Not sure what exactly is going on here. Any ideas? If you think it will help you can check out the original article here.

What on earth could Ballmer be saying here? Did he just finish Jerry Yang’s prostate exam? Or perhaps his own? Is he maybe reacting to this blog post by Google’s chief legal officer? This is the one where Google says they’re not upset about having a big competitor — oh no. That’s not the problem. The problem is that the proposed deal is a threat to freedom and apple pie and motherhood. This is Google’s favorite song. They sing it whenever they want to get their way. Whether the issue is net neutrality, or the bid for wireless spectrum, or now this — these guys do their best Eddie Haskell impersonation and look everyone straight in the eye and say it’s not that they’re concerned about their stock price or their revenue growth, it’s that they’re concerned about users, because gee whiz these evil guys who are opposing our efforts could really mess things up for everyone. The Google guys are the good guys, see? They’re the ones who put the needs of Internet users first. The amazing thing to me is that so many people believe this bullshit. I’m sure Google will try to use it on us when we start kicking the shit out of Android. Wait and see.

Much love to Brett for sending in a link to this photo. What the heck are these dudes discussing? Could they be comparing an iMac to the OLPC XO machine? Have fun, Crankers.

Much love to dear reader Jarred for sending in this photo which just screams out for a caption contest. Yes, it’s Beastmaster jamming with Slash at CES. Have fun. It’s so easy, baby.

Much love to dear reader Brinke for this one. I know, I know — fish in a barrel. What the hell have fun with it.

Meanwhile we’re putting up a new poll about the New Hampshire Democratic primary. Much love.

It’s our favorite grumpy bastard, Dave Winer, in a sauna with some other dudes. This photo first appeared on Valleywag. (See here.) Any idea what these guys are thinking? Crank away.

The folks who run the Shocker blog are throwing down in my direction with a new thing called the iShocker. Well right back atcha brothers. I honor the place where your shocker becomes one with my, um, whatever. Folks if you need an explanation of the Shocker, go to Wikipedia. Or if you’re visually oriented, this picture says it all. Meanwhile, for those of you who do get the joke, the above photo has been chosen for your PhotoCranking pleasure. Have at it. Much love to Aaron.

Some dude named Peter sent me this with a note saying, Choke on it. He also taunted me by sending a link to this page making a joke about backdating options with Time Machine. Moshe and his team are on the job. Dude you will so regret this.

For some reason this photo is rocketing all around the Internet lately. I guess because it’s part of a new book that’s just coming out. Well, have fun. It was 1982, and I was home alone in my unfurnished mansion. What was I thinking? Was I imagining the future? Was there anyone else in the house with me? The photo is really an extraordinary portrait. It was taken by this super duper photographer named Diana Walker and it’s featured in her new book, The Bigger Picture. You can see the original on this page.

Folks, there are some really good captions on the Al Gore photo. See here if it’s too much trouble to scroll down. This one was a new record for us, with 47 captions entered so far and presumably more to come. Okay, they’re not all good (ahem) but a few of them are pretty funny. It’s definitely worth checking them out. Pull my finger, bitch, was one of my favorites, especially since Iulia and Natasha needed to have it explained to them, and I made Ja’Red do it and he got all super embarrassed. Another favorite: Because I’m wearing them right now, and I just did. Though it was marred by the second balloon.

Still, some great work here. Much love. We’ll keep looking for good caption contenders. Peace.