Star Wars: Episode III Preview

This just-released, extended preview of Star Wars: Episode III is very entertaining, although it contains so many scenes from the movie that it may spoil the movie for some of you (link from MicheleBoing).

Warning: Do Not Wear Helmet

The helmet to protect people you don't really love (link from BoingBoing).

Yes, this blog has degenerated into a collection of links I find on other blogs.

Degenerated? More like evolved. Hooooo!

Shut up. I created you. I can destroy you.

Destroy me? You can't even find your car keys. Besides, I'm a manifestation of your psyche. An incorporeal being, unlike your ear hair. How are you going to destroy me, drive a spike through my brain?

I could watch four hours of VH1's "I Love The 80s" where a bunch of C-list comics make fun of D-list musicians and actors from the 80s who used to be considered B-list artists and are now remembered for a few A-list works, the relevancy to their own lives of which is lost on the C-list comics whose stand-up acts consist of popping a few pills of E before going to stage to tell F-laden jokes about the difficulties of finding a woman's G-spot that will go over crowds five years from now like an H-bomb, if the comics are lucky enough to be shown on "I Love The 00s".

Okay. I'll be good.

Coatgate

This photo of Cheney at a ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz is like a reverse "Where's Waldo?"

I say "Coatgate" in jest--his attire is a faux pas, and calling it more than that is blowing the error out of proportion. But there is something absurdly funny at seeing the Vice President of our country sit in a sea of somberly-dressed mourners in a coat that looks like he bought it five minutes ago at a ski lodge.

It's the type of thing that lends itself to comedy. Robin Givhan wrote a snidely humorous article about Cheney's outfit. And, with a chorus of complaints against the Bush administration of being insensitive over the past several years (e.g. Rumsfeld auto-signing condolence letters to the families of dead soldiers, Wolfowitz not knowing how many Americans have died in Iraq, Bush not expressing his condolences to the tsunami victims until the third day) this image may be more symbolically powerful than one would at first guess.

On a tangential note, has anyone noticed how wardrobe malfunction is no longer used ironically? Who made the decision to take the air quotes of that one?

SpongeBrains

Sometimes I wonder if James Dobson, leader of the religious nutjob group "Focus on the Family", is secretly an athiest trying to tarnish religion in general. Every few months, he makes some loonly anti-gay comment under the name of God and it gets spread out through the entire media.

You may have heard of his recent attack against SpongeBob SquarePants and other cartoon characters for appearing in a children's video designed to promote tolerance of all people, including EVIL GAYS.

The United Church of Christ came out with a hilarious response to him. I wish more religious organizations would repudiate Dobson as publicly.

TEERRRRRPS!

Faith is restored! The Blue Bitches have been smacked!

They put up a good game, those 15-0 Duke Blue Dev--oops. My bad. Let me just get my electronic pen out.

15-0

So the 15-1 Duke Blue Devils--hold on a sec.

Blue Devils

It was a close game, but eventually the Maryland basketball team pulled away from the 15-1 Duke Sucky Sucks. What's the deal with Nik Caner-Medley? He used to be the doofus with double the last names and half the talent, and now he's the team's best player. When did the Beast with the Least become the Beast from the East?

Maryland has been playing poorly most of the season, and this may end up being their only marquee win, but who cares? I don't think anyone was expecting them to win. They were on the path to missing the NCAA tournament and now their season has life. Duke may have a rough second half of the season as they still have to play UNC, WF, and GT twice (for non-college-basketball fans, that's the Unruly Neat Co-op, Wiggle Freaks, and Gem-Tron, the basketball team from the 24th century).

Super Unleaded Comedy Fuel

Say what you want about the Bush administration, but give them credit where credit is due: providing the best fodder for comics and cartoonists than any administration in decades.

And for D.C. residents: this.

"What Did I Miss?"

(A sketch I wrote.)

A shabbily-dressed man with a crazed look slowly stumbles across the stage. CITIZEN, reading a newspaper as she walk, heads towards him. The man grabs her.

SHABBY MAN: Please, miss. What day is it?

CITIZEN: January 27th.

SHABBY MAN: What year?

CITIZEN: [puzzled] Year? 2005.

SHABBY MAN: [stunned] You're the first person I've seen in over twelve months.

CITIZEN: Where have you been?

SHABBY MAN: I was trapped under L'Enfant Plaza. I fell down a pothole and a car parked over me. The meter ran out. Five seconds later, it got a boot.

