trivialities
trivialities: Page 1
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Let's show how Roger Ebert is wrong (U.S. flag vs. Mexican/Mexican-American high school students) - 05/14/10
I haven't reviewed all the responses to Ebert's statement (this is in the trivialities category after all), but at least two from rightwing bloggers were even dumber than that tweet. Caleb Howe of RedState responded with a series of vile tweets, ending in him apologizing [1].
Wolfram Alpha search engine review: politics equals fail - 05/16/09
"Wolfram Alpha" (wolframalpha.com) is a new search engine from the creator of Mathematica software. Unlike other search engines it doesn't give a list of links to other sites, trying instead to answer the question.
If you ask it "what is the value of pi ^ 100000?" it quickly comes back with "Decimal approximation: 9.7111220720970479180788524703324638313120691510... x 10^49714".
News chunklettes for May 10, 2009 - 05/10/09
* A decade too late! "Pistachio proposal could reduce food safety risks" (link) informs us they want to prevent a food safety crisis, yet several years ago I was driving back from the South Bay and stopped at Casa de Fruita for some pistachios. I then proceeded to the Fresno In-and-Out Burger. I was sick for the next week, and one of those two are to blame.
Extruded news nuggets for May 5, 2009: Autotune on Aisle Galt! edition - 05/05/09
* Happy Cinco de Cuatro.
* Back in January 2007, when a video of Paula Abdul acting strangely appeared I defended her, pointing out that in 2005 she said she's "not addicted to pills of any kind". Now, I find out (link) that she only got clean on Thanksgiving of last year. How could she do that to me?
Michelle Obama wears $540 sneakers to DC food bank - 05/01/09
On Wednesday, Michelle Obama conducted a photo op at a Washington DC food bank while wearing sneakers that cost $540 (link):
These sneakers - suede, with grosgrain ribbon laces and metallic pink toe caps - are made by French design house Lanvin, one of fashion's hottest labels. They come in denim and satin versions, and have been a brisk seller all spring... Michelle has stepped out in Lanvin before while getting down to business. A week ago, she shoveled dirt at a tree planting while wearing the line's chiffon tank...
In the second photo she might be rebuilding her larder in case the White...
HuffPost: Obama not living up to campaign promises; women, minorities hardest hit - 04/28/09
Apparently Lloyd Chapman has never heard the old joke about the New York Times publishing a headline called "Comet to hit Earth; women, minorities hardest hit." If he had, he wouldn't have offered "Obama's First 100 Days Disappoints Women, Minorities and Small Businesses" (huffingtonpost.com/lloyd-chapman/obamas-first-100-days-dis_b_192257.html).
BBC, Jason Kottke rave about Whitehouse *robots.txt* file, reach new low in fawning - 01/23/09
Jason Kottke raved about the new Whitehouse dot gov robots.txt file a few days ago, completely going around the bend and establishing a new low for fawning (kottke.org/09/01/the-countrys-new-robotstxt-file). Despite how stupid that was, I didn't note it here due to the fact that Kottke isn't important. Now I see that the BBC has joined in.
Clear, copious, hyponatremia, and you - 04/14/05
Drudge is linking to the NYT article "Study Cautions Runners to Limit Their Water Intake" (link) about hyponatremia, also known as water intoxication. My suggestion is that while the article has some worthwhile information, if you hike in the southwest U.S. you might want to consider the source.