Our American Flag
by The American Illuminati.
Our Capitol
by The American Illuminati.
Our First Flag
by The American Illuminati.
Weird Christmas Trees -- You Glow Girl! Urlesque (blog) If you decide to make yourself the Christmas tree, you can either go for the sexy look or the conservative look. I'd go with conservative, because while ... |
 Reuters | Houston picks conservative Annise Parker as mayor, first lesbian to head a ... Los Angeles Times (blog) In a light turnout and a relatively close runoff, she defeated local attorney Gene Locke with about 53% of the vote with not quite all ballots in. ... How did Houston's gay mayor win? Houston elects its first (yawn) gay mayor Annise Parker Wins Historic Houston Mayoral Race |
Filed under: Toys/Games
Sigh. Gran Turismo 5 reportedly shooting for Summer 2010 release originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsThe Nexus One, the upcoming “Google Phone,” will be sold online and unlocked. But Google is also partnering with T-Mobile to push the phone after Verizon declined.
That partnership also explains why the Google Phone will use GSM rather than CDMA technology, limiting it to AT&T or T-Mobile: Google only made the decision after Verizon passed on the opportunity to market the device, according to MediaMemo. A January 2010 launch date has been rumored.
Upon receiving the phone, users will choose their carrier from a menu. It’s a bold move that will break the hegemony of the carriers, but might also mean we pay more (unless Google devises a way to partially subsidize the phone itself).
More Google Nexus One Coverage
1. Nexus One: The Google Phone Has a Name
2. Nexus One: Google Phone Shows Up in Visitor Logs [PIC]
3. Nexus One vs. iPhone: What Google Needs to Succeed
4. Google Phone: Google Confirms �Dogfooding� of New Phone
Reviews: Google
Tags: Google, nexus one, T-Mobile
One lucky British family happened to see a photo of the spine of a first edition of "On the Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin. Don't we have that at home?, they thought.
They did. According to Reuters, the book was purchased for "a few shillings" in the 60s or 70s and has been sitting on the shelf, undiscovered, until now. Tuesday marks the edition's 150 year anniversary, and it will be auctioned off at Christie's. It is estimated that the book is worth £40,000 - £60,000 ($66,000 - $100,000).
If you've got a first edition or a very old book on your shelf, if might be worth searching it on abebooks.com and alibris.com to see if it's commanding a high price. The price of your book will be affected by the rarity of the edition, condition, and things like typos or signatures. Empty Mirror Books offers more insight here.
**Update 9:20 PM, 11/24/2009**
Guess what it fetched at London's Christie's? Including the buyer's premium, it sold for £103,250 -- about $172,000 -- almost twice the maximum estimated price. The AP reports that the shelf it was sitting on was a "toilet bookshelf." If you've got Darwin in your collection, you might want to note that British authorities are reportedly "searching for a leather-bound notebook Charles Darwin used in developing his theory of natural selection."
[via Reuters]
Filed under: Books
Is There a $100,000 Book on Your Shelf? originally appeared on Luxist on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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 Times Online | Sebastian Coe rules out political role Scotsman Lord Coe, a Conservative peer, served as William Hague's chief of staff during his leadership from 1997-2001, and there has been speculation that he might ... 2012 boss Coe rejects return to politics Coe rules out return to politics For Seb Coe, Delhi trip was a quest to retrace Indian roots |
Filed under: Timepieces
Luxist Giveaway: Swatch Automatic Chrono "Sign in the Sky" Watch originally appeared on Luxist on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Productivity, Freeware
After reading through the comments on my post about Dashboard Widgets, I noticed quite a few people lamented the fact that the widgets have to go through a 'start-up' process every time you turn on your Mac or log out and log back in. Well, not anymore. 
TUAWGive your Dashboard a kick in the pants originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Pokemon remake screens, now in English originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Likely as much of a triumph for the cost effectiveness of shooting in high-definition as proof of its mainstream acceptance, the fourteenth season of ABC's The Bachelor will be the first to air in HDTV. As viewers tune in for this weeks episode of stupid human tricks and absolute degradation, they can take comfort in knowing every tear, argument and rose ceremony on the way to wedded bliss will be captured in 720p. Hey, with Jon & Kate off the air we needed this one, don't judge us.
