Forgetful Monkey: Any of you folks know a decent web-dohickey for finding words within telephone numbers?

link We've all heard about "reasonable doubt," when it comes to law, but where does this come from? The "reasonable doubt" rule was not originally designed to serve the purpose it is asked to serve today: It was not originally designed to protect the accused. Instead, it was designed to protect the souls of the jurors against damnation. Convicting an innocent defendant was regarded, in the older Christian tradition, as a potential mortal sin. The purpose of the "reasonable doubt" instruction was to address this frightening possibility, reassuring jurors that they could convict the defendant without risking their own salvation, as long as their doubts about guilt were not "reasonable." In its original form, the rule thus had nothing to do with maintaining the rule of law in the sense that we use the phrase, and nothing like the relationship we imagine to the values of liberty.

Vestments A recent remark about the dress sense of papal candidates caused me to wonder about the flouncy white thing - I think perhaps it is an alb. More about vestments. People get pretty serious about vestments. This Anglican lady is, well, zealous about preservation. There are scores of retailers and designers of clerical garb: at the big Koinè show this year the focus is on chasubles. Some noteworthy entries

Happyface spiders. Theridion grallator, enough to freak your dreams forever. more inside

Rumored for weeks, confirmed by the source: Britney pregnant

"Should Hillary Clinton Run for Presidents?" Headline typo aside (it is just the internets, after all), the article brings up some interesting points. It may be three and a half years away, but in many ways the 2008 campaigns are already underway. My question to you monkeys: Would you consider voting for any of them?

Curious George: Hey monkeys, wanna see SideDish’s wedding photos? (More inside.)

What was she thinking? While not as crazy as this, Mrs. Miller definitely needs some therapy. Perhaps these 4th graders should have had camera phones like these kids... Though at least the U.S. isn't as tolerant of teachers behavior as Moroccans. Frankly my dear, they don't give a damn!

Monkey Foursome, so Monkeys I've been playing ShotOnline the MMORPG of Golf and I was wondering if any PC based Monkeys wanted to form a foursome. more inside

Japan #1, USA #2 in hours of TV watched per person per day

Just Say No. What's the weirdest thing you've ever tried to make a pipe or bong out of? For me, it was probably the case of a stick of Old Spice and a Bic pen... However, I'm guessing [hoping?] this kid in Vermont has us all beat,

Culinarious George: <i>Fromage</i> What cheeses do you like? more inside

Proof that the Idaho State Legislature has a healthy sense of humor...

Pictures from Asheville The small but significant Asheville mefi/mofi meetup pictures can be found via this thread. Don't miss my shoutout to about 1/8 of the people I would have shouted out to if I hadn't then had like 47 more beers.

Do we really care? Must be a slow news day. I can't help to notice that CNN is becoming more like "Access Hollywood" or "Inside Edition". Perhaps it was This that started their desent?

Patriot act recurs. No film at eleven.

Today is Yuri's Night – a celebration I have just now heard of and don't plan to celebrate, but it's worth remembering that today is the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person to fucking go into space on April 12, 1961. more inside

Unintentionally sexual comic book covers. more inside

Auditory George - Easiest way of importing my old CDs? Hello all! After downloading most of my music, I finally took a look at the stack of my old CDs and sat down to try to import them into my iTunes. The problem seems to be that when I am importing them using iTunes, the importing gets hung up on what I suspect is a song that resides on a particularly scuffed up part of the CD and just sort of hangs there. Is there a better importing option for mac, preferablly for little or no $$$? Something that will let me stop a song import if it isn't working and skip to the next song without rebooting the program? Thanks large!

Space Hijackers vs The Government London based anarchitects Space Hijackers, known for their Circle Line parties, have challenged members of Parliament to a round of Mayday cricket [pdf] "over their lack of honour and morals". more inside