- You Can Now Whore Yourself Out by Tagging Products and Corporate Pages on Facebook. Because of course you can. [via]
- Lady Gaga to debut new songs on Farmville. Because of course she is. [via]
- Sarah Palin and other Republicans upset that rapper Common was invited to the White House. Because of course they are. (Although, seriously? Common?)
- FCC Commissioner Takes Job At Comcast Months After She Voted To Approve Its Deal With NBC Universal. Because of course she did. [via]
- Facebook reportedly paid to smear Google. Because of course they (allegedly) did. [via]
- And finally, because of course it is, Starbuck and Starbuck drinks [sic] Starbucks at Starbucks. [via]
various
Thursday various
- Is a jail in South Carolina denying prisoners any books except the Bible? [via]
- New York under siege by Will Smith’s ridiculously huge trailer. More, with video of the trailer in (in)action here. It’s not in my neck of the Manhattan woods, fortunately or unfortunately.
- I’ve mentioned before that WNYC’s The Leonard Lopate Show has recently started posting short exit questionnaires with guests. This week, there’s one with actor Tom Wopat, who says the “one thing [he’s] a fan of that people might not expect” is bluegrass. Tom Wopat, star of The Dukes of Hazzard, is a fan of bluegrass. Yeah, color me shocked.
- Forget what I said here, though. UK book sales have sprung back from an eight-year (Royal Wedding-caused?) low.
- And finally, Ken Jennings makes the bold claim that the criminal activities depicted in Scooby-Doo don’t make real-world sense.
Wednesday various
- A lie can make it half way around the world before the truth has time to put its boots on. Mark Twain probably didn’t say that. Anatomy of a Fake Quotation [via]
- World’s Biggest Pac-Man [via]
- The sad final end of former Attack of the 50 Foot Woman star Yvonne Vickers [via]
- A Rare Look at Antarctica, 1911-1914 [via]
- And finally, No Country for Old Men cartoon trailer [via]:
Tuesday various
- NASA proves Einstein was smart. Okay, it’s a little more complicated than that — namely, finding that there’s “a space-time vortex around Earth, and its shape precisely matches the predictions of Einstein’s theory of gravity” — but yeah, basically: Einstein? No dummy. [via]
- Gelatin cubes dropped onto solid surface High Speed Video. Strangely fascinating. [via]
- Time Magazine talks to the kids who were there with George W. Bush on 9/11. I’m not sure I agree with them. Maybe Bush did just want to protect the kids he was reading to from finding out, from panicking, but his focus probably should have been on the nation as a whole. Still, there’s no denying they have a unique an interesting perspective on that day. [via]
- Oh, thanks a lot, monarchy! Book slump to eight-year low in Royal Wedding week.
- And finally, what American accent do you have? It guessed me correctly, although your mileage — especially if it’s, y’know, outside the US, and…what’s the word for “mileage” in metric anyway? Kilometrage? [via]
Monday various
- The first four Harry Potter books condensed. Lovely. [via]
- Geeks, Girls, and Media Misogyny: The Saga Continues:
I can accept that questioning a actor or actress about their geek bona fides when part of their job involves selling their project to the public, including the geeky public, and especially when it’s a geeky project may seem like a good idea, except for one thing: it’s only women whose geek cred is called into question, time and again.
If nothing else, arguing that sexy women can’t be geeks seems to be forgetting one simple thing: smart, geeky women are sexy.
- Writers and Kitties. Does exactly what it says on the cat food tin. [via]
- I think what I like most about this article from the New York Times about booksellers who are also authors is this revelation from author Jonathan Lethem:
“I have the habit of accumulation,†he said. “When I first met my wife, my kitchen cabinets were full of books.
- And finally, seriously Marie Claire? Seriously, “nutritionists”? Easily the most ridiculous is the woman who skips lunch and then eats an entire box of macaroons for dessert at night. There’s a lot of calorie counting going on in almost all of these, but very little healthy eating. [via]