FEMA Meets the Press, Which Happens to Be . . . FEMA
It's so hard to keep up with this stuff, and then there's the outrage fatigue and all, but I do have a little question: Why are we using FEMA employees to pretend to be reporters and ask softball questions when Jeff Gannon is almost certainly still on the White House payroll?
Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism
Of course, it would be foolish to suggest that people are incapable of making distinctions between social networking "friends" and friends they see in the flesh. The use of the word "friend" on social networking sites is a dilution and a debasement, and surely no one with hundreds of MySpace or Facebook "friends" is so confused as to believe those are all real friendships. The impulse to collect as many "friends" as possible on a MySpace page is not an expression of the human need for companionship, but of a different need no less profound and pressing: the need for status. Unlike the painted portraits that members of the middle class in a bygone era would commission to signal their elite status once they rose in society, social networking websites allow us to create status--not merely to commemorate the achievement of it. There is a reason that most of the MySpace profiles of famous people are fakes, often created by fans: Celebrities don't need legions of MySpace friends to prove their importance. It's the rest of the population, seeking a form of parochial celebrity, that does.But status-seeking has an ever-present partner: anxiety. Unlike a portrait, which, once finished and framed, hung tamely on the wall signaling one's status, maintaining status on MySpace or Facebook requires constant vigilance. As one 24-year-old wrote in a New York Times essay, "I am obsessed with testimonials and solicit them incessantly. They are the ultimate social currency, public declarations of the intimacy status of a relationship.... Every profile is a carefully planned media campaign."
Make-Believe Reagan : Rolling Stone:
... Well, I think as I stand by myself on the curb, so much for Fred Thompson. After all, logic dictates that anyone who's too much of a lightweight for Fox News is probably...I freeze. Probably what? Probably a shoo-in for the presidency, that's what! I shudder as I realize my mistake, and suddenly the candidacy of Fred Thompson, which seemed impossibly silly just a few minutes ago, makes deadly serious sense. Thompson may act like a blank slate -- a homespun version of Being There hero Chauncey Gardiner running on a platform of "Whatever you say" and "I'll get back to you on that" -- but he represents something else that no one, after seven years of George W. Bush, could possibly have expected: a new low. It was bad enough when the GOP field was led by a grinning Mormon corporatist and a fascist ex-mayor itching to take his prostate pain out on the world, but Thompson is the worst yet -- a human snooze button, campaigning baldly for the head-in-the-sand vote by asking Americans not to think but to change the channel.
Much more at link, and well worth reading. Matt Taibbi is right on the money, as usual.
Video Professor upset by criticism, sues 100 anonymous critics:
You've probably seen infomercials for the Video Professor on late-night TV; a kindly-looking John Scherer has been pitching his company's computer training videos for two decades now. But Video Professor, Inc. has no problem using less-friendly tactics when confronted with criticism, and the company is now suing more than 100 anonymous Internet posters over derogatory comments that they made about Video Professor's business.
Derogatory? Perhaps. Unjustified? They sound pretty reasonable to me:
9/24/2007 - Melissa writes:I ordered the Excel cd from Video Professor June of 2007. I ordered it through a promotional offer stating "free, just pay shipping and handling" I figured $6 shipping to try the product should be fine. I received it in the mail a few days later, never opened it. 5 days after I was charged the $6 shipping, a $89.95 fee shows up. I sent the unopened disk back and called the main phone number. After waiting on hold for 20 minutes someone tells me they will refund my money. Today, September 24th, I have not gotten my refund. On top of it all, I am STILL receiving disks in the mail. Excel, Quickbooks, Windows, you name it! I receive them every 2 weeks, a $6 shipping fee shows up THEN ANOTHER $89.95 fee for each and every disk they send. I had to cancel the credit card to prevent them from charging me. I have called their main number numerous times to cancel the disks and to get my money back and no one is able to help me. They tell me there is no refund for the disks. I have sent each and every one back unopened. SCAM. Do not use this so called "program." It is a waste of money.
Gosh, and to think that all this time I've been assuming his product was merely the useless crap it so clearly is. But a scam, too! You really get your money's worth with these folks.
Lawmakers Describe 'Being Slimed in the Green Zone' - washingtonpost.com
... Brief, choreographed and carefully controlled, the codels (short for congressional delegations) often have showed only what the Pentagon and the Bush administration have wanted the lawmakers to see. At one point, as Moran, Tauscher and Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.) were heading to lunch in the fortified Green Zone, an American urgently tried to get their attention, apparently to voice concerns about the war effort, the participants said. Security whisked the man away before he could make his point.Tauscher called it "the Green Zone fog."
"Spin City," Moran grumbled. "The Iraqis and the Americans were all singing from the same song sheet, and it was deliberately manipulated."
But even such tight control could not always filter out the bizarre world inside the barricades. At one point, the three were trying to discuss the state of Iraqi security forces with Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, but the large, flat-panel television set facing the official proved to be a distraction. Rubaie was watching children's cartoons.
When Moran asked him to turn it off, Rubaie protested with a laugh and said, "But this is my favorite television show," Moran recalled.
Porter confirmed the incident, although he tried to paint the scene in the best light, noting that at least they had electricity.
'Nightmare' tarantula rescued in N.Y.
SMITHTOWN, N.Y. (AP) – An orange tarantula with venomous fangs was rescued Friday after its owner said he could no longer care for it.''This is the kind of spider that nightmares are made of,'' said Roy Gross, chief of the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
He said the spider is aggressive and can jump 3 feet and bite with its large fangs. The bites are dangerous to humans.
The spider, known as an ornate golden baboon, has a fat body 5 inches long that is covered in orange hair. Male baboon spiders can have a leg span of about 8 inches, and the female is even larger.
Gross said he was glad the owner, whose name was not released, called the SPCA instead of dumping the spider.
''This spider is so aggressive, it will bite you just to bite you,'' he said. ''It's not a pet you want to cuddle up with at night.''
Baboon spiders have a life span of up to 25 years, are native to southern Africa and spend most of their time near their nests, which are usually holes in the ground.
The SPCA took the spider to a sanctuary for reptiles and other animals.
Romney Speaks Up for Sons' Decisions
BETTENDORF, Iowa (AP) -- Despite his call for the nation to show a ''surge of support'' for U.S. forces in Iraq, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Wednesday defended his five sons' decision not to enlist.
The former Massachusetts governor said his sons were showing their support for the country by ''helping get me elected.''
More California E-Voting Reports Released; More Bad News
... Some of these are problems that the vendors claimed to have fixed years ago. For example, Diebold claimed (p. 11) in 2003 that its use of hard-coded passwords was “resolved in subsequent versions of the software.” Yet the current version still uses at least two hard-coded passwords — one is “diebold” (report, p. 46) and another is the eight-byte sequence 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 (report, p. 45).
