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I typically don’t like seeing previews, but after watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Shrek the Third (both of which were good), I’ve been fortunate to see the trailer for the upcoming Transformers live-action film.

Looks pretty bad ass — here is to hoping they don’t overdramatize the artificial chemistry/emotions between the various characters (like in Independence Day or Starship Troopers).

Some funny clips of random shows:

- From NBC’s The Office - Dwight’s Pepper Spray
- Parody of the “I Don’t Remember” testimonies given by Justice department officials regarding the Attorney General firing scandals
- Funny preview to upcoming “prehistoric comedy” called Homo Erectus
- Kinda dorky Star Wars PSA (see also this revisionist history of the plot)
- Will it Blend — as the title suggests, videos from people trying to chop stuff up in a blender

Thanks to Robin and Justin for several links.

CollegeHumor is hosting one of the better “That’s What She Said” remixes, and it involves everyone’s favorite space opera: Star Wars (popularized by Steve Carell’s character on The Office).

And Michael Maloof (the guy behind the McFly 2015 shoe project) sent word that The Guardian showed some interest in his endeavor (under “What We Learned”). [See also this CNet podcast discussing the shoe too]

To end on a high note, literally, Sasha Mendez sent me a link to a random video he put together involving lightning and drums.

Simple answer: neither one has bothered to do a simple google search on Ron Paul.

Ferguson is your cookie cutter neocon talk-show radio host, whom also shares the same birth year as myself — thus making him the youngest nationally syndicated radio bobblehead.

On a recent Paula Zahn segment of CNN he suggested that Ron Paul’s discussion of Blowback last week was frivolous, fallacious, and a way to boost his media exposure.

Regardless as to whether or not the “theory of blowback” is valid whatsoever, Ferguson and others fail to realize that Paul has been giving speeches and writing articles on this very topic before the Iraq War even began. It is not new, nor is it his own fringe theory.

In fact, Michael Scheuer, former Chief of the CIA’s Osama bin Laden Unit, has gone on record suggesting that bin Laden’s actions were in direct response to America’s foreign policy throughout the Middle East — that it was blowback.

Which brings us to Eric Dondero, who served on Ron Paul’s election committee for several years. Mr. Dondero recently published a letter admonishing Ron Paul’s alleged “Blame America” statements at the debate, therefore now Dondero intends on running against Paul for the Congressional seat in Texas.

While I have never met Mr. Dondero, a cynic could call his accusations shrewdly timed and carefully calculated.

Dondero also seems to have ignored the dozens of essays and speeches written and delivered by Paul during Dondero’s term of service (1997-2003), many of which lambaste the shortsighted foreign policies executed and promoted by the administration and Congress.

From the horses mouth:
- Ron Paul’s articles at LewRockwell.com
- Paul’s articles at Antiwar.com
- A couple of his books (1 2)

Note: I lament the attack on Congressman Paul for several reasons, the biggest of which is that he is an amigo of both the Internet (never voted to tax or regulate it) and innovative technologies in general (he is staunchly anti-regulation/free-market). Geeks and nerds have someone to actually root for this time around.

The Wall Street Journal published an interesting editorial this past week regarding the market for education credentials.

The long story short, a dean was recently fired at MIT for lying about her credentials (she falsely claimed to have three non-existent degrees)… 28 years after being hired for the job.

While this was fraud in the first-degree, the thing is, she did a great job as a dean, despite lacking the training/credentialing.

The author notes that one of the kinks in the general labor market is the assumed need for a college degree in the first place.

However, he then suggests that degreeism has more to do with the ability for potential employers to indirectly screen for IQ, which is illegal for them to do directly in any form or fashion - so they use universities as a proxy.

If nothing else, this is a perfect example of the distortions regulations can cause in market transactions, the unseen effects of legislation — as the entire educational industry has been turned into something it is really crappy at doing.

See also John Taylor Gatto and Malcolm Gladwell. Note: this also touches on monopolistic licensing, such as practicing law, which Lysander Spooner fought.

Thanks to DJC for the link.

The all too important question was recently tackled by The Onion News Network.

I doubt he’ll ever get the nomination, but at least he’s spreading some decent ideas and provoking discussion that would otherwise never occur or simply remain stale.

- Debate from the Reagan Library
- Debate from last night in South Carolina
- Wolf Blitzer follow-up with Paul

And if you liked those but are more of a Donkey, then you may enjoy Mike Gravel.

See why Giuliani is an opportunistic douche — who uses the 9-11 card like a one-hit charlatan. More about Ron Paul.

Oh and Spiderman 3 wasn’t all that good, at least in terms of action (his emo-look was kinda funny).

If you are a fan of UFC, then watching Chuck Liddell getting pummeled by a Pride FC fighter probably isn’t something you brag about.

And speaking of fights, the De La Hoya - Mayweather fight was pitiful. After watching it (along with the 2 pre-fight fights) I think Bill Simmons of ESPN sums up my annoyed thoughts perfectly.

Here is some video from a recent storm chaser in Oklahoma similar to those nasty Kansas killers this past weekend.

To turn that frown upside down, here is perhaps the best karaoke song of all time: Livin’ On A Prayer by Bon Jovi.

If you have spent any amount of time on USENET or net forums, you have probably bumped into Flame Warriors. However, this little documentary probably sums up some of that subculture behavior best. As does this animated gif.

And the two videos rounding this off are Dancing Queen by ABBA and some stand-up comedy about cake by Jeff Gaffigan.