Vertical Hold

• Clickable Culture - Gnomes Rain From Azeroth’s Skies
  wjw
  (tags: funny advertising gaming wow)

Posted by Patrick at 12:17 AM | Permalink

• The University of Tennessee: Accessibility
  that's a lot of access keys...
  (tags: accessibility usability)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Duke Portlets
  (tags: jasigdenver07)

Posted by Patrick at 12:17 AM | Permalink

• scottberkun.com » Blog Archive » Asshole driven development
  I've unfortunately seen a lot of these in action. It isn't pretty.
  (tags: development)

Posted by Patrick at 12:16 AM | Permalink

• The Dugout :: Mark Prior Just Plain Sucks with a Cherry On Top
  WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG I'VE BEEN YELLING AT YOU FOR THE LAST TWO DAYS
  (tags: comics baseball)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• Recipes : Sangria Perea : Food Network
  (tags: recipies sangria wine)

Posted by Patrick at 12:17 AM | Permalink

• Oracle AppsLab » Why Ruby on Rails is the perfect framework for building next generation Enterprise Apps
  PeopleTools developer thinks Rails is "ready." Nice.
  (tags: java rails rubyonrails webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Color Oracle
  awesome colorblindness tool
  (tags: accessibility software tools)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Climate change: A guide for the perplexed - earth - 16 May 2007 - New Scientist Environment
  beware, climate change deniers!
  (tags: climatechange globalwarming toread environment)
• The secret Iraq documents my 8-year-old found | Salon News
  How many people need to get screwed by Microsoft Word before this stops happening?
  (tags: microsoft iraq politics)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• Get Off My Machine, Old Man - The Dugout :: MLB Official Chatroom AIM Log
  Wherein Farns is almost rendered speechless
  (tags: comics)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• 10 Lessons from My Speaking Coach | Common Craft - Social Design for the Web
  must re-read over and over and over until June
  (tags: tutorial tips howto presentations communication speaking)
• Seven Steps to Better Presentations, by Jeffrey Veen
  Re-read again and again until June
  (tags: presentation speaking presentations)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Atlassian Developer Blog: Fedex V: Staging Plugin
  If/when this gets done, it will be handy
• Craig Ambrose. A Rake Task to Grab Data From Your Production Site
  is nice
  (tags: deployment rails rubyonrails)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Servlets.com Weblog: The Innovator's Dilemma: It's Happening to Java
  Another good "Ruby is where Java was 10 years ago" article
  (tags: research rails java development)
• Riding Rails: Hi, I'm Ruby on Rails...
  Full stack web development, indeed...
  (tags: research java rubyonrails video)
• Reuters/Second Life » Second Life Sketches: Shipwrecked And Abandoned
  hahahaha, second life is empty. go figure.
  (tags: warrenellis secondlife)

Posted by Patrick at 12:23 AM | Permalink

• City of Gold Triathlon - a photoset on Flickr
  (tags: photos triathlon)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Magic Multi-Connections
  potentially useful if we ever need to make rails apps talk to lots of databases
  (tags: rubyonrails webdev ruby rails database)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe
  nice map of the interwebs
  (tags: wishlist maps)

Posted by Patrick at 12:17 AM | Permalink

• Revision 56: /timlucas/plugins/accessible_form_builder
  easy accessible forms for rails. yay.
  (tags: accessibility plugins rubyonrails)

Posted by Patrick at 12:17 AM | Permalink

• Books Like Blogs
  (tags: research)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• 41pounds.org - Saving the environment 41 pounds at a time
  I hate junk mail.
  (tags: environment)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Patrick Berry - Yosemite fine art prints at ImageKind.com
  get prints
• Freakonomics Blog » A Reluctant Note on the Virginia Tech Shooting
  They become instant platforms for people with all sorts of motives to opine and rant against their pet targets — media, guns, mental illness, privacy, etc. — when in fact what happened was a tragedy and an anomaly that, in a perfect world, would be re

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Mars Needs Moms!
  The Official Berkeley Breathed Website
  (tags: books)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Google AJAX Feed API
  Might come in handy
  (tags: ajax api javascript programming webdev Google)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• ActiveScaffold :: Demo
  wow...this is way better than streamlined
  (tags: ajax rails scaffold rubyonrails)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Rails extends warm welcome to PHP developer (Loud Thinking)
  a little early history of rails
  (tags: research)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• rc3.org: When deployments go wrong
  yup...
  (tags: research java deployment)

Posted by Patrick at 12:22 AM | Permalink

• The Dugout :: MLB Official Chatroom AIM Log
  April fools we're the Diamondbacks and we suck.
  (tags: baseball comics)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• err.the_blog.find_by_title('rake remigrate')
  this could come in handy
  (tags: rails ruby rubyonrails tips database)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• The Dugout :: MLB Official Chatroom AIM Log
  Kids these days...
  (tags: baseball comics)
• Rails Log Visualizer
  looks very cool
  (tags: osx rails rubyonrails tools statistics)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Sopht Square - CleanArchiver
  A better zipper upper
  (tags: osx software tools)
• YUI Theater — Doug Geoffray: "From the Mouth of a Screenreader"
  Nice videos from yahoo...no "where are the transcripts" jokes please
  (tags: accessibility yui)

Posted by Patrick at 12:22 AM | Permalink

• Cook's Thesaurus
  find this when you need that
  (tags: food cooking reference)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Scribd - Why Intelligent People Tend To Be Unhappy
  ouch
  (tags: business education happiness)
• Joyeur: Joyeur: Joyent Slingshot
  I have no idea what to make of this "VM for Rails apps"
  (tags: rubyonrails software)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Daring Fireball: Deal With It
  measuring cognitive load of a HUI
  (tags: usability webdesign)
• Andres’ thoughts » Top ten things ten years of professional software development has taught me
  If everything is equally important, then nothing is important
  (tags: advice development work software)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Pennypacker - The Penny Arcade Firefox extension
  I've needed this since I started reading Penny Arcade
  (tags: comics firefox penny-arcade tools)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Subtraction: Oh Yeeaahh!
  One of Scott's favorite SXSW presentations
  (tags: layout design webdesign usability grids css)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• 11/10/97 COMMENTARY: JAVA IS HOT ENOUGH TO BURN BILL GATES
  10 years ago Java was just like Ruby today. Kinda.
  (tags: research java)
• Start your Revolution - Revolution Health
  Going big with rails
  (tags: research rails)

Posted by Patrick at 12:22 AM | Permalink

• Hack MySQL :: Exploring the world's most popular open source database
  great nitty gritty mysql info
  (tags: mysql reference work)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• Lost/The Flame - The TV IV
  Damn I love the internets
  (tags: tv)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• CMS Showcase - UWeb
  Texas A&M put a wiki up to talk about picking a CMS.
  (tags: work cms)
• HTTP/1.1 (DELETE, GET, HEAD, PUT, POST)
  An activity diagram to describe the resolution of the response status code, given various headers.
  (tags: cheatsheet webdev http)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• The Dugout :: MLB Official Chatroom AIM Log
  JetersNeverProsper makes his first appearance
  (tags: comics humor)
• WIRED Blogs: 27B Stroke 6
  A web-based "expert system" that helped users prepare bankruptcy filings for a fee made too many decisions to be considered a clerical tool, an appeals court said last week, ruling that the software was effectively practicing law without a license.
  (tags: law software ai)
• Wikipedia Founder Says Intends to Challenge Google, Yahoo - News and Analysis by PC Magazine
  Everything I've seen so far about online community says this can't scale. Unless you only focus on one area...like porn. Then it would work.
  (tags: internet search)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• The Obvious?: The 100% guaranteed easiest way to do Enterprise 2.0?
  GET OUT OF THE WAY
  (tags: work)
• xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe
  (tags: guitarhero comics)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe
  DAMNIT FEYNMAN!
  (tags: comics funny science)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Penny Arcade! - It Is A Sensitive Topic
  is it? is it really?
  (tags: penny-arcade comics humor)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Rails Date Kit
  help with date fields? I'll take two.
  (tags: development rails rubyonrails webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Media Matters - "[B]arbarian" O'Reilly: "[I]n a lot of places, women have formed cabals to terrorize the men"
  luckily somebody is fighting the oppression of men in this country.
  (tags: stupid punditry)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• TextMate: Power Editing for the Mac
  A book on a text editor that isn't vim or emacs. Amazing.
  (tags: mac osx software wishlist books programming textmate)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• ActiveAcl: Home
  This looks handy
  (tags: rubyonrails ruby rails security ACL)
• Penny Arcade! - Les Mots Dangereux
  this is so what it's going to be like for me at the end
  (tags: comics penny-arcade)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• caboose the fabulous spider fuzz plugin
  might as well be called lazy testing. I'll take two.
  (tags: rails rubyonrails testing webdev)
• caboose new controversial default rails session storage: cookies
  what not to do with sessions
  (tags: rails rubyonrails sessions)

Posted by Patrick at 11:21 PM | Permalink

• Penny Arcade! - Now With Aromax
  penny-arcade does happy fun ball
  (tags: comics penny-arcade)
• Rails Envy: Acts_As_Ferret Tutorial
  wow, this is amazing stuff
  (tags: rails search tutorial webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• 'SNL' recruits Dwight - Pop Candy - USATODAY.com
  Fact. This is awesome.
  (tags: funny tv)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Joyeur: A brief update with some numbers for hardware load-balanced mongrels
  again, that's a lot of mongrels...
  (tags: hardware loadbalancing mongrel rails webdev rubyonrails)
• Wow, just...wow
  I got "inspired" and started this as another place to throw up AdSense
  (tags: wjw)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Ruby Forum - SSH, Capistrano, PATH, Mac OS X
  Help sshd help you run commands not in the default PATH
  (tags: capistrano rails rubyonrails deployment)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Daring Fireball: Command, Option, Control
  The race is on to see who can say the most jackassed thing regarding Steve Jobs's "Thoughts on Music".
  (tags: apple music drm itunes)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Top 10 Ruby on Rails performance tips
  interesting tips on getting the best performance out of rails
  (tags: rubyonrails performance rails)
• The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Since Linux keeps coming up
  wow...
  (tags: linux osx funny)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• The Dugout :: MLB Official Chatroom AIM Log
  wherein we explain the use of the slash to denote an action
  (tags: funny comics humor baseball)
• The Dugout :: MLB Official Chatroom AIM Log
  it's true, Nolan Ryan is immortal. It's best not to mess with him.
  (tags: funny humor comics baseball)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Load-balancing Mongrel with Apache 2.0
  just what I've been looking for
  (tags: apache deployment rubyonrails mongrel howto)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• An Inconvenient Skyline on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  I think I totally just got delicious to infringe the copyright on this photo
  (tags: photos)
• Mongrel Cluster and Monit - pmade inc.
  handy way to manage mongrel clusters
  (tags: deployment rails rubyonrails)

Posted by Patrick at 11:17 PM | Permalink

• Secure Remote Disks - plok
  manage those sshfs connections with style
  (tags: osx fuse)
• James Duncan Davidson: Reverse Proxying SSL Connections To Rails
  we'll need this
  (tags: rubyonrails rails ssl deployment)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Alamogordo Daily News - Republicans: Stop thinking about gay sex
  It seems to me Republicans spend more time thinking about gay sex than any other group of people in the known world even more so than gay people trying to find other gay people with whom to have sex.
  (tags: gop politics repu)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Linear Algebra
  because everybody needs a book about linear algebra
  (tags: math books)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Scaffolding's place
  interesting scaffolding rant from jamis
  (tags: rails rubyonrails ruby webdev)
• Keeping Rails running at Dreamhost Part 2
  it would be awesome if this works
  (tags: deployment rails rubyonrails dreamhost)
• The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: War expands: Now all of Europe
  Screw you, Europe!
  (tags: funny drm apple humour)
• Rolling Stone : Why Gore Should Run -- And How He Can Win
  I think Al Gore would make a great preznit
  (tags: government democrats elections)
• News: Nerd of the Week!
  excellent video clip with a Mike and Jerry interview
  (tags: comics penny-arcade)
• ThinkGeek :: Penny Arcade Birds are Weird Poster
  sweet
  (tags: penny-arcade comics)
• Slyck News - Interview with muslix64, Developer of BackupHDDVD
  there is no unbreakable drm
  (tags: drm)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Free Quicksilver user guide ebook - Lifehacker
  the best quicksilver manual so far
  (tags: books osx reference quicksilver)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Schneier on Security: Information Security and Externalities
  We are paying to mitigate the risk rather than fix the problem.
  (tags: security)

Posted by Patrick at 11:23 PM | Permalink

• Custom Maintenance Pages
  for use with capistrano
  (tags: rails ruby rubyonrails webdev capistrano)
• asshole
  Media Matters - O'Reilly: Abducted child "liked ... his circumstances," had "a lot more fun" than usual
  (tags: asshole stupid)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• The Green Cone System
  this looks handy
  (tags: wishlist environment gardening recycling composting)
• Caloric Values of Alcoholic Beverages, Alcohol calories
  say it ain't so, Sierra Nevada!
  (tags: beer)
• Newt Gingrich in 2008
  Will Newt run? I doubt it.
  (tags: politics gop elections)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• RubyForge: FasterHTMLEscape: Project Info
  I like faster
  (tags: rubyonrails ruby rails)
• Protect Your Web Server From Bad Robots
  So doing this on the campus web server
  (tags: work webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Architecture and airport security
  via bruce
  (tags: security airport travel)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Schneier on Security: Choosing Secure Passwords
  Bruce on passwords
  (tags: security computers)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Sympa - mailing list software
  (tags: work software email mailinglist)
• xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe
  via warren, a cute little comic about the joy of knowing perl
  (tags: funny humor comics perl)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• The Science Creative Quarterly » A DIALOGUE WITH SARAH, AGED 3: IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN THAT IF YOUR DAD IS A CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR, ASKING “WHY” CAN BE DANGEROUS
  Why is oxygen more electronegative than carbon and hydrogen?
  (tags: education science chemistry humor funny)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• BBC NEWS | UK | 'Infomania' worse than marijuana
  Those distracted by incoming email and phone calls saw a 10-point fall in their IQ - more than twice that found in studies of the impact of smoking marijuana, said researchers.
  (tags: internet email productivity research work infomania)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• NRA Pressured To Resist Bush Energy Policies - washingtonpost.com
  cutting the baby in half
  (tags: politics environment gop bush)
• TheStar.com - sciencetech - In praise of an alternate creation theory
  Pastafarianism is on the SURGE!
  (tags: fsm pasta pastafarian pastafarianism)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Schneier on Security: ID Cards to Stop Bullying
  It's important that schools teach the right lessons, and "we're all living in a surveillance society, and we should just get used to it" is not the right lesson.
  (tags: security identity education)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

Fuck off you damned charlatan. Gay people aren't what's wrong with this country. The ACLU isn't what's wrong with this country. Secular humanism isn't what's wrong with this country. Rap music isn't what's wrong with this country. But one thing that is wrong is that you still manage to get people to listen to your hateful, sorry-ass excuse for preaching. God told you that there would be an attack on the USA, eh? Well, did you ask for details so you could call Jack Bauer and have it stopped? No? You're just going to sit there and let "it" happen so you can sit back and bask in your God-given rightness. You fucking useless clown. I don't know how you live with yourself, spewing all the crap that you do. Please, do us all a favor and go crawl back under whatever rock you came from.

