Watched the Dodgers lose to Arizona tonight.  Phillies had already beaten Florida.  Arg!  This was an important chance to pick up a game and we didn't do it.  Could be the season's turning point.  As usual the Dodger staff only gave up a few runs, and as usual the Dodger batters had trouble scoring themselves.  I tell you it is hard work rooting for this club...

Of course the dogs were, as usual, terrific.

So, did you watch the WNBA finals?  You didn't!  Do you know they were on?  Did you care?  Do you even know what the WNBA is?  Can you spell WNBA?  Nah, I didn't think so.  Try as they might, women's professional sports just can't get traction.  This is fundamental, and it has nothing to do with the quality of the athletes or the entertainment value.  It has to do with the difference between men and women.  Really.

More unnatural selection: In Seattle some idiots have proposed an espresso tax, so people who drink coffee can pay for other people's kids.  Now that's special.  [ via Truth Laid Bear ]

The Boston Globe reports two incomes, one bankruptcy.  "The single biggest predictor that financial failure lies ahead for a family?  Having children.  Even just one of them..."  So the answer is not to have zero kids until you can afford them, the answer is to tax espresso, so society can pay for them instead.  Sigh.

I see TimeWarner is dropping "AOL" from their name.  So be it.  Won't change anything, but it indicates the underlying mindset.

Interesting article on Marketwatch about Friendster, which really seems to be gaining mental traction.  What is the business model?  Don't know - yet.  But there's clearly a "there" there.

And speaking of "there"s, Wired does another 'Tivo revolution' article, The Fast-Forward, On-Demand, Network-Smashing Future of Television.  Interestingly it seems like the real business model to exploit this obviously huge sea change in consumer behavior has yet to materialize.

And one more "there" - skype.  Rhymes with hype, and boy does it have it.  This is a P2P service which enables realtime voice chat.  Apparently it is pretty cool, I need to try it...

This is kind of a funny way to do VoIP.  The more traditional way is services like Vonage, which I've mentioned before, and which also really seems to get getting traction.  Long term I predict the Vonage mechanism will win; people will always use phones rather than computers to make calls.  But the line is getting blurrier...

What did you do as a college freshman?  Did you make a fusion reactor?  I didn't think so.  Well Craig Wallace apparently did!  Note this is not to be confused with unintentional attempts at chemistry found in many freshman refrigerators.

The 52nd Carnival of the Vanities is up, on its creator Bigwig's site Silflay Hraka, marking the one-year anniversary of this movable feast featuring bloggers from all over.  A great way to meet new blogs, check it out!

Apple announced a new 15" Powerbook, to match the Yao/MiniMe 17"/12" models.  It looks really nice (but no more titanium).  They also announced a cordless bluetooth keyboard and mouse.  Now that's the future...

Daring Fireball: IBM Compatible.  Or why 2004 won't be like 1984.