CITIZEN: Oh my God. It was there the whole time? How did you get out?

SHABBY MAN: A larger pothole took the car. I climbed out by standing on top of it.

CITIZEN: That's horrible. Can I get you something? What can I do?

SHABBY MAN: Please, just tell me what I missed.

CITIZEN: Where should I start?

SHABBY MAN: Anything. Sports. How are the Redskins doing?

CITIZEN: Well, Joe Gibbs came back.

SHABBY MAN: [gasps] The Gibbsiah. Are we in the Super Bowl?

CITIZEN: Um, no.

SHABBY MAN: Damn. We lost the Conference Championship.

CITIZEN: Not exactly.

SHABBY MAN: Second round?

CITIZEN: Hmmmm…

SHABBY MAN: Wild card?

CITIZEN: I'm not sure how to put this...

SHABBY MAN: 8-8?

CITIZEN: 6-10.

SHABBY MAN: [spirit crushed]. I can't believe it. They're worse than the Wizards.

CITIZEN: Actually, they're doing pretty good.

SHABBY MAN: And the Caps?

CITIZEN: How are you feeling right now?

SHABBY MAN: Not well.

CITIZEN: Let's switch to something else.

SHABBY MAN: [thinks for a moment] Bennifer! Are they--?

CITIZEN: I'm sorry.

SHABBY MAN: Oh. Brad and Jennifer?

[shakes head no]

SHABBY MAN: Britney and Jason?

CITIZEN: Who?

SHABBY MAN: Britney Spears and Jason A. Alexander. They got married in Las Vegas. I fell down the manhole the next day.

CITIZEN: They broke up after 55 hours.

SHABBY MAN: [looks away, stares off] All this time I thought I was living a dream. But it was really a nightmare. What about the gays?

CITIZEN: They still can't get married.

SHABBY MAN: Yeah, that makes sense.

CITIZEN: Are you interested in politics?

SHABBY MAN: The election! What's been doing on with the economy?

CITIZEN: It's still in a slump.

SHABBY MAN: Iraq?

CITIZEN: On the brink of civil war.

SHABBY MAN: The debates?

CITIZEN: Bush got creamed.

SHABBY MAN: So who's the new President?

CITIZEN: George Bush.

SHABBY MAN: What? Howard Dean still lost?

CITIZEN: Actually, it was John Kerry.

SHABBY MAN: Who?

CITIZEN: Exactly.

SHABBY MAN: Is there any reason to stay out here?

CITIZEN: Uh, American Idol is coming back for another season?

SHABBY MAN: I'll be in my hole.

Another Reason Google Rules

They released a television search engine (limited capabilities for now).

Ten to 20 years from now, when the totality of Google's business plan comes to fruition, I think they will be regarded as one of the most visionary, important companies, offline or on, to ever exist.

The Aristocrats

If you are on the borderline between going to heaven and hell, why not remove the guesswork and laugh at this.

South Park's Version of "The Aristocrats." (explanation in link)

If you want to get fired, this is the perfect video to play with the speakers turned all the way up.

When Car Ads Go Warped

Ford should buy this fake Volkswagen ad and show it nationally.

News Fun

"Inch of snow cripples North Carolina's capital." Finally. A city that even D.C. can make fun of.

Police Probe Allegation Against Bill Cosby" (read the 1st two paragraphs and check out the photo they chose)

Bush's Inauguration Speech

Although I have deep doubts based on the past four years that his actions will match his words, President Bush expressed some noble sentiments in his inauguration speech today. Sentiments that, if you take them at face value, are the heart of liberal internationalism. A few snippets:

"All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you."

"We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world."

What Bush is saying is amazing, actually. He is stating that the ideal of spreading liberty and fighting tyranny by itself is a worthy enough reason to use the diplomatic and military power of the United States.

Rarely in American history has any foreign policy action been sincerely argued solely for idealistic reasons. For Iraq, the administration focused on propping up Iraq's ties to Al-qaeda and WMD capabilities, i.e. tangible practical reasons.
If the Bush administration argued that we should invade Iraq solely because he was a brutal dictator and forgoed the WMD and Al-qaeda angles, do you think he would have gotten as much support for the war?

Bush's argument is as liberal as it gets. Human rights as reason enough for international action is the argument of organizations like Amnesty International. Yet, in essence, this is what Bush said.

