RIP: Paul Harvey

From Reuters:

Paul Harvey, who captivated millions of radio listeners daily with his staccato delivery, firmly set opinions and old-fashioned outlook, died on Saturday at the age of 90, ABC News said.

Against Flakery

From the CJR:

The number-two story on the front page of SFGate.com last night, and evidently given prominent play in today’s print version of the San Francisco Chronicle, is not a news story at all, but an unbylined “report.” It is, in fact, just a rewritten press release from Hearst management.

Not one word makes it into the paper from Chronicle unions, whose contracts Hearst CEO Frank Bennack wants to “quickly” rewrite with “significant” concessions under threat of closing the newspaper.

Beards, rising

Here: A link to more info than you require about beards.

The economy’s in the pooper because too many people got too greedy for imaginary money. It’s an ignoble period in our history, brought on by dishonest and unscrupulous dealings — perhaps unavoidably, as it all stemmed from base human nature.

But the best beards are noble — for truly remarkable cultivation, they require boldness, persistence, and a willful indifference to the status quo.

As a former beardy-weirdy, myself (of about 5 years standing), I spend most of my time not thinking about having a beard. After awhile, I got tired of people hugging the wall whenever I passed them in a hallway, or clutching their children close whenever flew over the town in my hot-air balloon, laughing manically. Sometimes you just want to be left alone, you know?

Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?

From the Guardian:

Dame Vera Lynn, icon of the second world war, is to give a full, personal account of her extraordinary story to a new generation of Britons this summer.

Famous for stirring songs such as "We'll Meet Again" and "The White Cliffs of Dover", the woman who became known as the "Forces' sweetheart" at the age of 21 will reveal in her forthcoming autobiography how the hardships of her upbringing in London's east end and her early singing career in working men's clubs prepared her for gruelling visits to the front line.

We currently live in an age where people on the first crest of notoriety often release hastily-written autobiographies in order to capitalize on their new-found fame. It’s actually rather charming that Lynn has waited as long as she has to tell her story.

Link: At 92, forces' sweetheart to tell all [guardian.co.uk]

The pit of corruption

From the CJR:

The press has been too loath to state the obvious: What happened on Wall Street (and is still happening) was corruption, plain and simple. Corruption in the form of exorbitant pay systems that encouraged excessive risk-taking, in how the Street manipulated its incestuous relationship with the ratings agencies to have them do its bidding, and in the push for ever-more junk mortgage product that it could make huge fees off of and then unload to others. Not to mention the Bernie Madoffs.

Surely, when they say “corruption” they actually totally awesome free-markets asserting themselves against profit-ruining regulation!

Link: The Corruption Thing [CJR]

Stimulus Committee Sausage-fest

From Tennessee Guerilla Women:

I'm wondering why women pay taxes. Seriously. With our representation at a shamefully undemocratic 17 percent of Congress, why do we pay taxes?

If Congress was 17 percent male, men would not only Not pay taxes, they'd be rioting in the streets, declaring civil war, and writing brave new declarations of independence listing all their many grievances.

Link: No Girls Allowed on the Stimulus Bill Conference Committee

Kindle 2 is meh

From Gizmodo:

Before they address the needs of some hypothetical super weakling who has the aesthetic sense of Jon Ive, the cerebral voracity of Rain Man and the vision of Mr. Magoo, Amazon must address the needs of very real readers who read only a few books and magazines at a time, who like to download classic non-copyrighted lit and work-related documents for free, and who like to leaf through pages randomly. This last thing is important, though it may be insurmountable: Airport-friendly page turners don't really require non-linear random-access reading, but everything smart from Harry Potter to Infinite Jest does, and that's one concern that the Kindle, or any ebook reader, still does not address well.

Yeah, totally. (Also: where are the cheap knock-offs?)

Link via: Blog of a Bookslut

Makin’ virtual babies

From Kotaku, a look at pregnancy in videogames:

What's the last time you got knocked up in-game? Was it The Sims 2? Fable II? Or all the way back in 1992 with Dragon Quest V, featuring the first known playable pregnancy?

The choice to make pregnancy a part of gameplay adds a whole layer of moral issues to development, as well as some awkward questions about how to represent all nine months of swinging hormones, morning sickness and stretch marks.

It’s actually a more well thought-out piece than you’d expect from a site about videogames.

“You wanna drink, eh? Let’s see some ID. All right, now the thumb-print. Now sign here. And here….”

From Slashdot:

[…] Utah, […] doesn't have bars like the rest of the country does. Instead, "private clubs" require you to fill out an application and pay a fee if you want to have a drink outside the home. While there is pressure to reform this arrangement — one argument is that it's bad for tourism — the head of the state senate recently floated a proposal to create a database of every bar patron's visits.

“… and initial here.”

Questionable Content Fans…

May be interested in this interview at Flavorwire.

Sloganeering.Org Reader Survey

Cross-posted at Sloganeering.Org:

Well, it’s that time, once again - time for the annual Sloganeering.Org Readers’ Survey! Well, okay, this is only the second year we’ve done a readers’ survey; and, last year we did it in April so the timing’s a little off, but still.

Filling out the survey is quick and easy: Ten questions, all of which are optional; no personal information collected, except what you’re willing to type in; and, our usual privacy policy is in effect: We will never share your information with anyone, unless you tell us to.

So, go on: If you’ve got a few minutes, why not fill out our survey? It’s the only way we’ll learn.

Don’t you just hate Valentine’s day?

Allow MSN to commiserate with you in a bland, corporate way.

Everybody’s into clean living these days

From the Guardian:

A sanitised children's version of the 19th-century sea shanty What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor? has seen the boozy shipmate replaced with a "grumpy pirate".

Instead of putting the drunken sailor "in the long boat till he's sober", the grumpy pirate is instead induced to smile with "a little jig", and rather than putting him "in bed with the Captain's daughter" - slang for a lashing from the cat o'nine tails - he is tickled "till he starts to giggle".

Sounds fine, but remember: Tickling is a form of abuse. (Incidentally, don’t google “tickle torture” at work.)