ABOUT CLICKED

The modern news consumer ignores Weblogs and online citizen journalism at his own peril. But not everyone has the time to keep track of what's going on the Web. With this blog we hope to track the highlights of what's being discussed online so when news breaks from the Web, we're ready.

Will Femia is a Weblog enthusiast who, through good fortune and dumb luck, was introduced to the form as his position as chat producer for MSNBC.com careered into obsolescence. On any given day, Will can be found having already spent an unhealthy amount of time squinting at a computer screen.

Send a message to Will at spotter@msnbc.com



Say rehab again

Posted: Friday, February 23, 2007 1:57 AM by Will Femia

Craig Ferguson explains why his experience as an alcoholic means he won't make fun of Britney Spears.  The other day I was disturbing my co-workers by ranting at the TV about the lack of useful reporting on what rehab actually is.  Instead of gossip columnists and satellite psychoanalysis I'd be interested to hear from a rehab worker (substance abuse counselor?) about what these celebrities are checking in and out of all the time.  Anyway, this clip isn't quite that but it does give a nice (and rare) human perspective on what it means to wrestle with addiction.  I'm not trying to make too big a deal of caring about celebrity dysfunction, I'm just saying that if we have to hear about it incessantly, surely we can learn something or get a little insight beyond what could be read on the wall of a bathroom stall.

It looks like the big Friday political story is going to be Lieberman's threat to switch parties over the Iraq vote.  The obvious implication is that such a move would shift control of the Senate.  That's the convention wisdom I see in the reaction to the story so far.  But I also clicked this link which argues that that's not the case.

I used to know a cool egg peeling trick but for the life of me I can't recall it right now.  Whatever it was, it wasn't as cool as this.

Of course you already know this but it's odd that such a transcendent truth isn't more openly recognized.  Our national defense against terrorism is more about butt covering and avoiding blame than it is about actual defense.

Construction of the Millau Bridge in France - This is a bit of a linkbait site but still, if the photos are cool, who cares, right?

Speaking of long scrolling lists of photos, Pictures from the Sky is a nice way to eat up time at the end of the week.  UPDATE:  This link required me to right click/show picture on a few but I think it's the same set of photos and isn't crashed.

"It was very titty-booby pee-pee doo-doo." A pretty accurate review of Second Life, though defenders will point out (yet again) that it's not a game so the review kind of misses the point.

Innovative Pharox LED lamp uses 3.4W: Replaces 40W Incandescent - I have a feeling LED is going to be a better solution than those CF bulbs.  We see them replacing automotive lights and even street lights.  I'm surprised it's taking them this long to make it to the home.

If the rape headlines coming out of Iraq aren't distressing enough, take a look at them from the Iraqi perspective.

I love the interface of SpeedTest.Net but I don't really know what to do with the information.
I'm getting the U.S. average download speed, but apparently there are faster ISPs in my area.

Ed doesn't believe there's a law telling him to pay income tax and he's offering a big reward to anyone who can show it to him.

Metafilter starts podcasting.  It's not too far from other weekly link overviews, like Diggnation.

Speaking of mixing the media, here's the trailer for the This American Life TV show.

Here's one more mixing of media:  How about turning text news into singing?  I'm having visions of Cop Rock and all the success that came with it.

Speaking of giving new life to text, What does Marsellus Wallace look like?  NOTE:  The audio is a curse laden clip from Pulp Fiction.  The video is a typography class project, so it's just words, but still surprisingly entertaining.  ODD NOTE:  I also clicked a direct link to the video and it never loaded.  When I saved it to my machine it took just a few seconds to download and play.  I mention this in case you have the same trouble.

Speaking of pulp fiction, it's number 10 on this list of most misunderstood movies.

The latest really impressive CGI portrait finally gets the hair good enough that it looks more like a photo than a computer image.  How it was done.

The roots of those Mac/PC ads go back to 1996.  The consistency is pretty impressive even if the copy is mortifyingly bad.

How Sysco came to monopolize most of what you eat. I don't know how apparent this is to anyone who hasn't worked in the restaurant business, but most restaurant kitchens and pantries I've been in have been wall to wall Sysco products.  It definitely helps explain why so many national food chains have basically the same food that tastes basically the same.  Contrary to the story's title, I'm not sure it really explains how Sysco came to be so dominant.  It's a useful service with some right place/right time luck.  One thing I didn't realize was the degree to which they deal in local goods.

How to disable those annoying Snap Preview windows: "Click on the little "Options" text in the popup box and choose 'Disable for ALL sites.'"

SXSW Festival is offering a massive torrent of 739mp3s of bands playing the festival.

Speaking of having to double check to make sure you have room on your hard drive for something that big, How to move your iTunes library to an external drive

Friends don't let friends drink and have light saber duels.

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Comments

Regarding rehab - when was the last time the media reported on a positive case of a celebrity successfully completing rehab? We live in a society that wants to see celebrities commit to a downward spiral, very conspicuously and very publicly, and the media knows this and feeds this obsession. I fear that the line between tabloid journalism and "respected" news sites is blurring more every day. And, what are you doing posting in the middle of the night?

Make Your Nut (Sent Friday, February 23, 2007 8:26 AM)

The problem in the past with LED replacements for regular light bulbs (besides the cost, which has only recently come way down), was getting the color right. Until only recently, the best they could do was LEDs with a bluish tint (like most LED flashlights have). As the price comes down and the color gets better, they will definitely be the best bet. I find that CF bulbs rarely last as long as claimed. Thanks for a great job of reporting what is going on out there.

Tom, Worcester, MA (Sent Friday, February 23, 2007 9:47 AM)

I've had some lengthy discussions about the Income Tax issue and it always boils down to quotes from legal decisions being taken out of context or completely misunderstood. For example- "The provisions of the Sixteenth Amendment conferred no new power of taxation . . ." ignores the very next line which states this- "but simply prohibited the previous **complete and plenary power of income taxation possessed by Congress from the beginning** from being taken out of the category of indirect taxation to which it inherently belonged, and being placed in the category of direct taxation subject to apportionment..." Apportionment has to do with the leeway the Fed has in deciding where the LAWFUL collection of Income Tax goes. The Constitution laid down some rules forcing certain types of taxes to be distributed among the states according to population and the Fed wanted more freedom to spend it according to national need instead. None of this ever gets through to people convinced in the conspiracy theory though, they just move on to some other half-baked argument. One of my favorites is the whole 'Taxes are voluntary' issue; they point to that notice on the tax forms we all get but fail to comprehend it refers to the right of the individual to PREPARE their own taxes instead of the government, not that paying the tax itself is voluntary. For the heck of it, these are from the Constitution- "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States" "[n]o capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken." Sure sounds like Congress has the power to Tax income to me.

Sean N.Y. (Sent Friday, February 23, 2007 10:14 AM)

I won't have a chance to see the Craig Ferguson clip until I get home from work, but having seen his show semi-regularly I'm already certain it will be fascinating. Ferguson is funny but beyond that, his candor about his addiction is admirable, educational, and captivating. I'm sure that what he has to say about "the Britney situation" is as eye-opening as what he's said about himself in the past.

LV (Sent Friday, February 23, 2007 10:52 AM)

Re: celebrity public meltdowns I'm worried about Britney and her fellow celebs-in-danger-of-meltdown. These are people who seem to be constantly on the edge of insanity, with no one who really loves them enough to pull them back. I see more sad Anna Nicole Smith stories in the future and there's nothing anyone can do, apparently, to stop it.

Angie, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy (Sent Friday, February 23, 2007 11:50 AM)

The LED lights will get there, but as noted above, they tend to have a poor color temperature and tend to be too spot-light like (which is not appropriate for many applications). Phosphor coatings or lenses is what creates white from blue (at the loss of brightness), so I am not sure what this new bulb does differently. They are not even clear if it is a white color, much less a warm white. They are also unclear on light angle, but the casing implies down-lights and other directional uses. You will note that one factor that has helped CFL lights in recent years is that they finally have color temps around 2700K (about the same as most incandescents) vs. the 4000K or higher of office lighting. Most LEDs are still very cold (5500K) and also have poor color balance properties (skewed blue, but with a very unusual spectrum, which makes you look strange when under the lights). Other than for task lighting, most home applications expect a warmer and more balanced color. Once they overcome this, then it is getting people to buy into the high upfront cost in exchange for extreme service life (way more than CFLs).

Paul, Alamo, CA (Sent Friday, February 23, 2007 11:52 AM)

I was lucky enough to view the Pictures from the Sky page about an hour ago but it is not loading currently. Too bad... AMAZING pictures that I wanted to share with friends. Thanks for the blog, Will. It has become a regular Click for me on weekday mornings as I get the day started.

Sam Gibson, Portland, OR (Sent Friday, February 23, 2007 12:21 PM)

I wonder how much computer processing power it would take to render that CGI model of Korean actress Song Hye Kyo in real time? When we know that perhaps we'll know how long it'll be before truly virtual environments are feasible. (Within reason of course considering this would be one model and a real world virtual environment would have m/billions of other objects in the scene.)

Sterling, Tallahassee, FL (Sent Friday, February 23, 2007 1:23 PM)

Hey Will, the bridge is pehnomenal, but i couldn't help wondering what it's for. are they expecting a biblical flood? the typography was engaging. it reminded me of Youn-Hae Chang Heavy Industries sample here: http://www.yhchang.com/DAKOTA.html finally, i've just produced a music video of a song, Forgiven, written by then 16-year-old (now 17) Jacob Favela. it's for a worthy cause i think. you can check out his story and the background on the sidebar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ2TQcvBC84

tony gallucci, ingram, texas (Sent Friday, February 23, 2007 2:28 PM)

RE: Sterling, the problem with real-time rendering is that making a copy of a human face is (relatively) easy, compared to making that face move. It's no joke when they say that the human face has "infinite expressions," and each person's expressions are unique. I think the perceiving human eye will always be able to tell a real person from a CGI construct.

Alex, Lawrence, KS (Sent Friday, February 23, 2007 3:22 PM)

Good stuff Tony

Will Femia (Sent Friday, February 23, 2007 3:32 PM)

I like how today's title is a shout out to Pulp Fiction. I think the list of top 10 misunderstood movies is crap though. "Say 'What' again!"

Jason, Pittsburgh, PA (Sent Friday, February 23, 2007 4:28 PM)

Nobody will ever get the $1mil from that tax guy idiot. He'll never believe anything that is sent to him. As Sean pointed out, he'll find one sentence he can take out of context and that will be that. BTW, I liked Little Miss Sunshine.

Jessica, SLC, UT (Sent Friday, February 23, 2007 5:51 PM)

Wow, who is doing this speed test in Washington state? It says the average is 5789 Kbps in my state...are they only companies with T1 lines and one person using it at a time that are running this? I mean, mine came up to just short of 1.5 Mbps, which is while everyone else is online too, so it's ok. I think something is skewing the results...

Summer, Seattle, WA (Sent Friday, February 23, 2007 5:57 PM)

See, to really understand The Maltese Falcon, you have to see Spade as Hammett and Brigid O'Shaunessy as Lillian Hellman. That way, Gutman is Joe McCarthy, Wilmer is Roy Cohn, Joel Cairo is Richard Nixon, and The Bird is the Bill of Rights . . . .

Don Tuite, Redwood City, CA (Sent Friday, February 23, 2007 10:33 PM)

As to celebrity meltdowns ... I really couldn't care less. I feel bad for them as people, but I have a problem with this celebrity obsessed culture we live in. For example, a coworker shares this unfortunate obsession. One day she was going on and on and on about celebrity news. Finally, I just couldn't take it any more and said, "I don't like celebrities. I don't care about celebrity news. In fact, I couldn't care less." What I was tempted to ask but didn't was "Why are these celebrities famous? What exactly did they do besides get themselves on television? What about George Washington? Thomas Jefferson? John Adams? Andrew Jackson? James Polk?" The list goes on and on. Why aren't they celebrated by my coworker? I venture to say that most of those names would draw a either a thoughtful (as if trying to remember some long ago history lesson) or puzzled (as in ... who?) look. It's a sad commentary on our lack of collective memory.

