I’m leaving tomorrow for a few days in Vegas, and I won’t be back until Monday night. I’m probably taking my laptop with me, so I won’t be totally incommunicado — and there are a few posts scheduled to appear here in my absence, including the Friday Random Guess 10 — but don’t be surprised if I’m quieter here and on Twitter than usual.
Month: September 2009
September in song
A relatively quiet month, musically. Here’s my mix for September:
- “See You Later Aligator” by Louise Attaque
- “Bastards of Young” by the Replacements
- “Tops” by the Rolling Stones
- “Pale Blue Eyes” by the Velvet Underground
- “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” by David Bowie
- “It’s Lonely at the Top” by Randy Newman
- “Fascination Street” by Xu Xu Fang
- “Technicolor” by Nurses
Wednesday various
- The most controversial magazine covers of all time [via]
- Meanwhile, and incidentally NSFW, Sean Lennon recreates his parents’ famous Rolling Stone cover. Personally, I find the new photo to be exceptionally boring and actually a weird reversal of John and Yoko’s original. There’s also maybe something a little creepy about their son recreating that photo, especially if the naked woman holding on to him here is some kind of stand-in for, or commentary on, Yoko Ono. But in general, I just find it pretty uninspired.
- The Origin of Glenn Beck. The more things change…
- Hot on the heels of charges of sexism in certain science fiction anthologies comes word that it might also be a problem in the horror genre as well.
- And finally, hey! My sister is going to Mars — I mean Sydney, Australia — for her honeymoon!
Tuesday various
- Designing websites with the colorblind in mind. My father is slightly colorblind, but I’ll admit this never actually occurred to me. [via]
- Man spends 2 years building Dalek out of 480,000 matches. So he did.
- Now, you do see why referring to female students as a male professor’s “perks” might have made people upset, don’t you? You stay classy, Buckingham University.
- The Hobbit as 419 scam. [via]
- And finally, Jack Klugman and Tony Randall sing “You’re So Vain”. This may very well be the oddest thing I’ve heard all day. You probably think this link is about you, don’t you?
Monday various
- Rats. Terry Jones, of Monty Python fame will be teaching a one-day comedy writing seminar in Manhattan next month. Noted Python biographer Kim “Howard” Johnson will also be on hand to interview him. But it’s the day after my sister’s wedding, and I of course already have plans. I did get to see Michael Palin several years ago, but this sounded like an interesting (if considerably more expensive) event. Even if I must admit I’ve not always been the biggest fan of Mr. Jones’ solo work. [via]
- On the lie that is CSI: The Shaky Science Behind Forensics:
Forensic science was not developed by scientists. It was mostly created by cops, who were guided by little more than common sense. And as hundreds of criminal cases begin to unravel, many established forensic practices are coming under fire.
Eye-opening and more than a little frightening. [via]
- Vogue model Liskula Cohen wins right to unmask offensive blogger. I have to agree with Bookninja that his sets a potentially troubling precedent — not least of all because the defamation seems to have been relatively very minor. I don’t know the exact particulars of the offending blog, but…well, obviously nobody wants to be called a skank, and it is offensive, but for someone in the public eye, it would seem to come with the territory. Perhaps the vitriol aimed at Cohen went beyond that, but there is a significant difference between name-calling and character assassination, between being mean to someone and spreading lies that defame their character and impede their livelihood. And Cohen apparently isn’t even going to bring a defamation suit against the unmasked blogger. Now that she knows who it is, she’s perfectly willing to let bygones be bygones. Which I guess is big of her, but why couldn’t she have done that when it was just anonymous dickhead making fun of her? Why couldn’t she have sued (or, better, just politely asked) Google to remove the offending material? And, unless I’m missing something, can’t you easily sign up for Blogger anonymously? It’s a free service, so if you give Google a fake name and contact information, what good does unmasking do?
- Or maybe not. Ever wonder What the Internet Knows About You? [via]
- And finally, Mark Evanier on health care:
I have nothing against corporate profits. The heart of this nation’s economy depends on businesses being able to amass moola. But when human lives are concerned, couldn’t that be close to an equal consideration? It doesn’t even have to be more vital than making sure some corporations have their best year ever. Couldn’t it just be, you know, almost as important?