Automation is not always good

Again, I’m trying not to advance an agenda here (full disclosure, I’m Christian). But damn, if you are so anti-gay (or anti-homosexual if you prefer) that you feel that using auto-replace for news feeds from the Associated Press makes sense then you deserve what you get.

And if US track Olympian Tyson Gay sues your ass, you really deserve it…

The article has been corrected, but read it as is and do the translation yourself. Originally it stated:

“It means a lot to me,” the 25-year-old Homosexual said. “I’m glad my body could do it, because now I know I have it in me.”

And even more amusingly, with a competitor named Dix:

After the race, Homosexual and Dix looked at each other and slapped palms, then hugged.

You just can’t make this stuff up…

The Onion is mainstream news…

You know The Onion is officially mainstream when the blog from The Economist has an article titled:

Are we living in the Onion yet?

Biz Advice goes hip-hop?

I have no idea what to make of this site, but I’m subscribing to the RSS feed just to see. I first found the site via a link to a post explaining why motivational posters suck. That’s not exactly a revelation, I was most amused by the fact that they used the word “suck”.

So I check the home page and Trizle is apparently all about this:

Trizle provides tips, tools, and tricks to rock your business like it ain’t no thang but a chicken wing on a string.

That’s worth checking out for the mere amusement value…

When Galaxies collide

This is just a really cool picture…

George Carlin RIP

OK, I grew up with George Carlin. When I was about 14 we got the album (yes, vinyl LP) of him doing the seven words you cannot say on TV. So I’ve always been a fan (I’d love to quote here, but I’m sure to offend someone).

If you are inclined, here’s Wired’s obit and here’s a good YouTube video of a post “seven words” comedy routine.

But for the record, he says more than seven words that you can’t say on TV…

If you must be delayed…

for multiple hours before a red-eye international flight, there are worse places than JFK. I showed up at the LOT check-in and was informed we were delayed by three hours. Nice. But they did give me a $10 meal voucher for my inconvenience.

So I found a Sam Adams restaurant to camp out at. Solid WiFi, good beer, could be worse. Eventually my battery is dying so I decide to go through security and see what I can find.

How about a Brooklyn Brewery restaurant with outlets? Not shabby.

So if you are delayed, it could be a lot worse than JFK (in case you are wondering why I did five posts in one day). Not so good for my liver though…

Football economics

This is very interesting, in that the Packers are the only publicly owned football team (and my team). You initially think, “only a $21.4 million dollar profit, boo hoo”, but then you realize that as a $241 million dollar operation that isn’t a huge margin.

Though the $127 million dollars socked away as protection against a work stoppage make you even less likely to feel sorry for them.

The Packers are an amazing phenomenon in sports. There is no team so high profile in such a tiny town. Green Bay Wisconsin? Are you kidding me? But it works. Nowhere else like that it would work, but in Green Bay it works. And that is part of the charm…

Political RSS follow-up

The truth is that I have a three hour delay at JFK airport and I’m really bored.

But I have to say that the other McCain RSS feed has been very active. So the McCain team does understand RSS, they just need to update their page that lists their RSS feeds.

But I do have to make one comment. And with full disclosure I will state that I am a registered Democrat who did not vote for Obama in the primary but is very likely to in the general election. I will also state that I consider McCain to be an honorable politician (if that isn’t a total oxymoron). If I had voted in the Republican primary I would have voted for McCain (though I suppose if you are a true Republican that’s probably not a good endorsement – my point is that he’s a decent guy, which you can’t say about all politicians)

But his RSS feed is a bit icky.

From the feed, I would have no idea that McCain is running. Obama’s feed is a long list of “Obama was here. He said this. He’s in favor of that. Here’s his proposal on the other”. McCain’s feed is a long list of “Obama was at this stupid place. He said this stupid thing. He’s in favor of that stupid thing. Here’s is stupid proposal on the other”.

Honestly, my guess is that McCain has no idea what his web site blog is saying. He’s been very good about disowning highly negative statements. And I suppose that for the most part anyone subscribing to a candidate’s RSS feed is a supporter. So I’m probably making a big deal over nothing.

I just though McCain/Obama would be an unusually positive campaign. Perhaps that was naive…

Crop Circle follow-up

OK, this is just funny, as is the headline…

I don’t even know what to say…

Should I comment on our litigious society? Say something like “even naked cowboys have rights”? Am I amused? Offended?

I’m going with amused…