I just got the news that Mark Linkous shot himself through the heart on Saturday.
Wow… Terribly sad news. NYT article here.
I don’t know what else to say other than that you might want to go read the Phawker tribute to Mark Linkous if you want to know more.
And a very good NPR piece here.
A Washington man was in a single car accident last Friday, ramming into a power pole. The 50-year-old man suffered no major injuries in the accident and called family to come help him get his car out of the ditch.
While waiting for his family to arrive, he decided to go “see a man about a horse”.
One can only imagine what happened next, and since the Seattle Times did a poor job speculating, I will provide the following as my reenactment, beginning after the phone call to family:
“Well, son of a bitch. This sucks and I gotta take a piss. Well, they’ll be here soon, I’ll just hold it…. Oh, god they’re never gonna get here… That’s it I’m gonna just pee into the ditch.
(sidenote: He doesn’t see that he has knocked a powerline into the ditch and it’s live.)
zipppp….. pssssss…… “Ahhhhhh…..”
“YEOWWWW!!!!!”
The Seattle Times picks up the story at this point indicating that, while an autopsy is planned, the burn marks seem to indicate a direct path of travel of the electricity.
Ouch, this has got to be a terrible way to go. Remember to look where you pee, you never know when the reaper is gonna come for you.
Dr. John Miller of Central Connecticut State University has named Seattle the most literate city in his 2009 study of major U.S. cities.
Seattle has placed in the top two for the past five years.
You don’t see your city on the list? You can go here for the complete list. If you live in El Paso, scroll to the bottom.
Check out the links on the main site for an overview of the study, the methodology used to rank the cities, and how they ranked in different categories like Number of Booksellers, Education, Internet, Libraries, Newspapers (We Seattleites have but one major paper now), and Publications.
Congratulations Seattleites! We have another thing we can add to the list of what make us snobby elitist liberals.
Oxford University announced the Oxford Word of the Year 2009:
unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.
Whatever…. Doesn’t everyone know that it’s ‘defriend’ not ‘unfriend’?
Here is a partial list of some other notable words in 2009:
Technology
hashtag – a # [hash] sign added to a word or phrase that enables Twitter users to search for tweets (postings on the Twitter site) that contain similarly tagged items and view thematic sets
intexticated – distracted because texting on a cellphone while driving a vehicle
netbook – a small, very portable laptop computer with limited memory
paywall – a way of blocking access to a part of a website which is only available to paying subscribers
sexting – the sending of sexually explicit texts and pictures by cellphoneEconomy
freemium – a business model in which some basic services are provided for free, with the aim of enticing users to pay for additional, premium features or content
funemployed – taking advantage of one’s newly unemployed status to have fun or pursue other interests
zombie bank – a financial institution whose liabilities are greater than its assets, but which continues to operate because of government supportPolitics and Current Affairs
Ardi – (Ardipithecus ramidus) oldest known hominid, discovered in Ethiopia during the 1990s and announced to the public in 2009
birther – a conspiracy theorist who challenges President Obama’s birth certificate
choice mom – a person who chooses to be a single mother
death panel – a theoretical body that determines which patients deserve to live, when care is rationed
teabagger -a person, who protests President Obama’s tax policies and stimulus package, often through local demonstrations known as “Tea Party” protests (in allusion to the Boston Tea Party of 1773)Environment
brown state – a US state that does not have strict environmental regulations
green state – a US state that has strict environmental regulations
ecotown – a town built and run on eco-friendly principlesNovelty Words
deleb – a dead celebrity
tramp stamp – a tattoo on the lower back, usually on a woman
I’ve been struck recently by the tenacity of the misinformed and seemingly illiterate, Fox News watching, Obama hating, conservatives who comment in public discussion forums. There is a massive, negative response to their posts by the more well-informed and thoughtful, yet mostly average internet denizens. But no matter how well argued and articulated the points against these immovable objects are, I continue to see the same arguments from the same people, issue after issue, article after article, blog after blog. It’s as though they stop reading as soon as information, no matter how credible and/or factual, turns them off as soon as it offends their “densibilities.”
A huge argument that rears its head like an indestructible cockroach in your otherwise clean kitchen (granted, your apartment is above a one-man Mediterranean pizza joint), is that ABC, CNN, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, and C-SPAN are liberal news sources, just as much as Fox News is conservative. In fact, the argument goes, in this sea of liberally biased news sources, any criticism of Fox News is dismissible hypocrisy.
And you don’t [take pro-Obama news as gospel] when it’s cnn, nbc, abc and cbs?? Come on….
