New story and artwork: Here's another one of those better-late-than-never projects, this one conceived almost 3 years ago to the day. Read How Greg Louganis Joined the Junior Swim Team by Mike Neal.

A Veteran MAD Man Remains in the Fold

Cracked.com

• The 9 Most Obnoxious Memes to Ever Escape the Web
• The 6 Creepiest Comic Book Characters of All Time
• 7 Random Objects Sold as Exercise Machines
• Near Misses: The 6 Worst Movies Hollywood Almost Made
• 5 Psychological Experiments That Prove Humanity is Doomed

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull--While it doesn't have the same oomph The Last Crusade has, Crystal Skull delivers some old-school adventure fun and a fitting coda to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Salon

New comic: I started and got stalled with this comic over 2 years ago. That'll teach me to draw a story without an outline. Read Justin and Jon.

New stories: Boot Camp Runners by Peterbilt and Caleb's Big Problem by Londonboy

Government and Privacy

• Republicans push for phone company immunity--They make it clear where their priorities lie. Follow the money.
• FBI Targets Internet Archive With Secret 'National Security Letter', Loses
• Judge bars unauthorized sales of phone records
• Judge: Man can't be forced to divulge encryption passphrase
• NJ court requires subpoena for Internet subscriber records
• Canadian Privacy Commissioner Orders Bar to Stop Scanning IDs
• FBI wants to move hunt for criminals into Internet backbone
• Microsoft device helps police pluck evidence from cyberscene of crime
• 'Big Brother' database for phones and e-mails--Hello, this is Orwell calling.

Anonymity

• Washingtonpost.com wants identities of readers who post comments
• Kentucky Lawmaker Wants to Make Anonymous Internet Posting Illegal
• Yale students unable to identify anonymous forum bashers

Liberty and Justice For All

California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban--Oh, about those "unelected" judges, guess who put 'em there.

Why the California Supreme Court did more than legalize gay marriage

California's marriage ruling -- what it means and what it doesn't mean Salon

For Newsom, same-sex marriage ruling is vindication

Marriage Ruling Vaults Issue Back to Campaign Stages--"Gay marriage is an issue on which the three major presidential candidates... are pretty much in agreement. All oppose it...."

Protecting the Sanctity of Marriage

New stories: The Young and Not So Young by Peterbilt and Muscle for Hire 7 by Londonboy

Forget Miley Cyrus. Check out Disney's Chinese underwear ad.--Maybe Hannah should talk to Harry.

Educamation

• Teachers say principal threatened to kill them if TAKS test scores didn't improve
• Teacher fired for refusing to sign loyalty oath
• Teacher Fired for Magic Trick, County Calls It "Wizardry"--This is why Florida has a special Fark tag all its own.
• Maybe He Shouldn’t Have Spoken His Mind--One university's reprehensible retaliation against an outspoken critic
• 8-year-old boy suspended for sniffing marker
• School Bill Would Force Parents To Volunteer
• When school bullies get out of hand

Think for the children

• How Dangerous Is the Internet for Children?--Not as much as it's being hyped
• Sex Offender E-Mail Registry Proposed To Protect Minors Online--Completely ineffectual except at showing they're doing "something".
• MySpace to Let Parents Block Their Kids From Joining--Ditto this.

New stories: Dads and Sons by Peterbilt and The Trickster by xythan_shadow

Fair Use and copyright

• Big Content in worldwide "whisper campaign" against Fair Use
• Schneier on Security: Law Review Article on the Problems with Copyright
• Fair use advocates hit back with copyright principles of their own
• EU suggests singers and musicians should earn copyright fees for 95 years
• History suggests copyright crusade is a lost cause
• Controversial Pro-IP Act sails through Judiciary Committee--Can this be appealed to a higher standard?
• Troubling "Digital Theft Prevention" Requirements Remain in Higher Education Bill

Happy Mother's Day

New stories: Making Out of the Team Bus by Peterbilt and High School Bully 8 by BBMSN

Missed Spellings

• The Isle of White
• Poor spellers to be shamed by university
• Boulder County fixes historic typo near Gold Hill--"It could have been a mistake, like the pictures you see of the road-painting guys who misspelled 'school.'"

Shop 'n shave

• Man hair: How to Turn Your Body Into A Hairless Wonderland With Gadgets
• How To Shave The Modern Male
• Wax on, wax off

Rome, if you want to

• Cave of Romulus and Remus located in Rome
• Ancient Roman road map unveiled
• I'm Sorry, Marcus--The politics of computer gaming

Stories I'm Reading: Entries for the 2008 EroticGayHypnosis Master of Amateurs Story Contest

• All’s Fair
• Big Boy Billy
• Dan
• Defiance
• The Masseuse
• The MC Gym
• The Customer is Always Right
• Video Booth

Music

• Does She Look Like a Music Pirate?
• Why the Music Industry is Lying to You
• The Democratization of the Music Industry
• From major to minor
• RIAA: Piracy fight more important than net neutrality bill--A Democratic Senator begs to disagree
• RIAA files supplemental brief in Atlantic v. Howell; argues personal copies ripped to computer are unauthorized
• RIAA Believes MP3s Are A Crime: Why This Matters
• RIAA boss: Move copyright filtering from ISPs to users’ PCs
• Home copying - burnt into teenage psyche
• Why Apple is more expensive than Amazon