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Sometime between September 18th and September 19th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Twitter, ye markup be non-standarrrrrd.: I know this will make me sound like the annoying standardista, but how could anyone who still uses <center> still be doing web design professionally in, of all places, San Francisco? This is an element which has been deprecated for eleven years. Do we really have people who haven’t changed their coding practices since before 1997? (Also, as noted by wnalyd, going all AJAX-y broke accessibility. The redesign is pretty, but flawed.)
• Rollergirls win bout with Starbucks over logo: The roller derby team got into a bit of a dispute with Starbucks this spring after the coffee giant asked the team to change its logo, which it deemed too similar to its own.
• The 20 Best Worst Science Fiction Movies Of All Time: Not every movie gets to be the Oscar darling of its time, but sometimes we love the bad movies the most. These movies exist to be found in the bottom of bargain DVD bins and are met with squeals of excitement. Movies like Red Planet, Enemy Mine, The Faculty — these aren't successful by any standards other than the people that love them and treasure watching them for the 14th time. So I asked around and pulled a sampling of what I believe is the science fiction equivalent to Point Break. Here's our list of the greatest bad scifi movies of all time. (I want to go out and rent ALL OF THESE RIGHT NOW. At least the ones I don't own already.)
• Chuck’s ‘Buy More’ Versus Best Buy: Do Best Buy workers really watch movies in the stores' theater rooms? Do Geek Squad members (called the Nerd Herd on the show) really go joy-riding in the Geek-mobile? Is there really a special evacuation code word for use on Black Fridays? (via Engadget HD)
• Is there anything that can’t be made into a “sexy” halloween outfit?: I totally get the sexy costume idea for some of them – cheerleaders, witches, Playboy Bunnies, nurses, all of that stuff.  I even get the sexy Alice in Wonderland and Princess Peach and stuff like that.  But these… these are ridiculous. (Related: this YouTube bit for the Girls's Costume Warehouse) (via Mike and Mellzah)
• Fla. judge rules saggy-pants law is unconstitutional: A judge has decided a law banning sagging pants in this town is unconstitutional after a teenager spent a night in jail on accusations he exposed too much underwear. (This is good. As stupid as I think this fashion is, the law was ridiculous. From what I remember of the stories from when the law was first passed, the way it was presented, you could get busted and fined $150 for showing too many inches of your boxers above your pants — but if you took off your pants and just wore the boxers as shorts, you'd be fine.)

Sometime between September 17th and September 18th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Eat together, stay together: Mealtime — from prep to cleanup as well as the actual eating part — may help couples bond just as the family dinner has been shown to benefit kids, suggests a researcher at the University of Missouri who has been studying newlyweds. (Being able to eat together nightly has been one of the nicest side effects of my new job and having a 'normal' work schedule.) (via Unlibrarian)
• “Battle in Seattle” brings back memories of WTO riots: "The Battle in Seattle," a feature film based in the 1999 WTO riots in Seattle, opens this Friday. Reporter David Postman, who covered the riots for The Times, has seen the movie and talked to writer-director Stuart Townsend.
• Unscrambling the Claims of the Boastful Egg: Some claims on egg cartons are regulated by the federal government, some by the states and some not at all. Some affect consumers’ health, some touch upon ethics and some are meaningless. All purport to describe how the hens were raised, or what they were fed, or what extra benefits their eggs might provide. So, what do these terms mean? (via Danelope)
• Microsoft announcement tomorrow: No more Seinfeld ads!: Microsoft's version of the story: Redmond had always planned to drop Seinfeld. The awkward reality: The ads only reminded us how out of touch with consumers Microsoft is — and that Bill Gates's company has millions of dollars to waste on hiring a has-been funnyman to keep him company.
• New Hitchhiker’s Guide to be published… seven years after the author’s death: I'm really hard pressed to see this as anything but a Bad Idea prompted by nothing more than the desire to wring as much money as possible out of an established fan base. Not impressed.

