Seriously.

State Medicaid director Vivianne Chaumont said the change is consistent with a federal rule, approved in 2006, that barred the federal government from spending Medicaid dollars on erectile dysfunction drugs including Viagra. Nebraska followed suit a few months later and changed its rules to keep state Medicaid money from being spent on the drugs. Medicaid is meant to pay for the medical necessities of needy people and "sex is not medically necessary," she said.

Vivianne – while you may be technically correct, I think that denying low income families, seniors and the disabled access to chemically induced erections is being a bit mean-spirited.  Of all the abuses suffered through the Medicaid system, I'm not sure Viagra is the source of your budget shortfalls.

I've apologized for a lot of things. I am nearly certain saying "I'm sorry" isn't going to be nearly enough for Michael Mastromarino, the former oral surgeon from New Jersey that was behind a multi-million dollar scheme to loot hundreds of corpses for various parts.

The bodies, including that of "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke, were carved up without permission and were not medically screened. They were sold around the country for dental implants, knee and hip replacements and other procedures. About 10,000 people received tissue supplied by [Biomedical Tissue Services].

Six of One announced last week:

The 2009 mini-series of the The Prisoner will feature six one-hour episodes, all written by Bill Gallagher (Clocking Off; Conviction; Lark Rise to Candleford). Sir Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings; The Da Vinci Code) is in the role of Number Two and James Caviezel (Deja Vu; The Passion of the Christ) plays Number Six. The producer is Trevor Hopkins (Dracula; Agatha Christie: Poirot; William and Mary) and direction is by Jon Jones (Cold Feet; Northanger Abbey; Diary of Anne Frank). Location filming is in Namibia and Cape Town, with shooting commencing in the first week of August, 2008. The "pacy, radical reinvention of the original show" is a joint production between AMC (American Movie Channel) and ITV (UK).

Now would be a good time to catch up on the original.

Be seeing you!

It seems like only yesterday that we were talking about the release of Eschalon. As reported by the developer, Basilisk Games, Book II has officially been announced.

The sequel to the 2007 acclaimed role-playing game Eschalon: Book I, Book II will continue the storyline from where it ended in the previous game and feature more than 60 gameplay enhancements.

"Basilisk Games is very excited to announce that we will be releasing Book II early next year. Classic, old-school computer role-playing is very much a viable market and we have been happy with the consumer response to Book I." commented Thomas Riegsecker, Lead Developer of the Eschalon series. "Book II will be an exciting step forward for the series."

No previous experience with Book I will be needed to enjoy Book II as the in-game narrative will guide unfamiliar players into the realm of Eschalon- a medieval fantasy world on the brink of war. The game will take players across multiple regions as they seek to further uncover the mystery surrounding their character's past. With an updated graphic engine, interface enhancements and gameplay improvements taken directly from fan suggestions, Book II will be an adventure no RPG enthusiast will want to miss!

Well, at least for one town in New Jersey.

"The anxiety of 'Do I go to church or do I take my kid to the soccer game?' is a weekly ordeal," said Mossa, a pastor at the Presbyterian Church of Whippany. "It's letting the team down versus letting God down."

In the history of children's sports, I am aware of only one group that was able to call a "cease fire" on Sunday games — it was a group of women protesting children's sporting events held on Mother's Day.

No offense Pastor Mossa, but I don't think your plan is going to work.

Some big news in my local New Jersey area. 110 teens were busted by police for consuming alcohol at a post-prom party. Not a big deal you say? What if I told you the bust was in Vermont?

On tap – 18 kegs of beer, five cases of beer, and 16 bottles of Vodka.

It has come to light today that the alcohol was most likely purchased locally in New Jersey and then transported to the rented properties in Vermont. It seems like a lot of work to get drunk, but I guess upper-middle class kids have the money and motivation.

Randolph is getting a lot of attention as it was also revealed yesterday that the chaperone of an 18 year-old high school cheerleader that in 2004 fell to her death in Hawaii was ordered to pay $690,000 to her family and estate. She was drinking at the time of her death.