Yes, it is very likely this is just an attempt to increase support for the war in Iraq by downplaying the previous rationales and playing up the one good rationale we have left. And the many alliances the Bush administration have made with repressive regimes in the past four years would leave one to be extremely skeptical that the President means what he says. But it is a worthy (and surprising) sentiment nonetheless.

The ¼ Assed, Half-Baked, Completely Obnoxious Pancake City Political Dictionary and Unnecessarily Long Title Revision Project

The writer of a political web site I read occasionally posted a humorous "Republican Dictionary" that was compiled from reader submissions by editors of The Nation, a liberal weekly periodical.

I read it, found a smattering of the entries funny but thought that the entry writers didn't have enough distance from what they were mocking and often eschewed a more clever route for a political jab. For example:

OWNERSHIP SOCIETY, n. Bush is a jack-ass!

See? Not very funny. So I embarked on one of my most obnoxious comedy ventures ever and started rewriting their dictionary.

CONCEITED, adj. 1. Thinking you are funnier than everyone else without actual proof. 2. Bush is a loser!

"Woah, this is harder than it looks." But I plowed on, getting up to "E" and fairly happy with what I wrote before going to bed.

I wake up today, open the file at my computer and…I got nothing. The entries whose heavy-handedness inspired me to rewrite them now seemed acceptable, some of them even funny.

This may either be a temporary lapse in creativity or a premature end to my grand plan. Regardless, here is A-E in the revised Pancake City Revised Republican Dictionary. Modified entries have an asterisk before them. You can see the original here.

*ACTIVIST JUDGE, n. A judge who is for women voting blacks voting gays voting…what? They can already vote? Fuck.

*ALARMIST, n. Scientist interviewed on NPR.

*ALLIES, n. Foreigners who do what we tell them to do in exchange for…um, I don't know. Surplus Twinkies?

*ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES, n. 1. Part of President's visionary plan to free America of her lifelong dependence on foreign oil by financing private-sector fuel cell companies coupled with a conservation-based energy policy that will---who are we kidding? Let's club some seals.

*BALANCED, adj. 1. A fundamental property of the universe that states for every anti-Bushon created in our universe, two to three pro-Bushons must be created in a separate universe. Also in this separate universe, all the life forms scream at each other and accuse their friends of jiggling the balls of terrorists.

BI-PARTISANSHIP, n. When conservative Republicans work together with moderate Republicans to pass legislation Democrats hate.

CIVIL LIBERTIES, n. Unnecessary privileges that you aren't afraid of losing unless you are a God-hating, baby-killing, elitist liberal who loves Saddam Hussein more than your own safety.

* CLARIFY, v. The exact opposite of what the President said yesterday.

* CLASS WARFARE, n. The noun cited when a Republican is asked if there is any warfare he doesn't like.

* CLEAN, adj. A powerful modifier that saves Republican legislators hours of time from having to write good environmental legislation.

* CLIMATE CHANGE, n. An air-tight explanation of global warming based on Newton's Fourth Law, "Shit happens," that is also based in one of the pillars of Republican philosophy, personal responsibility.

* COALITION, n. The United States of Britain with Special Guest, Banana Town.

* CONVICTION, n. What would have happened to the Bush administration if the Democrats controlled the investigative arm of Congress.

* CULTURE OF LIFE, n. By inference, a culture that is a lot better than the Democrats' condom-based Culture of Death.

* DEATH TAX, n. An absolutely horrible, cruel and unfair tax, if anything like its name suggests actually existed.

* DEMOCRACY, n. Holding a $40 million inauguration party in a time of war while forcing the people who voted 9 to 1 against you to foot the security bill. Suck it, D.C. If you don't like it, you can complain to your Senator…oh, that's right [snicker].

* DEMOCRATIC ALLY, n. Britain, Australia, Pakistan, Brazil…wait a minute. Pakistan? Almost-stared-a-nuclear-war-with-India Pakistan? Who unlatched the velvet rope for those nuts?

* DEREGULATE, v. A Republican meat processing plant owner's wet dream.

* DETAIN, v. An awesome new procedure that lets you hold someone as long as you want as long as you think he's a terrorist but never actually charge him as one.

* ECONOMIC PROGRESS, n. A condition that occurs when the following three criteria are met. 1. People in the upper class are better off than their parents. 2. People in the middle class are better--huh? Sure, I'll play racquetball. No, it's cool. I'll finish the rest later.

