This is absolutely the driest humor I have ever come across. Two parts, slightly dated to winter of last year but spot on humor. Don't miss the analysis of the instabilities inherent in The Shire's pipe-weed based economy in Part 1.

] Chomsky: Is there any kind of idea that men should live
] in peace with the Orcs?
]
]
] Zinn: Think of the scenes in the prologue with all the
] arrows hitting these thousands of Orcs. We're supposed to
] think that this is a good thing.
]
]
] Chomsky: I think this is a tragedy, this story. Because
] it's about two cultures. And poor leadership. It's a
] human tragedy, and an Orcish tragedy.

Unused Audio Commentary By Howard Zinn & Noam Chomsky, Recorded Summer, 2002, for The Fellowship of the Ring (Platinum Series Extended Edition) DVD, Part Two

] A new sense of the shifting Internet population
] The online population is fluid and shifting. While 42% of
] Americans say they don’t use the Internet, many of them either
] have been Internet users at one time or have a once-removed
] relationship with the Internet through family or household
] members. This report focuses on several new findings about those
] who say they do not use the Internet

Highly recommended reading for an unbiased look at Who (Doesn't) Use the Internet

Pew Internet & American Life Project

] Michigan State University President Peter McPherson, who
] served as the second-highest Treasury Department official
] in the Reagan administration, is being tapped as the
] government's point person on financial matters
] related to the rebuilding of Iraq.

Bush to appoint Iraq financial czar

This is Very cool.

Luminex

] The very technology that revolutionized retail checkout -
] the bar code - is now being subverted by anti-capitalist
] protesters who fancy themselves cyberpranksters.
]
] The activists drew the ire of Wal-Mart Inc., the world's
] largest retailer, with a Web site that encouraged people
] to "name their own prices" by offering hundreds of
] substitute bar codes.
]
] Wal-Mart considered the ploy an incitement to theft and
] sent a cease-and-desist letter dated April 2 to one of
] the companies that was hosting the Web site, Re-code.com.
]
] Re-code.com's operators responded by disabling the link
] on their Web site that allowed users to print sheets with
] a selection of bar code labels that could be slapped on
] store items.

Prankster Web Site Draws Wal-Mart Ire

] APRIL 16--While all news organizations prepare obituaries
] in advance of the deaths of famous individuals, the folks
] at CNN inadvertently gave the Internet-surfing public a
] chance to preview how the network's web site would note
] the demise of Vice President Dick Cheney, Ronald Reagan,
] and a few other prominent figures. Until earlier this
] afternoon, a CNN server housed mock-ups of web pages
] announcing the yet-to-happen deaths. The CNN pages, which
] were discovered by the intrepid folks at fark.com, were
] yanked about 20 minutes after being exposed (though TSG
] was able to grab a few of the pages for posterity's
] sake). The premature obituaries, which were housed in a
] publicly accessible area of the CNN server, were
] apparently the work of Peter Rentz, a senior multimedia
] designer at CNN. The mock-ups are virtually identical to
] the obituary design currently used by CNN when a notable
] person dies (click here to see how CNN covered the Queen
] Mother's death). In fact, elements of the Queen Mum's
] obit template can be seen in the below Cheney mockup. In
] addition to Cheney and Reagan, CNN has also prepped
] online farewells to Fidel Castro, Bob Hope, and Nelson
] Mandela. (4 pages)

The Smoking Gun: Advance Obituaries

] How to get your Econobox into the 14's **A MUST READ**

It's so painful to watch a car get gutted like this. You'd think that all of my experience of watching Monster Garage would have jaded me at this point, but I guess not!

If you ever want to make something stop existing, the Milwaukee Sawzall is the tool.

How to GUT a 2001 Sentra

Linked from Penny Arcade. Not sure if this is real or not...
I could almost imagine it is...

Spiele: Steelhead Battalion

Pictures of the men and women who roam the digital frontier.

Hacker Pics, Pictures, Photos, Photographs

More on Sony and "Shock and Awe"

Shock, Awe and Retreat (www.frictionlessinsight.com)

After a barrage of criticism, Sony has dropped its prospective
trademark registration for the phrase "Shock and Awe" which it had
intended to use as a video game title. That phrase was used by the American military to characterize a particular segment of its war plan in Iraq. According to a Sony Computer Entertainment of America spokesman, "It was an exercise of regrettable bad judgment in that it disregarded the context in which the term has been used. SCEA will withdraw this application. Steps will be taken to heighten awareness throughout the Sony Group so as not to repeat such issues."

More on Shock and Awe