The $80 Million Fake Bomb-Detector Scam—and the People Behind It.
How the Photography of Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams Told the Story of Japanese American Internment.
John Scalzi on Hurricane Katrina, and poverty. “Being Poor,” Ten Years On.
The Truth of ‘Black Lives Matter’: “They are NOT asserting that black lives are more precious than white lives.”
Mr. Frog linked to Here’s How New Texas Public School Textbooks Write About Slavery.
No, Mount McKinley’s former and new name, “Denali,” does NOT mean “Black Power” in Kenyan. Or Swahili. Denali means “the great one” in the local Athabaskan language of Alaska.
Question: Why must we still talk about race? Answer: Twelve. And I Am a Racist.
Is thyroid cancer the ‘good’ cancer? It doesn’t feel that way when you get it. Mentions Times Union blogger David Kalish.
How Jeb Bush’s Tax Cuts Suckered the Media.
Teen Boy Will Be Charged As Adult For Having Naked Pics of a Minor: Himself. If I hadn’t seen it on CBS News the day before, I would have thought it a hoax.
Tennessee mom calls Henrietta Lacks book ‘pornographic,’ seeks to have it banned in school; author Rebecca Skloot responds.
Damned Lies and Employment Statistics. “Yes, some ‘real’ unemployment rate is roughly double the official 5.1%. But there’s nothing sinister about that.”
1927 news report: Donald Trump’s dad arrested in KKK brawl with cops.
Women, Don’t Make That Bicycle Face.
Don’t Hate the Phone Call, Hate the Phone.
TV host John Oliver has become America’s social justice warrior, and he reminds us how little most of us know about geography.
My friend Steve Bissette wrote, and I totally agree: “Sure bet: If you work in a brick-and-mortar retail establishment, and if you tell me when I ask if you have something that I can only get it online, then you have lost me forever as a customer at said brick-and-mortar retail establishment. It’s not peevishness or pique, it’s just how it is.” Chuck Miller had a similar experience: Panera Bread and kiosk mentality.
Becca Sunoo goes to Nantes. She’s the granddaughter of a couple at my church.
10 Insulting Words You Should Know.
What time is it, Oxford Dictionaries? How about almost ‘beer o’clock’?
Phantom vibration syndrome is common among those who use electronic devices.
A Woman Chugged an Entire Bottle of Cognac Rather than Give It to Airport Security.
A FEW MINUTES WITH… Booker T. Jones.
Weird Al 15-11. SamuraiFrog’s descriptions are great.
A History of Chris Christie’s Complicated Relationship With Bruce Springsteen.
From 2002: Art That Shook The World: The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, part 1 and part 2.
Music! Fisherman – The Congos.
Mark Evanier is listing the twenty top voice actors in American animated cartoons between 1928 and 1968. So far: Sterling Holloway (Winnie the Pooh); Mae Questel (Betty Boop, Olive Oyl); Jim Backus (Mr. Magoo); Pinto Colvig (Goofy).
Six-degrees of separation from Robert Crumb.
Why Craig Ferguson Really Left Late Night.
Muppets: Jimmy Dean and Rowlf and Flowers on the Wall; if you don’t know the original to the latter, it’s here.
Download Jim Rockford’s Answering Machine Messages as MP3s.
In honor of Labor Day: Americans Celebrate 10 Millionth ‘Bring Yourself To Work Day’.
DO NOT wash your hair in the shower!!
GOOGLE ALERT (me)
The original creators of any given comic book character or title always had the purest vision and did the best work on that character or title. Is that always the case, though? Plus What are the five most affecting graphic novels?
Dustbury reminds us of the anomalies of the Billboard charts when it comes to black music.
GOOGLE (ALERT (not me)
Australian golf: The eighteen-hole winner for Saturday’s Roger Green trophy “was Rick Bennett with a score of 59 net from Andrew McGrath on 61 net.”
My one and only experience with a Panera kiosk: they got my order slightly wrong and failed to apply the “reward” I was due on it.
I also feel the same way about self check-outs. If the grocery is willing to give me a discount for doing part of the work myself, fine. But otherwise, they should hire enough cashiers to serve people. Trying to shop when a grocery is busy is a misery already, it is made worse when there aren’t enough checkstands open (and the self-check-outs malfunction frequently enough that they are never all on-line)
I’ll use the self-checkout if I have only a few items. (Anything over about 15, and it becomes cumbersome; I did 21 once, and it was maddening.)
A friend on Twitter whose last name is McKinley changed it to “Denali” for about a week. Woe upon those who didn’t get the joke.
Wow, I haven’t even made it past the fake bomb detector story. That was a read almost like a novel, complete with heroine Detective Joanne Law, who has to warn the world of a dangerous lie.
Scary but fascinating.