Love,
Pat

Posted by Patrick at 6:56 AM | Permalink

• Ugly voices tarnish debut of Congress' first Muslim
  USA Today smacks down Goode and his bigoted opinions.
  (tags: bible quran editorial)

Posted by Patrick at 11:21 PM | Permalink

• How To Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning With Ruby
  free ruby book
  (tags: books programming ruby toread)
• Mr. Neighborly's Humble Little Ruby Book
  another ruby book
  (tags: books programming ruby)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Time For A Grown-Up Server: Rails, Mongrel, Apache, Capistrano and You | Archives | codablog | Coda Hale
  best mongrel deploy I've read so far
  (tags: work rails ruby rubyonrails webdev)
• Canon Rebel XTi Review
  I should get those lenses
  (tags: photography)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• Fear of Fish Acts As Activity Logged
  logging, it's what we do
  (tags: ruby rails plugins)

Posted by Patrick at 11:17 PM | Permalink

• Dobbs: A tree grows in Seattle - CNN.com
  lou dobbs, puppet of fox news? I mock, you decide.
  (tags: waronchristmas stupid)

Posted by Patrick at 11:24 PM | Permalink

• Simplifying Edge Rails Setup
  (tags: rails ruby rubyonrails)
• Top 10 mistakes when selecting a CMS
  yup
  (tags: work cms)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• Extending ActiveRecord
  To ActiveRecord...AND BEYOND!
  (tags: rails ruby rubyonrails)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Wiki :: CASAuthHowTo
  Nice to see Horde working better with CAS these days
  (tags: CAS horde webapp work)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Link outside of this blog
  how to use active resources
  (tags: rest rails ruby tutorial rubyonrails)
• MySpace Passwords Aren't So Dumb
  I hate anything that gives any credit to MySpace, but damn.
  (tags: security toread)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Esquire:Feature Story:You Say You Want a Revolution
  greg said I should read this
  (tags: politics toread)
• Devices, Media, And The Future Of Everything: iTunes sales are NOT plummeting! Press credibility, on the other hand . . .
  not that you needed any more proof that Andrew Orlowski is a hack, but here it is anyay
  (tags: research itunes apple)
• So the IBMers came to visit
  "Man, with those iPod compact disc players. Wow! My kids love them."
  (tags: apple funny)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Visiting the guys behind Penny Arcade | Duncan Mackenzie | Microsoft 10
  See how friggin' easy that was!
  (tags: penny-arcade interview video)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Enumerable Constants : RubyGreenBlue
  Interesting way of thinking about constants in your ruby app.
  (tags: rails ruby)
• AirBlade Blog—Software That Doesn't Make You Cry
  best idea I ever had to disable css to read
  (tags: css rails ruby rubyonrails)

Posted by Patrick at 11:17 PM | Permalink

• Malcolm Events
  "Seemingly insignificant events which are intent on screwing you in an unlikely way." These are Malcolm Events.
  (tags: design management programming tips toread)
• Penny Arcade! - Just Like You Remember, #2
  JFMEC
  (tags: penny-arcade comics)
• Penny Arcade! - Katahada Damahoocha
  katamari
  (tags: penny-arcade comics)
• Penny Arcade! - Mr. Period Returns
  forums and the return of punctuation
  (tags: penny-arcade comics)
• Penny Arcade! - There Are Terrors Which Cannot Be Borne
  the death of punctuation
  (tags: penny-arcade comics)

Posted by Patrick at 11:17 PM | Permalink

• Decoding URI-escaped characters… with sed // plasmasturm.org
  (tags: sed hacks)
• StopGeek.com Top 10 Reasons Gay Marriage Should Be Illegal | General #1 stop for your daily dose of geek!
  all of these are very, very good reasons.
  (tags: satire funny)
• The Dugout :: MLB Official Chatroom AIM Log
  There are no crickets in winter!
  (tags: baseball funny)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• Ten Verses Never Preached On at Church Hopping
  any book with this much filth should be banned. or something.
  (tags: bible quotes)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• SmartFlix
  Trademark infringement suit just waiting to happen
  (tags: trademark)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• ~stevenf: The Wild World of US Cellular Networks
  brief intro to our (united states) screwed up cellular network
  (tags: mobile review wireless phone)
• Paginator 1.0.0 Released
  "I never want to have to write another paginator again."
  (tags: rails rubyonrails plugins webdev)
• Recipes : Not-sagna Pasta Toss : Food Network
  this should be good
  (tags: recipies food pasta dinner)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• Penny Arcade! - Hookworm Adventures
  God damn I love candy!
  (tags: penny-arcade comics)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Burlesque show spices up holiday season - Entertainment
  Stripping elves. Awesome.
  (tags: burleqsue hohoho christmas holidaycheer)
• Screencast: Ross Harmes’s YUI Bundle for Textmate
  Awesome
  (tags: webdev webdesign css)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• with_scope with scope
  some new gotchas to avoid in rails 1.2
  (tags: rails rubyonrails tips programming)

Posted by Patrick at 11:17 PM | Permalink

• My Two Refresh06 Presentations
  508 DHTML and YUI lib

Posted by Patrick at 11:17 PM | Permalink

• Confucianism and Technical Standards @ DHS.com
  Confucianism and Technical Standards
  (tags: standards toread)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Andy Ihnatko :: Avoid the loony Zune
  Andy Ihnatko eviscerates the zune. Ouch.
  (tags: microsoft music zune apple)
• Do we need another T.R.? - Los Angeles Times
  McCain is a nut
  (tags: politics mccain profile)
• Ruby Twitter Gem // Archives // Addicted To New
  command line twitter updater
  (tags: ruby twitter software socialsoftware)
• Twitter
  So, yeah...another 'hey look what I'm doing' site. Now with 20% more SMS.
  (tags: socialsoftware web2.0)
• Your Bookmarks on Ma.gnolia
  social bookmarking will help you get hot chicks, or dude...whichever.
  (tags: socialsoftware)
• 'Pump-and-Dump' Spam Surge Linked to Russian Bot Herders
  The Russians are coming...and they're bringing spam.
  (tags: spam security)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Rails Forum / Ruby on Rails Help and Discussion Forum / can anyone get this many to many pdf to work ?
  solving habtm checkboxes? say it isn't so!
  (tags: rails rubyonrails)

Posted by Patrick at 11:17 PM | Permalink

• The Shitbrick™
  ummmm...
  (tags: humor microsoft music zune)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Rails 1.2: Release Candidate 1
  All the goodies for the 1.2 release
  (tags: rails ruby rubyonrails webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Rands In Repose: The Truth Versus Spin
  You spin me right round, baby Right round like a record, baby
  (tags: management writing toread)
• "From Where I Sit" Video Series: Accessible Technology Initiative: California State University, Office of the Chancellor
  "From Where I Sit" is a powerful video series of eight CSU students with disabilities who share their experiences in the college classroom.
  (tags: accessibility calstate-ati webdev webdesign web)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• California Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Free Speech on the Internet
  Hooray! Free Speech!
  (tags: eff freespeech internet civilliberties)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• The Next Act
  This story sounds familiar
  (tags: Iran politics war toread)
• The Advocate - Party of one - and it isn't Lieberman
  Holy Joe gets punk'd by his own party.
  (tags: politics funny)
• ADA Committee : CSU, Chico
  Site for work
  (tags: accessibility)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• Blame and Demand
  Wherein we vox.
  (tags: vanity)

Posted by Patrick at 11:17 PM | Permalink

• Beej's Photo Guide
  If you know beej, you know it's good.

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Meeting Creatures
  Worst meeting ever.
  (tags: management meetings)
• SOAP in my Mocha!
  are you mocking my objects?
  (tags: ruby testing)
• YUI: CSS Grid Builder
  Having trouble building css grids with YUI? Not anymore you aren't.
  (tags: webdev yahoo yui css)
• Leahy Calls On Justice Department To Investigate Laura Ingraham’s Phone Jamming
  Look! Investigations!
  (tags: politics)

Posted by Patrick at 11:17 PM | Permalink

• TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL. 1: BACK ON THE STREET
  hunter s. thompson. in the future.
  (tags: comics free pdf)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• dervala.net: The Passion-Industrial Complex
  That’s where it goes without saying. It’s when you’re sitting in a cube, doing your best at a corporate job even though it’s not saving the planet—that’s where they’re going to start talking about Passion.
  (tags: life management work)
• Minimum wage trends: Understanding past and contemporary research
  argument for a higher minimum wage
  (tags: economics reference)
• Content with Style: Fixing the Back Button and Enabling Bookmarking for AJAX Apps
  (tags: accessibility ajax webdev)
• Installing the Zune... sucked - Engadget
  nice ipod killer there, microsoft...
  (tags: mp3 software)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• WebAIM: Accessibility of AJAX Applications - Accessibility Issues
  (tags: accessibility ajax webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• DrySQL Don't Repeat Yourself
  kick-ass plugin to do away with doing constraints and relations in your model
  (tags: database programming ruby)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• God Hates Gay Evangelicals / Will Pastor Ted's love of hot man sex open the narrow mind of the religious right?
  Let's assume that Ted Haggard is just deliriously, stupidly, crazyjuicy gay.
  (tags: humor funny)
• Adobe - Accessibility Resource Center
  (tags: accessibility calstate-ati)
• Joe Clark Micropatronage
  help joe help us
  (tags: accessibility calstate-ati)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Mozilla Store
  nice hat
  (tags: wishlist)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• teh internets-noob on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  very nice
• Institutional Knowledge » Blogging SIGUCCS: Session 2, “Creating Synergy to Make IT Happen”, Stacey Morales & Toni Sparks, Louisiana State University
  (tags: siguccs conference)
• Institutional Knowledge » Blogging SIGUCCS: Session 1, “Taming the Help Desk”, Geoff Sperl, Wayne State University
  (tags: siguccs conference)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• ‘REST Web Services’ by Leonard Richardson and Sam Ruby
  (tags: books toread programming REST)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• this piece
  (tags: toread)
• Wired News: The Boarding Pass Brouhaha
  (tags: security)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• The ultimate webdesign usability checklist at Not Usable
  (tags: accessibility webdev calstate-ati webdesign web)
• Olbermann: Bush owes troops apology, not Kerry - Countdown with Keith Olbermann - MSNBC.com
  Bush 'appearing to be stupid' about Kerry's joke
  (tags: politics speech)
• Agile Web Development
  Another rails plugin repository
  (tags: plugins rails ruby rubyonrails programming)
• Twill Presentation Jacket - Duluth Trading Company
  (tags: wishlist clothing)
• A List Apart: Articles: Accessible Pop-up Links
  (tags: calstate-ati accessibility webdesign)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Web Accessibility: Accessible Technology Initiative: California State University, Office of the Chancellor
  (tags: accessibility calstate-ati)
• Rolling Stone : COVER STORY: America's Anchors Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert
  down talks to the kings of political satire
  (tags: humor interview media dailyshow colbert politics)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Web Developer Extension
  (tags: webdev tools firefox highedweb calstate-ati)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• IBM Accessibility Center | Resources | Firefox: An open source accessibility success story
  ibm and firefox and acessibility
  (tags: accessibility firefox calstate-ati)
• Mozilla Accessibility Summit 2006 [dive into mark]
  (tags: accessibility firefox calstate-ati)
• Accessible DHTML - MDC
  accessible "DHTML" for mozilla
  (tags: accessibility ajax firefox standards webdev calstate-ati)
• Fire Vox: A Screen Reading Extension for Firefox
  (tags: accessibility firefox calstate-ati)
• Accessible Technology Initiative: California State University, Office of the Chancellor
  The Accessible Technology Initiative (ATI) reflects the California State University's (CSU) ongoing commitment to provide access to information resources and technologies to individuals with disabilities.
  (tags: calstate-ati accessibility)
• WebAIM: Blog - Making Firefox Accessible
  (tags: accessibility firefox calstate-ati)
• Rands In Repose: Bright, Patient Design
  "Hi Rands, I'm TextMate."

