April 2008
34 posts
1 tag
March 2008
64 posts
“Dear Friend, I am black. I am sure you did not realize this when you...”
– A printed calling card that the light-skinned Ms. Piper would selectively distribute at museum openings to protest all-white shows (New York Times)
Thieves Leave Cars, but Take Catalytic Converters →
Another reason not to buy an SUV or big car: They have bigger catalytic converters making them more appealing to thieves.
Anti-Emo Riots Break Out Across Mexico →
Punks, rockabillies, metalheads, and gang members riot against emo kids. Much of the hate is homophobic. Surprise. Surprise.
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News Reader Software: A Source of Info Anxiety
Since January I’ve experimented with news readers, the software applications that enable you to collect the headlines and news summaries from numerous sites and aggregate them into one central place for your perusal.
The software is supposed to help you tame the World Wide Web, but all it does is give me more info. anxiety because now the software tells me exactly how much I haven’t...
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More Flimflam on Warming →
Despite promises to the contrary, the Bush administration exhibits more despicable behavior on environmental policy. (New York Times)
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One Laugh is Worth a Thousand Straight Lines →
Dick Cavett makes some great suggestions to the presidential candidates to help them get elected. The best one is to be funny! Hire a comedy writer for goodness’ sake!
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“The theme for McCain’s mortgage speech this week was basically McCain to...”
– Gail Collins in “McCain Forecloses Early” in the New York Times
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Unfair Credit Card Practices
The New York Times in an editorial writes:Congress needs to address numerous unfair practices, including interest rates that skyrocket for no apparent reason and due dates that suddenly shift — forward — so that an unwary consumer pays late. Late fees are a big profit center in some banks. Some raise interest rates when consumers get close to their credit limits. In other cases, a late payment on...
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Criticism of Affordable Housing Unfounded
Developers complain that affordable housing in their projects drives prices up and reduces the number of homes that are built. Dan Mitchell reports in the New York Times: Not so, says a report from the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, which studied how the programs affected housing in San Francisco, Boston and Washington. If there are jumps in prices, they are minimal.The report...
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“About 69 percent of women… dread traveling more with their husbands than...”
– Parenting magazine poll as quoted by Paul B. Brown in the New York Times
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A Foolish Immigration Purge →
Leave it to the Bush administration to throw thousands of law-abiding American workers and companies off a cliff in perilous economic times. (New York Times)
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Apple Looks to Get Back Into Handwriting... →
Does Apple have a tablet computer on the horizon? (MacRumors via MacDailyNews)
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What Can and Cannot be Said on T.V. →
Glenn Greenwald writes another insightful piece on Iraq and the media for Salon.
The idea that the U.S. may have been wrong to invade Iraq with the goal of instituting democracy is taboo in the U.S. media.
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In (Partial) Defense of Eliot Spitzer →
Is it cheating if it’s with a sex worker? Is it preferable to a full-blown affair?
Tristan Taormino in the Village Voice makes a good case that Spitzer and the sex-workers he’s used may not deserve all the condemnation they’ve received.
“A new study reports that the more often adolescents eat breakfast, the less...”
– Skipping Cereal and Eggs, and Packing on Pounds (New York Times)
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Obama and Clinton Co-Presidency? →
Akhil Reed Amar, a constitutional law professor at Yale, sees a loophole in the Constitution that would permit Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to share the presidency for four terms. (New York Times) It seems to me that this could scare voters away if they thought the election would put Clinton and Obama in power for the next 16 years, which it wouldn’t. The term is still 4 years.
“CTA Garage general managers are held accountable for on-time performance. In...”
– CTA Tattler
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“Biologists have discovered through the application of DNA paternity tests to the...”
– Natalie Angier “In Most Species, Faithfulness Is a Fantasy” (New York Times)
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Follow-Ups
In response to an uproar over Sony charging $50 to remove crippling software from its TZ line of laptops, the company decided to drop the fee. It is unknown if the option will roll out to other lines of Sony computers. (Engadget) Now, that the 700 Mhz radio spectrum auction has completed, Verizon was revealed as the winner. This means that Google will not emerge as a new national wireless...
To Stretch or Not to Stretch? →
The answer depends on your sport. There are no good scientific studies of stretching. However, warm-ups may prevent injury. (New York Times)
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The B Word →
Here come the bailouts of the U.S. financial system. (New York Times)
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The Obama Passport Snooping and the Unchecked...
It turns out that not only was Obama’s passport file breached but so was Clinton’s and McCain’s. Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com responds, sarcastically:Clearly, though, we can all rest easy that this abuse is confined only to passport files and would never extend to things like warrantless eavesdropping on telephone conversations and reading of emails or unchecked acquisition of...
