Chimpanzee babysits two white tigers--make sure to see the slideshow here.

Cripes, y'all. I just got a Boss's Day card and gift cert from my Palinite underling. When did I become The Man?

The airquotes thing set off white hot rage I haven't felt in a long time.

More on the abortion thing: Palin and Christian Right on Abortion Warpath

Although the issue of abortion had not come previously in the debates, it is very much in play on the campaign trail, especially in a number of battleground states. Often, while the term itself isn't used, it is clearly the subtext when the question of appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court is discussed, or the phrase "judicial activism" -- meaning politicized legal decisions -- is used.

Not having the issue raised during the vice-presidential debate has not stopped Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Sen. John's McCain Republican Party running mate, from raising the issue a number of times in different venues.

In addition, South Dakota, Colorado and California all have abortion-related initiatives on their November ballots; initiatives that are aimed at ending or limiting abortion rights.

...

In South Dakota, anti-abortion activists are going over ground that was plowed two years ago when voters easily defeated an initiative aimed at outlawing all abortions. However, this time around abortion opponents appeared to soften the language in the initiative, "include[ing] language purporting to make exceptions for incest, rape or the life and health of the mother," a New York Times editorial pointed out.

"But no one should be fooled," the paper said. "The exceptions were drafted to make it nearly impossible to get an abortion, even during the first trimester of pregnancy. The measure is clearly unconstitutional under existing Supreme Court rulings, and that's just the point. The underlying agenda is to provide a vehicle for challenging Roe v. Wade..."

Amendment 48 in Colorado is a controversial ballot measure that would make the term "person" "include any human being from the moment of fertilization", with all the constitutional rights that confers.

The initiative would in "effect bestow on fertilized eggs, prior to implantation in the womb and pregnancy, the same legal rights and protections that apply to people once they are born," the New York Times editorial noted.

Interestingly, the Colorado measure is receiving little support from longtime abortion opponents, including the Catholic Church, and Gov. Bill Ritter, a self-described "pro-life" Democrat.

The airquotes thing set off white hot rage I haven't felt in a long time.

And will for a lot of people. I predict it will appear in an ad.

I don't think that's very surprising... isn't the Catholic Church somewhat frowny about playing God via in vitro fertilization in the first place?

When will that insanity end?

Seriously? When will it end? It has no logical basis. Here is a small collection of cells no bigger than the period at teh end of a sentence. Let us give it all the rights of the human being walking around who may in fact not even know it is there, and could possibly flush it down the toilet with the tampon it is stuck in having never known it existed.

I DONT UNDERSTAND.

A lot of the extreme anti-abortion people are also anti-birth control. Back in the late '80s I read about an anti-abortion organization that was also anti-birth control, although they were trying to conceal the anti-birth control aspect from the public at large.

It official, I have a cold. Also have another vet visit at 5. But with Dr. Berry because he's the only one with an opening. Which is fine, it just means going back over everything. Dr. E didn't like the sounds of the not sleeping thing.

But I'm also very curious about how straight shooters distinguish themselves, and how they interweave the narrative with the gameplay. And the preview I saw looked way too complex.

I haven't played a lot of them, so I don't know a lot of examples. I think Far Cry 2 is supposed to be really wide open where you have objectives, but you have options of how to accomplish them. No idea about narrative.

In Half Life 2 (and I presume the sequals when I get to them), you are on a very linear path with action, puzzles, and non-player characters in scripted sequences talking to you to advance the plot.

I've played the demo of Crysis a little and it is like Far Cry 2 I suspect, you have objectives in an open area and there is a linear path to accomplish them. I didn't see much plot.

I've played a bit the Bioshock demo as well. It has tremendous atmosphere (how can you not like an underwater objectivist dystopia) and I suspect from the demo it is fairly linear as well. It is supposed to have a lot of plot as well.

So in my limited experience I've seen a couple of camps, sort of the virtual playground vs. the highly scripted story.