Front page headlines - July 31, 2008 from the on-line editions around 1 PM Eastern
Washington Post
U.S. Economy Grows at Solid Pace in 2nd Quarter
New York Times
G.D.P. Grows at Tepid 1.9% Pace Despite Stimulus
Los Angeles Times
Economy posts small growth in 2nd quarter
International Herald Tribune
U.S. growth less than expected despite stimulus
The Times (London)
US GDP misses second-quarter forecasts at 1.9%
Gazeta Wyborcza (Warsaw, Poland)
Fatalne dane z USA (Awful Data From The US)
Miami Herald
Fidel Castro still a factor
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Delta Airlines and common sense
You'll need a million frequent travel miles to buy a domestic "reward" ticket on Delta. Seriously, the value of frequent flier miles miles has diminished to the point of "why bother at all..." Details here http://www.delta.com/skymiles. I'm almost positive that many other carriers will follow - hello Southwest, I'm all yours!!!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Delta Airlines and common sense
Wanna check a second bag on Delta? 50 bucks, s'il vous plaît... Surfboard? 175 big ones.
Wanna cookie? It'll be forty-seven fifty... (And that's for a day-old cookie.)
Wanna cookie? It'll be forty-seven fifty... (And that's for a day-old cookie.)
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Hello (and go away) Dolly!
Yesterday a second hurricane of this year's Atlantic season - Dolly - hit Texas near the Mexican border as a category 2 storm. Lots of flooding and damage, a few injuries but no loss of life.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Falling...
Oil closed at $134. Wow, over $10 drop in a week or so! Don't rejoice, though, it is still 80% more than a year ago...
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Bertha
1st out of "6 to 9" this season's Atlantic hurricanes
http://verbatizm.blogspot.com/2008/05/2008-hurricane-season-predictions.html
aptly named Bertha has barely missed Bermuda. Was it major? Methinks yes, it did reach category 3 for a while (and lasted an eternity..!)
http://verbatizm.blogspot.com/2008/05/2008-hurricane-season-predictions.html
aptly named Bertha has barely missed Bermuda. Was it major? Methinks yes, it did reach category 3 for a while (and lasted an eternity..!)
Monday, July 14, 2008
Gay. Homosexual. Gay. Homosexual.
Some time ago, the Associated Press wrote that World champion Tyson Gay ran the fastest 100 meters of all-time to win the American Olympic trials on Sunday, a wind-assisted 9.68 seconds.
A web site http://www.onenewsnow.com/ (a division of American Family News Network, run by a fanatically anti-gay organization American Family Association of Tupelo, MS) linked that wire story but if you happen to read it there, you’ll see that it was “Tyson Homosexual” who ran the race… Apparently the good (?) people of the American Family Association set their filtering software to replace every instance of the word “gay” with the word “homosexual.” Oh Lord, where are you when we really need you!
And next time you see something (anything!) named “American Family Association” remember that the organ of the Soviet Communist Party was titled Pravda (“Truth.”)
A web site http://www.onenewsnow.com/ (a division of American Family News Network, run by a fanatically anti-gay organization American Family Association of Tupelo, MS) linked that wire story but if you happen to read it there, you’ll see that it was “Tyson Homosexual” who ran the race… Apparently the good (?) people of the American Family Association set their filtering software to replace every instance of the word “gay” with the word “homosexual.” Oh Lord, where are you when we really need you!
And next time you see something (anything!) named “American Family Association” remember that the organ of the Soviet Communist Party was titled Pravda (“Truth.”)
Saturday, July 12, 2008
iPocalypse..?
iPhone (AKA JesusPhone ‘cuz it does everything, walks on water, too) gets several different bibles thanks to the suddenly open application platform! Other religions are royally screwed but, hey, it is the JesusPhone after all!
As an aside: it even gets the long-missing cut-and-paste functionality thanks to some obscure outfit working days and nights (24 minutes total of real work, 2 weeks of pizza and beer breaks…) in some dump and messy garage. That has to count for more Brownie points than the bible!
As an aside: it even gets the long-missing cut-and-paste functionality thanks to some obscure outfit working days and nights (24 minutes total of real work, 2 weeks of pizza and beer breaks…) in some dump and messy garage. That has to count for more Brownie points than the bible!
Oil
$147 oil yesterday (it closed a bit lower but still...)
Exxon/Mobil pledges to invest four dollars and fifteen cents in environmental protection and another $15.5 million in their government lobbying efforts.
Exxon/Mobil pledges to invest four dollars and fifteen cents in environmental protection and another $15.5 million in their government lobbying efforts.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Boneheaded propagandists unite!
Well, after the "zebra incident", "OJ dark or darker" debacle and countless other alterations of news and "documentary" photos (both in digital and "traditional" domain) this just had to happen... Propaganda pictures from the launch of ballistic missiles by Iran show a fourth missile (which apparently did not fire) happily (?) reaching for the sky!
As an aside, rumor has it that the Iranis have ordered 25 000 metric tons of green paint to paint the grass in Teheran "to make a good impression."
