Yeah, I think we all get by now the U.S. Postal Service is pretty much boned. Still trying to figure out how privatizing an agency but still having the government tell it what to do and how to do it works exactly, but the bottom line is the Postal Service should have every right to quit Saturday service. They should have the right to do any damn thing they want just shy of their own "Fast and Furious" program, to cut operating costs and try to get near the same continent as profitable. The only thing Congress did in 2006 was leave them swinging in the wind, then complain about the noise they were making thumping the side of the building...

As I make may way through my first couple cups of coffee this morning, I find myself wondering if Penelope Soto is getting the full measure of her fifteen minutes of fame in Miami-Dade County Jail after her bravura performance at her arraignment on drug possession charges. I mean, just look at that face. Replace the orange jumpsuit with lingerie (or less) and suddenly that expression goes from "you just doubled my bond" to "I have to take all of that?" Like I said last night, expect to see more of this chick in an orange wardrobe...

No picture for this part. You shouldn't need a visual aid, or some idiotic picture of a pink handgun to know what the hell is wrong with the death of 3-year-old Tmorej Smith in Greenville, South Carolina. I am not saying take the guns away. I support the 2nd Amerndment, and I think assault rifles are best left to the police and military. A vast majority of people I've seen with assault rifles strike me as the type who has set their house on fire trying to deep fry a turkey. More than once. The only thing dumber than making toy guns that look like real guns is making real guns that look like toys, and the only thing worse than children having guns is adults with childrens' mentality having guns. Bottom line, pure and simple. 

It seems like I write about the waste of time pennies once or twice every couple of years, so the news that Canada was no longer going to mint them naturally caught my attention. Although I misquoted myself slightly on the air last night- it only takes $0.0241 to make a penny, my number was taken from the joke in the title of my last piece on the subject.

Good for Canada. Since the United States is beyond common sense on a lot of things anymore, it doesn't seem very likely we're gonna lose our penny anytime soon. If there's one thing our government loves, it's wasting the fuck out of some money. We would probably get some nonsense that the hit to the "take a penny, leave a penny tray" industry would be too disastrous with our current (and much tweaked) 8% unemployment rate...

Still pretty much fascinated by the story about the Delftia acidovorans germ, the microbe that turns toxic water-soluble gold into tiny solid gold particles. That's the kind of discovery that seems like it could potentially level the playing field when it comes to gold prospecting, especially if the plan to seed waste piles for larger amounts of gold pans out, pardon the pun. Puts a whole new spin on the backyard mulch pile, I tell you that much...

As to what didn't make the air this week...as a former athlete and a Cubs fan, I know of slumps, but nothing to the magnitude of California Institute of Technology. Judging by the records (notably the big time losing streaks) of some of the Beavers' sports program, the school athletic department's motto oughta be "Not the face!" Seriously, I bet if you go to Caltech games, the crowd breaks out in chants of "Stay Down!"

Doing their part to try and break the bad luck, The Beavers baseball team ended a 228-game losing streak this past Saturday, defeating Pacifica 9-7 in game two of a doubleheader. It was the school's first baseball win since Feb. 15, 2003. Ten years without a win of any kind? Charlie Brown's little league team had a better record. The Japanese had a better record against Godzilla. In what has to be next up for Caltech, their even more impressive 463-game Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference losing streak. The Beavers have not scored a conference win since 1988, twenty four freakin years and counting since their last win in the conference.

Maybe they break that streak and they will be able to get the monkey off their back. Of course, that may not be a good thing, as the monkey would probably go get eight of his friends and whoop them out on the diamond. Like everyone else...