Christopher Street, New York City, August 6, 2009. Photo by Jeff Simmerman
Does this guy know about Dylan Thomas? (Go listen to Thomas read his own poem.) Sir Paul McCartney may want to change the lyric to “when I’m 94.”
Photo appeared at And I Am Not Lying.
Tip of the old scrub brush to Mark Frauenfelder, and Dr. Pamela Bumsted.
Help keep rock ‘n roll alive; share:
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Humor, Life, Music, photography | Tagged: Humor, Life, Music, photography, Rock 'n Roll | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
Update: See comment from Mr. Higginbotham; AP claims machine error and not arrogance.
Potential collisions are delicious: Associated Press versus the Library of Congress’s “Thomas” legislation tracker; Associated Press versus the Supreme Court for quoting the Declaration of Independence.
Associated Press versus the Southern Baptist Convention and Holy See for quoting the Bible, in phrases Jefferson used in his mashup of the New Testament.
Sotomayor either doesn’t know what she’s in for, or she saw this coming and is going to relish the ride.
James Grimmelman at The Laboratorium has been tracking AP’s attempts to wring pennies out of penniless bloggers and scholars for using AP product. On the one hand, AP certainly deserves credit and payment for the great work it does reporting the news.
On the other hand, AP policies don’t seem much concerned with reporting news or creating new product that can make money for the organization, but instead seem bent on punishing people who read Associated Press stories. (Full disclosure: I make it a point to avoid AP stories and images on topics of my interest just to avoid the conflict — oddly, I’ve found that this actually does shift my news sources on major stories.)
Grimmelman caught AP red-handed in what must be a much embarrassing gaffe: He asked permission from AP to quote from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson which AP had not published.
Sure enough, AP told him he owed them $12 to quote the letter, and AP offered to restrict the uses of the letter.
Grimmelman said:
The Associated Press has become so deranged, so disconnected from reality, that it will sell you a “license” to quote words it didn’t write and doesn’t own. Here, check it out:
Screen capture of Associated Presss charging for a Thomas Jefferson letter in the public domain – The Laboratorium
These things threaten to put hoax makers out of business. Who could think of something so absurd? Grimmelman said:
I paid $12 for this “license.” Those words don’t even come from the article they charged me 46 cents a word to quote from (and that’s with the educational discount). No, they’re from Thomas Jefferson’s letter to Isaac McPherson, in which Jefferson argues that copyright has no basis in natural law.
(A commenter notes that Jefferson was actually writing about patents, but close is good enough in hand grenades and freedom of the press and freedom of thought.)
Grimmelman has more thoughts (and links to his earlier work on the issue). Boing-Boing did a cover of Grimmelman’s piece.
James Grimmelman pwns AP instead.
6 Comments | History, Humor, Law, Thomas Jefferson | Tagged: Associated Press, copyright, Humor, Intellectual Property, Journalism, Laboratorium, Law, Public Domain, Thomas Jefferson | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
The conspiracy is Exposed at Disaffected and it Feels So Good. Go read it there.
This one should intrigue the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, with their fascination about the calling of balls and strikes. People who keep close score probably realized what was happening at the time — it’s real inside baseball — but those who don’t pay such close attention may have missed the importance of the occasion. Is Obama radically realigning things for his Chicago friends?
Obama’s influence must be much wider and deeper than anyone had ever imagined!
What conspiracy does this photo of a smiling Barack Obama reveal? Chicago Tribune photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo
2 Comments | Barack Obama, Baseball, Humor, President Obama | Tagged: Chicago Friends, Humor, Inside Baseball, President Obama, White Sox Hat | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
HEMA is a department store in the Netherlands. Like all other businesses, it now has on-line shopping.
Inside a HEMA store in the Netherlands - Wikimedia image
But it’s online with a diffference. Load this page, and then wait a few seconds . . .
(Can you tell whether this is a real HEMA page, or just a good parody? Anyone?)
(And, what kind of software does one need to do that kind of animation? Is there any classroom use for this?)
3 Comments | animation, Business, Humor, Technology | Tagged: animation, Business, HEMA, On-line Shopping, Parody, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Can any teacher recognize genius in the classroom? Especially when I taught in alternative programs, I was frequently astounded by the great work students did that was just enough off the mark of the assignment that it might have gotten a zero were it not so brilliant, and had I not had a few extra minutes to grade (thanks to smaller classes).
Wee Mousie’s Cinema Burlesque — what do you do with stuff like that?
