I know what the folks at the White Bridge Road Shoney’s meant, but I’m not sure they thought much about how this sounds. If it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll pass on the breakfast bar tomorrow morning.

My very first commenter, Mary, has passed along some useful information: Nashville has its own Stephen Colbeagle the Eagle at Liberadio, a local radio political talk show. Liberadio airs from 7 to 9 a.m. on Mondays on Vanderbilt University’s WRVU-FM (91.1).

Liberadio’s site has tons of useful information on current events and a list of great resources on the Web. Progressives should find plenty there to like. I did.

USA Today has seriously underestimated Ferris Bueller, if you ask me, in this story from Friday’s edition.

The article does make a good point, though, for most teenagers: Technology has dramatically changed the high-school and young-adult experience during the last five to ten years. Many cities have passed daytime curfews for school-age children, graduated drivers licenses now prevent many teens from leisure driving with buddies, and cellphones with GPS devices mean that parents now can track where their children are throughout the day.

There are a lot of other new challenges for students, too, if they’re looking to wreak a little mayhem. For a pro like Ferris, though, I have to think that he’d still find a way to get around them. How about a fake ID and passing his cell phone to a friend who’s still at school? He could easily have his calls forwarded to another number, and maybe he would borrow a cell phone from an older friend for the day.

On the whole, I think these restrictions are probably a good thing, although I’m sure I wouldn’t have been happy about them as a high schooler. I think it’s still important to balance between trust and accountability, and it sounds like that’s becoming an increasingly difficult thing to do.

School kids + YouTube = trouble

I have to admit that in seventh grade, I would have thought this was hilarious. As an adult, I know this is wrong, but it does strike me as funny. (I’m glad they took it down, though. It’s a bad precedent, and geez, all of YouTube’s bandwidth would be gone within days once American kids copied the feat.)

I’ve been meaning to look up Stephen Colbert in Wikipedia ever since he began encouraging viewers to vandalize the well-known collaborative encyclopedia.

I finally did so just now, and it was worth it. First of all, there are two entries: one for the real-life actor Stephen Colbert, and one for his pundit characterization that is the star of the Colbert Report. I spent most of my time on the latter, and it is a good read.

Did you know that Colbert’s real middle name is Tyrone? Or that he has a pet goldfish named Anthrax? Trust me, it’s worth the visit.

I was sad to learn from this Toronto Star article that Stephen’s push to have a bridge in Hungary named after him did fail, though it appears he was cheated out of his victory. At least he has a hockey mascot named after him:

Lately Colbert has been dispatching his followers “on a rampage of merry mischief,” including “bombing the website of a junior-league hockey team holding a name-our-mascot campaign (the team’s mascot is now Steagle Colbeagle the Eagle)” and “hijacking an online poll posted by Hungary’s Economic Ministry to name a new bridge over the Danube the Stephen Colbert Bridge (he topped the poll, but Hungary disqualified him because he’s not dead).”

Tonight’s episode, Collaborators, looks to be intense based on this brief description and on the preview scenes. I am really curious to see where Galactica heads from here. The writers have finished the New Caprica storyline, as far as we can tell, and they’ve sent the Colonials back into space (where they belong, if you ask me). Tonight’s episode looks like it will focus on the aftermath of the settlement and the Cylon occupation as humanity begins picking up the pieces of a catastrophic 16-month existence.

I am hoping to see more of the painful consequences of everything that has been taking place. No, I’m not a sadist, but I do appreciate the realism that the writers incorporate in the stories they tell. (Yes, I just argued for realism on a show where robots are chasing people around outer space, but if you watch the show, I think you probably understand what I mean.) The current scenario on the series would rank as one of, if not the, greatest tragedy to befall humanity if it were true, and there needs to be fallout from that kind of turmoil. I feel confident that no one on the series will be the same after all of this, and that there won’t be a sense that this segment of the storyline never happened. We’ll see for sure in a few hours.

I’m also curious to see where the Cylons go from here, whether Baltar stays with them and, most importantly, if we get to see any of it.

The Preds (5-3-1) edged the Sharks (7-4) by a score of 4-3 last night in a thrilling, fast and physical matchup. Here are my answers for yesterday’s three questions:

1. I don’t think the Preds’ five-day break between games or the Sharks’ game on Wednesday night seemed to matter much on the ice. This was a hard-fought, physical game the whole way through, and it was really fun to watch.
2. The Preds outshot the Sharks 29-27 and, most importantly, considerably reduced their shots against from 46 during their previous game. That’s a good sign.
3. The Sharks still outmuscled the Preds at times in the first and third periods, but the Preds’ size upgrades were noticeable on the ice. They dominated the second period, too.

Here are a few other observations I had while watching the game. Both teams forecheck aggressively, and that made for a lot of back-and-forth skating. On the Sharks goal that opened the scoring at 1-0, Dan Hamhuis only partially connected on his signature hip check near the left boards, and Joe Thornton (who was a beast all night) shook it off and found Mark Bell for an easy goal.

