I hate the National Review

The following is paraphrased from The Daily Show last night. Jon Stewart just brought up the point if you live in a black and white world, then saying that embryonic stem cell research sacrifices innocent lives is not consistent with support for the Iraq war. Ramesh's response was that the Iraq war is okay because civilians aren't intentionally targeted. It went something like this:

"Well, I'm against any war where civilians are intentionally targeted, like in Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
-- "National Review" editor Ramesh Ponnuru (paraphrased)

"You are a brave man for coming out against Hiroshima."
-- Jon Stewart (in response, paraphrased)

(raucous laughter)
-- crowd (in response, paraphrased)

He may have said something like, "I really have to hand it to you for coming out against Hiroshima." Either way, I think you get the point.

Check it out at Comedy Central. I'm sure the video will be available soon.

Technorati Tags: the daily show, jon stewart, ramesh ponnuru, national review, conservative crazies, neo-conservative crazies, crazies, third grade education

winmail.dat no more!!

Thanks to Hawk Wings for pointing this out.

Ever get rich text e-mails from Windows users that have a single "winmail.dat" when they're supposed to have lots of normal attachments? This is one of the things that Microsoft does to assert its dominance over stupidity. (you can't argue with that; there's no reason for handling attachments this way. It's purely because Microsoft is mean and stupid, just like all those guys in high school that liked to beat up people like Bill Gates)

Before the typical recourse would be to respond to your poor unfortunate peer and tell them to change their address book entry so that you receive "plain text" and NOT "rich text." That will get rid of the "winmail.dat"...

Well, now there's another option that lets Windows users be blissfully ignorant, which is arguably safer.

TNEF's Enough

TNEF's Enough allows Macs to read and extract files from Microsoft TNEF stream files. The files are usually received by SMTP based e-mail programs from Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook users. The SMTP based e-mail program will usually receive either a MIME attachment named "winmail.dat" or a MIME attachment with the type "application/ms-tnef."

That's right. It's an application that can open "winmail.dat" files. Open the application. Open the "winmail.dat". Extract your attachments. Voila.

Beautiful. It really is. And it's freeware.

Technorati Tags: winmail.dat, TNEF, TNEF's Enough, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Exchange, Apple, OS X, rich text, e-mail, email, mail

Aaron Sorkin...

So Aaron Sorkin has written a new show...

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Bradley Whitford AND Matthew Perry are in it.

I'm skeptical... They pulled Sorkin from West Wing because he became a drugged up batty lunatic, didn't they?

Right now it's scheduled to be up against Grey's Anatomy and CSI (I refuse to put the colon after "CSI") on Thursday (that's right, GA is moving to Thursday). That's gutsy. They might need to change that (and there's rumor that they are going to).

For more info, as usual, check out NPR ATC.

Technorati Tags: studio 60, aaron sorkin, nbc, television, tv, drama, serial drama, entertainment, news, npr, atc, all things considered

Don't Mention the War!

Hilarious John Cleese... Check out the audio story at NPR:

Hooligans No More: Cleese's World Cup Decorum
(audio will be availably shortly)

All Things Considered, May 16, 2006 - When the World Cup begins in Germany next month, fans from England will be faced with the task of not being too rude to the host country. Part of the problem: a lingering bitterness about World War II. Years ago, comic actor and writer John Cleese transformed that hatred of all things German into humor on the TV show Fawlty Towers. Now, he's created a song called "Don't Mention the War" to instruct his countrymen how to behave when in the Fatherland.

The story is great, and the song is pretty funny too. However, you may need to check out the stories page and click on the "Music Interludes View" to hear the song.

Technorati Tags: john cleese, world cup, the war, england, world war ii, wwii, germany, don't mention the war

NUGGETS!!!

I think there's a lot of geek potential for this first one. It's a sort of emergent music. The horizontal line is a little like an inverted piano... And the balls that swing around strike keys on it. They vary in speed, so you get this continually changing music.

whitney music box

You can choose lots of different "instruments" to use. There's a lot of geek potential to it. There are a lot of signal processing type comments you could make about it... So I'll let you think about that.


My next nugget is a muglet.

Muglets

Add your face to some goofy interactive e-cards. I don't really feel like doing it myself, so I offer you one that is already made. Lots of fun there. I recommend clicking on the buttons on the left side. That's right, you got it.