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• andrejciho.com » Archives » WPMU CAS Integration
  CAS-ify your Wordpress MU installation
  (tags: cas wordpress blogging work)
• BBC NEWS | Health | 'Sperm stopping' male pill hope
  the pill for guys
  (tags: science)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• How to Engage and Recruit the “Social Networking” Generation
  (tags: work highedwebdev)
• Life Imitates Bugs Bunny.
  borg tortoise
• Think Progress
  MJ Fox just destroys Rush and his attack the messenger plan
  (tags: politics tv interview)
• VIDEO: Lynne Cheney Unhinged On CNN
  women who are attracked to other women are not lesbians. got it? good.
  (tags: interview stupid)

Posted by Patrick at 12:17 AM | Permalink

• American Prospect Online - Battlestar Galacticons
  conservatives jump off the BSG bandwagon
  (tags: politics battlestargalactica)

Posted by Patrick at 12:21 AM | Permalink

• Chico State Wildcats
  must find out what blogster is all about
  (tags: work)
• EduResources Weblog--Higher Education Resources Online
  the great chico firewall, also known as WebCT Vista
  (tags: work)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Wizard Entertainment
  ahhhh, transmet
  (tags: comics)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Ryan Tomayko - On HTTP Abuse
  read about http again, for the first time
  (tags: programming rest toread http web standards)
• UB Office of Web Services: Presentations
  Emerging Web Technologies: Building New Connections in Higher Education
  (tags: highedweb2006)
• Student Advising Services: Be Advised
  (tags: highedwebdev2006)
• Congress votes database | washingtonpost.com
  get yer congressional rss
  (tags: rss voting government politics)
• Institutional Knowledge @ CSU, Chico
  (tags: highedwebdev2006)
• Vertical Hold: Podcast Hysteria
  my explanation of podcasts
  (tags: podcasts highedwebdev2006)
• IBM Research | Watson | Cambridge | Dogear
  ibm does social bookmarking
  (tags: tagging ibm)
• Case Study: Johns Hopkins University
  (tags: wiki software)
• UB Office of Web Services: Presentations - HighEdWeb 2006 2006
  (tags: highedwebdev2006)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• err.the_blog.find_by_title('My Rails Toolbox')
  nice rails toolbox list
  (tags: rails ruby deployment rubyonrails development)

Posted by Patrick at 12:23 AM | Permalink

• UWC Update
  did they really say "legacy wiki"?
  (tags: wiki)
• Ruby Tutorial
  what looks to be a nice ruby tutorial
  (tags: ruby reference programming)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• Digital Health: What's In The Future? Audio
  an amazing discussion at the common wealth club on the future of "digital health"
  (tags: healthcare)
• GeeXboX HomePage
  linux media center
  (tags: linux tools software pvr)
• "Why Conservatives Can't Govern" by Alan Wolfe
  shorter allen wolfe: conservatives can't govern because they hate government.
  (tags: democracy politics government philosophy Conservatives)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Stephen Colbert Has America by the Ballots -- New York Magazine
  all colbert, all the time
  (tags: colbert humor politics)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• It's no joke: IU study finds The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to be as substantive as network news
  eat your heart out couric
  (tags: dailyshow funny humor journalism media politics tv)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Posted on October 03, 2006 at 12:42 PM
  more evidence that we're still too stupid to function as a society
  (tags: terrorism travel)
• Introducing Drosera
  crazy js debugger in WebKit
  (tags: javascript osx software tools webdev webkit development)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• The Macalope
  Sadly, being a technology pundit is truly never having to say your sorry. You can be wrong for years and never lose your job.
  (tags: apple microsoft ipod zune stupid)
• St. Paul Pioneer Press | 10/03/2006 | War on evolution has a price
  "How can you teach biotechnology in this country when you don't even accept evolution?" Good question...
  (tags: evolution education religion science)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• BSU.EDU Relaunch » CMS Selection
  gutsy
  (tags: highedwebdev cms webdesign)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• Planearium.de presents: SP-Studio.de
  make your own south park character
  (tags: flash)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• How To Set Up A Loadbalanced High-Availability Apache Cluster | HowtoForge - Linux Howtos and Tutorials
  (tags: deployment linux load-balance network reference loadbalancing apache)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• EFF FLAG Project
  EFF turns turns the FOIA cannon on government surveillance
  (tags: privacy eff)
• What's New in Edge Rails: Get Your RSS & Atom Feeds for Free
  sweet syndication plugin for rails
  (tags: development programming plugins rails rss ruby rubyonrails webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Role Based Authentication from Rails Recipes. Part 1
  roles, auth, rails -- redux
  (tags: rails ruby)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Flickr: Archive of your photos posted to Flickr on 4th September 2006
  wherein I enter my "blue" phase
  (tags: photos photography)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• The Washington Monthly
  how about that economy?
  (tags: economics politics)
• The Real Norcal > Chico Gino | CafePress
  there is a line...don't cross it
  (tags: california)
• LiteSpeed Web Server 2.2 Released
  new rails web server...must investigate
  (tags: rails ruby rubyonrails webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 12:21 AM | Permalink

• The FOUC Problem
  (tags: css javascript webkit fouc browsers safari webdev osx)

Posted by Patrick at 12:17 AM | Permalink

• Media Matters - Hannity: "[M]aking sure Nancy Pelosi doesn't become the [House] speaker" is "worth ... dying for"
  stop the inhannity!
  (tags: stupid politics punditry pundits)
• Learn Rails in college
  rails classes
  (tags: rails ruby rubyonrails)
• Vitamin Features » Serving JavaScript Fast
  cal is a mad man
  (tags: ajax css webdesign tutorial webdev javascript)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• FlickrBlog
  flickr picks up over a million geotagged photos in 24 hours. awesome.
  (tags: api flickr geotagging search maps tagging)
• Presidential candidate to speak in Second Life tomorrow
  this isn't happening

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Minor YUI Release Today » Yahoo! User Interface Blog
  hard on the outside, yui on the inside
  (tags: webdev webdesign css javascript ajax)

Posted by Patrick at 12:21 AM | Permalink

• Untitled Document
  stop wearing clothes to airports, you might offend people and miss your flight
  (tags: freespeech politics security terrorism travel freedom)

Posted by Patrick at 12:17 AM | Permalink

• APOD: 2006 August 22 - A Smoke Angel from Airplane Flares
  The Flying Spaghetti Monster appears!
  (tags: fsm flyingspaghettimonster)

Posted by Patrick at 12:23 AM | Permalink

• Everybody Loves Eric Raymond - Bruce Schneier Facts
  (tags: funny humor security cryptography)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Vitamin Interviews » Dan Cederholm
  vitamin chats with simplebits dan
  (tags: interviews webdesign)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Rome: Season 1
  What have the Romans ever done for us?!?!
  (tags: tv history)
• anatomy of an attack against 1.1.4 :: evan weaver
  nice breakdown of the recent rails patch-fest
  (tags: ruby security rails rubyonrails redhatdevnation)
• Schneier on Security: Last Week's Terrorism Arrests
  If we refuse to be terrorized, then they lose -- even if their attacks succeed.
  (tags: terrorism security)
• Writer Zone
  a windows blogging tool that plays well with others? what planet am I on?
  (tags: microsoft software writing)
• I love it when a plan comes together [dive into mark]
  you see, it's funny because he doesn't drink anymore.
  (tags: opensource wireless)

Posted by Patrick at 12:17 AM | Permalink

• Penny Arcade! - Armadeaddon: The Black Orchard
  All we have to do, is not be who he says we are.
  (tags: gaming)
• The Poor Man Institute » Getting serious about terror
  the ultimate plan to fight terror
  (tags: terrorism politics)

Posted by Patrick at 12:25 AM | Permalink

• US Court Finds We Have an Official Secrets Act
  shhhh, it's a secret
  (tags: security wot law)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Rails 1.1.5: Mandatory security patch (and more)
  Sounds like some rails site are about to get p0wn3d
  (tags: security rails rubyonrails webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Think Progress » National Review Editor: ‘Global Warming Is Great’
  Global Warming Is Great - the stupid...it's burns
  (tags: climatechange globalwarming stupid)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Daring Fireball: Regarding Brian Krebs's Reporting on the Supposed MacBook Wi-Fi Exploit
  Aren’t these questions completely obvious?
  (tags: apple osx security)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• darwinweb.net
  (tags: toread rails)
• Spiceworks - The Free IT Desktop
  network management with a pretty interface
  (tags: software tools rubyonrails)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• The Poor Man Institute » Your professional pundit class in action
  Movies, just like science
  (tags: climatechange globalwarming punditry science stupid)
• Creators.com - Creators Syndicate
  Molly Ivins wants to run Moyers for president. I'm in.
  (tags: politics)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Tenure is prize perk for exiting executives
  oh csu, you got some splainin' to do
  (tags: education scandals)
• Tales of the Freewayblogger: Operation "Harrasturbator"
  Harrasturbator
  (tags: harrasturbator pundits)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• From Java To Ruby
  another pragmatic book worth looking into
  (tags: books management programming)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• Sen. Inhofe: ‘Gore Is Full of Crap,’ ‘All Recent Science…Confirms This Thing Is A Hoax’
  craziest senator contest heats up again
  (tags: globalwarming environment senate)
• Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Gavyn Davies does the maths
  math and tanks, chocolate and peanut butter
  (tags: history statistics)
• Newsvine - My Take on Ann Coulter
  sometimes I manage to string more than two words together and make sense
  (tags: ann-coulter punditry)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
  looks like SN got a facelift finally
  (tags: beer)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• Using bad words v. treason accusations and public calls for hanging: The distinction that eludes journalists
  yeah, what's up with that?
  (tags: punditry stupid media)

Posted by Patrick at 12:22 AM | Permalink

• Gas Prices Are Up but Not Fuel Economy
  thanks do nothing auto industry
  (tags: automobiles environment)

Posted by Patrick at 12:21 AM | Permalink

• Dandelife.com
  do I really want to put this kind of information online?
  (tags: webapp)
• VANITY FAIR : FEATURES : GENERAL
  GE plans to go green and make green
  (tags: environment business)
• The Wish is Father to the Deed
  Pessimism does have it's advantages.
  (tags: politics)
• Stabbed in the Back! (Harpers.org)
  the enemy is us
  (tags: history politics)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• Whiskey Bar: Unhealthy Returns
  so unhealthy it hurts
  (tags: econ101 healthcare)
• Media Matters - Tucker Carlson falsely suggested Puerto Ricans living in Texas are immigrants to U.S.
  tucker opens his mouth and removes all doubt
  (tags: stupid immigration pu)

Posted by Patrick at 12:25 AM | Permalink

• Rob Orsini - Deploying Rails with Pound in Front of Mongrel, Lighttpd, and Apache
  another potential rails server setup
  (tags: apache deployment rails reference rubyonrails)

Posted by Patrick at 12:21 AM | Permalink

• Dr. Dobb's | Quick-Kill Project Management | June 30, 2006
  (tags: toread software management development programming)
• Ok, screw that...
  hahahahahaha. jeremy barely lasted 7 hours with Google Reader
  (tags: google rss)
• 19 Rails Tricks Most Rails Coders Don't Know
  nice set of rails "tricks"
  (tags: webdesign rubyonrails development reference)
• Rands In Repose: A Nerd in a Cave
  a computer without an Internet connection is essentially a very expensive DVD player
  (tags: funny productivity life)

Posted by Patrick at 12:21 AM | Permalink

You're not my mayor any more you spineless hack.

Love, Pat

Posted by Patrick at 10:20 PM | Permalink

• The Mac OS X Tipping Point
  as you would expect, Gruber does the job much better than I
  (tags: osx apple)
• Adam Carolla hangs up on Coulter
  finally somebody tells Coulter to get lost
  (tags: funny adam-carolla)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• Media Matters - Ann Coulter's "Flatulent Raccoon Theory"
  sweet jeebus. worst writer in the world.
  (tags: evolution science punditry creationism)

Posted by Patrick at 12:17 AM | Permalink

• 27B Stroke 6
  the race for craziest senator heats up
  (tags: congress stupid computers politics netneutrality)
• Senator Stevens explaining the Internet
  best slide show on how the internet works. ever.
  (tags: internet funny)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald: The thug and intimidation tactics of the Far Right go mainstream
  evidence that evolution is going in reverse
  (tags: media stupid)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Digital Library Cards
  nypl library card...all digitial, baby!
  (tags: reference research)
• VANITY FAIR : FEATURES : CONTENT
  (tags: politics toread senate)
• www.mnftiu.cc | MDC Team 5 is in the house!
  things not to step on
  (tags: advocacy)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Mike Ferner: Has This Country Gone Completely Insane?
  yes, the country has gone insane
  (tags: politics stupid)
• RailFrog / CMS Ridin’ on Rails
  cms developed in rails
  (tags: webdev webapp rubyonrails cms)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• The Dilbert Blog: Burning Flags
  The thing to remember about freedom is that it’s not given, it’s taken.
  (tags: congress funny humor politics)
• Mongrel: Home
  may need to replace fcgi with this
  (tags: deployment rails webdev tools)
• Introduction of Probability
  free book from dartmouth on probability, under the gnu fdl
  (tags: books)

Posted by Patrick at 12:21 AM | Permalink

It's really a funny story, I swear...but you wouldn't understand.

Ryan, I hope you won. I really do. Actually, I was hoping Scott would win (honestly), but you're the next best thing.

