Someone plays professional slamball! He doesn’t sound like a great guy… but slamball! Via jbg.

JBG posted the pictures he took on the cross country road trip. I have a few from White Sands that I’ll post when I get around to it.

Either the New York Times headline writers and photo editors have lost their minds, or the Catholic church is in much worse trouble than I thought:

Thanks jbg.

jbg wants to buy the CatBus:

I HAVE A 1995 MO’ VAN THAT GOT TRANSFORMED INTO THIS CATBUS. I BROUGHT IT TO A SHOPS AND I WAS LIKE HEY, CAN YOU TURN THIS INTO A CATBUS? SO THEY DID. THEN THAT DAY I DROVE IT HOME. THE CAT BUS ONLY HAS 50K, WHICH ARE ALL HIGHWAY MILES AS I DROVE IT TO WORK 2 DAYS A WEEK AND THAT WAS IT. IT’S IN REALLY GOOD SHAPE AND ALL THE FUR IS STILL ALL THERE. THE STEERING WHEEL HAS A CAT ON IT. IM ONLY ASKING 2900 FOR THE CATBUS BECAUSE ITS REALLY FURRY AND SOMETIMES PEOPLE GET SICK ON IT.

But it’s the picture that’s really going to sell this car:

Here’s another view.

When I asked for input about this site’s redesign, jbg replied that it wasn’t displaying properly on his computer and included this screenshot to show what he was seeing:

Safari 3.1	MSIE 6.0	MSIE 7.0	MSIE 8.0	Firefox 2.1	Firefox 3.0

The issue doesn’t show up for any other browsers, as far as I can tell, and I’m simply not well equipped to fix it. Is anybody else having the same problem?

Both the New York Times (on 11/18/07) and the Boston Globe (on 1/27/08) recently published pieces critiquing the graphic designs of various 2008 campaign logos. Considering that both papers are owned by the same parent company, one might expect them to have similar slants to the story. Here’s how the two compared:

NY Times on Hillary Clinton:

Boston Globe on Hillary Clinton:

The Hillary type palette is far from fresh and colorful; it is begging for legitimacy instead of demanding respect. It projects recycled establishment. The type has a tired feeling, as if the ink has been soaking into the page too long. The Hillary logo has the look of an ’80s newspaper layout or an investment company. The tall lower-case reminds me of someone with their pants pulled up too high. I wonder about the significance of the three stars and three stripes. A third term?

Comparison:

Both agree that the choices made were conservative. The Times however thinks the choices were interesting, the Globe finds them tired and recycled.

Read more »

Because jbg asked about it, here’s the opening sequence to Bumper Stumpers - the game show “based on vanity [license] plate rebuses.”

It was created by Wink MR10DAL (Martindale). Bonus points: the contestant appears to be named John Grisham.

For jbg, because he turned ‘don’t you hate pants’ “into a reliable standby quote.”

jbg emailed out these pictures from today’s weekly Boston Globe Parade Magazine section which featured a cover story on Benazir Bhutto. A little bit late to the assassination story, one would think, but they’re a weekly magazine so they get some leeway. But, it turns out, the story isn’t about her assassination at all; it’s an interview with her before the assassination lauding her as the West’s only hope in the region.

They don’t mention the assassination.

It happened on December 27th, 10 days ago. As jbg wrote, “have they never heard of ’stop the presses?’”

Humorously, Parade Magazine online features the Bhutto story just above a story that could explain the entire incident:

Yes Parade Magazine, why do we forget things? Things like the assassination of world leaders? Hmmm… maybe spending less time on celebrity news quizzes is the key to having a strong memory?

In fairness to Parade Magazine, they do acknowledge the issue in the online edition of the Bhutto story with an editor’s note claiming that the issue went to press before the assassination… but this really seems like an occasion when it might be worthwhile to do a reprint so you don’t look quite so foolish.

