Borders® Book Sale

Borders 30% Off Coupon for any one book or audiobook.

Valid 4/28/05-5/1/05.

Shaky Ground

Break out the Dramamine®! You might need pharmaceutical help on several fronts when the as of yet untitled Britney Spears' Reality Show hits the airwaves May 17th.

As Yahoo! Launch reports:
"Britney Spears's upcoming UPN reality series won't be like the MTV shows Newlyweds: Nick And Jessica or The Osbournes. A message on her official website says the show "is documentary-style footage which was filmed by Britney and Kevin. It's not as conservative as Nick and Jessica's show nor is it as dysfunctional as the Osbournes."

All about Britney and Kevin?Shot mostly with hand-held video? Better not watch on an empty stomach.

The (Show With) Baggage, Returns

The Southwest Airlines based airport reality-show "Airline" returns for the season 3 premier May 2 on A&E cable Monday 8PM/ 7PM Central.

Follow Southwest Airlines pilots, flight attendants, and airport employees as they experience heartwarming passenger stories, occasional outbursts, weather-related anxiety and heightened security measures, all while trying to meet everyone's urgent timetable. A&E Network brings the viewer behind the counter, onto the tarmac and into cockpit for this real life series.

Want to be a part of the new season? Southwest Air and A&E are currently accepting stories for Season 3 of "Airline" through August 1, 2005.

No Victim Left Behind

Interrogations Faked at Guantanamo is the latest bombshell to besmirch the good record of our Cuban prison camp. Reuters and Yahoo! cite a former Army translator at the camp who claims interrogations of detainees were staged for visiting politicians and generals to give the impression that valuable intelligence was regularly being gathered.

"They would find a detainee that they knew to have been cooperative. They would ask the interrogator to go back over the same information," he said, calling it "a fictitious world" created for the visitors."

How long do we have to wait until we find that similar stagings were set up for high brass who visited Abu Ghraib and other locations around Iraq?

T-Mobile's New Consumer Aid


The mobile phone carrier has one-upped the competition with street-level maps of its coverage. (Think Google's Keyhole mapping software and you have an idea of the detail shown)

As Dan Gillmor says, "this Web service punches a hole in a stonewall the mobile carriers have insisted on erecting for years. They've said maps of coverage and signal strength are "trade secrets" -- a shabby way of treating customers and potential customers.

Now if someone can just explain the popularity of ringtones (some more expensive than the iTunes Music Store price for the whole song) to me I would be much happier.

Lego and Apple Collide Again

Although this is not an official pairing (Like the Star Wars Revenge of the Sith Lego products), PodBrix has another (sold out) product for the white ear-bud set: Mister Brix.

All white minifig with what looks like a scroll wheel on his chest (or is that a Tron disk worn backwards?) designed to clip to the headphone cord. Was US$16.99, now I guess you have to haunt eBay for one.

I would reccomend not flaunting this on the NYC subway if a this CNN report about the 50+ iPods stolen so far.

"Thieves spot people with the telltale white earphones, then snatch the devices and run out train doors. On Web sites, iPod devotees suggest keeping the devices concealed and switching to cheaper-looking earphones."

Click Click Bang Bang

With apologies to James Bond, News24 is reporting, "a Jordanian man shot dead his divorced sister after seeing her photo on his friend's camera-equipped cellphone in the latest 'honour' killing in the kingdom, hospital officials said Monday."

Video Games as Art

Photos from the i am 8-bit opening night in Los Angeles. All of your favourites from the 80s and 90s immortalized on canvas, photos and in sculpture: Q-bert, Mario, Pac Man, Tron, Dig Dug and more. Artists include Gary Baseman ("Teachers Pet"), Thomas Han, Gabe Swarr (Spumco International), Jim Knoblauch and Gary Taxali.

Timeline Fun

Dorothy Gambrell's wonderful Cat and Girl site host the images selected from the first page of a Google Image Search for each year.

When you are done looking at the pictures go back to look at Dorothy's great strips - she's doing 2 a week since the summer of 1999. She also has some great shirts and bags and such for sale, too.

