Professor Roger Wallis recently gave testimony in the Pirate Bay trial in Stockholm. The retired academic and researcher from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm was brutally cross examined and the prosecution attacked his credibility as a witness.

I guess when he stated that he did not see any definitive link between file sharing and the decline of album sales, the prosecution let him have it with both barrels. He endured the attacks to slander his reputation and came out looking like he actually knew what the heck he was talking about.

Before leaving the courtroom, he was asked if he wanted reimbursement for his time at the trial. He declined but said he would accept flowers for his wife. Bittorrent supporters watching the web cast of the trial immedietely rallied in IRC, a Facebook group and a web page.

Within twenty-four hours, Roger and his wife's  apartment will flooded with flowers and chocolates. All this lovely fresh flora and confections just in time for the couples anniversay.

For those of you who are interested in following all the details on the trial, check out the trial page at thepiratebay.org.

It was about six years ago that I saw my first Smart Car while I was traveling in Europe. At the time it struck as a really neat idea. A compact commuter vehicle to zip around the tight streets of downtown Munich. Roomy enough inside for two average commuters and a small load of groceries, full efficient enough to manage just about 30 MPG in the city - I thought this made for one heck of a smart solution to crowded city streets.

Right?

Now fast forward to the present and in to the traffic of mid-day I-95 in Ft Lauderdale Florida. I am driving my Nissan pickup truck north at about 70 MPH in the fast lane. Then from the outside slow lane, some twit peels hard to the right, traverses three lanes and straightens out their 50 MPH Smart Car right in front of me. The flat ass end of the Smart Car less than 10 feed from my front bumper.

Checking my blindspot, I shifted to the lane to the right and began to pass this idiot. I glance over at him and while pointing 'the finger' at me slowly mouths the words 'F**k - you - slow - down'.

The posted speed limit on this section of I-95 is 65 MPH .. but, traffic at this time of day moves at about 70. And that is was my speedometer stays pegged as as I pull ahead of the not so smart but very smug ass in this Smart Car. He remaind at the same 50 MPH speed while forcing all the other traffic behind him to perform high speed swerves to avoid driving up his not so smart rear end. A one idiot rolling road block forcing all other drivers around him to perform unsafe high speed maneuvers to avoid him.

So is the Smart Car still 'smart'?

Nope.

It's a brainless machine. But when a car like this available to the north american auto market the word 'Smart' should not only identify the brand, but also what the consumer has to be before buying on of these little cars that look like they just rolled out of a Lego factory.Before a driver gets the privilege to ride around in his car and being so damned smug, they should have to submit to an IQ test and a driving test.

As I write this post, it is only eight days until we geek comic book fans experience what was once thought to be impossible. Or, would never happen within out lifetimes.

The graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, The Watchmen, will finally be manifest as a brutal, dark and beautiful visage upon the silver screen.

Well, that is what we die hard comic book geeks hope.

We hope it will be do the original story penned my Moore justice. We hope it will allow the symmetry of the original story and it's multi-dimensional characters escape from the screen to cohabit the darkened theater aisles with us for all 161 minutes of its running time.

We hope that Rorschach smashes the un-silenced cell phones that ring during this movie  - along with the fingers of those who own them.

Everybody that I know who has read this story always finds something in it that they could identify with. In that sense, I liken this epic story to the music of Johnny Cash. You may not be a fan of country or fold music, but I am will to be a million dollars that there is at least one Cash song that you can relate to. All of his songs were about very human experiences.

Human experiences.

The Watchment story may be set in a terrifying alternative history where Nixon is still President, the worlds super powers sweat nervously while twitching their fingers milimeters above 'the button' and masked super heroes are the central characters - it is still a very human story. With the exception of Jon Osterman aka. Dr. Manhattan, all of the 'heros' are devoid of any real super powers.

With only a few minutes left on the clock before nuclear armageddon, these very real human characters must  plumb the depths of own sense of humanity and identify to follow what ever moral compass they have through the murky waters as this story progresses.

God, I hope Hollywood did not blow this one.