Sometimes you just need a good Transverse Cylindrical Equal Area Projection of the world -- note that this mind-bender is "used sparingly," hmmm, wonder why. To make your own map, click over to the very cool National Atlas MapMaker site and zoom in on an area, then overlay geographic and political features, historical landmarks, climate, transportation, or census data to your hearts content. Nerd alert!

"He’s not here simply to hit, catch, and run. He’s here to remove the stick." -- That's Johnny Damon, The Judas of the Outfield, and that stick is up his fellow Yankees' asses. In this fawning, all-access interview with New York Magazine, Johnny makes it clear why he followed the money down to the Big Apple -- he'll say and do anything to get famous. Exhibit A: "This is Alex and Derek’s team; I’m just proud to be part of the tradition." Blech!

Slavery = " the ticket to America for black people"! -- Sort of like how Guantanamo is the Club Med for political prisoners, I guess. Way-right-wing columnist in Washington state tries to condemn Democrats and teachers unions with a shoutout to slavery: "A harsh life, to be sure, but many immigrants suffered hardships and indignations as indentured servants. Their descendants rose above it." Behold my expression as I read this here.

"How would you drop huge bombs on urban neighborhoods in a competent way? How would you deploy cluster munitions that shred the bodies of children in a competent way? . . . The only way to do this war right is to not do it at all." -- Right on! A thoughtful column on the need for a "peace effort" and an end to "the charge to slaughter in the name of freedom to serve profit," from Norman Solomon.

"Unlike the majority of plastic action figures, Duke can actually arch his back and raise his head somewhat." -- Which makes it easy for him to do yoga! From the mind of Fussy comes Yogabeans, people. Makes you wonder what sort of photographic fun you could have with those old Strawberry Shortcake dolls, doesn't it? A stop-action soap opera, perhaps? Hmmm...