Moscow As It Could Have Been

Москва невоплощенная/unrealized Moscow has some great illustrations of what could have been. If you think their subway system is architectural marvel wait until you see these.

Picture Mail

VERBA.chromogenic.net: CameraMail: "On the 22nd of December 2004, Kyle Van Horn taped a disposable camera to a piece of black foamcore and inscribed upon it the following message: 'ATTENTION POSTAL WORKERS! Please help us with our project. As this camera travels across the country we want photos of all whom it encounters. Please take a photo before you pass it along. Thank you!'"

Post Office workers are a wacky bunch in case you didn't know.

Starbucks Simplified

Starbucks Drinks Simplified (kinda).

Now, order with confidence or find something you have not tried with this rather exhaustive list of what that little Seattle coffee outpost that took over the world has to offer.

from memepool

Hit Song From Car Commercial

From NPR's Weekend Edition - Sunday, April 24, 2005 · "Aqualung, a nearly one-man band driven by frontman Matt Hales' songwriting, piano playing and vocals, has already had what can only be called a "commercial" success.

The breakthrough was "Strange & Beautiful," a song first heard as a car commercial in Britain. It's also the title of Aqualung's latest CD.

Hales had hoped for discovery by a record label or radio station, but now says his non-traditional route was "even better... because it was kind of democratic." People who heard the car ad pestered radio stations to play the whole song."

See and hear Aqualung at NPR.org.

"Strange & Beautiful" and many other Aqualung songs are available at the iTunes Music Store and other fine music selling establishments.

Where Do You Want Go Today?

[NY Times] The Microsoft Corporation, at the forefront of corporate gay rights for decades, is coming under fire from gay rights groups, politicians and its own employees for withdrawing its support for a state bill that would have barred discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Complete story here.
Registration required

Happy Earth Day

Today (Friday April 22, 2005) is Earth Day. And while Congress discusses sacrificing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil industry profits, at least some good things are happening locally.

Last night on the shuttle to CalTrain I guess a caterpillar was crawling on some woman's shoulder, much to the dismay of her seat-mate. Another woman 2 rows behind her took the invader off her shoulder with a pencil. The caterpillar fell to the floor which still seemed to bother the increasingly freaked out woman despite people reassuring her that caterpillars do not bite and generally turn into a butterfly.

Shortly before arriving at the station the caterpillar rescuer jumped up to get it off the floor. As the rest of us exited the shuttle, I noticed she had taken her new friend to a shrub to hopefully live out it's days safe from the feet of weary travelers.

I made sure to thank her for her efforts and let's hope her (and the caterpillar's) good karma continues today and throughout the week-end.

For another feel-good story, read Britta's tale of international parcel post.

Amazon Free Music Page

Industry powerhouse Amazon.com now lets you see all of their free music offerings at Free Music Downloads > Amazon.com Top Downloads.

Promo versions, B-sides and lots more and heck, they're free so why not give something you haven't heard a try?

Update: Better link here for songs not in the top 200.

Livestrong Bracelets and the Rest

Lance Armstrong's LiveStrong bracelets have raised over $30 million to fight cancer since May 2004. With that kind of success you knew there would be imitators - here is a handy cheat-sheet courtesy of Fast Company of what all those different colour bracelets cost and who they support:

Victory Starts Here
Cause: Women's cancer research and prevention
Who: Athena Partners
Cost: $1
Number sold: 190,000
FYI: Athena has donated two times more from band sales than from proceeds of its actual product, bottled water.

1200 (the daily U.S. death toll from tobacco products)
Cause: Smoking cessation
Who: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
Cost: 10 for $10
Number sold: 60,000
FYI: Wear your wristband on April 13, national "Kick Butts" day.

Beat Bullying
Cause: Bully cessation
Who: British government
Cost:Free
Sold:1,000,000
FYI: Sold out, so you'll either have to find one on eBay or beat someone up for his

Support Our Troops
Cause: Entertaining overseas troops
Who:USO (via 7-11 Stores)
Cost:$2.99
Sold:621,300
FYI: Raising hackles because they're made in China, which in 2001 detained a U.S. military aircraft crew

Keep Doctors in Illinois
Cause: Medical malpractice reform
Who: Doctors in Illinois (partially funded by Pfizer)
Cost:10¢
Sold: ~100,000

Baller/ Team/ Respect, etc.
Cause: Making money
Who: Nike
Cost:$5 for three
Sold: company won't say
FYI: Nike says these bands existed before the Lance craze.

