File Under: NO NO NO NO

This NPR story on the FCC's attempts to loosen media ownership caps burns my bacon. I can not reiterate this enough. There were good reasons for the media ownership caps, that is why we had them. Consolidation of information into the hands of fewer and fewer corporations allows for more manipulation of politics and ideas. The argument of increased venues due to technology is flawed, in that much of nation still receives it's news from traditional media. The likes of Rupert Murdoch and his ilk are throwing tons of money at this issue to facilitate their desired result. This is nothing more than a play for more money and power. Isn't it always.

File Under: Collateral Damage

As in any war, there are civilian casualties. The War on Drugs is no different. This article sickens and frightens me. I can only imagine how terrified that poor woman was.

File Under: Philosopher King Conundrum

John Stewart is great example of Plato's Philosopher King conundrum, which boils down to: those that should lead won't, because they are incapable of doing the things necessary to gain power.

File Under: Don't let the facts get in the way of a shouting match

It amazes me how completely ignorant of the facts the Pro War Bush supporters are. Wait, no it doesn't, you would have to be ignorant to support that lying POS we call a President. I love the fact that their debate skills immediately devolved into swearing and references to blow jobs.

File Under: Giuliani get slapped down.

If you prefer to read this Olbermann:Rudy Giuliani Exploits Fear for Power and Personal Gain

File Under: Talented Period

Toby Lightman and a guitar, no Auto-tune to hide behind. There aren't many of the top revenue artists that could do this.

World of Offline Gaming

The Edge of Real Life

File Under: Mature decision making sucks

I was at Wally this morning picking up some sundries, when I decided to cruise the electronics department as I am known to do. They had 3 Wiis, finally I could buy one of these hard to find gaming gems. They also had Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 for the Wii. For those of you not in the know, the Wii uses a motion sensing system for game play. The word on the street is that TW 07 is as close to playing real life as you can get with out spending thousands on a sim system. I didn't buy it. I wanted it so bad, yet I did the mature thing. I called Stew, who wanted one for his store, then I walked away. I am not sure what well of maturity I dipped into to arrive at this decision, but I drank deeply. Man I hate being a grown up sometimes.

File Under: Douche Bag Gets a Lawyer

Some of you may remember the Juxtapoz article I referenced here a while ago. Well don't go looking for it, it's been zapped. According to Mike Tyndall, all the sites that have shown Todd Goldman to be what he is, a thieving asshole, have been served with cease and desist notices from Todd's lawyer. I think the best way to deal with guys like this, are to screw up his holy cash cow. I would ask that none of you ever buy his David & Goliath clothing.

File Under: Fat

Article on Trans Fat, in case you care.

File Under: Dead Maine Industries

USA Today article-"Maine fish industry, auction in jeopardy."

File Under: Flip Flop

And Mitt Romney from 1994
And Mitt Romney 2007-report in the Economist on 1st QTR 2007 fundraising.

Desktop Tower Defense

Thanks to Phil for posting this game. I have formed the Royal Radicals group to compare our scores.

Super Mario v WoW

File Under: Bush delivers to base.

Washington Post article on today's supreme court decision to uphold the federal ban on partial birth abortions. Please make note of the votes of Bush's appointees.

Ballad of the Noob

Snacky's Journal

File Under: Ninja's and Net Neutrality

File Under: DIY

In case you really wanted to know how to rip a phone book asunder:

File Under: Can't be True

I can't believe it I actually received the "Your Xbox Video Game system has been shipped! You can expect to receive it in 2-5 days. Thank you for your patience and get ready to get back into the action!"E-mail. A mere 5 days after shipping it to them. Must be a mistake.

Duke Special on Jools Holland

One benefit of a nasty head cold, you get some time to watch the tube. Last night I happened across a "Later with Jools Holland" with quite the guest list; Muse, Raconteurs, Gipsie Kings, Amy Winehouse, John Legend and this guy Duke Special. I really liked this song so I decided to share with all 2 of you who may read this blog. His website has a mini buffet of song samples and some videos to check out.

Couple of funnies.

Harry Potter on the Wii stirs the Penny Arcade boy's muse.

Also, PvP's Brent and I seem to have the same reaction to "Lost"

Good Maps for WOW

http://www.worldofwar.net/cartography/

File Under: Douche Bagery

This article on Juxtapoz, really rips me, might have something to do with my relationship with an artist, but this is the type of IP theft that pisses me off.

Nestle sets out to prove...

what I have always hoped was true, that chocolate has quantifiable benefits.

Another reason I don't drive GM products...

http://www.pistonslap.com/

It's funny cause it's true.

Ctrl+Alt+Del showing some of the sadder net denizens.

She rocked at Hampton Beach

Like a Star Trek alien ear whig...

this Mickey Avalon song, "Jane Fonda" will get into your head.

Whatever you do, DO NOT buy an xbox 360.

What an interesting juxtaposition to my previous entry. Erik and I sat down to play some Tiger Woods per his request. We started to load the players and the screen froze. I rebooted and it froze again. Then, the dreaded 3 red lights of death. I unplugged it, removed the hard drive, plugged it back in. It booted, then froze.

I called tech support, got bounced around the God forsaken system they call "Max" (for Maximum annoyance maybe), and finally spoke to a person who was at best a drone. He could only operate from his script, couldn't pronounce some words and made no attempts at others just leaving them out for my imagination to fill in. This is customer support? After he put me on hold about 5 times and gave me 2 different reference numbers (God only know if either are any good) he told me to have a nice day. Well thanks, I might be so inclined if this wasn't the SECOND F'N TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED.

What a joke, play for 4 months then wait 1 more for the GD repair, which is also a joke because they just send you another one, not yours. So as a 360 owner, you can look forward to playing 4 out of every 5-6 months. I know someone who has been through this cycle 4 times. We aren't modders and I don't run the system overly hard. WTF Microsoft? I think I will just sell the damn thing when it comes back and buy a Wii.

Dammit Dammit Dammit

Xbox 360 Elite: new, black limited edition Xbox with HDMI and 120GB drive.

THIS IS SPAR...Silly really

Eat less, exercise and...

save fuel. This USA Today article from October 2006 describes a study linking obesity to increased fuel consumption in cars. It makes sense when you think about it.