February 3 -- Morning Reading -- Psalm 34 b

This poor man called; the Lord heard him
and rescued him from all distress

Come children hear me
that I may teach you the fear of the Lord.
Who is he who longs for life
And many days, to enjoy his prosperity?

Then keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn aside from evil and do good;
seek and strive for peace.

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The Calling of St . Matthew / Caravaggio / 1600

Speaking of Yahoo. And Comics.

If you use Yahoo as home on your browser, you notice how they continuously update their news. Decisions for what gets in and what gets moved out is made by a small group of people at Yahoo headquarters. Some news items are there for very brief periods, others stay all day, depending partly on the "hits" it receives, which in itself is an interesting and scary social phenomenon.

A few days ago I noticed, on their news, an announcement of an upcoming Captain America movie. An hour later I went back to find the story and it was gone. I did find it later through on an internet search and was surprised to find that it has been known about in movie-circles for over six months. I recall several conversations with my sons over the years about the viability of a Captain America movie (usually when we are leaving a comic book themed movie) and we have agreed that the mood of the country just didn't fit what Captain America was all about. Maybe we're wrong. I'm going to be as interested in how they present Steve Rogers/Captain America as I am in the movie plot itself.

I hope it works, I wish them well. How the creators will pull it off in the world we live in I don't know. Popular patriotism is not popular. Supposedly, it won't be a strictly period piece, that is, it will move back and forth from the 40's to the present.

As much of a Marvel guy as I am, I think the Batman Begins film may be the best in the comic book genre. And behind that SpiderMan 1. My favorite superhero had the worst movie of all -- and that would be, Daredevil.

Yahoo + Microsoft? I Like it.

I'm sure you've seen the news of Microsoft's $45 billion bid for Yahoo. I think it's a good idea for both companies and the only way Google can be challenged. Yahoo needs Microsoft's cash and Microsoft needs Yahoo's internet presence and search business. Microsoft Live, Hotmail, and MSN are viable divisions of Microsoft but have no chance of competing with Google or even Yahoo.

The boys at Google have it going for them. How long they can continue their search dominance I don't know, but their entrance into online docs, hosting, books, maps, etc. show a nimble, intelligent, and aggressive company that we all wish we had invested in just a few years ago.