Dateline Beijing:

A rubber company in China has begun marketing condoms under the brand names Clinton and Lewinsky, apparently seeking to exploit the White House affair that led to the impeachment of America's 42nd president. Spokesman Liu Wenhua of the Guangzhou Rubber Group said the company was handing out 100,000 free Clinton and Lewinsky condoms as part of a promotion to raise consumer awareness of its new products.

I blogged from Shanghai about the AIDS crisis in China a few years ago. As far as I'm concerned, whatever works, including these new condoms, is fine.

My friend in the Keys provides this link. He's right near Marathon, but obviously hasn't evacuated yet. I last saw him a few weeks ago when he had a few hours lay-over before his flight to Aspen for Hunter's memorial...he said he had been through so many warnings that didnt' pan out, he wasn't leaving. I hope he's out now.

Update: Just received a long email from my friend, he's staying put. Here's a piece: "They should ban those pushy news b**ches that alarm the crap out of everybody. It just went from a tropical storm to a Cat 1 hurricane which is not that big a deal....it will get worse in the next few hours but not much....we are ok...[his cat] does not like hurricanes but she's on cat meds....later."

by TChris

Don't try this at home:

A man from Sri Lanka on Friday broke the Guinness world record for the longest time spent watching TV. He finished with 69 hours and 48 minutes.

by TChris

I’m setting aside for a moment my usual gloomy third person voice to express my wonder at the Rolling Stones, who rocked Soldier Field in Chicago last night. Mick Jagger turned 62 in July, but he struts, sprints, and jumps like a teen. This was the third time I’ve seen the Stones perform live, and the collective energy Mick expended in those three performances may exceed the collective energy I’ve managed to muster in my entire life.

The energy instantly transferred to an appreciative crowd that ranged from pre-teens to senior citizens. This may be the last Stones tour (it was good to see Charlie Watts drumming after his cancer scare), and the tens of thousands of fans who filled the sold-out stadium were clearly thrilled to hear these rock-and-roll legends perform. As far as I could tell, the band didn’t disappoint anyone.

Four songs from A Bigger Bang were mixed in with timeless Stones classics and a respectfully rocking cover of Ray Charles’ Night Time is the Right Time. While I wish they’d send an ongoing message to President Bush by playing Sweet Neo Con at every show, they haven’t been performing it live. In their encore, they did play You Can’t Always Get What You Want, a lesson the president needs to learn. And, to my great Satisfaction, they played my favorite, Sympathy for the Devil:

For our readers in Miami, experiencing Hurricane Katrina, and those bummed out by the MTV Award pre-show cancellations:The Grateful Dead (sing along with an audio clip here):

What do you want me to do,
to do for you to see you through?
this is all a dream we dreamed
one afternoon long ago
Walk out of any doorway
feel your way, feel your way
like the day before

Just a box of rain -
wind and water -
Believe it if you need it,
if you don't just pass it on
Sun and shower -
Wind and rain -
in and out the window
like a moth before a flame

It's just a box of rain
I don't know who put it there
Believe it if you need it
or leave it if you dare.

That song can cheer anyone up.

This is just too bizarre not to mention:

A controversial exhibit of human corpses, stripped of their skin to reveal muscles, organs and blood vessels, opened in Tampa, despite the state Anatomical Board's refusal to approve it....The "Bodies: The Exhibition" show includes human bodies and body parts preserved with a process that replaces human tissue with silicone rubber.

The dissected and preserved corpses belonged to Chinese people and went unclaimed or unidentified before being turned over to a medical school in China, according to the exhibit's owner, Premier Exhibitions of Atlanta.

Mick Jagger turns 62.

by TChris

The Roanoke Wal-Mart tried to turn its store into the retail version of a singles bar, designating "flirt points" and providing shopping cart bows to identify shoppers on the prowl for love, but enough customers complained to spoil the fun for everyone else. The Bentonville HQ ordered the Roanoke store to shut down its cruising night.

"I'm disappointed," said Firebaugh, 63. "Where can someone over 40 who doesn't smoke or drink or go to bars meet someone?"

I really hadn't intended to write anything about Harry Potter, but I thought this mini-review at the blog Hip Hop Music was worth mentioning:

I'm 20 Pages Into Harry Potter, and I'm Pissed.

When the last Potter book came out I was pleased to find JK Rowling finally adding a Black wizard into the mix, with the introduction of Kingsley Shacklebolt. It was a shining moment for our people.. Halle Berry wept.

While reading along I always imagined Shacklebolt as portrayed by Sam Jackson, hoping he'd evolve into a badass hero a la Mace Windu.

But as I start the latest book what do I find? Shacklebolt has been reassigned as a secretary.

A SECRETARY.

What the hell kind of Spook Who Sat by the Door sh!t is this???

Just for fun...forget the made-for-tv movie, I see a rock opera in this. A possible working title (subject to change as events unfold or better suggestions from readers): "Scooter, Can You Hear Me?"

For those of you on summer vacation, or just needing a creative outlet, we need music for the opera, so here's a place for appropriate lyrics. My first suggestion (from this post yesterday): REM's Losing My Religion:

"I've said too much,
I haven't said enough,
...I've said too much,
I set it up"

Your turn.

The Dangers of Thinking (appropriate for those who have been spinning their wheels all week trying to figure out the Rove-Plame Leak Scandal)

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then--to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a
social thinker.

I began to think alone, "to relax," I told myself, but I knew it wasn't true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's.

Arianna reveals what she's doing in Europe- working on a CIA scandal. She puts particular emphasis on the Hotel Splendido in Portofino. I stayed there about 20 years ago, and still have this ultra-pretty plastic ashtray I found by the pool. It's a great resting place for all sorts of tiny things I don't want to lose, the mailbox key, hair clips, etc.:

Hey, Arianna, if you see another one like it, could you bring it back for me? It's light as a feather.

Many thanks.