Muchas Cosas (Many Things)

Having been busy with my new lady (have you seen her?) I haven't had time to do some standard blogging, so here goes:

• Some friends of mine started a blog, In Rare Form. I mentioned it in SPOTD #122, but wanted to recommend it again. I think it is very funny and it is also quite eclectic. I especially enjoy the Miller Monday feature, which has covered everything from hybrid cars to Lifetime Original movies to David Hasselhoff v. William Shatner.
• The topic of hybrid cars provided renewed info on the Global Warming kerfuffle, and this helpful link from the U.K. Times (thanks to T. Russell Jacobson). It seems that Mars is experiencing a climate change similar to that of the earth. This may indicate that climate change is a natural phenomena (really?) and at the very least is the kind of information that you instill healthy skepticism for Goremania.
• Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has ordered the nationalization of several massive crude projects in his country. This is bad news for the companies operating the projects, but even worse for average venezolanos. This is because countries that respect and protect property rights tend to be more free and provide greater opportunity for their citizens. It's analogous to the woman who has an affair with a married man. She assumes he will be faithful to HER. The Venezuelan people do not realize that Chavez is not being faithful to THEM, as altruistic as he claims to be. Just look at Cuba.
• This website is hard to describe, but I really think it's worth a visit. They have pictures of cats and other animals, and there are captions, but the way they write them is amusing. I like it (Courtesy of Eric Snider)
• Possible Republican presidential aspirant, former senator, and current actor Fred Thompson provides commentary on occasion for ABC Radio. I like this one quite a bit. He looks at the unpopularity of the U.S. vis-a-vis the rest of the world, and why we shouldn't feel too bad about a lot of that criticism.

Finally, a few weird videos to make you laugh. The first is from a Starburst ad for Berries & Cream:

Fortunately, the little weirdo in the video has some background on his fascination for the B&C, which you can watch here. Just bizarre.