OK, it's pathetic. I sit at my desk, surrounded by corn fields, and watch 46th Street at Times Square on earthcam.com.
Look! Other people! Walking! And some of them are talking at the same time! And not a Buckeye t-shirt in sight!
Yes, I know most of those people are tourists. But even tourists get temporarily smarter in Manhattan.
Because I really can't think of another explanation for this:
Jobs warns knockoff iPhone "lacks many key features" | Brad Ideas
Steve Jobs of Apple Computer warned today that a rumoured cheap Chinese iPhone knockoff making its way toward America is an inferior product which lacks many of the important features of the iPhone. “It may look a bit like an iPhone, but when consumers discover all the great iPhone features that are missing from it, we think they’ll still line up at Apple Stores for the genuine article,” said Jobs in a released statement. Designed by software nerds, the knockoff, dubbed the “myPhone” by fans, has not yet been confirmed.Apple released a list of features reported to be missing from the “myPhone.”
* The iPhone has special software that assures you will always use the trusted AT&T cellular network. Lacking this software, the myPhone accepts any SIM card from any random network. Users may find themselves connected to a network that doesn’t have the reputation for service, trust and protecting the privacy of customers that AT&T has. In addition, users may be stuck without 2 years of guaranteed AT&T service.
* The iPhone is configured to assure you the latest iTunes experience. The myPhone might function before you have installed the latest iTunes and registered your phone with it. Indeed, the myPhone lacks the protections that block it from being used without registering it with or reporting back to anybody, depriving the user of customer service and upsell opportunities.
* The iPhone has special software that assures all applications run on the iPhone have been approved by Apple, which protects the user from viruses and tools that may make the user violate their licence agreements. The myPhone will run any application, from any developer, opening up the user to all sorts of risks.
* The iPhone protects users from dangerous Flash and Java applications which may compromise their device and confuse the user experience.
* myPhones don’t forbid VoIP software that may cause the user to accidentally make calls over wireless internet connections instead of the AT&T network. Quality on the internet is unpredictable, as is the price, which can range down to zero, causing great pricing uncertainty. With the iPhone, you always know what calls cost when in the USA.
More at link. Very well done.
Bush: I'm the Commander Guy - The Caucus - Politics - New York Times Blog
WASHINGTON, May 2–And you thought he was still “the decider.”President Bush coined a new nickname for himself — ‘’the commander guy” — on Wednesday, as he criticized Congressional Democrats in a speech to the annual gathering of the Associated General Contractors of America, a construction industry trade group.
The man who last year proclaimed “I’m the decider,’’ in response to a question about whether he would fire Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary, came up with this latest moniker in explaining why he vetoed an Iraq war spending bill that dictated a timeline for troops to withdraw from Iraq.
“The question is, ‘Who ought to make that decision, the Congress or the commanders?,’’ Mr. Bush said. “As you know, my position is clear – I’m the commander guy.”
The woman who needs a veil of protection from modern life | the Daily Mail
Before knocking on Sarah Dacre's door, I take the precaution of checking my mobile phone. It's switched off, as she has requested.
"Last time someone came to visit," she warns, "I started feeling awfully nauseous. It turned out he had a picture phone with him and had left it switched on. A picture phone!"
She pauses, looking genuinely horrified. Apparently, this type of mobile automatically sends signals to a local base station every nine minutes - "No wonder I felt so sick."
[snip]
Sarah, 51, is one of a growing band of people who claim to be experiencing extreme - and incapacitating - sensitivity to electrical appliances, as well as to certain frequencies of electromagnetic waves.
"Wi-Fi, or wireless broadband networks, seem to be the worst thing," she says.
"Closely followed by mobile phones - particularly if they're being used in an enclosed space - the base stations of cordless telephones and mobile phone masts.
"I have to restrict the amount of time I spend on the computer or watching television, and make sure I don't have too many household appliances on at once, because that sets me off as well."
[more at link]
Can't be near a cell phone but can sit in front of a TV or computer -- certainly convenient, but does not, um, compute. Her neighbor's wireless router makes her sick, but her own toaster doesn't? Time for a double-blind test, folks.
Wipe your arse less, suggests Sheryl Crow | The Register
Eco-friendly chanteuse Sheryl Crow - who's just completed a US "Stop Global Warming College Tour" with "environmental activist" Laurie David - has formulated a cunning plan to save the planet: use less toilet paper and dispense with the services of paper napkins.Crow's mission during her 11-stop campaign was "to persuade students to help combat the world's environmental problems", the BBC notes. Her illuminating blog reveals she "spent the better part of this tour trying to come up with easy ways for us all to become a part of the solution to global warming".
And here's the upshot of that contemplation: "I propose a limitation be put on how many sqares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. Now, I don't want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where two to three could be required."
[more at link]
Ya gotta wonder why Rush Limbaugh bothers to hire writers.
Massive spam shot of 'Storm Trojan' reaches record proportions
.... Irony, it seems, isn't lost on the attackers. "This is really a self-fulfilling prophecy," said Swidler, "by warning users about a worm attack to get them to click on a worm."There's little funny about the attack. "We're seeing both a very high volume of spam and a self-replicating worm," said Swidler. "This combination is kind of sophisticated. It's technically sophisticated in how they package the payload, but also in how they're trying to fool users into clicking on the attachment."
The malicious spam, Swidler went on, tries to convince users that their computers are already infected with malware and now part of a botnet. "They're telling people that their e-mail access is about to be cut off, and that they have to install this patch to continue using [e-mail]."
[more at link]
That's not ironic, that's clever and kinda funny. You know what's really "ironic"? That Computerworld, which bills itself as a serious IT publication, would run this kind of "Head for the hills!" article and never once mention that the threat only applies to computers running Microsoft Windows. That's "ironic." Also "moronic" and "corrupt."
... is what's needed here. Unfortunately, shortly after this picture was taken, the owner drove off the edge of the earth.
Click photo for larger version.
Thousands of pets may have fallen ill
Veterinary chain estimates 39,000 affected
Tuesday, April 10, 2007 3:29 AM
By Andrew Bridges
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- Pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical might have sickened or killed 39,000 cats and dogs nationwide, based on an extrapolation from data released yesterday by one of the nation's largest chains of veterinary hospitals.Banfield, The Pet Hospital, reported that an analysis of its database, compiled from records collected by its more than 615 veterinary hospitals, suggests that three out of every 10,000 cats and dogs that ate the pet food contaminated with melamine developed kidney failure. There are an estimated 60 million dogs and 70 million cats in the United States, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
The hospital chain cared for 1 million dogs and cats during the three months when the more than 100 brands of now-recalled contaminated pet food were sold. It saw 284 extra cases of kidney failure among cats during that period, or a roughly 30 percent increase, when compared with background rates.
"It has meaning, when you see a peak like that. We see so many pets here, and it coincided with the recall period," said veterinarian Hugh Lewis, who oversees the mining of Banfield's database to do clinical studies. The chain continues to share its data with the Food and Drug Administration.
