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



Thursday post 'em if you got 'em

Posted: Thursday, May 22, 2008 4:08 PM by Will Femia

I'm having a hectic day but on the reasoning that it's better to post something than nothing, this is what I clicked lately in no particular order.

Could this double knock-out possibly be real?

I had heard about the wedding photographs taken during the China earthquake but this is the biggest collection of them I've seen. (This may be a bigger collection but it's annoyingly paginated.)

I just told our tech section editors they need to implement Tag Galaxy as the new navigation for their section.

Engobi is a puffed chip-like snack infused with caffeine. I'd like to try it but I don't want to buy a case online. Anyone in the NYC area let me know if you see them on shelves.

Why Gen Y Is Going to Change the Web - Also, Generation Y has no culture and This is a call to arms against Millennials. Looks like the next generation is coming of age, for better or worse.

That Barack/Hillary Star Wars video, The Empire Strikes Barack.  See also The Real McCain for a sense (in case you hadn't already noticed) that the future of campaigning is in cleverly edited amateur video.

Reddit is launching a weekly TV show based on the stories selected by readers. Maybe not a completely new idea but likely worth checking out.

Bacon air freshener - Like the time you forgot the croissandwich in your glove compartment and parked in the sun.

Trailer for Traitor. Looks like another great performance from Don Cheadle.

Print Magazine rounds up a massive collection of view-through-legs cover art.

The Ten Most Important Satellites Orbiting Earth Now - Given the significance of satellites in our lives, doesn't it seem like they should be more celebrated somehow? I guess we don't pay much attention to our power plants or phone lines or anything but for what they do and how they do it and the fact that you can see some of them like they're stars it seems like there could be more public awareness of them.

This was going to be my Commuter Click but I accidentally read the whole thing: An ex-Jack Sparrow spills on life at the Magic Kingdom - On the one hand it's a salacious expose in which he reveals not only the demands of being a Disney employee but the pirate perversions of a striking number of women who visit the park. This kind of reminded me of that former Scientologist's video where he's clearly out of group but still has lingering characteristics of their members.

Actual Commuter Click: The Most Curious Thing - Errol Morris digs into the story behind the story on one particular Abu Ghraib photo. I'm about a quarter of the way through so far and it's really enlightening. It's not a rant against the war or the military, it's (so far) a human level look at how things are there in Iraq.

Jet-Powered Bicycle Makes 50 MPH Feel Waaaaay Too Fast - Holy moly! How does that even stay together!?

Solio is a solar powered battery charger that looks like it was issued by Star Fleet. (Assuming your next question is the same as mine: a hundred bucks.)

8 Types Of Annoying People You’ll Find Inside Starbucks - I once nearly literally got in a fist fight with the Starbucks guy at LaGuardia airport for being annoying type #8. I asked for a medium black coffee and he kept saying, "Grande?" And I kept saying, "Medium" because I don't know their damn lingo and I hadn't had any coffee yet that day and airports already make me edgy and this guy clearly spoke English so why was he giving me a hard time pretending he doesn't know what medium is? After going back and forth a few times I seethed, "Whatever your size range is, I want the one in the middle!" He told me to take it easy and acted like I was the crazy one. Humph. Now I'm angry again.

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the international space station is more than a satellite, it is the beginning of our life in space, the realization of past fictions.

overflight listings for the world are at:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html

x (Sent Thursday, May 22, 2008 7:50 PM)

I'm with you on the S/M/L Starbucks BS.  I only go into one about 2-3 times a year, if that, and I go through the same nonsense.  What amuses me is when you say "medium or whatever you call it" the baristaronessmunchnik will actually ask you "do you mean grande?"  Why do they ask me to confirm for them WTF their word for medium is when I just asked them what their word for medium is?

KRW (Sent Thursday, May 22, 2008 10:39 PM)

Ref: A call to arms, Wow. I haven't agreed with an article that much in a long time. In fact, I'm still nodding my head and angry.
Or maybe just gloomy and disenfranchised...

Chris, Baltimore MD (Sent Friday, May 23, 2008 7:29 AM)

Thanks, Will, for posting the link to the Errol Morris story about Sabrina Harmin and Abu Gharib.  That has to be the single most fascinating article I've read in a long time.  It's intriguing on so many different levels.  I'd recommend that article to anyone.

BTW, I couldn't get the Jack Sparrow link to work (though maybe the problem is on my end -- I'm not very computer savvy).

I also found the view-through-the-legs page interesting.  I noticed four basic themes that tend to be conveyed  in view-through-the-legs images:  (1) Sex - obviously; (2) Power - one person towering menacingly over someone else; (3) Confrontation - the classic gunfight image; and (4) Surprise discovery - such as someone discovering a dead body.  Almost all of the images shown on the page seemed to covey one or more of those four themes.

On another matter, I'm a coffee drinker who has no use for Starbucks: I don't care for the taste or the price (for the price of a single cup of Starbucks, I could drink several pots of home-brewed coffee).  Nonetheless, I sympathize with your annoyance at the Starbucks people who want to force you to speak their arcane language instead of simply acknowledging the commonly accepted meaning of the English word "medium".  Given the business they're in, they ought to realize that people in need of a caffeine fix are in no mood to play their silly word games.

