random 21

• License plates from around the world
  
  
  
• A cow stands on a pitch with 750 fields during a cow-droppings bingo game in Ruswil, near Lucerne, Switzerland, on September 2, 2007. Spectators bet on which field the cows will drop.
  
  
  
• I wish I had had one of these at camp.
  
  
  
• The hall of mirrors at Versaises... 3D panorama
  
  
  
• I know some people who are into robots... and others who are into zombies... I won't name names, I'll let them reveal their tastes. But this is for them: Zombies vs. Robots #1
  "Ghost in the Machines" by Chris Ryall & Ashley Wood Published by IDW ($3.99) via the dc universe
  Synopsis:
  In the future, a plague has turned everyone on Earth into flesh-eating zombies. Robots that used to serve humanity band together to protect the last living human being, an infant girl, in the hopes that they can use her to restart the human race. The zombies, on the other hand, just want to use her for food.
  
  Comments:
  First, I think we can all agree that Zombies vs. Robots is the best title of anything in the history of the world. The question is, does the finished product live up to it, or like Snakes on a Plane, does it turn out that 90% of the entertainment value is in the title? Fortunately, it's the former.
  
  One might wonder how anyone can get a good story out of this concept. After all, what possible threat can zombies pose to robots? And at first, the answer would seem to be, "Not much." At one point, a pack of zombies try unsuccessfully to attack a robot, who then proceeds to literally rip them all to pieces. But at the end, there's a nifty twist that should level the playing field a bit for the concluding issue.
  
  Admittedly, I'm a sucker for any zombie movie, book, or comic. Even bad ones usually have at least one or two cool moments. Zombies vs. Robots has considerably more than just a couple, and is a must-read for any zombie (or robot) fan.
  
  
• Apparently Scream is the most expensive music video ever made.
  Cost: $7,000,000+
  Artist: Michael Jackson (featuring Janet Jackson)

  Michael Jackson's videos have always been ridiculously expensive. In 1983, he spent $800,000 on "Thriller," which would be about $1.4 million today. But remember that before "Thriller," no one even came close to spending that kind of money, and he had to do it with limited technological capabilities. As technology improved, Jacko's videos became more expensive, spending over $1.2 million on "Black or White" in 1992, and even more on "Remember The Time." But if he can keep an oxygen chamber, a petting zoo, the Elephant Man's bones, and an entire plastic surgery team in his mansion, it's certainly no biggie to drop another $7 mil on a video with his sister.

  "Scream's" $7,000,000 price tag is more than twice as much as the next most expensive music video (Puff Daddy's "Victory" at $2.7 million), and it's easy to see why: he spent $5 million alone on 11 sets. Yet while watching the video, it all seems incredibly wasteful, not coming close to the film quality of "Thriller", "November Rain," or "Victory."

• Seattle Times highlights senator Ted "Kennedy's efforts to kill an offshore wind farm on Nantucket Sound. Cape Wind was to be the first such project in the United States and a source of pride to environmentally-minded New Englanders. Polls show 84 percent of Massachusetts residents in favor." Kennedy continues to lead the battle to stop the project. Kennedy and others "don't want to see windmills from their verandas.... Even though the towers would be at least five miles out and barely visible from shore on the clearest day." Or as Kennedy says: "But don't you realize — that's where I sail!"