FDA officials have said the database compiled by the huge veterinary practice would probably provide the most authoritative picture of the harm done by the tainted food.
In central Ohio, no confirmed cases of pet poisonings have been reported, although some cases are suspected.
From its findings, Banfield officials calculated an incidence rate of .03 percent for pets, although there was no discernible uptick among dogs. That suggests the contamination was overwhelmingly toxic to cats, Lewis said. That is in line with what other experts have said.
At least six pet-food companies have recalled products made with imported Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical. The recall involved about 1 percent of the overall U.S. pet food supply.
Measuring the tainted food's impact on animal health has proved an elusive goal. Previous estimates have ranged from the FDA's admittedly low tally of roughly 16 confirmed deaths to the more than 3,000 unconfirmed cases logged by one Web site.
"On a percentage basis, it's not breathtaking, but unfortunately it's a number that, if it was your pet that was affected, it's too high," veterinarian Nancy Zimmerman, Banfield's senior medical adviser, said of the newly estimated incidence rate.
In another estimate yesterday, the founder of a veterinary group said 5,000 to 10,000 pets might have fallen ill from eating the contaminated food, and 1,000 to 2,000 might have died.
The estimate was based on a Veterinary Information Network survey of 1,400 veterinarians among its 30,000 members. About one-third reported at least one case, said Paul Pion, the network's founder. He cautioned that a final, definitive tally isn't possible, and that even his estimate could be halved -- or doubled.
Banfield's veterinarians treat an estimated 6 percent of the nation's cats and dogs. After the first recall was announced, the chain beefed up its software to allow those veterinarians to plug in extra epidemiological information to help track cases, Zimmerman said.
The new template allowed vets to log what a sick pet had eaten, any symptoms its owner might have noticed, the results of a physical examination, any urine and blood test results and other observations.
Salon.com | Your modern-day Republican Party
Leading GOP presidential candidates believe in the power of imprisoning American citizens with no charges or review.
Glenn GreenwaldApr. 01, 2007 | (updated below)
Various Republican candidates attended a meeting of Club for Growth, and afterwards, National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru spoke to Cato Institute's President Ed Crane about what they said. This brief report from Ponnuru is simply extraordinary:
Crane asked if Romney believed the president should have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens with no review. Romney said he would want to hear the pros and cons from smart lawyers before he made up his mind.Mitt Romeny can't say -- at least not until he engages in a careful and solemn debate with a team of "smart lawyers" -- whether, in the United States of America, the President has the power to imprison American citizens without any opportunity for review of any kind. But in today's Republican Party, Romney's openness to this definitively tyrannical power is the moderate position. Ponnuru goes on to note:
Crane said that he had asked Giuliani the same question a few weeks ago. The mayor said that he would want to use this authority infrequently.It sounds like Giuliani is positioning himself in this race as the "compassionate authoritarian" -- "Yes, of course I have the power to imprison you without charges or review of any kind, but as President, I commit to you that I intend (no promises) to 'use this authority infrequently.'"
Two of the three leading Republican candidates for President either embrace or are open to embracing the idea that the President can imprison Americans without any review, based solely on the unchecked decree of the President. And, of course, that is nothing new, since the current Republican President not only believes he has that power but has exercised it against U.S. citizens and legal residents in the U.S. -- including those arrested not on the "battlefield," but on American soil.
What kind of American isn't just instinctively repulsed by the notion that the President has the power to imprison Americans with no charges? And what does it say about the current state of our political culture that one of the two political parties has all but adopted as a plank in its platform a view of presidential powers and the federal government that is -- literally -- the exact opposite of what this country is?
[much more at link]
No U.S. Backup Strategy For Iraq - washingtonpost.com
During a White House meeting last week, a group of governors asked President Bush and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about their backup plan for Iraq. What would the administration do if its new strategy didn't work?The conclusion they took away, the governors later said, was that there is no Plan B. "I'm a Marine," Pace told them, "and Marines don't talk about failure. They talk about victory."
Pace had a simple way of summarizing the administration's position, Gov. Phil Bredesen (D-Tenn.) recalled. "Plan B was to make Plan A work."
Salon.com Life | Oprah's ugly secret
Oprah's ugly secret
By continuing to hawk "The Secret," a mishmash of offensive self-help cliches, Oprah Winfrey is squandering her goodwill and influence, and preaching to the world that mammon is queen.
By Peter BirkenheadMar. 05, 2007 | Steve Martin used to do a routine that went like this: "You too can be a millionaire! It's easy: First, get a million dollars. Now..."
If you put that routine between hard covers, you'd have "The Secret," the self-help manifesto and bottle of minty-fresh snake oil currently topping the bestseller lists. "The Secret" espouses a "philosophy" patched together by an Australian talk-show producer named Rhonda Byrne. Though "The Secret" unabashedly appropriates and mishmashes familiar self-help cliches, it was still the subject of two recent episodes of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" featuring a dream team of self-help gurus, all of whom contributed to the project.
The main idea of "The Secret" is that people need only visualize what they want in order to get it -- and the book certainly has created instant wealth, at least for Rhonda Byrne and her partners-in-con. And the marketing idea behind it -- the enlisting of that dream team, in what is essentially a massive, cross-promotional pyramid scheme -- is brilliant. But what really makes "The Secret" more than a variation on an old theme is the involvement of Oprah Winfrey, who lends the whole enterprise more prestige, and, because of that prestige, more venality, than any previous self-help scam. Oprah hasn't just endorsed "The Secret"; she's championed it, put herself at the apex of its pyramid, and helped create a symbiotic economy of New Age quacks that almost puts OPEC to shame.
Much more at link, long but definitely worth clicking through the ad.
Subtitles are a bit annoying, but worth it.
I used to have a job which involved, among many other things, explaining MS Windows and Word Perfect to lawyers ("Get down here right now! Half my screen is off my screen!"). This guy is entirely too reasonable to be a real user.
US urges scientists to block out sun
The US wants the world's scientists to develop technology to block sunlight as a last-ditch way to halt global warming.It says research into techniques such as giant mirrors in space or reflective dust pumped into the atmosphere would be "important insurance" against rising emissions, and has lobbied for such a strategy to be recommended by a UN report on climate change, the first part of which is due out on Friday).
The US has also attempted to steer the UN report, prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), away from conclusions that would support a new worldwide climate treaty based on binding targets to reduce emissions. It has demanded a draft of the report be changed to emphasise the benefits of voluntary agreements and to include criticisms of the Kyoto Protocol, which the US opposes.
The final report, written by experts from across the world, will underpin international negotiations to devise an emissions treaty to succeed Kyoto, the first phase of which expires in 2012. World governments were given a draft of the report last year and invited to comment.