See also this entry for something totally opposite yet strikingly similar: http://verbatizm.blogspot.com/2008/06/same-old-same-old.html
The picture as obtained by Associated Press:
And as published by many news outlets around the world, obtained by AFP via Sepah:
As an aside, rumor has it that the Iranis have ordered 25 000 metric tons of green paint to paint the grass in Teheran "to make a good impression."
See also this entry for something totally opposite yet strikingly similar: http://verbatizm.blogspot.com/2008/06/same-old-same-old.html
The picture as obtained by Associated Press:
And as published by many news outlets around the world, obtained by AFP via Sepah:
Both pictures: (c) The New York Times/Agence France-Presse/Associated Press
Note: If either AP, NYT or AFP have a problem with using these photos here, please let me know and I'll remove both. For now I consider it "fair use" (this is a non-commercial blog.) The Sepah people can get stuffed!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Fly American!
Various blogs (Gothamist, Consumerist) report that after American Airlines flight 1908 from Miami to NY LaGuardia on July 8 was delayed because the crew didn’t arrive on time, the waiting passengers greeted the crew with loud boos when they finally showed up. Apparently, after some members of the crew refused to fly with “hostile passengers”, the flight was cancelled, the passengers put up in a hotel (allegedly “a nice place but with barbed wire all around it” as described by one passenger) and sent on their way to LaGuardia the next day. Their luggage “accidentally” ended up at JFK…
All sources cite Fox News as “the” source so take it with a grain of salt.
(Thanks, Tim!)
All sources cite Fox News as “the” source so take it with a grain of salt.
(Thanks, Tim!)
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Linguistic evil (pardon me, good...)
Fanboys rejoice! Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and Oxford English Dictionary say that the word fanboy is now part of the English language! Still, fangirl exists only in popular speech. C’mon Señor Webster…
Fanboy
Pronunciation: \ˈfan-ˌboi\
Function: noun
Date: 1919 ([really? ML])
: a boy who is an enthusiastic devotee (as of comics or movies)
Usage example (a suggestion) throngs of Apple fanboys camp for a week on front of Apple stores to purchase Apple iPhone seven minutes before the sane part of the human race can do it without waiting.
Fanboy
Pronunciation: \ˈfan-ˌboi\
Function: noun
Date: 1919 ([really? ML])
: a boy who is an enthusiastic devotee (as of comics or movies)
Usage example (a suggestion) throngs of Apple fanboys camp for a week on front of Apple stores to purchase Apple iPhone seven minutes before the sane part of the human race can do it without waiting.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Padre, may I see your ID..?
According to the Sunday’s Osservatore Romano (the official organ of the Holy Sea) “some time ago” a fake priest was discovered in the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome while attempting to take his place in a confessional. While apparently dressed in clerical garb and carrying proper identification, his behavior was deemed “strange” by the Basilica’s security, which in turn - after a close review of his documents - led to his arrest and a subsequent trial. A Vatican Judge Gianluigi Marrone said that “It was a case of usurping an ecclesiastical title, and thus he was tried by our tribunal.”
What hath God wrought…
What hath God wrought…
Friday, July 4, 2008
Oh, say can you see...
US gas prices (average, regular unleaded) based on the AAA data:
July 4 2007: $2.95
July 4 2008: $4.05
July 4 2007: $2.95
July 4 2008: $4.05
Thursday, July 3, 2008
I throws therefore...
From the AP wire:
On July 1, 2008 in Deland, FL, a 46-year-old man allegedly hit his mother in the head with a three-pound package of polish sausage. The perpetrator has been arrested and charged with battery.
Apart from the distastefulness of the entire incident (mother hit on the head with a really awfully tasting meat(?) product), the incident gives a totally new meaning to the Polish phrase "rzucać mięsem" (colloquially: to use four-letter words.)
On July 1, 2008 in Deland, FL, a 46-year-old man allegedly hit his mother in the head with a three-pound package of polish sausage. The perpetrator has been arrested and charged with battery.
Apart from the distastefulness of the entire incident (mother hit on the head with a really awfully tasting meat(?) product), the incident gives a totally new meaning to the Polish phrase "rzucać mięsem" (colloquially: to use four-letter words.)
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Small minded big box retailing
Wal-Mart and Costco have adopted a new design for ye olde milk jug: a spout-less cube which apparently keeps the milk fresh longer and is easier to “palletize.” Alas, as it has no real spout, the milk spills everywhere while being poured from that contraption. Despite this little shortcoming, the new design has been hailed by both companies as one of the greatest achievements in modern retailing of perishable goods and “a great service to our customers.” The “spout-less milk jug” idea was apparently first promulgated by Lenin who said, “Screw the consumer!” and ordered Felix Dzerzhinsky (the leader of the Soviet state-sanctioned assassins “Cheka” - All-Russia Extraordinary Commission to Combat Counterrevolution and Sabotage) to shot on the spot the motherfuckers who didn’t like the idea of new milk jugs.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
.ohshit!
USA Today wrote last week (Thursday, June 27) that yer olde Internet Corporation For Assigned Names And Numbers (ICANN) will soon start allowing any word as the top level domain in internet addresses say, such-and-such@youarea.moron
You know – great idea and manna from heaven for cybersquatters … Let’s the real fun begin!
You know – great idea and manna from heaven for cybersquatters … Let’s the real fun begin!
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