Lumas 25, 29.

DIARY

- WHAT IS ONE OF THE GREATEST MOVIES OF THE DECADE, HINTING AT A TRANSCENDENCE OF GOTHIC FUNK - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

- WHAT IS A GOOD MOVIE - Mean Girls.

- WEATHER - When will Al Gore finally get his apology? It's pretty much hot everywhere. Yesterday, 48 of 50 states recorded temperatures of at least 90 degrees. 21 of 50 states recorded over 100, 26 at least 99 degrees. Valentine, NE, one of the hottest inhabited places recorded 113. Death Valley reached 126. AccuWeather says:
"The heat wave gripping the nation right now is one that doesn't come around every year. For example, how about the blistering temperatures in the Plains this past weekend? At least 40 records were broken Saturday, many by several degrees, and 20 more records fell Sunday. Among the records that fell Saturday were three all-time records, including an oppressive 117-degree reading in the capital city of South Dakota, Pierre. Records have been kept for over 70 years in each of the three cities that eclipsed all-time records."
Tomorrow we'll get a 5-10 degree break, but things will be toasty again by Wednesday.

- TIGERS - The Tigers have increased their lead over the White Sox to a less-than-razor-thin 4.5 games. We'll see if they can hold that, as their going up against the Sox in a series at Comerica starting tomorrow. It's impressive that the Tigers have maintained their record this far into the season. But they tend to falter when they go up against their fellow contenders; they've been swept by Chicago, and haven't fared well either against Boston or New York. (Oakland barely counts this year). I think this next week will be decisive; they have to be able to play pressure with ace teams if they're going to make the playoff, and this standoff with Chicago probably might have the division championship in the balance.

- JULY - Is Herbal / Prescription Awareness month.
- TODAY - Is Yellow Pig Day.
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY - Last Saturday - Rembrandt. Sunday - Shoeless Joe Jackson, Tony Kushner.

- NEWS OF THE WEEK -
Reuters: Mumbai train blasts kill over 160.
Major League Baseball: 2006 All-Star Game.
BBC News: G8 supports 'open' energy markets.
CNN.com: Storm kills more than 100 in China.
New York Times: 2 Leaders Urge Peacekeeping Force for South of Lebanon.
New York Times: Pace of Israeli Attacks Steps Up.

- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
Of all the classes you've ever taken, which would you choose to put more effort into if you had a chance to do it over again?

END OF POST.