Saturday, February 6, 2010

After Factor, Therapy

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Jon Consults His Therapist 2/4/10
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K.O. wants you to see what got left out by Bill-O.

Web 2.0 Blues

What's an old-school folkie to do in a world of social networking?

Respond online.

Scott Blaszak performs his original song, "Talkin' Web 2.0 Blues."

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Audio: PRI & WNYC's program Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen.
"Busker" is from munkt0n's Flickr photostream.

Did we mention Blaszak's also a filmmaker?



"The Wiki Breakup" is among Scott Blaszak's contributions to SlateV.

The Ex

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Eliot Spitzer 2/2/10
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Snooze Deterents

So you thought it'd be nice to hit the snooze alarm...


Real Seiko alarm clock ads by BBDO Bangkok, Thailand.

Designer Genes

Federal court battle rages over patents for artifically created genes.
Audio: CBS Radio's Osgood File, 2/2/10.
Sweatshirt photo by Zazzle.

Left Out In The Coal

Their name suggested coal was clean,
The Greens, although, were far from kean.
The Doctor's heirs exclaimed "How crude!"
Thus "Lorax" Coal got their ass sued.


Friday, February 5, 2010

Fox 'n' Hounds (2)

Jon Stewart made one visit to the Factor, edited & aired over 2 days.



It hardly seemed long enough to carry over to a second day... Except for the promotional value. Bill wasted a lot of time with his trial balloon ticket, too. Jon held his ground and then Laura Ingraham came on to claim he'd thrown Obama under the bus... Maybe even the Straight Talk Express.

I'd missed this yesterday, but apparently the big O is taking on all comers this week... Not necessarily getting their point and responding, just taking them on.



The Daily Kos Poll in question.

Don't Stop, Don't Get It


The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
A Few Gay Men & Women 2/3/10
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The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Be Almost All That You Can Be 2/3/10
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Halftime & Halfwits

He wrote the rock opera Tommy, but is he really wicked Uncle Ernie?


Mike and Jeff publish podcasts on Facebook.

They're agitated over issues of truth, justice and the American way.

Pulp Non-Fiction

For five scandal-ridden years in the mid 1950’s, Confidential was the most popular, pulpiest, dishiest, Hollywood-shaking, gossip rag in the nation. And it insisted that its stories, no matter how sensational, be true. Confidential defied the studios, exposed the foibles of Hollywood brightest stars and laid the groundwork for our modern 24/7 celebrity culture. Henry Scott, author "Shocking True Story", tells Confidential’s story.

Audio: WNYC's On The Media Host: Bob Garfield.

Shades of Graystone



Caprica, a prequel to Battlestar Gallactica, airs Fridays on SyFy.

Brace Yourself

Baylor Med School study says cervical collars may hurt, not help.
Audio: CBS Radio's Osgood File, 1/26/10.
2007 photo of mountain biker Charles Myers of Los Gatos CA.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Fox 'n' Hounds (1)



Internet (Addiction) Age

Cartoon by Jack Pittman.

South Koreans were among the first to truly embrace the internet. Perhaps that’s why the country has also become one of the first to treat internet addiction as a psychiatric disorder. Author Douglas Rushkoff traveled to South Korea for PBS' Frontline: Digital Nation to present a glimpse into South Korea's battle against digital obsession.

Audio: WNYC's On The Media Host: Bob Garfield.

Not My Job, Man



Working In The Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won't Do

Ads 'n' Adds

As long-time Chargers fans, they think it's over... Except for the ads.


Mike and Jeff publish podcasts on Facebook.

They're still waiting for Rolf Benirschke to cave in and friend them.

Assume The Position

Sitting is among the things scientists now say are health risks.
Audio: CBS Radio's Osgood File, 1/21/10.

Sitting Ducks, a 1982 painting by Michael Bedard.

Save The Tiger

Craig Tracy photographed this image of “The Last South China Tiger” as part of Save China’s Tigers‘ efforts to protect the remaining striped felines there.

A quick look at the tiger's nose suggests Tracy is a body painter...
But how many models did he use?



Via Like Cool

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

There Ain't No Sanity Clause

The progressive blog Daily Kos hired Research 2000 to conduct a Poll of Self-Identified Republicans, conucted between January 20 and 31.

