BoingBoing has a great little dittie about a guy who apparently leaves unrelated feedback for people on eBay that makes little or no sense but is really funny:

Praise: Millenia ago your merchandise roamed free. I didn't bid then and I won't now.
Praise: Auctions are tools of the Devil. Raise your reserve before he bids on your soul!
Praise: I like my cars like I like my women - fast and expensive! Then I leave them.
Praise: Good kitty/fish. Nice kitty/fish. Just stay right there... GOTCHA!
Praise: I bet nobody tells YOUR bones what to do! Nobody Jones, that's who! ...What?
Praise: I once had a fork. It looked like a spoon, so I called it a spoon. Was I wrong?

Apparently Dubya is going to tell the world that "major combat" is over in Iraq. The end of violence and risk for our troops is always a good thing but it got me to thinking about the way this war has been waged. Until the Korean conflict we would "declare" war with articles of war in Congress. This time we authorized the president to use force at his discretion. Previously we would sign a peace treaty or armistice to signify the end of a campaign. Now we "declare" the combat to be over.

Therein lies the question: prior it took action on two parts to start and end a war but today only one of the parties needs to act? Using WWII as a reference let's examine this: Japan attacks the US, the US declares war, Germany surrenders, Japan surrenders, the US quits fighting. Today that sequence of events is US gives deadline, Iraq passes deadline due to either A) not having weapons of mass destruction or B) giving Uncle Sam the finger, US attacks, US declares fighting over. Don't the Iraqis have a say in this whole war being over bit? I don't mean to be stupid here but couldn't the bad guys just hide somewhere, wait for us to leave, and then roll back into town?

I'm not a military or political strategist but I don't think running the bad guys out necessarily constitutes victory or loss. I long for the old days of declaring war and negotiating treaties. Everything was a bit more clearly defined and the bad guys were definitely out of action. Look at Korea--we didn't declare war, didn't "win", and as a result North Korea is pissed off with nukes. I'm not saying Iraq will end like that because it is clear they are a conquered people. I do however feel that at least a few of these bad guys we chased off will show up again somewhere and do something bad.

My pal Johnny (as referenced in the I Love Meat Sticker Collection bit) has responded to the nod to his heritage in a nice little email I thought I might share:

T-Bone,

I finally got off my dead ass and checked your site out. I enjoyed it
greatly, and your reference to my lineage in the "I Love Meat Sticker
Collection" was greatly appreciated.

Those are some fine stickers, indeed, and I am currently developing a
nice layout in my mind for some sort of collage for the kitchen
featuring these meaty gems.

There you have it: the stickers are good enough for a well-bred butcher, then their good enough for you.

Lucinda Williams' latest effort entitled "World Without Tears" is an interesting album that many will hail as a great album. The album certainly grows on you but you may not listen to it enough to get to that point. It took five is six attempts for me to listen to the whole album because nothing about the music struck me as addictive. After a while I came to appreciate the well-themed music but found myself greatly annoyed with her vocal effort on this album.

Some reviewers will say that this is her finest effort to date but I would disagree. The production is raw and powerful--not polished which in the context of Williams' exposed songwriting is perfect for the mood of this album. The writing and vocal performances are less than we expect from her. Particularly painful is the country-rap tune "Sweet Side" and the lazy yet preachy "American Dream." The album is well-themed and consistent in its temperment even if this is her most risky production to date.

To sum it up, the music is weak, Williams doesn't always play up to her strengths, and if you can stomach a few bad cuts it may grow on you. It makes decent background music but is certainly nothing to inspire much more.

Matthew Bennett is an artist at the Butterfield Garage in St. Augustine. Not only is the Garage the epicenter of art in St. Augustine but Bennett's work is stunning! Matt is a fantastic fellow who I met in my parking lot and chatted up for a bit with my wife one afternoon. Soon after our introduction I noticed some new paintings reminiscent of pinup girls in the gallery. Not knowing it was Matt I picked up a postcard for the upcoming First Friday party at the gallery and low and behold the man responsible for these glorious paintings is my parking lot pal.

Matt's work is stunning in its use of color and playful in its style. The calendar girls are fantastic paintings but his other work, especially the sports references, are such a great bite of Americana updated with a great edge. It's impossible to resist his work.

You must check out his work at http://www.matthewbennett.net.

Apple announced a new music service that offers $.99 songs, downloads, the ability to share and burn music, and discounted full albums. On the surface, it seems like a rock-solid deal. I would definitely pay a buck to not waste my time searching for a song, hoping my downloads complete, and praying it's actually the song and not someone mistaking the artist or title.

