Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
- The President of Rich Christian White Men – Would progressives allowing a “President Perry” (shudders) to be elected “teach the Democratic politicians a lesson”? Sure. Just as cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face teaches the face a lesson. Still not a recommended course of action.
- Police arrest “Superman burglar” accused of robbing mentally disabled man of epic geek stash – Huzzah! To the Phantom Zone with him!
- Judge worries recording police will lead to excessive “snooping around” – These are people who we allow (for very good reasons) to go around with guns and mace and tasers and physically restrain and haul away individuals. Again, that’s for a good reason, but it means that transparency and accountability (“snooping”) is a necessary thing. (Oh, and, and dear government lawyers, the First Amendment is about protect speech, not about empowering speakers to restrict who can hear their speech; just think about what sort of zany effects that sort of legal argument empowers.)
- Smuggling Hummingbirds – Awwww.
- Infographic: A Timeline Of All The Changes In ‘Star Wars’ – Wow.
- Half of Rick Perry’s political donations come from a handful of zillionaires – Rick Perry, Man of the People. And you can count all those People, right over there, nibbling on the canapes and whispering in his ear. (Note: yes, I know that Perry is not alone in this. But he’s a nicely egregious example.)
- Bobby Jindal, liar for Jesus – The biggest problem with the newsish media is that it is not after education, information, or truth. It’s about ratings and revenue. Asking a hard question — or following up a lie with a question challenging it — damages relationships, and makes it less likely that you, as media personality (or your show, or your network) will be given access in the future to do so. Now, if every journalist and news agency and so forth stuck to their guns, that would be a level playing field. But as long as there are folks willing to lob ignorant softballs across the plate for these guys, these guys will have no problem with offering up unchallenged falsehoods. And that’s not good for anyone except the liars and the media companies that enable them.
- The Evolution of the Easy Bake Oven – I find it amazing — and heartening — that incandescent bulbs are now efficient enough to not “power” an Easy Bake oven.
- How Online Advertising Works – I’m always surprised when folks get torqued off over ads that appear on a given site, given that the site itself has very, very little control over that.
- Texas Eats Puppy – Offered solely for the wry humor, not for any spiritual comment.
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