Category: Links

Some additional reading November 3rd from 09:23 to 13:14:

• Hidden in plain sight – "gang over at MRC's blog, Newsbusters, are blasting the San Francisco Chronicle for keeping an interview with Barack Obama "hidden from the public." According to Newsbusters, the video became public only through the heroic efforts of a right-wing blogger: "Hot Air's Ed Morrissey has found a video of that interview with the San Francisco Chronicle."

  How, you might wonder, did the Chronicle keep the video "hidden from the public"? Did they lock the tape away in a vault deep beneth the Coit Tower, surrounded by armed guards, attack dogs, and a moat?

  Ah … no.

  No, the Chronicle kept the video "hidden from the public" by posting it on their public web site. Nearly eight months ago. Where it has been viewable since.

• Midwest Airlines: Are they repeating Schlitz's big mistake? – This Just In – Budget Travel – "Schlitz sign in Chicago (Courtesy swanksalot/Flickr)"

Some additional reading November 2nd from 20:38 to 23:05:

• Censorship, or What Really Weirds Out Weird Al – NYTimes.com – "Visitors to MTV’s new online music video site can listen to songs with plenty of crass and vulgar lyrics, but may be surprised to find that certain other language had once been deemed too nasty for broadcast — that is, the names of the file-sharing sites Morpheus, Grokster, Limewire and Kazaa, all of which have been the bane of the music industry.

  The foul-mouthed musician swept up by MTV’s speech code is Weird Al Yankovic, whose lyrics to “Don’t Download This Song,” a tongue-in-cheek complaint about file-sharing first released in 2006 included those so-called offensive terms"

• Give Hagel a Job, But Not Secretary of Defense – "If Barack Obama chooses Chuck Hagel, it would mean that Republicans would have held that Cabinet slot for nearly 52 of the 60 years from 1953-2013."

Some additional reading November 1st from 23:06 to 23:07:

• Palin Pranked by Sarkozy Impersonator | The Trail | washingtonpost.com – "Two well-known Canadian pranksters tricked Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin into thinking she was on the phone today with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The conversation, captured on a Montreal radio program, was, in a word, embarrassing. "
  YouTube available – helps if you understand French, but not necessary
• Daily Kos :: Comments Palin Pranked – Sarah Palin got prank-called by two French Canadian humorists on a radio show. Ouch.

Some additional reading November 1st from 00:05 to 08:04:

• Big names hit the trail – "Hillary Clinton, Obama's former nemesis, made a funny during one of her own appearances, this one on Friday in Kirtland, Ohio. "I was thinking about dressing up. And I really wanted to be scary," she told a cheering crowd. "I thought I would dress up like George W. Bush. Then I realized: John McCain took that costume."
• Chicago Reader Blogs: Chicagoland – You Shoot – More Obama Art – "swanksalot finds one of my favorite works of Obama-related graphics design yet, of a Pilsen palatero:"

A few interesting links for October 30th through October 31st:

• NC: Hagan responds to ‘Godless’ ad – "For goodness sake, what if an atheist wants to give to her campaign? I’m sure Dole has some atheists on her mailing list of donors. Does it not occur to the surgically preserved senator that non-believers simply want to select a candidate that will address the economy or the host of other issues, given the state the U.S. is in? It’s all ridiculous."

  I'm still waiting for the politician to pander to my demographic: the atheist/agnostic segment.

• Jon Swift: Great Moments in Election-Year Blogging – Obama admitted in his book Dreams of My Father that he was “interested in South Africa divestment,” Maguire does some digging and discovers that some protests against the 1981 tour by the South African Springboks rugby team resulted in violence and even some bombings. Guess who “was involved in some fashion” in these bombings? The Weather Underground! “These are just dots and it may be impossible to connect them,” says Maguire,
• Archaeologists report finding oldest Hebrew text – Yahoo! News – Archaeologists in Israel said on Thursday they had unearthed the oldest Hebrew text ever found, while excavating a fortress city overlooking a valley where the Bible says David slew Goliath.
• ESPN – ESPN The Magazine – I KNEW Pippen and the Bulls got robbed:
  "Did Scottie Pippen's ratings in the game really drop when he played certain teams?
  It's true, but only when the Bulls played the Pistons. If there was a close game and anyone on the Bulls took a last second shot, we wrote special code in the game so that they would average out to be bricks. There was the big competition back in the day between the Pistons and the Bulls, and since I was always a big Pistons fan, that was my opportunity to level the playing field."

A few interesting links for October 29th through October 30th:

• Pre-emptive ejection: Audience members removed at McCain rally in Cedar Falls – "Elborno said even McCain supporters were among those being asked to leave.

