Just Awful Male Stereotypes: In a day when some have elevated stereotyping to a sin akin to racism, the heterosexual American male is getting the same done to him on national television. Apparently we're all into beer, breasts and wrestling PLUS we have absolutely no sense of style. (Hey, that sounds like someone I know...)

From Fox News: Gunning for Guys on TV
More on "The Network for Men": The New TNN aka Spike TV
From Bravo TV: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

True to stereotype, men are not getting upset about this.

What does it take for you to believe? Like many this week, I've not been able to avoid the gruesome death photos of Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay. I got the unexpected pleasure of having the images thrown at me in the middle of my lunch time. It's our 21st century high tech equivalent of dragging the bodies through the center of town.

From CNN: Iraqis react to release of death photos

Most interesting to me is the reported skepticism of Iraqis as to whether or not the deaths were real. We Americans look at an image on TV, in a magazine or newspaper and we're prone to believe it. Yet with Hollywood-style special effects, makeup or photo retouching, we know someone could make a pretty good forgery. Maybe we'd be skeptical of just images until we could see the real things, too.

More fuel for your paranoia: I've been following the story of Applied Digital Solutions, a company that makes a microchip that can be implanted under the skin. It started as a way to identify lost pets but now it's been released in Mexico for use in human beings. Just as the paranoid expected.

From MSNBC: Human tracking chips unveiled

Quoting the article: "While the idea of using the chip to track people has raised privacy concerns in the United States, the idea has been popular with Mexicans." (If you haven't heard, kidnapping is more common in that country.) This same company is working on a version of their technology to track chipped people via satellite global positioning. Would giving someone or some company the power to follow your every move, every minute of the day give you concern for your privacy? Heck if you wanted to do that, you could just buy a car equiped with OnStar.

Bringing Out the Worst in People: Wired reports The Sims Online is bringing out the dark side of some players. If one's behavior had no real world negative consequences, how would people behave? This article gives some insight. Apparently some gamers make a game of making life miserable for others.

One telling quote from a player, "It's only a game but the people operating those little animated cartoons are real. " The action can be virtual but the offense is against a actual person. The intent of the heart of the offender is real as well -- no matter how the action was taken.

Post 4th of July Post: My intention was to create a cartoon with patriotic themes for the birthday of the United States. However, you may think I've taken a strange avenue to get there. Take pride in your problems, America!

Celebrating America's Big Problems, June 29, 2003
Celebrating America's Big Problems, July 6, 2003