And finally, to avoid living in places that rain so much that you can never ride your bike, check out yet another Google Mashup...

WeatherMole

Click on your location on the map. See what pops up below.


And that's it. Thanks, again, to RocketBoom for these nuggets today.

Technorati Tags: weathermole, muglets, whitney music box, internet toys, rocketboom

Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy

Funny 16 second clip from Scrubs...

Grey's Anatomy mentioned in Scrubs

Technorati Tags: scrubs, grey's anatomy, tv, television, sitcom, funny, video, clip, youtube

Those crazy Mountain Goats

So on today's NPR song of the day, I was introduced to The Mountain Goats (and also to Trembling Blue Stars, the band that originally sang the song that The Mountain Goats is covering).

So I did a little more research... and found a song called "No Children" with some pretty harsh lyrics. They were so harsh I couldn't help but laugh a little while listening to them. Take a look:

I hope that our few remaining friends
give up on trying to save us.
I hope we come out with a fail-safe plot
to piss off the dumb few that forgave us.

I hope the fences we mended
fall down beneath their own weight.
And I hope we hang on past the last exit,
I hope it's already too late.

And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here
someday burns down.
And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away,
and I never come back to this town again.

In my life, I hope I lie,
and tell everyone you were a good wife.
And I hope you die,
I hope we both die.

I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow;
I hope it bleeds all day long.
Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises;
we're pretty sure they're all wrong.

I hope it stays dark forever,
I hope the worst isn't over.
And I hope you blink before I do,
and I hope I never get sober.

And I hope when you think of me years down the line,
you can't find one good thing to say.
And I'd hope that if I found the strength to walk out,
you'd stay the hell out of my way.

I am drowning.
There is no sign of land.
You are coming down with me,
hand in unlovable hand.

And I hope you die,
I hope we both die.

Zheesh!!

Yay for "2000's Indie Rock."

Technorati Tags: the mountain goats, no children, lyrics, music, npr, song of the day, indie rock,

A Marxist Basketball Player?

This is ... well, slightly fascinating (to me).

Steve Nash, Basketball's Selfless Socialist? (audio will be available shortly)

Day to Day, May 16, 2006 - Phoenix Suns basketball star Steve Nash says he's read Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto. On the court, Nash is famous for passing the ball to teammates, giving up scoring opportunities himself so others can score. In a league full of flashy, high-scoring players, could Nash be an example of a Marxist player? Nihar Patel investigates.

It gets more interesting as it goes on. It's amazing how people who become professionals in what they do really branch out and become intellectuals... Bringing in aspects of other fields that they probably had no interest in when they were younger.

I think this is particularly true of basketball coaches. I'm SURE Duke's coach is very philosophical in his playing -- that's why he gets scheduled to talk for all sorts of team building conferences that are business related rather than basketball related. This is probably very common for successful pro coaches too. And... maybe even pro players.

Technorati Tags: basketball, steven nash, phoenix suns, nba, marxism, socialism

Big Love for _Big Love_

I've been watching the new HBO series, Big Love, in its first season, and I'm really hooked. I remember feeling this way about other HBO series when they first came out, like The Sopranos. It's really a well-done show. There is a lot going on, and it's always fun to be rooting for an unconventional hero.

I highly recommend it. If you have HBO, you should try looking on your "HBO On-Demand" -- all of the episodes will be there until late July. Otherwise, look out for it on DVD.

It started out slow, but I think all good things do. After just a few episodes though, it got really addictive. There are two episodes left, and the momentum is really high for me.

Technorati Tags: HBO, big love, television, series drama, cable

Free Skype This Year!

It looks like all calls from US/Canada to US/Canada are going to be free with Skype until the end of the year. No joke. It used to just be Internet-to-Internet calls, but now it's all calls (that is, now it includes Internet-to-land-line and land-line-to-Internet).

I'm SURE this is a response to AOL IM announcing that they're going to have a Skype-like service with free incoming calls.

And I'm SURE that AOL's announcement was a response to Google Talk.

Thus, Skype and Google Talk (and thus AOL IM too) are really starting to shake things up. Any bets on when land-lines will start massively disappearing? (even faster than they already are due to cell phones)

Technorati Tags: skype, free calls, aol, aim, internet, telephony