Posted by Patrick at 10:48 PM | Permalink

• [Rails] ANN: svn_conf generator -- making "svn import" easy and fun
  easy svn import for rails apps
  (tags: rails development)

Posted by Patrick at 12:22 AM | Permalink

• MSNBC Execs Cancel "Rita Cosby: Live & Direct"...
  Taste prevails or did she just get greedy?
  (tags: tv)
• Schneier on Security: Schneier Asks to Be Hacked
  be like bruce, run some open wi-fi
  (tags: wireless security)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• My friend Flickr
  Wherein Zeldman conflates his problem as a user with a usability problem
  (tags: usability flickr)
• Wireless Internet Service
  california state parks with wi-fi access
  (tags: wireless california parks)
• Whatchutalkinboutwillis? on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  minor league manager getting his 2 cents in
  (tags: baseball photos)
• The Power of Positive Whining
  If the user is never wrong, why do we do error checking? Yes, it's sarcasm.
  (tags: webdesign usability)
• 'Scarborough Country' for June 28 - Scarborough Country - MSNBC.com
  John Stossel is such a wanker
  (tags: globalwarning stupid climatechange)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• Red Baiter
  making fun of Red State is like shooting fish in a barrel
  (tags: humor politics)
• Drosera
  crazy js debugger for all WebKit apps
  (tags: apple javascript osx)
• Essentials, 2006 edition [dive into mark]
  Ubuntu, which is an ancient African word meaning “can’t install Debian”.
  (tags: linux)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• Ned Lamont for Senate | New Ad: Look Who's Talking - George Bush or Joe Lieberman?
  Lamont drops an OHSNAP! on Liebarman
  (tags: politics advertising)
• N00007211.jpg (JPEG Image, 1024×1024 pixels) - Scaled (73%)
  giant space boob
  (tags: photos space)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• New Clairvaux Vineyard :: Welcome
  the local monks grow some fine grapes
  (tags: wine)

Posted by Patrick at 12:17 AM | Permalink

• NPR : Telecommunications Firms Seek to Divide Internet
  Craig Newmark speaks to NPR about net neutrality
  (tags: web internet)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• The Pirate Party of the United States
  I'm so joining this party
  (tags: democracy pirates)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• The Wages of Sin
  the chronic amnesia of the American voter
  (tags: politics)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Flickr: 11 people count this photo as a favorite
  (tags: photos sharks)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Bedework: open-source institutional events calendar
  yet another calendar solution
  (tags: opensource)

Posted by Patrick at 12:22 AM | Permalink

• 2006 Commencement Address
  Colbert talks to grads. Hilarity ensues.
  (tags: colbert funny stephencolbert politics speech humor)

Posted by Patrick at 12:22 AM | Permalink

• Researchers surprised to find no link between marijuana, lung cancer / Study's findings apply even to heavy pot smokers
  pot smokers rejoice!
  (tags: science)
• FlickrExport 2.0b1
  flickrexport is going "pro"
  (tags: flickr photos osx)
• AlterNet: Top 10 Signs of the Impending U.S. Police State
  police state?
  (tags: politics)

Posted by Patrick at 12:22 AM | Permalink

Stewart/Colbert '08. I'd vote for them.

I'm not sure about The Wing Dipper, in fact, I think it scares me.

bapper would love this -- being able to switch virtual desktops by smacking your computer...

Get Cork'd.

Turns out elephants don't like treadmills either. I could have told you that.

Posted by Patrick at 5:00 PM | Permalink

• The Problems with Data Mining
  bruce points to another good op-ed on the nsa fiasco
• http://www.kirchersociety.org /blog/?p=448
  dude who parachuted...from space
  (tags: science gravity space)
• http://cupolitics.org/videos /0506/rees/index.html
  drees of GYWO fame talks. on video even!
  (tags: video)

Posted by Patrick at 12:22 AM | Permalink

Liberals who buy The Dixie Chicks and watch Stephen Colbert mock the president, in a very unfunny way mind you, not only undermine the Long Global War on Terrorism and Extremism (LoGWoTE) but they also smell bad and say mean things about conservatives and are unhinged and hate America. They probably think Al Gore should be in the Oval Office giving state secrets away to China while he uses the phone to ask for campaign contributions.

Posted by Patrick at 10:59 PM | Permalink

• FatBits: John Siracusa's Journal: And we all shine on
  People are idiots
  (tags: apple)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• Wired News: The Eternal Value of Privacy
  bruce explains privacy to the slow
  (tags: privacy)
• Kitchen on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  insanity
  (tags: photos)

Posted by Patrick at 12:22 AM | Permalink

• mezzoblue  -  Raw
  basic rundown on raw format for n00bs
  (tags: photography)
• Cork'd - Welcome
  it's like flickr for wine
• Rump States
  Welcome to Bushlandia!
  (tags: politics)

Posted by Patrick at 12:21 AM | Permalink

• BBC NEWS | Business | Apple rival 'tries to ban iPods'
  the last act of a desperate company
  (tags: apple ipod patents)

Posted by Patrick at 12:23 AM | Permalink

• ZigZig Software - ZigVersion
  os x svn gui client. yay!
  (tags: osx svn subversion mac gui development)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• templatedata
  it hurts because it's true
  (tags: highedwebdev)
• Popetown
  pope on a stick?

Posted by Patrick at 12:22 AM | Permalink

• Torpark
  You got anonimity in my firefox!
  (tags: security)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• The Blog | Rep. John Conyers: It's Checks and Balances, Mr. Russert | The Huffington Post
  something called "oversight."
  (tags: politics)
• We're the Decider
  sign me up for this agenda
  (tags: politics advocacy liberal progressive)
• Link outside of this blog
  okay, you have my attention
  (tags: energy environment politics statistics reference oil)
• Web 2.0 offers niche careers for a clever few / Outsmarting search engines generates cash for little work
  beej makes The Chron
  (tags: webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• InVisible Blog » Ruby On Rails Reference
  nice little rails reference
  (tags: programming rails reference rubyonrails toread cheatsheet)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

I flamed out at my first poker tournament this weekend. I'm pretty sure I don't like poker tournaments, and it's not just because I lost¹. The thing that draws me to poker night is basically the social aspect. At the tournament everyone was there for the game. Sure there was drinking, jokes, and other social stuff going on but the master of the evening was the blinds timer. I'll be glad to go back to the smaller, more comfortable Thursday night setting.

So, already the night isn't going as well as it could. As we're driving into our drive way we notice that one of our front windows is broken. The first thing that goes through my head is did we get broken into, quickly followed by "oh crap, I hope the dogs are okay." As we moved to the door we could here the dogs stirring inside, so that was a relief...we just had to keep them away from the shards of broken glass. Then we got inside and saw the blood. Lots of blood. It was on the floor and smeared all over the windows. Right then we knew what happened.

For a while now the neighbor's dog has been coming onto our front porch and stirring shit up with Bash. I've even been home when it happened and it sounds really bad when they are barking at each other through the window. This time the two of them managed to break the window. We found glass on the inside and the outside, plus Bash had a cut on her bottom lip.

So, off to talk to the neighbors about their dog. It's always fun going over to somebody's place to tell them they (by neglecting their responsibility as dog owners in a city environment) screwed your house up. It went as well as we could have expected it to go.

My folks came over and we put up a piece of plywood over the broken window. It's really a tribute to the Okie blood that runs through my veins.

We also watched Fantastic Four, which was just horrible. Avoid it like the bird flu.

Sunday was spent mostly on the pool, and by 'on' I mean trying to get the damn pump working like it should, which means that I got a great sunburn. You may call me The Irish Lobster for the next fews days...but only if you want to get punched in the neck. I watched Paycheck and while it's not the worst John Woo movie ever, his record making movies in the US is just downright sad.

Anyway...here's to next weekend being less sun-burny and having better movies to watch.

¹ For the record, I was playing pretty by-the-book hold 'em and took a ridiculous number of bad beats. But then, that's what happens at tournaments...

Posted by Patrick at 9:52 PM | Permalink

• Hillary Clinton: Too Much of a Clinton Democrat?
  kos' WaPo op-ed on Hillary
  (tags: politics)
• has_many :through gets :uniq
  more ActiveRecord awesomeness
  (tags: rubyonrails toread reference)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• The Poor Man » The Wanker Kings of Comedy
  more colbert
  (tags: colbert humor journalism)

Posted by Patrick at 12:22 AM | Permalink

• Save the Internet » Blog Archive » Another Internet Founder Speaks Out for Net Neutrality
  Sir Tim says "leave the net neutral"
  (tags: politics)

Posted by Patrick at 12:22 AM | Permalink

Flags. National anthem sung only in English. Lots of stupid going around. This rant over at TPM Cafe pretty much buries all the stupid. I'm still gonna need a whole lot of happy to get over it all though.

Stop embarrassing America by suggesting that the ostentatious display of exclusionary shiboleths are what unite us as a people. That's what unites the French, and that's why they get so upset when people eat the wrong goddamned cheese. I mean, the English can sing our national anthem in English. That doesn't make them more American than, um, people living and working here who left their entire life behind for a chance at the American dream.

Can I get a "Hell yeah!"?

Posted by Patrick at 11:54 AM | Permalink

• Daring Fireball: Good Journalism
  Gruber gets all "OHHHHH SNAP!" on the AP
  (tags: apple security osx)
• Agile Web Development with Rails
  2nd edition of agile rails
  (tags: books rails)
• EFFscked
  asphinctersayswhat
  (tags: comics eff scandals)

Posted by Patrick at 12:24 AM | Permalink

• Thank You Stephen Colbert.
  (tags: bush funny media politics press satire colbert humor)
• Whose Side Are You On? | TPMCafe
  why there is no real debate on Iran to be had
• Apple Sets Tune for Pricing of Song Downloads
  Jobs p0wns the record industry
  (tags: music apple)

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

• matt.poepping - Python GCal Api
  nice little python gcal api
  (tags: programming google api python calendar gcal googlecalendar)
• American Nightmarez
  Colbert's routine was designed to draw blood -- as good political satire should.
  (tags: humor politics)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

The fact is that if Americans did some serious conservation, they could reduce consumption by 1/3. Since they use about 20 million barrels a day of petroleum, they could replace the production of both Iraq and Iran (Iran produces 4 million bbd and exports 2 of it) all by themselves, just by going on the kind of diet Europe did in the early 1980s. But the last politician who dared tell you that was Jimmy Carter and no one will ever, ever go on television and talk that way again, who aspires to hold public office.

Juan Cole

I've been driving, a mid sized car,
I never hurt anyone
Is that a fact?
The price of gas keeps on rising
Nothing comes for free
Make like a stone, make like a plant
I can tell you, how this ends

We're going to win this
With spades and truncheons, guns and trowels
That is how the war will be won
Just swat the fly
Taking care of cars and bodies
Nothing ever comes for free
The ghosts are here, red white and blue

I can tell you how this ends

Bloc Party
The Price of Gas
Silent Alarm

Posted by Patrick at 8:41 AM | Permalink

• TypePad Weblog Page Structure: TypePad Tips
  so that's what all those divs are for...
  (tags: movabletype)

Posted by Patrick at 12:23 AM | Permalink

• Dave Gorman is doing gigs for The Daily Show.
• How Would A Patriot Act? is racing up the Amazon charts.
• Ice Cube is playing at the Senator tomorrow night.
• My "Check Engine" light has come on after I already had it "fixed."
• The front lawn needs to be mowed.
• Scott bought a Nikon D50.

Posted by Patrick at 11:36 PM | Permalink

• Canon EOS Digital SLR System
  (tags: photography reference toread)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Vitamin Training
  new webdev site
  (tags: webdev webdesign ruby rubyonrails)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• World Affairs Council of Northern California
  Reza Aslan talks about the future in Iran
  (tags: iran)

Posted by Patrick at 12:17 AM | Permalink

• Why People Think the Economy Sucks
  profits vs wages
  (tags: econ101 economics)
• Foreign Affairs - The Rise of U.S. Nuclear Primacy - Keir A. Lieber and Daryl G. Press
  we are the new rogue state
  (tags: toread)

Posted by Patrick at 12:21 AM | Permalink

• Bloomberg.com: Bloomberg Columnists
  make money fast -- put porn on ipods
  (tags: apple ipod porn)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Windows: The New Classic
  You try explaining "boot loaders" to your mom.
  (tags: osx apple windows)

Posted by Patrick at 12:21 AM | Permalink

• Boing Boing: Why is it OK to show a man's breasts on TV? asks Bennett Haselton
  I'm curious...what in the hell are we thinking?
  (tags: funny fcc sex)
• Retrospect-GDS
  nice, free GDS app
  (tags: php webapp)

Posted by Patrick at 12:18 AM | Permalink

• Apple - Boot Camp
  um...holy crap
  (tags: apple osx windows)
• Help Vampires: A Spotter's Guide
  how communities rot from the inside
  (tags: rubyonrails redhatdevnation)

Posted by Patrick at 12:19 AM | Permalink

• The other side of polymorphic :through associations
  I'm sure this will come in handy. Tomorrow.
  (tags: rails database webdev redhatdevnation programming)

Posted by Patrick at 12:17 AM | Permalink

• glarkware :: counter-hippie stop sign stickers
  awesome stop sign stickers
  (tags: humor funny wishlist)

Posted by Patrick at 11:17 PM | Permalink

• EFF:
  pre-recorded public services announcements to put in your podcasts
  (tags: eff advocacy)

Posted by Patrick at 11:17 PM | Permalink

• Daring Fireball: The iPod Juggernaut
  The simplicity of the iPod is one of the prime reasons for its appeal.
  (tags: apple music ipod)

Posted by Patrick at 11:17 PM | Permalink

• Rails for Designers
  grab the third rail
  (tags: rails tutorial webdev webdesign)
• Factor CSS
  make less css
  (tags: css webdesign webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Daily Kos: Gov. Huckabee & Reclaiming America For Christ
  gluttony
  (tags: sins politics)
• Ruby Cheatsheet v.1
  cheating with ruby
  (tags: programming ruby reference)
• The British Heart Foundation: Sponsor Dave Gorman
  help dave help people
  (tags: charity)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• BBC NEWS | Americas | US evangelicals warn Republicans
  gluttony
  (tags: religion politics)
• Crooks and Liars
  1983
  (tags: scandals)
• In Defense of Web Developers, Again (by Jeremy Zawodny)
  front-end developers are developers too
  (tags: webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 11:17 PM | Permalink

• The Official Don't Shoot I'm Human - Dick Cheney Hunting Vest
  hunter safety
  (tags: humor)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Women in Science
  depressing breakdown of science jobs
  (tags: science)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Motion Denied Because You're An Idiot - March 6, 2006
  coolest judge, evar
  (tags: funny)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• firedoglake: 03/05/2006 - 03/11/2006
  "It will be dark but yes, there will be much South Dakota humor."
  (tags: abortion)
• EFF Shop
  4th Amendment Tape
  (tags: eff civilliberties)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• Nested with_scope
  help with joins
  (tags: rails reference ruby rubyonrails)
• O'Reilly Radar > Google Dreams Big
  all the information in the world
  (tags: google)
• Daring Fireball: Familiarity Breeds a User Base
  no, windows isn't "open"
  (tags: apple microsoft)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

This is how conversations go:

For the record, the iTune Music Store link is to Pet Shop Boys - What Have I Done to Deserve This

Posted by Patrick at 11:38 PM | Permalink

• The Office Chart That Really Counts
  unspoken truths
  (tags: business)

