surfbeanies...

well since I'm in a promotional mood, check out surfbeanies.com. support the cause... here's a guy who works just enough to keep surfing. a friend of mine bought her surfbeanie at the Brea Farmers Market a while back and she told me about it. she thought he was living in Costa Rica, but from a quick glance at his blog it seems he is back in town. check it out and maybe do some xmas shopping... the beanie looked good on my friend :)

robot dog & regular dog

I just loves these cartoons... they're freakin' sweet!

Robot Dog & Regular Dog: Boom Boom Beach
Robot Dog & Regular Dog: Go Fly a Kite

I wish the creator Jim Mehsling would make more of them. OK, that's my plug, go check em out!

the Russian 'Tobacco Rebellion'

I heard first heard of this incident a couple weeks ago and did a little research. not a whole lot on the Internet about it; this story is from '96...

"In the summer of 1990, the Soviet Union's terminal economic crisis descended upon the product that many Russians considered their most irreplaceable: cigarettes. Faced with mass shortages of Soviet-made brands, angry smokers in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and other Soviet cities staged the protests that became known as the tobacco rebellion. A desperate President Mikhail Gorbachev fired the minister in charge of the industry and pleaded with the West for help.

To the rescue rode Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds..."

read the rest of this article at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/tobacco/stories/global3.htm

something about this "strikes" me as an interesting seed for a story (fiction?)
imagine living in a place that is bearable only because tobacco and vodka are readily available.