Melissa, her sister Miki, and I are heading to Chicago to visit Melissa’s aunt and uncle. I will not be updating The Daily Nugget until Tuesday. In my absence, check out what my friends believe is the funniest blog entry to date. Have a safe and relaxing Labor Day weekend!

In a rivalry reminiscent of the hip hop East Coast vs. West Coast bloodbath which left Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls in caskets, San Francisco and New York, the two U.S. finalists for the 2012 Olympic Bid, are going at it. This battle has nothing to do with who has the best stadiums, public transportation, or traffic control–it’s all about ego.

I personally wouldn’t mind if the Olympics came to San Francisco, or should I say the Bay Area, since some of the events would be held as far as Napa, Monterey, and Sacramento. I lived in Los Angeles during the 1984 Olympics and remember seeing an Evander Hollyfield Olympic bout, it was awesome. Watching an Olympic event live is something everyone should do at least once in their lifetime.

It seems that 70,000 people declared Jedi Knight as their religion in the latest census in an attempt to make it a recognized religion in Australia. However, the Australian government got a little pissed.

Damn, it’s hard to believe that 20 people have died from West Nile infected mosquitoes. The Centers for Disease Control say that the virus will reach the West Coast. There goes the camping trip!

Here’s a great story on how the media blows any computer threat out of proportion. Remember the Y2K hysteria?

I got the opportunity to take publicity photos for Meerenai Shim, a local Bay Area musician. I selected some pictures from the shoot and added them to the photography section of the site–check them out.

Melissa and I finally saw the new Austin Power movie, Goldmember. This movie was jam-packed with jokes and gags, much like the first movie in the trilogy. The most surprising part of the film was the performance of Beyoncé Knowles as Austin’s sidekick–she rocked. As cool as the movie was, you can’t help but think that there can’t be any more life in the Austin Powers movies. By the end of the film Austin’s shtick gets a little old.

Things got a little out of control at a protest in Portland, OR earlier today. A group protesting against a war with Iraq near a hotel where President Bush was speaking got all peppered up by the cops.

Michael Jackson just announced that he has a third child, although it is unclear exactly where the child came from (mothership, alien egg nest, etc). What is even scarier is that he introduced the baby to Siegfried and Roy in Vegas in person. Perhaps they are aliens too!?

(Spoofing For Pirates sounds like a band name.)
The recording industry apparently has hired a company to create fake music files that have a snippet of the song or just static. This new practice, known as spoofing, is being done to frustrate music pirates into stopping their illicit song-swapping practices. This won’t work. If you are patient enough to download a song you like instead of paying for it, you are probably patient enough to download it two, three, or as many times as needed until you have it in your collection.

File swapping is getting out of control and the DOJ warns that they will start prosecuting peer-to-peer pirates. All you die hard Kazaa users out there, watch out. Funny, I remember that this is the same thing that the DOJ touted when CD-ROM burners were released six years ago. Unless you are making a profit (i.e. charging for copies) it is unlikely you will go down. I foresee that they will make examples of the largest offenders first, i.e. people with lots of source files on fast connections. Good luck.

After just too many parking tickets like this one, Melissa and I have decided to sell her car. So, we have decided to buy a scooter to get us around town. We are currently deciding between purchasing the Aprilia Scarabeo 150 or the Piaggio BV200. We’ll keep you posted on the progress.

A recent study has found that drinking makes others around you sexier. They didn’t study the views of the “sexy” sober people around you while you’re drunk.

I was a little bored today so I played some games at this really cool flash game site. Check it out when you have the time.

I’ve been doing genealogy research to trace my family roots. I haven’t gotten very far yet (1870), but I did find an early coat of arms. This may not have belonged to my direct ancestor, but it’s a start.

The 25th anniversary of Elvis’s death has Elvii, or Elvises, everywhere. Tired of this Elvis crap–who cares. Not only is he dead, all he did was make a career of stealing from black artists like Little Richard.

With all this fuss about American Idol I have to ask, which has been the best reality show of all time. If you vote “other”, please enter your favorite show in the comments section below (voting closed).

No, we’re not moving. My ex-coworker is selling these items.

Intel is trying to sue an ex-employee for electronic trespassing because he sent electronic mail to workers criticizing the company. This is total bullshit. It isn’t illegal to send 10,000 pieces of good ol’ fashioned snail mail to anyone–this should be no different. This is shaping up to be the biggest free speech battle in Internet history. What do you think? Enter your comments.

With all of the crazy things going on in the world right now, what are you worried about the most (voting closed)?.