, trailers, and the like over the past few months, they didn't have all that much screen time. This is a shame, since they are extremely cool characters, the likes of which we hadn't seen within the Matrix. The first hour of the movie would have been better with about 20 minutes taken out. We get that Trinity and Neo love one another deeply. We get that Zion's having a big party to show they aren't afraid of the machines. We don't need it to drag out. I actually leaned over to my wife at one point and twiddled my thumbs. All in all, it was an enjoyable flick, but nothing mind-blowing or earth-shattering, certainly not like the first film. The freeway chase was our favorite part of the movie. I'm going to miss Gloria Foster in the 3d installment.

Back on 15 September 1998, then-House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) held his weekly meeting with Capitol reporters. When a reporter provided him an opening by inquiring what he would do if he were in President Clinton's shoes, the Los Angeles Times captured the conference's atmosphere: bq. ...the jam-packed room burst into raucous laughter as one reporter prefaced a question about the Lewinsky scandal by saying, "If you were in the president's position..." Armey didn't miss a beat. "If I were, I would be looking up from a pool of blood and hearing my wife say: 'How do I reload this thing?'" The situation would be similar in my household; except my wife knows how to reload! (Thanks to Ricky and Snopes.)

...is retromingent. Courtesy of Anu's free A.W.A.D. service: retromingent (re-tro-MIN-jent)

adjective: Urinating backwards.

noun: An animal that passes urine backwards, e.g. raccoon.

[From Latin retro- (back) + mingent, stem of mingens, past participle of mingere (to urinate).]

"When my turn came, I discovered that the bathrooms had been designed for a retromingent. The rest of the flight? Rather uneventful." --Jeffrey Levine; The Concorde, Firsthand: Built for Speed, Not for Comfort; The Washington Post ; Dec 17, 1989.

"I can verify that camels are, indeed, retromingent." --Sally Bixby Defty; Just Deserts Midnight at the Oasis Sing Your Camel to Bed; St. Louis Post-Dispatch; May 16, 1993. Sorry, but had to pass on another retro- word. You're welcome for the enlightenment. (And subscribe to A.W.A.D.!)

So I took my wife to the prom last night. No, we didn't go to a high school as chaperones. We went to the 2d Chance Prom that benefits the Kidd's Kids charity. Dallas radio personality Kidd Kraddick's charity takes terminally ill kids to Disney World each year, and this event is their primary fund-raiser. I rented a tux, my bride bought a lovely dress that she'll get multiple use out of (unlike most prom dresses), and we had a great dinner at Sonoma before heading off to the prom. Half concert, half dance party, the 2d Chance Prom was a gas. Texas native Jennifer Love Hewitt performed four songs with just an acoustic guitar player accompanying her. This cutie can sing, and she was well received by the crowd. A little over half an hour later, MC Hammer and company took the stage for an eight-song set that capped off with a non-stop medley of his big hits "Can't Touch This," "2 Legit 2 Quit," and "Pray." I don't go for the hip-hop scene, but Hammer's set was enjoyable. It's amazing the energy he and his crew brought to the stage. My only druthers are with the DJ's music selection. Way too much hip-hop/techno/dance remix stuff. We got there before 9, left a little after midnight, and there was only one slow song played the entire time. There's also plenty of normal pop and rock out there that's good for dancing. And whoever remixed AC/DC's "Shook Me All Night Long" to a dance beat should be put against a wall and shot for messing with a classic rock anthem. All in all, we had a fun time. I'll post a pic of my gorgeous wife and I when we get our prom pics in a couple of weeks.

You can read the full story here.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld apologized to the celebrity community for the outcome of the war yesterday at his daily press briefing. "In spite of the joy we feel at what happened in Baghdad this week, it is tinged with sadness as we know that we have embarrassed and disappointed the many members of the celebrity community who wanted us to fail."

For thorough research of words in the world of comics, be sure to use Ka-BOOM! The Dictionary of Champions.

As if terrorism wasn't enough to worry about, now we have this to contend with.

