Here’s my weekly list of ten. Anyone else doing this? Anyone else thinking of doing it? Just askin’.

1. SOCIALLY-MALADJUSTED PSYCOPATHS: How’s that for an opening? This is how former waiter-turned-author Steve Dublanica describes about 20% of people who walk in to restaurants. He appeared on Today this morning to pitch his book, Waiter Rant, and admitted that one of his tactics for getting back at a rude customer was to employ a kind of biological warfare.

2. LIKE FATHER…: Luke Russert, the recent college graduate who impressed many when he appeared on television right after the death of his well-known dad, Tim, has joined NBC News. The younger Russert will cover “youth issues” during the 2008 election cycle. Can’t wait to see what issues they come up with.

3. PETS PUT OUT: In an ever-increasing world of foreclosures, local animal shelters are seeing a rise in the number of strays as families who are facing the loss of their homes try to cut costs by sending their pets packing. If I ever have to live out of my car, my dogs have dibs on the back seat.

4. NOW WHAT?: Two days ago, the House of Representatives issued an apology to black Americans for the “fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow” segregation. Forty-eight hours later, are race relations in this country any better at all?

5. FANCY FOOTWEAR: If Christopher Hayes were a right-wing blogger, he says, and found out that Barack Obama was wearing $520 shoes, he’d make sure everyone knew it. Here’s his take on the fact that the pricey shoes were on John McCain instead.

6. NEW PROMISE: A new drug shows promise for actually halting the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

7. DOES ANYONE EVEN REMEMBER?: A sitcom from the 1970s that only lasted for eight episodes will come to DVD in October. Recall anything about it?

8. THREE-HOUR TOURS?: Would you go for a ride on the S.S. Minnow? You might have the chance, after a grocery store purchased the boat used in Gilligan’s Island for a promotional tour. How much luggage do you need for three hours?

9. THE BEST GAMES: Here’s a new list of the top 25 game shows. And I’m happy to admit that I fully agree with the pick for #1!

10. SEND SOME GOOD THOUGHTS: Please visit my pal Carly, of Ellipsis, who is going through a rough time, in part because of Ahhhnold himself and the bill he signed in California. Carly and I first crossed paths about four years ago, when this blog was still shiny and new. It still has a few shiny spots here and there, but not many, and Carly has stuck with me despite that. Please keep them in your thoughts.

No, this isn’t some lame attempt just to get some comments:  actually, I just want to make sure that the latest spam-catcher that I installed in the background isn’t blocking anyone.  So please say hello.  Comment moderation is still on, so your comment won’t necessarily appear immediately, but you should get a notice that your comment is in the moderation queue.

By the way, ever notice how strange the word queue looks spelled out?  I had to do a double-take just to make sure I hadn’t spelled it wrong.

Strange language, English.

…but all I can tell you is that I’m doing something very special here at the blog the weekend of August 16th and 17th.  More to come later, but I hope you’ll stop by at some point over those two days.

The original opening of Gilligan’s Island — from the pilot — was nowhere near the familiar theme song we grew up with.

Have a look for yourself:

Not bad, but I still like the familiar one better.  Which do you prefer?

Remember that little song?  I thought of it this morning.

Because I forgot to pay my phone bill.

Actually, I didn’t forget to pay it…I just got the due date for that bill confused with the due date for my electric bill.  The new AT&T, which doesn’t seem to be much of an improvement over the old one, and which delights in emailing me any time there’s something they want me to spend more money on, didn’t email me to warn me that my phone service was about to go bye-bye.

But this morning, the phone was suddenly out of service.  Still thinking I had a few days before the bill was due, I started my day and checked my email blissfully unaware that my phone had been “temporarily disconnected” until I got a call on my cell from mom, who told me that she couldn’t get through.

So I signed on to my account and checked:  sure enough, it was past due.  (Oddly enough, the same bill also covers online service, but this worked without a problem.)  So I authorized a payment of slightly more than was past due, just to show them that it was an honest mistake and that I meant to rectify it quickly and completely.

Then came the error:  “Your account requires special handling.  Please call AT&T at….”

Call?  With what?

Naturally, I didn’t call them until I got to work; I don’t do account information over a cell phone.  And as for “special handling,” they took the same information I gave their website.  They had no answer about exactly what kind of “special handling” they were performing.

Or why their site didn’t just cooperate to begin with rather than directing me to use a phone that it knew didn’t work.

…if there were no problems in the world serious enough to make a cartoon jingle seem an appropriate way to sell a candidate.

“Have a Coke and a smile.” That’s one of the most famous advertising phrases. But which of Coke’s products are most likely to put that smile on your face? It’s not like you don’t have plenty of beverages to choose from, which is a good thing, because that’s what you have to do this week…and it can only be Coke products. (Like it or not! And yes, Pepsi will have its turn soon.)

• First to play last week: Carly of Ellipsis. Congratulations!

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:
Name your seven favorite Coca Cola brand beverages.

Either answer the question in a comment or answer it in your journal and include the link in a comment. (To be considered “first to play,” a link must be to the specific entry in which you answered the question.) You may include this link in the URL space when leaving your comment, or in the comment itself. As long as it’s there in one spot or the other.

