Presidential Polls are tightening up today, as they predictably should, since nobody is uncommitted on Election Day, and anybody uncommitted prior to now has either just come out of a long term coma or probably isn’t comfortable with sustained thought. This is a good thing, since as long as the race feels competitive, more people will be motivated to get out and vote. At the end of the day, however, this will be an electoral contest and it’s not even going to be close.

Some good quotes from DailyKos today:

CHRISTIAN, n. One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor. (Ambrose Bierce, from The Devil’s Dictionary. Reminds me of my own favorite definition from the same work: BORE, n. A person who talks when you wish him to listen.)

“Rosa sat, so Martin could walk … Martin walked, so Obama could run … Obama is running, so our children can FLY!” (No attribution … but was said by someone in an NPR interview on 2008-10-28). I am a middle-aged white guy, but old enough to remember Martin Luther King Jr., and there was something about the Dream he spoke of that transcends race. It is a Dream of Unity, and I think this quote captures that idea really well.

“It was like watching Gidget address the Reichstag” (Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone, describing Palin’s speech at the GOP convention).

There is a guy named Steve Mellon doing awesome things in Pittsburgh.

Steve has figured out a way to grab a 360 degree digital image of a location. (It’s actually more than that … the image swings through both polar and equatorial axes). Through the magic of QuickTime, you can rotate and zoom your way around the image.

Follow this link to see his images for the annual Zombie Walk at the Monroeville Mall (site of the original ‘Dawn of the Dead‘ directed by George Romero … I’m also a big fan of the remake), and the Evans City Cemetery, site of the opening scene from Romero’s original ‘Night of the Living Dead‘.

Steve has done a series of images from all around the city. A fantastic way to revisit the home town.

I love these guys:


Here they are in the original.

And, of course, we can’t forget the birds.

Britney Spears’ latest hit ‘Womanizer’ rendered in perl:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

our $w = "womanizer";
our $b = "boy don't try to front";
our $y = "you";
our $u = "($y)";
our $r = "are";
our $i = "i (i) know just (just) what $y $r-$r-$r";

sub refrain {
    print "$w, woman-$w, $y're a $w,\n";
    print "oh $w, oh $y're a $w, baby\n";
    print "$y $y $y $r, $y $y $y $r\n";
    print "$w, $w, $w ($w)\n\n";

    print "$b\n$i\n$b\n$i\n\n";
    print "$u $y got me going\n";
    print "$u $y're oh so charming\n";
    print "$u but i can't do it\n";
    print "$u $y $w\n\n";

    print "$b\n$i\n$b\n$i\n\n";
    print "$u $y say i'm crazy\n";
    print "$u i got $y" . "r crazy\n";
    print "$u $y're nothing but a\n";
    print "$u $w\n\n";
}

print "superstar, where $y from, how's it going?\n";
print "i know $y, gotta clue whatcha doing\n";
print "$y can play brand new to all the other chicks out here\n";
print "but i know what $y $r, what $y $r, baby\n\n";

print "look at $y, getting more than just a re-up\n";
print "baby $y, got all the puppets with their strings up\n";
print "faking like a good one, but i call 'em like i see 'em\n";
print "i know what $y $r, what $y $r, baby\n\n";

refrain();

print "daddy-o, $y" . "'ve got the swagger of a champion\n";
print "too bad for $y, $y just can't find the right companion\n";
print "i guess when $y have one too many, makes it hard, it could be easy\n";
print "who $y $r, that's just who $y $r, baby\n\n";

print "lollipop, $y must mistake $y're a sucker\n";
print "to think that i, would be a victim, not another\n";
print "say it, play how $y want it\n";
print "but no way i'm never gonna fall for $y, never $y, baby\n\n";

refrain();

print "maybe if we both lived in a different world ($w, $w, $w, $w)\n";
print "yeah\n";
print "it would be all good and maybe i could be $y " . "r girl\n";
print "but i can't 'cause we don't, $y\n\n";

refrain();

print "$b\n$i\n$b\n$i\n\n";
print "$w, woman-$w, $y're a $w,\n";
print "oh $w, oh $y're a $w, baby \n";

… in the blogroll to Leona Raisin’s ‘TVGramic Equations’ anagram site. By commenting on my anagram dictionary post, Leona has increased this blog’s readership by over 30%, so I expect you two other guys to go check it out. Fair is fair.

And I don’t want to give away the answer to her posting there for today, but think “Lamont”.

Oh, and buy her book, too.