The US response says the idea of interfering with sunlight should be included in the summary for policymakers, the prominent chapter at the front of each panel report. It says: "Modifying solar radiance may be an important strategy if mitigation of emissions fails. Doing the R&D to estimate the consequences of applying such a strategy is important insurance that should be taken out. This is a very important possibility that should be considered."
Lake Superior State University :: Banished Words List :: 2007
I suppose if I were trapped at some godawful cow college in Outer Michigan I'd want attention too, but please stop.
George Orwell Was Right: Spy Cameras See Britons' Every Move
Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- It's Saturday night in Middlesbrough, England, and drunken university students are celebrating the start of the school year, known as Freshers' Week.One picks up a traffic cone and runs down the street. Suddenly, a disembodied voice booms out from above:
"You in the black jacket! Yes, you! Put it back!'' The confused student obeys as his friends look bewildered.
"People are shocked when they hear the cameras talk, but when they see everyone else looking at them, they feel a twinge of conscience and comply,'' said Mike Clark, a spokesman for Middlesbrough Council who recounted the incident. The city has placed speakers in its cameras, allowing operators to chastise miscreants who drop coffee cups, ride bicycles too fast or fight outside bars.
Almost 70 years after George Orwell created the all-seeing dictator Big Brother in the novel "1984,'' Britons are being watched as never before. About 4.2 million spy cameras film each citizen 300 times a day, and police have built the world's largest DNA database. Prime Minister Tony Blair said all Britons should carry biometric identification cards to help fight the war on terror.
"Nowhere else in the free world is this happening,'' said Helena Kennedy, a human rights lawyer who also is a member of the House of Lords, the upper house of Parliament. "The American public would find such inroads into civil liberties wholly unacceptable.''
Yeah, well, she obviously hasn't been to the US lately.
More here.
Deep-Frying Feast By Airport Managers Stokes Union's Fire - washingtonpost.com
Can deep-frying a turkey ever be a bad idea, especially at a holiday party?
It sure can, according to the air traffic controller's union, especially if the sizzling goes on inside administrative offices at Dulles International Airport. The union is blasting its managers for deep-frying a turkey last week in offices adjacent to the Dulles terminal and just a few hundred feet from the control tower.
An airport fire marshal made managers turn off the cooker.
Kieron Heflin, a representative with the air traffic controller's union, complained in a letter to management: "It has . . . come to my attention that the Dulles Management decided it would be a nice idea to DEEP FRY A TURKEY in the Dulles administrative quarters, surrounded by carpet, linoleum, an airport, aircraft, a control tower, thousands if not millions of gallons of jet fuel and thousands of passengers and employees."
Yes, You Can Surf in Cleveland, Before the Brown Water Freezes - New York Times
“Surfing Lake Erie is basically disgusting,” said Bill Weeber, known as Mongo, 44. “But then I catch that wave and I forget about it, and I feel high all day.”Scott Ditzenberger hoped to experience the same feeling when he heard that the first blizzard of the winter was pounding across the Midwest.
“I was so excited I could barely sleep last night,” said Mr. Ditzenberger, 35, who quit his job as a lawyer in August to spend more time surfing and to film a documentary about Cleveland’s surf community.
GR8 TaT2 Maker
It's job training for one of the few secure occupations left in this country.
Soldiers of Christ (Harpers.org)
... “Church” is insufficient to describe the complex. There is a permanent structure called the Tent, which regularly fills with hundreds or thousands of teens and twentysomethings for New Life's various youth gatherings. Next to the Tent stands the old sanctuary, a gray box capable of seating 1,500; this juts out into the new sanctuary, capacity 7,500, already too small. At the complex's western edge is the World Prayer Center, which looks like a great iron wedge driven into the plains. The true architectural wonder of New Life, however, is the pyramid of authority into which it orders its 11,000 members. At the base are 1,300 cell groups, whose leaders answer to section leaders, who answer to zone, who answer to district, who answer to Pastor Ted Haggard, New Life's founder.Pastor Ted, who talks to President George W. Bush or his advisers every Monday, is a handsome forty-eight-year-old Indianan, most comfortable in denim. He likes to say that his only disagreement with the President is automotive; Bush drives a Ford pickup, whereas Pastor Ted loves his Chevy. In addition to New Life, Pastor Ted presides over the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), whose 45,000 churches and 30 million believers make up the nation's most powerful religious lobbying group, and also over a smaller network of his own creation, the Association of Life-Giving Churches, 300 or so congregations modeled on New Life's “free market” approach to the divine.
Golly, wotta shock. Didn't anyone around here read Elmer Gantry?
In a strip mall in Heath, OH, Nails 3000 and Doggy Style Self-Service Dog Wash.
Nails 3000 used to be called Nails 2000, but they wisely rebooted just before Y2K, and are thus good to go for another thousand years.
Running With Scissors - Movies - Review - New York Times
“Running With Scissors” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has many disturbing scenes of sexuality, drug use and age-inappropriate behavior and professional misconduct.
Rolling Stone : The Hopeless Stupidity of 9/11 Conspiracies
... I have two basic gripes with the 9/11 Truth movement. The first is that it gives supporters of Bush an excuse to dismiss critics of this administration. I have no doubt that every time one of those Loose Change dickwads opens his mouth, a Republican somewhere picks up five votes. In fact, if there were any conspiracy here, I'd be far more inclined to believe that this whole movement was cooked up by Karl Rove as a kind of mass cyber-provocation, along the lines of Gordon Liddy hiring hippie peace protesters to piss in the lobbies of hotels where campaign reporters were staying.Secondly, it's bad enough that people in this country think Tim LaHaye is a prophet and Sean Hannity is an objective newsman. But if large numbers of people in this country can swallow 9/11 conspiracy theory without puking, all hope is lost. ...
Language a bit strong, but he does a good job of demolishing the "Loose Change" nonsense.
Telegraph | News | US outraged as Pakistan frees Taliban fighters
Pakistan's credibility as a leading ally in the war on terrorism was called into question last night when it emerged that President Pervez Musharraf's government had authorised the release from jail of thousands of Taliban fighters caught fighting coalition forces in Afghanistan.Five years after American-led coalition forces overthrew the Taliban during Operation Enduring Freedom, United States officials have been horrified to discover that thousands of foreign fighters detained by Pakistan after fleeing the battleground in Afghanistan have been quietly released and allowed to return to their home countries. ...
I had yet another MRI today and felt a bit wonky afterward, so I Googled "MRI side effects" and found this:
MRI side effects | The Medical Blog NetworkI recently had an MRI, this is the third or fourth, any time I go though the anti-theft devices at stores. The alarm sounds when I have nothing on me. If anyone can help please email me at xxxx@yahoo.com thanks
---------------
Magnetism
Submitted by Dr. Rob Lamberts on Thu, 01/05/2006 - 7:02pm.The test to see if you have become magnetized is to float in the water on your back and see if your head points to north.
I had one bipolar patient become unipolar in this way. She also became very attractive.
