The Problem with Wikipedia

(and wikis in general)

Lena Horne is dead and Wikipedia is having an awkward time of it.

Hitler, for real

When you prick the planet, does it not bleed?

The oil slick could become the nation's worst environmental disaster in decades, threatening hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world's richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp, oysters and other marine life. Thicker oil was in waters south and east of the Mississippi delta about five miles offshore.


The leak from the ocean floor proved to be far bigger than initially reported, contributing to a growing sense among many in Louisiana that the government failed them again, just as it did during Hurricane Katrina.

 http://www.ktvu.com/news/23303273/detail.html

A visual update [5/13/10]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYFYVNvgg-A&feature=player_embedded

Bravo Foxtrot Foxtrot

That must have been a huge settlement check

"The Big Apple Circus is a great family event. The kids especially enjoyed Bello's performance. The accident was a fluke (getting hit by lightning is more probable), but the most important thing is the kids are fine and our understanding is the performer is as well," the children's parents, Lou and Patricia Imbriano, said in a statement.

The Human Centipede

Apparently it's real.

People are crazy

Midtown NY today (video: people lining up 500 deep to buy an iPad)

If I had bought the original iPhone, my iPhone right now would not be able to use the 3G network (and some other stuff) and would have cost twice as much.

Why in hell are these people lining up to buy a product that is crippled in significant ways, by purposeful design by its seller in anticipation of the next marketing wave for V2 ?  I consider myself an early adopter, but I've also lived long enough to know that buying the first of anything is a losing proposition.

I guess this means I'm married

Pooch and Squish, naked as we came

Listening to Iron & Wine

Pink Floyd Wins Legal Battle to Only Sell Full Albums Online

I like this this entry on Gizmodo, written by furniture-fucker Adam Frucci, which points to a British High Court decision that that Pink Floyd's contract with EMI prohibits individual songs from their albums being sold individually.

I'm not usually one to cheer limitations on online (sold or otherwise) media, but I do cheer anytime people will choose to PAY for Pink Floyd music and are actually forced to, you know, listen to the whole album, as people were expected to in the 70s.  Get with the program -- you don't just watch the Star Gate sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey and get to call yourself a Kubrick fan (or know what the hell you're talking about in any context).

From the BBC News article (linked to from the Gizmodo entry):

In court, Chancellor Sir Andrew Morritt said the contract contained a clause to "preserve the artistic integrity of the albums". 

I have no sympathy for people who are as a matter of course willing to pay the iTunes- / record company- tax just so they so they can get "Another Brick in the Wall" or "Comfortably Numb" tracks without having (getting to) listen to the entirety of "The Wall" album.  Fuck 'em. I say: "Let them crash."

On the other hand, those that care about the quality of the overall piece will get it (for free) as a full-album torrent anyway, so I'm not sure what they're worried about.  (GASP..! could it be money?)