Yesterday's Washington Post had an article on the Traficant election campaign.

"When your candidate is in jail, it can be a bit of an obstacle," the campaign manager for Jim Traficant says.

Good to see his campaign hasn't lost his sense of humor, my prediction James Traficant wins with 37% of the vote. (Okay I doubt it, but let me have my dream.)

The Republic has their annual, people at the State Fair story in the paper this morning and like every year they include the line

Attendance at the Arizona State Fair has increased this year as Arizonans take advantage of the unusually warm October weather.

(page where the blurb is from) Except that is not unusual, it's always warm in October in Arizona, in fact usually they can't get people to attend the fair for the first week or two when it opens at the beginning of October. The reason? Usually the highs are around 100 and if you get on a ride at the fair, wearing shorts, which you are likely to do in the heat, you will burn your skin because the steel equipment gets so hot sitting in a parking lot on the fairgrounds all day, it usually isn't until the later half of the month it cools off enough you can enjoy the rides there. It looks like they are charging $8.50 for tickets this year, which I suppose isn't too bad considering it was $5 when I was in college ten years ago. The funny thing about the fair is it always seems to attract the stars that are either beginning their downward slide or have already well past popularity, not that folks enjoy them any less, hey it's a cheap concert honestly. But it is interesting to see whose name is listed and where their career is going, this years downward slide person is Coolio, but then I suppose that means he HAD a successful career no? Other folks on that slide include Bob Dylan, I thought he was dead ;-), and Stone Temple Pilots, I liked them the first time when they went by the name Pearl Jam. Also playing is Gin Blossoms the reason I don't count them on downward slide is for the fair they are just a local band playing a show, so it's no big deal there, though they put on a good show if I remember correctly. The fair was always a good date, lots to do, good chance to win the gf a prize especially at the billiards game. Good memories revisited this morning.

Most folks have seen those commercials Apple has been running about switching over from Microsoft. Sharp, personal stories and alittle cheesy but they sell, because those people are real folks. Microsoft notices them. In their typical, anything you can do we can do better mentality they start a similar line of testimonials. Just one minor problem. It's marketing PR without real people. So slashdot folks look into the campaign and realize where the pictures came from and that they have nothing to do with real testimonals. BUSTED It could have been any company potentially, I am sure others have done it before, I mean it's not like lying on accounting practices. The issue is people don't trust Microsoft, especially in the slashdot community. So it's one more nail in the coffin. Fool me once, ha ha on you, fool me twice ha ha on me. People have been fooled, they know better and it makes Microsoft's future sketchy at best. It took nearly two years for any companies to sign on with .Net. Yes, Microsoft will continue to dominate the market in the short-term, but you fool people and they learn not to trust, why bother? Next time, try honesty and perhaps some real people. I don't know anyone who would voluntarily use XP over OSX, but there have to be some. Assume your customers are fools and they make you look like one as they leave you laughing. POSTSCRIPT: Want to see the original page on M$ website? Here you go.

Most quotable line from last night's AFF cloning panel

"Genetic IQ modification is a pre-natal Kaplan course" - Will Wilkinson

It's gotten to the beautiful temperature at night, the temperature I can leave the windows open and breath that light brush of Autumn in the air, the slight chill that tickles your throat as you stay warm underneath a pile of blankets. Certainly not heaven, but not so far away either really.

 Light grey clouds cap deep dark blue sky, just above eye level rests a dark grey cloud with below it, baby blue skies stretch the horizon into the distance. The contrasts are simply amazing. Somedays it's really great to have a window in your office.

What is today's secret code word? Mojito Have a good weekend.

Yo Man, that CNN is dope! Next thing you know it will be doing a comb-over and driving a sports car.

Leftbanker rocks! Why?

CNN has more in common with America’s Funniest Home Videos than it does to a news source.

Just go read the post, you can thank me later.