Robert Lamberts, MD
Evans Medical Group
FBI Investigates Popular Artist Kinkade
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The FBI is investigating artist Thomas Kinkade and company executives over allegations that they fraudulently induced investors to open galleries, then ruined them financially, a newspaper reported Tuesday.Relying on information from former Kinkade dealers contacted by federal agents, the Los Angeles Times reported that the FBI is focusing on issues raised in litigation brought by at least six former Thomas Kinkade Signature Gallery owners.
At least 10 former dealers nationwide have alleged in arbitration claims that the ''Painter of Light'' -- a California native beloved by some but reviled by the art establishment -- exploited his Christianity to persuade people to invest in the galleries, which sell only Kinkade's work.
After they had invested tens of thousands of dollars each, the ex-owners said, the company's policies drove them out of business. They say they were saddled with limited-edition prints no one wanted to buy, forced to open stores in inappropriate venues and undercut by discount galleries peddling the same items at prices they couldn't match.
Some also say Kinkade -- who claims to be the most widely collected living U.S. artist -- schemed to devalue his public company, Media Arts Group Inc., so he could buy it on the cheap. In 2004, Kinkade and other investors paid $32.7 million to take Media Arts Group private, changing its name to Thomas Kinkade Co.
''These dealers became investors primarily because they were believers in faith, love, family and God, and the paintings reflect those values,'' said Joseph Ejbeh, a Michigan attorney who tried an arbitration case that began in San Francisco in December 2004.
Kinkade Co. spokesman Jim Bryant said the Morgan Hill, Calif.-based company was unaware of an FBI investigation.
''We assert that there are no legitimate grounds for a federal investigation of any kind,'' Bryant said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press.
FBI agent Brian Wickham did not return a phone call Tuesday from the AP.
Kinkade's paintings typically include tranquil scenes of country gardens, churches, streams and lighthouses in dewy morning light. Many contain images from Bible passages.
Roughly 10 million Americans have a Kinkade painting at home. The wall hangings and spin-off products are said to fetch $100 million a year.
For more on Kinkade's sleazy shtick, see this. I dissed Kinkade's wretched oeuvre in a column a few years ago and never heard the end of it from his fans. Hey, folks, I'm not the one pissing on Winnie the Pooh.
Anti-Spyware Group Targets AOL 9.0 As 'Badware' - Internet News by InformationWeek
An anti-spyware group on Monday slapped AOL's client software with a "badware" label, and told users to avoid installing the program because it "adds software without disclosure" and "interferes with computer use."Stopbadware.org, a non-profit group headed by Harvard University and Oxford University, and backed by Google, Sun, and Lenovo, blasted AOL 9.0 for the kind of deceptive installation practices usually reserved for adware and spyware. In the past, Stopbadware.org has limited itself to pegging such dangerous programs as the file-sharing Kazaa peer-to-peer software, fake anti-spyware scanners, and screensavers bundled with Trojan horses and keyloggers.
According to the group's online alert, it considers the AOL software irresponsible for 8 different reasons, among them that it installs software such as the You've Got Pictures screensaver and ViewPoint Media Player without telling the user, that it adds the AOL toolbar to Internet Explorer without adequate disclosure, and that it fails to uninstall completely.
"We currently recommend that users do not install the version of AOL software that we tested, unless the user is comfortable with the level of risk we identify," the organization concluded in its online report.
AOL 9.0 is the free-of-charge software that the Virginia-based Internet service provider hands out to subscribers for connecting to, and accessing the Internet.
Rep. Schmidt's Marathon Ad Questioned - New York Times
[click photo for larger view]
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt is fast, capable of running a marathon in 3 hours, 19 minutes, 6 seconds.
At least that's what a photo on the Ohio congresswoman's Web site shows.
No way, says a rival who contends that the picture from the 1993 Columbus Marathon is doctored and complained to state election officials. A four-member commission panel ruled Thursday that there was enough evidence to look into the complaint.
State law prohibits candidates from publishing false statements designed to promote their election.
The photo shows Schmidt near the finish line at the marathon with a time clock showing 3:19:06, which would have made her one of the top finishers. But a newspaper list of the top runners does not include Schmidt, said Nathan Noy, who is seeking to run as a write-in candidate against Schmidt.
Noy said he believes the photo may be fake and suggested that Schmidt never even participated in the event. In the photo, Schmidt doesn't cast a shadow while other runners do.
Joseph Braun, an attorney representing Schmidt, denied that the photograph is fake. He produced what he said was an official race results book, listing Schmidt as the fifth-place finisher in her age group with a time of 3:19:09 -- three seconds slower than the time depicted in the photograph.
The time clock reflects when the photo was taken, not her official time, Braun said.
On her Web site, Schmidt, who is 54, said she has completed 59 marathons. In April, she received a public reprimand from the Ohio Elections Commission for claiming on her Web site that she had two college degrees when she had only one.
The Hot Issue: Should Pluto be a planet?
45% YES - It's been a planet for 76 years. Why change now?
14% NO - It's not in the same league with the real planets
41% MAYBE - I can't decide which experts to agree with
Reader Comments (1-10 of 29) Click here to vote and comment
Aug 24, 2006 12:11 pm MAYBE -
In the great scheme of things, does it really matter?
Aug 24, 2006 11:58 am YES -
It's too late to backtrack now. These so-called scientists need to find a clue. Rhode Island isn't an island either but are you going to change it now? I believe it's a planet.
Aug 24, 2006 11:52 am YES -
We have been taught since we were told of Pluto is a planet, now they wanted to re-write the history. Whats next? John Wilkes Booth didn't shoot Abe Lincoln?
Aug 24, 2006 11:52 am MAYBE -
I'm surprised the Republicans haven't tried to include in their redistricting...
Aug 24, 2006 11:42 am MAYBE -
I also think the bottoms should be a planet.
Aug 24, 2006 11:37 am MAYBE -
Who cares? Why not just let Maurice Clarrett blast it to smithereens with an AK47 and be done with it!
Aug 24, 2006 11:32 am YES -
The question is Is Goofy a dog?
Aug 24, 2006 11:31 am MAYBE -
This is a hot issue? I'd say it's a very, very cold one and most of us don't really care. That is not to say we are not interested in increased knowledge of the universe. I'm just more interested in what the whole universe is expanding into. Is it just more space or what? Maybe it's heaven or hell!
Aug 24, 2006 11:30 am YES -
Yes, the same way a fertilized egg is a human being. MW
Aug 24, 2006 11:19 am MAYBE -
Who cares? Star-gazing is a waste of time and tax payer money.
