Month: October 2008

Sometime between 09:07 and 18:54, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Weird Al: Forefather of the YouTube Spoof: To make matters more complicated, whereas Yankovic could once mine such inexhaustible icons as Jackson and Nirvana for laughs, he now has to contend with the likes of Jessica Simpson or Kevin Federline—celebrities who are more or less already self-parodies. Being a music satirist in 2008 is a bit like being a political cartoonist after the Harding administration: too many easy targets, too few sacred idols.
• The New Yorker: The Choice: At a moment of economic calamity, international perplexity, political failure, and battered morale, America needs both uplift and realism, both change and steadiness. It needs a leader temperamentally, intellectually, and emotionally attuned to the complexities of our troubled globe. That leader’s name is Barack Obama.
• Harmony® 510 Advanced Universal Remote: Your coffee table has five remotes. You have a special drawer where you keep them. Wouldn't it be easier to just have one remote? You can. Replace all your remotes with Harmony.
• It’s up to parents to see the writing on the walls: So far there have been 170 graffiti incidents in Kent this year. Wood figures graffiti costs the city more than $50,000 annually. That figure doesn't measure other costs, including the toll it takes on property values, community pride and the community's sense of public safety. "When there's graffiti the perception is there's crime and people feel less safe," Wood says. "We're trying to make people feel safe where they live and do business. There's no area where it's more prevalent. It happens on the East Hill, on the West Hill, downtown." (I wouldn't mind seeing some cleanup under this bridge — Prairie and I walk there pretty frequently, and it's covered in graffiti.)
• Make-Believe Maverick: A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty: This is the story of the real John McCain, the one who has been hiding in plain sight. It is the story of a man who has consistently put his own advancement above all else, a man willing to say and do anything to achieve his ultimate ambition: to become commander in chief, ascending to the one position that would finally enable him to outrank his four-star father and grandfather. (via Twitter)

Sometime between October 3rd and October 5th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Meet Your New Governor (Seven Reasons to Fear Dino Rossi): Rossi doesn't just oppose abortion rights. He opposes all reproductive rights—from students' right to learn the facts about pregnancy, STDs, and birth control, to women's right to buy contraceptives with a prescription. Rossi opposes requiring pharmacies to stock emergency contraception, which works by preventing fertilization, because some pharmacists assert, falsely, that it causes abortions. And in the late 1990s, as a state senator, Rossi voted against requiring prescription drug plans to cover regular oral contraceptives.
• Custom My Little Ponies: I'm quite fond of My Little Alien and My Little Edward Scissorhands, myself.
• It’s Official: GOP Ticket Now “Winky and Wrinkly”: Forget the tight stripper skirt, forget the metallic eyeshadow inappropriate for anyone over the age of 40, forget the cloying sitcom delivery, the lies, the cruel and calculated needling of Biden by calling his college professor wife a "school teacher" and saying "she'll get her reward in Heaven" (to a man whose first wife died in a car accident) — she's an idiot.
• Sarah Palin Debate Flow Chart: Funny because it's true!
• The First Sound Bites: Whether for profit or prestige, the 1908 campaign was the first in which presidential candidates recorded their own voices for the mass market. “We now have Records by Mr. Bryan and Mr. Taft, so that no matter how the November election may result, we shall have Records by the next President,” an advertisement in the September 1908 Edison Phonograph Monthly exclaimed. “Now, for the first time, one can introduce the rival candidates for the Presidency in one’s own home, can listen to their political views, expressed in their real voices, and make comparisons.” (via Slashdot)

Sometime between October 1st and October 3rd, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Vice-Presidential Debate – Biden and Palin – Video and Transcript – Election Guide 2008: The NYT has a very nice interactive video and text transcript for the VP debate (and, from the looks of it, the existing and future Presidential debates, campaign speeches, and more). (via Waxy)
• Saturday is voter registration deadline: Would-be voters have until Saturday — 30 days before the November general elections — to register by mail, in person or online. Mail-in registrations must be postmarked by the Oct. 4 cutoff, according to the Washington Secretary of State's office.
• Roger Ebert: You didn’t ask me about the debate, but…: Yes, she wins high marks for emerging from the debate still standing and still smiling. Polls show that she performed better than a great majority of viewers thought she would. My concern here is not with the substance of which either candidate said; that would be political. My concern is with the performances. Watching the debate, I was reminded of a famous observation by Dr. Samuel Johnson, the great 18th century English critic, who went to witness with his own eyes a woman giving a sermon in a church. This was unheard of in his day. "A woman's preaching," he told his friend James Boswell, "is like a dog's standing on its hind legs. It is not done well, but one is surprised to find it done at all."
• Inability to sanitize live carp ends fishy foot treatments: Bui was personally delivered a letter Thursday informing her of the agency's decision, which was based on a state law that all implements used in pedicures had to be "sanitized, disinfected, or disposed of after each service to protect salon customers from the possibility of disease and infections." "You can clean files and other equipment, but there is just no way to sanitize live fish," said Christine Anthony, a spokeswoman for the agency.
• Chinese gymnasts to keep medals: China's gold-medal gymnasts were old enough to compete in the Beijing Olympics, the sport's governing body said Wednesday, though it still had questions about the team that competed at the 2000 Sydney Games.
• Fox News Snags Palin’s First Post-Debate Interview: [Referencing her earlier interviews,] Palin was annoyed that Couric saw that her job was to flush out for the American people more information about the character of a relatively unknown candidate for the vice presidency, and not to provide Palin with a nationally-televised forum for spouting McCain campaign talking points.
• Think about the Supreme Court when you vote for president: Pro-choice groups have been crying wolf for so long that it's hard to believe that the wolf is actually at the door. Or at least the border of South Dakota. There, a full-tilt abortion ban on the November ballot — with high-hurdle exceptions only for rape, incest and the life of a woman — is pointed directly at Roe and targeted to arrive at the Supreme Court in time to greet a new justice. If what happens in South Dakota doesn't stay in South Dakota, a woman's right will depend on whether she has enough gas to drive to the next, or the next, or the next state.
• A fashion designer I don’t know (Michael Kors) draws inspiration for his fall line from a show I’ve never watched (Mad Men), but I love this quote:: Aren’t we ready for that again? For some maturity? I have to tell you, I am sick and tired of hair down to there and crotch-high hemlines. It’s so obvious. For Fall I was really trying to bring back buttoned-up sexy—-think Grace Kelly. So cool, so poised. She never reveals a thing and you can’t take your eyes off of her. I mean, watch “Rear Window.” That’s smart sexy; it’s interesting sexy. And it’s grown-up sexy. You want a tip on looking hot? Wear reading glasses and a fitted dress. Simple. (via Kottke)
• Did inner-tube robber use Craigslist in heist?: Inflation has certainly been good to one crafty robber. Monroe police are searching for a man who robbed an armored-car guard Tuesday morning then fled with the money — down a nearby creek on an inner tube. Police say the robber also may have recruited a host of unwitting decoys through a Craigslist ad.
• Seattle Lands a Women’s Lingerie Football Team: An offshoot of the uber-popular Lingerie Bowl halftime show that's appeared during Super Bowls past, there's now a fledgling league of extraordinary women who will play tackle football against one another in their underwear. Tryouts for the Seattle team, the Mist, are this Friday at Greenlake, although official league play won't start for another year and games will be played indoors, ala arena football. It'll be really interesting to see how this goes over in Seattle. (via 2hrlunch)