ECONOMIC RECOVERY, n. When three out of five software engineers who lost their jobs to outsourcing are able to find part-time work at Wal-Mart.

ELECTION FRAUD, n. Counting every vote.

* FAIRER, adj. Another modifier, similar to "clean", that is critical for any legislation to be successful. Example: "The Clean Fairer Death Tax Freedom Act of 2005"

Sizzlin' Hot Girl on Girl Action

That's what I would be writing about, if it weren't for the following post on Social Security. And being gay.

After thinking more about what I wrote a few days ago about President Bush's plan to partially privatize Social Security, I have come to two conclusions.

1. There is no way I can pass up the awesomely pretentious opportunity to link to one of my own posts. In fact, one day I hope to construct an entry made solely of links to other entries while I sip a grande mocha cappuccino from Starbucks and complain that no one reads my page.

2. I covered a very small number of the dynamics that will decide the eventual success or failure of President Bush's Magic Mystery Proposal and Tour Bus (details coming soon!). Since writing the post, I have thought of at least half a dozen factors I didn't consider at the time.

I think what I wrote is applicable to President Bush's aim to paint the Social Security system as being in crisis, but not to the overall effort to partially privatize Social Security. I'm not confident in predicting how it will turn out, primarily because I don't know how much importance to assign to the power of misinformation.

The Bush administration has been extremely successful exaggerating the truth, exploiting self-imposed boundaries of the press and using rhetorical techniques to manipulate people. In short, they synthesized the principles of advertising with politics more effectively than any administration before them. (I would be surprised if future Presidents, Republican and Democrat, do not follow their lead.)

The result of this heightened mix is that the debate over the correct course for Social Security may be determined much more by people's preconceptions and misconceptions than reality and fact. What these preconceptions are, how widely they are held, how easily they can be played upon and changed--the pieces are just starting to come together.

Some of this misinformation may even hurt Bush's efforts, like an AARP campaign saying his plan will be financed by killing 1 in 10 elderly people and selling their heads to punk kids to use as basketballs.

I hope facts have a strong role to play in this debate, but I'm doubtful. If they don't, I'll just have to comfort myself by remembering three simple principles:

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

RYAN SEACREST DOESN'T SUCK

...

At an anti-war protest in the run-up to the Iraq war, I saw a banner that said, "One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. --MILK."

"Wow," I thought, "That's really neat of milk to come out against the war."
Then the wind rustled the banner and I realized I misread the end. It said MLK.

Mix O' Stuff

* God: the first activist judge.

* People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. If you're rich enough to own a glass house, don't sully your hand with a dirty-ass stone. Have the maid do it.

* When a sports announcer says, "How do ya like that?" I usually don't.

Dog Story

Yesterday, my dog walking duties took me to a new house. Unfamiliar dogs require a strategy: open the door, say the dog's name several times in a bright, happy voice, and hope it doesn't go for the balls.

Arlo, a pint-size beagle, kept his distance. He wiggled a few steps towards me before losing courage and darting away, stopping only to launch a few high-pitched barks at the strange man in front of him.

Unfortunately for Arlo, dogs are the only creature in the animal kingdom that Hollywood movie logic works on. If you are ever burglarizing a house, and a vicious, rabid dog darts out of the darkness, his chain snapping tight inches before his fangs bury themselves into your thigh, there is no need to panic. For you really can toss the dog a T-bone steak and make it your friend.

Or, for Arlo, half a sausage treat, no bigger than a thumbnail. Before his treat, my intention was obvious: to snatch Arlo and ship him to the processing department of a Puppy Juice Factory. Afterwards, I could obviously be trusted, because bad people don't have treats.

If you think the logic behind this is suspect, let me say this: terrorists hate freedom. We didn't go to war for WMDs. Bad people don't have treats.

Alas, Hollywood movie logic works with no other animal. Put a real monkey on roller skates, and he will snap off his diaper and fling it at your head. Swim with the dolphins, mimicking their grace as you arc in and out of the water, and one of them will whack you in the gut with its snout while the other will snap off your trunks.

Face an unfriendly dog, though, and all it takes to gain his love is tossing him the doggie equivalent of a string of Mardi Gras beads. Flip them titties, doggie! Papa wants to take you on a walk.

