Huh?

I noticed in the grocery store today that the "Arizona" brand iced tea has an unsweetened variety of their product... which they have dubbed the "Southern Style" version (emblazoned with an illustration of a grand plantation-style home, oaks draped with spanish moss, etc.)

Are they being ironic? "Southern style" should have the consistency and sweetness of pancake syrup, and slow down appreciably as it hits the ice in the glass.

Airport screeners could see X-rated X-rays

There's a privacy fuss being made about a technology that would allow airport screeners to besically see theough everyone's clothing, and detect hidden weapons/threats. And I'm definitely a believer in people's right to privacy, but I'm not certain that this is the kind of privacy that I give a crap about. I care about intrusion into my activities and thoughts and feelings, about being spied upon. I am more concerned about the privacy that surrounds behavior, not the contour of my physical shape. But then, I'm not in a position where it's expected that someone who would leer at nudity would be leering at me. It's sort of a moot point. But do you care?

Link to article: Airport screeners could see X-rated X-rays | CNET News.com

Best Beach in the Country

What's the best beach in the country? Fort DeSoto, which is my personal favorite local beach. We'll see you there monday!

Annual List Ranks Fort DeSoto Nation's Best Beach - from TBO.com

chicagocrime.org

This is what happens when you build a cool tool, and then provide the public with an open API to develop their own tools using it:
Someone built a searchable database that will plot the locations of types of crimes in Chicago onto a Google map. It's kind of cool, and kind of weird, and I'm not entirely certain that I would want to see this data for my neighborhood.

chicagocrime.org

Researchers pinpoint the part of the brain that understands sarcasm

Researchers pinpoint the part of the brain that understands sarcasm
Syndicated HealthDay news on Forbes.com, thanks to Slashdot

As a corrollary to this discovery, now we know why my skull has an enormous lump on it in that spot.

The Force is a Tool of Satan - Episode III ALERT!

I'm working to make a deadline, but this caught my eye and I couldn't resist sharing it with you. The website will tell you that it's not a joke, but I don't think that makes it less funny.

I really try to avoid holding up the views of other people up for ridicule, because I believe that any view can be made to look ridiculous from some perspective.

But some views are ridiculous. And the graphics alone are worth the click.

The Force is a Tool of Satan - Episode III ALERT!

Thanks to Boing Boing.

A short message from Uncle Sam to Iraq, as channelled by Kurt Vonnegut

Shared with us by Paul Krassner. This one's definitely worth the 12 seconds it'll take to read.

A.Word.A.Day: Comedogenic

Today's Wordsmith A.Word.A.Day selection is comedogenic, which reminded me that I always thought comedogenic should mean...

comedogenic (kom-i-do-JEN-ik) adjective

The unique quality of some items, such that they can be added to another ordinary item in order to make it funny.
Ex. "Comedogenic devices like the famous Groucho Marx glasses or Rubber Chickens are strictly prohibited"

A corrollary to this definition would be the fact that non-comedogenic cosmetics and facial cleansers would be promising that the cosmetics would *not* make you look funny, which is a lot more than many of these cosmetics can really claim, and would not nearly be as valuable as cosmetics that would make you look not funny.

A.R. Ammons

I've been reading a lot of Ammons lately, and I wanted to share some short ones:

SUCCESS STORY

I never got on good
relations with the world

first I had nothing
the world wanted

then the world had
nothing I wanted


CORRECTION

The burdens of the world
on my back
lighten the world
not a whit while
removing them greatly
decreases my specific
gravity


LEANING UP

The storm that downed
the living pine
left the dead hickory

standing:
barkless, stub-knobbed,
den-hole riddled,

the hickory
will
be around while

the heavy, heaving living
carry on carrying
nearly too much to bear alive.

-A.R. Ammons

If you need the big, bad funk...

boombastic will give you what you need. It should show up under "urban" under radio if you're using iTunes.

Whazzup? G!

Interesting and thought-provoking article:
Wired 13.05: Dome Improvement

An American Philosopher has analyzed a series of studies, and determined that whatever it is that I.Q. tests are measuring (it's supposed to be a particular thinking capacity called g) it's been consistently rising in industrialized nations, year after year. I like the hypothesis presented -- that our advances in logical ability are correlating with our increasingly rationalized environment, thanks to the growing presence of industrial-designed objects following logical rules (from traffic signals and telephones to VCRs, DVDs, PC's). One of the items that he points out (of course) is the rise of video games, with their visual-cognitive puzzling that keep kids building and trashing hypotheses for hours. I'm still not sold on the idea that "video games/Computers make kids smarter" but I DO think that they have a role in building a particular type of visual/logical thinking style. Video games can be more a part of a balanced educational regime than Fruit Loops are a part of a balanced breakfast. But it's sure not going to be the best breakfast by itself.