Rooftop Report

Morning Bang

For your pleasure, the Wednesday morning link party.

• Wonkette makes the gossip columns. Damn, she is, like, famous now.
• Page Six wants me to believe that Halle Berry used a body double. Isn't that like using a fake basketball player to sub for Michael Jordan?
• Oliver, Oliver Wills that is, needs your help restoring his Google placement
• Hmm, I don't know what I think about this.
• and finally, check out this great quotes website. Hat tip: Michele

Feel free to add a link of your own, just make sure you reference back to this post. If your blog tool doesn't automatically generate trackbacks, use this nifty little thing.

Trivia/Riddle:

Yesterday's answer: Seal, Camel, and Eland (which apparently is some sort of large African antelope). Anyway, Guancous gets credit for the right answer anyway. Congrats. Score: 1 Guancous - - 0 Rest of World.

You can find yesterday's question here.

Today's Trivia/Riddle:

Only one word can be anagrammed from SPRINGIEST. What is it?

Post answers in the comments or send via email. Once people start guessing the right answer I will put up a standings board on one of the sidebars.

Morning Bang

Good morning folks, here are your links for the day. I especially like the Clay Aiken one; I thought he was gay though?

• Clay Aiken getting a handful of yummy.
• Jamie-Lynn Sigler's husband hints at his wife's real birthday present; idiot.
• Michele talks about her headache inducing dinner that consisted of a Bush speech, a trivia game, and crying babies (not from Bush's speech I assume).
• Outside the Beltway has a roundup of Bush's speech last night. Well, the roundup from the right at least.
• Pandagon has, what should be, the standard left response to Bush's speech.
• And finally, Wizbang has an interesting new way to save yourself, and your blog, from slow loading Blogrolling times.

Feel free to add a link of your own, just make sure you reference back to this post. If your blog tool doesn't automatically generate trackbacks, use this nifty little thing.

Trivia/Riddle:

Yesterday's answer (for the zero people that guessed): Margot likes unknown writers. She only likes words with a silent letter.

You can find yesterday's question here.

Today's Trivia/Riddle:

The names of three mammals are hidden in the following sentences. Find them. All the letters are in the correct order.

The large crowds at the flea market came looking for bargains.I took off the peel and ate the banana.He has no judgment, no sense altogether.

Post answers in the comments or send via email. Once people start guessing the right answer I will put up a standings board on one of the sidebars.

Morning Bang

Monday morning, how I loathe thee:

• Dave Berry has some tips on grocery shopping etiquette.
• Is there anything the Bush administration won't lie about? Well, Kos shows that even bike accidents are worked by the spin team, so I guess not.
• Free airline tickets if you can prove you are a virgin?
• Ooooohhhh, awwwwwww, a handheld Nintendo.
• Finally, the Simpsons talking about blogging? That is what Michele thinks.

Feel free to add a link of your own, just make sure you reference back to this post. If your blog tool doesn't automatically generate trackbacks, use this nifty little thing.

Trivia/Riddle of the day:

Margot likes knights but not battlers; she likes writing but not typing; she likes to listen but not to sing. Does she like an unknown or a famous author?

Post answers in the comments. First person to get the answer receives a brand new car. Well, that isn't true, but they get to feel good about themselves.

Morning Bang

An end of the week linkfest for ya:

• The Outer Life figures out the odds of a pimple could ruining his day. Who would have thought it would be so close to the likelihood he would be struck by lightning?
• Rebecky makes an obvious point in a not so obvious way
• Spoons thinks Bush has chutzpah. So many things done wrong and still so cocky; gotta love the prez.
• The Chipmunks go locco. You have to watch this
• and finally, Drudge Retort tells us that at the end of WWII the Brits may have been planning biological warfare via pigeon

Feel free to add a link of your own, just make sure you reference back to this post. If your blog tool doesn't automatically generate trackbacks, use this nifty little thing.

Trivia/Riddle of the Day:

Okay, new rules. First person to answer the riddle/trivia question in the comments or via email correctly gets a point. What those points will be worth? I have no idea, yet.

Now, come on folks, this is easy.

Until I am measured I am not known, Yet how you miss me When I have flown.

Morning Bang

The daily linkfest, this time to honor the 24th anniversary of my last week in the womb.

• Michele at A Small Victory thinks Day by Day may have finally made it.
• Steven Taylor breaks down the psychology of teacher reviews
• Tony Pierce wonders what happened to Instapundit [hat tip: Atrios]
• Wonkette has moved on from her Washingtonienne story... or has she?
• Finally, Pandagon wants everyone to read a story that is sure to make your blood boil.

