I was sitting on the couch, watching the game and enjoying homecooked tacos, when the bug first landed on the screen, partially obscuring the number of runs Boston had scored thus far. The bug rotated a bit and then sat still.

"Git! Offathere!" I barked to the bug. The bug rotated a bit and then sat still.

"Git! Git!" Gesturing now, as if to a person standing in my way, shoving aside some air a few times. The bug crawled over to the number of outs and then sat still. more...

EFF employee/activist and science-fiction author Cory Doctorow gave a talk at Microsoft Research about why he thinks Bill & Co. should quit building digital rights management into their software. He manages to tie together cryptography, the invention of radio, e-books, Flowbees, the way AT&T used to own every phone in the country, player pianos, Apple iTunes, Ringo, the Luther Bible, DVD region encoding, and cellphone ringtones as he explains why DRM will never work and can only inhibit innovation and incredible business opportunities.

If you've rolled your eyes at me during my DVD region encoding rant (or my iPods-are-evil rant), GO READ THIS DAMMIT. It's also required reading for geeks and artists of all flavors.

(By the way, on the subject of ringtones, if you've chosen a cellphone that requires you to pay for ringtones, you're on crack. One of the greatest things about my Treo 600 pda/phone is that any old MIDI file can be a ringtone. Didja know that the Web harbors free MIDI versions of just about any tune you can think of? My phone alerts me to the end of a meditation sitting with a sparkly little rendition of "Within You, Without You." A nice little shot of George that always does me right.)

...a man who never lived had a relatively ordinary day. Happy Bloomsday to everyone, especially all my friends partying down in Dublin tonight! (Shouts out to DS, KC, SC, JH. Y'all have a cheese sammich and a glass of burgundy for me, y'hear?)

[Kudos to Google for the celebratory logo they're sportin' today. And finally, beware the Bloomsday virus!]

I keep an eye out for duck-related foolishness on the Web, to send to my friend the_lucky_duck. This here page may be the greatest duck posting ever.

In the wake of Ronald Reagan's death, most of the press coverage has been fawning. There have also been the expected hatchet jobs by certain leftists who have been waiting for years to dance on this particular grave. This piece in the Chicago Reader is more balanced, but still manages to note most of the ways in which our 40th President made the world I grew up in a meaner place. I also love this particular point:

People believed [Reagan] meant well and forgave the messes he made. Lucky for him, he didn't get the country into a mess so big that meaning well wasn't good enough. Sorry about that, George W. Bush.

"Every living creature dies alone."

Ten foods you should never eat. I am pleased to say that I have only eaten two of the ten (#7 and #8), and neither of those within the past year or so.

[spotted at The Morning News]

Ray Charles has been on my "gotta see him perform before he's gone" list for several years. I never got around to seeing him, and now it's too late. The Associated Press obituary taught me several things I didn't know about him, including his real last name.

Here we have the online presence of the New York City establishment that inspired the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld. Do not miss the rules or return policy.

Robert Plant sang to me this morning:

And if you feel that you can't go on
And your will's sinkin' low
Just believe and you can't go wrong
In the light you will find the road.

There's a missing piece here, though: What if you can't find the light?

I'm George W. Bush, and I've got everything under control.

Parents attend son's funeral. Parents go home. Parents receive phone call from son.

[spotted on The Morning News]