Censor Me

MTV notes that in his first speech as head of the Federal Communications Commission, Chairman Kevin Martin strongly suggested on Tuesday that the cable industry clean up its act and shield children from indecent content.

But Martin's speech at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association's convention in San Francisco was overshadowed by a fiery talk by Wisconsin Republican congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., who said he'd rather see indecent broadcasters thrown in jail.

In a semi-related note: here is NWA's gangsta rap album "Straight Outta Compton" after being edited down so only the profanities remain. The EPR (explicit content ratio) for each track is given with 'Fuck Tha Police' as the most explicit track on the album, with an EPR of 12.1%.

McScram Buddy!

Will Pate was at the Vancouver McDonald's attached to their corporate headquarters and thinking it was rather posh, decided to take a few pictures. Beside the main food counter was one of the new McCafe counters and as he says, "I took a picture of the tiniest of the cups sitting on display, when things went sour."

Read his account of what happened in: The Photo McDonald's Didn't Want You To See.

The photos are on his page at Flickr pending any cease and desists from Ronald and his lawyers.

Cosmic Convergence?

TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog) points out that the Hitchhiker's Guide movie and Apple's Tiger are being released on the same day.

Is it merely coincidence that Apple's Mac OS X 10.4 ("Tiger") is being released the same day that Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy opens "wide" at a theater near you?
Douglas Adams was a very vocal Mac advocate, so it would be a fitting tribute to have the dates of these two events coincide, but what does Steve think of D.N.A?

I suppose there could be more to this if Tiger wass named 10.4.2 or 10.4(2), but either way, a good day all around.

Google Real Estate Agent

What do you get when you combine a search engine with real estate listings? The next generation of search.

An awesome hack of craigslist and Google Maps!

Somebody buy this guy a clever Yahoo domain name and/or make him a Google affiliate right now.

[Get me eloan on the phone, now! I want a new home.]

Philip Pullman's Northern Lights Illustrations


photo taken from Krista's 'Northern Lights set' @Flickr

In addition to news of some new and reissued 'His Dark Materials' books, here are some rather fetching drawings that readers in the United State may not have seen.

What an amazing author and illustrator!

T-Mobile to Cheapskates: Drop Dead

As many of you know, being a C.A.B. is a full-time job, requiring many many long hours on the road. Well, who doesn't have a mobile phone these days to stay in touch? After my MCI phone went dead (along with much of the company), I did what many penny pinchers did and hit the web looking for the cheapest cell phone plan, eventually landing on Amazon who had a great deal on a Motorola V66 (Nationwide plan, good local coverage, usable in Europe) with more than enough minutes for a few weekday calls and loads of weekend minutes to call the parents (and avoid SBC and Long Distance charges), all for US$19.99 a month. Bonus cheapness: phone was free after rebate.

All was well in CABtown until I got a letter telling me that due to 'improvements' in the T-Mobile voicemail system my phone would not be as usable as it had in the past and I should contact them (611 - a free call!) to get a new phone from their lengthy 'approved' list.

So, taking advantage of some down-time at the local Volvo dealer, I called and asked them what they were going to do for me.

In short: Nothing. Not without buying a new phone. Seems my plan was lower than their threshold for caring about me as a customer. Best part is: if I was a new subscriber I could get any number of spiffy new cell phones, again for free, even with the plan I have now.

Then again, perhaps I should check out their competition. AT&T prepaid wireless looks pretty good, as does AT and T wireless now that they have joined up with Cingular.

Now where is my Best Buy gift card???

American Women Have No Nipples (before 10 p.m.)

Repeated verbatim from Jeff Jarvis' BuzzMachine:

Pamela Anderson, appearing on Howard Stern this morning to plug her new Fox show Stacked, said that the network censors have come on the set and ordered that her nipples be "taped down" because you can't have nipples before 10 p.m.