I’ve wrested control from the robots and am once again running RumorsDaily by hand. As a welcome back gift I present the following problem:

What is the longest possible direct flight between two major airports in which there is no change of time zone?

I have not researched this question and have no answer. Some sort of Canada-Chile adventure? Norway-South Africa? Russia-New Zealand?

Discovering which flight is the winner and then taking it would be rather remarkable, don’t you think?

I just started watching the first season of Mad Men, a show on AMC about advertising executives in the 1950s. It depicts a startlingly racist, sexist and smoke filled vision of the era (seriously, their minutes-to-cigarettes ratio is off the chart, I’m surprised I didn’t come down with lung cancer just from watching the thing). The first episode has me intrigued enough to keep watching. To help you get a quick feel of the tone of the show, here’s one very short clip:

Ten points to anyone who can identify what big-name show the secretary in yellow was on prior to landing this gig (without looking it up). I’m looking at you, jbg.

“Southland Tales = weird and not bad.”

jbg contends that I was wrong in my assessment that Homeboys in Outer Space was the most racist show on television and posits that The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer was, in fact, the most racist show on television. I admit, it’s a close call, but I still think I’m right. You can come to your own decision:

Homeboys in Outer Space’s intro:

The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer’s intro:

Tough decision.

If you need more help deciding, you can see the entire first aired episode of Desmond Pfeiffer on YouTube: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

jbg prompted me to watch a few episodes of Big Bang Theory. This scene made me laugh:

This Podcast Sucks episode 14 is now online in which jbg discusses my afore mentioned remarkable suggestions.  I would have been on the show if I had understood jbg’s cryptic “call me” email.  Call me?  What does that mean?

In another note, I’ll be away from my computer for the next few days.  Anything that gets posted in this space is being posted automatically so don’t expect any responses from me.

Star Trek, the Original Series episode title category from Jeopardy. Fill in the blanks:

1. The Trouble With ______
2. _______’s Brain
3. The City on the Edge of ________
4. Where No Man has ____________
5. For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched __________

I got four right (three I basically knew, one was a guess), one I couldn’t get. Can you beat me?

Thanks jbg.

jbg has started up season two of This Podcast Sucks and a main theme of the season will be his search for remarkable activities that he can hopefully accomplish during season three.

This is an excellent idea.

I sent him a few suggestions, which he can use or dismiss as he sees fit, but my favorite suggestion, and one that I really hope he chooses, is:

Build an accurate and life-size version of yourself out of paper mache and then pose for pictures with it in public places around Boston.

I can’t explain why I think this would be fantastic, I just know that it would be.

My friend Jeremy has a podcast called This Podcast Sucks. For months know he’s been asking me to listen to it and I haven’t because I don’t own an iPod. How can you possibly listen to a podcast without an iPod I ask him? He has never given me a satisfactory answer.

Anyway, in anticipation of my future iPod purchase, I actually went back and listened to the first three episodes on a borrowed iPod (the only possible way to listen to a podcast). Since I’m so far behind, I can breeze through them in quick succession like watching a TV show on DVD. It’s great. If only the content were great too. It gets less funny by the week.

Oh wait, I meant MORE funny.

Ok, that wasn’t really my joke.

Go listen to it, it’s good.

BaconSalt via jbg.

jbg has requested that I write about his podcast entitled This Podcast Sucks (and here’s the direct iTunes url). I haven’t listened to it yet because I don’t have an iPod. If you have an iPod, then you can listen to it. After many travails, jbg eventually got it listed in iTunes under This Podcast S***s… which I think is a much funnier title anyway.

I am, evidently, not the only person jbg pitched his podcast to.

Twice this week I’ve gone to Dodgers game and, through the magic of other people’s tickets, sat in the front row, about fifteen feet past first base. They’re pretty amazing seats. I gathered up some pictures from the experience, and I’ll be posting them shortly, but to get you prepared for them, I bring you competition for jbg’s Trot Nixon bobblehead doll: