Despite the recent killing of al Zarqawi, a solid majority of Americans disapprove of the Iraq war. Is our registered disapproval doing a damn thing to stop it, or even slow it down? Of course not.

There is a ban on driving in Baghdad today due to fears of attacks in the wake of al Zarqawi’s death. Apparently, our military has already identified his potential successor, Abu al Masri; born in Egypt, he is thought to have been trained in Afghanistan. The driving ban is in place for the hours that most people travel to pray, and when bombings of mosques are most likely to happen.

Now you don’t need to climb to the top of Mt. Everest, carrying oxygen and nearly suffocating, just for the view from the top. Take a look at this panoramic shot from the top of the earth. (Alright, most of the grandeur is absent when viewing a picture, but you get the idea.)

SomethingAwful’s Photoshop Phriday this week is Paintings of Light II - reworking Thomas Kinkade’s art. Note the new watermarks - thanks to Ebaumsworld, who regularly steals stuff from SomethingAwful and brands it as their own. Jerkoffs.

Want to pit World Cup mascots against one another? Go for it.

Perhaps you’d rather be a stuntman launched out of a cannon, desperately trying to stay in the air for a distance record. My record is just over 4000 m, but the high score is like 13000.

US Senate soundly rejects gay marriage ban. Bush appeared to remain hopeful that it would pass some day in the future, but I certainly hope he’s wrong. As has been said time and time again by Democrats, this would be the first time individual rights have been taken away by the Constitution.

A US air strike supposedly has killed al-Zarqawi, the man thought to be the acting head of al Qaeda. Of course, this will have no impact whatsoever on the insurgency in Iraq - because al Qaeda is really just a distracting label for the media to cling to.

One brave gentleman has taken on the challenge of living off of monkey chow and nothing else, for one week. Not a very lengthy experiment, but let’s face it - that stuff probably tastes like shit. He’s on day 5, I believe.

A seagull flew between a pitcher and a batter, and daaaamn did he get clocked. Watch the video - which apparently was shot by a 3-year-old that cranked the white balance through the roof.

Use HGTV’s Room Planner to lay out your stuff.

The Oxford Project - a guy took pictures of small town people 20 years ago and again in the present. Interesting idea.

Nothing newsworthy caught my attention today, so it’s random junk for y’all today.

I’ve always been anti-violence, for the most part, and never considered joining the military. However, an invention for the special forces sounds so damn sweet that I might have to give it some thought. Rather than just the usual ho-hum parachuting into enemy territory, they will all wear a set of ‘batwings’ that will allow them to steer and cruise down until it’s time to open the chute. Maybe I just need to take up skydiving.

So wait, if I get a tiny magnet implanted in the tip of my finger, I’ll have a sixth sense? An “electric” sense? Umm… I’ll pass.

Tea Party Host Struggling To Keep Conversation Going.

Sometimes when you cut to a live feed, it’s a good idea to check and see if the reporter is ready. You never know - he might be tied up, like this guy.

Also recommended as a broadcasting rule of thumb: don’t go on stage, to dance, when you need to puke.

Fiat vs. Ferrari vs. F1 car. They staggered the start times to show the differences in speed. I know at least Echanos will appreciate this video.

666. The Mark of the Beast. The day of reckoning. Christ himself is parachuting in to Times Square to wage war with Satan, who’s coming in on the 318 out of Dallas. It’s bound to be a hell of a battle, no pun intended. And it’s all available to you, on Pay-Per-View, for only $599.99.

Really though, it may only be 10am EST, but it’s shaping up to be a beautiful day. The sky was clear, I only coughed once from pollution as I crossed the Lorain-Carnegie, and so far there’s no sign of Satan. Guess he’s not coming.

Canada has arrested 12 suspected terrorists, accused of planning to detonate some rather large bombs. They had gathered ammonium nitrate - the official bombing product of Oklahoma City - but 3 times as much as was used in that instance. They believe the CN Tower and Ottawa’s Peace Tower were two targets. Yikes.

Hey Bush? How’s that border security goin’? (Link to a video - take a look in the background.)