This is the stuff Creative Commons is made for, by the way.
Leave a Comment » | History, Humor, Movies, Politics, Student projects | Tagged: Creative Commons, History, Humor, Movies, Politics, Student projects | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Here’s a cliché phrase whose time to retire has come: “Drunk the Kool-Aid.”
Once upon a time it may have been a culturally cool reference to the mass suicide at Jonestown, Guyana. Following the charismatic and crazy minister Jim Jones, more than 900 people committed suicide, most by drinking cyanide in a Kool-Aid solution. With some irony we should note that Kool-Aid may not have been used at Jonestown at all, but a similar product, Flav-R-Aid.
Makers of Kool-Aid are probably not too happy about the common use of the phrase now, though it would be interesting to see what their marketing studies show — does the use of the phrase hurt sales or keep the name of the product in the public’s mind?
No matter. Use of the phrase to mean that an insult target is brainlessly following some concept is tired, decrepit, grating, and in need of retirement.
Uses just in the past few days:
Can we just retire the phrase now? Copy editor’s, make a note of Darrell’s Corollary: When any writer uses the phrase “drunk the Kool-Aid” to mean something other than someone has drunk some Kool-Aid, the piece needs to be rewritten.
Building in Hasting, Nebraska, where Kool-Aid was invented by Gerard and Edwin Perkins. Wikimedia photo
5 Comments | Good Writing, Humor, Linguistics, Point of personal privilege, Writing | Tagged: Cliches, Darrell's Corollary, Humor, Kool-Aid, Language, Linguistics, Writing | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Oh, don’t you love it?
Now they’re getting the scams pre-cleared by the FBI!
I just love being referred to as “undisclosed recipient.”
I especially enjoyed the use of the FBI’s seal and Robert Mueller’s signature, as if the director of the FBI personally certifies lottery winners for private organizations, or any organization. All spellings and punctuations just so:
Official FBI Information for You
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 5:05 PM
- Anti-Terrorist and International Fraud Division.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation.
935 Pennsylvania Ave, NW- Washington, DC 20535
Normally, it will take up to 10 business days for an International Check to be cashed by your local banks. We have successfully notified this company on your behalf that funds are to be drawn from a registered bank within the United States Of America so as to enable you cash the check instantly without any delay, henceforth the stated amount of $800,000.00 USD. has been deposited with Bank Of America.
We have completed this investigation and you are hereby approved to receive the winning prize as we have verified the entire transaction to be Safe and 100% risk free, due to the fact that the funds have been deposited at Bank Of America you will be required to settle the following bills directly to the Lottery Agent in-charge of this transaction whom is located in Lagos, Nigeria. According to our discoveries, you were required to pay for the following –
(1) Deposit Fee’s ( Fee’s paid by the company for the deposit into an American Bank which is – Bank Of America )(2) Cashier’s Check Conversion Fee ( Fee for converting the Wire Transfer payment into a Certified Cashier’s Check )
The total amount for everything is $200.00 (Two Hundred-US Dollars). We have tried our possible best to indicate that this $200.00 should be deducted from your winning prize but we found out that the funds have already been deposited at Bank Of America and cannot be accessed by anyone apart from you, the winner; therefore you will be required to pay the required fee’s to the Agent in-charge of this transaction via Western Union Money Transfer Or Money Gram.
In order to proceed with this transaction, you will be required to contact the agent in-charge ( SAMUEL OLIVER ) via e-mail. Kindly look below to find appropriate contact information:
CONTACT AGENT NAME: SAMUEL OLIVERE-MAIL ADDRESS: sammufbilotto911@sify.comYou will be required to e-mail him with the following information:FULL NAME:ADDRESS:CITY:STATE:ZIP CODE:DIRECT CONTACT NUMBER:
You will also be required to request Western Union details on how to send the required $200.00 in order to immediately ship your prize of $800,000.00 USD via Certified Cashier’s Check drawn from Bank Of America, also include the following transaction code in order for him to immediately identify this transaction : EA2948-910.
This letter will serve as proof that the Federal Bureau Of Investigation is authorizing you to pay the required $200.00 ONLY to Mr. Samuel Oliver via information in which he shall send to you, if you do not receive your winning prize of $800,000.00 we shall be held responsible for the loss and this shall invite a penalty of $3,000 which will be made PAYABLE ONLY to you (The Winner).
Please find below an authorized signature which has been signed by the FBI Director- Robert Mueller, also below is the FBI NSB (National Security
FBI Director
Robert Mueller.