My Answers:
1. Diet Coke with Splenda
2. Diet Coke
3. Coca Cola (The Original, of course)
4. Diet Coke with Lime
5. Sprite
6. Barq’s Root Beer
7. Vanilla Coke

I now have a third layer of spam protection up and running.  This newest layer is supposed to determine whether a “spambot” is attempting to imitate a real live human being.  I’ve run a few test comments to make sure that “normal” comments are getting through, and I haven’t encountered any problems, yet.

The second layer of spam protection has a growing list of buzzwords that will prompt a Captcha test — one of those annoying “Type these letters” tests that forces you to transcribe words from a graphic — to make sure you’re really you.  I apologize if you get hit with one of those, but I am trying to hit as many of the spambots’ keywords as I can while still trying to make it easy for you to get through without any problem.

Yesterday’s Saturday Six didn’t seem to be affected, but if you post a comment and it won’t let you through, please click the Contact tab at the top of the header and send me a quick private message to let me know.

Yes, Charleston has an Apple Store (complete with a Palmetto tree out front) and today was the big Grand Opening.

Unlike fellow Charleston blogger Jared, I was not one of the first 1,000 to get in.  (My dogs had a vet appointment.)

By the time I arrived there late this afternoon, there were two police officers out front making sure that order was still being maintained.  It was, and while I was in the store browsing around, they left.

It’s nice to have an Apple Store in town.

It’s also a little dangerous.

Are you a game player? (In the good way, I mean.) This week’s set of questions are all about games and how well we play them.

• First to play last week: Mrs. L of Mrs. Linklater’s Guide to the Universe. Congratulations!
  (According to the rules, “First to Play” requires you to be the first to include the link to the specific entry in which you answered the questions, not just the general link to your blog.)

Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your journal…but either way, leave a link to your journal so that everyone else can visit! To be counted as “first to play,” you must be the first player to either answer the questions in a comment or to provide a complete link to the specific entry in your journal in which you answer the questions. A link to your journal in general cannot count. Enjoy!

1. What’s the last card game you played, and with whom did you play?

2. What’s the last board game you played, and with whom did you play?

3. What’s the last computer game you played, and with whom did you play?

4. Take the quiz: Which chess piece are you?

5. Of the games you listed in the first three answers, did you win any of the matches?

6. If you could only play one single game for the rest of your life, which game would you play and why would you choose it?

If you have a Reader’s Choice question you’d like to see asked (and answered), send me an email! I’d love to be able to include it in a future edition of the Saturday Six.

Here’s my weekly list of ten. Anyone else doing this? Anyone else thinking of doing it? Just askin’.

1. GOOD GOOP?: Would you use this stuff on your computer keyboard? You might, says its maker, if you want a keyboard that’s free of dust and dirt…not to mention crumbs from all those meals you’ve eaten with your eyes glued to the screen.

2. COURIC CONSTANT: You know all those stories about Katie Couric insisting that she’s not leaving the CBS Evening News? She’s still insisting that she’s still not going.

3. TAKE A PEEK: Ever wonder what it’s like inside a Lego factory? Wonder no more.

4. SHOT THROUGH THE HEART: …and cutting edge medicine’s to blame. Harvard researchers are working on ways of injecting cells into the heart muscle as a replacement for heart surgery. Does this mean we can start eating those Outback cheese fries again?!?

5. TOO MUCH?: A pastor explains why he thinks Christians spend too much time studying the Bible.

6. TOO ARROGANT?: Then, the same pastor explains why excessive bible study produces arrogant Christians.

7. TRAGIC END: The man nicknamed the “Spam King” who escaped from federal prison won’t be sending out any more spams.

8. WALT’S NOT GOING TO LIKE THIS!: Part of the promotion of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, a city in China has erected some cartoon-like mice with holes in their giant ears. Odd.

9. THE NAME GAME: What should you expect if you’re a reporter who does investigative stories on the TSA, that organization designed to make flying safer? To find your name on their terror watch list, naturally.

10. YOUR FIRST TIME: Do you remember your first time? Get your minds out of the gutter, people! I mean your first time with Google! If you remember using the venerable search engine for the first time, including what you looked up that first time, you should go here and tell them all about it.

I’ve been quietly battling a surge in spam behind the scenes here at Patrick’s Place.  Many of the spam comments (that you never see because of two layers of comment moderation) come from the same email address, which I am working on blocking completely.

The target URL of about half of them lately has been a dating site for Christians.  I’m not going to say which one, of course, because that’s what the spammers want.  No dice.

Ironically, one of the spam comments said something about gay dating, and the link was to the same site.  That’s going a long way to make a point.

The actual site, in case you were suddenly wondering, in no way deals with anything gay…which is a little odd when you think about it:  there are gay Christians in the world.

If I may borrow that all-too-familiar phrase, what would Jesus do when it comes to spam?  I don’t think he’d be a spammer:  he’d be a commenter who’d say who he was and what he wanted without wasting time sending thousands of little messages that point to someone else’s site.  And I suspect if Christ had his own blog, he’d have a spam filter like you couldn’t imagine.