But for us it’s not the source of the information that matters, it’s how well the information compares to reality. If CNN is reporting that Obama is training a Frog Army to invade our homes and eat our small pets, the source doesn’t matter because that just doesn’t make sense. If several sources are reporting it, then my curiosity is piqued and I want to know why this crazy thing is being reported. When Obama comes on and denies the rumor, explaining that the Frog Army is here to protect our Victory Gardens from insects, then it is confirmed, in my mind, that a Frog Army is not as ridiculous as it sounded and I start scouring other sources for more information. How are these frogs produced? How are they controlled? What can they be used for? Why have I never heard of the science behind this? I go to the library, read science journals, scour news sources and elevate the ones that adhere to the facts above the ones who resort to scare tactics. After all, my kitty’s life could be on the line here!
Unfortunately for all of us, when it comes to a lot of what these people believe, the only sources they can turn to are the opinion shapers weaved into the fabric of their funny little information ecosystem that is tainted with lies, paranoia, and a groupthink agenda. Glenn Beck floats an accusation, “is the CDC maintaining internment camps? I can’t debunk the rumors…” World Net Daily reports on it as fact and cites Glenn Beck, a trusted guy on TV who couldn’t have a job in television news if he was a liar. Digg commenters submit the stories and rush over to FreeRepublic to get the “Freepers” to raid Digg and simulate a groundswell of support for ideas that are being “suppressed by the Mainstream MSM Media!”
Conversely, it’s a rare occasion that I turn to CNN, ABC, CBS, or MSNBC for the detailed information I need to form an opinion. They just don’t offer much beyond what will interest the broadest set of viewers. A recent example was the Balloon Boy story. The major outlets were the only good source of information. Granted, the cynic in me saw a few facts (the family was recently on Wife Swap, the reality show for the least talented of the reality show attention whore hoards, the balloon didn’t look like it was carrying anything more than itself as it tossed about in the wind, and they, themselves, had informed their local TV news station — before, it turns out, they even contacted 911) in the story that had the word “hoax” on the tip of my tongue.
But the conservative sheep need to know, if I don’t get my information from cable, how on earth can I call myself well-informed?
So where do you get your information from?
Let me begin with a list of the RSS feeds I subscribe to for you. This is my first stop for a rundown on what’s going on in the world each morning (and these are just the feeds in my ‘Politics’ folder):
Fark headlines:
Christian Science Monitor:
Reuters:
Salon:
Slate:
Christian Post:
Media Matters:
538:
Reason Mag:
Crooks and Liars:
As you can see, I have a mix of liberal, conservative, non-partisan, and libertarian feeds. I look for headlines that interest me, compare what each source has to say, and try to find out why there are differences, if there are any. For that, I use the following:
Wikipedia:
Snopes:
FactCheck:
Politifact:
And a whole lot of google.com and news.google.com. Another great source of information is actually the comments sections of many of the sites I listed above. In fact, I would be comfortable saying that I crowdsource my information gathering.
If an article I read cites sources, I will read the source and then find out what I can about the publisher of that information. Like sometimes people will cite an article on the Center For Consumer Freedom’s website. I have, through the steps listed above, discovered that this is a front group for major corporations whose agenda is to conflate consumer freedom with corporate interests (although, in this case Wikipedia’s open edit policy has failed me!). They want to strike down laws that protect consumers against, for example, unhealthy food additives. But they advocate for the issue by redefining the purpose of the government’s intervention to say that the government wants to take away your freedom to eat food with unhealthy additives. And all they’re interested in is protecting your freedom (to buy their products).
They also like to cite each other. If an article cites sources that cite other sources that then cite no one or they cite other parts of their own site or they cite their own research, I dismiss the article as a partisan lie.
So, yeah. CNN, ABC, CBS, and MSNBC have very little to do with my information gathering. But there’s a lot more to it than that and I think that’s where the divide comes in. Uninformed people criticizing somewhat-informed people, not for being uninformed, but for coming down on the opposite side of the uninformed debate from them. They get all of their information from Fox News and then believe that they are informed.
At least Fox News is fair and balanced!
And because they believe that a cable news station is all they need to be well informed, they also believe that all of the rest of us depend on MSNBC to similarly inform us. It’s like they’re blindly playing Marco-Polo in a crowded public pool. They assume everyone they bump into is the one they heard shouting “Marco!” But it wasn’t. It was Glenn Beck and he’s sitting in a comfy chair two thousand miles away.
The first residential treatment center in the US for Internet Addiction opened this summer outside of Seattle.
From the State Journal-Register:
The center, called ReSTART, is somewhat ironically located near Redmond, headquarters of Microsoft and a world center of the computer industry. It opened in July and for $14,000 offers a 45-day program intended to help people wean themselves from pathological computer use, which can include obsessive use of video games, texting, Facebook, eBay, Twitter and any other time-killers brought courtesy of technology.
