My opinion of Christopher Hitchens seems to be in a constant state of flux. He's the embodiment of a pompous ass, and yet seems to relish it. His television appearances smack of a sneering intellectualism, but it's almost comic, as though he's having one big laugh with himself and the audience, often at the expense of the host.

You need look no further than Hitchens' appearance discussing Jerry Falwell on Hannity & Colmes for an example of that (Actually that's a great picture of how I generally feel about Hitchens. He starts off rather intelligently and ends with "If you give Falwell an enema you could bury him in a matchbox.")

And my opinion of him remains in flux over this piece in Salon: Siege of Paris. On the one hand, parts of his opinion piece rub me the wrong way. On the other hand, this seems very nearly perfectly aligned with my take on the whole thing:

Stuck in my own trap of writing about a nonsubject, I think I can defend my own self-respect, and also the integrity of a lost girl, by saying two things. First, the trivial doings of Paris Hilton are of no importance to me, or anyone else, and I should not be forced to contemplate them. Second, she should be left alone to lead such a life as has been left to her. If this seems paradoxical, then very well.

McSweeney's needs some help:

As you may know, it's been tough going for many independent publishers, McSweeney's included, since our distributor filed for bankruptcy last December 29. We lost about $130,000—actual earnings that were simply erased. Due to the intricacies of the settlement, the real hurt didn't hit right away, but it's hitting now. Like most small publishers, our business is basically a break-even proposition in the best of times, so there's really no way to absorb a loss that big.

Yeah, Bobby on the boat was saying how you probably don't even hear it or know it when it happens.

I think the point of the ending is that you don't know what happened. I'm pretty sure they just want people to speculate and create some buzz, and I think they were pretty successful on that front despite how much some people hated the ending. But I agree with the idea that whether or not Tony did or didn't get shot, that the last scene sort of puts you in Tony's shoes; every person everywhere looks suspicious and you're wondering "IS THAT GUY A HIRED GUN? IS HE A COP/FBI?". Just the level of paranoia is incredible, even when you're trying to relax, just eating in a greasey spoon diner with your family. I think the end of the show just sort of says THIS IS TONY'S LIFE, and this is all it can ever be. It goes on and on and on until one day it all just goes black.

Do you think one of you can knit a cubicle cozy for my cubicle?

Pentagon Confirms It Sought To Build A 'Gay Bomb':

"The Ohio Air Force lab proposed that a bomb be developed that contained a chemical that would cause enemy soliders to become gay, and to have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistably attractive to one another," [Edward] Hammond[, of Berkeley's Sunshine Project] said after reviwing the documents.

"The notion was that a chemical that would probably be pleasant in the human body in low quantities could be identified, and by virtue of either breathing or having their skin exposed to this chemical, the notion was that soliders would become gay," explained Hammond.

I dunno, clearly she's obsessed with knitting, and her name is also Alison. Maybe it's just a matter of time.

okay... here's some perspective...

lest you all be concerned that my particular fibre addiction is out of control, at least i'm not knitting a house!

i'm not feelin' the Tony shot theory. I'm leaning more towards the Journey explanation - the song gets cut off before the line, "it goes on and on and on and on"

every day shit just keeps going on, Tony's still depressed, regular shit builds up and it's silly for the audience to expect this big movie mob blow out, when really throughout the series he was supposed to portray the every man (in a sense)

the real death scene in that episode was when he confronted Junior, and all his memories were wiped out.

but yeah that was admittedly a pretty powerful way to end the series. as was foreshadowed, "You don't hear it when it happens."

please explain to me why, when it's so bloody important to our careers on campus, does WebMail continually fail to function?

This whole log in three times to actually get to my inbox is driving me CRAZY!

Best of luck to the Polaris team from the U of A's Comp Sci department in July, when they pit their Texas Hold'em AI against a pair of professionals in Vancouver. I can't wait to find out how they do.