Authorized Signature
NSB SEAL ABOVENOTE: In order to ensure your check gets delivered to you ASAP, you are advised to immediately contact Mr. Samuel Oliver via contact information provided above and make the required payment of $200.00 to information in which he shall provide to you.
Sam, I won’t be responding. The FBI doesn’t offer the service of verifying lottery winners, especially for people who didn’t enter the lottery.
And of course, it’s already been done — this is the same scam I got last February, just presented with a couple of graphics to try to make it look more official. At least they lost the name of their contact, “Peter Water.”
Sure, it’s wire fraud. Is there any way to get any authority to prosecute?
6 Comments | Hoaxes, Humor, Internet | Tagged: Bad Grammar, Bad Punctuation, FBI, Hoaxes, Humor, Nigerian scam, Rampant stupidity | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
You need to go to the site to see the comparison.
A blog on design issues (among other things), the View from 32, has a neat interactive image that shows the campaign website for Les Otten, a Republican already campaigning for the governorship in Maine (election next year), compared to the website for Barack Obama. You’ll notice more than a few similarities, including the “O” logo.
You don’t think . . . no Republican would copy . . . their politics must be completely different . . .
What the heck? Obama won, right? Who can argue with success?
You gotta see it to believe it.
From Fred2Blue
5 Comments | Barack Obama, Campaigns, Humor, Plagiarism, Politics, President Obama | Tagged: Barack Obama, Campaigns, Design, Les Otten, Maine, Plagiarism, Politics, Websites | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Al Franken’s in the Senate and Sen. Robert Byrd is out of the hospital. I was thinking maybe it’s time for some intransigent Republicans to review whether they really want to cross the Democrats. And then I came across this photo. Somehow, it’s symbolic.
In any case, it’s a great photo.
Well, technically it's a mule, and not a jackass, but sometimes I worry that Thomas Nast couldn't tell the difference. Mule at a Georgia petting zoo - Photo by Lona
3 Comments | Humor, photography, Politics | Tagged: Humor, photography, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Found the explanation at Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot – Over (also at Talking Points Memo):
Leave a Comment » | Health care, Humor, Politics, Propaganda | Tagged: Health care, Politics, Propaganda, Republican Strategy | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
The story writes its own ending. As I watched the story of Missouri State Rep. Cynthia Davis, I kept hearing the Muppet version of Scrooge, who, confronted by a plea for charity for orphans said: “What? Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?”
When I staffed the Senate, we prided ourselves on having people who knew a lot more than any reporter in town or any news organization with all its resources. When I staffed the Utah legislature, the members made sure they knew their stuff before they called for change, generally. Olberman, Stewart and Colbert sometimes appear to have corraled all the smart people outside of the White House. But what in the hell is Davis’s excuse?
Update: Welcome, visitors of July 2. Obviously, you’re linking from somewhere else — but my systems have not picked it up. Where are you coming from? Somebody tell, in comments, please.
4 Comments | Government, Human Rights, Humor, Politics, Poverty, Reason | Tagged: Ebenezer Scrooge, Free Lunch Programs, Olberman, Poverty, Rep. Cynthia Davis | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Jim Butler alerted me to this little piece at I Can Has Cheezburger? Notice the historical/mathematical error, explained below:
Yeah, it’s funny. But Taft didn’t serve in all three branches of the federal government. He was never a member of Congress. He served in the executive branch and the judicial branch, at least twice in each, but he never served in the legislative branch, in Congress.
Taft was collector of taxes for the IRS, Ohio state judge, Solicitor General of the U.S., judge on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for the U.S., chairman of the commission to organize a government for the Philippines after the Spanish-American War, and then Governor-General of the Philippines, Secretary of War for Teddy Roosevelt, Acting Secretary of State, Governor of Cuba, Co-chairman of the National War Labor Board in World War I, and then Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, but never a member of either the House of Representatives or the Senate.
The LOLphoto is still funny.
Oh. Kenny just found the same thing posted at Kitchen Pundit. Still wrong. Still funny.
What “bathtub trouble?” Well, yeah, we ought to explain that. The story is that Taft was so large — 330 pounds plus as president — that he once got stuck in a White House bathtub, and consequently had a much larger tub installed there. Is the story accurate?
