I thought I’d take the time today to direct your attention to a pair of time-sinks.

First on the list: The Best of Craigslist. Even if you don’t know what Craigslist is, nor how it works, just click yourself on a link that sounds interesting, because chances are it probably will be. I’d suggest starting with something like I spilled grandma on you around spadian station.

Follow that up with the Livejournal Tech Support community. I don’t know that this will have the same range of appeal, but it’s comforting to me that I’m not the only one dealing with this particular brand of stupidity on a daily basis. A good way to dig in would be to start with this story. Not long ago I’d be tempted to write this off as urban legend, but I’m no longer willing to discount any story about stupidity, no matter how stupid. Don’t forget to check out the follow-up, which for some reason his choice to use that style of narrative makes me giggle.

I was going to leave it at five links as part of a misguided attempt to justify today’s Gambit title, but oh well. The third tale from Tech Support is too good to resist. I’ll just say that I’m glad I don’t have this guy’s [link moderately NSFW] job.

This link should tell you everything you ever wanted to know about why the Pittsburgh Pirates are a cursed franchise. The upcoming baseball draft will be the first one ever to be televised, and the Pirates have chosen the following folks to be the face of their franchise:

Steve Blass. Trevor Gooby.

Whoa. Steve Blass?! And some guy named Gooby. That’s fantastic stuff. In case you haven’t been paying attention, Blass was the original Rick Ankiel. He had great talent that inexplicably disappeared. He is now a Pirates broadcaster, so it’s not a totally illogical choice, aside from the karmic.

Other notables from the list include a Dallas Green sighting, Terry Steinbach, Walt Weiss, and is it too much to hope for a slow motion shot of Tommy Lasorda falling off the dais? Oh, and Dr. Evil Gord Ash will be there. (I’d like to point out that it was our very own Wade A who first made that compare and contrast, although at the moment I can’t find any documented evidence of it.)

I have nothing more to add except this short video clip.

…And I am smelly!

If you haven’t heard, Prince is throwing a show here in the Twin Cities on 7/7/07. But what you may not have heard is that he’s putting on a show earlier in the day at the Macy’s in downtown Minneapolis.

The reason for the concert at a Macy’s? Prince will be promoting his new perfume line called 3121. For a measly $250 you can partake in the “Ultimate Prince Xperience”. For you money you will get a ticket to both shows (Macy’s during the day, Target Center that evening), plus two “special-edition” bottles of his women’s perfume.

Start lining up now, the ticket sale starts at 10 am Friday… at the cosmetic counter at Macy’s.

as many of you know, i use gmail for web e-mail. it has its limitations, but the spam monsters haven’t found out about that particular account yet, unlike its hotmail and yahoo mail counterparts.

anyways.

one of the “features” is the ability to select what headline link categories you want to RSS across the top of your inbox. one of my selections is “quote of the day,” because i’m, so, into inspirational stuff. today’s?

Dionne Warwick: “I treat others exactly the way I want to be treated.”

for real? thanks. color me inspired.

Tony Award winner, and long time SP favorite Charles Nelson Reilly passed over the long weekend of complications from pneumonia. He was 76.

Seriously, a Tony Award? I did not know that. I guess I’m not surprised, but see how you learn something new every day? In any case, Chuck has been a favorite around here since the start. You see, he was given a prominent mention in the very first SP post.

The rest of his details can be absorbed via any of the obits, including the one I linked above. But I will add one thing: Next March the 6th, the party’s at my place, and you’re all invited. RIP Mr. Reilly, we’ll miss you.