If the only hammer you have is the UNIX stream editor sed, you may be surprised at the variety of nails available to you.

I’m probably the only reader of this blog that doesn’t read McSweeney’s Internet Tendency on a regular basis, so this recommendation is almost certainly redundant, but John Moe is funny. Not so much "ha ha" funny as "you might as well laugh; despair won’t help" funny.

Somehow, just because culture is their field of expertise, the American Anthropological Association has felt moved to issue a statement opposing a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, on the grounds there is no basis to the argument that marriage is sacredly heterosexual.

In the "things nobody asked about" department, Dr Alan Cohen, "a part-time tutor at Cardiff University," has revealed why this Monday will be the most depressing day of the year. I think he misunderstood the chorus of that Boomtown Rats song; I, at least, didn’t really want to know why I don’t like Mondays.
Then again, since the collective does not embrace the new year’s resolution, it’s mostly the weather and those fiendish "General motivational levels" we have to worry about.

Earlier, I mentioned finding evidence that the horrible Broadway re-write of Chess was the only version authorized for production in the States. A more recent search has turned up this page, which indicates to the contrary. It looks to be a good broad summary of the history of many productions, and includes the tidbit that "Someone Else’s Story" was inserted at Broadway, and in later versions is given to Svetlana (the Russian’s wife) to sing, rather than Florence.

For years now, I’ve been alternately horrified and delighted that Britain’s Foreign (then Home—or maybe it went the other way) Secretary is called Jack Straw. Who better to make insubstantial proposals? Now I see that I missed another good one. In the recent row over Prince Harry dressing up as a Nazi, "former royal press spokesman Dicky Arbiter … said [a written apology] was not good enough." Ari Fleischer and Scott McLellan only wish they were called Dicky Arbiter. Hell, I’ve sought all my life to get to be a Dicky Arbiter.

Upper Jiao Damp Heat is the early stage of a Damp Evil invasion. I have nothing to add to that.

Instead of "US show sued for rat-eating stunt", I’d prefer to see "Moron can’t figure out how to change channel; harms self in orgy of idiocy."

A later specimen of the cheating housewives spam had a site that was still active, so I was able to go find out the scoop. It turns out

Some married Woman feel they need more than they are getting at home. The Internet is great way to meet local woman who are looking for discreet sexual encounters with local men in their cities. No Strings attached! These ladies are ready and willing to meet right now. They don’t play games. They know what they are looking for they don’t play!!

And

For just $1 you will get full access to our entire horny house wives data base.

They also claim to have loads of adult content available for members, and even if you’re not a member, they’ll send you, "100% FREE PASSWORD SITES IN YOUR EMAIL… NO SPAM JUST FREE PASSWORDS TO TOP ADULT WEBSITES!!" if you’ll just give them your email address.
Somewhat closer reading reveals that the $1 is for a one-day pass to the site. I’m a little surprised that it consistently purports to be a dating site, though I’m guessing they make most of their money selling email addresses.