  “I saw a couple that had been escorted out and they were confused as well, and the girl was crying, so I said ‘Why are you crying? and she said ‘I already voted for McCain, I’m a Republican, and they said we had to leave because we didn’t look right,’” Elborno said. “They were handpicking these people and they had nothing to go off of, besides the way the people looked.”

  I bet they wish they hadn't voted early…

• Dwindling In Unbelief: What the Bible says about Sarah Palin's new clothes – "Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together. Deuteronomy 22:11

  I will punish … all such as are clothed with strange apparel. Zephaniah 1:8

  I don't know whether Sarah's clothes were made of blended fabrics or if God considers them strange. Someone should check into that.

Some additional reading October 28th from 13:36 to 19:15:

• One More on the Pile – " take however many tens of billions we’re considering spending on the auto industry and instead spend that money on direct assistance to people working in the industry and in Michigan more generally. Let the bankrupt firms go bankrupt, and let their assets be liquidated and redeployed in a more efficient way or under better management. The collapse of the US auto industry would be bad for a lot of people. Trying to help people is a good impulse. But trying to help people by propping up failing firms is an inefficient and ultimately unpromising way of doing so. Just help the people and let the firms die."
• Macworld | Numark offers portable vinyl record archiving system – Need one of these for my next trip to Austex
  "Numark on Thursday introduced the PT-01USB, a portable vinyl record archiving system.
  The PT-01USB is battery-powered (it can also be powered using an AC adapter) and connects to a Macintosh or Windows PC using USB 2.0. It features a protective dustcover and integrated carrying handle, and is designed for portability. Software included with the device enables you to automatically rip audio from a vinyl record to MP3 file; EZ Audio Creator 2 is the Mac software. Audacity is also included, to help reduce the effects of clicks, pops and other noise in tracks.

  The device features a belt-drive motor and can operate at 33, 45 and 78 RPM. A built-in speaker lets you monitor your recordings, and you can adjust pitch control up or down up to 10 percent. The device also sports RCA line and headphone outputs, so you can connect it to a sound system if you want."

• From scream to 50-state dream – "Ah yes, us loony bloggers, fighting for universal health care, to protect social security, to keep our government from unconstitutionally spying on us, and to promote a sane foreign policy that doesn't unnecessarily cost us blood and treasure. You know, loony things supported by a majority of the (apparently also loony) American people."

Some additional reading October 28th from 08:20 to 10:01:

• Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily – "The McCain campaign apparently has a new theme this week: attacking Obama for wanting to "spread the wealth." But it is not clear what that really means. Many Republicans have bitterly opposed the federal income tax since the 16th amendment was passed in 1913. Is McCain going to repeal the federal income tax? If so, how does he plan to finance the government? Or does he mean that the difference between the top rate of 39.6% under Bill Clinton and the top rate of 36% under George Bush is the difference between communism and capitalism? The purpose of the progressive federal income tax is to spread the wealth. "
• Daughter of slave votes for Obama – "Daughter of slave votes for Obama. 109-year-old Bastrop woman casts her vote by mail."

A few interesting links for October 25th through October 27th:

• Biden TV interviewer was a joke: The Swamp – "WEST: You may recognize this famous quote: "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." That's from Karl Marx. How is Senator Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?

  BIDEN: Are you joking? Is this a joke?

  WEST: No.

  BIDEN: Is that a real question?

  WEST: That's a question."
  hysterical. Fox News is unintentionally morphing into the Stephen Colbert Report

• Barack Hussein Obama II – Oh, the election is not over, yet.
  "Rachel Hulin (former photo editor at Nerve) is doing get-out-the-vote in battleground state Wisconsin, and documents this choice example of anti-Obama propaganda flyers being stuffed in mailboxes, in the guise of a letter directly from "Barack Hussein Obama II.""

A few interesting links for October 24th through October 25th:

• Guam 1971 – Mid-Century Snapshots – "Guam 1971, originally uploaded by swanksalot."
  What a funny website – just pages of snapshots from the 1960s and 1970s, of various strangers.
• Apple – opposes Proposition 8 – "Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8."

A few interesting links for October 23rd through October 24th:

• Police Declare 'Mutilation' of McCain Campaign Worker a Hoax – Here's another reason why Drudge sucks – I figured out this story was a hoax about 25 seconds after reading the headline.
  "Police in Pittsburgh have declared it all a hoax, and are charging the McCain worker at the center of the episode.

  It started yesterday afternoon with Matt Drudge screaming at the top of his site in red type — but no siren — that a Pittsburgh campaign worker for McCain, age 20, had been viciously attacked and the letter "B" carved into her face, presumably by a Barack Obama fan. Her name, it soon emerged, was Ashley Todd and she had come to Pittsburgh from College Station, Texas, to help out."

