Cartoon Saturday

The price of gasoline jumped six cents yesterday, the biggest one-day rise in two years; one person was killed and 23 injured in a Brooklyn fire that started when candles being used in a voodoo sex ceremony ignited the bedsheets; fierce fighting continues in Libya, where strongman Moammar Gadhafi has vowed to be a martyr rather than step down (hmmm...I sense a win-win potential, here...); GOP gadfly Newt Gingrich says Republicans should "stick to their guns" and close down the government if necessary to win the current budget fight (his job is secure, after all); and 145 people have been killed in a devastating earthquake in New Zealand.

What would you do without Cartoon Saturday to help you cope with the lunacy?

With all the cop shows on TV that keep spinning off other cop shows, how long will it be before we see CSI: Barnyard?

We never want to think about planning for our own demise, but it's one of those things that we have to face sooner or later. Here are two looks at the problem ...

and,

You can't be too careful when ordering online ...

Or when making friends, either ...

The new reality of the annual salary review ...

Didn't you wish for something like this the last time you had to read a seventy-three-screen long hardware or software license agreement in 0.0065 pitch font ...?

Someone is copying my sure-fire retirement investment plan ...

This actually happened to me a few years back when a young lady came up to me in the produce section of the local supermarket and asked what garlic was and where she could find it. When I showed her, she picked up a head, studied it with a puzzled look, and asked what she was supposed to do with it. I don't think she did much cooking ...

And finally, our technology of communication keeps advancing, even if the quality of what we have to say to each other doesn't ...

After the last few days of cold rain and fierce wind, it looks as if the weekend will be a bit nicer. At least as far as the weather goes ... I still have to meet with our tax advisor for the annual review of the subsidies I pay to big business, illegal aliens, and those wealthier but less taxed than I, but there's not much I can do about that other than wince.

And I do a lot of wincing lately.

Have a good weekend. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo