Welcome Nathan Turner

Steven Turner, who is responsible for the absolutely fantastic Analog web log analyzer is the proud father of brand-new Nathan. I wish the very best for the entire Turner family.

Nike: Sorry About That IP Theft

Nike Skateboarding has apologized for ripping off Minor Threat's poster in one of its advertising blitzes. Their explanation is along the lines of "Well, we really really liked it."

Solar-Driven Spacecraft Missing

Ack! Cosmos 1 is missing!!!

6/22/05 Update: Yup, indeed she's a goner.

Goodbye Tomlinson Pt.1

Lots happening this week regarding public broadcasting and its funding. Anything I post will not necessarily be in chronological order.

It seems the guy Kenneth Y. Tomlinson secretly hired to monitor Bill Moyers is an extreme right winger who worked for 20 years at the American Conservative Union, "the nation's oldest conservative lobbying organization".

Mr. Tomlinson is reportedly rushing through the appointment of Patricia Harrison, a former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, as the new president of CPB.

Greeting Comrades!!

Just to remove any doubt about which model the Bush Administration is following, this propaganda poster is now reportedly on display in MARC commuter trains in the Washington DC area. Are you really sure that guy next to you isn't a terrorist? Best to turn him in, just in case.

Always Quote Sunscreen

In Florida, Springstead High School principal Susan Duval is the latest person to use Mary Schmich's famous "...Wasted on the Young" column (you know, the "Wear Sunscreen" one) without attribution. I suspect this will happen every couple of years. In 2002 the same "speech" was attributed to Kurt Vonnegut's 1997 commencement address at MIT . But of course he wasn't there and the words weren't his. They belong to Ms. Schmich.

Most notable about this year's incident is Ms. Duval's excuse: She didn't mean to plagiarize. Excuse me? Here's an English lesson she apparently missed: When you block and copy paragraphs worth of text off the Internet and then use them in a public speech, without mentioning the source, your in trouble. When asked if a similar action by a student would be acceptable, her reply was reportedly "Was I turning this in for a grade? No". Well, there you go. It's not about right and wrong, it's about the grade.

Lastly, how is it that while preparing for a commencement address Ms. Duval just happens to come across one of the Internet's most infamous examples? Could it be she was actually searching for other commencement addresses from which she could harvest text and ideas? It seems Ms. Duval actually believes she wasn't plagiarizing since she didn't know who's words she was using. Hmmm, what an interesting notion. Perhaps it's technically correct. She is currently being investigated by the school district.

Welcome Moxie CrimeFighter!!

Penn and Emily Jillette have named their baby girl Moxie CrimeFighter. How cool is that?!?

Schwarzenegger's Product Placements

Governor Schwarzenegger is prominently placing the products of his campaign supporters into ads he is running on television. Pepsico reportedly donated $30,000 to Schwarzenegger campaign committees and now some are suggesting that he's paying them back with some free air time for their products.

Another is Arrowhead, which along with its executives reportedly gave over a quarter of a million to the governor, and also has its products included in the governors television ad. The L.A. Times editors may have their collective tongue in cheek when pointing out that at least this way we know what the donators are getting in return for their investment.

Crowe Throws (Another) Hissy Fit

Russell Crowe is a good actor, but a really angry middle aged man. If he doesn't get help soon, he might just haul off and smack us all, one by one. The latest incident has Mr. Crowe arraigned on charges of second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon for throwing a telephone into the face of a Manhattan hotel employee. This because the actor couldn't call his wife in Australia.

My question is how do you this would have been treated if a non-celebrity had thrown that phone? Do you think the news story would have included a description of what they were wearing and promotion for their latest project at work? Crowe is due back in court on September 14th.

Actually Lindsay, We Don't Care

Confusing "cute" with "interesting", Lindsay Lohan is wondering "why I'm so interesting". Hmmmm, it couldn't have anything to do with her public lifestyle could it? Nah, it's probably her thespian creds.