Willy Wonka's Fantastical Crisis Machine

I will go on record now as saying that I think President Bush's proposal to privatize Social Security will turn out to be a political blunder (I'm assuming you know why it's bad on policy grounds). Two reasons, both relating to how he was able to convince many people that Iraq was an imminent threat to the United States.

One, people's fears over national security, influenced by 9/11, made them more open towards taking drastic actions. Essentially, many people accepted the administration's argument that it's better to be safe than sorry ("we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud").

Social Security doesn't tap into this primal fear of being hurt or killed that cuts across all age groups. It involves the fear of financial security, something less emotionally intense than personal security, and a fear that only affects a subset of the population, namely people receiving checks or about to receive them in the near future.

The lesser degree of fear, as compared to the overall mood invading Iraq, will make it harder for illogical or specious arguments to sway people.

The second reason why President Bush will find creating a false crisis much more difficult for Social Security than Iraq is that there is much more solid information available to Bush's opponents this time. Before the war, the state of Saddam Hussien's weapons programs were unknown. There were people claiming that we were vastly over-estimating the state of his weapons capabilities, but there was no convincing proof.

With Social Security, most of President Bush's statements can be fact-checked. The division between truth and deception is much more clear and it makes it easier for newspapers to say the truth without appearing biased and for people to evaluate the President's claims itself.

For example, take the President's claims that the Social Security system is in a crisis. Counter-answer: if we did absolutely nothing, and the economy did poorly, the trust fund would still pay 70% of benefits in 2042.

That's the type of simple, easily-understood response that was absent during what passed as the pre-war debate. Already, there is a sign that Bush is backing off the word "crisis" and switching to "problem" (search for "crisis problem", 2/3 down).

A multi-million dollar ad campaign financed by banking institutions plus intense lobbying can change a lot. But the initial indications is that Democrats are united, Republicans are wary of committing right now, and Bush's re-use of his successful "Create a Crisis" strategy may backfire as the trust it needs to pull off has eroded due to the aftermath of Iraq.

It can be done, especially with a Republican-controlled Congress, but it will take amazing political skills plus Democratic bungling to make it happen.

And everyone has permission of rubbing this in my face if I'm wrong.

Work, Brain, Work!

I'm not sure why, but I haven't been motivated to write for the past few days.

In the meantime, here's a pizza box.

Headlines That Aren't Quite Assuring

Company says it collected brains ethically (article link)

The Continual Death of Pancake City Cartooning

Yo, Amy.

For Keepergirl

Bucket O' Poop.

The Birth and Death of Pancake City Cartooning

I Can't Draw

Cat and Girl

My modus operandi for posting links is to bookmark them, wait a few days until I forget where I found the original link, and then present it as my own discovery.

Like Cat and Girl! The quality from comic to comic is uneven, but she draws from a greater bank of material than most comic creators choose to, and the result is that even when the gags aren't as sharp as they could be, the strip retains an infectious weirdness about it that make it fresh and interesting to read.

Cat makes lunch.

Cat and Girl feign interest.

People did a lot of drugs in the 60s...

...and then they made Superman comics.

"Jimmy, this gift you got me for Father's Day makes me sorry I ever adopted you as a son."

Fellowship of the Ring Com-E-D!

Hey, it's only three years late.

INT. HOBBIT'S ROOM, PRANCING PONY -- NIGHT

INSERT: MERRY SNORING SOFTLY ON HIS PILLOW.
INSERT: PIPPIN stirs slightly, then settles back to sleep.

WIDE ON: the door creaks open...THE FOUR RINGWRAITHS silently slide into the Hobbit's room.

The LOOM above each bed, raising their SHINING SWORDS ABOVE THE SLEEPING HOBBITS.

QUICK INSERT: Sam's eyes open wide.

In unison, the RINGWRAITS STAB THE HOBBITS, in a slashing,
hacking frenzy.

INT. STRIDER'S ROOM -- NIGHT
Strider is grimly listening to the sounds from his room.
INT. HOBBIT'S ROOM, PRANCING PONY -- NIGHT

Wide on: the RINGWRAITHS step back from the slashed beds in triumph.

CLOSE ON: a hacked blanket is pulled back to reveal nothing but a shredded pillow. The RINGWRAITHS SHRIEK.

RINGWRAITH1
"Aieee! They've turned into pillows."

HEAD RINGWRAITH whacks SUBORDINATE upside head.

