Oh. My. God.

Google Earth. Get it. Now. Never sleep again. No time to blog. Must get back to google earth.

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Pretty Sneaky, Sis.

Call me crazy‚…but near the end of last night‚’s speech, did it sound to you like President Bush implied that anyone who flies an American flag on Monday will be showing support for the war in Iraq? This line made me scream at the television. I wouldn’t say that I bleed red white and blue, but you would hope a man could put up an American flag on the 4^th of July without joining the Republican party or endorsing neo-con policies.

As for the speech – it reeked of political panic. Invoking 9/11 five times to make the case for Iraq is just plain offensive at this point. More thoughtful reaction can be found at Slate, Juan Cole, and a great piece in the Los Angeles Times.

I’ve got Grokster on my Scotus!

The last day of the term brought some high profile rulings at the Supreme Court: There were split decisions on two cases dealing with the display of the Ten Commandments, Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper may soon be facing some jail time, expect higher prices for cable internet, and don’t blame yourself for those illegal downloads – it was the software that made you do it.

Best Coverage of the Day Award: CNet is all over the Grokster case.
Runner Up: Wonkette. “Supreme Court Swings Both Ways on Hot Church-State Action“

Tim Russert Scores Free Tickets to Live 8

Guess who followed Donald Rumsfeld on Meet the Press? Make way for Bono! Awwww yeah… Bono went one-on-one with Tim Russert (aka, lil’ Big Russ) this morning for a lengthy chat on global poverty, AIDs, Africa, debt relief, and who’s a better producer: Brian Eno or Daniel Lanois? U2’s frontman is doing the media rounds to promote higher financial commitments to African aid at the upcoming G8 summit in Scotland. I know this is where I am supposed to ironically insult Bono for his save-the-world attitude, but I have to admit the man is damn good at his job (move over Barack, there’s a new heart throb in town). Bono has become quite savvy with his politics – and he openly admits that the US cannot and will not be scorned into giving more money. His new plan of attack: Love. He heaped the love on Bush – claiming the President wants to help out, but his advisors just won’t let him. It’s just so fun and easy to blame Rove.

Big Bird and Armstrong Williams walk into a bar…

Frank Rich writes about the current attacks on public broadcasting in the NYT Week in Review. His argument: Republicans are not looking to destroy public radio and television – they actually want to subsume them into their media propoganda machine.

In the future, there will be an open bar!

But your liver will be periodically scanned.

I attended the opening reception for Wired Magazine’s NextFest last night. It’s billed as a showcase for visionary technology from scientists, researchers, and entrepreneurs. There was definitely some cool stuff – a hybrid train locomotive, a robotic arm that changes your records (old skool, meet new skool), and brain fingerprinting. It’s a fun event, and I highly recommend it for those of you in Chicago this weekend. My favorite display had to be Paro, a robotic baby harp seal (you heard right). This thing responds to your touch, wiggles around, and basically breaks your heart. Apparently it is designed for human interaction and has been used to reduce anxiety among Japanese elderly. It can recognize sound, so it will learn to respond to any name you give it. Let’s just say my cat’s job security is in serious jeopardy.

Take My House, Please

Oh, it’s on at the Supreme Court. Decisions are starting to come in fast and furious as we near the end of the term (and the end of Rehnquist?) Today, in a 5-4 decision, the justices ruled that the city of New London, CT can seize a residential neighborhood to make way for a new business development. Up to now, legitimate grounds for takings have been limited to more traditional ideas of what constitutes a “public good”: bridges, highways, lighthouses, etc. Now, if the city council thinks the tax revenue from a new Walmart would serve the community more than your tree-lined street of family homes, you’re out of luck. It’s a fascinating case and I’ve only glanced at the full decision, but it’s seems that the conservatives on the bench were in the dissent on this. It’s not everyday I get to say, “You go, Scalia!”

Oh, the problems of the first world.

The New York Times goes for the Pulitzer today with a piece on how to fly in style. You see, it turns out that when you’re dressing for that flight to LAX, it might not be smart to be smart looking. You may suffer the indignity of being screened by the TAA. So that Hermes Belt – leave it at home – it’s considered a lethal weapon (they told you that outfit would kill, but geez). And your Hugo Boss jacket might get caught in the x-ray machine (no! not my Boss!). Permission has now been granted en masse to dress like a slob on the plane. So next time Grandma waxes nostalgic about how airports used to be filled with ladies and gentlemen, all in their Sunday best – just shove the Gray Lady’s Style Section in her face. I dare you.

Scooped!

For the last few days, I have been suffering from a bad case of blogger’s block. Nothing seems blog worthy, and I just can’t muster either the wit or wisdom necessary. So as I ate my bowl of cereal this morning, I was delighted to find that the Chicago Tribune came out with their annual list of the 50 Best Magazines. Now what could be a better blog topic? Everybody loves a list. Everybody loves to criticize lists. And the Tribune made some terrible, awful choices. So I get to work and what do I find? Gawker is all over the story. Not only do they rip the list to shreds, but then they diss my home town in the process. Damn… that is so cold. But it gets worse. Salt in the wounds as Gaper’s Block quickly blogs about the Gawker post. Now all I’ve got is a post about a blog about a blog about the list. Man, I got no mojo.

Seriously, I really think they might be different from you and me.

Are you rich and damn tired of feeling guilty about it?

A lot of magazines come across my desk at work. My new favorite has to be Money. It’s like Sassy for yuppies. It has one mission: hard hitting coverage on the plight of the upwardly mobile. This month there are some great tips on how to avoid paying your fair share of the tax burden (p. 44 and 54), how to get rich in real estate without leaving home (p. 66, really!), and a guide that tells you which BMW can be considered a justifiable indulgence (p. 110). And I read it cover to cover.