  • 63% of them believe President Obama is a socialist
  • 53% believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be president
  • 36% believe he wasn't born in the United States
  • 31% believe the president hates white people
  • 24% believe the president wants the terrorists to win
  • 23% believe their state should secede from the union



    allies to the left, opponents to the right
    Jane's Law: The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane. -- Jane Galt, from Asymetrical Information.
  • Hunting Dog

    "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." -- attributed to Groucho Marx



    Talk about stupid pet tricks...

    Audio: NPR's Morning Edition, 2/2/10 Host: Steve Inskeep.

    Duck-Hunting Dog Tells All

    A man invites a friend to watch his prize duck hunting dog at work.

    They approach the first pond, the dog runs ahead into the brush. He comes back and waves his tail once. The owner tells his friend that this means there is one duck on the pond. They walk up, and sure enough, one duck flies off.

    At the second pond, the dog waves his tail three times. The owner explains that this means there are three ducks on the pond. When they walk up, exactly three ducks take flight.

    At the third pond, the dog runs back and forth, humping the hunters' legs and chasing his tail. The friend asks what in the world this means. The owner explains, "This means there are so many f**king ducks on that pond, he can't even count them."

    Jokes.com
    Ellen DeGeneres - Hunting
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    The Big O

    The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
    Q & O 2/1/10
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    President Obama's Q+A session with Senate Democrats 2/3 turned into a softball game staged largely to make those facing tough electoral prospects look good to their home state audiences.

    The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
    The Word - Siren Song 2/1/10
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    Dot Communism

    They are notorious pirates... Stealing first patented products then the jobs of those who made them, ignoring any form of intellectual property rights and now launching widespread internet hacking attacks.

    It isn't always clear whether the attacks are government sponsored or merely tolerated, but Todd Bucholz says China faces a stark choice when it comes to Internet freedom and it's time for China to pull hackers' plugs.


    Economist Todd Buchholz was an adviser to the first President Bush. His latest book is called "New Ideas From Dead CEOs."

    CD of the Month

    There's a natural bond between authentic instruments from first peoples and the musical genre "trance."

    "Dancing Into Silence" by Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai along with William Eaton and Will Clipman is the Echoes CD of the Month for February 2010.

    John Dilberto of WXPN, Philadelphia offers a review.

    Audio: PRI's Echoes, an ambient music program on public radio.

    Washday Wardrobe

    How many times do you change your lingerie while cleaning?


    "Chore" is an ad for Damaris lingerie... Supposedly "brilliant housework attire."

    Lauren McAvoy appeared as a contestant on Britain's Next Top Model, where she got to show her face... And won the third season.

    Tuesday, February 2, 2010

    How High Priced The Moon

    Spencer insisted we knew more about space than we knew about the depths of the ocean... Repeatedly, slightly slurred and way too loud for a 6 AM street corner conversation. It was mostly the alcohol talking. He'd spent the night mooching free well drinks for players at downtown casinos by moving around to scam different cocktail waitresses.

    But it was partly his Baptist upbringing. In his then current condition of drunken amateur theologian he equated NASA's manned space program moon landings with "Jacob's Ladder" story from Genesis... The original Stairway to Heaven.

    Little did he know that spaceflight would be mothballed later the same morning... A casualty of the proposed 2011 federal budget.


    "The truth is we were not on a sustainable path to get back to the moon," NASA administrator Charles Bolden said in a telephone conference call with the Washington Post. "We were neglecting investments in key technologies."

    Les Paul, whose custom guitar is Gibson's all-time best seller, is also considered the inventor of multi-track recording, which allowed his partner Mary Ford to stack vocals like Imelda May did for the tribute at the 2010 Grammys with Jeff Beck.

    Money In Motion



    Huffington's Move Your Money site, and video.

    It's Groundhog Day!

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    Robot Replacement?

    Posted on Geekologie
    PETA wants spring-predicting groundhog Punxsutawney Phil replaced with by a robotic version.

    I can see it now: Well, did he see his shadow? I don't know, but he did kill 14,000 bystanders.

    People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it's unfair to keep the animal in captivity and subject him to the huge crowds and bright lights that accompany tens of thousands of revelers each Feb. 2 in Punxsutawney, a tiny borough about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. PETA is suggesting the use of an animatronic model.

    But William Deeley, president of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, says the animal is "being treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania."

    Uh, how exactly is the average child treated in Pennsylvania?
    Bill Murray kinda likes the original, unaltered.



    This year's verdict: another six weeks of winter.