Feel free to add a link of your own, just make sure you reference back to this post. If your blog tool doesn't automatically generate trackbacks, use this nifty little thing.

Trivia/Riddle for the day:

Trivia question will be repeated as I received no emails about it:

Until I am measured I am not known, Yet how you miss me When I have flown.

Please send all your answers to me via email. A right answer earns you a point in the yet to be released standings list. The leader in said unreleased standings at the end of each month will win an undetermined prize.

Ambiguous I am.

Morning Bang

Stealing an idea from Outside the Beltway, I am going to turn the Morning Bang into a link fest, with one added caveat though; a trivia question.

• Wizbang points users to a story about Britney Spears and lesbian love; I am forever grateful.
• Insults Unpunished needs your help in his march towards 500,000 users
• Dave Pell thinks Apple isn't that bad of a name, in comparison to others at least.
• Lileks ponders the unthinkable; has Sopranos jumped the shark?
• Finally, Oliver Willis wonders which game is easier to forecast: football or baseball.

Feel free to add a link of your own, just make sure you reference back to this post. If your blog tool doesn't automatically generate trackbacks, use this nifty little thing.

Trivia/Riddle for the day:

Until I am measured I am not known, Yet how you miss me When I have flown.

Please send all your answers to me via email. A right answer earns you a point in the yet to be released standings list. The leader in said unreleased standings at the end of each month will win an undetermined prize.

Ambiguous I am.

Morning Bang

Sorry for the lack of posts, Easter called.

Jumping right back in:

- So, I know guessing when Andrew Sullivan is going Dem is fun, but how about we start a pool on McCain as well? I have May 27th. It happens to be my birthday, and it would be a great gift. Anybody else have any guesses?

- Steven Taylor has given up reading Kos, Atrios, and Little Green Footballs due to their heavily slanted coverage. Strangely he has not said anything about Instapundit, A Small Victory, or Outside the Beltway. I personally read and like all six of them, but to say that the later three don't present slanted coverage would be ridiculous. Just sounds like he has tired of reading thoughts from the left.

[Update:] Outside the Beltway looks at the situation in a more reasonable way, but to think larger Republican sites don't vilify the opposition is asinine. The fact that they are able to do it more eloquently, and without having to firmly place their foot in their mouth every five minutes, doesn't mean their intended goal isn't exactly the same.

- Oliver Willis ponders if perhaps Bush was a little late on this statement:

"Now may be the time to revamp and reform our intelligence services."

Riddle of the Day:

A man throws an object a certain distance; it stops momentarily and returns. It is not a boomerang and does not touch anything. How?

Morning Bang

Short and sweet today because I am swamped.

- Just another reason to like Mark Cuban:

Passion in business demands passion. A byproduct of passion is saying exactly how you feel in a way that you know will get someone’s attention, and listening to exactly how someone else feels when they need to get your attention. All of this is my way of saying that I expect people who work for me to yell at me, and I expect them to know that at times I will do the same. If someone is pissed off, if they think I’m doing something wrong, or the wrong way, and I’m being too pigheaded to see it. Blast me.

Cuban Philosophy [Outside the Beltway]

- If you are just joining the 9/11 testimony craziness, here is a nice recap for ya:

Richard Clarke: I've seen their s*it. It was whack s*it.

America: Oh s*it!

Bush people: Oh, s*it. Here's some character assasination s*it.

America: Damn. That's some cold s*it.

Bill Frist: Dick Clarke's full of s*it. Time to pull some perjury accusation s*it.

America: We're starting not to believe your s*it, but we think a lot of it smells like s*it.

John Kerry: Enough of your s*it.

Bush people: S*it storm's coming, biatch...

Richard Clarke: Bring the s*it on, biznatches!

9.11 Testimony Recap [Oliver Willis]

- Overt racism 101:

O'REILLY: All right. Now, Doctor, the Census Bureau really doesn't tell us how this is going to affect the country. Do you have any theories on it?

WILLIAM FREY, PH.D., BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Well, I really think what's happening is going to be this phasing out or fading out of the white baby boom population. It is a 50-year time period we're talking about...

O'REILLY: Yes. We'll all be dead. Thank God, right?

The thing is, since Bill O'Reilly is the one that said this it probably won't get much play. Now, if someone had said it on, ya know, Monday Night Football there would be hell to pay. Problem is, a majority of people that watch O'Reilly's show already agree with him so their reaction probably was a chuckle and a nod.

O'Reilly, 3/23/04 [Atrios]

More later hopefully - - as well as a new riddle for those of you that care.

