- Apparently Texas history has a liberal bias and needs to be fixed. This would be funny if these people weren’t responsible for teaching America’s children. As Mary Helen Berlanga (D-Corpus Christi) reportedly said, “Until we are ready to tell the truth about history, we don’t have a good history or social studies textbook.” [via]
- I’m not so sure about this Doctor Who alignment chart — is David Tennant’s Doctor really Chaotic Evil? — but it is interesting. [via]
- Peter Sagal on “How Many Writers Did it Take to Make The Fugitive?” Sometimes, too many cooks doesn’t spoil the broth.
- According to the Vatican’s Chief Exorcist, “the Devil is lurking at the heart of the Catholic Church.” [via]
- And finally, the street performers I see in the NY subway are never this interesting. (Though I did once see Chewbacca at Grand Central!)
politics
Monday various
- How to use a semicolon [via]
- A Muppet Wicker Man [via]
- A History of Obama Feigning Interest in Mundane Things [via]
- Why DRM Doesn’t Work [via]
- And finally, how can you not like a short-short story that starts “Some time after sharks took over the skies…“?
Tuesday various
- So Yoko Ono only okayed the Citroën car commercial to keep Lennon in the public conciousness? That’s good, because before this, I’m sure many people were thinking, “John Lennon? Who’s that?”
- Another from the fine line between irony and hypocrisy department: Sarah Palin Crossed Border for Canadian Health Care. Why does she hate America? [via]
- Having just recently rented or purchased some DVDs and Blu-Ray discs where this is a particular problem, I can totally get behind John Scalzi on this:
…if someone were to introduce legislation requiring home entertainment companies to have a “just play the damn movie†button at the start of every DVD, Blu-Ray or any other future movie-playing technology, I would call my Senators and representative every fifteen minutes until they voted “yes†on that bill.
- Charlie Stross on how books are made. [via]
- And finally, A Trailer for Every Academy Award Winning Movie Ever [via]
Monday various
- Is ad-blocking software “devastating to the sites you love“? [via]
- Is DNA evidence “actually…putting a growing number of [innocent people] behind bars“? [via]
- Did the Romance Writers of America sell out writers? [via]
- Did Jay Leno’s Tonight Show adds a laugh track to Sarah Palin’s appearance?
- And finally, if we can agree on any one thing about last night’s Oscars ceremony, I think it’s that Stan Lee was robbed, right? [via]:
Thursday various
- Putting every New Yorker on paper.
Artist Jason Polan has an ambitious goal: to sketch all 8.3 million people in the city. He captures his unsuspecting subjects eating pizza, riding the subway, catching a train.
Hmm. I wonder if I’m anywhere in his sketchbook. [via]
- Looking for another reason not to like “textbook sociopath” Ayn Rand? Apparently she was a big admirer of certain serial killers. [via]
- Roger Ebert: class act. [via]
- It’s not a “late fee,” it’s just money you owe if you don’t bring back the DVD on time.
- And finally, a great interview with Ursula K. Le Guin about the Google Book Settlement and why she’s opted out:
I’m part of the technological age whether I want to be or not, and mostly I enjoy it very much. I’m not protesting technology — how stupid would that be? Writers against Computers, or something? I’m protesting against a corporation being allowed to rewrite the rules of copyright and the laws of my country — and in doing so, to wreck the whole idea of that limitless electronic Public Library.
I think the Google Library could do a lot of good. I think the way Google is going about it will do a lot of harm. [via]