The Bachelor weds HDTV in its fourteenth season originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Video interview: Heavy Rain producer confirms DLC, talks game marketing originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: iTunes, App Store
TUAWSomething's changing in the iTunes App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Continue reading Borderlands patch restores skill points, Achievements
Borderlands patch restores skill points, Achievements originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Continue reading Synaptics Fuse concept handset puts a new squeeze on touchphone interaction
Synaptics Fuse concept handset puts a new squeeze on touchphone interaction originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Economy, People, Investing
Anyone hoping for the foul-mouthed celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay to get what's coming to him will have their wildest dreams come true. Ramsay's restaurant empire is in tatters, done in by ill-advised overexpansion, just as the economy was tanking.Continue reading Gordon Ramsay is in hot water, as his business goes down in flames
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Filed under: Food and Drink, Asia, China, India, Laos, Thailand
You'll find banana roti all across the banana pancake trail in Asia. A backpacker favorite, banana roti is a cheap, almost-Western treat - the Asian version of a sweet crepe. I don't know much about the migration of the banana roti to Thailand, Laos, and Southwest China, but I'm assuming that because it's a roti, it originated in the Indian subcontinent. Continue reading Far West in the Far East: Eating banana roti
Far West in the Far East: Eating banana roti originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments Telegraph.co.uk | Copenhagen talks should consider conservative ideas on global warming Daily Cardinal The debate over climate change has recently been thrust back on to the world stage at the global climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. ... Jon Snow falls for Ed Miliband's figures |
There was once a time when the resort/cruise collections were made for the rarefied woman who could afford to escape the winter by heading to the tropics (she needed swimwear and a caftan, did she not?). Not anymore. While still a David to the Goliath fall and spring collections, resort is catching the attention of more and more people.
Like air travel and cell phones, is resort bound for the masses?
Collections are just now beginning to hit stores and, for a season that's ostensibly all about lounging around on the beach or the deck of a boat, there's a lot of fashion news to digest: optical motifs, exotic locales like Marrakesh, sheer, leathers for day, aquatic, scuba, old-world charm, draping and, of course, nautical.
The media is doing their part. Fashion magazines are pointing out 'It items' like the floral ribbon-laced sandal from Prada, a bright green croc tote from Roberto Cavalli and pretty much everything in Chanel's stunning parade of black and white caftans and graphics (above).
Fashion insiders have long contended resort/cruise is either an evolution of fall or a preview of spring. That's not necessarily the case today, says style and beauty expert Mary Alice Stephenson. Stephenson explained to me this week that fashion has become like fast food and designers are compelled to feed the hungry. In other words, a resort collection must stand on its own.
"People want whatever's new," she says. "And designers like to keep customers surprised with their unique point of view. Shoppers are putting more thought into their splurges. So designers have to seduce the buyer with making the pieces usable in every aspect of their lives."
Others tell me resort/cruise is the one time designers get to cut loose and get creative. Saleability is less of an issue for a season that lasts, at most, two months. Of course, some designers go overboard. Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa caught hell from my former employer Women's Wear Daily for his lineup of transparent dresses: "A long-standing argument against such [formal runway] presentations for resort is that inevitably some designers will crossover to the too-editorial side." Too-editorial means that those dress will have nothing whatsoever with how you and I dress in reality.
Still, as buyers we are demanding uniqueness, a slice of our favorite label. We want pieces to seamlessly integrate into our wardrobes. We want reality. And we want season-less items to wear far into next year.
We want it all, don't we?
Filed under: The Fashion Statement
The Fashion Statement: Cruise into 2010 originally appeared on Luxist on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It began last year with divergent reactions among conservative elites to John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate. That controversy continued beyond the defeat of the McCain-Palin ticket and is far from over today; ...
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Filed under: Fantasy, Dofus, Launches, MMO industry, News items, MMORTS
Continue reading Dofus opens their new version, Dofus 2.0, to simultaneous praise and worry
Dofus opens their new version, Dofus 2.0, to simultaneous praise and worry originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
There's hardly a spokesasshole in the world of tech who doesn't throw around some kind of tagline. And that's fine because it's his job, but there's no reason for you to repeat those taglines. Especially any of these seven.
Verizon's Droid commercials haven't been around very long, but I already keep seeing various combination of "iDon't" and "Droid does" being incorporated into everything from tweets to articles. (Hell, even we couldn't resist it once or twice.)
I can sort of forgive occurrences of the tagline slipping into reviews or posts about the actual gadget, but several days ago I found myself overhearing a fellow practically reciting the first Droid commercial to mock his buddy's iPhone preference. I seriously hope that I was in some sort of bizarro coffee shop or that maybe this guy was just an oddity. Please just skip this tagline, because I assure you: That guy sounded like a complete asshole.
C'mon. Be honest. How often have you slipped this gem of a tagline into a comment? And how often have you groaned or rolled your eyes because you saw someone else remark that there is in fact an app for that? It was barely funny the first few times, but at this point even your grandma is using it and that oughta tell you something.
And no, changing a word doesn't make you sound like less of an asshole.
Once upon a time, Apple's "Think Different" commercial made me smile at its cleverness. Then I saw the commercial a second time and I cringed. It's actually kinda cheesy and the tagline isn't much better. No matter what the concept behind it is, it basically feels like it's a nicely cut down version of the trite and overused "think outside of the box" and hearing it used feels just as irritating.
Unless you're genuinely wondering if the person you're talking to can hear you, there's no way to not sound like an asshole when using the "Can you hear me now?" tagline. Not even in an ironic look-at-me-I'm-so-cool-that-I-can-say-this-to-mock-it way.
