12.03.2016

OK, just thinking out loud, but how would you like to have a wax Gerry Ford?

Museum to auction wax figures of presidents, first ladies

GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Gettysburg wax museum that features the likeness of every U.S. president and...

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Here's a shocker: Trump provokes China

Trump may anger China with call to Taiwan | New York Post

"It was unclear whether Team Trump was signaling a broad change in US policy or if the call was an unintentional blunder."

Post reports it’s "the first time a US president has spoken with a Taiwanese counterpart since 1979,” oh my.

Blasting Bambi

Little girl’s priceless reaction to shooting first deer goes viral | New York Post

“Love this. Fantastic,” a user wrote in the comments section. “Great to see kids loving something other than a computer.”

But it’s always about the computer in the end.

Go Sarah!

‘It’s a hallmark of corruption’: Palin slams Trump’s Carrier deal | New York Post

“…And socialism."

Maybe this will keep her off the list for that VA job.

The fake fake news affair

Why did Facebook briefly ban a fake news detection plugin?

Digital Trends "Sieradski's plugin helps verify links based on a set of criteria, such as "extreme bias," "conspiracy theory," and "rumor mill," among others."

Extreme bias? Just plain old regular bias is good enough around here. 

10 Bears questions

To help get your weekend started, here are a few of the answers:

Chicago Sun-Times The 1-10 49ers and 2-9 Bears have a combined winning percentage of .136. The rest of the conference: .555. • The Bears and 49ers have been outscored by 202 points on aggregate..

The 49ers (10) and Bears (three) have the two longest active losing streaks in the NFC.

There will be a pop quiz on Sunday.

12.02.2016

The tribulations of the Apple (No, not that one, the Big one)

NYC is already tired of Christmas and Donald Trump | New York Post

“It’s not just Trump security, it’s everything from bike lanes to rush-hour traffic to new bus lanes…”

Imagine our despair.

Nobody just wants a beer anymore

Loons and lager, ducks on draft: Birders, brewers form flock

SABATTUS, Maine (AP) — In the worlds of birders and craft beer lovers, there's a new paradigm…

Tours and events aimed at attracting both beer nerds and bird enthusiasts are popping up all over the country, attracting bearded microbrew lovers, field-guide-wielding bird buffs and folks with a passion for both suds and sparrows. Bird-and-beer happenings are taking place from Los Angeles to Minneapolis to Hampton, New Hampshire.

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Going to England (or Canada)?

Don't eat the money. 

Tallow tensions: Vegans want 'fat-free' UK 5-pound bank note

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England's new plastic 5-pound note is stronger, cleaner and safer...

The Bank of England confirmed on Twitter that the notes contain "a trace of a substance known as tallow" — a rendered form of animal fat, processed from suet, which is sometimes used in soaps and candles.

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12.01.2016

What ever happened to AT&T and US Steel?

Fitbit is close to buying Pebble

The Verge

Fitness wearables manufacturer Fitbit is close to buying smartwatch maker Pebble, according to The Information — news that has since been independently confirmed by The Verge.…

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See it all here first

This season's 5 worst Christmas commercials
'Tis the season when all the brands put on their red and green singlets and crowd into a no-holds-barred cage match to determine who is the champion of goddamn heartfelt spiritually.

11.30.2016

If you like the author, Neal Stephenson…

…you might, or then again you quite possibly might not, like his most recent lengthy (900 pages or so) tome, Seveneves. It’s about some humans who spend 5,000 years in space and some others who, well, don’t. 

I’m not listing it over there on the right because I’m a little bit ambivalent about it myself—it’s good, but not Stephenson good, IMO. But if you’re a space geek, all into orbital navigation and such, or a genetics nerd, or just a glutton for reading, you might want to give it a look. The Kindle version of the book, which appears to be on sale riight now for three bucks (hey, let’s recount this), is here.

I've been trying to get the news out of my News

There’s practically nothing left any more in my News app between the Kardashians and TRUMP. And mostly TRUMP. This morning, for example, from Esquire

Donald Trump's 'Presidential Hat' Is F*cking Terrible

No kidding. TRUMP has a new baseball cap that’s nothing like Abe’s stovepipe or Teddy’s Rough Rider chapeau. It features [spoiler alert] a really ugly font.

We can feel the pain—we can—but not for 1,900 words.

Meanwhile Pirelli came out with their 2017 calendar; it has some really nice pictures which you can look at here. That’s from Êsquire too, so maybe we’ll call this one a draw.

And speaking of draws (and news), here’s something you might not know. In the recently concluded World Series between the Chicagos and the Clevelands both teams scored exactly the same number of runs: 27. So if we were counting runs and not games, the series would be a tie and the Chicagos would have to give their flag back. In fact, if we counted runs instead of games in the World Series it would be possible for one team to run up the score in one game so far, winning, say, by seven or eight points, that the other team could win all the other games and still lose.

Imagine that.