Top 8 Things in this Morning's Express

The Express is a free newspaper I get at the subway stop, which is distributed by the Washington Post. I read it on my commute in to work. Here's what I found interesting in today's news:

* Jennifer Hudson is going to have a baby. She needed some good news after the hell she's been through. I hope it was good news for her. Congrats to her!

* Billy Bob Thornton's daughter is facing criminal charges in Florida after a year-old little girl that she was baby-sitting died. She is charged with child neglect causing harm or disability. I guess the sling blade doesn't fall far from the tree.

* In the TV listings, it said the two final episodes of According to Jim are on tonight. That show is still on? Who watches that?

* Bravo is searching for the Real Housewives of D.C. Where do I audition?

* Roger Federer rallied to win a 5-set match at the French Open. I haven't seen any of the Open this year. He beat Tommy Hass, who I never heard of. It said Andy Roddick lost also and he was cranky about it getting dark, but they wouldn't suspend the match. Damn that night blindness!

* A teenager was recaptured after escaping from a $46 million Maryland juvenile detention center the day after it opened. I guess they should have waited til they installed the locks.

* After reading the following headline, "Strict Rules Take Effect at Borders," I was worried it was going to be a big hassle to buy books now, but they didn't mean the bookstore, they were talking about our national borders. My bad.

* Last, but not least, Dick Cheney Monday said he thinks that people should be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. I recall he said something similar during the vice-presidential debate in 2000. Unfortunately, he did nothing to encourage this kind of activity during the 8 years he was in office. He did manage to start two wars and shoot a man in the face.

New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #196

So far they've developed a deadly cat plague

and a new, delicious cheese.

The above is the cartoon for New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest for week #196. Let me know if you come up with a caption.

My Levi's Purchase

I mentioned previously that I was planning on making a Levi's purchase this weekend to support their support of marriage equality. I bought these Men's Regular Fit Light Stone Wash Jeans. I was going to get "Straight Fit" jeans, but that just didn't seem right. You can order stuff online here.

Clouds in the Sand

Upside Down Horseshoe Crab

This horseshoe crab washed up on the beach. Though they look like
crabs, they are actually descendents of spiders. That is according to
Wiki.

Rightside Up Horseshoe Crab

I flipped it over and it swam away. They are supposed to be able to
flip themselves over using their tail, but I thought I would ignore
the Prime Directive and help out.

Me on the Beach

Shane on the Beach

Fenwick Island Beach

We drove south and are at a state park at Fenwick Island, DE. The
beach isn't as crowded and is wider. That is Shane's knee in the
corner of the shot.

The Beach at Bethany Beach

I haven't been to Bethany Beach in a long time and it looks way
different. You can't see the shore from the boardwalk. They built
the dune way high, I suppose to prevent erosion. The beach is very
crowded and much more narrow.

Me in Bethany

Bethany Beach Sights

We made it to beach. We stopped to buy two umbrellas and beach chairs, had a quick slice of greasy pizza and are now sitting on the beach. Awesome sights!

Crossing the Bay Bridge

This is the bridge that crosses rhe Chesapeake Bay. You can't tell by
this shot, but it has been very trafficy. They closed the road just
ahead of us to allow a huge herd of motorcycles merge on the highway.

Last Minute Beach Day

Since it is such a beautiful day, we decided on a whim to have a beach
day. We are on our way to Delaware, and we should be there by 12:30
( depending on the traffic). It usually takes about 3 hours.

A Chuckle from Fail Blog

This was from http://www.failblog.org/. It made me laugh. "It's not Rocket Surgery" is my new favorite expression.

Support Levi's for Supporting Equality

My apologies to Bob at the I Should Be Laughing blog for stealing his post, but I thnk it is very important to support companies that support the gay community is such a bold way. I will be shopping and buying Levi's this weekend. Also, check out Bob's excellent blog. Below is his posting about Levi's.
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Quality Never Goes Out of Style.

And neither does doing the right thing.

Levi's has launched a new ad campaign in more than twenty of it's company-owned stores from New York to San Francisco, with mannequins wearing Levi’s jeans and shirts fitted with White Knots, a symbol of solidarity with the same-sex marriage movement.

A Levi's spokesperson says "We always try to connect to the energy and events of our time. What’s the pioneering spirit of today? A lot of people are rallying around marriage equality and fighting for that and so many individuals within our company feel so strongly about it."

Levi's has always put the LGBT community out front, as it were. They have a long history of supporting LGBT rights, from taking ads out on LGBT television, to even signing onto an amicus brief last year challenging the validity of Prop 8.

What's even greater, is that Levi's started this new ad campaign in an instant. Within 24 hours of the California Supreme Court upholding Prop H8, Levi's was standing with us again.

Levi's, where equality never goes out of style.

Carol Leifer Debates Gay Marriage with a Macaroon

This is the brilliant Carol Leifer, who is on Larry King to debate some idiot minister about gay marriage. She is a great spokesperson for the gay community. She is smart, funny and likable. She should lead the charge.

Pacino in Talks to Play Dr. Death

Al Pacino may star in a new HBO movie about Dr. Jack Kevorkian, aka Dr. Death.

Dr. Kevorkian helped more than 150 terminally ill people commit suicide before being sent to jail in 1999 after a 60 Minutes story showed him helping someone die. He was released from prison in 2007. I think he is a real American hero that sacrificed himself for his values. How many of us can claim to have done that?

The HBO movie will be based on Between the Dying and the Dead: Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the Assisted Suicide Machine and the Battle to Legalize Euthanasia, by Neal Nicol. The movie is set to be directed by Barry Levinson.

HBO movies are getting quite a reputation as high-quality products. The recent Grey Gardens, starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange was excellent and that project can expect to get some awards come Emmy time.

Nats on Steroids?

There have been news reports that a steroids dealer in Florida has claimed to sell performance-enhancing drugs to one or a number of Nationals players (and to members of the Washington Capitols hockey team). It begs the question, if players for the Nats are on steroids, how bad would they be without them?

Right now, the Nats are by far the worse team in National baseball. So far this season they have won 13 games and lost 32. That means they have won fewer than 29 percent of their games so far. To give you some perspective, the next worse team is the Colorado Rockies. They have won 40 percent of their games. The Nats are more than 10 perentage points behind the second worse team.

I love that we now have baseball in DC, but how long will it last if this is the quality of a team they are overcharging to see?

Hump Day Art--Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge

This is a new feature on Running With Blue Sponge called Hump Day Art, which will feature a piece of art each Wednesday. I’ve always wanted to learn more about art, and I figured this might be a good way to do that.

Today’s painting is an oil on canvas called “Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge,” which was painted by Mary Cassatt in 1879. Cassatt was an American painter born in 1844 and died in 1926. She created a series of theater scenes in the late 1870s, displaying an interest in city nightlife shared by many of the Impressionists. This work, showing a woman (said to be her sister, Lydia) seated in front of a mirror with the balconies of the Paris Opera House reflected behind her, demonstrates the influence of Cassatt’s friend, Edgar Degas, particularly to the attention paid to the effects of the artificial lighting on the flesh tones.

I saw the painting in the European gallery of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The photo was taken with my iPhone.