This gets me right where two childhood loves meet. I do think the Rebels version works better than the Imperials one, though.

"The central conceit of the 'tweet' in this case is the idea that Ninjas, which are black-clad martial artists who employ tactics of stealth to both defeat their opponents and avoid waking people up at night when they go to the bathroom, could partake in some of the worldy pleasures of the non-Ninja world (e.g., crunchy snacks) if that non-Ninja world consisted entirely of people wearing noise-canceling headphones. Henceforth we refer to this world as Headphone-World.

"But in a world like Headphone-World, with the rules of the game so casually muted, what of the Ninja? With no need for audible stealth have we not removed from him or her his or her very Ninjaness, reducing him or her to merely one-dimensional specialists with hearing that is, relative to the headphone world, extremely acute?"

"While many are called to be the front-line hero, the in-the-limelight pastor or the courageous leader, many more are called to be the armor-bearers to those leaders. They will never get the praise or glory, but their role is just as critical as the people leading the charge or taking the shots. Jonathan needed his armor-bearer and that young man had the courage to follow the man he served into what looked like certain death. In the battle, we read that Jonathan’s armor-bearer watched his back and protected him from those who tried to attack him."

"'We want fewer and better children ... and we cannot make the social life and the world-peace we are determined to make, with the ill-bred, ill-trained swarms of inferior citizens that you inflict on us.'

"That ghastly message appeared in the introduction to Margaret Sanger’s 1922 book, The Pivot of Civilization."

Good stuff.

"To socialize the American economy, it is not necessary to nationalize every business in the United States. All it requires is to put the corporations that control the finances of all of the companies in the economy under government control. And that is what is happening now...

[...]

"Apparently, members of Congress liked the special treatment that Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd received in getting his mortgage through Countrywide. We’re going to see even more of that kind of thing -- and outright corruption on a much bigger scale -- when the government is in direct control of the financial institutions and making the credit decisions that businesses large and small depend on to survive."

I think we may be in trouble.

"NiceTranslator is a fast, easy to use online translator designed with simplicity and functionality in mind"

"Allowing law-abiding people to arm themselves offers more than piece of mind for those individuals -- it pays off for everybody through lower crime rates. Statistics from the FBI’s Uniformed Crime Report of 2007 show that states with right-to-carry laws have a 30% lower homicide rate, 46% lower robbery, and 12% lower aggravated assault rate and a 22% lower overall violent crime rate than do states without such laws. That is why more and more states have passed right-to-carry laws over the past decade.

[...]

"That is why I, along with Representative Rich Boucher (D-Va.) introduced H.R. 197, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act. Our legislation proposes a federal law that would entitle any person with a valid state-issued concealed carry permit to carry in any other state, as follows: In a state that issues carry permits, its laws would apply. In states that don’t issue carry permits, the Federal law providing a "bright-line" standard would permit carrying in places [...]"

Love this blueprint-style shirt of a famous starship from a recently finished television series.

Episode guide to season 1 of The Clone Wars. Somehow, our TiVo missed recording more than a few, and now we're getting caught up. The problem, though, is that now we're getting episodes recorded out of order, so this guide will help us know which ones to watch next.

Blade Runner and Philip K. Dick fans will get it. If you're neither, don't worry about it.

"The megachurch pastor who faced backlash for praying at the President's inauguration talks to CT about politics, a new magazine, and the economy"

"The book, Almost Perfect, was originally published by Prima Publishing in 1994. It is the story of the rise and fall of WordPerfect Corporation from my point of view. The book sold a little less than 10,000 copies and is now out of print. The copy published here is almost identical to my original manuscript and does not contain Prima's edits. In this version, I have corrected two factual errors, fixed five typos, deleted a few pages at the end, and added a final paragraph."

"The Earth Observatory is a website run by NASA's Earth Observing System Project Science Office (EOSPSO). Bringing together imagery from many different satellites and astronaut missions, the website publishes fantastic images with highly detailed descriptions, feature articles and more. Gathered here are some standout photographs from the collections in the Earth Observatory over the past several years."

Typophiles, rejoice.

