I love this photo progression

That's the legendary Tom Skilling, weather broadcastifying on a particularly uninteresting day.

But put a port wine stain on his head and he becomes Gorbechev.

God?

Does he have a sense of humor? Or is he really getting us back for allowing homosexuality? You decide:

Government in Action!

Bush Says Katrina Recovery to Take Years

"We're dealing with one of the worst national disasters in our nation's history," he said at the White House after breaking off his Texas vacation to make an aerial tour of the devastation and return to Washington.

Yeah, from the window of the sweetest 747 you've ever seen.

In addition to the government's efforts, Bush encouraged private cash donations to recovery efforts.

How much of the ol' fortune have you personally given, W?

Additionally, Bodman said the Transportation Department had waived rules governing trucker hours, a step he said would increase the supply of gasoline.

Over-tired gasoline truck drivers? Thrilling!

Gouge!

Don't buy gas at Aberdeen and Grand. Some idiots were actually buying it.

Truth be told, hi-ever, I was out hording gas last night at 11pm, and the gas stations were full.

Uncanny

From the New York Times (via LSU) in 2002.

Nothing's Easy for New Orleans Flood Control

I heard on the radio that our pals at the Army Corps of Engineers only designed the levies to withstand a category 3 hurricane. Smooth move.

Bleeding edge

The Hipster PDA

Comedy!

Check out today's (Monday) Doonesbury.

http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=20050829

Aircraft!

The new Airbus plane, the 150,000 passenger A-380, is a beautiful plane. There's something 'stocky' about it. Sort of like a young animal with overly large paws, it conveys strength.

You've got to be kidding

This isn't really this guy's name, is it?

St. Patrick Trusty, 24, of the 9000 block of South Luella Avenue, was charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Deonta Cole

HA!

Humans Are Ones on Display at London Zoo

When visitor Peter Bohn, 42, saw the "animals" juggling, he stopped and had a good laugh.

What??

Burger King is out of their minds.

www.coqroq.com

Explain to me how this keeps restaurants open? [About half [completely unscientific] of the Burger Kings in the area have closed. 87th & Cicero, 104th & Cicero, etc.]

(Mini-quote from tonight's Frasier episode: "doll collecting war-criminal")

Numismatism!

Ten 1933 Gold Double Eagle coins were seized by the Treasury Department. This is an interesting story.

I like a real coin- I have some silver dollars, and there is just something about their heft that I like. Two of these, and one of these. Someone used these to purchase McDonald's with, and I traded them out.

None so valuable as my Tommy Bartlett's Robot World Token, however.

Crap! Junk! Gadgets!

Yes, it's Gizmodo. I've heard about it, but always thought it was a cell phone ringtone site. It's not. It's more of a gadget weblog, and the guy is writing it from the point of view of a normal person, rather than some kind of snotty fan-boi.

Top of the World, ma!

What they forget to mention, is that Joliet is also where Jimmy Cagney was incarcerated in the beginning of White Heat.

Musical Technology Innovator Dies

Robert Moog

[que Yes, Long Distance Runaround] [It starts with a synthesized steel drum in the right channel] [It's all I could think of right now.]

Awful

This guy is terrible: Doug Elfman, Television Critic for the Chicago Sun Times.

That bit doesn't work for the same reason Dennis Miller's humor doesn't work anymore. It's not funny when the powerful piss on the powerless.

Really? "Piss"? Isn't that a graphic depiction of a bodily function?

Another?

Is Nancy is a sympathetic character? Yes and no. On the one hand, being a young widow must be a bitch.

Look, I know it must be humiliating to be a failed music critic, but please spare me the potty words. You've (inexplicably) made it to the big-time: act like it.

Seems unthinkable

Is this really happening?

Potato

Have you had the Krinkle Cut Kettle Chips? I recommend the Salt and Pepper flavor. It's weird wild stuff.

Customer service?

It would be nice if there was some kind of customer service revolution. Comcast isn't too bad, in my experience. It was way worse when it was AT&T and Turner.

When LaChania Govan's Comcast service wasn't working, she called for help. And called. And called. It was a frustrating process, and then she got the bill.

Add an alcoholic mother

And you've got a TV movie!

Don't mess with Texas

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0816051texas1.html

Liberal media!

CNN's headline:Worm strikes down Windows 2000 systems

Red Breaking News banner across cnn.com: A worm shut down computers running Windows 2000 software across the United States. More soon.

Trend Micro (who they used as a source in the story), though, has these worms as "low" risk.

I wonder if it has anything to do with this:

A computer worm shut down computer systems running the Windows 2000 operating system across the United States on Tuesday, hitting computers at CNN, ABC and The New York Times.