Mass murder in the skies: was the plot feasible? | The Register
...We've given extraordinary credit to a collection of jihadist wannabes with an exceptionally poor grasp of the mechanics of attacking a plane, whose only hope of success would have been a pure accident. They would have had to succeed in spite of their own ignorance and incompetence, and in spite of being under police surveillance for a year.But the Hollywood myth of binary liquid explosives now moves governments and drives public policy. We have reacted to a movie plot. Liquids are now banned in aircraft cabins (while crystalline white powders would be banned instead, if anyone in charge were serious about security). Nearly everything must now go into the hold, where adequate amounts of explosives can easily be detonated from the cabin with cell phones, which are generally not banned.
The al-Qaeda franchise will pour forth its bowl of pestilence and death. We know this because we've watched it countless times on TV and in the movies, just as our officials have done. Based on their behavior, it's reasonable to suspect that everything John Reid and Michael Chertoff know about counterterrorism, they learned watching the likes of Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Vin Diesel, and The Rock (whose palpable homoerotic appeal it would be discourteous to emphasize).
It's a pity that our security rests in the hands of government officials who understand as little about terrorism as the Florida clowns who needed their informant to suggest attack scenarios, as the 21/7 London bombers who injured no one, as lunatic "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, as the Forest Gate nerve gas attackers who had no nerve gas, as the British nitwits who tried to acquire "red mercury," and as the recent binary liquid bomb attackers who had no binary liquid bombs.
For some real terror, picture twenty guys who understand op-sec, who are patient, realistic, clever, and willing to die, and who know what can be accomplished with a modest stash of dimethylmercury.
You won't hear about those fellows until it's too late. Our official protectors and deciders trumpet the fools they catch because they haven't got a handle on the people we should really be afraid of. They make policy based on foibles and follies, and Hollywood plots.
Meanwhile, the real thing draws ever closer.
We here at Word Detective World Headquarters have been getting a fair number of reader questions recently about computer ailments, which is odd. I answer them when I can, but my expertise in getting mail merge to work, for example, has always been open to debate.
It finally dawned on me this morning that these odd questions are due to the fact that some of our readers are not very good readers, and have have jumped to the conclusion that the "Word" in "Word Detective" refers to Microsoft Word, and, consequently, that my mission in life is to diagnose and solve their MS Word problems.
Personally, I use Open Office, so y'all are on your own.
what the hell is this?PASTAFARIAN?!? that doesn't even make sense!! why the hell would god be PASTA?!? It sounds like you were bored and asked "why don't pirates exist anymore? and why doesn't heaven have a stripper factory and a beer volcano?" Well buddy, just because you google searched some stupid fact and made a website, doesn't mean you made a religion.
Owen Wilson Says 'Dupree' Is No Rip-OffBy Associated Press
July 28, 2006, 3:06 PM EDT
LOS ANGELES -- Owen Wilson has denied any connection between his new movie, "You, Me and Dupree," and '70s supergroup Steely Dan, a spokesman for the actor said Friday.
The band recently posted a letter on their Web site claiming that Wilson's Dupree character was based on their Grammy-winning song, "Cousin Dupree," about a couch-hopping houseguest.
In a statement released by his spokeswoman, Ina Treciokas, Wilson said: "I have never heard the song `Cousin Dupree' and I don't even know who this gentleman, Mr. Steely Dan, is. I hope this helps to clear things up and I can get back to concentrating on my new movie, `HEY 19.'"
Larry Solters, a spokesman for the band's management company, did not immediately return a call for comment.
Steely Dan released a string of hits in the '70s, including "Hey Nineteen," "Reeling in the Years" and "Rikki Don't Lose That Number."
"There are some pretty heavy people who are upset about this whole thing and we can't guarantee what kind of heat little Owen may be bringing down on himself," band leaders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen wrote in the letter.
The band asked Wilson, 37, to appear at a concert to apologize to their fans.
"You, Me and Dupree" co-stars Kate Hudson and Matt Dillon as a newlywed couple annoyed by Dupree, a friend who crashes on their couch.
In 2001, "Cousin Dupree" won a Grammy for best pop performance by a duo or group from Steely Dan's album "Two Against Nature," which snagged album of the year.
First off, they're victims, not fans, and Wilson isn't the one who should be apologizing. Secondly, "70s supergroup"? Blind Faith was a supergroup. Steely Dan was, and remains, a leisure suit set to music.
No-Mow Grass May Be Coming to Your Yard Soon
For anyone tethered to a lawnmower, the Holy Grail of horticultural accomplishment would be grass that never grows but is always green.Now, that vision of suburban bliss—and more—seems plausible as scientists have mapped a critical hormone signaling pathway that regulates the stature of plants. In addition to lawns that rarely require mowing, the finding could also enable the development of sturdier, more fruitful crop plants such as rice, wheat, soybeans, and corn.
Way to go, gang. Time to link to this again.
Congress is pushing a law that would abandon Network Neutrality, the Internet’s First Amendment. Network neutrality prevents companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites work best for you — based on what site pays them the most. Your local library shouldn’t have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to have its Web site open quickly on your computer.Net Neutrality allows everyone to compete on a level playing field and is the reason that the Internet is a force for economic innovation, civic participation and free speech. If the public doesn’t speak up now, Congress will cave to a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign by telephone and cable companies that want to decide what you do, where you go, and what you watch online.
This isn’t just speculation — we’ve already seen what happens elsewhere when the Internet’s gatekeepers get too much control. Last year, Canada’s version of AT&T — Telus— blocked their Internet customers from visiting a Web site sympathetic to workers with whom Telus was negotiating. And Shaw, a major Canadian cable company, charges an extra $10 a month to subscribers who dare to use a competing Internet telephone service.
This is very serious, and it will be irreversible. Read the whole page and lean on your legislators NOW.
In the fall of 2004, I received an e-mail from an old friend back in Arkansas, where I was raised. She was concerned about a problem her father was having at work. “Bob” is a geologist and a teacher at a science education institution that serves several Arkansas public school districts. My friend did not know the details of Bob’s problem, only that it had to do with geology education. This was enough to arouse my interest, so I invited Bob to tell me about what was going on.He responded with an e-mail. Teachers at his facility are forbidden to use the “e-word” (evolution) with the kids. They are permitted to use the word “adaptation” but only to refer to a current characteristic of an organism, not as a product of evolutionary change via natural selection. They cannot even use the term “natural selection.” Bob feared that not being able to use evolutionary terms and ideas to answer his students’ questions would lead to reinforcement of their misconceptions.
But Bob’s personal issue was more specific, and the prohibition more insidious. In his words, “I am instructed NOT to use hard numbers when telling kids how old rocks are. I am supposed to say that these rocks are VERY VERY OLD ... but I am NOT to say that these rocks are thought to be about 300 million years old.”
As a person with a geology background, Bob found this restriction hard to justify, especially since the new Arkansas educational benchmarks for 5th grade include introduction of the concept of the 4.5-billion-year age of the earth. Bob’s facility is supposed to be meeting or exceeding those benchmarks.