Sometime between September 16th and September 17th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Sarah Palin’s Yahoo! email addressed hacked: Both of AK Gov. Sarah Palin's Yahoo e-mail addresses (gov.sarah@yahoo.com and a previously not publicly known gov.palin@yahoo.com) — which, unlike .gov e-mail addresses, are not subject to archiving and oversight, leading to controversy from several sources, including fellow Republicans, asking her to release e-mails from her Yahoo account — were hacked into and have since been deleted. This link has a rundown of the events and links to screenshots and images of the hack. (via Waxy)
• My Gal: Explaining how she felt when John McCain offered her the Vice-Presidential spot, my Vice-Presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin, said something very profound: “I answered him ‘Yes’ because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can’t blink. So I didn’t blink then even when asked to run as his running mate.” (via Daring Fireball)
• Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest 2008 Results: Carmen's romance with Broderick had thus far been like a train ride, not the kind that slowly leaves the station, builds momentum, and then races across the countryside at breathtaking speed, but rather the one that spends all day moving freight cars around at the local steel mill.
• Lynda Carter (1970’s TV’s Wonder Woman) on comparisons between Wonder Woman and Sarah Palin: Don’t get me started. She’s the anti-Wonder Woman. She’s judgmental and dictatorial, telling people how they’ve got to live their lives. And a superior religious self-righteousness … that’s just not what Wonder Woman is about. Hillary Clinton is a lot more like Wonder Woman than Mrs. Palin. She did it all, didn’t she? No one has the right to dictate, particularly in this country, to force your own personal views upon the populace — religious views. I think that is suppressive, oppressive, and anti-American. We are the loyal opposition. That’s the whole point of this country: freedom of speech, personal rights, personal freedom. Nor would Wonder Woman be the person to tell people how to live their lives. Worry about your own life! Worry about your own family! Don't be telling me what I want to do with mine.
• Nine Whispered Opinions Regarding the Alaskan Secession by George Guthridge: Beautifully written, and very Alaskan, short sci-fi. Worth reading if you're an Alaskan (past, present, or future), a sci-fi buff, or both. From IO9: "To celebrate Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's nomination as vice president, the Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction has posted its 2004 story, 'Nine Whispered Opinions Regarding the Alaskan Secession' by George Guthridge. It's a collection of nine vignettes about a future Alaska…." (via IO9)

Sometime between September 12th and September 15th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• George Takei Marries: George Takei wed his partner of 21 years, Brad Altman, today in Los Angeles. The couple married in a ceremony in the Democracy Forum of the Japanese American National Museum,the museum Takei helped create to honor those forced, as he was, to live in WWII internment camp. In attendance were some of his Star Trek co-stars.
• Women Against Sarah Palin: We are not in the habit of criticizing women in the public sphere, as we usually feel we should support our female compatriots with as much encouragement as we can. However, Sarah Palin's record is anti-woman. Feminism is not simply about achieving the power and status typically held by men. It's about protecting and supporting the rights of women of all classes, races, cultures, and beliefs. Palin's record and beliefs do not align with this. She was chosen by John McCain specifically because he believes that American women will vote for any female candidate regardless of their qualifications. He is wrong. (via Unlibrarian)
• After You …: Mamihlapinatapais, from the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego, is considered the world's most succinct word — and the hardest to translate. It means "a look shared by two people, each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but that neither one wants to start." (via Unlibrarian)
• Haven’t we seen this election before?: The Obama v McCain race for the White House has been run before – NBC's The West Wing pitted a charismatic, non-white Democrat against a maverick, experienced Republican. (Interesting article, but my big argument was that on the West Wing, the Republican candidate was a candidate who I could respect while disagreeing with him. I can't say the same thing about McCain.) (via fraserspeirs)
• Of Goths and Pregnancy, the Follow-Up: Goodness, Snarklings! The Lady of the Manners has always been impressed with the Power Of The Internet that our shadowy subculture has at its communal fingers, but didn’t expect quite such the flurry of helpful responses when she asked for useful links and resources for Goths in a family way! As promised, here is a collection of the information that various kind and helpful Snarklings sent in.
• Fraser Speirs: App Store: I’m out: Apple’s current practice of rejecting certain applications at the final hurdle – submission to the App Store – is disastrous for investor confidence. Developers are investing time and resources in the App Store marketplace and, if developers aren’t confident, they won’t invest in it. If developers – and serious developers at that – don’t invest, what’s the point?

