overheard at a bookshop this evening

There's a gigantic pile of DaVinci Code books being unpacked on the counter.

me: Surely anyone who was likely to buy that thing would have bought it already?
guy behind counter: Beats me. I know that it offends me.
me: Because you're a Christian?
guy: No, because I'm a fan of writing.

most meta-search ever.

Richard got this from the metafilter comments thread on Google Trends:

http://www.google.com/trends?q=blue+line%2Cred+line&ctab=0&date=all&geo=all

compare and contrast

In Iraq, they have fights break out in Parliment because of a mobile phone ringtone.

In Australia, Phillip Ruddock remains unscathed. Perhaps someone can suggest a suitable ringtone for him that would lead to him getting thumped?

Although, a mental patient did hit Tony Abbott in the face a few months ago, which is a start. (Damn, I will never get sick of that - it's the local equivalent of "the vice president shot a 78 year old man in the face", really).