Posted by Patrick at 11:21 PM | Permalink

• ongoing · On PHP
  php will always have a place in my toolbox
  (tags: php webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Style Manual: Main Page
  National Geographic Style Manual
  (tags: writing)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald: Do Bush followers have a political ideology?
  where have all the conservatives gone?
  (tags: politics)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Rails Recipes
  another rails beta book. w00t
  (tags: rubyonrails ruby books webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• Escapa!
  crazy little web game
  (tags: javascript)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Google Code: Web Authoring Statistics
  google tells us what they see in our html
  (tags: statistics webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• O'Reilly Rough Cuts: Get behind the scenes to stay ahead of the curve
  beta o'reilly books
  (tags: books programming reference)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Media Matters - "Media Matters"; by Jamison Foser
  saddest word count. ever.
  (tags: media politics)
• Daily Kos: McCain: Bush Acted Outside Of His Authority In Spying On Americans
  mccain is back in sane mode. when will he flip again?
  (tags: gop scandals nsa)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Top-Selling Educational Baby DVDs | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
  baby dvds
  (tags: funny humor)
• bradley's almanac
  MIT Penny Arcade transcript
  (tags: interviews)

Posted by Patrick at 11:25 PM | Permalink

• GET YOUR WAR ON from Rude Mechs
  get your war on LIVE!
  (tags: comics)

Posted by Patrick at 11:29 PM | Permalink

• iMac 17" Core Duo : Page 1
  ars reviews intel imac
  (tags: apple osx intel)

Posted by Patrick at 11:27 PM | Permalink

• The Raw Story | In Martin Luther King Day address, Gore compares wiretapping of Americans to surveillance of King
  al gore rips it up
  (tags: politics speeches scandals)
• diggdotus Frappr!
  map yourself for diggdot.us

Posted by Patrick at 11:27 PM | Permalink

• t r u t h o u t - Jason Leopold | Bush Authorized Domestic Spying Before 9/11
  oh, hey, look...spying before 9/11. shocking.
  (tags: scandals politics NSA privacy Wot)

Posted by Patrick at 11:24 PM | Permalink

• Wired News: Anonymity Won't Kill the Internet
  bruce drops a little sanity on the wikipedia debate
  (tags: privacy security wikipedia toread)

Posted by Patrick at 11:22 PM | Permalink

• Memorable Quotes from Shaun of the Dead (2004)
  Okay, but dogs can look up!
  (tags: quotes movies funny)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• Brandon Fuller | MT-Enclosures: A Movable Type Plugin
  (tags: mt plugins podcasts xml movabletype)

Posted by Patrick at 11:25 PM | Permalink

• the Widget Foundry :: Amazon Album Art Widget
  just what I need, more music bloat
  (tags: dashboard osx widget itunes software)

Posted by Patrick at 11:23 PM | Permalink

• Bokardo » Blog Archive » Learning More about Structured Blogging
  the “Del.icio.us Lesson”
  (tags: metadata blogging delicious)
• PSYCHEDELIC REPUBLICANS: POLITICAL PARODY TRADING CARDS
  republicans will blow your mind
  (tags: politics republicans humor)

Posted by Patrick at 11:23 PM | Permalink

• Lawrence Lessig
  kudos to Microsoft for donating to CC
  (tags: creativecommons microsoft)

Posted by Patrick at 11:24 PM | Permalink

Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can.

THE NSA WEB SERVER PUTTING PUTTING COOKIES ON YOUR PC IS NOT "SPYING"!

Seriously people...there are real things to worry about and I assure you this is not one of them. If they really wanted to spy on your web habbits they would just get the data from Google, DoubleClick, and Abacus.

That is all.

Posted by Patrick at 8:44 AM | Permalink

How hopeless is John McCain? Completely. Yes, "let the students decide" what they get taught in science classes. What a load.

Posted by Patrick at 4:14 PM | Permalink

• New Scientist SPACE - Breaking News - Wreckage of Beagle 2 found on Mars
  so that's where we left it
  (tags: mars)
• Informed Comment
  more unintended consequences in iraq
  (tags: iraq)
• Boing Boing: Oakland Trib: send us your used "1984" books for lawmakers
  oak-trib wants to send copies of 1984 to Congress
  (tags: civilliberties law congress)
• Wired News: Passion of the Spaghetti Monster
  The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
  (tags: funny books wishlist)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• AMERICAblog: Why does Republican party chair Ken Mehlman hate Christmas?
  GOP offends Christians
  (tags: waronchristmas)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Sidebar Manager
  a very nifty MT tool
  (tags: movalbetype webapp webdev weblogs)
• Support the Commons | Creative Commons
  consider supporting the commons
  (tags: copyright creativecommons advocacy)
• Bush Backs Down on Patriot Act
  more loev for russ
  (tags: usapa civilliberties politics)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Schneier on Security: The Security Threat of Unchecked Presidential Power
  breaking the law is not a partisan issue
  (tags: nsa scandals security)
• Revision3
  What is Asterisk? Good question.
  (tags: voip)
• Fafblog! the whole worlds only source for Fafblog.
  "Damn you Hannukah!" says Giblets.
  (tags: humor)
• Mega Bloks | Pyrates. | 2005 Toys Catalog
  pirates toys!
  (tags: wishlist)
• SLEIGHER
  christmas is f'ing metal
  (tags: funny humor music)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Schneier on Security: NSA and Bush's Illegal Eavesdropping
  bruce runs down the bush/nsa scandal in great detail
  (tags: politics privacy security terrorism nsa law bush)
• minifesto manifesto
  make a minifesto
  (tags: tools)
• make your own speech bubble!
  speech bubbles!
  (tags: tools)
• Daily Kos: FISA Judge Quits In Protest
  Potemkin court
  (tags: politics scandals)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• CD Baby: THE RUDE PUNDIT: The Year of Living Rudely
  the rude pundit cd
  (tags: liberal)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Total share: 30 years of personal computer market share figures : Page 1
  want to feel old? read this.
  (tags: hardware history computing toread)
• Mike Davidson -- sIFR 2.0: Rich Accessible Typography for the Masses
  Rich Accessible Typography for the Masses using Flash
  (tags: flash typography webdesign usability tools accessibility)
• James McAdam [Porfolio]
  Safe Bedside Table
  (tags: furniture security)
• sIFR, TrueType, and PostScript fonts - FONTSMACK
  (tags: fonts flash sifr webdesign free tools typography)
• Fafblog! the whole worlds only source for Fafblog.
  The Torture Fairy
  (tags: torture wot)

Posted by Patrick at 11:21 PM | Permalink

• How to Ship Anything - Joel on Software
  kick-ass shipping process
  (tags: advice)
• Everybody loves Eric Raymond - Linux doomsday
  I for one will welcome our new linux powered robot overlords
  (tags: linux humor comics)
• Sploid: Killer air marshals let loose on trains & subways
  washington will shoot who it wants, when it wants
  (tags: WoT)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• washingtonpost.blog - The Editors Talk About Site Policies, Design and Goals
  froomkin responds
  (tags: journalism politics)
• Photo Contest - National Wildlife Magazine
  National Wildlife Federation photo content winners
  (tags: photography photos)
• Graffiti from Pompeii
  graffiti seems classier in latin
  (tags: funny humor history graffiti)
• Documentary On Japanese Sushi - Google Video
  dear japanese people
  (tags: funny video)
• Flickr: Photos tagged with snowtown
  snowtown on flickr
  (tags: photography photos comics)
• Beej's Guide to Network Programming
  beej's awesome network programming guide
  (tags: c tutorial sockets network programming reference)
• Beej's Network Programming Guide using Internet Sockets
  I digg beej
  (tags: network programming)
• Creative Weblogging - "Serving great bloggers" - Are you at Syndicate?
  who in their right mind would blog about oracle apps?
  (tags: weblogs)

Posted by Patrick at 11:21 PM | Permalink

• EAC and Lame - Hydrogenaudio Knowledgebase
  nice guide on setting up EAC to use the Lame encoder
  (tags: mp3 reference music)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

Pope Benedict XVI

In today's consumer society, this time (of the year) is unfortunately subjected to a sort of commercial 'pollution' that is in danger of altering its true spirit, which is characterized by meditation, sobriety and by a joy that is not exterior but intimate

Bill O'Reilly

Every company in America should be on its knees thanking Jesus for being born. Without Christmas, most American businesses would be far less profitable; more than enough reason for businesses to be screaming Merry Christmas.

Posted by Patrick at 12:16 PM | Permalink

• TMBG: They Might Be Giants (Unofficially)
  fun way to learn about james k. polk
  (tags: politics)
• Fafblog! the whole worlds only source for Fafblog.
  Nature's Harmonious Money Cycle
  (tags: funny econ101)
• Media Matters - AFA's Don Wildmon: If ADL's Foxman criticizes religious right, some of them "won't support Israel anymore"
  nobody saw this coming
  (tags: stupid politics)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Fafblog! the whole worlds only source for Fafblog.
  the smart money's always on the cow
  (tags: funny)
• Pre-Order Crashing the Gate
  kos' book is up for pre-order
  (tags: books advocacy)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Think Progress - More McCain Attacks: Murtha "Sentimental, Never Been a Big Thinker"
  McCain can straight talk right to Hell
  (tags: politics iraq)
• The Register wants the EFF to curl up and die
  don't fight, you might loose
  (tags: stupid)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• Urban Legends Reference Pages: Holidays (How the Grinch Stole Christmas Vacation)
  who says lawyers have no sense of humor?
  (tags: funny)
• Sploid: PROOF THAT DOGS LAUGH
  wanted: dog comedians
  (tags: science)
• Ajax Sucks Most of the Time (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox December 2005)
  jakob hates ajax. how predictable.
  (tags: ajax webdesign webdev)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• Media Matters - O'Reilly: "There's a very secret plan ... to diminish Christian philosophy in the U.S.A."
  if it's secret, who told bill o'reilly?
  (tags: stupid)
• collegewebeditor.com: web, marketing
  great interview with an anonymous higher-ed blogger
  (tags: education writing)
• Management by Baseball
  management techniques as baseball analogies
  (tags: management baseball)
• 24 ways: CSS Layout Starting Points
  quick starting-point css templates
  (tags: css webdesign)
• What Do I Know - Flash Player and Adobe Reader to combine
  incredibly horrible news for flash developers
  (tags: webdev stupid)
• Torrent (Workflow)
  workflow code for ruby
  (tags: ruby)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

• EarThumps - Griffin Technology
  new ipod earbugs (yes, bugs)
  (tags: ipod wishlist)
• Schneier on Security: FBI to Approve All Software?
  Approved by the FBI
  (tags: security software stupid fcc)
• Coulter to O'Reilly on Media Matters : "little ... [Media Matters]
  ann coulter wants to beat me up with a baseball bat
  (tags: stupid)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• Seed: The Other I.D.
  "incompetent design."
  (tags: funny science)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• Daily Kos: The new map
  The new red/blue map
  (tags: politics)
• WSJ.com - Bush's Approval Rating Falls Again, Poll Shows
  more data on the bush titanic
  (tags: politics)
• BillOReilly.com: Media Defamation
  bill o'reilly has a list
  (tags: stupid)
• Pragmatic Automation
  automated deployment? sweet!
  (tags: ruby)

Posted by Patrick at 11:20 PM | Permalink

• Introduction - In search of the One True Layout
  one layout to bind them
  (tags: css webdesign)
• Public choice theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  why I hate us
  (tags: elections politics stupid)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• tvtorrent.info - your source for tv torrent information
  more tv torrents
  (tags: bittorrent tv)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Steve Jobs Ruined My Thanksgiving (by Jeremy Zawodny)
  laugh, cry, it's better than Cats
  (tags: apple stupid music)
• EOSrebels.com - The fan site for all things Canon EOS Digital SLR related
  eos rebels fan site
  (tags: photography)

Posted by Patrick at 11:17 PM | Permalink

• lighttpd 1.4.8 and multiple rails-apps
  lighthttpd+(rails app * x)
  (tags: rails ruby)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

• Secure Linux/UNIX access with PuTTY and OpenSSH
  another windows ssh walkthough
  (tags: security)

Posted by Patrick at 11:18 PM | Permalink

• The Dilbert Blog: Free e-book of God's Debris
  free scott adams book
  (tags: ebook pdf free)

Posted by Patrick at 11:19 PM | Permalink

Some concepts are easy to get. Like "FIRE BAD!" It's very simple, to the point, and easy to convey. Then there are some concepts that are very hard, like free speech and freedom of religion. They are so hard the people who founded this country wrote down the basics of them so we could always refer back and make sure we still had it right.

But as people with power are wont to do, they are gaming the system. I'm specifically referring to Jerry Falwell's "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign." If you want to read more about the he said, she said part of it, feel free. Either way I will assume that you, like myself, feel that Falwell is a jackass and continue on in such a fashion.

Falwell knows he has a lot of power, as does his brand of Christianity. He convinces people that they are under attack and/or becoming a minority to get his folks fightin' mad and to demand the protections provided in the Constitution. And by "protection" I mean "preference" -- which as you know is specifically not how the Constitution describes freedom of religion. In other words, they want freedom for their religion at the expense of other religions. To them, that is more than fair since they are "under attack." If you say they aren't under attack, well, you're attacking them and you're going to Hell. Yippee!

For a while I was worried when various brands and braches of "faith" started seeking to weaken freedom of religion, as envisioned by the Consitution. Because even though it appeared to be a group effort, it would end up with one at the top getting more play than the others. Which would seem to me to be the exact opposite of freedom of religion.

So once again, lets think all the way back to jr. high and remember that yes, our founders were "people of faith" and even predominatly Christian -- who were repressed by the Church of England. So they bailed and found a place where they could practice their faith their way. Then when we became a country we thought it would be a good idea if the State didn't get to have a religion so it wouldn't feel it necessary to to crap on all the others.

BRILLIANT!

So, in my opinion, either Falwell and his ilk never made it past jr. high or they are playing people for fools.

Posted by Patrick at 8:29 AM | Permalink

I dig 37 Signals. I read their weblog. I buy their books. I use their sites. They're smart cookies.

Except when they aren't.