Morning Bang

- For my "Morning Bang", a title I realize is not unique or funny, I usually round up my story ideas by scanning the blog world and picking up on what people are talking about. My little spin is then added to the story and voila, a Morning Bang is made.

Unfortunately for me, it appears my most trust worthy sources are now racing to see who can get on the Bush bandwagon faster. Though I am not the biggest Kerry fan in the world (last time I checked I was at about #52,003,265) I still would take him over Bush any day of the week and, as the cliche goes, twice on Sunday. So, it routinely baffles me to see some other bloggers steadily drift the wrong way from center.

Dean's World, a remarkable blog done by Dean and Rosemary, recently made a post that is just mind boggling to me. I implore you to read the whole thing, but here is a snippet:

Then, the very last two lines, buried at the very bottom of the story where most people will never read to the end of:

Former Republican Sen. Slade Gorton asked Clarke if there was "the remotest chance" that the attacks could have been prevented if the Bush administration had adopted his aggressive counterterrorism recommendations upon taking office in January 2001.

"No," Clarke said.

"No," Clarke said.

That's the very last line of the story. "No," Clarke said.

Mind you, we know now that Clarke's credibility is irredeemably compromised. But that's barely mentioned at all in the story. It's there in a glancing manner, but you have to squint real hard and concentrate to find it.

Wonder why Dean's World is now a Blog For Bush? Crap like this is a big part of it.

Okay, so this story most definitely has a liberal bias. Why a person would be annoyed by this is obvious, I have long wished that somehow the media as a whole could be seen as less partisan instead of having rival networks apparently take opposing sides (see CNN v Fox News). That being said though, it doesn't look like it is going to happen, so can we please move on? Dean states it is "crap like this" that plays a big part in deciding who he supports. Excuse me? How about, ya know, the issues. So the media F'ed it up, they always do. For every liberal leaning article someone finds I can find a republican toned one to counter, so please don't tell me that people are actually out there making decisions to spite the media.

In regards to Clarke, a note in the comment section of the above referenced post captures almost exactly how I feel on the subject. Here is a taste, go to the link to read the whole thing:

Sorry, I watched C-span instead of through the filters of the Commie-CNN or Nazi-Fox News. Three things struck me.

1. How gratified the 9/11 families seemed that someone in government actually admitted that the government failed them, and apologised. Clark seemed to take personal responsibility for the failure of his counter-terrorism efforts. Ironically it seems that this is something he would not have been able to do when he still held the position of Counter-terrorism Csar.

Anyway, I digress...

- Mark Kleiman ponders how much sense a post by Brad DeLong makes. The subject matter you ask? The President's jet route after 9/11 and how Cheney kept him away from Washington. In all honesty, I don't think DeLong's assumption is correct, but even if it is, I am not too inclined to get riled up by it.

Mary Matalin in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center directly after 9/11 though, that is something that peeves me.

- Pandagon has a cute post displaying a letter from an "elementary school student." Wait, did I just say cute? Man, I need to up the steroid usage, words like that cannot be uttered anymore.

Riddle Update:

Yesterday's Riddle:

What question cannot be answered by yes?

Yesterday's Answer:

Are you asleep?

For only the second time the answer to the daily riddle has escaped the readership as a whole. I can't say I am not disappointed.

Today's Riddle:

An Arab sheikh tells his two sons to race their camels to a distant city to see who will inherit his fortune. The one whose camel is slower will win. The brothers, after wandering aimlessly for days, ask a wise man for advice. After hearing the advice they jump on the camels and race as fast as they can to the city. What does the wise man say?

Morning Bang

- I mean, I know Idaho is pretty single party, but the Dems can at least field a candidate can't they? Politcial Wire points out that the answer to my question is apparently no. This has to be a new low.

- Poliblog links to a picture of what most Americans want to do to President Bush. For some reason I don't think he would have the same reaction as the man in the picture though.

- Hmmm:

Under current law, Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund, which pays for inpatient hospital care, will be exhausted in 2019, seven years earlier than forecast last year

Thank God we just revamped Medicare. Umm, I mean...

From: The one, the only, Matthew Yglesias

- Are the "wheels coming off" of the Kerry campaign? Well, Dick Morris believes so.... James Joyner at Outside the Beltway wonders outloud if that is actually the case (be sure to read the comments to the post).

- Atrios has a very good suggestion for Senator John Cornyn's constituents and the general public as a whole. Feel free to take heed.

Riddle Update:

Facts about yesterday's riddle:

The answer: Time
The winner: Siobhan

Today's Riddle:

What question cannot be answered by yes?