Google has just released a web-based spreadsheet application, but only to a limited study group. Could be handy. In fact, this could make my SmittyTour updates just a little bit easier… maybe.

Last night I was dozing off in front of the TV, watching my precious Adult Swim. A strangely familiar sound snapped me out of my slumber, and I found myself staring at the words “Remember This?” centered on the screen. The song was the theme to Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and you bet your ass I remembered it! Adult Swim just got the rights to all 45 of the episodes, and plans to start airing them starting July 10th. I wrote Adult Swim this morning to tell them that if they were one entity, I would kiss them square on the mouth.

Baghdad Burning has been updated. Although the day of reckoning is looking pretty benign in the west, over there things have been better.

For the first time since the 1970s, whites outnumber blacks in Oakland. That’s a major shift, considering this was the home of Tupac and the Black Panthers. A rise in the Hispanic population as well as the huge increase in housing costs are thought to be responsible for the change.

You may not remember Perfect Strangers as fondly as say, Pee Wee’s Playhouse, but I know you remember it. Let Larry and Balki take you back through this video montage.

Driftwood sculptures of horses. Eh, alright. Can’t you do something besides a horse? Oh, my fault - there’s a few others on there.

Speaking of “other animals” - have you ever wondered what Bichon Frise tastes like? How about monkey brains, hippo, or a gazelle? Brown bear intestines? Chimpanzee stew? Rhino genitals? Gila monster? I think you get the idea. Chef Kaz Yamamoto has fed celebrities and many others some of the strangest and most rare meats on the planet.

150 everyday expressions that came from Shakespeare. Man, even “good riddance” came from him. I wonder if english would be more or less annoying without him.

Bush is just loving this new push for a ban on gay marriages. The Senate is currently debating the idea, but just get a load of this quote from GW: “Government, by recognizing and protecting marriage, serves the interests of all.” Really now. Are you sure that’s serving everyone’s interests? How about the tremendous opposition to the idea, or the millions of homosexual folks you’d be alienating? If by “all” you mean “me” - then yeah, I guess you’re right. This debate couldn’t be more overtly aimed at boosting the conservative vote in midterm elections, either.

Is this photo real? It comes from NASA, so I’d have to imagine it is - but geez, just take a look at how much pollution China is “exporting.” That’s just outrageous.

Has anyone else noticed that every outlandish news story seems to originate in Florida? Let’s take a closer look at two stories that I found today:
A 6-year-old girl was arrested for kicking a teacher. (Wasn’t there another kid that was arrested for something similar? In Florida?)
A couple of grandparents offered a hitman $100 to kill their 3 grandkids, daughter-in-law AND the family dog. Shoot, that would have been a bargain! Too bad you were actually hiring an undercover cop.

Alright, enough of this news story of an alien head in an x-ray of a duck. Cut the damn thing open and let’s get this over with! The duck is actually already dead, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t see this article on 10 different pages today (and on Friday, too).

Take the national driver’s test. The site I found this on says that 18 million drivers in America would fail this simple quiz. I only missed 1, because it was worded strangely.

I don’t care if you don’t like golf - this is an amazing hole-in-one.

A Mentos and Diet Coke fountain extravaganza. A little less grandiose than the Bellagio, but hey.

Shit-talkin’ Condi Rice tells Iran they’re facing a “moment of truth”. She went on to say that they had better respond within weeks, not months, to requests for halting their nuclear energy program. When asked “what if they don’t respond?” - Condi replied: “Then I will strap on mah pair of matching 45’s, some high-heeled boots, and parachute right into Tehran - killing everything in my path, including pets.” Wow… look out!

Just 2 days after hearing about the civilians killed in Haditha, new reports are emerging that Marines killed 11 civilians in Ishaqi. I’m not pretending to have heard of these towns before! Actually, they mentioned on NPR this morning that us Americans are only being made aware of the towns because of the tragedies that have taken place there. So true, and so shitty. Of course they had some military investigator schmuck on there, trying hard not to be the quintessential lightning rod for all the outrage. The guy was so worked up he said “there aren’t any other investigations going on that I’ve heard of” - and then, not ten seconds later, admitted there were “3 or 4″ other investigations taking place, after the interviewer revealed his source for that information was a ranking general. Sheesh.

