telescreen.org

It's very possible that more people will vote in the "American Idol" finale this fall than will vote in the presidential election.

[Perot]

That's just sad, people.

[/Perot]

CableNewser is one of my favorite blogs and is a daily read. It's been chronicling the cable-news wars in lovingly obsessive detail since January. Now the NYT has outed the formerly anonymous author...he's an 18-year-old college sophomore in Maryland.

A South African woman didn't realize her vanity plate would offend...and thinks it's "unfair" that she was asked to change it.

The plate in question? "NAZI."

It somehow "slipped through" local transport officials' "robust vetting process."

Ooooo...I want this book. Sounds mighty interesting. (link via BoingBoing.)

Hi, I'm Vidiot, and I'm a blogoholic. (Link via Gen X Misanthrope.)

On my recent trip to the Rivah, I stopped to take pictures of an abandoned house in the middle of a field.

Gmailswap is a page that links up people that have Gmail with people that want it. Here's a great list of some of the best swap offers.

Press Release Revelation of the Day: almost two-thirds of 'Net users surf in their underwear.

Interesting interview with the curator of Microsoft's art collection. (via Anil's daily links.)

Last night, I read a preview in New York magazine of the Great High Mountain Tour. This is a tour of old-time music, put together by T-Bone Burnett (who did the music for O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Cold Mountain) and featuring such luminaries as Ralph Stanley, Alison Krauss & Union Station, the Cox Family, the Whites, Sierra & Cody Hull, Jerry Douglas, and the Nashville Bluegrass Band.

Sounds like an awesome tour, and I'm seriously thinking about going. (It hits the Beacon Theater in New York on Thursday.) But what I found odd (and rant-worthy, thus this post) was the last graf of the review:

On my way to work just now, I hit the Subway across the street to grab lunch. As I walked through my building's lobby, who should I see but Tom Arnold, trailed by a camera crew. Tom + crew headed for the elevators. So did I. As luck would have it, I wound up in the same elevator with Tom, his crew, and a couple other people. We all crowded into the corner so as not to block the crew's shot, but then Tom noticed the Subway bag in my hand and addressed me. "Doing the Subway thing, huh?" The camera, lights, and boom mic swiveled toward me in unison.

"Yeah, it's cheaper than the employee cafeteria."
"Are you getting one of those low carb wraps? Have you had those?"
"Nah, I'm not that extreme."
"They're pretty good. You gotta eat five or six of 'em, though."

Then it was my floor (thankfully I work on the fourth floor and it wasn't that long a trip.) So I wound up being an unwitting straight man for Tom Arnold. I hope they'll edit this out -- not sure I wanna wind up in some reality show or whatever they're doing.

Sing along with the Monkees. (via the Tofu Hut.)

Don't mess with tha Wu-Tang Clan. (via the most excellent Brittney.)

Went to the Rivah (my parents' place on the Rappahannock River in east-rural-nowhere, Virginia) with B. for a weekend of peace and quiet, pretty scenery and good friends. This is just about my favorite place in the world, and I hate that I'm no longer in easy weekend driving distance. (Fortunately, there's a nonstop AirTran flight from LaGuardia to Newport News, which is about an hour away. Sure wish I were closer, though.) We took the boat out for a spin, had good seafood, and drove to little nearby towns...but we mainly just hung out and watched the river from the screened-in porch. Bliss!

Like all blissful things, however, it had to come to an end...this time with an ungodly painful 4am wakeup call so we could fly back to Noo Yawk early Sunday. (B. had to go to work in CT at 1pm.) So B. went off to the salt mines, and I was pretty much useless for the rest of the day. When I wasn't asleep, I was loopy. (Kind of like a normal day, come to think of it.) We're heading back to the Rivah on the Fourth of July, and I can't wait.

Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?

Invention & Technology is a fantastic magazine about the history of technology. Their website has all sorts of fascinating articles about the development of the grocery cart, NASA's Mission Control Center, videodiscs from the 1920s, computer mice, the "Pregnant Guppy" cargo plane, the Brannock Device, spacecraft docking, and the electric guitar.

(Too bad it's only a quarterly.)

In journalism jargon, a "backgrounder" is a short explanatory essay intended to get the reader up to speed on a given topic. The Economist has an awesome collection of backgrounders, all annotated with lots of links, on their website. (via The Morning News's Editors Awards for Online Excellence.)

Thereminvox.com is a cool website that has loads of information about the theremin and other electronic instruments. With sound samples, even!

Gratuitous Pleasures -- a collection of great Flash games.

How Ninjas Work.

Caren describes one of my usage pet peeves. Right on.

(Some other (mis-)usage pet peeve of mines: decimate, nauseous, imply/infer, less/fewer, disinterested, chaise longue, bemuse.)

(All cites above from this great page.)

It's so much fun being pedantic.

iRaq. (via Gizmodo.)

"Goddammit you stole my ho bag." (via the ever-reliable Antigeist.)

Today is National Carbohydrate Awareness Day. It was created by the Amateur Gourmet (here's his pro-carb manifesto.)

You've heard of Live Aid, right?

Well, I think we need to do the same thing for the oft-maligned carbohydrate. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Carb Aid:

The Smithereens will be inducted into the Hall of Fame today. No, not this Hall of Fame...this one. (via The Bemusement Park.)