It's got some flaws: sound quality is really good but the same as the CD, no liner notes or album covers, only works in the US and on a Mac, and only the major labels are represented. The good news is that by the time I get in my car to drive to my local music store I can already be listening to the tunes I want to hear. Further, if I only want one little dittie, I can buy one little dittie at a not-so-outrageous price. If I want the whole album I can download it at a much-reduced price, see the album cover in iTunes, share it with a few friends in the office, and burn it to CD. Luckily I live in the US and own both a Mac and an iPod.

We saw the Jacksonville Suns beat the Birmingham Barons 2-0 on Sunday. It was a good game with pretty good pitching. The new stadium is really nice and the weather was perfect. The most interesting thing about the day was the food.

When attending a game I rarely expect more than the usual hot dog, nachos, and peanuts menu. Oddly enough there was this pizza thing shaped like a pretzel. So we decided to try the pizza-thing and I must admit it was the worst stadium food item I've ever tasted. It was tasteless with a texture that honestly deserves its own category. It was so horrible we each ate the entire thing laughing to see who could stomach it the quickest. Good thing we had beer and the Suns were winning.

Todd Snider is in many people's opinion the second coming of Jimmy Buffett or John Prine. Todd has in fact record for both of those gentlemen but is in his own way a unique treasure and a must for anyone who is a fan of folk, Americana, the Memphis sound, or just plain ol' damn fine music.

Todd is from Portland, sounds like a Memphis pork sandwich served at a west Texas barbecue, topped off with a nice cool northwest breeze. He is a road-warrior who often sings of life on the road--the hardship of being without family and the awkward and funny people he meets. He is as much a dime-store philosopher as a singer.

Anyway, Todd has a new website where he publishes his road journal which like most of his music is funny at times with an always wry look on unusual situations. He is about as awestruck by fans as they are of him and his website reflects that. He's in the process of publishing his entire catalog of lyrics and chords for you aspiring "roots grunge" fans.

Check out his website at http://www.toddsnider.net.

I love Florida so when I write this it is clearly something pointed toward my own shortcomings: Florida drains the ambition from me. I get up every day knowing tomorrow is going to be a beautiful day and as such, accomplishing something will be just as easy tomorrow as it would be today. Thankfully, I have little talent to squander so it's not a great loss to humanity.

Maybe I'm overthinking this. I know I'll be more motivated tomorrow.

Some fans in Illinois are suing Creed for a sub-standard performance--as if that's not their normal show. Anyway, apparently the dude that wants to be Eddie Vedder so bad appeared "intoxicated" and as such didn't perform as expected. Further, the band's manager released a statement to fans telling them they experienced "the most unique of all Creed shows and may have become part of rock 'n' roll history."

From my seat I can't say there's much that could make their music any worse, so I'm cautious that this will actually be a successful suit.

The story's over at BlogCritics if you would like to read it.

Sunday afternoon we're going to see the Jacksonville Suns play. It's a AA baseball team with a new throwback stadium. I visited the old stadium and must admit anything is an upgrade. Regardless, I'm quite excited because I'm a minor league baseball fan. You can't beat the entertainment and nostalgia value found at a minor league park.

There's a fun story over at Wired that features Tony Graziano, a real trucker, reviewing 18-wheel simluation games. On the subject of the games' soundtracks Tony says:

Tunes can make the miles pass quickly - or seem excruciatingly long. The King of Route 66 soundtrack, which features screaming Top Gun-style anthems, was a buzz kill. Big Mutha Truckers had an ample radio dial, but only one country station. "Where's the Waylon Jennings? Where's the Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard?"

Anyway, I found it funny. Now I have to go to Dave and Busters and drive the big rig...

The Boing Boing gang made reference today to Tony Pierce's Busblog and his recent eBay auction to sell links on his site.

Not only is the auction a very funny twist on blogging, but the blog itself is actually quite amazing. The writing is excellent in its simplicity--I'm actually quite jealous of the talent that is displayed on the site. Often the topics are personal in nature, the pictures un-related yet funny, and the sentiments quite real. I hope I win the auction :)

So head over to the Busblog and enjoy!

When I was young I ate cereal daily. There wasn't a morning I left for school without something in my stomach. Usually sugar-coated and in colors that did not occur in nature, the ringlets of goodness ensured my daily well-being.

Today, breakfast is a lost meal. I don't know many people other than my wife's parents who eat breakfast regularly. Once awake, my wife and I scramble around trying to get ready and get on the road for our daily rigor. Rarely is there enough time to eat or so our perceptions tell us. Yet daily I long for bacon.