Sometime between September 11th and September 12th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Tax Plans (that’s one for you, nineteen for me): There’s a graph that Obama supporters are sending around, showing the differences between the Republican and Democrat tax cut proposals. It shows that Obama is not in fact planning to raise taxes – he’s planning to cut them for all but the very, very rich. I couldn’t help but notice though – the graph is still massively weighted towards the interests of the super-rich…one of the brackets represents one thousandth of the population. So let’s make this a bit more accurate – let’s keep all the brackets, but draw it to scale. (via Waxy)
• Maurice Sendak’s Concerns, Beyond Where the Wild Things Are: Was there anything he had never been asked? He paused for a few moments and answered, “Well, that I’m gay.” “I just didn’t think it was anybody’s business,” Mr. Sendak added. He lived with Eugene Glynn, a psychoanalyst, for 50 years before Dr. Glynn’s death in May 2007. He never told his parents: “All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew.” (via The Republic of T.)
• Mashups: The Future Of Music?: Mashups can be kind of a gateway to "trick" people into listening to music they wouldn't normally hear, and exposing them to different aspects of culture (and pop culture) they wouldn't otherwise be paying attention to. When a rock fan in their 30s or 40s hears a familiar '80s song, but then hears an unfamiliar pop or hip-hop vocal from some Top 40 artist, they're being exposed to current pop culture that they perhaps normally avoid. The same goes in the opposite direction — kids today get to hear older music because it's mashed up with the current stuff they enjoy. It's practically a musical education… or getting people to expand their boundaries of taste.
• Top 11 Reasons a Star Trek Marathon Is a Bad Idea: 4. Confirms your suspicion that bolting an eyepatch to your skull would look totally cool. (via TrekMovie.com)
• Chillax: If it works like a word, just use it.: Whenever I see "not a real word" used to stigmatize what is (usually) a perfectly cromulent word, I wonder why the writer felt the need to hang a big sign reading "I am not confident about my writing" on it. What do they imagine the penalty is for using an "unreal" word? A ticket from the Dictionary Police? The revocation (as the joke goes) of your poetic license? A public shaming by William Safire? The irony is that most of these words, without the disclaimer, would pass unnoticed by the majority of readers. (via Gruber)
• Roger Ebert on Sarah Palin: The American Idol candidate: I think I might be able to explain some of Sarah Palin's appeal. She's the "American Idol" candidate. Consider. What defines an "American Idol" finalist? They're good-looking, work well on television, have a sunny personality, are fierce competitors, and so talented, why, they're darned near the real thing. (via Gruber)
• The GOP Loves the Heartland To Death: For decades now we have been electing people like Sarah Palin who claimed to love and respect the folksy conservatism of small towns, and yet who have unfailingly enacted laws to aid the small town's mortal enemies. Without raising an antitrust finger they have permitted fantastic concentration in the various industries that buy the farmer's crops. They have undone the New Deal system of agricultural price supports in favor of schemes called "Freedom to Farm" and loan deficiency payments — each reform apparently designed to secure just one thing out of small town America: cheap commodities for the big food processors. Richard Nixon's Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz put the conservative attitude toward small farmers most bluntly back in the 1970s when he warned, "Get big or get out." (via A Crank's Progress)

Sometime between September 10th and September 11th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Stormtrooper’s Lament: (via Unlibrarian)
• Roger Ebert looks at the cinematic choices of political candidates: Everybody is making lists of the questions the candidates should be asked during the debates. My question would be: What's your favorite movie? As my faithful readers all know, the answer to that question says a lot about the person answering. It could be used as a screening device on a blind date. Among other things, it tells you whether the person has actually seen a lot of movies, and I persist in believing that cinematic taste is as important as taste in literature, music, art, or other things requiring taste (including food and politics).
• Washington State OAHP WISAARD: Welcome to Washington’s on-line searchable database for State and National Register properties. The Washington Information System for Architectural and Archaeological Records Data (WISAARD), allows users to search for listed properties via a map or a text query. (via Seattlest)
• Ten things you don’t know about the Earth: Below are ten facts about the Earth — the second in my series of Ten Things You Don’t Know (the first was on the Milky Way). Some things I already knew (and probably you do, too), some I had ideas about and had to do some research to check, and others I totally made up. Wait! No! Kidding. They’re all real. But how many of them do you know? Be honest. (via Kottke)
• Heinlein’s Fan Mail FAQ: Heinlein engineered his own nerdy solution to a problem common to famous authors: how to deal with fan mail. In the days before the internet, Heinlein's solution was fabulous. He created a one page FAQ answer sheet — minus the questions. Then he, or rather his wife Ginny, checked off the appropriate answer and mailed it back. (via Slashdot)

