Says Hugh Hewitt: … the weakness of Kerrry as a candidate is obvious from the fact that it has now been 38 days since Kerry sat down on camera with a major figure from American journalism for an in-depth interview that would be certain to bring up Kerry’s whoppers about his Vietnam service. I see. And the last Bush on-camera interview with a major figure from American journalism was… when? Larry King, on August 12th? So that’d be 26 days ago or so. ...

The Pixies cover Warren Zevon: Take a listen (original). (Via Jim Henley (original), who will also point you at the tribute album.)

I just installed and sorta tested Chad Everett’s MT-Notifier (original). If all goes as planned, you can now subscribe to comment threads either when you post a comment or without posting a comment. I could make it possible to subscribe to all the comments posted on Popone, too, if there’s a deluge of demand, but I’m kinda not anticipating one. Oh, and I have six gmail invites, first come first serve.

Judicial Watch has requested an investigation of Kerry’s activities after his release from active duty; namely, his discussions with delegations from North Vietnam in Paris. They’ve also joined the howling pack that would like to prove that Kerry’s medals weren’t earned. I don’t particularly feel the need to waste my time debunking these myths — you’ll note that it is not illegal for servicemen to speak with officials of foreign governments, and while it is illegal for them to negotiate with such officials, it’s hard to figure out how an ordinary citizen on inactive duty would have the power to negotiate anything. What I would like to do is discuss the claims that Judicial Watch is “non-partisan.” ...

Once again, it’s the politics of fear. This time, it’s Zell Miller talking about how desperately afraid he is. And like you, I ask: Which leader is it today that has the vision, the willpower and, yes, the backbone to best protect my family? The clear answer to that question has placed me in this hall with you tonight. For my family is more important than my party. There is but one man to whom I am willing to entrust their future, and that man’s name is George W. Bush. ...

“For about $10 million, city officials believe they can turn all 135 square miles of Philadelphia into the world’s largest wireless Internet hot spot.” 135 square miles is 3,763,584,000 square feet. Let’s pretend each access point is giving us about 50 feet of range That’s 7,853 square feet per access point, or 7,500 for easy calculations and to allow some slippage. So… around 502,000 access points. That’s 20 bucks an access point even if you don’t allow for wiring costs. But the article says “hundreds, or maybe thousands of small transmitters.” ...

Every now and then I use my cell phone camera, meaning to upload the picture and share it immediately. The sharing part never happens. This, then, is housekeeping. It’s tough to make out, but this sign (which was on a gas pump) wants me to “click www.87rewardme.com.” I tried, but I couldn’t find a mouse. Or a screen. Arrr! Pirates, me hearties! A game of Pirates of the Spanish Main under (heh heh) full sail. ...

Look, ma, I upgraded to Movable Type 3.1! It’s cool. I am pondering my commenting options; it seems not impossible that I will set the blog to post TypeKey-authenticated comments immediately while screening non-TypeKey-authenticated comments; the legitimate non-TK comments would still get posted, just with a bit of a delay. Or maybe not, since I haven’t had a ton of comment spam recently. Thoughts, bearing in mind that the easiest thing for all of you (no screening, no worries) requires more effort on my part (deleting spam comments)?

When someone sets a pipe bomb off (original) at a biotech lab doing stem cell research? That’s what I would call terrorism. This is a company that’s trying to find a cure for diabetes, and someone hates them enough to try and kill people. I am so tired of this hatred for science.

Those of us who miss the Warren Ellis who wrote Stormwatch, Excalibur, and Transmetropolitan should check out Ultimate Fantastic Four. I, obviously, already have. The run starts with issue #7 and it is superb. Ellis likes to dislike superheroes, which is a real pity, since it’s his best genre. He’s doing cool things with the Fantastic Four which boil down to “what if they transformed while they were kids,” and it’s working very well.