Los Angeles Times on the history of the pipe organ.

It looks likely that Arianna Huffington will run for Governor. Should be fun to watch.

One of the dumbest things I've read about in some time. No surprise John Poindexter is involved.

Went to Del Mar on Monday to play the ponies. Won $27. Hit a trifecta in the second race, but with two favorites in a six-way field, it only paid $22. Then I hit a quinella for $51 in the sixth. Should have won more than I did, but my favorite horse of the day, Lori M'Love, #1 in the fifth race, was running at good odds, and I figured it was a good race to pump some money on Lori to win, along with a fair amount of exotic wagers. Lori leads most of the way, has a wide lead going into the final stretch, only to get nudged out by a nose in a photo finish. And the horse that did it, Revillew Slew (road by Desmoreaux...should've known), wasn't in any of my exactas/trifectas, so no big payday there. And in the last race, I put a fair amount on a 23-1 shot, turns out there was a reason he was at those odds. Good thing it was the last race and the track is dark on Tuesdays, because I think he's still running that race.

On a related note, I finished the book Seabiscuit tonight. I enjoyed it, though more as light entertainment than as the triumph of the human (and equine) spirit it has often been portrayed to be. Looking forward to seeing the movie, though I have misgivings. Seems rather treakly.

An excellent article on the California recall election. If you don't have a Salon subscription (and if you got $30 to blow, you really should), get the day pass by watching an ad, its a great, funny article. I believe I'm having a change of heart on the recall, at least to the extent that its now a fait accompli. I'm half-way through the book Seabiscuit (want to finish it before seeing the movie), and realize that maybe, just as the people then needed a distraction from the Great Depression and looming war, we today need a fun election to cheer us up after all the pointless political ramblings going on (God help me, I have a feeling Joe Lieberman may be the Democratic nominee...makes me sick to my stomach to think about it). The $30-$35 million price tag is cheap compared to the average Summer blockbuster, which don't seem to be doing the job anymore. And there's no consequences, really: The state was totally boned even without the election bill, and even if a total moron like Issa wins (the IQ comment in the link above was the funniest thing I've heard in awhile), they can't do too much harm, and will inheirit enough grief to guarantee them a defeat in 2004 (which is why I had thought Schwarzenneger would be smart enough not to run). So I say, bring it on. To quote the Salon article, "The recall drive is a little like those photos of Uday and Qusay -- they're horrifying, but you can't help wanting to look."

Just in case Arnold Schwarzenegger's involvement wasn't enough, more headlines emerge to indicate what a joke the recall election is.

The BBC on the precedent for displaying corpses of leaders. Liked the Che Guevara comparison.

Neal Pollack on the Believer-ULA feud. Thought he got both sides pretty good.

Curse of the Audio Commentaries of the Damned.

Powell's Books has an interview with Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

The Bush administration is now rooting out CIA operatives for political gain. Didn't they fry the Rosenbergs for this kind of thing (allegedly).

House rolls back new FCC regulations. Doesn't go particularly far, but at least its egg on the Bush administration's face.

Chicago police appologize to Ice Cube.

The Getty's Illuminating the Rennaisance exhibit looks awesome. I'm going to have to go up and check it out. I've only been there once, but their illuminated manuscript collection was definately my favorite thing there.

The solutions to McSweeney's "How You Jellin'" contest made me laugh. This week's contest is hard...I've only got two so far, but I'll keep working at it.

It's been brought to my attention that the exact title of the Futurama episode screened at Comic-Con was "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV," not "Bender Shouldn't Be on TV," as erroneously reported below. Mr. Myers regrets the error.

Questions for VH-1's "I Love the 80's" Expert Celebrity Commentators.

The good people at Can't Get Enough Futurama have synthesized my report on the Futurama panel with that of several far more observant participants, to create a nice overview of the Comic-Con 2003 Futurama panel.

I went to Viejas with my mom for lunch today. They are having a promotion where they send you a card, and you can go up and swipe it over the course of a week, and win a prize each time. A different week is assigned to different neighborhoods, apparently, so this week is my neighborhood's chance. It looked like a good promotion, since you are a guaranteed winner, until I realized one of the prizes was simply a second-chance entry into the drawing for something at the end of the month. After hearing that the Monty Hall promotion at Barona was a big dud (apparently, they didn't give away the car they had been hyping--the guy trying for the car ended up with a two-night stay at the Barona Valley Ranch Hotel; or so I hear--I wasn't in attendance), I had low expectations of this one. We scanned our cards, though. Mom won a T-shirt. I won $1000. So it turns out it might be an okay promotion after all. I lost $100 at poker, but $900 is a nice profit for an hour or so.

My photos of Comic-Con 2003 are now up. Be sure to check out my photo with Matt Groening.