Sometime between September 8th and September 9th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Neal Stephenson Talks to io9 About Religion, Aliens, and Spoilers: Though Stephenson usually likes to hole up with his ideas and avoid the spotlight, he's having what the characters in Anathem would call an "Apert," a time that comes every few years when he opens up and talks to the public about his work. We were lucky enough to get a chance to talk to Stephenson during his Apert, and asked about Anathem, as well as a few questions about Earth. (Warning: There are a few spoilers ahead.)
• AKPL8S: The Alaskan License Plate Blog: Statehood photomosaic poster: I have been taking photos of Alaskan license plates since 1996. People send me photos they took, or photos of their collection. I also save photos that I find on eBay and the Internet. My Alaska photo archive currently contains over 19,000 photos, representing 15,000+ unique Alaskan plate serial numbers and vanity strings (not counting pairs). "Why?" seems to be a common question (way up there with "Are you crazy?" or "What the heck are you doing to the back of my car?") The main reason is that the more photos you have, the more you can tell about when various features of plates changed, etc. Partly for historical research, partly for collector information. But I've always wanted do something more.
• How Videogames Blind Us With Science: Videogames are becoming the new hotbed of scientific thinking for kids today. This makes sense if you think about it for a second. After all, what is science? It's a technique for uncovering the hidden rules that govern the world. And videogames are simulated worlds that kids are constantly trying to master. Lineage and World of Warcraft aren't "real" world, of course, but they are consistent — the behavior of the environment and the creatures in it are governed by hidden and generally unchanging rules, encoded by the game designers. In the process of learning a game, gamers try to deduce those rules. This leads them, without them even realizing it, to the scientific method. (via Daring Fireball)
• The Most Alien-Looking Place on Earth: Imagine waking up on the Socotra Island and taking a good look around you (let's say your buddies pulled a prank on you and delivered you there, and lets also assume that you don't have any hangover from abuse of any substances). After a yelp of disbelief, you'd be inclined to think you were transported to another planet – or traveled to another era of Earth's history. The second would be closer to the truth for this island, which is part of a group of 4 islands, has been geographically isolated from mainland Africa for the last 6 or 7 million years. Like the Galapagos Islands, this island is teeming with 700 extremely rare species of flora and fauna, a full 1/3 of which are endemic, i.e. found nowhere else on Earth.
• Ron Sims on Twitter: It’s all him: Sims is one of a growing number of politicians using venues in social media to get personal with residents and speak in their own voice – and the only one in King County to do it so aggressively. Unfiltered by press releases or media coverage, he's finding an outlet in an era of increased scrutiny.

Sometime between September 6th and September 8th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• The Cyber Crime Hall of Fame: In compiling our list, we looked for a few things: ingenuity (had it been done before?), scope (how many computers, agencies, companies, sites, etc. did it affect?), cost (how much in monetary damages did it cause?), and historical significance (did it start a new trend?).
• Big data: Welcome to the petacentre: What does it take to store bytes by the tens of thousands of trillions? Cory Doctorow meets the people and machines for which it's all in a day's work.
• Man rubbed with spices, other beaten with sausage: A stranger broke into a home east of Fresno, rubbed spices on the body of one of two men as they slept and used an 8-inch sausage to whack the other man in the face and head before he fled, Fresno County sheriff's deputies said Saturday.
• International Action Day “Freedom not fear – Stop the surveillance mania!” on 11 October 2008: A broad movement of campaigners and organizations is calling on everybody to join action against excessive surveillance by governments and businesses. On 11 October 2008, concerned people in many countries will take to the streets, the motto being "Freedom not fear 2008". Peaceful and creative action, from protest marches to parties, will take place in many capital cities.
• A DSLR Catechism: Should sound very familiar to anyone with a DSLR.
• Hi, I’m a Mac… Beep, beep!: It's pretty common, when reading discussion of Apple's “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads, to come across the comment: "Sure, they're great ads but they don't work. John Hodgeman’s PC is far more likeable than Justin Long’s smug hipster Mac." This is missing the point.

Sometime between 09:15 and 13:50, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Seattlest: Lads, Learn How To Wear Your Kilts: As with driving privileges, we sometimes believe that buyers ought to take a course in their proper operation. But that would be snobbish of us to admit publicly. Instead, we'll just parcel out unsolicited advice. The following are a few of the most egregious mistakes we've seen Utilikilted men make.
• Heart to McCain campaign: stop using “Barracuda”: "Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song 'Barracuda' no longer be used to promote her image. The song 'Barracuda' was written in the late '70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The 'barracuda' represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there's irony in Republican strategists' choice to make use of it there."
• Hard Rock Café to open in Seattle: Could be entertaining, I haven't been to a Hard Rock in many, many years. Don't even really remember when or where I went. Hrm. Anyway, this bit caught my eye: "The first Hard Rock Café, featuring "classic American" food, opened in 1971 in London. Since then, the chain has expanded to 48 countries. In addition to 125 restaurants, it runs five hotels, four hotel-casinos, four concert halls and a theme park, the corporate Web site." The corporate website is a theme park? Cool!
• Community Organizers Fight Back: Community organizers across America, taken aback by a series of attacks from Republican leaders at the GOP convention in St. Paul, came together today to defend their work organizing Americans who have been left behind by unemployment, lack of health insurance and the national housing crisis. The organizers demanded an apology from Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for her statement that community organizers have no “actual responsibilities” and launched a web site, Community Organizers Fight Back, to defend themselves against Republican attacks.
• The “Bechdel Rule”, a quick-and-dirty way to analyze media for sexism: 1. Does it have at least two women in it, 2. Who [at some point] talk to each other, 3. About something besides a man.
• Who you gonna call?: Hollywood studio Columbia is planning to revive its hit 1980s franchise "Ghostbusters" with a third film that will reunite stars Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd [along with Harod Ramis and Ernie Hudson], it was reported Thursday.