MRod says: Is the crew ready? Like spaghetti.

“Noted anthropologist Robin Dunbar found that the mean clique—a group of primary social partners—consists of around 12 people. Average maximum network size—a group of real friends plus friends of friends—is around 150.”

Slate breaks down the rules and etiquette of Facebook.

If I was captain of a wiffleball team (Gotta dream big, right?), I would DEFINITELY choose this guy first. This dude has some NASTY pitches.

This may be a topic more suitable for the the bloggers at Us versus Them. After all they are the reigning connoisseurs of all things tail and uptop, usually of the ethnic variety, but not to marginalize or discriminate towards those of Nordic and Mayflower origins. But I figure some of you readers are tired of polemics against Bush and his ilk, and artsy photos from his apartment window.

Dorota Rabczewska (”Doda“) is a Polish singer, who added “all around entertainer” to her resume after she posed nude for the Polish edition of Playboy. She also has a IQ of 156. “B-but, Mrod! Like all standardized tests, those IQ tests are inherently specious!” True dat. Nonetheless no matter how problematic standardized tests may be, they still make some correlation between the ‘intelligence’ of someone and how well they do on a particular test. But what’s ultimately revealing about the drool over her is the fact that she’s delicious looking and smart!

Yada yada yada. Here are some photos of her:

Spotted Neo aka Keanu Reeves himself wanting to enjoy the finer things in the Matrix: He was standing outside of Balthazar ushering in what appeared to be his family and friends.  I was amazed to see there was not a single blond bimbo in the bunch.

The media and pundits have all recently raised flags of caution concerning our current economic condition.  Housing markets in many cities are collapsing.  Debtors are defaulting on loans.   All of this is enough for the average layperson to be aware of a definite lingering dark cloud forming in the distance.  However, will it be a mere passing drizzle or develop into a massive thunderstorm?  Should one pack a simple umbrella or run to the nearest Sam’s Club and stock up on provisions?  It is unclear.

The most relatable piece of news I’ve read that should be immediately accessible to every American is the announcement this week that the Canadian dollar’s value is now roughly on par and equal with that of the US dollar.  This is one of the shoes dropping that ought to make every American sit up and say “Wha?  I don’t know what the fuck a subprime mortgage is, but the fuckin Canuk quarter that D&D deli won’t accept is now equal to our quarters??  How the fuck did this happen?  Jimmy, this ain’t good.”  They’ve been the punchline to our jokes for years.  It appears our laughter has come to an end: all those jokes about how cheap it is to visit Canada can stop.  On the flip side, it’s a great time for Canadians to visit the US and utilize their increasing purchasing power.  Pretty soon, Louis Vuitton on Fifth Avenue and lux condo real estate agents are going to hire French Canadian speaking sales people, er associates.  In addition, with it no longer being the Costco (plentiful, lots of variety of products and most importantly cheap!) of tourist destination, Montreal is going to be spared of jackass Americans molesting their wholesome (and beautiful) strippers and contaminating their Canadian streets with the upchuck of bachelor party attendees.

Dear President Bush,

You wear it like a badge, proudly on display as a show of solidarity to all the high school drop outs and Miss Carolina contestants out there in this country, but sir, you are a fucking idiot.

Nelson Mandela is still very much alive despite an embarrassing gaffe by U.S. President George W. Bush, who alluded to the former South African leader’s death in an attempt to explain sectarian violence in Iraq.

“It’s out there. All we can do is reassure people, especially South Africans, that President Mandela is alive,” Achmat Dangor, chief executive officer of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said as Bush’s comments received worldwide coverage.

In a speech defending his administration’s Iraq policy, Bush said former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s brutality had made it impossible for a unifying leader to emerge and stop the sectarian violence that has engulfed the Middle Eastern nation.

“I heard somebody say, Where’s Mandela?’ Well, Mandela’s dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas,” Bush, who has a reputation for verbal faux pas, said in a press conference in Washington on Thursday.

Please go back to chopping trees and making bad business decisions.

I’m reading “Naked Economics: Undressing the dismal science” by Charles Wheelan (a former Midwest Economist correspondent) right now.   This is by far one of the most disarming and seductive disquisitions I’ve read on our free market capitalist arrangement.

I’m about two-thirds through it.  More thoughts after completion and digestion.  If you’ve read it, what are your thoughts?

I never thought I’d ever agree with anything uttered by Jack Kemp or Newt Gingrich, but it appears that for once, I see eye to eye with these two guys on something:

The leading contenders for the Republican nomination have indicated they will not attend the “All American Presidential Forum” organized by black talk show host Tavis Smiley, scheduled for Sept. 27 at Morgan State University in Baltimore and airing on PBS. Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former senator Fred D. Thompson (Tenn.) and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) all cited scheduling conflicts in forgoing the debate. The top Democratic contenders attended a similar event in June at Howard University.

“We sound like we don’t want immigration; we sound like we don’t want black people to vote for us,” said former congressman Jack Kemp (N.Y.), who was the GOP vice presidential nominee in 1996. “What are we going to do — meet in a country club in the suburbs one day? If we’re going to be competitive with people of color, we’ve got to ask them for their vote.”

Making matters worse, some Republicans believe, is that the decision to bypass the Morgan State forum comes after all top GOP candidates save McCain declined invitations this month to a debate on Univision, the most-watched Hispanic television network in the United States. The event was eventually postponed.

“For Republicans to consistently refuse to engage in front of an African American or Latino audience is an enormous error,” said former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), who has not yet ruled out a White House run himself. “I hope they will reverse their decision and change their schedules. I see no excuse — this thing has been planned for months, these candidates have known about it for months. It’s just fundamentally wrong. Any of them who give you that scheduling-conflict answer are disingenuous. That’s baloney.”

Of course, actions speak louder than words–and a token appearance by Republican presidential candidates at a minority-hosted debate or forum in front of a skeptical, if not hostile audience doesn’t provide much incentive to a candidate–but symbolism can count for something on occasion! These Republicans can at least TRY to not look so dang racist and to act like people of color live in this country, too (and not just in jails).

Can I get a solidarity pound, people?

This illustrator is extremely skilled at transforming pervy drawings into something completely innocuous and totally safe for both work and kids!  He and the fat kid character from “Superbad” should hang out.

Maybe ex-girlfriend longing James Blunt isn’t the soft rock singing and model dating pansy we all think he is. The (newly Not-So-Select) Times recent feature on his sophomore attempt writes that Blunt was a…:

…former British Army officer in Kosovo who was once one of Queen Elizabeth’s personal guards…