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I saw the Season 2 premiere of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse and it’s starting off with a bang.  Dollhouse took a while to get going, but I think it’s one of the most intriguing and intelligent shows on TV.  As an added bonus to Battlestar Galactica fans, the season 2 premiere guest starred Jamie Bamber (Lee Adama).

If you’re new to Dollhouse, it’s essential to start with Season 1.  Keep in mind that the first 5 episodes are moderately interesting, but the show starts to pick up quickly after that.

Reviews and info about the Season 2 Premiere:
LATimes.com: Dollhouse’ premiere: ‘Vows’ not broken
LATimes.com: ‘Dollhouse’: Jamie Bamber talks about his marriage to Eliza Dushku’s Echo

From Arstechnica.com: Viagra spam brings bulging returns of more than $4,000/day

Pharmaceutical spam can generate more than $4,000 per day in sales, confirming that spam continues to thrive because of those gullible few who click through and ruin it for the rest of us. And that’s not just an estimate: a security researcher from Sophos have combed through sales logs as part of his investigation into the growth of spam networks, noting that Russian affiliate partner networks–also known as “partnerka”–are responsible for some of the largest Canadian pharmacy spam businesses.

Well, this pretty much explains why we get SPAM.  As long as people keep making money from SPAM messages, it’ll never end.

Huffingtonpost.com: Ford China Plant: Automaker Will Build $490 Million Facility

The factory, to be built in the central Chinese city of Chongqing, will make the next-generation Focus compact car, which Ford plans to sell globally.

It’s one thing if you’re making cars in China for the growing Chinese market, it’s another if you’re making cars in China to bring back to the United States because of cheaper labor costs.  Is this another step towards the end of U.S. auto manufacturing?

From sportsillustrated.cnn.com: Mogul’s Nets bid criticized in Russia

Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov’s bid to buy the New Jersey Nets was called “unpatriotic” by a member of his country’s upper parliament chamber’s sports committee.
…
Prokhorov, Russia’s richest man worth an estimated $9.5 billion by Forbes, reached a tentative deal Wednesday to invest $200 million to acquire 80 percent of the Nets’ shares and fund nearly half the cost of building a new arena. Prokhorov, who owns a share in the prominent Russian team CSKA, says he wants the deal partly as a way to get access to the NBA’s training methods and educate coaches on how to improve Russian basketball.

If you want to improve Russian basketball, the first thing to do is to stay away from the New Jersey Nets.

Here’s a short video of the Eiffel Tower flashing on the hour.  I was taking the photo below when the Eiffel Tower started flashing.  It actually surprised me even though I had been in the tower while it was flashing in the previous hour.  I was inside on the second level getting a snack and studying a map trying to figure out where we’d go next when I noticed some flashing lights.  It never dawned on me that the entire Eiffel Tower was flashing until I saw it again from below.

Here’s a picture of the Eiffel Tower lit but not flashing.
Here’s the tower flashing.
Video and photos all capture with the iPhone 3GS.

The Paris city government spends a lot of time and effort to keep the streets clean.  I’m not sure if it’s due to the fact that quite a few Parisians don’t pick up dog poop, but the street cleaning really makes a difference compared to U.S. cities.  Sidewalks and plazas are hosed down by trucks, but many streets have water sources built in to flush debris into the sewer system.

I wondered how environmentally friendly this is, but I read that it’s a closed system for recycling non drinkable water.  Paris has two water lines, one for drinkable water and one not.

Reuters.com: Body Worlds plans cadaver show dedicated to sex

German anatomists plan a new show dedicated solely to dead bodies having sex as part of the Body Worlds exhibitions.

I think people should realize now, that these cadaver shows aren’t about education, but are modern day freak shows designed to shock and entertain.

I wrote about this extensively last year when a different show, Bodies the Exhibition was here in Cincinnati.

From Yahoo News: Ex-CEO backs limit on leaving passengers on tarmac

 A former CEO of American Airlines on Tuesday backed imposition of a three-hour time limit on how long airlines can strand passengers on airport tarmacs, but he also warned of unintended consequences.

Even three hours waiting on a tarmac seems too long.  But, at least this would prevent those horror stories of people being kept on planes with no food and overflowing toilets.

Sorry for the lack of posts these last two weeks.  I was on vacation in Europe, visiting London and Paris.  I had my iPhone and was planning to blog, but long days of walking and sightseeing combined with the relative lack of free WiFi made me change my mind.  Sometimes it’s good just to get away and stay unplugged.  So, what’s going on in the world?

I’m not a big fan of wallpaper, but then I’ve never had wallpaper like this!

Obey Giant Shepard Fairey Wallpaper at Curio Wallcoverings