John, Cedar Rapids, IA (Sent Saturday, February 24, 2007 3:40 AM)

Regarding positive rehab stories, I think the Keith Urban story was spun mostly positively, speaking of how his wife, Nicole Kidman, supported him, how he stayed longer than originally planned because he realized how much help he needed, etc., and how he came out with all the family and fan support. Maybe it's because he's a country star, which, like it or not, are treated differently.

Laura, Missouri (Sent Saturday, February 24, 2007 10:10 AM)

To Sean in NY on the tax issue - show me the statute (United Staes Code) or regulation (Code of Federal Regulation) that requires us to pay taxes. It is a safe bet because they don't exist. The IRS Code itself refers only to voluntary compliance. And don't get me started on the 16th Amendment's legislative history.

Sawbuck, Falls Church, VA (Sent Sunday, February 25, 2007 10:38 AM)

That egg peeling trick is amazing! I tried it with my kids this morning and they loved it. By far the coolest (and easiest!) way to peel an egg.

Jennifer, Spring, TX (Sent Sunday, February 25, 2007 11:40 AM)

I'd hate to find out, after enjoying someone's deviled eggs at a picnic, that the eggs were peeled that way.

Ken, Florence, Ky (Sent Sunday, February 25, 2007 11:43 AM)

RE: Addiction--Anna Nicole, Brittany...I can hardly stand the lighthearted banter that anchors engage in when discussing the cute little Easter egg hunt in Anywhere, America. But when the ha ha ha's hinge on what should be more serious reporting, i.e. "What is going on with Brittany, oh dear, oh my, what to do, what to do." I don't even want to mention the coverage on Anna Nicole b/c these reporters are either dumbed down for the cameras or high on pills themselves. THIS IS AN EPIDEMIC. Yes, get someone from a rehab-hell, get hundreds. Because addicts everywhere are laughing at the ignorance. It is not just celebrities dying--people everywhere are, and a good percentage are kids. As I write this, MSNBC (which started sounding like Charlie Brown's mommy on Friday) is still reporting on this BAFFLING topic. The passing of Anna Nicole will fade from top news, but who will make sure that what took her life (and her son's for that matter) will not be forgotten by reporting on the hugely prevalent and available drugs-disguised-as-treatment--RX painkillers.

Bernadette D'Antilio, Denver, Colorado (Sent Sunday, February 25, 2007 1:29 PM)

In regards to Sysco ( & other things): True, the products can be found in most business kitchens, and in most chains the food tastes the same. I am a Chef, and I disagree that Sysco is responsible for everything tasting the same. It is the recipe that makes the differance or lack of. It is also a fact that chains hire young people with little training or concern for sanitation, hence food poisoning can happen there, as well. I gave up chain work a long time ago since I felt being a robotic cook was insane, as not opposed to all the robots who are preaching they know what is in our best interest,( there are too many examples to mention, but you can figure them out) I am a true believer in thinking for yourself, being honorable, and doing what is right. If you need others to dictate to you what to say, what to think, what to eat, where to go, how to live, and what is right ( for you), perhaps living in a third world country is more to your liking. If the government is decided by who has the most money,and the "wrong" person gets elected I might just be the one to move. People need to eat everywhere.

Mike (Sent Tuesday, February 27, 2007 2:41 PM)

Oh, Big News Flash-today:... It was mentioned the "gum" of Brittany Spears will sell for over $300- $500 on ebay! Are you kidding me?!! What is this world coming to? What nonsense.

Mike, Lee NH (Sent Thursday, March 01, 2007 10:24 AM)



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