Den Beste says we’ve completely defeated EUrope. Mwahahahahaha.

Kevin Smith’s “Movie Poop Shoot” site (it’s not just a joke from J&SBSB anymore) has a hilarious collection of actual critics’ quotes about some of the worst movies of 2002. There’s also a contest apparently, but it’s too late to enter if I understand correctly.

A frame grab from a in-flight video interview Col. Ramon did with Ariel Sharon shows what appears to be large cracks in the shuttle’s left wing.

UPDATE: Comment #15 on the linked LGF thread indicates that it’s probably not the wing, it’s the inside of the payload bay. That certainly makes more sense.

Matt Welsh puts way more analysis than is necessary into REO Speedwagon’s signature hit “Keep On Lovin’ You”. I’m concerned about his sanity – maybe the whole LA Examiner thing is starting to wear already.

Andrew Sullivan has a nice analysis of France’s sudden signal (in the face of 11 other European countries opposing them and calling them “unilateralist”) that they’re surrendering to Bush and Blair. He also points to a good analysis by the International Herald Tribune.

Another Scrappleface classic.

Spain is now warning France and Germany “not to act unilaterally”. Mwahahahahahahaha!

Misha points to a screen capture in which CNN claims the shuttle was travelling at “18 times the speed of light”. In Star Trek terms, that’s Warp 2.6.

Another weird factoid about Columbia.

Lileks has a typically understated Bleat on the shuttle disaster, the NPR disaster (you’ll see what I mean), and the portrayal of Soviets in US film. Really.

Here’s a fascinating article by Bjørn Stærk on how the lingua franca of geekdom is English.

The Emperor Fisks the Arab News. I know, I know. But it’s masterful anyway.

First off, we have a story about Dracula. No, really. Also, Thomas Friedman boards the EUro-bashing bandwagon (toot toot!), and on a more somber note, NASA has found remains from all seven astronauts. (Read this first, then hit the other two to get the much-needed laughs).

Here’s two excellent editorial cartoons. I’m using a snazzy feature of our new software (Movable Type) to hide them until you click through, which speeds page loading for our friends on dial-up.
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Andrea Harris has linkage to a site with the great Engrish subtitles from the Two Towers bootleg DVD.

A few weeks ago I got a summons for jury duty for tomorrow, which is Teh Suck(tm). I just called the automated hotline and I don’t have to report tomorrow! I was so surprised I double-checked on their website (which has the unnecessarily cool URL of ninja9.org), and it’s all true. Woo hah!

Anna at BBB brings news of SLAM. No, not the obnoxious Onyx song, this is one of the many cool items our military has available.

Gregg Easterbrook says the shuttle needs to go. Certainly modern technology could come up with something cheaper, safer, and better (the shuttle remains with late 60s/early 70s technology for the most part). However, I think Greg’s squishy liberalism is getting in the way again. The government should be aiming to find commercially useful things to do in space (various microgravity things on the moon, for instance) and then stepping out of the way and letting private enterprise exploit it. Space tourism alone could be a huge business if it became cheap enough and safe enough.

Here’s a great ‘just the facts, ma’am’ rundown of the Space Shuttle program.

The at least moderately conservative Christian Democrats won a huge victory over Gerard Schroder’s flat-out Marxist Social Democrats. I guess anti-Americanism isn’t sufficient to win elections after all.

A nasty anti-American columnist in the Guardian has a change of heart.

LGF: The saddest picture yet.

Dawn Olsen finally is ready to admit she’s conservative. No doubt this’ll get her delinked, just as Michele’s similar admission several months back did. (I gotta thank whoever first delinked Michele though – I’d never heard of her blog before Glenn noted that controversy, and now she’s one of my consistent daily favorites).

Mark Steyn nukes Colin Powell from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

William McCool, one of the crew of Columbia had a copy of Weezer’s “Blue Album” with him as a personal item. He was planning to take a picture of it next to the Big Blue Earth and present it to Rivers and the boys upon his return. I’m not a big fan of theirs by any means, but it’s yet another neat little story you might not otherwise hear. (hat tip to Robyn).

UPDATE: Michele has another “human interest” story about one of the 7, this one much much sadder. Read it here.