Alexander Radulov’s score to tie the game at 1-1 was a wicked wrister that caught Sharks goalie Vesa Toskala totally off guard. Not bad for Radulov’s first NHL goal. As he should have, Radulov was exuberant in the wake of the score and leapt off the ice before being surrounded by his teammates. Radulov logged about 11 minutes of ice time and was all over the place during play. He looks to be a stud in waiting behind a talented set of Preds forwards. He easily slipped behind the Sharks defense a couple of times and was blazing fast at times. He played sound positionally on most shifts and had a couple of solid checks, too. He didn’t hesitate to get in front of Toskala in the second period and attempt a redirect on a shot from the point, either.

Scott Hartnell was a force on the ice all night. His goal to make the score 2-1 came on a pretty tic-tac-toe passing play that left him alone in front of the net. His second goal late in the contest, the eventual game winner, was all hustle and a brilliant play, as he bounced the puck off Toskala from behind the goal. The Arnott, Kariya and Erat line played extremely well all night and continues to be huge for the Preds. Erat, in particular, stands out in my mind so far this season as the team’s most improved player. Tomas Vokoun was exceptional in net, as usual, and he bailed the Preds out at times in the third. I am concerned that the Preds yet again surrendered a two-goal advantage in allowing the Sharks to tie the game 3-3, but they didn’t buckle down the stretch.

All in all, this was a good way to wrap up a short homestand and head out for a long road trip on a high note. We’ll see how the team plays as it makes the typically tough Northwest swing through Canada over the next week or so. Go Preds!

The Preds (4-3-1) are back in action tonight hosting the San Jose Sharks (7-3) , and I’m pondering the following questions as they prepare to take the ice:

1. What will matter more: the Preds’ five-day break since losing to Vancouver on Saturday, or the Sharks’ loss to the Red Wings last night?
2. Which team will give up more shots tonight? The Preds (46) or the Sharks (39), who both were heavily outshot in their last contests.
3. How will the Preds matchup with the Sharks now that the Preds have added some size at forward (Arnott, Dumont and Vasicek, the last of whom is likely out for tonight)?

We’ll see in a few hours. This one should make for a good game. Go Preds!!

Have you carved your pumpkin yet? If you’re like me and you haven’t, don’t worry. Extremepumpkins.com can give you some advice on how to make a really unique design. The site also has techniques for preserving your pumpkin, so it isn’t black and rotting by next Tuesday. My favorite pumpkin is rated PG-13, but he’s still funny.

Note: If you haven’t seen this week’s episode, there are spoilers below.

I have come to love Lost since my wife and I began watching it on DVD this past summer. My initial impressions of this show, based on the preview ads show before its debut in fall 2004, were that the series was basically a serious take on Gilligan’s Island: a bunch of castaways stuck in the middle of nowhere, minus the hi-jinks.

Boy, was I wrong. I thought the writers would run out of ideas within months. It’s no secret that many fans are tiring of the constant mystery and confusion that Lost displays and it’s tendency to generate new questions before answering those that it has already raised. I love that about this show, though I’d be happy to see a few more answers emerge, too. The creativity in storytelling is unique and amazing, and I love seeing them continue to tangle the Web. I can be patient, but my one sincere hope is that, in the big picture, the writers know where this whole mess is going over the long run. I’ll only be truly disappointed if they never make an effort to connect the dots, or if their resolution isn’t satisfying. Until that day comes, I’m along for the ride and enjoying the breeze.

The psychological torture inflicted on Sawyer last night was fun to watch. (The injection scene in the midst, however, was not. Pulp Fiction 2.0.) The writers continue to give him great lines each week, and his approach to the character makes him a very likeable jackass. (That’s my favorite kind.) When one of the Others tries to bait Sawyer into a beating as he’s been taken off for a phantom surgical procedure, he says, “Give me a reason [to beat the hell out of you.]” Sawyer’s reply, “I thought I just did,” is classic and gave me a good laugh. I feel like his character is an adult take on John Bender from The Breakfast Club, and most any show can benefit from that kind of personality when it’s done well.

I liked seeing the Others have to call on Jack for help in trying to save Colleen’s life. I thought it was powerful that Jack couldn’t do it, and that will make for increased tension in this storyline. (It sure did in the aftermath, when Colleen’s husband takes out his wrath on Sawyer. Wow.)

The big tease from last night: There are two islands. Whoa! All this season, the writers have allowed us to believe that the Others have been holding Jack, Kate and Sawyer on the opposite site of the island from the rest of the Oceanic flight passengers. We knew Jack was underwater, but I had still assumed he was near the shoreline. Now we know differently, but we still don’t know what it means. Oh, and now we know there’s a submarine, too.

I sure hope this is all leading up to an exhilirating cliffhanger in two weeks, when the series prepares to take its mid-season break until February. We’ll see.

I love the recently released Google Maps Mobile application for smartphones. I downloaded it a few days ago and have used it frequently on my Treo 650 (that’s a 700p above), and it is genius. I think it’s essentially a Web browser that surfs only to Google Maps, but it is really well designed.

It loads quickly and displays only the map interface. Adding locations from the Menu is really easy, and the application very quickly loads the relevant area. This has been so handy for me when heading toward a new destination around town. I highly recommend it.

Ready to check it out? Visit www.google.com/gmm from your phone’s Web browser. (You may want to go there on your PC first to make sure your phone is compatible.)

I would say that it has begun, but we all know that the holiday machinations of consumer America are well underway. Keep your eyes open, lest you be trampled at the entrance to your favorite store.