Interstate 43 in Mosel, Wisconsin was closed for two hours Thursday while authorities cleaned up 40 tons of cow guts and bones. The beef byproduct spilled from Ryan Engle's truck when he swerved and tipped over his semi. According to the Associate Press report, Engle was messing with his MP3 player instead of paying attention to the road. Link (Thanks, Lindsay Tiemeyer!)

If there was any doubt that the 2008 election season would be the tech-heaviest ever, Illinois senator Barack Obama's campaign kickoff speech this morning put that to rest.

He decried the lack of "computers in schools" in the first couple of minutes of the speech, proposed "using technology to cut the bureaucracy" in the nation's health care system, and he called for fatter pipes: "Let's lay down broadband lines through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all across America."

Obama is among several candidates to announce their campaigns by way of internet videos -- Clinton and Richardson did, too. While those three are dems, new uses of online social media and tech-centric speechifying won't be limited to that party, of course. For instance, you can now "poke" Mitt Romney on Facebook.

And the internet fundraising race is on early. Romney's site is reported to have netted nearly $1.5 million in campaign donations in just the first month of this year.

I wonder if there's a plan in mind behind Obama's "lay down broadband" idea. Would this be a federally-funded project? No details yet, and I wouldn't hold my breath.

This is the season for promises, not specifics.

Link to speech coverage, here's the full text of the speech.

Your comments after the jump.

Robin Newberry says:

The Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance seeks to defend equal marriage in this state by challenging the Washington Supreme Court’s ruling on Andersen v. King County. This decision, given in July 2006, declared that a “legitimate state interest” allows the Legislature to limit marriage to those couples able to have and raise children together. Because of this “legitimate state interest,” it is permissible to bar same-sex couples from legal marriage.

The way we are challenging Andersen is unusual: using the initiative, we are working to put the Court’s ruling into law. We will do this through three initiatives. The first would make procreation a requirement for legal marriage. The second would prohibit divorce or legal separation when there are children. The third would make the act of having a child together the legal equivalent of a marriage ceremony.

... If passed by Washington voters, the Defense of Marriage Initiative would:

add the phrase, “who are capable of having children with one another” to the legal definition of marriage;

require that couples married in Washington file proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage automatically annulled;

require that couples married out of state file proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage classed as "unrecognized;"

establish a process for filing proof of procreation; and

make it a criminal act for people in an unrecognized marriage to receive marriage benefits.

Link

Farhad Manjoo says:

I'm not sure if this is a serious solicitation, an odd scam, or some kind of parody of the news business, but an "author and physics researcher" is selling (for $3.5 million) a flash drive that he claims contains "fact-based verifiable research that details the evidence for a major newly discovered national political-religious controversy in the United States."

What is this controversy? Of course, he can't say, but he promises it'll be good -- it involves secret religious texts, would affect the standing of some U.S. politicians, and could decide the 2008 presidential race!

Link

Reader comment:

John Parman says:

This is very funny to read. I got a hit on this while in a conference call with a group of agents repping religion authors this week. It seems like he has approached a lot of people to sell this story. But, really, $3.5 million? I personally think the story is either: A) The planned April meeting between a group of American faith leaders with Ayatollah Khameni of Iran in Oslo, which may or may not result in a deal regarding religious freedom and nuclear power; or B) The much-discussed rebellion by middle-of-the-road evangelicals from the GOP because of concern over environmental and social justice issues and a general softening of the GOP's ability to rally the religious faithful - the expectation may be that the GOP will lose the middle-road evangelical vote if it continues to play up life sexual orientation issues. My thoughts, of course. I personally hope he writes a book, because I'll get that for free!

mapletree7 says:

1966 board game for girls allows them to play at the careers open to women: ballet dancer, actress, model, teacher, nurse, airline hostess.

Link

Monster says:

Monsters with Records is an art show fund raiser for the Echo Park Animal Alliance. It's tonight at Sea Level records, 1716 Sunset Blvd. in Echo Park. Come out and meet the monsters, find one you like and take one home!

Link

Jeff Trexler says:

I just came across a 1962 Peanuts cartoon that captures the problem with calling the Mooninite ads a hoax. In this strip, Linus screams for help after seeing what he thinks is a queen snake. Lucy points out that it is actually a branch. Linus's response, addressed to the branch: "I suppose you think you're smart pretending you're a queen snake."

Link

A Boing Boing reader says:

This is like Whack-a-mole but you have to take out the suspicious Mooninite devices by clicking them with your mouse.

"More Than a Feeling" plays highspeed as the evil Mooninite signs yell, "Chowdah", "Tom Brady" "Fenway Pahk" "Wicked Pissa" etc. mocking all that Bostonians hold sacred.

When finished you get rated by haircut.

Good times.

Link

Abhay says

This is a clip on a St. Louis TV show called "In Your Interest." They filmed five minutes of footage about eagles, but when they were cutting it, the wind ruined, like, more than half their tape. So the camera guy wrote this South Park-esque song about Eagles to compensate for all the missed time. It's truly wonderful and Eagles are Awesome!

Link