GOP Discovers Internet
[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 29, 2008 by admin in Politics
The GOP wants you to meet Barack Obama – their way
John McCain may be a nearly invisible, doddering old fart (did I really just say may be?) but the GOP is showing a little youthful spring in its step with two new web sites they’ve launched. First, there’s MeetBarackObama.com, which has punchy little headlines for its anti-Obama “news items” like Ich Bin Ein Hypocrite. Perhaps much more clever is BarackBook.com, which mocks Obama’s actual FaceBook page by highlighting his connections with people like William Ayers and Marilyn Katz. Unfortunately for whoever these hip kids of the GOP are, their candidate is still doing more for the Obama campaign than anyone else just by speaking in public.
In Space, No-One Can Hear Richard Branson Scream…
[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 29, 2008 by admin in Technology
Never mind the White Knight II, check out the DelFly Micro
…as you toss him out the airlock for being so annoying. I must admit I was a little under-impressed by billionaire beach-bum Richard Branson’s show-and-tell of the new White Knight Two yesterday. Yes, amazing technology, blah blah blah. With it’s huge wingspan, conventional jet engines, and twin fuselage, it really just looks like a LearJet gone wrong. Somehow I find the DelFly Micro (pictured here) much more impressive. It weighs only 3 grams, has a 10 cm wingspan, and can still carry a video camera! See a cool dual-view video on YouTube here. Want one of your own? Too bad. You’ll have to settle for something like the massive (6 inch long) Spinmaster Air Hog
Why Cigarettes Are Yummy, Part I
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on July 28, 2008 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Hopefully the author will live long enough to write part II
As I sat on my porch this morning at 5:30 am, smoking my cigarette and drinking my coffee, several things went through my mind, things like: “I wonder why I’m awake?”, and “Why don’t I just go back to bed?”. Then I remembered I’m an obsessive-compulsive who only sleeps four hours a night, and thought “Oh yeah”. But then for some reason I got curious about why cigarettes taste so darn good, and decided to look for some answers. First of all, if your preferred brand is Just Like Dad Bubble Gum Cigarettes from Archie McPhee, they taste good because they’re made of bubble gum and they’re not burning. If you smoke a harsher brand like me though (I smoke Dunhills or American Spirits), the answer seems a little more complicated. I’ll be doing a follow up piece for just that reason. For now though, I found a list of ingredients approved by the US Government for use in the manufacture of cigarettes that made me wonder: “What DOESN’T make my cigarette taste so darn good?”. Here’s the list: Acetanisole, Acetic Acid, Acetoin, Acetophenone, 6-Acetoxydihydrotheaspirane, 2-Acetyl-3- Ethylpyrazine, 2-Acetyl-5-Methylfuran, Read the rest of this entry »
Bush Administration Says “Pardon Me?”
[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 27, 2008 by admin in Politics
And Bush says: “Okey-Dokey!”
Well George, it’s time to buy a new set of pens. You’ll be going through a lot of ink as you sign the blanket pardons for your felonious staff of the past several years. Although Slate has an excellent round up of the offenders available, so far the attempts at citizen’s arrests aren’t going so well. Although Bill Clinton (probably with merit) catches a lot of the flack for his pardons as he left office, both Reagan and Bush senior used up a fair amount of ink on their pardon power as well. They had that little Iran-Contra thing to clean up, after all. According to most sources you’ll review, Jimmy Carter was probably the last president (except for Ford’s pardon of Nixon) to use the power of pardon in a generally ethical way.
More Pitchfork 50 in 25: Arcade Fire, The National, The Tough Alliance
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on July 26, 2008 by admin in Music
See the first of these posts for an explanation of these clips & summaries. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible Echo & the Bunnymen merge with the Pixies and set out to create Bruce-Springsteen-like anthems… The National – Boxer The Church doing an Alt-country soundtrack for a Gus Van Sant film. The Tough Alliance -A New [...]
See the first of these posts for an explanation of these clips & summaries.
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
Echo & the Bunnymen merge with the Pixies and set out to create Bruce-Springsteen-like anthems…
The National – Boxer
The Church doing an Alt-country soundtrack for a Gus Van Sant film.
The Tough Alliance -A New Chance
All those too-queer-blonde-guys in Haircut 100 get old and do a parody of themselves with more synths and samples, except now they’re, um, Swedish.