If you ask people who think you suck to express how much they think you suck, you should expect the obvious. But, I guess not.

I'm sorry, but the "jump the shark" post was literally asking for non-productive "noise" to be posted. I know that turning comments off have been a while in the making, but this was clearly the straw to the camel's back.

Honestly, I don't care. I don't go there to read comments. In fact, I'm fed up with "community" sites. I should say that I'm fed up with certain aspects of these sites, mainly the asshats who use them to try and make a name for themselves. Think "first post!" and I think you get my drift.

I, for one, will welcome our new comment-less SVN overlords.

Posted by Patrick at 5:00 PM | Permalink

In celebration of the Flying Spaghetti Monster book, I suggest you convert now and avoid the rush.

Pastafarianism benefits:

• Flimsy moral standards.
• Every friday is a relgious holiday. If your work/school objects to that, demand your religious beliefs are respected and threaten to call the ACLU.
• Our heaven is WAY better. We've got a Stripper Factory AND a Beer Volcano.

Hard to beat that.

But while we're on the topic of "intelligent design," lets talk about Kansas. And by "talk," I do mean "laugh at." President Bush wants science students to hear "both sides" so they "know what the debate is about." Once again, our Dear Leader is wrong. There are more than two sides, as the "Christian God" version of ID clearly conflict with the Flying Spaghetti Monster version of ID. This part of the debate is critical, as one of the Kansas School Board members spreads it out in a nutshell:

Member Kenneth Willard accused the scientific establishment of having "blind faith in evolution." He told his colleagues during a 45-minute debate that the anti-evolution view is more intellectually honest.

Now, I don't know which ID version Mr WIllard is coming from (he is not pictured in the WaPo story and so I can't tell if he is in pirate regalia or not) and that is critically important to the debate, as I'm sure the president would agree. We want to know all sides, don't we?

Posted by Patrick at 5:00 PM | Permalink

Not much goin' on, but there are a few small items to get out there before I forget them.

Ryan is excited! How excited is he? I'm glad you asked. He's so excited, he wrote about his NY trip.

While it's quite clear, and really always has been, that Americans don't like abortion, they generally don't think it should be illegal either.

The musings about torture being the canary in the coal mine really don't say enough about how wrong we are. We are so wrong, we're using Soviet-era prisons. Do the words "Evil Empire" ring a bell? I would hope that to any sane person there would be nothing to justify this insanity.

Last, but never least, we have a Giblets rant.

Oh how Giblets longs for the good old days of seven months ago, when the stately Bill Frist held court over an emergency session to prolong the life of the famously vegetative, or when the august Rick Santorum compared gay marriage to terrorism on the Seante floor! Instead we must endure the pernicious and terrible tricks of Harry Reid, Mormon from Hell, as he hijacks America's upper house in some petty quest for Congressional oversight!

What can I say. The munky abides.

Posted by Patrick at 7:49 AM | Permalink

If you blink, you might miss the World Series.

Oops. Oh well...the good news is that House will be back on now.

The bad news is that the two guys I know from the north side of Chicago are prepping for hara-kiri.

Can't win 'em all, or in the case of the Astros, any.

Posted by Patrick at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's bad...consider donating to the Red Cross.

Posted by Patrick at 3:36 PM | Permalink

The British have learned from the Bush administration -- never admit mistakes and never let them change what you are doing.

London's police force has reviewed its controversial "shoot-to-kill" policy and left it largely unchanged despite the killing of a Brazilian mistaken for a would-be suicide bomber, Scotland Yard said on Saturday.

Although, they clearly have not perfected the strategy yet.

"We have reviewed it and we have made one or two small changes, but the operation remains essentially the same," a Metropolitan police spokeswoman told Reuters.

Small changes like not shooting random people seven times in the melon? Sounds like a good, small change to me. Or as atrios says, "I do wish someone would give me the list of approved behaviors so I too can avoid summary execution."

Jeebus...

Posted by Patrick at 10:39 AM | Permalink

Posted by Patrick at 1:32 PM | Permalink

ID is not a scientific theory.

That is all.

Posted by Patrick at 4:44 PM | Permalink

Juan Cole catches a great breakdown on the whole good news/bad news thing about Iraq from the Reuters Baghdad bureau chief.

"I regard the charge that journalists in Iraq are skewing their reporting and focusing 'too much on bad news' as ill-informed, and a great insult to the Iraqi people. Many of those who criticize Iraq coverage seem to be suggesting that the media should somehow play down or ignore the fact that so many Iraqi civilians are being killed. It's an attitude that implies that Iraqis are not entitled to the level of safety and security enjoyed by people elsewhere in the world. Of course, some progress is being made in Iraq. Many people in Iraq, including U.S. soldiers, are doing their best to rebuild the country and improve security. But taken in isolation, the renovation of a power plant or the opening of a new school are not a story unless placed in the wider context, and the wider context is that reconstruction is proceeding much more slowly than had been expected."

Posted by Patrick at 8:29 AM | Permalink

A Colorado congressman told a radio show host that the U.S. could "take out" Islamic holy sites if Muslim fundamentalist terrorists attacked the country with nuclear weapons.

Fox News

Collective punishment is a term describing the punishment of a group of people for the crime of a few or even of one. It is contradictory to the modern concept of due process, where each individual receives separate treatment based on their individual circumstances -- as they relate to the crime in question.

Collective Punishment
Wikipedia

Posted by Patrick at 8:33 AM | Permalink

Today's Dilbert reminds me of more than one person...

Posted by Patrick at 8:44 AM | Permalink

Who wants to watch video on a screen that is less than 2"×2"? Can you imagine watching Lord of the Rings on an iPod? Does it feel entertaining?

Could Karl Rove being any more dangerous if he tried?

My work PC just told me it was time to install SP2. Now before you ask why it wasn't installed ages ago, it's centrally managed. Lets just leave it at that shall we?

Posted by Patrick at 8:49 AM | Permalink

USA: Did too!
Italy: Did not!

Posted by Patrick at 6:13 PM | Permalink

<bapper> I'm so against multi-national bullshit and CEOs that make more money than god.
<pberry> God is a pauper...Hell, I make more money than God!
<pberry> He works pro-bono
<bapper> yeah, but look at all the cash he gets licensing his franchise!
<pberry> that's true

Posted by Patrick at 9:25 AM | Permalink

We use too much!

• Research Suggests Need for Balance in Sunscreen Use

We don't use enough!

• Sunscreen Use Down as Skin Cancer Rates Increase -- New Survey Shows Americans Falling Short on Sun Protection

Is moderation illegal in this country or what?

Posted by Patrick at 8:47 AM | Permalink

Abuse of a biblical metaphor? Perhaps. But on Sunday I did a tiny bit of digging on the pastor who thought it would be a good idea to cleanse his flock of icky Democrats (read: sinners) and the whole church/non-profit IRS thing. Nothing big. But I thought the news that he was fired resigned should at least warrant a post.

That is all.

Posted by Patrick at 8:12 AM | Permalink

Mark Morford's Boy Scout leader was Jim West. Yes, that in-the-closet-gay-hatin' Republican Jim West. His column this week is relatively free of snark as he runs down his history with West. But I think he hits on a good point, one which Bill Hicks made as well.

And someone should really do a national, once-and-for-all study to back up what everyone already knows -- which is, of course, that the more repressed and sanctimonious and uptight you are about sex and love and gender and religion, the more likely you are to be involved in secret kink, in deep perversion, illegal perversion, perversion that crosses the line from healthy and slippery and delicious to degrading and morally reprehensible and Karl Rove. Just ask -- did I say this already? -- the Catholic Church.

Yeah, yeah...painting with a broad brush. Just do the study and then watch them all say "numbers lie" until they are blue in the face.

Posted by Patrick at 9:51 AM | Permalink

Op-ed

Much as we all delight in the latest horse-milking joke, the happiest news in comedy last week was the announcement that "The Daily Show" will be spinning off a new half-hour on Comedy Central starring its "senior White House correspondent," Stephen Colbert. Make no mistake about it: the ratings rise of Jon Stewart's fake news has been in direct relation to the show's prowess at blowing the whistle on propaganda when the legitimate press fails to do so. The correspondents' dinner, itself a "Daily Show" target last week, could not have been a more graphic illustration of why, at a time when trust in real news is plummeting, there's a bull market for fake news that can really be trusted to know what is fake.

Posted by Patrick at 10:38 AM | Permalink

You, are becoming Gods. There's a new master of creation, and it's you! Unraveled DNA, and at the same time you're cultivating bacteria strong enough to kill every living thing! Do you think you are ready for that much power? You lot? You lot? Cheeky bastards. You're running around science like kids with guns, creating a new world, while the world you've got is stinking, but, hands up, hands up anyone who thinks you've got it right. Yeah, there's always one. I can see you. If you want the position of God then take the responsibility.

Stephen Baxter
The Second Coming (TV)

Posted by Patrick at 7:56 AM | Permalink

Now I know why I let Atrios read Jonah Goldberg for me.

Oy!

Posted by Patrick at 8:27 AM | Permalink

"How do we expect the same people who can't make things stop getting worse to make things better?"

Posted by Patrick at 9:02 AM | Permalink

Stop. Hurting. America. Stop making dorkwad movies. Please.

Posted by Patrick at 8:33 PM | Permalink

James Wolcott with one of his reliably dead-on take-downs of a wingnut mythos.

This "fear of Christmas" is a phantom menace conjured every year so that certain crybaby Christians can adopt victim status and model a pained expression over the sad fact that not everyone around them isn't carrying on like the Cratchits.

Indeed. I'm about to choke on the amount of Christ in Christmas this year. Why don't they complain about all the non-denominational people like myself who only take part in the crass consumerism of the season? At least that would be legit.

I would also like to know how many of the folks that are getting their panties in a bunch know the real story of Christmas and would they be willing to fight Oliver Cromwell to the death to celebrate it? After all, this country wasn't founded by "Christians," but by Puritans. You know, the dudes with the funny hats? Yes, I know that makes me a hater, but I'm just sayin'...

Posted by Patrick at 8:38 AM | Permalink

Found on First Draft

A soldier on leave has been accused of having his cousin shoot him
so he would not have to return to Iraq, the police say.

The soldier, Specialist Marquise J. Roberts, 23, of Hinesville, Ga., suffered a minor wound to his left leg from a .22-caliber pistol on Tuesday, the police said. Specialist Roberts was treated at a hospital, then arrested after he and his cousin admitted having made up a story about the shooting, the authorities said.

After giving differing accounts of the incident, "they just broke down and confessed that they concocted the whole story so he didn't have to go back to the war," Lt. James Clark of the Philadelphia police department said on Thursday.

Posted by Patrick at 8:12 AM | Permalink

So I go to donate to the FlickrExport plugin for iPhoto through PayPal and see this:

PayPal's Exchange Rate as of Dec. 11, 2004:
1 U.S. Dollar = 0.509535Pounds Sterling

Emphasis mine. But Mr Speirs, who is in the UK, would like to be paid in Pounds, not worthless American dollars. Who can blame him?

Posted by Patrick at 12:11 PM | Permalink

Slate has a terrific run-down of the oral arugement from the medical mary-ju-wana case before the Supreme Court. It's from Lithwick, so you know there are some great zingers. Read to the end, it's worth it.

Posted by Patrick at 10:54 PM | Permalink

Anil has the right idea.

I will use my earnings from adsense to pay for you all to be killed.

Luckily you're all safe, my account is not that full. But it's an idea I will continue to mull over.

Posted by Patrick at 8:40 AM | Permalink

A del.icio.us jesusland tag awaits your participation.

Posted by Patrick at 9:37 AM | Permalink

Well, you know the rest. But let us look at it from Ann's viewpoint for a moment. Two dumb-asses ran at her, while she was on stage speaking, with aluminum pans filled with an unidentified, white creamy substance. She had only seconds to react. Did she stand there and take it like that pansy Bill Gates? No way. Not Ann Coulter. She got on her high heels and dodged those pies! To which we say bravo Ann! Bravo!

In the split second before she hightailed it off stage she must have been overcome with fright. Her liberaldar (which is like gaydar, only it detects liberals instead of gay people) must have been telling her something was amiss. No doubt a feeling of terror had filled her gut. This sense of terror is obviously what she is referring to in her statement on Hannity and Colmes when she said, "an act of terrorism was committed against me."

I'm sure in no way she was comparing having two pies thrown at her to the east coast sniper attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing or either of the WTC attacks. Because really, that would just be stupid. Who would be so delusional and self-absorbed to compare themselves to victims of real terrorism for having pies thrown at them.

Posted by Patrick at 8:03 AM | Permalink

Blows.

My conversation with beej:

me: sh*t man, we're having a hell of a thunderstorm up here

beej: rockin

beej: haha look at it!

beej: what did you guys do, ray?!

me: I started lighting candles, that's for damn sure

What did I do indeed?

Posted by Patrick at 8:12 PM | Permalink

Sent via e-mail.

Mr. Okrent,

I will admit to seeing your latest action via Atrios, but I do read many articles in the NYT on a daily basis. I subscribe to the RSS feed for the NYT Home Page. You may feel free to use my name if you wish, although I admit, that is a bit vain of me.

I really do feel that you did the readers, which you represent, a disservice. You are the Public Editor of the New York Times, the "paper of record," not some local rag that basically re-prints AP articles along with high school football scores and police blotters. I think with your job comes a very large responsibility, which you violated by essentially outing people, again who you represent, that were writing letters which you or the reporter didn't agree with or were offended by.

I read your response and I know you feel justified in what you did. But as a reader that you represent, let me say that I don't feel that you were justified and I would appreciate you addressing the concerns of Atrios (Duncan Black) and myself (and I'm sure there are plenty of other people with our same view points writing e-mails this very moment). This isn't a matter of yelling at the ref to get a better call next time. I'm not trying to "soften" you up so that you see my point of view. This is just a plain disagreement about what your job entails and how you are doing it. I know those may sound like the same thing, but I'm confident you understand the difference.