"An Italian doctor completed a brain operation despite having a heart attack after realizing his patient would never recover if he stopped the surgery."

Wow.

Carbon emission hoo-haa + nanny statism = government run amok.

This is a joke, right?

Genius.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8, as rendered by Hugh Macleod.

A gem my friend Tom found while out and about.

Joshua Trevino accurately sums up most of my feelings regarding the series, and the finale.

"Why not? What could happen?"

"WRITERSBLOK is a new set of notebooks and stationary products aimed at encouraging the activity of writing. We'll give you the basic tools and you take them wherever you want. The possibilities are endless. Best of luck. Let us know how it goes.

"A percentage of sales from WRITERSBLOK goes to literacy-related programs around the country."

"Instead of adjectives, great writers often use verbs. Their characters do, and they are always doing."

[...]

"Frank McCourt spends little time worrying about it. He trusts the readers mind to imagine details. Instead, he captivates his audience with action. If people are moving and doing, it’s hard to look away."

[...]

"So, if you’re working on a writing project, do readers a favor and cut out the “white as snow” and “cold as a meat locker” and tell us what your characters are doing."

"There are many Made in the USA lists throughout the internet, nearly all of them tacky and in poor taste. These awful websites have led me to compile a list of stylish and cool brands that make their goods in America. One of my goals with this is to make it easier to locate and buy domestically produced apparel products. Another motivating factor is my desire for things Made in the USA to be embraced by a younger, more stylish consumer."

Personally, I own several t-shirts printed on American Apparel shirts, New Balance sneakers, a Buck knife, a Fisher Space Pen, Field Notes notebooks, a Leatherman multi-tool, a Mag Lite flashlight, and a Vornado fan. I would recommend any one of these items.

"Family safe YouTube". A simple web browser player of YouTube content aimed at kids. Hit the space bar to go to the next clip. There is no search function.

If the world wasn't insane enough already, surely now we've gone stark raving mad.

If nothing else, this gets you thinking.

Just a word of warning that you might feel a little ill after seeing this nice visualization of what our government is flushing down the toilet.

I'm guilty of six of the ten. (Maybe seven if you count the pun one, but I'm not that punny that often. I do enjoy puns, though.) Those who know me can probably figure out which six they are.

"Designed and run by vets, Vet Help Direct's interactive questions direct you to personalised first aid advice and clear guidelines about when to contact the vet. Easy and fun to use, Vet Help Direct is the online source of reliable advice for concerned pet-owners."

Think of it as something like WebMD for your dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, reptiles, and birds.

"Wooden Laptop Case with leather lining and magnetic closing device for Apple MacBook and MacBook Pro 15inch."

Beautiful work, but not something I would personally use/carry.

"The Founding Fathers, guarding against sectionalism and factions, among other things, sought to combine both direct representation of the people and representation of the states. The House of Representatives reflected the will of the People, while the Senate reflected the will of the states. This concept sprang out of the Great Compromise, which established the groundwork for a bicameral legislature."

[...]

"The Constitution establishes these United States as a republican form of government. No matter how many times people toss around the word 'democracy,' this form of government will never be 'democratic' in its truest sense. "Bearing that in mind, the same Founding Fathers who outlined this form of government in the Constitution expressed reservations about allowing the uneducated masses the privilege of directly electing their Chief Executive."

Brother Maynard shares a story of St. Ben's use of nothing but Bob Dylan songs for the liturgy at one of its services.

It's a rather sad state of affairs that a list like this has to even exist.

“Can you imagine the disparaging comments that would be made against George Bush’s intellect if he couldn’t make a simple six minute announcement without a TelePrompter….”

Quite.

A customizable bookmarklet, "Readability is a simple tool that makes reading in the Web more enjoyable by removing the clutter around what you're reading." Very nice.

I would add texting to #4. My wife and I stay in constant contact throughout the day not just by voice and e-mail, but by text messaging as well.

Amazon releases its free Kindle for iPhone (and iPod Touch) app. For Kindle books only; if you want all of the other Kindle features, obviously Jeff Bezos and Co. wants you to buy the hardware.