Some additional reading August 19th from 12:57 to 21:17:
- Orcinus – Right Wing Violence and Mental Illness – "characterizing the assassination of the Arkansas Democratic Party chairman as "starting increasingly to look like yet another case in which an unhinged wingnut decided to 'take out' more liberals."…"But, after gathering more info, including my own sources, I decided the case was looking increasingly like a political killing.
There was also, in fact, what we knew publicly about Johnson, particularly that he had a large stash of guns, and these were not collector items. Such a collection is typically not indicative of a left-wing bent, but rather a right-wing one. There was also a note found in his home indicating he had selected Gwatney as his victim in advance."
- Top 100 Albums of the 1980s | Pitchfork – Good stuff here, most already on your rotation, but maybe a few that aren't… Can quibble about any list, especially top 100 music lists, why bother? Just incorporate all the suggestions, laugh at the omissions, and scoff at a few weirdos (Duran Duran, really?)
- Bushisms for WordPress – Oh why not!
[bushism]This is a WordPress plugin called "Bushism". It will display a silly quote from our Commander-In-Chief whenever your blog is loaded.
- Swerve Left: The dirty dozen – "The Environmental Working Group has ranked veggies and fruits by the amount of pesticide residue each contains.
The group's "dirty dozen" are peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, grapes (imported), pears, spinach, and potatoes."
- Jared Leto Hits Back, Slams Virgin/EMI Lawsuit | Listening Post from Wired.com – Hate his music, but sympathetic to his plight. "If you think the fact that we have sold in excess of 2 million records and have never been paid a penny is pretty unbelievable, well, so do we. And the fact that EMI informed us that not only aren't they going to pay us AT ALL but that we are still 1.4 million dollars in debt to them is even crazier. That the next record we make will be used to pay off that old supposed debt just makes you start wondering what is going on. Shouldn't a record company be able to turn a profit from selling that many records?"
- Burning Spear Beats Down Babylon, Takes Back Copyrights – Excellent. "However, after experiencing firsthand the brutality of some recording contracts there, Burning Spear and his wife/manager Sonia Rodney learned the importance of hanging onto his copyrights. Now, the couple either owns or has acquired the entire Burning Spear back catalog with the exception of a few songs, for which EMI says it cannot find the contracts, according to a spokeswoman. They plan on getting those back as well."
- Electronic Voting Machines At Center Of Ohio Lawsuits — E-Voting — InformationWeek – Nice. "On May 30, Premier sued the Ohio secretary of state and the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections and requested the court to state that it had complied with all of its obligations under contracts and warranties for the voting systems. In April, the Butler County Board of Elections notified Brunner of potential equipment malfunctions. Brunner's IT staff and boards of elections staff launched a statewide investigation and concluded that similar problems occurred in 11 Ohio counties that used Premier's machines.
Brunner continues to investigate the malfunctions and test Premier's explanation that the problem was caused by the antivirus software. The state is developing mitigation plans to identify the potential for dropped votes and to fix the problem."
- Are Macs More Expensive? Lets Do the Math Once and For All – “Actually, a MacBook is in the same ballpark as a roughly similar Dell or HP, and less than a Sony. If you’re tempted by a MacBook and can afford its pricetag, go ahead and buy one–it’s a decent deal.”
yeah, but with a Mac you get a decent operating system… - ROSANNE CASH : Blog : Regarding the Use of My Father’s Name To Further Political Agendas: – "It is appalling to me that people still want to invoke my father’s name, five years after his death, to ascribe beliefs, ideals, values and loyalites to him that cannot possibly be determined, and to try to further their own agendas by doing so. I knew my father pretty well, at least better than some of those who entitle themselves to his legacy and his supposed ideals, and even I would not presume to say publicly what I ‘know’ he thought or felt. This is especially dangerous in the case of political affiliation."
I use a Johnny Cash quote in my email signature, does that count? - Gapers Block: Rearview – Tuesday, August 19 2008
by Seth Anderson