The explanation that had been given to Bob by his supervisors was that their science facility is in a delicate position and must avoid irritating some religious fundamentalists who may have their fingers on the purse strings of various school districts. Apparently his supervisors feared that teachers or parents might be offended if Bob taught their children about the age of rocks and that it would result in another school district pulling out of their program.
more at above link.
Dark Portrait of a 'Painter of Light' - Los Angeles Times
Thomas Kinkade is famous for his luminous landscapes and street scenes, those dreamy, deliberately inspirational images he says have brought "God's light" into people's lives, even as they have made him one of America's most collected artists.A devout Christian who calls himself the "Painter of Light," Kinkade trades heavily on his beliefs and says God has guided his brush — and his life — for the last 20 years.
"When I got saved, God became my art agent," he said in a 2004 video biography, genteel in tone and rich in the themes of faith and family values that have helped win him legions of fans, albeit few among art critics.
But some former Kinkade employees, gallery operators and others contend that the Painter of Light has a decidedly dark side.
In litigation and interviews with the Los Angeles Times, some former gallery owners depict Kinkade, 48, as a ruthless businessman who drove them to financial ruin at the same time he was fattening his business associates' bank accounts and feathering his nest with tens of millions of dollars.
[snip]
It's not just Kinkade's business practices that have been called into question. Former gallery owners, ex-employees and others say his personal behavior also belies the wholesome image on which he's built his empire.
In sworn testimony and interviews, they recount incidents in which an allegedly drunken Kinkade heckled illusionists Siegfried & Roy in Las Vegas, cursed a former employee's wife who came to his aid when he fell off a barstool, and palmed a startled woman's breasts at a signing party in South Bend, Ind.
And then there is Kinkade's proclivity for "ritual territory marking," as he called it, which allegedly manifested itself in the late 1990s outside the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim.
"This one's for you, Walt," the artist quipped late one night as he urinated on a Winnie the Pooh figure, said Terry Sheppard, a former vice president for Kinkade's company, in an interview.
More at above link. No surprises for anyone who has read Elmer Gantry.
BIG DAY, today. From today, as you will have seen headlined in The Sunday Times, magnetic therapy is to be available on the NHS. Hitherto, patients like Cherie Blair had to pay £100 a pop to have magic magnets dangled over them, but now the treatment is absolutely free. And tomorrow . . .
Homer Simpson, Yes; First Amendment? "Doh!"
.... The survey found more people could name the three "American Idol" judges than First Amendment rights and were more likely to remember popular advertising slogans.It also found people misidentified First Amendment rights. About 1 in 5 people thought the right to own a pet was protected ....
While we're on the subject of bands that need to crawl off and die, I'd like to nominate The Band. Yes, I know they're long gone, but that just seems to increase their air time. How can any sentient life form hear "Cripple Creek" at this point and not feel an overwhelming impulse to bolt for the nearest cliff?
Then there's that radio station on Cape Cod that apparently considers it their divinely-ordained mission to play everything James Taylor releases. I am told that he lives there, so perhaps that's the excuse, but there is no excuse.
Update: They are also preternaturally fond of Carly Simon. And Joni Mitchell. And Coldplay. Ghastly. Why no Yanni?
LONDON (Reuters) - Too busy to get to your shift at McDonald's restaurant? Don't worry -- send someone else in your family to go along for you.
The world's largest restaurant chain said Thursday it had begun trialing a new scheme in Britain whereby two people from the same family who worked at the same branch could cover each other's shifts without giving any prior notice.
"By giving our employees the freedom to manage their shift commitments, we will increase their motivation and enjoyment of work," said David Fairhurst, the chain's vice president (people).
McDonald's said the first users of the new "Family Contract," which it believes to be unique in Britain, were two sets of twins.
McDonald's said it would look to extend the scheme if it proved to be popular and successful.
"It may be just the beginning," Fairhurst said in a statement. "In the future we may even look to extend it beyond the family to include friends and extended family members such as cousins."
Microsoft ads aim to erase 'huge' image
Microsoft Corp., the world's biggest software maker, will spend $120 million a year on an advertising campaign to fight its image as "a huge American company."
The campaign, using television, print and the Internet, highlights Microsoft's education and economic development projects in 32 countries, including France and Taiwan, according to group advertising manager Mike Lucero. Actor William Macy of the movie "Fargo" narrates the ads.
"We are often perceived as a huge American company," Lucero said Friday in an interview.
Odd dream last night. I was working in an office, and my boss was Dick Cheney. We got along rather well, but I kept thinking "I hope he doesn't get mad at me and keel over."
BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Taiwan breeds green-glowing pigs
Scientists in Taiwan say they have bred three pigs that glow in the dark.
They claim that while other researchers have bred partly fluorescent pigs, theirs are the only pigs in the world which are green through and through.
[more at link]
Invading Canada won't be like invading Iraq: When we invade Canada, nobody will be able to grumble that we didn't have a plan.
The United States government does have a plan to invade Canada. It's a 94-page document called "Joint Army and Navy Basic War Plan -- Red," with the word SECRET stamped on the cover. It's a bold plan, a bodacious plan, a step-by-step plan to invade, seize and annex our neighbor to the north. It goes like this:
First, we send a joint Army-Navy overseas force to capture the port city of Halifax, cutting the Canadians off from their British allies.
Then we seize Canadian power plants near Niagara Falls, so they freeze in the dark.
Then the U.S. Army invades on three fronts -- marching from Vermont to take Montreal and Quebec, charging out of North Dakota to grab the railroad center at Winnipeg, and storming out of the Midwest to capture the strategic nickel mines of Ontario.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy seizes the Great Lakes and blockades Canada's Atlantic and Pacific ports.
At that point, it's only a matter of time before we bring these Molson-swigging, maple-mongering Zamboni drivers to their knees! Or, as the official planners wrote, stating their objective in bold capital letters: "ULTIMATELY TO GAIN COMPLETE CONTROL."
MERD | Panexa (Acidachrome Promanganate)
No matter what you do or where you go, you're always going to be yourself. And Panexa knows this. Your lifestyle is one of the biggest factors in choosing how to live. Why trust it to anything less? Panexa is proven to provide more medication to those who take it than any other comparable solution. Panexa is the right choice, the safe choice. The only choice.
Globetechnology: Joe Jerk's amazing offer
What amazes me is that people will give their money to patently fictional people with outrageous names. Even the body of the messages is often silly: By the time spammers finish adjusting their strategies to fool the spam filters, their messages are so bent out of shape it's a wonder anyone can possibly take them seriously.I collect these names (it's an eccentricity — leave me alone), and I like to select the best for a year-end wrap-up, with a top-10-names list chosen by one of my (very real) favourite names, Tahirah Shadforth.
For instance, among those offering me Viagra this year were Lengthen Excerpting, Avrom Alias, Eula Shook, Racketeering Motors, Presumably Cahoots, Bunkum Splotched, Scurf Pathogen, Barbered Chapt, Ambrosia Triplett, Pole Suspiciously, Phosphorous Thundercloud and (wow) Joe Jerk. Trustworthy-sounding bunch, no?