• Chicago Public Radio Blog » Polling Place: 42W/18P and 11W/33P | News and Notes from WBEZ – "Flickr pool member swanksalot (aka Seth Anderson) got some shots of his polling place in the 42nd Ward’s 18th Precinct in Chicago. It’s the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 134 and from these photos it’s pretty clear that they’re supporting Obama."

Some additional reading October 22nd from 20:52 to 21:34:

• Daily Kos: Listening to the Locals: Texas – Talking about pipe dreams, albeit pleasant ones:
  "Imagine, New York, California, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas all in the Democratic column. That would mean every election cycle, Democrats would start with 162 electoral college votes. "
  TX used to be a reliable Democratic state, up until the Civil Rights act of 1964. 1968 D, 1972 R, 1976 D, 1980-2004 R
• Conkers – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – Not sure why I know about this game, but I do:
  "Conkers is a game traditionally played by children in Britain, Ireland and some former British colonies using the nuts of horse-chestnut trees – the name conker is also applied to the nut and to the tree itself. The game is played by two players, each with a conker threaded onto a piece of string: they take turns to strike each other's conker until one breaks."
• The Pub Game Project: Pub Conkers! – I don't know why I know about conkers, never played it, must have been a book I read as a kid.

Some additional reading October 22nd from 17:08 to 17:35:

• Sarah Palin’s Personal Shopper – The Atlantic – "The attention from Jeanne Cummings’s much-talked-about Politico story has naturally focused on the $150,000 in luxury clothing purchased for Sarah Palin at Neiman Marcus, Sak’s Fifth Avenue, and Barney’s. What hasn’t yet gotten any attention is who bought it for her. But buried in the same FEC disclosure form that revealed Palin’s taste for the fine life is the name of the man who appears to have been her personal shopper: Jeff Larson."
• Multicolr Search Lab – Idée Inc. – This is pretty much awesome:
  "We extracted the colours from 10 million of the most “interesting” Creative Commons images on Flickr. Using our visual similarity technology you can navigate the collection by colour"
• Classic Presidential Campaign Ads — chicagotribune.com – some highlights and low lights from recent US Presidential campaigns

A few interesting links for October 20th through October 21st:

• Tue, Oct. 21 Electoral Vote Predictor Obama 364 McCain 171 Ties 3 – "McCain is abandoning Colorado (9 EVs), Iowa (7 EVs) and New Mexico (5 Evs). If Obama wins these three he gets 21 EVs. Add these to the 252 EVs Kerry won and he has 273 and becomes President. McCain's strategy at this point is to win Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Nevada, and–get this–Pennsylvania. The first six are arguably swing states, but our three-poll average puts Obama 12 points ahead in Pennsylvania. McCain is effectively betting the farm on a state which looks like an Obama landslide. It is a strange choice. Colorado looks a lot easier than Pennsylvania. James Carville once famously said that Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama sandwiched in between. Maybe McCain is going to go all out to win the white working class men in the Alabama section of Pennsylvania. McCain can't possibly do it on the economy. What's left? "
• Un-American – "I’ve always felt that patriotism is a stupid concept. It’s nothing more than a weapon to use against those we disagree with. No nation is any better or worse than any other. Patriotism can’t be forced. Kids shouldn’t be forced to recite words they don’t understand. We should earn their respect as a free society that values all people equally."
  Amen.

Some additional reading October 19th from 02:54 to 21:20:

• Arrest made in GOP voter registration scandal – "The charges against Jacoby and YPM, if true, are far more serious than any of the allegations against ACORN. The ACORN canvassers were registering fictional characters who couldn't possibly show up to vote–especially not with the new federal photo ID requirements. ACORN itself was the victim of their deception. Whereas, YPM canvassers allegedly lied to real-life voters in order to register them against their will and this deception might have a real outcome on the election if it infered with GOTV efforts by the Obama camp or future Democratic campaigns."
• James Jamerson: Motown's Secret Weapon | MetaFilter – awesome stuff. Check out some of the isolated tracks linked here.
  "The original Motown hit machine dominated popular music between 1959 and 1971, making household names out of Stevie Wonder, the Jacksons, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, and many others. Their secret sauce was a tight knit group of musicians called the Funk Brothers. Uncredited until Marvin Gaye's 1971 LP "What's Going On", these musicians provided the backing instrumentation on over 100 hit songs, gracing the charts more than Elvis, the Beatles, and the Beach Boys combined. The soul sound of Motown was driven largely by its innovative bass playing, and that playing was provided largely by the unheralded James Jamerson. "