250 MPG Hybrid?

Of course not. But through some technological wizardry, it looks that way. In this story from CNN.

The idea is that you add batteries to your Hybrid vehicle, making your electrical gas tank bigger. The wizardry is that you plug the thing in at night to "pre charge" the batteries. So, for the first few miles of driving, the car doesn't have to rely as much on the gas engine. Thus 250 miles per gallon.

To address an innaccuracy:

Like all hybrids, his Prius increases fuel efficiency by harnessing small amounts of electricity generated during braking and coasting.

That's not what makes it a hybrid! First, it doesn't regenerate electricity during coasting, because you want it to coast. A car "going" without adding energy is a) very temporary and b) far more efficient than anything else. Second, regenerative braking is only 10-20% of the Hybrid's power savings. What makes it a hybrid is that it has a gas motor and an electric motor. That is more efficient (even after carrying around all those batteries and motors) because gasoline/diesel engines are actually quite efficient- *if* they are operated within a fairly narrow RPM range, and don't deiviate much from that. Electric motors are quite efficient at accelerating, and don't need to idle. Combine those two advantages, and you've got a hybrid.

Up and Atom?

Look to the right (below the last archive section) for a barely visible atom.xml feed link. Choke on it.

Cell phone madness!

Perhaps you, like me, have heard noises like this emanating from your computer or television. Behold! Behold2! Long ago, I figured out it was the cell phone doing it. Back in the day, it was the Nextel. I always knew when someone was going to call me, because the speakers near me would dit-dit-dit away. But it was only the Nextel that did it, not my sweet Nokia. [It wasn't exactly that one, but very much like it. 1996 vintage or so.]

Anyway, the next phones were Sprint phones, running on the PCS network. Never heard the noise. Sprint's service went to hell around here, so I switched to AT&T. Never heard the noise. AT&T changed to Cingular, and I didn't hear the noise. But in the transition, the phone "roams" to the real Cingular network, away from the old AT&T one, conveniently renamed in my phone as Cingular. When it's doing that, I get the noise. It is also possible that the battery runs out quicker, but I'm not sure.

My interest piqued, I began researching. So it seems like the 850 MHz network is the noisy one, while the 1900 one is less so. The first sound you clicked on was the 1900, the second was the 850, both taken using the same methodology.

My point being, point your phone at your computer's speakers some day.

Awful

This story is just sad on so many levels. And there's no right answer. Between a rock and a hard place.

Guardian sues to sterilize her niece

I hate that Spurlock clown

Mom drops 37 pounds on McDiet

Good for her. I'm surprised it made the news at all. It's much more fun to believe that McDonald's magically makes you into walking pate'.

History people: during the height of the Enlightenment, the majority of regular folks still sat around the dinner table worried whether God would allow the sun to rise another day, right? An Enlightenment gap, if you will? And that really hasn't changed much, has it?

Food pron!

Picture this: Haute cuisine as theater

They may well be dilletantes, but they call themselves foodies.

Time for everyone's favorite game!

Get your scorecards folks, and sit tight for another round of your favorite game:

"Who's this guy?"



Is it Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records, or Saddam Hussein, deposed tyrant?

And the digital TV is worth it just for the PBS stuff. You haven't heard music until you've heard Ann Wilson's (of Heart) voice breaking in 5.1 surround sound. But for the love of sweet, sexy Jesus, can they take it easy with the video editing?

This might win

... the yet-unnamed Least Newsworthy report of the year! Having taken the day off of work, I happened to be watching this (and turned it off quickly afterwards because Regis wasn't on). In the first place, it was more exciting to watch than this stupid report betrays. And that's saying something, because it is trying to make it look like more than it was. Secondly, where the ellipses are where she corrects herself, they forgot to insert where Kelly Ripa actually made the correction.

Movies aren't news!

The day Kelly Ripa corrects you on live-on-tape syndicated television is the day you're the dumbest idiot on the planet.

Jessica Simpson has something wrong with her. I get that she's dumb. But she seems to have no natural talent at all. Watch her 'dance' during the remaining publicity spots she does for the stupid movie. [flame on] Sweetheart, music has a beat. Convulse to that.

Can't pass it up

$30,000 Cock!

Conservative smackdown!

What are the Jesus freaks going to do with someone who, as Republicans are supposed to do, actually defended the rights of the little guy?

Weak?

Why do people who try to force odd spellings and pronunciations of their names upon the rest of us? Sandra can be Sahn-dra or it can be Sand-ra, but Sawn-dra is just silly.
As is this guy, for lots of reasons. Get a fucking job!