or so the better half tells me on regular occasions. But I am loving--LOVING--my new hair product.

This is at 10:00 pm, after an eight hour day in a muggy stone box filled with oscillating wall-mounted fans and surly felons, plus the commute home and a number of trips to the yard with the dogs, and a couple run-throughs with my hand.

It's a winner. It's Bumble and Bumble Sumotech, and it's 100% the new hotness. For me, anyway. It's been around for a while.

Unabashed style consciousness. That's right, baby.

Jonathan Papelbon, relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, has invented a new pitch. He describes it as something between a cut fastball ("cutter") and a slider.

He calls it a "slutter."

Ahem.

Jonathan? What about "slitter"? Slitter wasn't taken.

Travel Channel's "No Reservations" with chef Anthony Bourdain has cursed me to live a half life full of misery and desperation.

To learn the reason, you'll have to watch the episode in which Bourdain travels to Indonesia and samples the cuisine and sees the sights of a number of locales on that nation/archipelago.

(to see that episode, click here. you'll need a high-speed internet connection, or a LOT of time.)

The island: Bali. The eatery: Babi Guling Ibu Oka. The dish: roast suckling pig.

(photo thanks to Hugo Kitchen)

Perhaps a little bit afield from the usual BBQ pork plate seen in the US, but overall not all that unusual. But skip to the 26:43 mark in the video I linked above, and watch the care that goes into the cooking. Watch the glee in Tony Bourdain's eyes (not exactly a chipper individual, Tony) as he is served this specimen of pork. Listen to the skin, for the love of bacon!

Suffice it to say, I will not lead a satisfactory life until I have tasted this paragon of Indonesian culinary ingenuity. Tony's got it right. It doesn't appear that one can be truly happy without it.

So, if anyone's got a couple grand they don't need, and want to send me (+1, of course) to the land of roast suckling pig (not to mention the land in which my father was born and raised), I'd be honored to accept the gift.

No, this isn't about Cesar Millan (although reasonable people could make it so). This is about an upcoming new series entitled Taboo. The program will expose the wider world to practices and traditions that might otherwise go unexplored by the average outsider: branding, sexual practices, cuisine.

Unfortunately, the National Geographic Channel has also chosen to offer the inhuman practice of bull "fighting" in its discourse on other cultures' practices. This is the letter I sent them regarding this choice.

I think it is disappointing that your Taboo program will apparently contain a depiction of animal abuse. Animal consumption is one issue; I am an omnivore, and acknowledge that any animal can be slaughtered with dignity and eaten or used for other goods (skin, bone, etc). I also have no complaint with responsible hunting. There is no defense, however, for baiting undomesticated animals into violence and intentionally injuring them. The promotional advertisements for the Taboo series include a clip of a young man driving swords into the back of the neck of a charging bull. This practice is offensive, to the point that even individuals living in those communities are opposing it (see: Spain, or the eventual prohibition of bear-baiting in England). While your program should open the eyes of sheltered Americans to the wideness of the world around them, Taboo should not attempt to justify animal cruelty as "just a facet of another culture."

Please consider your thoughts on the practice of bull "fighting," and make them known to the National Geographic Channel.

This lively fete will be held at the Xcel Energy Center. In St. Paul, Minnesota.

Seven miles from the 35W bridge that collapsed yesterday.

Where will this rank on the scale of disgusting after-the-fact advocacy compared to the 2004 RNC in New York City? This party seems to have a way of finding a hole they've helped dig and take a big fat dump in it.

Good job, New Orleans, in saying (rightfully), "thanks, but fuck you."

With what should Minnesotans with a sense of pride and loyalty to their state fill those seven miles? Banners? Bricks? Or themselves, in protest, pointing west and saying "This should be your first priority, not Iraq, you stupid child."

(ADDED: this is my 100th entry on this blog. hoo-ray.)

This is my letter to CNN:

I have written to your network in the past, regarding right-leaning (or downright right-turning) reporting on CNN's outlets. I have learned that your network has offered a one-week "tryout" to right-wing pundit Laura Ingraham.

Laura Ingraham is as offensive to truth and honest reporting as Glenn Beck; it is sad that CNN has chosen both distasteful individuals to host programs on its news outlets. It doesn't take much investigation to see what kind of resume Laura Ingraham brings to CNN. She minimizes the risks reporters take in Iraq, encouraged her listeners to clog a disenfranchisement hotline with false complaints and insults, and fills her radio program with untruths and personal attacks.

If Laura Ingraham touches CNN airwaves in a hosting position, I will immediately and permanently cease all patronage of any CNN media outlets.

Please investigate Laura Ingraham's contribution to the public dialogue, and contact CNN with your thoughts.