8.08.2009
Take a bus
Northwest Airlines, the major airline that has been acquired by Delta, charges that it has exclusive ownership of the term "northwest." The Minnesota-based airline is going after the operator of the Web site gonorthwest.com, which provides tourist information for visitors to the Pacific Northwest.
link: Does Northwest Airlines own the term "northwest?" It says it does
Oh, bolts
Cuckolded wife of South Carolina governor bolts mansion
link: Raw Story » Cuckolded wife of South Carolina governor bolts mansion
Damn. I was hoping for bolts. You know, the hardware kind. That would have been fun. But all she's done is bolt. To some other part of South Carolina. Strikes me as a failure of imagination all around.
8.07.2009
One for the WASPS
Morning Sentinel, ME - President Obama on July 1 signed a bill that awards the Congressional Gold Medal to the women who flew non-combat military missions in this country, which allowed men to conduct the overseas combat missions.
link: UNDERNEWS: RECOVERED HISTORY: THE WASPS OF WORLD WAR II
Kids playing politics
Where were you when North Korea attacked America? Did you feel the fury of North Korea's armies? Were you fearful for your country? Or did your resolve strengthen, knowing that we would defend our homeland bravely and valiantly?
link: Schneier on Security: North Korean Cyberattacks
8.06.2009
Yes!
Our Seattle bureau sends along this MSNBC page, "garage doors gone wild." I'm liking the one with the Rolls, myself.
The cruelest cut
NEW YORK - Twitter is down. For users of the short messaging site, this means no tweeting about lunch plans, the weather or the fact that Twitter is down.
link: Twitter outage clamps tweets, cause 'unknown' by AP: Yahoo! Tech
(Emphasis mine)
8.05.2009
Untitled
KABUL (Reuters) – Almost half of Afghanistan is at a high risk of attack by the Taliban and other insurgents or is under "enemy control," a secret Afghan government map shows, painting a dire security picture before presidential elections.
The threat assessment map, acopy of which was obtained by Reuters, shows 133 of Afghanistan's 356 districts are regarded as high-risk areas with at least 13 under "enemy control."
link: Government map shows dire Afghan security picture - Yahoo! News
8.04.2009
Showy switch-on ceremonies just don't always do the trick
After 15 years and $9 billion, and a showy “switch-on” ceremony last September, the Large Hadron Collider, the giant particle accelerator outside Geneva, has to yet collide any particles at all.
link: Large Hadron Collider Struggles, Adding to the Mysteries of Life - NYTimes.com
Adspeak
"Trust is a critical attribute of any successful retailer, and the reality is that most people trust friends, not corporations," said Lee Applbaum, RadioShack's chief marketing officer, in a statement. "When a brand becomes a friend, it often gets a nickname - take FedEx or Coke, for example. Our customers, associates and even the investor community have long referred to RadioShack as 'THE SHACK,' so we decided to embrace that fact and share it with the world. This creative is not about changing our name. Rather, we're contemporizing the way we want people to think about our brand. THE SHACK speaks to consumers in a fresh, new voice and distinctive creative look that reinforces RadioShack's authority in innovative products, leading brands and knowledgeable, helpful associates."
link: Radio Shack Isn't Changing Name, Just the Brand - News and Analysis by PC Magazine
Forget about it with the fresh, new voice and distinctive creative look, you're saying you want me to think about your store as a shack. Have fun with that.
WTF?
I go out today for a little stroll, looking awesomely cool in my summer straw hat - of course the problem with being on the cutting edge of fashion is you start walking out in a hat and next thing Johnny Depp wants in on the act and now I'm reading just about everybody in Manhattan is wearing a fedora or at least a hat of some kind, if we get much cooler around here we will bring on a new Ice Age - anyway, like I was saying, I'm out walking and I run across this sign. WTF does it mean? Really. Is somebody putting hearts in a safe somewhere? And why am I just finding out? Or maybe they mean it metaphorically, as in you can't get your heart broken here, in which case, what's the point? Exactly.
I don't get it. At all.
Cyber Czar resigns
Let's not replace her, says Micheal Tanji at Danger Room:
A “czar” position is the exact opposite of what we need to successfully defeat cyber space adversaries. The botnet that denies service to your governmental web sites might have been assembled by a Brazilian, who borrowed code from an Israeli, who launders his money through a Russian. None of them have met in person, and next month they may all switch roles - and throw in some Americans and Chinese to boot - for a totally different attack. A cyber czar is fighting a network with an org chart.
8.03.2009
Too damn bad
Like a pair of proud but over-the-hill prizefighters, the Sun-Times and Tribune are slugging it out in a deadly duel to determine who will remain standing as the sole daily in Chicago.
Both newspapers are operating under Chapter 11 protection and both have seen far better days in terms of circulation and advertising sales. But it’s hardly a fair fight. With an overwhelming advantage in weight, reach and stamina, the Tribune almost certainly is going to win.
link: Reflections of a Newsosaur: Sun-Times sags in Chi-town showdown
When I moved back to Chicago in 1970 there were four papers - figuring it was part of my job and having the commuter-train time to do it, I read all four, or at least big chunks of all four, every day. Where is it written a city the size of Chicago should have only one?
The Tribune is a fine paper. I like it (although I don't like their web site much). Over the years I've known several people who worked there. I've known people who worked at the Sun-Times, too.
And the Sun-Times, which "newsosaur" Alan Mutter also worked for once upon a time, is indeed, comparatively, the feisty one. I still think of it as Royko's paper, although Royko, in the end, wound up writing for the Trib.
I suppose, given the way things seem to be going, Chicago will be lucky to have just one of its big dailies survive intact. I'd just hate to be the guy who had to flip the coin.
So very long ago: Beer won't heal this wound
(CNN) -- Beer summits at the White House notwithstanding, not all controversies between the police and the citizens they serve are destined to turn into gauzy, orchestrated "teachable moments."
link: Commentary: Beer won't heal this wound - CNN.com
If you are of a certain age, you remember everything about that summer. The frustration, the anger, the disillusionment. The saddest thing is that our nation forgot all the lessons of Vietnam and, under the leadership of The Great Draft Dodger, did it all over again. Only without the protests.
-Paul Knue
8.02.2009
Nice try, though
DECATUR TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A 49-year-old southwestern Michigan woman who asked a sheriff's deputy to lend her money for cigarettes after just being told to stop begging by the deputy ended up behind bars.
link: Mich. woman's begging to get smokes ends in arrest - Yahoo! News
Another cold winter on the way
Over the coming months, as many as 1.5 million jobless Americans will exhaust their unemployment insurance benefits, ending what for some has been a last bulwark against foreclosures and destitution.
link: By Year’s End, Benefit Lifeline to End for 1.5 Million Jobless - NYTimes.com
Are you getting as sick of this word as I am?
Homage is pronounced variously as English pronunciation: /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, /ˈɒmɪdʒ/, or /oʊˈmɑːʒ/....[you figure it out]
link: Homage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
And, let me assure you, there is not much danger that we will
Intelligence can be a valuable weapon, but it is not one we should use on each other.
link: Leon Panetta - Congress and the CIA: Time to Let Go of the Past, Move Forward - washingtonpost.com
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