Also, the movie Traitor looks like it has a lot of potential.  I could probably comment on several more of the links in this post; but I'll shut up now.  :-)

Greg, Athens, AL (Sent Friday, May 23, 2008 8:48 AM)

As a former employee of Disneyland (about 13 years ago) I'm never surprised by the stories. There is quite a lot of interesting stuff that goes on behind the scenes. And you get an intersting mix of people you come across. I suggest reading "Mouse Tales", it's very accurate and funny.

DC, Los Angeles, CA (Sent Friday, May 23, 2008 12:57 PM)

Chris, I couldn't agree with you, or that article more!  I am an almost-thirty-something, and after several years in the work force, decided to go back to school to become more involved with non-profit work and I am SURROUNDED by the y-ers! (or millenials, whatever you would like to call them)  You want to talk about work ethic, they need affirmation after everything they've done right.  Look, if you do your job right, you get to keep your job, THERE'S your affirmation!  Not to mention one that just started at my office (where I've been working for over five years) and three weeks into starting he screamed at me because he was frustrated.  Yes, I've become frustrated with my co-workers, but I have NEVER yelled at them.  These kids need to learn!
(/rant) :)

Summer, Seattle, WA (Sent Friday, May 23, 2008 1:48 PM)

Correct me if I'm wrong but GoldenEye burned up in a retro-rocket malfunction.  ;P

John, Chicago, IL (Sent Friday, May 23, 2008 2:07 PM)

One of those satellites is in need of repair and it's replacement is not up to par?  The old saying, "they just don't make 'em like they used to."

"Flawed U.S. Weather Satellite May Be Lofted to Avert Crisis "...
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE2DA103FF937A25756C0A967958260

If they can't get "vital pictures to track storms and hurricanes," what's it good for?

Maria, Puerto Rico (Sent Friday, May 23, 2008 8:14 PM)

By the way, "grande" means large in Spanish.  Do you think they "try" to confuse you on purpose to get you to buy the largest size? I couldn't remember the size name thingys so. I looked it up. Tall(that's English for something big--short is more like small),Grande, and Venti (means 20 in Italian--hey,they got that right!-20 oz.)  I havn't been to Starbuck's since I tried Borders'coffee. Coffee and a book,yummy :)

Maria, Puerto Rico (Sent Friday, May 23, 2008 8:44 PM)

Sometime after reading your starbuck's article I found my self there to meet a friend. The woman taking my order tried to engage me in an extremely awkward conversation about my weekend plans. I don't mind a hello, how are you, but what they were having her do (and I don't believe for a second it was her idea to be so chatty) was veering on nosy; it was very weird.  Anyway, oh, the timing of things, it was great.

Jess, Ohio (Sent Saturday, May 24, 2008 12:44 PM)

hmm..  yeah, gen y has no culture.  as opposed to what?  the hippie culture of the sixties?  the do whatever and then me culture of the seventies?  the ohmygodcheckthisout culture of the eighties?  yeah.

maybe they are the ones who are coming back to what a normal culture could or should be.  more likely they are the byproduct of the aforementioned and way overly hyped crap generations.  now that i've been forced to think about it, it doesn't surprise me that some idiot that came to age in the late 80s or early 90s would say that the so called gen y has no culture.  after all, how many times have you heard from some ancient hippie that after the beatles there was no music worth listening to?

yeah, screw that.  they got their own culture just like we had ours.  you don't understand it?  why?  you too old?  hmmm... how's that saying go from way back when?  if its too loud......

oddly enough i don't feel the need to apologize for my feelings about my kids and their culture.  all i really want to do is tell the idiots that think like that article to ...............  and ......  and.....  and then punch them in the skull.

later.


matt.

matt lowe, alamogordo, nm (Sent Monday, May 26, 2008 2:13 AM)

Lighten up, Francis.

Steve, AR (Sent Tuesday, May 27, 2008 11:16 AM)

Wow Matt...that was...convincing. The Beatles were great musicians and a great band! As for the rest, perhaps you need a nap?

Chris, Baltimore MD (Sent Tuesday, May 27, 2008 1:06 PM)

Your Starbucks encounter reminded of this funny commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3zYOGNP92M

-Michelle

Michelle, Los Angeles (Sent Tuesday, May 27, 2008 6:33 PM)

"Like the time you forgot the croissandwich in your glove compartment and parked in the sun."

What a fascinating thing to forget.  Do you mean actual already baked croissants?  Or the ones in the whomp tube from the grocery store?  
And really?  In the glove compartment?  

robin hood, georgia (Sent Wednesday, May 28, 2008 9:16 AM)

I can never remember the names of the sizes at Starbucks either.  My solution to the problem: tell them how many ounces you want.  "16 oz" etc.  They've never corrected me to this date...

Also, thank you for the link to the Abu Garaib photo article.  Very facsinating.

TS, Salt Lake City (Sent Wednesday, May 28, 2008 4:45 PM)



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