Was the 2004 election stolen? A rather lengthy Rolling Stone article tackles the topic. Some interesting facts and figures, for sure.

If you’re pumped about the Tour de France, or pumped about using Google Earth - then check out the full course, mapped out for your viewing pleasure.

Having been a long-time advocate for siestas, this news doesn’t surprise me at all. A study discovered that the body is naturally inclined to want to sleep after a meal, which is all the information I need to know it should be a federally-mandated break in every day!

Alright, I’ve officially told my employer that I’m moving - so I suppose it’s okay to discuss on here! Sunny Oakland California is my destination, and August 1st is my target moving date. Only a couple of folks in my office know already, but it feels good to have informed someone here. One of the many perks I’m really going to miss is the delicious food that is continually presented to us. Just now I sucked down a cinnamon oatmeal rasin “breakfast bar”. Fantastic.

Baby born with three arms. BABY BORN WITH THREE ARMS. As awesome and superhero-esque as he might look, the unfortunate truth is that he doesn’t have full control of either of his extra limbs. Dammit. Not to mention, the sight of three arms is very unbalanced. Four would be okay, but not just three. The baby is adorable though.

The Supreme Court decided that whistleblowers don’t deserve protective rights. Here’s the asinine rationale that supporters of the move are using to justify their agenda: it will protect governments from lawsuits filed by disgruntled workers pretending to be legitimate whistleblowers. Oh, yeah, because THAT has become a freakin’ epidemic. A more accurate analysis of the ruling was that it was “a victory for every crooked politician in the United States.”

A veteran of the Iraq war is attempting to sue Michael Moore for $85 million. Alleging that he was improperly portrayed in Fahrenheit 911, the dual-amputee is suing for “loss of reputation, emotional distress, embarassment, and personal humiliation.” (Loss of reputation? Is that even real??) Anyway, the most absurd part of this is the quote that he claims was taken out of context. He says that, although he stated in the movie “You know they say they’re not leaving any veterans behind, but they’re leaving all kinds of veterans behind” - what he meant was that he actually supports the war, and does NOT feel left behind. Uh…. then why the hell did you say exactly that??? I hope the case is dismissed instantly - and not because I liked the movie or something.

Did you know that, in 1962, there was a real zombie among us? Neither did I.

History in the making, folks. Israeli Prime Minister: ‘One More Suicide Bombing and I’ll Give Them Whatever They Want’. If only.

Baghdad Burning has been updated, finally!

Long-time r3tr0 readers probably know about my fixation with people finding Jesus’ likeness in everyday items, so the invention of the Jesus Pan might not be much of a surprise, given how often it seems to happen. However, this is perhaps the first time that I really felt as though I came up with the idea prior to an actual invention! I’m not sure I ever wrote about it on here, but I know I relayed the idea to my friends. And frankly, had I invented it, it wouldn’t be such a piece of shit product, either.

Honda’s The History of Humanoids is pretty great. It follows the development of Asimo through all “his” variations. Impressive!

I thought this was pretty interesting: Anatomical Curiosities. It’s a few sketches of what people used to think was inside of us - organs, bones, etc. Reminds me of the (intensely awesome) shirt nicodemia made me, which features the medieval interpretation of what was inside sperm.

A video game is coming out that takes place in the wake of the Rapture, and allows you to either convert non-believers or play as the antichrist and pretty much kill everyone. I think it’s mainly geared towards fundamentalist Christians, however.

The Onion has put together a list of the Worst Band Names of 2006. Naturally, some of them could also be considered “the best”, depending on your sense of humor… so they also have a Best-worst Band Name category. I don’t know why, but I think Genital Hurcules is pretty awesome.

Top Ten Stock Photography Clichés. Pretty great.

6 beers in less than 10 seconds. I don’t ever want to hear one of my friends wuss out on shotgunning a beer with me again. If this guy can do six that quickly, then one sure ain’t gonna hurt ya!