IM diplomacy and Facebook sanctions
Posted: Friday, October 17, 2008 12:20 PM by Will Femia
Obama Would Be Our First Internet President - That's what they said about Howard Dean and John Kerry. Until I'm learning about the daily workings of the presidency through the first person blog of the president himself I'm not ready to award "first Internet president." If we're going to call "having a Web site and a staff that updates it" being an Internet president then Bill Clinton was probably the first, and George Bush after that for sure. When I hear that some world problem has been solved on instant messenger, then I'll be ready to talk about "First Internet President." When part of imposing sanctions on a country means defriending their diplomats, then I'll start thinking about "First Internet President." I don't deny that the Internet has played an important role in this election and I definitely don't deny that Obama supporters have put the Web to good (or at least, productive) use for their cause, but I haven't seen anything specifically from Obama yet that would indicate that he's particularly Internet inclined.
Speaking of Internet candidates, I wonder if John McCain would have gone the same way on the DMCA if he'd been a more active user of the Internet. This episode makes me wish even more that there'd been a tech/science themed debate.
The New York Times has a cool interactive graphic for seeing where political entities are spending their campaign ad money. I'd be interested to see a map of media companies and who's making how much money from all these millions being spent on advertising. Down in Daytona they say the stores make most of their year's money just during Bike Week. I wonder what percentage of media operating budgets are satisfied by campaign ad money.
Airport scanners will show genitals - I almost got a job as an airport scanner but it was the whole having-to-show-my-genitals thing that made me change my mind. (What, that's not how you read that headline?)
Dock your iPhone in this laptop peripheral frame and you have an instant laptop.
I remember once before seeing a popular video of a guy doing a lot of impressions in a short amount of time. I wanted to write that I like this clip better than that earlier one but when I went to find the old clip I ran into what could legitimately be described as a Web trend of high speed impersonation videos. I gotta say, it's not my favorite meme. Kind of annoying.
If she hadn't posted it herself it might be too mean to link to this but since she did post it herself, I recommend starting around 1:57 because the build-up is almost better than the actual event.
Tip of My Tongue helps you find that word you can't quite remember. It's cool that as soon as you start typing it starts searching and sorting. Now I just need a site to help remind me of this URL next time I can't think of a word.
Sci Fi illustration blog - specifically that of Bjorn Hurri. NOTE: If you go to the main Gorilla Artfare site you are likely to run into a some sketched or painted nudity.
Speaking of alternative Star Wars art, Star Wars ABCs
Commuter Click: Why I blog - I see a lot of people linking to it so I feel obligated to check it out but I have to say the beginning doesn't make me hopeful. Do we still need to begin articles about blogging with an explanation of web + log = blog? That's only half a step away from "Webster's defines blogging as..."
Just to show how far behind I am, I'm finally getting around to watching that Ringo Starr clip.
Everyone I've seen linking to this characterizes it as him dissing fans or being a general prick but I have a feeling a lot of people send him stuff to sign and then promptly sell it on eBay or at conventions. I bet he figured out he was powering a Beatles memorabilia cottage industry and said screw it.
Oh yes, I can see upside down dogs sticking around for a while. Several readers sent it to me in the mail as well. I predict a series of wall calendars in 5, 4, 3, 2...
When I was a bartender long ago we had a bouncer at the door on weekend and a hostess to seat customers in the dining area. The bouncer was an African-American guy who was easily 350 pounds and probably 6'5" tall. He had a shaved head and a thick neck and a roll of fat and muscle at the base of his skull. The hostess was of Indian decent I think. She bleached her long hair so it was kind of orange looking. She wasn't quite 5 feet tall and would need a wet wool jacket to put her into triple digits in weight. When they stood together they were a wonder of the range of diversity of the human species. Anyway, that's what I thought of when I saw this photo.
"Little Javier, born this past Sunday, is the first “genetically engineered” baby in Spain to be both free of his family’s hereditary disease and transplant-compatible with his older brother."
The transplant Javier is going to be counted on to provide is bone marrow. I'm sure this particular family has lots of love for their new son and doesn't see him as a box of spare parts for the first son and I'm sure if I was in their shoes I'd do exactly the same thing (or whatever else it took) to save my son too but I'm still not entirely comfortable with the concept.
Iran unveils plan for women's car - It's not quite as ridiculous as Homer Simpson's car but the possibility seems ripe.
"If houseplants could blog, what would they say? To find out, Kamakura-based IT company KAYAC Co., Ltd. has developed a sophisticated botanical interface system that lets plants post their thoughts online."
Hat-vertising for Indiana Jones
I've heard about catfish hunts with guys who dive into underwater holes where catfish hang out and drag them up in their bare hands, but even assuming that's how they find these suckers, how the heck do you reel them in??