    To New Beginnings



    The Band, live in Japan, September 1983.

    Fast Draw: U.S Census

    Josh Landis and Mitch Butler explained on CBS Sunday Morning.

    Easy As Pie Graph

    "Accurate Pie Graph" by Laszlo Thoth on Live Journal (January, 2007), Via GraphJam, September, 2008.

    The creator's alias is similar to "Lazlo Toth," the pen name under which SNL's Don Novello (Father Guido Sarducci) wrote letters to famous figures (taken from that of Laszlo Toth, a deranged man who vandalized Michelangelo's Pietà in Rome). The letters, designed to tweak the noses of politicians and corporations, were full of deliberate misstatements of fact and inside jokes. Many of these letters received serious responses; Novello sometimes continued the charade correspondence at length, with humorous results. The letters and responses were published in three books: The Lazlo Letters , Citizen Lazlo! and From Bush to Bush: The Lazlo Toth Letters.

    Red White & Brown

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    comedians.comedycentral.com
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    As a kid with (South Asian) Indian parents growing up in the "Great White North," Russell Peters found self-deprecating comedy was an effective survival technique. Decades later, he's still poking fun at ethnic quirks, including his own. In the process, he's becoming one of the highest-earning comedians.

    Audio: NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, 1/30/10 Host: Audie Cornish.

    Monday, February 1, 2010

    Monday Monochrome

    Photo by Lina Scheynius Via Feaverish Photography

    Calculated Risk

    With all the recent criticism of Timothy Geithner, and the acrimony over re-upping Ben Bernanke (70-30, an electoral landslide, was the narrowest ever margin for confirming a Fed chairman), it was former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson who initiated the government's response to the economic meltdown. He's been on defense ever since.



    Reporter: Anthony Mason.

    As Loud As Allowed

    Remember TV contests where the winner was picked by how loud the audience applauded? The on-screen metering imagery wasn't always authentic, but there are real scientific instruments to do the same thing... Measure the absolute, or relative, level of loudness.

    The guys in the lab coats can confirm what any couch potato with ringing ears already knows: commercials are damn loud.

    Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA) first introduced a proposal to limit the loudness of TV ads in the summer of 2008... A little late to make it through that session. And the bill was swiftly overwhelmed by the din of campaign attack ads, screaming car dealers, lower priced car insurance and household gadgets demonstrated TO an audience of carefully selected shills or BY Billy Mays.

    So Eshoo tried again in 2009 with the the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act.

    Audio: NPR's All Things Considered, 01/02/10.

    While the free market think tank guy typically advocates self restraint over government regulation, in the heat of competition, or the quest to obliterate competition, self restraint doesn't have a great track record... It's readily sacrificed when a competitor's lack of self restraint is perceived to be advantageous.

    TV stations or networks do the same thing. If you channel surf during widespread coverage of the same event (like the State of the Union message) you'd hear different audio processing on each channel, most of it trying to sound louder.

    Radio does the same thing, almost like it's screaming for attention.

    And so does the music industry.

    Every technical advance to make media sound better is ultimately sabotaged by media ownership's drive to make their product louder.

    Audio: NPR's All Things Considered, 12/31/09.



    Droopy Pants Blues

    Smokin' Hot

    Photo: William M. Rittase, animated by: Maria Contria.

    A Bi Luddite?

    Or Batteries Running Low

    Sunday, January 31, 2010

    You Are Watching Pad TV

    If Apple had Googled they would've found this before using the name:



    From Mad TV, Fox's challenger to SNL. Bruce McCoy and Tami Sagher wrote the sketch about the then-fictional device in 2005.

    Audio: NPR's All Things Considered, 1/28/10, Host: Madeleine Brand.

    Church of Losers



    It's in limited release and received limited critical enthusiasm.

    Truthful Toons



    Ted Rall, President of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, is an award-winning political cartoonist and op-ed columnist for Universal Press Syndicate. He is the author of 14 books, including graphic novels, political polemics and travelogues covering Central and South Asia.

    Driving Blind


    via StevenHumour

    Museum Piece

    It drew a great deal of critical attention when painted in 1882, and still provokes emotional responses today.



    The work, which hangs in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, is also the subject of author Erica Hirshler's “Sargent’s Daughters: The Biography of a Painting.”

    Audio: BBC, PRI & WBUR's Here & Now. Host: Meghna Chakrabarti.