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Sony Charges Extra $50 to Remove Crippling... →
Sony will charge you $50 to remove software from your computer that crashes and cripples the system. Why did it install it in the first place? (Engadget)
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“The universe is 13.73 billion years old, give or take 120 million years,...”
– “Gauging Age of Universe Becomes More Precise” (New York Times)
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Swim Better →
Some great tips to swim better from Olympic hopeful, Ryan Lochte. They include swimming slower to perfect your technique and practicing your kick more since it anchors your position in the water. (New York Times)
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Arthur C. Clarke, Science Fiction Writer, Dies at... →
Most of the obituaries fail to mention his homosexuality. (AP via New York Times)
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Will November's Elections Be Fair?
Not unless you ask your members of Congress to pass laws against vote caging and deceptive robo-calls. Ask them to support Senator Whitehouse’s bill against vote caging and Senator Feinstein’s bill against malicious computerized call campaigns. What is vote caging? According to the New York Times: Political operatives mail letters to voters, targeting areas where the opposing party is...
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700 Mhz Spectrum Auction is Complete →
In the next few days, we’ll find out if Google will emerge as a competitor to AT&T and Verizon. I doubt it will. (New York Times)
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Nobility in Bed Together - Literally
Back in 1187, the Kings of England and France, Richard I and Philip II, ”ate from the same dish and at night slept in one bed” and had a “passionate love between them” according to Roger of Hoveden. Some say they were lovers. (Wikipedia via the Telegraph and Queerty)
Boycott China →
Last week, Chinese security forces killed hundred of Tibetans who were protesting China’s 1951 annexation of Tibet. Now, many are calling for a boycott of the Beijing Summer Olympics. (via Cyclizen)
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Anti-Gay Bigot's Wild Goose Chase for Gay Death...
Sally Kerns, an Oklahoma state lawmaker, made claims of death threats from gay activists after she made inflammatory remarks against homosexuality, which she called “a bigger threat than terrorism.” At a time when the government should spend its resources on fighting real terrorism, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation was forced to investigate the death threats which were found...
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The Secret Life of Rumor
The results of recent social psychology studies reveal fascinating insights into the life of rumor. Here are some excerpts from “Rumor’s Reasons” by Farhad Manjoo writing in the New York Times Magazine:Repeating a claim, even if only to refute it, increases its apparent truthfulness. In the study, this repetition effect happens to only older people. The college students in the...
Paramount Adapting Dune Again →
Haven’t we had enough Dune movies? (And I’m a huge fan of the novels.)
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Pharmaceuticals Found in Drinking Water →
A study initiated by the AP found many cities have trace amounts of medications, including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — even caffeine — in the municipal water supply. In reaction many cities are testing it, studying it, figuring out how to clean it, but still recommend drinking it.
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“God loves each person as they are.”
– Sr Jeannine Gramick, a Catholic nun, on homosexuality in “The Unlikely Rebel” (The Times of Malta via Towleroad)
WatchBritain’s Peter Tatchell on Iran and Gays: It’s Like Nazi Germany (via Towleroad)
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Was the Iraq War for Oil? →
Yes. The mainstream press is finally admitting what we’ve known all along — that the Iraq War is about oil.
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“The more terrified Americans get, the more bizarrely carefree [George Bush]...”
– Maureen Dowd in “Soft Shoe in Hard Times” (New York Times)
Heart Hackers →
A heart device is found vulnerable to hacker attacks. (New York Times)
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FBI Abuses So-Called "Patriot Act" →
FBI tried to cover Patriot Act abuses with flawed, retroactive subpoenas, audit finds (Wired)
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STD's in Many Gay Men Go Unfound →
Are you getting tested at least yearly? Are you getting swabbed in all potential sites of exposure — throat, genitals and rectum? (NY Times)
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Otto; or, Up With Dead People →
Bruce LaBruce, or Blab for short, reminds me why I want to live in Berlin…. (East Village Boys)
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“Out of 41 men arrested during [the Larry Craig] sting operation at Minneapolis...”
– Mark Simpson on entrapment in “Larry Craig Found Not Guilty!”
“Serving the politically powerful, functioning as the PR arm of the political...”
– Glenn Greenwald on American establishment journalism, like that practiced by Tucker Carlson (Salon.com)
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Photographers Prefer Democrats →
On Flickr, Barack Obama has 38,568 tagged photographs. Hillary Clinton has 22,666 photos, but John McCain has only 2,462. Similar results are on Photobucket and Smug Mug. (Huffington Post)