At least the BMV is smart enough to know when to back down:
The state Bureau of Motor Vehicles has ditched a new rule that prohibited the mention of God on personalized license plates.
The rule, which took effect Nov. 6, had drawn protests from people who for years had bought license plates with sayings that included
When the federal government decided how many gallons of water every toilet in America should use when being flushed -- resulting in annoying toilets that have to be flushed twice, accomplishing absolutely nothing -- I kind of thought that might be the breaking point. Americans would rise up as one and say, "Enough!" Didn't happen, of course. No matter what, we will go back into our "Oh, well, that's the way it is" mode and just take whatever they dish out. But maybe this is different:
This year's winner in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, which annually honors the worst opening sentence for a nonexistent novel, to honor the Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton, whose 1830 novel "Paul Clfford" famously begins, "It was a dark and stormy Night":
The cavemen from the Geico commercials are debuting in their ABC half-hour comedy series in October. But don't worry -- it won't be about race:
There was no intention to have the Cro-Magnons represent any minority group, said his colleague, Josh Gordon.
[. . .]
"I think it's really a show about acclimation more than anything, and that's something that everybody deals with, doesn't matter whether you are a minority or not," producer Joe Lawson said.
Forget the presidential contest for now; it's still way too early. This is much more fun to talk about right now:
Three years ago, NBC announced with pride that Conan O'Brien would take over "The Tonight Show" in 2009. But now that the date is fast approaching, the web is beginning to panic: How do we anoint O'Brien but still keep Leno in the Peacock's nest?
[. . .]
A wildly popular self-help book that's mostly delusional nonsense?
The scenes unfold in "The Secret," a 90-minute-long DVD advocating the power of positive thinking that has sold 2 million copies. More than 5.2 million copies of the book of the same name are in print.
Happy 25th to "Blade Runner," one of the best science fiction movies ever. Sometimes you like a movie and you don't know enough to say why, except that the special effects were outrageously good and still hold up. It's nice to have an expert come along and explain it to you:
