Engage

Kottke linked me to the wonderful blog of Jean-Luc Picard. Now I can't stop reading!

Already I have a couple of favorite moments. Like this observation:

I've never been able to figure out why our computer sounds so much like Lwaxana Troi. Maybe I'll find out someday.

This ship has things like replicators, holodecks, and a large bar for relaxation. I would say serious comfort is ahead.

I'll even live with the bald head if I stay here. Perhaps I should wear a toupee?

C.Y.A. Extreme

From Barney Frank's recent floor speech (thanks Talking Points Memo):

...What we now have is a Congressional leadership, the Republican part of which has said it is okay for law enforcement to engage in warrantless searches of the average citizen, now objecting when a search, pursuant to a validly issued warrant, is conducted of a Member of Congress...

See no evil, hear no evil

Shorter Jonah Goldberg:

What do you mean torture is being conducted and sanctioned by the United States? What do you mean the NSA is logging every single phone number you call, and all of your Internet traffic? These things are piddling and insignificant. We need to focus on the real issues of our day, like whether Al Gore really spent a summer as a teenager in Cannes, or why Google is afraid to change their logo to celebrate Memorial Day.

It's pretty amazing to watch the entire conservative movement implode, thanks to the power-thirsty Bush administration, and the enablers at shitty publications like the National Review. I would take delight at all the irony, but then again, we are torturing people and spying on our own citizens.

Anyway, happy Memorial Day, people!

Messed mixages

One of the racecars in the Indianapolis 500 had both Jim Beam and Vonage as commercial sponsors.

I'm trying to figure out what demographic this car is supposed to appeal to... perhaps geeks that like to drunk-dial?

See you in another world, brother

Was that a cool episode of Lost or what?

TPM = The philosoph Matthew?

Anybody else think Matthew Yglesias is doing an awesome job as a substitute blogger on Talking Points Memo?

He retains some of his typical Yglesias style, but he's also great at short, Marshall-esque bursts.

Business wisdom within acronyms

For your consideration: Pure Unadulterated Bull Shit

Trade secret

Crooked Timber has an anecdote about the sorry state of American education:

Howie Becker tells a similar story about dealing with recalcitrant call center staff. He had learned from a relative that, at his airline, difficult-to-manage customers were labeled “irates.” First the representative would try to fix the problem, but if the caller persisted they would get bumped up to a supervisor. The representative would tell the supervisor, “I have an irate here”, short for “irate customer.” Becker decides he might as well cut straight to the supervisor, so he calls the airline and says “Hi, I’m Howie Becker and I am an irate. Can you help me with this ticket?” The representative sputters, “How did you know that word?!”

Is there a specification somewhere?

I installed the shower curtain in my new apartment today.

What I found interesting was that the shower curtain has 12 holes in the top -- exactly how many shower curtain rings come in a pack! How come the hot dog manufacturers can't coordinate like that with the hot dog bun bakeries?

Right in the kisser

Aagh! I agree with John Derbyshire on two points!

1. Intelligent design is not science
2. Fighting in school is OK

(Way back in elementary school, I somehow got framed for starting a fight with the class bully and kicking him in the nuts. I got suspended from recess for at least a full week; if I had known I was going to serve that kind of time, I would have committed the crime.)

Noooooooooo!

Shit! An hour ago, my G5 had a kernel panic... and now she's dead.

I can't get her to do anything. She doesn't respond to Command-Option-P-R, Command-Option-O-F, or even just plain Option. All she does is sit there, her light steadily shining, and no signal to the monitor. (Unfortunately, her light isn't blinking, which would give me some sort of indication as to what's wrong.)

The worst part? My last chance to purchase AppleCare for my G5 was April 30, 2006. Two frickin' weeks ago. Motherfucker!

That's gotta sting

I hope I never write anything so stupid that Peter Ammon feels inspired to tear it apart.

And the checks for free

Kathryn Lopez:

The next [National Review] cruise is in November. If I can sum up Michael Novak's post—sure beats working!

Truth is merely repetition

Bush's education policy finally succeeds in what it set out to do, namely declare public education a failure.

(What they did was lay out some mathematically impossible standards, and then make a big stink when no one's able to meet them. This ensures that the public equates "public education" and "failure", thus allowing slimy conservatives to enact school voucher legislation, and teach kids that early man lived with dinosaurs.)

Pearls before Swan

Why is Lost such a runaway hit? Let me break it down for you.

Why men watch Lost: Because it evokes fond memories of playing Myst.

Why women watch Lost: Sawyer.

The invisible hand

A snarky commenter on Crooked Timber makes the following criticism of free-market capitalism:

It is absurd to imagine shared interests, preferences, values, or desires across the millions of stakeholders in multiple countries (employees, managers, customers, shareholders, regulators, upstream and downstream business partners, competitors) of the modern corporation. Even in the Garden of Eden, when there were just two stakeholders, we saw a conflict of preferences requiring external regulatory action for resolution!

My grandpa told me a guy once grew a watermelon in his stomach

Think Secret says:

Apple pulled its MacBook announcement, expected today, at the last minute due to supply issues related to the new laptop. The MacBook is now slated to arrive next week...

We know where they are

Rumsfeld no likey!

Rumsfeld smash!

Command-key-in-chief?

The byline of this blog says I talk primarily about Macs and politics. However, occasionally I find the perfect link that rolls both into one.

This is from Apple's new "Get A Mac" promotional materials:

On a Windows PC, software (both good and evil) can change the system without your even knowing about it. In order for software to significantly modify Mac OS X, you have to type in your password. You’re the decider. You approve changes to your system. [emphasis mine]

Mac interface inconsistencies, part 1

Did you ever notice that while the icon for Terminal.app looks like this:

...the default terminal window features black text on a white background?

(And while we're on the subject, who doesn't immediately switch the default over to green text on a black background with approximately 15% window transparency?)

Reality has a well-known liberal bias

Dear Stephen Colbert,

Congratulations! You nailed him!

Truthfully,
Jeff

You know whitey always told you, uh, man can't be God!

Meet my new pastor! I find him very enlightening.