This shows the absurd lengths to which regulatory puritanism has gone: Now American women can't have nipples, at least not before the "safe harbor," when, apparently, nipples are suddenly, magically allowed to pop out again.

I say that the NOW should be storming the FCC with protest over this: Because of the chill (which, yes, ironically, would have the undesired effect on nipples) they have imposed, we are now at the point where a woman's clothed anatomy is deemed to be injurious to children. That's childish itself; it's absurd; it's sexist; it's more offensive than any nipple, even Janet Jackson's.

Now I wish I had watched this last night! (Almost.) I take it the frequent cold days, afternoons and nights in San Francisco for WB's "Charmed" are in the interest of realism.

Is FOX really this out of ideas that this is how they try and get buzz for a new show?

Can I write 'nipple' enough times? Apparently not.
:)

These Are Not the Raisins You Seek

Honey Smacks and Jedi Master Mace Windu, Raisin Bran and Chewbaca - check out Toner Mishap and see what our Star Wars friends are pushing in preparation of Star Wars Episode Three, Revenge of the Sith.

Tamagotchi mini

Gizmodo notes toymaker Bandai has come out with a new Tamagotchi 66% of the size of their original virtual pet from 1996.

"Chibi (small/cute) Tamagotchi" pictures can be found at the Official Bandai Homepage but it will help if you can read Japanese.

These Are the People in Your Neighborhood

Mike lists his top 25 favourite Sesame Street memories.

Check out the official site's 35 years of trivia as well!

Use GMail as Storage



Got a Mac running OSX and too many GMail invites? Hook yourself up with one for storage of those files that always seem to accumulate on your desktop. Attachments are limited to under 10 meg

Macosxhints has all the info and scripts you'll need.

If You Build It They Will Come

Engadget has a tutorial on building a cheap media player.

Of course they assume you have:

• a laptop with S-Video or RCA TV out, a mini-itx box, or other PC with video out
  
• RCA or S-Video cable
  
• mini stereo plug to RCA adapter
  
• ability to burn CDs
  
• something good to watch
  

but I guess good geeks will have this (and more) all within arm's reach.

Everything Old is New Again

TiVo, originally uploaded by Apers.

Hollywood Reporter tells us that Shannen Doherty is in final negotiations to assume the title role of a matchmaker in UPN's comedy pilot "Wingwoman."

The show in development centers on a single woman (Doherty) who helps her male clients find their soulmates.

Reagan Gomez-Preston ("Love Don't Cost a Thing") would co-star as Doherty's longtime friend, co-worker and roommate.

Any resemblance to NBC's 2003 Miss Match staring Alicia Silverstone as a lawyer and match-maker would be shocking seeing as NBC did very little to promote the show - letting it die without showing the remaining episodes.

Some Guys in Space

As I am sure all of you know by now, Google maps can toggle between a map view and a satellite view.

Check out Burning Man in progress.

Let Me Check My Schedule

"Upcoming.org is a social event calendar, completely driven by people like you. Manage your events, share events with friends and family, and syndicate your calendar to your own site."

Think eVite that can learn and recommend things.

Joe Bob Briggs says check it out.

Better Than Vioxx

i am 8-bit is an L.A. gallery having a retro-gaming exhibition. Fans of early video games, MAME, and the 80s will enjoy this.

Escher fans favourite Q-Bert shows up in @!#?@!
by Joe Ledbetter

Coffee For a Cause

Starbucks Coffee Company, Major League Baseball and the Seattle Mariners have teamed up to create a Starbucks card bearing the image of Seattle Mariner's Ichiro Suzuki. This first ever collectible Starbucks card will be for sale at Starbucks stores in Japan, Washington State and Oregon as well on-line. The card is scheduled to be available on Opening Day, April 4, 2005.

The preloaded collectible card will sell for $10, the face value of the card. Starbucks and Major League Baseball will donate $2 from the sale of each Ichiro Starbucks card to charities including Make-A-Wish Foundation in Japan and the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation in the United States, based on where the card is purchased.