My pal Johnny comes from a long line of butchers and hence has quite a passion for meat. In a horrible turn of events Johnny's family sold the butcher shop and left the poor lad to get a job away from the life he loved. In despair, he writes poetry with many references to meat, scours butcher trade journals, and consumes anything dead or moving slowly. Regardless, his affection wore off on me and now I am obsessed with all things meat.

My lovely wife found these stickers and every meat-loving man, woman, and child should have a set. The stickers feature Delmonico steak, a whole chicken, a porterhouse, a pork chop, a ham steak, sausage links, and bacon! As a fine bonus an "I Heart Meat" badge and Department of Agriculture inspection sticker are included.

Does anyone else ever have these? I've got no gray hair anywhere else on my body nor is my goatee by any means going gray. Yet occasionally an ultra-thick snow-white hair grows upon my chin which irritates me until I pluck it out. Upon plucking I always notice that it is three-times thicker than any other hair I've ever seen--it's like a turnip root or something.

If anyone can explain this mutation of my facial hair please let me know.

When I was younger our television lineup seemed to be ever-expanding. New and exciting options became available like MTV, HBO, TBS, and WGN. While feeding our grubby little faces with Pepsi and potato chips our dial became crowded with more options than we could ever watch. I now have a handful of Discovery Channels, HBOs, Showtimes, and a specialty channel for any and every bizarre interest I or someone in my neighborhood my have.

Disney plans to open a new attraction in the Animal Kingdom during 2005 called "Forbidden Mountain - Legend of the Yeti." The guys over at BoingBoing have a pic of the proposed ride.

In case you don't frequent BoingBoing, you should know that Cory Doctorow certainly knows a thing or two about Disney. In fact, I highly recommend his book "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom." Mark isn't a bad writer either when he's not busy filming ads for Apple :)

It's not often that political correctness goes out the window these days but when it does, it is done with a sly wink and nod. Halley Suitt points out the steps needed to become an "alpha male" with such a twist of hilarity:

When it comes to being "PC", you may have noticed there's nothing particularly politically correct about alpha males -- another reason you gotta just love them. The are the consummate rule breakers.

So if you want lessons on "How to Become an Alpha Male" head on over to Halley's Comments for a little help.

In the early 90s, the web was primarily a spot to conduct research, share ideas, and innovate. Lots of lame homepages, including mine, popped up sometimes with the no purpose other than to share things the author found interesting. Photos, stories, and collections of links made their way onto the the first publishing media for the masses.

Given the nature of the world, this was bound to change and soon it did. As sure as any other good idea, there was money to be made and plenty of people to try to do just that. Soon eCommerce had changed the focus from sharing to sharing with a price. Information once free was now locked behind the door of security waiting for a credit card to release its power. Most of that previously free information was pornography but still, the focus had changed. Now the world was squarely interested in how the web could make money.

Yet again, the world changed. This time it was the realization that a new medium is not always the best medium. Many companies bent on twisting the Internet into its own profit center found that they just couldn't compete. Scarier still is that investors found this fact to be true much too late in many cases. And so the bust came.

What now? Well interestingly enough we have arrived back where we began--sharing information with one another freely. The hottest thing on the web are weblogs which allow the masses once again to easily and freely exchange ideas. Topics cover the range of human interests and disinterests. They often serve as a replacement or supplement for traditional news and opinion pieces.

I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same. I, for one, am glad to have seen it come full circle. My hope is that the concept of sharing ideas freely on the web sticks around a little longer than last time.

Being a former resident of Syracuse I can say that I'm really happy that the Orangemen won the national title. That being said, I spent the whole game obsessing about how good a dome dog would be. So for you Central New Yorkers that moved to escape the avalanche of snow every year, you might be comforted to know you can now have Hoffman hotdogs, Gianelli sausage, or Dinosaur Barbeque anytime you want it courtesy of TasteofCNY.com

The selection changes throughout the year so you'll find a variety of favorites rotating. Enjoy!

I know I consume more McWhatevers than I should, but it frankly scared me to hear McDonald's plans to change its image by introducing a new burger with "more wholesome meat." I never assumed I was eating premium beef when slopping a Quarter Pounder down, but using the words "more wholesome" implies my burger is the equivalent of the trashy girl no one wanted to take to prom.

Anyway, while trying to figure out what is currently in my patty, I found a neat little story with some popular McSandwiches from McDonald's around the world: show me the goods.