I really like Kanye West.
But, last night he was a huge dick on the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards show.
While the lovely Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Female Video, Kanye came on stage, took the mic and said “I’m sorry, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time”. By the time he was done, Taylor had no time left for her 1st Moonman acceptance.
Here is what Katy Perry said in her tweet:
Fuck U Kanye. It’s like u stepped on a kitten.
Over on MTV.com, Taylor is quoted as saying:
Well, you know, I was up there and I was standing there and I saw Kanye up on the stage,” she explained. “I was really excited … and I kind of wasn’t excited anymore.
According to MTV.com, when Beyoncé won for Best Video of the Year:
This is amazing,” said B, recalling her first VMA nomination at 17 with Destiny’s Child. “It was one of the most exciting moments in my life, so I’d like for Taylor to come out and have her moment,” she added, in one of the classiest moments in VMA history. Accepting a big hug from B, a beaming Swift joked, “Maybe we could try this again,” thanking all her fans for their support.
So, in the end everything worked out hunky dory and I don’t have to delete all my Kanye mp3s. :-)
BUT….Is it possible that this was all one big publicity stunt? I wonder cuz, as Taylor Swift attempts to break out of the “country singer” mold and gain a wider audience, is it not possible that Jay-Z, Kanye, and Beyoncé were all intended players in the huge buzz that this has created? Only time will tell.
In somewhat related, but weirder news, it has been revealed that Kanye also interrupted Obama’s recent speech.
Last night a man in his 60’s punched a healthcare reform advocate in the nose and promptly had his finger bitten off. The AP reports that “his treatment was covered by Medicare.”
…a man on MoveOn.org’s side of the street crossed over and shouted “Why don’t you like the public option?” Several of the counter-protesters said that they don’t want the government to run everything. The MoveOn.org man got nose to nose with a short, gray-haired counter-protester, and sneered, “You’re an idiot.”
At that point, I’m told the victim either swung at or pushed his assailant’s face away with an open hand, and his finger entered his mouth. Update (3:09 PM PT): The victim, Bill Rice, admitted he threw the first two blows; his finger was bitten off on the second blow.
So, a person who “doesn’t want the government to run everything” gets his finger bit off and then uses a government insurance plan to pay for his medical bill? WTF?
For way too many years, G.M. produced a line of huge gas guzzling automobiles built around its truck chassis. The Cadillac Escalade, the Chevy Tahoe, and Chevy trucks. They made some mid-size sedans, but they were pretty dull pieces of machinery. They never ventured too far into the small hybrid car market – probably because they didn’t have the engineers, designers and guts to compete with Toyota and Honda. The company failed, but before the government forced reorganization, they decided to resuscitate the Camaro. They are banking on the new Camaro to bring Chevrolet back to life.
Okay, so it’s good looking car, but it’s not the car of the future. It’s a car of the past. It will appeal mostly to boomers who want to try and relive their high-school years by driving around in a muscle car they dreamed of owning when they were eighteen.
The New York Times reports that the new Camaro is GM’s top seller:
Amid the gloom of bankruptcy and a miserable market for new vehicles, G.M.’s new Chevrolet Camaro muscle car is winning over consumers looking for a little excitement in a bland landscape of look-alike sedans and watered-down sport utilities.
G.M. sold 9,300 Camaros during the month of June — more than either its entire Buick or Cadillac divisions could muster on their own.
…
While it comes with a big V-8 as an option, the base model has a 6-cylinder engine that gets 22 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving.
It is also priced for the mainstream buyer — about $23,000 for the base version, and up to $32,000 for the loaded V-8 model.
G.M. began taking orders for the Camaro last fall, and buyers put down deposits on 14,000 of them before the first one was built in March at its plant in Oshawa, Ontario.
“The cars are coming into the dealerships, getting cleaned up and then delivered to customers almost immediately,” said Karen K. Rafferty, a Chevrolet marketing executive.
She said that G.M. had a six-day supply of Camaros nationally; 60 days is considered the norm in the industry.
I would never buy one, but if other people choose this car over one one of those HUGE Escalades or Tahoe’s that take up the entire lane and block my vision, well I guess that’s an improvement.
Maybe the Chevy Volt will catch on when it comes out next year.
I just finished designing and coding my friend’s new website Viva La Jackson. The site is selling Michael Jackson/Che Guevara mashup T-shirts. They are really awesome shirts and can’t wait to get my hands on one. I hear that there are other designs in the works. Stay tuned.
From the website:
Michael Jackson was the KING of POP, he led the POP REVOLUTION for millions of fans worldwide.
Show the world you’ve joined the revolution with this iconic Michael Jackson/Che Guevara mash-up T-Shirt.