Besides, while I'm certain that he's a nice fellow, do you really want to associate yourself with the slightly dorky-looking Verizon Guy?
Last weekend I asked a friend how her date went. She remarked that he was like an Energizer bunny. And, as she thought I was confused by the expression, she continued to explain that he "kept going, and going, and going..." and it took me quite some willpower to not break down in tears on the spot. Someone so clever and lovely insisted on using a reference and a tagline so incredibly cliched that I'd initially thought I'd heard wrong. Please. Think of a better description for these things. (Especially since it's probably inaccurate in that scenario since hardly gentlemen really manage to keep up with that darned bunny rabbit.)
Oh, as much as Microsoft's good old "where do you want to go today?" annoys me, I actually crave to hear it sometimes. Such as in place of that grunt and nod I get from cab drivers. As with the "can you hear me now?" tagline, this one should only be used when you mean it literally and aren't attempting to make an allusion to the commercial.
I've seen "baby inside," "beauty inside," "goddess inside," "whiskey inside," and who-knows-what-else inside tshirts, bumper stickers, and undies. Unless I'm seriously mistaken, those are spin-offs to the ancient "Intel inside" and they're not exactly funny anymore. I doubt that anyone can show me a single example of play on that tagline that won't make me roll my eyes (but feel free to try). In the meantime: Let's just not add to the ridiculousness.
Andrew Barrett; the current Area Chairmen for East Yorkshire will be stepping down on 31st December to concentrate on supporting our candidate in Brigg and.
Read More... [Source: Conservative - Google Blog Search]
Continue reading This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Just people dancing
This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Just people dancing originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Company News, Columns, Economy, Goldman Sachs , Citigroup
Today is Bash Wall Street day in Washington, as a herd of bankers gets rounded up to sit for a presidential tongue lashing. But Washington can't afford to alienate Wall Street too much because of the $5 billion in campaign contributions and lobbying fees that financial institutions have funneled to politicians in the last decade. So, today's announcement that Citigroup (C) will pay back the $20 billion in TARP funds is good for Citi's bonus-hungry bankers -- but not so great for America.
Before examining that repayment, let's explore the delicate relationship between Wall Street and Washington a bit more. The first thing to understand is that Wall Street isn't admired so much on Main Street -- 66% of Americans take a dim view of financial executives, according to Bloomberg News.
Continue reading Citi's TARP payback is fine, but it's no solution
Citi's TARP payback is fine, but it's no solution originally appeared on DailyFinance on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Thought Mitsubishi's LaserVue set was pricey? Hah. HDI, the California startup with dreams of producing a 100-inch 3D HDTV that's driven by lasers, has just released the first hint of a price range, and as predicted, it ain't cheap. The set -- which has already been deemed a favorite by The Woz -- has reportedly had its first batch manufactured over in China, and we're told that a smattering of 'em should be available by May. If all goes well, the HDTV should be in full-scale production mode by Christmas of next year, and we've learned that the whole thing will measure around 10-inches thick. Amazingly, it'll also go relatively easy on the power meter, but the $10,000 to $15,000 price estimate is bound to shock some. Of course, Panasonic's own 103-inch 3D HDTV is currently pegged at around $75,000, so when you think of it from that perspective, HDI's offering is a bona fide bargain. And totally worth liquidating your future kid's college fund for.
HDI's 100-inch, laser-driven 3D HDTV gets $10k to $15k price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 12 Dec 2009 14:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments National Post | Wildrose Alliance Surges to Lead in Alberta Polls Race 4 2012 (blog) They had risen from nearly nothing to a strong second behing the moderate Progressive Conservative Party, which has governed Alberta uninterrupted for 20 ... Alberta politics: Wildrose blooming From landslide to crisis mode in 22 months The Futility of the Provincial Liberals |
 New York Daily News | Conservative group targets Democrats Washington Post Though the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee have vowed to go after Democrats who voted for the health-care ... Conservative Principles Will Defeat Harry Reid Small group of senators holds key to health bill |
 The Star-Ledger - NJ.com | Could the US Republican Party pick up steam? Xinhua In New Jersey and Virginia, Christie and McDonnell ran on tax cuts and other traditionally conservative principals, Edwards said, adding that he believes ... NJ suburbs still get no respect Republicans win major elections |
 TPMDC (blog) | Tim Pawlenty hard to pin down on health care reform Pioneer Press That ability, along with his conservative credentials, makes Pawlenty a "serious contender" for the GOP presidential nomination, said Republican Newt ... The Economist: American voters, meet 'T-Paw' Pawlenty noticed nationwide Is Tim Pawlenty Romney-esque? |
Conservatives and Revisionist History fox4kc.com But it seems to be a growing tall tale of conservative goodness! Many websites seem to have taken this as a theme of discussion. ... |