HEAD RINGWRAITH
"You idiot. They tricked us."

RINGWRAITH1
"Oh. Well, I guess we have to try again tomorrow. Anybody up for a bite to eat?"

HEAD RINGWRAITH
"Are you crazy? We're not leaving now. They have to be within feet of here. Can't you feel the pull of ring?"

RINGWRAITH1
"No, but I can feel the pull of a doughnut."

RINGWRAITH2
"Roger's right, boss. I'm hungry too."

HEAD RINGWRAITH whacks subordinates.

HEAD RINGWRAITH
"You knuckleheads. We're not eating anything until we find them. Understand?"

RINGWRAITH1
"But it's dark outside. We have a hard enough time seeing in the day."

RINGWRAITH2
"You know, no one's using these beds. We restuff the pillows, get a few blankets...anyone have a sewing needle?"

RINGWRAITH4
"I've been waiting so long for someone to ask me that. I haven't did any serious sewing since the Second Age."

HEAD RINGWRAITH
"We. Are. Not. Taking. A. Nap."

RINGWRAITH1
"Why not?"

HEAD RINGWRAITH
"Because we're RINGWRAITHS. You know, sleepless creatures of the night? Neither living or dead? Ring a bell?"

RINGWRAITH2
"Well, we don't have to sleep, but it doesn't mean we wouldn't enjoy a short refresher if the opportunity arose."

RINGWRAITH1
"Hear, hear."

RINGWRAITH4
"Anyone have a thimble?"

RINGWRAITH2
"And another thing. You think Sauron could have provided us with a few padded saddles, being as we're mostly bone and all."

HEAD RINGWRAITH
"Do not disparage our dark master."

RINGWRAITH2
"I'm not disparaging him. I'm just saying the job would be a lot better with a few amenities. Like a hot shower every now and then. Have we smelled ourselves recently? What are we supposed to do, kill these guys with our swords or our stench?"

RINGWRAITH4
"Forget it. I found one."

HEAD RINGWRAITH smacks thimble out of RINGWRAITH4's hand.

HEAD RINGWRAITH
"Creatures of the dark do not sew."

RINGWRAITH2
"We don't sew now, but who knows what skill sets we'll need in the future?"

HEAD RINGWRAITH overturns a bed in anger and lets out a blood-chilling shriek. RINGWRAITH1, who has been deep in thought for the past few minutes, doesn't notice.

HEAD RINGWRAITH
"Enough. We are not getting doughnuts. We are not sewing or patching or knitting anything. And most of all, we are not taking a little nappy-wappy while our prey roams free."

RINGWRAITH1
"Wait, I got it! Here's how we can take a nap and still be on the job. We'll sleep in the beds, but you can just pretend to sleep. Then, when they come to kill us, you can wake us up and we'll kill them."

HEAD RINGWRAITH
"THEY'RE NOT TRYING TO KILL US! THEY'RE TRYING TO RUN AWAY FROM US.

RINGWRAITH1
"Really? How long has that been going on?"

HEAD RINGWRAITH
"THAT'S IT. THE NEXT MORON WHO SPEAKS GETS DICED INTO A HUNDRED PIECES AND FED TO MY HORSE."

RINGWRAITH1
"Your mean horse, Marauder, or your nice horse at home, Sprinkles?"

HEAD RINGWRAITH
"MARAUDER, THE HORSE WHO ATE SPRINKLES LAST WEEK."

The three RINGWRAITHS gulp and run out the room.

Lord of the Rings Special Edition Easter Eggs

This isn't new news, but I just found out about them today. In the scene selection of any of the disks, highlight the last chapter and press down. A ring icon will appear, which you can select to see an Easter Egg. The mock interview with Dominic Monaghan and Elijah Wood on the Return of the King Extended DVD is pretty funny.

Game Theory Puzzler

Five pirates have 100 gold coins. They have to divide up the loot in order of seniority (suppose pirate 5 is most senior, pirate 1 is least senior).

The most senior pirate proposes a distribution of the loot. They vote and if at least 50% accept the proposal, the loot is divided as proposed. Otherwise, the most senior pirate is executed, and they start over again with the next senior pirate.

What solution does the most senior pirate propose? Assume the pirates are very intelligent and extremely greedy (and that they would prefer not to die).

(Hint: Start by asking, "What would one pirate do?" and work your way up from there. Link to answer coming tomorrow here.)