It's been seven years since Douglas Adams left Earth, but his legacy lives on. However, there's still a few hours left to help celebrate Towel Day.

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value – you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you – daft as a bush, but very, very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Late last year, Carl Zimmer started a website dedicated to showcasing science-related tattoos. If you think you've seen it all, I beg to differ. Anyone with interest in mathematics, engineering, astronomy or science in general should definitely check it out.

On an unrelated note, I was excited to see that he now has a new book that chronicles the importance of E. Coli. Considering I spent many years fighting in the trenches against coliform in various guises, I'll absolutely need to run out and secure a copy. As a matter of principle (and because Parasite Rex is one of the most frightening books I've ever read) I'll give him a plug now and recommend it sight unseen.

Even now, I have very distinct memories of stores like K-Mart, Bradlees and Caldor. None of them are Technicolor-stained or filled will polyester clothes, but something about them must have made a distinct impression on me during childhood. After spending some time looking at the pictures provided by the photo blog Pleasant Family Shopping, I cannot help but marvel at what has been assembled at the site.

Be sure to scroll down and check out the posts sorted by state.

I have to be honest – I'm not really into the whole desktop tower defense gaming movement that seems to have emerged about a year ago, but I cannot deny the fun of Dungeon Defender.

The designer admits that he was inspired by Dungeon Keeper and if you're familiar with that PC gaming classic, you'll see it immediately. Unlike many of the other tower defense games I've tried, this one has a lite RPG element as well as a touch of real-time strategy. I don't know if it has the staying power of some of the others, but it's a fun diversion.

I apologize in advance for any time wasted.

Look – I know it might seem a bit strange for a man in his 30's to be asking you to ring up two pairs of PJs for a little girl along with a small bicycle pump, but there really is a legitimate reason for everything in front of you. No, I'm not going to discuss it, so please do not stare after giving me the raised eyebrow as though I'm going to explain my suspicious checkout line combination.

And in the interest of full disclosure, yes, it was me you saw walking through the mall later in the day carrying a small bag from Victoria's Secret. I know Mother's Day is this weekend and I swear – even though you can't see it because they've packed it with pink tissue paper – the dainty bag is filled with lotion and perfume. Not thong underpants or some type of fancy Mom-strength bustier.

Thank you.

36 years ago this month, the Magnavox Odyssey was first shown to confused suburbanites across America. While I didn't join the revolution until 1982 with the acquisition of an Atari 5200 (thanks Dad), I cannot help but marvel at this collection. The idea that the original Atari 2600 sold for $199 in 1977 and came with 9 games astounds me.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to hug my Xbox 360.

I would never be able to describe molecular biology as eloquently as PZ Myers, but I am going to suggest that there are greater forces at work. And while it may be passé to invoke Laurence Tureaud (thank you Wiki), I cannot help but feel comforted that my very being is held together by the greatness that is T.

As a bodyguard, Tureaud's business card read, "Next to God, there is no greater protector than I".

Indeed.

While I cannot deny that finding some dude (#1) would send me over the edge, hearing a two year old exclaim "Daddy – FLY!" is a bit unsettling. Not at first, as I thought she wanted me to levitate around the room, but I should've known better that something else was going on. Insects don't mean nothing to me and I was actually more concerned that she wasn't afraid at all. Which sounds stupid as she'd have no reason to be afraid, even with the generally accepted DANGER colors of orange-red banding the legs.

While I'm satisfied at the amount of time we spend outside, I'm thinking I need to broaden those insect identification skills. But a general lack of fear (creepy dude hiding in an armoire excluded) is pretty damn impressive. As someone with an irrational phobia, I'm going to do my best to not imprint mine on her .

But if one of those appears in her room, I'll be right here waiting – under my bed.

While it's certainly not a new idea, there's now a Flickr group dedicated to maintaining Song Charts and Graphs.

With close to 800 contributions, it shouldn't be too difficult to waste some time. As expected with anything created by random strangers, the quality of each submission varies somewhere between awful and downright clever. However, they are all graphs and charts so someone walking by your desk might not realize you're completely goofing off.

It takes a twisted mind to use the right kind of graph to visualize a song. Enjoy.