Diablo Cody gets her 15 minutes

[Warning: adult content alert! Some readers may find Diablo Cody's blog, humor and lifestyle offensive. Also, some of the language in this post might be offensive, too. Consider yourself warned.]  This means you, Mom. ;-)

So, my girl Diablo Cody, written about here in the past, is making the rounds on a book tour for her new book Candy Girl -- A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper. I've written here twice before about her. If you want background on Diablo, you can read the previous posts here and here or you can go to the source and read her blog for yourself. She's got a great wit.

Back in August of '04, Diablo's shutdown her old Pussy Ranch blog. She later re-opened it at CityPages.com, a Twin Cities newspaper. Diablo writes for CityPages, covering the television beat for them.

Between writing for the paper and writing on her blog, she's also found time to publish this book. Now she's making the rounds publicizing it.

Here's a link to an interview at YouTube.com from an appearance on David Letterman's The Late Show. Apparently, Dave likes her and the book; he put the book on Dave's Book List. Actually, it's the only book on the list.

She was also apparently on Fox and Friends the morning of April 19, 2006, but I couldn't find any trace of that appearance. And I can't ask her about it because the current Pussy Ranch doesn't support comments... :-(

As of this writing, on Amazon.com her book is #3,207, having fallen from #2,858 yesterday. So, let's all rush to buy buy Diablo's book and push that number back up.

Btw, Diablo also has a presence at MySpace.com

Update: I wandered over to check Diablo's MySpace site/blog and discovered that this busy girl has also written a screenplay. The title of the film is Juno, and according to Diablo, it should start filming in May. The director, Brad Silberling, also directed the films Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, City of Angels and Casper. So, he's no slouch. Not bad for a freshman screenplay.

The Internet is David's 21st Century Sling

Know the story of David and Goliath?

It's an Old Testament story about a man named David (who later become Kind David) who faces and defeats Goliath, an enemy many times more deadly than David due to superior size, strength and armament. David defeated Goliath with a sling and a well-aimed stone. David's victory averted a war that threatened his nation.

The term "Goliath" refers to anything we consider to be gigantic, a behemoth, especially one that's in some way menacing. The story of David and Goliath has become a well-worn metaphor for the struggle between the common man and any number of large, menacing institutions, including corporations and the government.

Now, in the 21st century, the Internet has become David's sling.

Witness the Maine Web Report a blog from which David, in the guise of Lance Dutson, is hurling stones at the Maine Office of Tourism (at http://www.maine.gov/portal/visiting/ and http://www.visitmaine.com), and scoring resounding hits.

Sadly, rather than facing this David on a level field of battle (the Internet), this Goliath is allowing contractors to wage a campaign of intimidation against Lance and his family. Lance has received intimidating email, snail mail and phone calls. His wife and his wife's employer have been contacted in an effort to discredit him. Even some of his own clients have received phone calls bemoaning his blog as defamatory.

Rather than facing this David in open discussion on the Internet, this Goliath is sneaking behind enemy lines to wage a war of disinformation and terrorism against non-combatants -- namely Lance's family and his clientele.

And if you think I'm sensationalizing this, I dare you to read his blog.

It makes for fascinating, and frightening, reading. Frightening in that a government agency will allow a citizen's First Amendment rights, and the security of his family, to be so threatened over what is essentially a difference of opinion.

Highly recommended.

No, Ping, I'm not a slacker...

...I've been busy.

A friend of mine from Florida recently paid a visit to this Blog.

She noted in a subsequent email that I'd not updated it since January, accusing me of being a slacker. Well, here you have the non-slacker me. Two posts in one day. Plus, I'll have you know, I tried to make a post last night about Tony Snow being appointed as the White House Press Secretary. Somehow that didn' t make it onto the site. Very odd. I'll have to repost that bit later.

However, here's the reason for this post. Mom sent me an email. It talks about a new element. Now I'm trying to figure out where it goes on the Periodic Table.

Dangerous New Element

The recent hurricanes and gasoline issues are proof of the existence of a new chemical element. A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element has been named Governmentium. Governmentium (GV) has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second to take over four days to complete.

Governmentium does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration! This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass.

When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium- an element which radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Don't you just love Science?