Having spent much of the past 20 years in Bangkok, I can assure that the video is fake.

If you look at it closely, you'll see that it is fake yourself. Look at the items along the right-hand side of the track and see how the trains appears to run them over. Some of them even wink in and out of existence beneath the train.

A very clever fake - I have no idea how they did it.

Bangkok is a wonderfully romantic foreign city, but space isn't such a premium there that anyone needs to play games like that with the train tracks.

Also note the narrow gauge on the ground - then observe where the wheels appear.

I'm curious what Juan Cole's opinion is with regards to Iran's nuclear weapon ambitions. I have long though, "of course they are working towards a bomb. Why wouldn't they?"

I'd rather not see Iran getting the bomb, but I don't think their development of the bomb merits an attack from us or anyone else.

I'd run a PerinoWatch blog for Salon for short money. Perino's spinning is a fascinating spectacle to behold. I'd love to give it the scrutiny it deserves and write about it in a smart and humorous fashion when appropriate.

Drop me a note if you're interested. I'll do it at no cost as a trial for 30 days and you can make a decision from there.

Seriously!

My dear wife, god bless her, is a foreigner and she brings some strange musical tastes to the table here in our great American melting pot.

In the old days it used to be The Carpenters... In recent years the magic of Britney Spears has become a largely unwelcome [to me] presence in our life. The music makes my wife happy, however, so I bite my tongue and enjoy watching her enjoy Britney.

She was so excited today when I told her that Britney has just released this new album. Minutes later I was downloading it for her.

Britney would be happy to know that my wife loves the album!

I must confess that I enjoyed the album as well. I don't anticipate cranking it up on my car stereo as I bomb across the countryside. At worst the album is inoffensive. At best it is creative and chock full o'catchy sounds and beats.

Britney's had a tough time these past few years. Kudos to her (and her team) for getting her act together enough to release an entirely new, "competent" album!

My wife will surely get her money's worth of pleasure from the album. I doubt that she's going to be the only one.

I really enjoyed reading this.

Is it appropriate to buy the book for my 15 year old daughter? Will she read it and take up grinding?!

Is anyone else considering buying the book for their teenager? Why or why not?

You're right about the 747-8 - it sure looks beautiful.

What is going to be special about the 747-8? I love the fact that it is clearly a 747, yet there appears to be new tapering aft/below and in the shape of the cross section. Cool!

I can't wait to hear about your first flight experience on the A380. I understand that one of the debut commercial routes is Singapore-Sydney. That can't be a terribly long flight, can it? 6 hours, maybe? Am I far off?

Agreed that the A340 is at worst a more interesting looking plane than the A380. It may even be "pretty."

Thai Airway's A340 configuration for the 17 hour flight from JFK to Bangkok is remarkably comfortable, even in cattle-class.

Free Dom Yam/Sour Shrimp & Tamarind flavoured MaMa brand instant ramen noodles on-demand on Thai as well.

Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it.

Please forget the Edwards $400 haircut talking point. It's best left to the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Michelle Malkin.

"Faith" of all sorts is generally irrational. While we obviously wouldn't want to see our friends join charismatic death cults that steal their assets and compel them to commit crimes, human beings are generally tolerant of fellow humans exploring other types of faith.

Why not simply place Scientology into the broad category of faith and leave it at that? Why should a friend's exploration of Scientology be any more alarming than the exploration of Judaism or Druidism or Catholicism?

Some people - many people - have a need in their lives that is satisfied by "faith." As long as they aren't surrendering their entire lives to a given religious organization, does the "flavor" of faith somebody chooses really make such a big difference?

Is the Scientologist's belief in Xenu and the aliens really any more far-fetched than believing in virgin-birthed Christ, son of god and the resurrection?

I've been ambivalent so far about Salon's new push to force their contributors to become video stars, too. So far I haven't had strong feelings one way or another about any of the videos - until this one.

Singer and O'Hehir put in a perfect performance for this one. Congrats on a winner.

Double thumbs up for The World without Us and Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games - two fantastic books.

William Gibson's Spook Country was a great read in 2007. It's a punky tip of the hat to the joys and wonder of globalization, technology and the Pacific Northwest. The heroine is a fascinating character - a semi-notable singer from a decent flash-in-the-pan 90s guitar band who now, years later, has to work for a living. She's a champ as she's thrust into a whirlwind of cutting edge art, misbehaving anti-terror agents and beautiful, racially ambiguous cold war-era spies.

I couldn't put this one down - I read it through in hardly more than a sitting or two.

We painted her bedroom pink, by request

then yellow a few years later.

Now the yellow room is empty.