@#9: Except the book isn't titled Anthem. It's Anathem, bringing to mind both 'anthem' and 'anathema'.

At last we can begin the War on Babies. For too long these America-hating infants have consumed our formula with impunity. And what do they contribute?

Poop, my fellow citizens. Poop.

Also, pee.

And what do they add to the discourse? Crying! And not even constructive crying, either. You'll hear no reasoned 10-point plan from Mr. Baby on how to improve the declining stocks of freshies. Just inchoate demands, screeched at the tops of their lungs. Oh sure, sometimes they might coo or gurgle winsomely, perhaps even break out some "baby talk" to gain sympathy. Do not fall for it! It is a ruse to sow dissension among us.

The baby apologists, these so-called parents, will tell you that we were all like that once. Base propaganda! I, for one, never remember being in such a sorry helpless state. Can you?

I applaud the TSA for taking a hard line with these parasites. It is well overdue.

@15: Tobias Funke?

Tobias: I just blue myself.
Michael: There's gotta be a better way to say that.

This doesn't surprise me at all. I stopped using Blockbuster about 10 years ago. They decided to automatically charge a late fee to the card I used to open the account rather than hit me with it the next time I was in the store. (Which is what every other rental place I've ever used has done. Hell, it was what that very BB branch had done up until that moment.) I have no doubt that they were completely within their rights to charge my card, but it was a boneheaded from a customer relations standpoint. It pissed me off, and that $3.50 late fee was the last money they ever got from me. 10 years @ 2-3 rentals per week equals... well, more than $3.50, that's for sure.

I see that they haven't gotten any better at customer relations in the intervening years. People can handle the occasional price increase. But when it's one price increase on top of another, and decreased service levels too? No wonder people are leaving in droves.

Personally I've been using Netflix for years now and couldn't be happier with their service.

Shouldn't "requires to external power source" be "requires -no- external power source"?

Looks fun. Once you figure out what shade corresponds to your preferred temp, you'd never need get frozen or scalded again.

Paul, good point re: parody. But there's more going on than just the shirt. The shirt is in reference to Improv Everywhere's mission to Best Buy. The shirt could be said to be one element of a larger parody. IANAL either (and I may be way off base here) but that's something to think about.

In any case, hassling Scott Beale for blogging about it is just plain stupid.

As a daily subway commuter, I have always felt I had more to fear from Dave Coulier than smoke or litter. Now Bob Saget, on the other hand, is one filthy, funny dude.

8: Not impossible, but it's by no means certain either. Nothing in the man's past performance makes me want to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. Maybe you'd trust your community, home, and family to him, but personally I'd sooner go with Fire Marshall Bill.