This year, the U.S. warned citizens not to buy drugs from on-line Canadian pharmacies because the drugs might not be safe. Spammers leapt into the fray, suggesting people should instead put their trust in names such as Ovaries Secreter, Emm Zcacsog, Bella Pxolc, Candida Outlaw, Capote Dogie, Macon Expel, Exhibitionism Phoneys, Tillman Unscrew, Nuptials Overgenerous, Letdowns Gastritis, Dionysius Swindall, Slugged Shindig, Concessions Burgles, Fikriyya Gurney and Shea Snay.
An Indian dog holds an umbrella and bag during a performance rehearsal at Asiad Circus. AFP/File Photo
Language Log: No ideas, please, we're the Plain English Campaign
Well, the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock, and you hear the kyouck and gobble of the Plain English Campaign's annual award for gobbledegook.
Regret The Error: Crunks '05: The Year in Media Errors and Corrections
The Learn Your Lesson Award
A correction from the Guardian:In a Comment piece headed, We must not forget how war was won, page 22, May 7, we wrote of "the genocidal destruction of the Jewish and gypsy (sic) populations". Gypsy takes a capital G. The stylebook says so: Gypsies u[pper]c[ase], recognised as an ethnic group under the Race Relations Act, as are Irish Travellers. The point has been made in corrections on the following occasions: December 7 1999; March 3 2000; May 4 2000; March 3 2001; July 25 2001; August 1 2001; September 1 2001; December 14 2001; February 19 2003; September 29 2004; March 3 2005.
My, Christopher Robin, you've changed - Times OnlinePoor Christopher Robin. For 80 years there has been an enchanted place on the top of the forest where a little boy and his bear would always be playing.
But though Winnie the Pooh became a hugely successful brand, Christopher Robin just wouldn’t sell.
“There’s only one thing to be done,” said the executives at Disney, and replaced him with a six-year-old girl.
Video Placebo: Is that Really HDTV You Are Watching?
News of the video bizarre: According to a just-released survey by Scientific-Atlanta, millions of people who have HDTV sets apparently think they are watching high definition television, but aren’t. The survey was spurred by an earlier Forrester Research projection that by the end of the year some 16 million U.S. households will have HDTV sets, but only seven million wll have HDTV reception. The Scientific Atlanta survey found that, yes, some 49 percent of households were not taking advantage of their HD equipment. About a quarter found that their HD set itself provided better reception, without taking the additional steps necessary to view HD. Eighteen percent said they didn’t even know needed additional equipment, such as a set-top box or antenna. A quarter admitted they thought they were watching HD video because, after all, the programs said at the beginning that they were broadcast in HDTV.The survey confirms the long-standing prejudice of many of us non-videophiles that HDTV really isn’t all that impressive. Still, it is milding shocking that so many people plunk down money for an HD set, but never catch on that it isn’t actually turned on.
via techdirt.com
The Observer | Comment | For the record
Our interview with American literary sensation Benjamin Kunkel (Review, last week) was accompanied by a panel of quotes from US reviews, supplied by his publisher. One, from Entertainment Weekly, read: 'Kunkel has succeeded in crafting a voice of singular originality' and omitted the next line ' - one you want to punch in the mouth.'
Lynne Truss Has Another Gripe With You - New York Times... Truss has just published her latest effort, and it, too, taps into the retro appeal of strict rules. The title offers its own mini-sermon: "Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door." The book's basic contention is that people in public places no longer bother to treat one another with even a semblance of Old World courtesy or respect. Writing in a tone of comic hyperbole, Truss claims that the "politeness words" - her term for "please," "thank you" and "excuse me" - have dwindled to the point of near extinction. Is there a scintilla of truth to her findings? Possibly not. In her book, Truss acknowledges the research of the British social anthropologist Kate Fox, who has conducted field experiments on politeness, like bumping into random pedestrians to see how many would say "Sorry." As it turned out, 80 percent apologized, and Fox concluded that manners have not declined.
But Truss remains unconvinced, and in her book she adopts an isolationist policy; instead of proposing a new code of social diplomacy, she laments the violation of her personal space. The offenders, as she sees it, include smokers, graffiti artists, moviegoers who chat in theaters, bicyclists who ignore red lights and children on skateboards and the "breeders" who created them. She is nearly always "shocked," except when she is "incensed," and at times she aims her ire at such seemingly innocuous subjects as waiters who say "There you go" when they put a plate a food in front of her. Rudeness follows her like an unwanted companion even when she is up in the sky. "Air travelers on long-haul flights change into pajamas in the lavatories," she notes with typical disapproval, leading you to wonder if it would be better if they changed in the aisles. ...
Is Andy Rooney married?
BBC NEWS | Americas | US dating agencies sued for fraud
A lawsuit recently filed in Los Angeles claims that Match.com's staff have turned up for dates with clients in order to keep them interested when no one else seems to be interested in them.
Wired News: Tainted Sony CDs Used Open Source
Controversial copy-protection software used by music publisher Sony BMG on music CDs appears to have tapped an open source project, raising questions about copyrights, software experts said on Friday.
languagehat.com: OMBUDSMAN, SPARE THAT APOSTROPHE!NPR ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin recently responded to what he describes as "a regular flow of comments and observations about language" from listeners; my response after reading it is to wish he'd stick to journalism and ethics and leave language alone.
is an ebay fraud seller free? | Ask MetaFilter
A long but fascinating (and ultimately very disturbing) thread on AskMefi.
Punctuation cop turns ire on bad manners
NEW YORK (Reuters) - When it comes to bad manners, today's society is pretty much a hopeless case, author Lynn Truss says.That didn't stop her front ranting about it in her latest book, "Talk to the Hand," a self-described "moral homily" that attacks rudeness the same way she critiqued bad punctuation in her 2003 best-seller "Eats, Shoots & Leaves."
"Please" and "thank you" are endangered in the public discourse, she writes in her new work, increasingly drowned out by inane mobile phone chatter, dismal customer service and the vulgar epithet she writes as "Eff Off."
"I say in the book that I have a flame of hope (that manners will improve) but it's very, very, very small," she told Reuters in an interview Wednesday, the day after her book came out.
"Eats, Shoots & Leaves" sold 3 million copies worldwide, its publisher said. Seizing on that success, Gotham Books has rushed out "Talk to the Hand," which Truss calls "a big, systematic moan about modern life."
The New York Times called it "a thin and crabby diatribe" in a book review, adding, "The author may have been good for only one book-length conniption."
In any case Truss said writing her 206-page rant was therapeutic.
"It really, really made me feel better," she said. "I don't know whether I've just dumped it all onto my readers, which could be the case. I may have made everybody else feel bad in the process but I've made myself feel much better."