I appreciate your time and look forward to your response,
Patrick Berry
Chico, CA

Posted by Patrick at 10:03 AM | Permalink

The Washington Post has a story out this morning about how Dale Jr. got docked 25 points for dropping an S-bomb on live TV. It knocked him out of first place in the NASCAR standings.

Was it merely a "speech malfunction" or was it a vile display that will scar the minds of impressionable children all over the country. Will there be huge FCC fines? Will there be congressional hearings? Will there be crying and outrage? Is NASCAR trying to destroy american values? Will EA pull any NASCAR sponsorships? Will the King of Beers drop Dale Jr.?

The short answer is, of course, no. Nothing is as bad as a nipple.

Posted by Patrick at 8:46 AM | Permalink

Legal wonks rejoice! SCOTUS is in the house! Will they decide who is president this year too?

Posted by Patrick at 8:17 AM | Permalink

Hotter days to cause more deaths in California, report says

Heat-related deaths can be expected to increase up to 180 percent annually by 2050 and as much as 500 percent annually by the end of the century if the atmosphere continues to warm, according to the report by ATMOS Research and Consulting.

Media Matters:

On the September 9 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show, radio host Rush Limbaugh claimed that global warming is "malarkey" and that "[t]he idea that we [human beings] have any power over nature is absolute absurdity."

But then who can really fault Rush for being wrong? It's not like he lives in an area that will be effected by global warming. Oh wait...he does (61k pdf). I'm sure Rush doesn't worry since it's all "malarkey" anyway. It's not based on "sound science." And by "sound science" I mean it doesn't sound like something he agrees with, so it's bogus.

Posted by Patrick at 8:59 PM | Permalink

I found this gem on a Slate Chatterbox.

If Steenburgen and Monica are not ample enough demonstration, realise that fifty percent of American Familes are headed by single women, test scores are dropping, misandry is rampant, American is being bought up by the EU, Women make 90% of retial purchase decisions in America and the democrats continue to pander to womens issues

-Glaucon

There you have it. It's the damn EU and women that are bringing this country down. At least you know who the real enemy is now.

Posted by Patrick at 10:05 AM | Permalink

"Untrusted by the youth of America since 2003."

Now, only 35 years left until retirement...oy! In other words, happy birthday to me.

Posted by Patrick at 12:06 AM | Permalink

O'REILLY: You know that the No Child Left Behind Act and all of the federal money that has poured in to try to help the kids -- which, you know, everybody wants to help the kids, right? -- states can't spend the money. Most of the states are gonna have to give it back to the Treasury. They just can't spend the money.

Mr. O'Reilly, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Posted by Patrick at 10:29 PM | Permalink

It's incredible to read about people getting their panties in a bunch about the Vatican being "out of touch" and "behind the times" with regard to feminism. I mean really, this is the Vatican. You know, home of the Pope, where apologies and understanding come hundreds of years later.

Sure, this time it's statements about blaming feminism for gay marriage in what can only be described as a parody of a Calvin and Hobbes strip about their GROSS club. I also understand that people want the Vatican to be "in touch" and "with the times" but it just isn't and it probably never will be.

Posted by Patrick at 9:30 AM | Permalink

Ren is posting again. That is all.

Posted by Patrick at 7:59 AM | Permalink

The latest Chicago Tribune poll on how people feel about restrictions on the media during wartime. Some comforting results, some not so much.

Posted by Patrick at 9:16 AM | Permalink

Atrios with the money shot: "If they can do it to Padilla, they can do it to you." Everyone should remember that. The reason why you should always be wary of taking away the freedoms of other people is that one day the other person could be you. So the next time you think about sticking up for holding people indefinitely without legal counsel, ask yourself if you would like to be held without access to a lawyer or our justice system. The next time you think it's okay to administer electric shocks to people, ask yourself if you would like to be picked up at random and have electric shocks administered to you.

I know it's a huge mind-stretch for most people to even think about putting themselves in the shoes of the "other person." But if we don't start soon, we may blow the whole thing.

Posted by Patrick at 8:02 AM | Permalink

Last year sometime I heard a story on NPR talking about the origin of the 8 glasses of water a day myth. They figured it was based on some calculations made from the average number of calories the body burns a day. I haven't bothered trying to find the story in their archive, but I did come across an interesting WebMD article that lays out the myths and the evidence.

• Myth No. 1: We need to drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day
• Myth No. 2: Caffeinated beverages make you dehydrated
• Myth No. 3: By the time you feel thirsty, you're already becoming dehydrated
• Myth No. 4: Drinking plenty of water can help you lose weight

Yes, water is good for you. You should drink water. That's why you get thirsty, to put it in the most simplistic terms possible of course. I just get really tired of people throwing the '8 glasses/2 liters a day' myth at me with nothing to back it up other than they 'heard it somewhere once.'

Water is just like everything else the body needs. It's best in moderation and in quantities that are right for your body. Too much water can harm you. Not enough water will obviously kill you. Obey your thirst™.

Posted by Patrick at 9:31 AM | Permalink

When hate-spewing "pundits" ask where is the outrage from the Muslim world over the beheading, show them this.

Posted by Patrick at 11:00 PM | Permalink

A good hearted conservative tried to convince me today that only $0.05 of every dollar donated to the Red Cross went towards helping people and that their financial records were not public. This is not the case. In fact, the exact opposite is the reality of the situation. "Management and General" account for 5% of the 2003 Operating Expenditures, as can be seen in their 2003 Report to the American People (PDF). But wait...there's more!

Of course, his point was that the Red Cross isn't 100% good. There is some non-zero amount of "waste" in the organization. That cannot be denied, nor is it a realistic standard to hold any organization that deals with over $3 billion a year. Just look at how hard it is for the Pentagon to keep track of all their cash. They're still trying to account for over $2.3 trillion. I'm not trying to make excuses, just pointing out reality. Trying to keep waste as close to zero as possible is the goal, all the while maximizing the number of people helped. That and public financial records should be just what the doctor ordered.

For other tasty tidbits you might want to browse their Federal Charter to see how they are tied to the Department of Defense.

Posted by Patrick at 12:20 AM | Permalink

Orcinus

1. The well-being of American democracy ultimately depends on a well-informed electorate. As such, the role of the media in keeping the public properly informed is not merely vital, it is sacred.

2. Over the past 20 years, American media have been in a state of serious decline insofar is it lives up to the responsibilities of this role:
-- Conglomeration and the increasing grip of monolithic corporatism has reduced the diversity of voices and viewpoints that are available to the public at all levels, from small local papers to major networks.

-- The rising dominance of television journalism has replaced serious journalism geared toward the public interest and policy with infotainment journalism that regards the value of stories almost solely for their ability to garner viewers through titillation, scandal-mongering and gore, while the perverse and demeaning cult of celebrity is elevated to the highest echelons.

-- The demise of the Fairness Doctrine has ensured that the public airwaves, controlled by a handful of conservatives given free rein to institute a hierarchy or self-interested propaganda, are now entirely the domain of right-wing ideologues who view defamation as entertainment and factuality and fairness as ratings death.

-- As a result of all these changes, reportage that remained vital to the public interest even though it may not have garnered strong bottom-line results -- especially investigative journalism, policy analysis, and international news -- became relegated to afterthought status.

3. The nature of these declines produced a string of travesties in the past decade and more:
-- The first major terrorist attack on American soil -- the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 169 people -- was treated as the idiosyncratic act of a small handful of mentally unstable actors, rather than as the arrival of the most serious threat to confront America since World War II: asymmetrical terrorist attacks that cannot be linked to foreign states and which cannot be dealt with through military action.

-- The continuing appearance of similar attempts to perpetrate equally horrific domestic terrorist attacks, mostly by right-wing extremists, in the five years ensuing Oklahoma City was utterly ignored by media outlets, largely because of the success of law enforcement in stopping such attacks in their tracks through an effective combination of law enforcement and intelligence.

-- The grotesque pursuit of pseudo-scandals regarding President Clinton's private life -- from Whitewater to "Travelgate" to Monica Lewinsky -- became the centerpiece of national coverage of his presidency, eclipsing any rational discussion of his administration's policy initiatives as well as those of the post-1994 Republican Congress. This pursuit finally culminated in charade of Clinton's impeachment for allegedly perjuring himself in testimony over a civil suit that should never have been allowed in the first place, while in the meantime the clearly Machiavellian and unethical behavior of his pursuers went almost utterly unreported.

-- The media fetish for Clinton's private life buried the seriousness of the growing assymetrical terrorist threat, embodied in the treatment of Clinton's attacks on Al Qaeda terrorist camps in 1998 as mere "wagging the dog" attempts to divert public attention from the Lewinsky scandal. At a time when Clinton was attempting to raise public awareness of the terrorist threat -- both domestically and abroad -- his pleas fell on the media's deaf ears because they had "other priorities."

-- The 2000 presidential campaign between Al Gore and George W. Bush became focused on trivial personality traits -- particularly Gore's supposed "embellishments" (such as the false "invented the Internet" meme) and Bush's supposed "straight shooter" qualities -- all of which were pure concoctions of partisan spin that favored the corporatist agenda of media ownership. The resulting extraordinary bias culminated in the Florida vote debacle in which Republicans were allowed to present pure falsehoods (such as the notion that machine counts were "more accurate" than hand counts) as fact, while Gore's legitimate efforts to challenge the counts under the established framework were depicted as illegitimate; and in the end, an extraordinarily corrupt and partisan Supreme Court ruling that overwhelmed Gore's popular-vote victory and placed Bush in the White House was treated as simply politics as usual, instead of the gross breach of democratic values that it was. It also placed in the White House a man manifestly incapable of comprehending the nature and gravity of the looming terrorist threat.

4. This degradation of the media, and its concomitant failure to keep Americans adequately informed, culminated in the attacks on American soil by Al Qaeda terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001, in which more than 3,000 people were killed in New York City and Washington, D.C. The media, to no one's great surprise, have never even begun to confront their own culpability in this disaster; and similarly they have failed to point out the fairly obvious culpability of the asleep-at-the-wheel president on whose watch it occurred. (Meanwhile, of course, Bill Clinton's role in the attacks has been aired ad nauseam.)

5. When George W. Bush sidetracked the resulting "war on terror" into an invasion of Iraq -- a nation that had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks -- by waving evidence of weapons of mass destruction in the public's face and suggesting that any dissent was akin to treason, the media utterly failed in its responsibility to examine the claims seriously and to treat them skeptically. Instead, it became a virtual propaganda arm for the White House, and savagely turned on any person (see, e.g., Scott Ritter, who was smeared as a pedophile) who dared play the role of skeptic. Protesters were summarily dismissed as loony "Bush haters."

6. Coverage of the 2004 election has already begun to resemble the travesty of 2000, focusing on trivial (and mostly concocted) personality traits: Howard Dean is grotesquely portrayed as a maniacal and out-of-control Howard Bealesque loose cannon; John Edwards as a callow pretty boy; Wesley Clark as an egotistical martinet; and Dennis Kucinich as a whiny, limp-wristed socialist. Once he became the de facto nominee, the "French-like" John Kerry was given both barrels of this treatment, as his status as a war hero came under fire without any grounds whatsoever, while other reports focused on his being served peanut-butter sandwiches by a personal assistant. Meanwhile, patrician fraternity brother George W. Bush is depicted as a man of the people, clearing brush on his Texas ranch. Matters of substantive policy that actually affect voters' lives -- the administration's floundering in Iraq; an economic policy that deprived over 2 million Americans of employment and destroyed the nation's job-creation capacity; an environmental policy that ensured more polluted air and water and diminished wildlife, as well as the more rapid approach of global warming; an energy policy that ensured $2-a-gallon-and-worse gasoline and increasing dependence on oil; an agricultural policy that dooms forever the small family farm -- have not even crossed the media's radar.

7. Americans have had enough. Like Howard Beale, they're mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore. Unlike Beale, however, their revolt against the media Powers That Be will be neither manic nor futile. It will be organized, rational, factually sound, unintimidated and, in the end, constructive rather than destructive. It will be founded on certain basic principles:
-- The bastardization of modern mass media into a propaganda outlet for narrow conservative corporate interests, in violation of its historic (and constitutional) role as guardian of the public weal, will be opposed at every turn. The driving forces behind this corruption are the conglomeration and deregulation of the media, and the concomitant suppression of dissenting voices; the vanity and naked self-interest of the press corps, embodied in their open embrace of spin as fact; the willingness of the public to embrace "lowest common denominator" reporting that, instead of making them informed participants in democracy, treats them to the illusion of news as entertainment.

-- Its chief bylaw will be an insistence on traditional journalistic values: factual correctness, fairness and balance, a healthy skepticism of the reigning "official story," conventional wisdom, and the claims of critics and defenders alike. It will seek a return to the nation's newsrooms of the kind of investigative and consumer-oriented journalism that has been the first victim of the bottom-line orientation of corporate media ownership, as well as the kind of newsroom oversight in the form of truly independent ombudsmen that once ensured that someone was watching the watchdogs on behalf of the public.

-- It will embrace the principles of American democracy, particularly openness of debate and the open dissemination of information. It will never embrace or even suggest the suppression of conservative views; instead, it will be predicated on confronting bad speech with more speech. All we will demand is the equal consideration and dissemination of other viewpoints as well.

-- The degradation of the national discourse into trivialities and prurient speculation will be the focus of the revolt. When reporters insist on covering politics as a horse race, replacing serious analysis of policy and its effects on the real life of citizens with gossip columns and talking points, and especially when they engage in fraudulent journalism that twists and conceals the truth, they will be exposed for the untrustworthy miscreants they are. When corporate owners adopt de facto policies -- from gutting serious journalism in newsrooms, to a bias in hiring and promotion, to the outright suppression of dissent -- which slant the reporting that fills our newspaper columns and the public airwaves, they will be brought to bay by public pressure to respect the public's right to (and need for) informative, factual and balanced journalism. When the public is carelessly and selfishly gulled by entertainment propaganda posing as journalism, we will combat their languor by working hard to disseminate facts and logic through the many means now available to us in the computer age.

