Ignorant or apathetic?

Bwah hah hah!

we don't belong down here, originally uploaded by lunchbreath.

D-Day was 65 years ago today

The order from General Dwight D. Eisenhower:

Soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Allied expeditionary force: You are about to embark upon a great crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving peoples everywhere march with you.

You will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your children and neighbors thank you for this priceless service.

Breathtaking

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

Il Pianeta Proibito

forbiddenplanet_italian.JPG
Originally uploaded by waffyjon

Isn't Anne Francis just so... adorable?
Isn't Leslie Nielsen just so... Leslie Nielsen?
Doesn't the Italian title sound so... provocative?

(More posters at Jon's Random Acts of Geekery.)

Cheerleaders falling down

From Dumb as a Blog.

Very clever

Fantasies are healthy, right?

ADDENDUM: Well, actually, in Superman v2 #130, there was this Halloween party...

What'd he say?

I thought I knew this song...

There is nothing like it

What kind of mirror is this?

International Talk Like William Shatner Day

Lessons from Maurice LaMarche.



Extra credit: Practice along with "Rocket Man".

Oh, no, not another conspiracy

modern perspective Originally uploaded by Mr. Mark

Yes, I saw that a goodly fraction of the blogosphere has leapt upon this report from Politico:

For the past two years, several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics have talked stories and compared notes in an off-the-record online meeting space called JournoList.

As I say, I saw that report. I've seen an ever-increasing number of bloggers spreading the word.

I've even read Ezra Klein's description of what JournoList is. He's the founder and organizer, if that's not too strong a word to use for a listserv mailing list. (In my own experience moderating mailing lists, I "organize" them only in the sense that the person who cleans out a litter box "organizes" it.)

Having read and digested this...Well, actually, I'm thinking I shouldn't use the word "digested" so soon after talking about a litter box. But I believe I've arrived at a reasoned, reasonable reaction: So what?

Klein said:

The idea, then as now, was to foster a safe space where policy experts, academics, and journalists could freely talk through issues, bringing up the questions they considered urgent and the information they thought important, with the result being a more informed commentariat. It's been of immense value to me, and through that, of value to my readers.

As for sinister implications, is it "secret?" No. Is it off-the-record? Yes. The point is to create a space where experts feel comfortable offering informal analysis and testing out ideas.

This all sounds eminently reasonable. It's the 21st century equivalent of going out to the corner bar after work, granted more importance than it deserves because it's On The Internet.

(Oh: The photo has nothing to do with this story. I just thought it was purty.)

Our newspapers is still failing

newspaper blackout poem
Originally uploaded by Precious Roy

On March 2, RealClearPolitics ran with its list of the Top Ten newspapers in trouble. By the time the list appeared, one of the newspapers on it, the Rocky Mountain News, was already gone. 

This week, Time magazine has weighed in with its Top Ten "tim-berrrrr" list. The odds are pretty good that by the time the next issue hits the stands, one of those will be gone. Let's compare:

	RealClearPolitics	Time
1	Seattle Post-Intelligencer	Philadelphia Daily News
2	Rocky Mountain News	Minneapolis Star Tribune
3	Philadelphia Daily News	Miami Herald
4	Miami Herald	Detroit News
5	San Francisco Chronicle	Boston Globe
6	Detroit News	San Francisco Chronicle
7	Chicago Sun-Times	Chicago Sun-Times
8	St. Paul Pioneer Press	New York Daily News
9	Los Angeles Times	Fort Worth Star-Telegram
10	New York Daily News	Cleveland Plain Dealer

Hm. Two lists, twenty slots, but only fourteen newspapers named. It can't have been an easy story to write for either publication: It's not unlike openly speculating which of your aunts and uncles will die first.

I, in my amateur opinion, suspect the next to actually go will be the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, since Hearst is now openly weighing whether to close it outright or go online-only. It can't be a good sign that one of the links on their home page right now is a "tell us about your favorite P-I memories" solicitation. The Detroit News could surprise me and fold tomorrow, or they might be able to hang on for a few more weeks now that they only publish four days a week. 

If I were the average big-time blogger, I would be a lot more worried about this than they appear to be. Instead of congratulating myself for being right that Old Media didn't know how to make the transition to New, I would be wondering where the stories I link to tomorrow will come from.

All these newspapers are in trouble because... Well, they each have unique problems, but they all share two really big ones: (1) A whopper of an economic downturn kicked them in the gonads; and (2) they never really believed that the traditional daily newspaper could go away. The Business Insider is onto something when they calculate that for the New York Times, giving each of its subscribers a Kindle would cost half as much as publishing an actual newsprint daily. I'm hoping the all new, online Christian Science Monitor can show everyone how it's done.

C'mon, guys, it ain't whether to go digital, it's when and how. Change or die.

A final reminder

I have a small but crucial role, so come see. Er, hear. Oh, just be there, OK?

My wife...I think I'll keep her

Do you know anyone who doesn't remember when Cracked was a magazine? Sure you do. The circulation was pretty low when it finally folded. I'm thinking a lot of people didn't remember Cracked was a magazine when it still was a magazine.

Anyway, they've remade themselves as a website best known as the home of some really lame lists... and some really funny ones. My current favorite is 8 TV Ads That Hate Women, although I'm a little disappointed that the one that inspired the title of this post isn't among them.

More:

15 Images You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped

15 MORE Images You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped

Where's the Bridge? The 7 Biggest Things Ever Stolen

Cheap technology + ingenuity = ...

Pure awesome.

Overwhelming support

Daily Kos ! President Obama addresses the nation
As we (eagerly!) await President Obama's first address to the nation, take a look at how the clown pundits (mostly conservatives, but even a few from the MSM) tried to spin the speech. Fortunately, nobody seems to agree with them -- the American public overwhelmingly supports the Obama Administration's economic recovery efforts.

Dear Daily Kos:

52 to 48 is not "overwhelming support". It is a majority barely larger than the margin of error. Please try to keep that in mind. God knows you didn't have any trouble remembering it in 2000 and 2004.

Hugs and kisses,
Folks who can still add

Don't forget...!

Counterfeit trash bags

Those are words I never thought anyone would have an opportunity to use together. What a country!

Yahoo News - Mass. city misspells 'offcial' to catch bag cheats

GLOUCESTER, Mass. – No, managers with Gloucester's Public Works Department aren't idiots. They're just trying to catch cheats. When the Massachusetts city unveiled its new $2 purple trash bags that all residents must use when disposing of household waste, the word 'official' was deliberately spelled 'offcial.'

Recycling coordinator Kathy Middleton tells The Gloucester Daily Times the intentional misspelling is supposed to make it easier to catch people who try to counterfeit bags. Middleton says counterfeiting has been a problem in the past.

I'm pretty sure I shouldn't look this up and find out why Gloucester, Mass requires its subjects to use $2 trash bags. Or why they're even worried about counterfeit trash bags. But I did. And now I know. That's how they pay their trash collection fees.

I guess it's a good thing every city doesn't do this. Then Glad and Hefty would be getting in line for a government bail-out.