Here’s a news story of Taft’s bathing troubles post-presidency, from the New York Times:
CAPE MAY, N.J., June 18 [1915]. — Ex-President Taft, who came here yesterday as the guest of the Pennsylvania Bankers’ Association, took a bath in his apartments in the Hotel Cape May. He failed properly to consider the size of the average seashore hotel bathtub, however, with the result that when he got into the tub the water overflowed and trickled down upon the heads of the guests in the dining room.
And the White House? Here’s a photo of the specially-made Taft bathtub just before its installation at the White House, about 1911:
Four men show the size of President Tafts bathtub, 1911 - White House Museum.org photo
The National Archives and Records Administration has an exhibit right now at the Archives building on “BIG,” celebrating 75 years of NARA. Included are orders for big tubs for Taft, and a replica of the giant tub installed at the White House (which was broken when it we removed in 1948 for renovation).
As evidence that William Howard Taft was the biggest man to serve as President of the United States, the exhibit presents the 1909 order for a bathtub and other items specially ordered to accommodate Taft’s 300-plus-pound frame. In January 1909, two months after being elected President (he was inaugurated on March 4, 1909), Taft boarded the USS North Carolina to set sail to inspect the Panama Canal construction zone. The ship was outfitted specially for him. The captain ordered the following items: “1 brass double bedstead of extra length; 1 superior spring mattress, extra strong; 1 bath tub, 5 feet 5 inches in length, over rolled rim and of extra width.” Later newspaper accounts (and a photograph) revealed that the bathtub was built on an even bigger scale—that it had “pondlike dimensions . . . [it] will hold four ordinary men and is the largest ever manufactured . . . the tub is 7 feet 1 inch long, 41 inches wide and weighs a ton.”
Soon after leaving the presidency, Taft lost 70 pounds, which he maintained throughout the remainder of his life. In 1921, Taft was appointed Chief Justice of the United States, becoming the only person to hold the highest office in both the executive and judicial branches.
Leave a Comment » | History, Humor, Presidents, U.S. Supreme Court | Tagged: Chief Justice, History, History Errors, Presidents, U.S. Supreme Court, William Howard Taft | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Gotta love it. Did this person bother to click on the blog to see what goes on here?
Hello,
I represent a company called _________________, a company that does what’s known as advanced search engine placement. We reach a Network of over 35 million people who are predominantly US based. Our Network is entirely opt-in, and the users on our Network allow us to present them with a preferred choice whenever they are looking for anything on the top sixteen search engines. (GOOGLE, YAHOO, MSN and thirteen others.)
I seek one source to send the users on our Network, from the major search engines, for different types of quality bath tubs.
Please contact me at your earliest convenience. I am in the office daily from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific time.
Best regards,
___ _________
Business Segment Analyst, ____ ___________
Phone: 800.XXX.XXXX, ext XXXX
Do they know something about Millard Fillmore that I don’t?
1 Comment | Humor, Weblogs | Tagged: Advertising Miscues, blogging, Humor, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
More silly, stupid or dishonest bovine excrement from the Christian right, History Revisionism Division:
In cosmology, we had to wait decades for the theism-friendly big bang theory to beat out atheism-friendly theories like the eternal universe model, the steady-state model, the oscillating model, etc. Piles of taxpayer money wasted trying to prove atheistic flights of fancy. But in the end, the evidence for the big bang was too much for the atheistic theories, and we beat them out.
I hadn’t realized Christians championed Big Bang against atheists. Wait until the creationists learn about this.
7 Comments | Big Bang, Creationism, Humor, Rampant stupidity | Tagged: Big Bang, Christian Right, Creationism, Humor, Rampang Stupidity | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Great idea. Really. There’s a lot of campaign stuff left over. Rather than dump it, they’re selling it cheap.
Image from the Obama campaign site, June 2009
Government and politics teachers can stock up on the stuff to decorate the room. AP Government teacher Mrs. Richie, at Duncanville High School had a collection of bumperstickers that went back 30 years before she retired (where did that collection go?)
Or, maybe you just need tote bags to replace the plastic and paper choices the grocery store gives you. Green up, cheap, at the Obama site!
Over at Republican National Headquarters, they’re having a sale on politicians, I hear. Entire Congressional committee minorities, cheap. Izzat so? Not really. Really?
1 Comment | Campaigns, Capitalism, History, History and art, History images, Humor, Politics, Propaganda | Tagged: Bargains, Campaign Buttons, Campaign Posters, Campaigns, Capitalism, History, History images, History Memorabilia, Humor, Obama '08, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
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Ed Darrell on Texas's Colorado River
Come on in, the water's fine. Come often: Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 