8. This revolt will be organized strategically around two realities: 1) Previous tactics in the efforts to reform the nation's media have largely failed or faltered (see, e.g., the "public journalism" movement), though their occasional successes and certain principles are well worth noting and preserving. 2) Though this is a revolution against an evolved status quo, the spirit it represents beckons to a return to civic-minded journalism that enshrines the diversity of voices in American media; it is, in fact, more traditionalist in orientation than radical. What is radical -- and unacceptable -- is the current state of journalism as a wholly owned subsidiary and propaganda arm of narrow corporate interests.
-- It will generally eschew boycotts of the media themselves. Such an attempt is not only unlikely to have any discernible effect (media companies are notorious for targeting "key demographics" anyway), it's self-defeating, since it's impossible to be informed enough to act as a media watchdog without being a consumer of their goods as well.

-- It will nonetheless apply pressure against media companies -- economic pressure through boycotts, and rhetorical pressure through letter-writing and publicity campaigns -- through two key venues: advertisers and the media conglomerates' non-media enterprises.

-- The businesses whose advertising dollars underwrite so much of this misbehavior can be especially sensitive to having their names associated with volatile issues that inflame public anger. Even mass letter-writing campaigns to these companies can have the desired effect; and if necessary, an outright boycott may be wielded.

-- Likewise, business boycotts of the larger media conglomerates under whose auspices the corruption of the press has occurred may be useful or even necessary, particularly if the misbehavior is egregious enough or actually occurs at the larger corporate level. Disney, for example, fully deserves a boycott for its outrageous corporate decision to prevent its Miramax subsidiary from distributing Roger Moore's anti-Bush film, Fahrenheit 911.

-- These campaigns will be focused especially on two key problems: the decline of journalistic standards for both factual straightness and depth of coverage, and the perversion of the national debate by focusing on trivialities and "character" issues in the place of serious policy matters.

-- The revolution also will demand certain legislative and structural changes that will break up the monoculturalization of the media and return it to its former diversity and openness. Foremost among these is the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine. The demise (during the Reagan administration) of this regulatory protection against the partisan abuse of the public airwaves proved to be the cornerstone of the rise of the modern conservative domination of radio, particularly in the realm of the propagandist talk shows which too many Americans use as a substitute for serious information sources. The fears of the original critics of ending the doctrine -- that station owners would see the change as carte blanche for handing over the airwaves to a monochromatic ideology (in this case, conservatism) that only recently has begun to show cracks in the facade -- have manifested themselves all too clearly.

-- Along the same lines, but even more importantly, is the need to return many of the rules limiting the breadth of media ownership that were eliminated during the "deregulation" of the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, and whose few remnants now remain under attack by the Bush-appointed FCC chairman. The vertical and horizontal integration of the nation's mass media is having the same destructive effect as the similar integration of the nation's food industry, ranging all the way from small-town papers devoured and gutted by chains to cable-TV and network news becoming increasingly dominated by a travesty of the journalistic ethos twisted into a perverse culture of celebrity whose broad effect is to numb and paralyze the populace. Our means of informing the public have been winnowed down to a handful of large corporations who continue to demonstrate an utter disregard for anything beyond their own narrow interests. And those interests in recent years have come to clearly include keeping the public in relative ignorance by keeping them focused on trivialities and phony non-issues.

-- In the long run, this will require structural changes -- both in FCC and other regulatory policy, as well as in the tax and investment infrastructures -- that both require and encourage the breakup of media conglomerates. At the same time, it will be important to encourage (also through tax and investment infrastructures, as well as various small-business initiatives) the revitalization of small local ownership of the nation's media, along with the diversification of national-media outlets, ranging from the creation of viable newswire services beyond the current Asssociated Press monopoly to the divestment of national news networks from their dominance of cable TV.

-- This must be a nonpartisan revolution, though of course the immediate beneficiaries will be progressives, liberals and centrists, since all have faced a relentless assault from the conservative movement over the past decade regarding their voice within the mainstream media. (The entire purpose of the "liberal media" myth was to cast any idea or policy that fell outside the conservative party line as the product of a corrupt "liberalism.") Nonetheless, there are also conservatives of good will who recognize that the current cabal controlling both the government and media represent nothing particularly to do with genuine conservative values and almost entirely to do with the Manichean acquisition and manipulation of power. All Americans of every political stripe stand to benefit from these reforms, especially since their abuse in this decade can become a two-edged sword in another generation. No one, liberal or conservative alike, benefits from a constricted media that is only good for transmitting propaganda and lacks the diversity that is essential to informing a democracy.

9. The Internet -- and in particular, blogs -- will be the cornerstone of the strategy this media revolution will follow, though of course all means are important participants. Indeed, the reforms are intended to reach every facet of American mass media: newspapers large and small, television, film, radio, books, and of course the Internet.

For that matter, blogs themselves are odd creatures in that, except for the handful who actually engage in original reporting themselves, they are almost entirely dependent on other media forms, particularly print and Internet journalism. But part of what makes them unique is that they synthesize and contain information from all these other sources.

Blogs are, above all, uniquely democratic in nature. Anyone can blog. Supposedly serious "name" journalists ultimately have no more real value in the blogosphere than pseudonymous gym teachers who reveal a knack for being in touch with the larger populace. The value of what you write about, and how well you do it, is all that finally counts.

Blogs are also uniquely self-correcting in a way that eludes most other media; if false information is disseminated, it doesn't take long before it's eviscerated by other bloggers. This function, indeed, forms the backbone of its larger role as a media watchdog; just as blogs will "out" bad blogging, they also have been shown to expose false reporting, as well as malicious behavior on the part of both politicians and the press that might otherwise be buried in the "mainstream."

Because the blogosphere is still more or less in its infancy, it remains somewhat indistinct in shape, though a larger architecture is already beginning to emerge. There are inherent flaws, not the least of which is that a consistent blogger ethos seems not to have emerged fully but has remained formative; at some point, a sense of journalistic ethics ought to take root in the name of establishing credibility.

Nonetheless, blogs can and should play the role of central clearing-house for information in the Media Revolt. As the general public realizes that blogs can provide them with vital information they're not getting anywhere else, the audience will build. This includes the whole gamut of information: the factual news about the world, as well as reports on who's misbehaving or committing political atrocities or simply being incompetent; analysis of this information that would be suppressed in mainstream reports; information about planned actions to protest misbehavior; and action and funds needed to enact the needed legislative and structural reforms.

Blogs, in other words, can and should play the role abdicated by the mainstream media both in monitoring their own behavior and ethics, and in providing enough diversity that a wealth of viewpoints are given fair treatment, as in any healthy democratic society, and the public properly served.

Blogs will not and cannot do the job alone, of course. The whole purpose of the revolt is to foster an environment in which mainstream journalists, from the lowly ink-stained wretch to the well-coiffed network anchor, are both allowed and positively encouraged to provide truthful and meaningful journalism that provides vital information to the public and does it responsibly and thoroughly. So that will mean recognizing and positively celebrating when superior journalism does its job well; such reporters and truth-tellers should be lauded, promoted, and in the end well remunerated for their work. It will mean channeling the marketplace to reward organizations that do their job well, too.

Finally, the Media Revolt will tap the energy of the citizenry through traditional means as well: Letter-writing campaigns, voting with our pocketbooks, organizing politics and funds on the ground -- without which, in fact, anything that occurs on the Web may prove meaningless. The idea is to turn from simply critiquing the media to taking concrete action.

10. There should be no naivete about the nature of what we are up against. This is a revolt against a national discourse that has degraded into a puerile swamp of innuendo, smear, and dishonest reportage. Anyone participating must be prepared to have the worst of this kind of tactic used ruthlessly against them. And yet because of that, the revolt must at every turn repudiate such tactics and refuse ever to engage them: there must be no groundless insinuation or nakedly false "facts." When they natter about "character" or "likeability," we should talk plainly about policy and what happens in the real world. Smears (that is, fact-free attacks on a public figure's personal character) should not be answered with counter-smears. It's fair (if a concession to diversionary tactics) to fight back with facts, but never fair to resort to twisting or omitting: that's what they do. Cutting corners just to score political points is a Pyrrhic victory. If this is a revolt about integrity, then it will fail if it does not emody integrity itself.

Questions about our opponents' characters, of course, will remain an issue as long as they insist on framing the debate that way, and as long as they keep providing factual reasons to remain dubious. But defeating them should never be predicated on attacking their characters; it should be founded on their disastrous and incompetent stewardship of both the national media and the government itself.

Undertaking this task means hard work. But it has become clear to us as citizens, in an age when fear and terror rule our body politic, that what is at stake here is the soul of democracy itself. To save it, no labor should seem too great.

Orcinus

Posted by Patrick at 8:03 AM | Permalink

So I just saw the intro to Tough Crowd. What can I say, it's on after the Daily Show, sometimes I forget to turn the TV off soon enough. The first few seconds he had me. A red, white and blue banner with "My Bad" in "Mission Accomplished" style and he walked out in a fake flight suit, aviator glasses and all. He started mussing about how Bush was in a no-win situation. I had a mental pause, had Colin reverted from his Dennis Miller imitation? Nope.

He then went on to muse about how we were a super power and Bush should use the same finger he used to wipe coke off his nose in the 70's to nuke prominent middle easter cities, oh and he threw in Pyong Yang for good measure. Nuke the middle east! That's a great idea Colin. I'm sure that would make Israel safe and stop terrorism against the United States. I'm sure it would only kill the terrorists anyway.

Idiot.

Posted by Patrick at 11:44 PM | Permalink

A restaurant chain is slapped by the DoJ for discrimination against blacks. Big deal? It was Cracker Barrel. It may be wrong to laugh at that, but come on! Cracker Barrel?

Posted by Patrick at 9:58 PM | Permalink

The Navy needs to build a new runway. They found a spot they like. What's the problem? Farmers and birds.

The nemesis of the farmers and the bird-loving environmentalists is as formidable as they come: the U.S. Navy. The Navy is making an appeal to patriotism and arguing that it is justified in buying -- or, if need be, seizing -- more than 30,000 acres of farmland near the refuge to build a landing strip to polish the skills of pilots for its snazziest new crop of planes, the supersonic F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. The landing strip would be the first major new Navy facility since the 1960s and would break ground at a time when bases across the country are closing.

Little do the farmers know in that very instant they were transformed from domestic heroes that provide sustenance to patriotic Americans into "environmental whackos" and will now be derided as such on the Rush Limbaugh show. I'm sure Bill O'Reilly will tag them as "socialists," Ann Coulter will write them off as communists, and Karen Huges will say they are in bed with al Qaeda. Life moves pretty fast. Try and keep up.

Posted by Patrick at 8:24 AM | Permalink

You billing system sucks is less than optimal. Your contracts sucks are less than optimal. You GSM coverage sucks is less than optimal.

I will never use your service again and I will recommend to anybody who is foolish enough to ask me for advice about this subject, to not use your service.

Goodbye and good riddance,
Pat

Posted by Patrick at 3:22 PM | Permalink

zoom in | see original photos | post it yourself

Posted by Patrick at 12:50 PM | Permalink

ACLU Sues U.S. Government Over 'No-Fly' List

Shuford, the lead lawyer in the case, said the lawsuit aims to force the government to create a way to remove people from the list once they have proven they are innocent. (emphasis mine)

You know, a lot of people say that September 11^th changed everything... Did the whole basis for our justice system change when I wasn't looking?

Posted by Patrick at 5:41 PM | Permalink

36 years ago today he was shot dead. How much have we learned since then?

Posted by Patrick at 9:29 AM | Permalink

This NYT article on the Girl Scouts and their cookies is just too weird. First, the poor kids/parents stuck with excess aren't supposed to use eBay to recoup their losses because the whole cookie selling ordeal really is all about learning "social skills and confidence from the experience." And by "social skills" they mean dealing with surly customers. To drive the "it's not about the money" point home it seems that the "boots on the ground" don't get to keep much of what they take in as the profits are skimmed at the top.

Mr. Berger says he is frustrated by the slow earnings rate of the cookies, especially compared with the rate for popcorn and peanuts that his son's Boy Scout troop sells each year. "The Boy Scouts here keep 35 percent of the purchase price," he said. "The Girl Scouts keep only 17 percent. So what are they teaching the girls — that it's O.K. to work just as hard and make less money?"

Sounds like a hard lesson of the "real world" to me. Don't worry though, you can find Thin Mints on eBay.

Posted by Patrick at 9:41 AM | Permalink

So at a party last night a guy was ranting about how out of whack the legal system is since you can sue for spilling hot coffee on yourself or breaking your leg while trying to break into a building to rob it, and win.

I knew there was more to the coffee story, but I could remember off the top of my head, so I let it go. Well, there is more to that story. There had been over 700 injuries from the coffee. I'm saying the suit was right or wrong, just that there is more to the story than 'some old lady sued for hot coffee and won.'

I'm still searching for the other case...

Posted by Patrick at 8:11 AM | Permalink

Get this take on how gay marriage will destroy the western world:

There will be problems in the western world because then we've broken down the family. We're no longer producing children. And yet in other countries, where there is an agenda to affect America they are going to be producing children with a agenda to hurt the United States. So there's a concern. There's a fear there.

Pam Flannery

Dude...wtf? If we allow gays to marry, the family will be destroyed and thus nobody will choose to have children anymore. That's not even in the ballpark of logical. It's not even the same freakin' sport! Ah but Pat, you forget Faith supersedes logic. Oh yeah, never mind.

That's not even the scariest part either. The thing that really scares me is that this person feels that we need to have children because they will form the armies that will fight "evil" in the years to come.

Boy, evangelicals, I don't know...

Posted by Patrick at 9:49 AM | Permalink

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | 'Today, we are all Spanish'

The terrorist attack in Spain was a horrible tragedy. Let's hope democracy can survive the attack. Be strong Spain.

Posted by Patrick at 11:30 AM | Permalink

Miami police put tabs on rappers

US police have put some of the biggest names in hip hop under surveillance.

Officers in Miami are secretly watching and gathering intelligence on rappers like 50 Cent and P Diddy when they are in the Sunshine State, Florida.

Miami's police chief said the move was necessary to prevent violence but critics say the operation is intrusive.