perfect toast

I love toast. I even spend $50 on a really nice toaster to get it toasted just right, but this is rather exreme: Scientists in Leeds spend three months and ?10,000 (About $17,000 US) to come up with what they claim is the formula for perfect toast. This would be what a friend of mine calls “math-turbation.” I’d just call it overkill. Others would probably call it plain stupid. link

poetry?

This is a poem I wrote some weeks ago:

A thud.
Bad news travel fast,
I think picking up the paper.
Washing down stale bread with coffee,
I get ready to ignore the insanity for the day.

Why do things become increasingly more complicated?

Little Red Riding Hood

This is hilarious.

President AWOL with iPod

DrudgeRedport.com had the personal notes that Washinton Post reporter Mike Allen took on the top secret trip President Bush took to Baghdad today. The notes include this rather amusing iPod reference:

9:21 p.m. Richard Keil of Bloomberg News leaned across the aisle, shoved aside his I-Pod headset and grinned as he said: “The President of the United States is AWOL, and we’re with him. The ultimate road trip.”

Note to Washington Post reporter: It’s spelled iPod.

POTUS in Iraq

Holy shit… there is just no other way of putting it. This just in according to AP:

“The news of Bush’s trip was not released until he was in the air on the way back to the United States. “If this breaks while we’re in the air we’re turning around,” White House communications director Dan Bartlett told reporters on the flight to Baghdad.

President Bush went to Baghdad to have dinner with some troops. Nice photo op. The bad news is that cheap stunts like this are what will impress the American voters the most.

Can you imagine though to be in the White House press corp and be put on a plane not knowing where you’re going, then see Bush board and fly off to Badhdad? “Honey… I will be late for dinner… Yeah, it’s this job I have…”

Truly insane.

Lov-o-matic

Imgagine some guy offers a device that triggers orgasms at the touch of a button and nobody wants it. (The link is quite safe to click on. It’s a BBC story)

no updates for you!

I have been rather busy getting a new Web site off the ground over the last couple of days. That’s why I have been neglecting this site a bit. The new site is coming along nicely so far and should go live next Monday unless I run into some unforseen troubles. If you’re wondering what the new site will be about, I have one word for you: iPod.

Many thanks to Jaime for helping me with the new site! Without her, I’d probably still be tinkering with Movable Type, let along have a pretty nifty looking site up already.

Allegations of racism against Eminem sensationalistic

The magazine The Source claims that surfaced old recordings of Eminem prove that he has a racist agenda.
Editorial
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Guess who said that

I just read this quote and thought it very true. It quite adequately represents what is happening in America right now, but the kicker is who the quote is from. I’ll give the quote below and let you ponder it for a second. To read who it was that said that, click on “read entire entry.”

“Naturally the common people don’t want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. … Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

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Photofriday: Gatherings

I haven’t done this in a while. Today’s PhotoFriday entry: Gatherings.
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Finding the right balance for the media

ABC News anchor Peter Jennings and others had an open discussion forum on the USF campus tonight.
Column
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Quite a day after all

I just talked to ABC news anchor Peter Jennings after he gave a lecture on campus and am writing a column on deadline for tonight. Not a bad day for a day that I was originally going to take off. More about this later…

New York Times

This really made my day: Two of my editorials were picked up by The New York Times Web site.

The first one was the one about Britney Spears’ freaky stalker suing her for not allowing him to stalk her. If you haven’t read it yet, check it out here. (Or on the ‘real’ paper’s Web site here)

The other one (which I had forgotten to post to this page but added a few minutes ago here) can be found here on the NY Times site and is about a dictionary including the term “McJob” in their next edition. Naturally McDonald’s didn’t like that too much.

I think I earned myself a beer. Excuse me while I have a cold one.

Selling your soul to Satan 101

Just in case you were considering to sell your soul to Satan, here is a guide how to do it.

If anything ever proved the rule “there is nothing you cannot find on the Internet,” this does.

Benefits of free trade come at a price

The WTO declared U.S. tariffs on imported E.U. steel violates guidelines. The backlash, in the form of E.U. tariffs on U.S. goods, will affect far more than the steel industry.
Editorial
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60 Minutes on Windows

CBS News Correspondent Andy Rooney had this to say about Windows on the news show 60 Minutes:

Bill Gates got off on the wrong foot the first time he decided to turn off his computer. Do you simply press a button that says OFF when you want to turn it off? You do not. The first thing he has us do to stop is to press START.
Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Next, it asks SHUT DOWN?

Then it says WHAT DO YOU WANT IT TO DO? Well, didn’t I just tell you what I want it to do? It isn’t finished either. It asks SHUT DOWN THE COMPUTER? What the hell else do you think I want to shut down? The bedroom window? link

Best Line

This has got to be the best line I’ve read all week. From a BBC report on a protest staged by gay Greeks (the country, not the frat) to protest a 100,000? fine imposed on a TV station for showing a gay kiss:

“They want to tell us who we can kiss and what time kissing is appropriate,” Grigoris Valianatos, a gay community spokesman, said moments before embracing a fellow protester. link

Dictionary not at fault for condition at ‘McJobs’

The dictionary Merriam-Webster is including a definition of ‘McJob’ in a forthcoming edition. The term describing the bad conditions at the job was naturally not well received by McDonalds.
Editorial
(This was picked up by the New York Times Web site)
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still here

Yup, I am still here, even though I’ve been pretty quiet blog-wise. I’ve been pretty busy writing other stuff, with exams and was also tinkering with some behind the scenes things on this page. For now, let’s just say that you guys out there that have an iPod will like the changes/additions that I have planned for this site.

In the sprit of veterans day

The New York Times reports:

The Bush administration is seeking to block a group of American troops who were tortured in Iraqi prisons during the Persian Gulf war in 1991 from collecting any of the hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen Iraqi assets they won last summer in a federal court ruling against the government of Saddam Hussein. link

Subpoenas highlight lack of Government cooperation

By not cooperating with a bipartisan panel that was appointed last year to investigate the Sept. 11 attacks, the government makes it seem they have something to hide from the public.
Editorial
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The Meatrix

The Matrix spoof, The Meatrix, is not only funny, also makes some valid points.

Cell phone providers abuse monopoly standing

Cell phone providers are charging hidden fees to their customers for the right to change carriers while retaining their number.
Editorial
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SG?s efforts to abolish NSEERS are commendable

University of South Florida’s Student Government is lobbying the federal government to change registration requirements for international students. The current system employs racial profiling as well as sexist techniques and should be changed.
Editorial
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