Can't Stop Lovin' You Hey! There's a time and place for everything. For everyone We can push with all our might, but nothin's gonna come Oh no, nothin's gonna change An' if I ask you not to try, oh could you let it be? I wanna hold you and say We can't throw this all away Tell me you won't go, you won't go You have to hear me say I can't stop lovin' you And no matter what I say or do You know my heart is true, oh I can't stop lovin' you You can change your friends, your place in life You can change your mind We can change the things we say, and do any time Oh no, but I think you'll find That when you look inside your heart Oh baby, I'll be there. Yeah! Hold on. I'm holdin' on Baby, just come on, come on, come on I just wanna hear you say I can't stop lovin' you And no matter what you say or do You know my heart is true, oh-oh! I can't stop lovin' you Oh, I'm so twisted and tied And all I remember, was how hard we tried Only to surrender And when it's over I know how it's gonna be And true love will never die Or, not fade away And I can't stop lovin' you And no matter what I say or do You know my heart is true, oh I can't stop lovin' you And I know what I got to do Hey Ray, what you said is true, oh I can't stop lovin' you, oh no Oh, can't stop lovin' you © Copyright 1995-2000 Van Halen From VH's site:

This was the first single from "Balance" and the song became the band's 16th Top 40 single! The Ray Sammy refers to in the song is Ray Charles, who had a hit with the Don Gibson original, "I Can't Stop Loving You" in 1962.

By far one of my favorite VH songs, right behind "Dreams." I love you, sweetheart.

Yeah, I know everyone has read how the Apple Music Store has sold more than a million songs in its first week. But Lee has broken down what that means, and the results are impressive. Better than one-and-a-half songs sold per second. I can't wait to see Apple's financials on this as the year progresses. My stock has already gone up about three bucks a share in the past week.

My gorgeous mother-to-be spouse points out that Lucasfilm is releasing the Indiana Jones trilogy on DVD! Slated for release on November 4th, this will be at the top of my birthday (Dec 3) wish list.

I wish I was making this up. From the idiot savants at Microsoft UK. (Note that the emphasis is not on "savants.") (Thanks, Ricky.)

A couple of days ago I was talking to my little sister on the phone (okay, she's 27, but she'll always be my "little" sister), and she stated that I was picking up a Texas accent. Seeing how I have long confounded people as to my origins by being pretty much accent-less, this is a trifle upsetting...

My lovely bride pointed me to this Fortune article on the new iTunes Music Service. Obviously written for publication before the service was officially announced, it provides a great look at Jobs' vision behind the service, and the inadequacy of the music industry in its previous and current efforts at online distribution. A few items I'd like to address:

One thing's for sure: If ever there was an industry in need of transformation, it's the music business. U.S. music sales plunged 8.2% last year, largely because songs are being distributed free on the Internet through illicit file-sharing destinations like KaZaA.

I take issue with this statement, since it's impossible to prove that illegal file sharing has had this much impact on the U.S. music biz. There is a ton of physical piracy (blanket CD copying) going on overseas, especially in Asia, that eats in to the music industry more than a bunch of geeks swapping songs online. I have downloaded a lot of music from peer-to-peer networks, as well as some centralized sites I have access to. Some of it was digital copies of CDs and cassettes I already own. The rest was stuff I wanted to listen to before I went out and bought it. A lot of that got trashed when I realized it wasn't for me. I know I'm not the only one who probably spent more on music (albeit looking for sales and good prices online) because I was pulling music off the net. Second, it seems as though hardly anyone in the music business thinks that the problem with falling sales may be attributed to the product itself. Elsewhere in the article:

For years they have been able to get away with releasing albums with two or three potential hits bundled with ho-hum filler cuts. That has been wonderful for the industry, but it has made a generation of consumers who pay $18.99 for CDs very cynical. "People are sick and tired of that," says singer-songwriter Seal. "That's why people are stealing music."

Amen. That's it right there. And we see further evidence of the music industry's slow-to-catch-on attitude:

But MusicNet users still can't download songs onto portable players. "These devices haven't caught on yet," insists MusicNet CEO Alan McGlade. Never mind that U.S. sales of portable MP3 players soared from 724,000 in 2001 to 1.6 million last year.

Hmmm. I would think a better-than-two-times annual growth, in a year, in any segment of the tech economy would be cause for consideration of said segment. As for the service itself, I think it's great. I haven't actually bought and downloaded any music yet, but that'll change any day. I've spent quite a bit of time searching through it and listening to samples. It's going to change the way I buy music. It's going to change the music business.