Podcasting…I second the sentiments in this LockerGnome post. They need to stop calling it “podcasting”; 1) this isn’t something that Apple invented or that only works on an iPod, and 2) I’ll give up music altogether before I use one of those fucking hipster fashion-piece must-have-of-the-season trend boxes. I mean, it’s not often I find myself agreeing with Warren Kinsella, but…

I wish the dude who reserved ipodsucks.com would get on with it.

Being so sick and tired of electioneering (first a Canadian election in the summer, and now the eye- and mind-numbing American process), I’ve grown equally tired of how we — all of us: the media, the public, everyone — let them off the hook when they lie. I know, I know, ’twas always thus. Politicians have always lied to us during campaigns, told half truths (or outright lies) about their opponents, etc. But now…now we have the technology to fight it. What if, say during the debates between Kerry and Bush, every time one of them quoted a number or stated a “fact”, there were a team of researchers (a la FactCheck) at every news channel covering the event who, within seconds, validated the statement and put the analysis up on the screen. Granted, there’d be a few seconds of delay, but how hard could that be? It’s not as if these guys don’t tout the same numbers day after day on the campaign trail, and in debate after debate. These guys aren’t bringing out new material (except catchphrases like “wrong war, wrong place, wrong time!” or “his rhetoric doesn’t match his record!”…David Frum, where are you when we need you?!?) so it should be easy to have 90% of the material on hand and be a few keyword searches and big brains away from the other 10%.

While we’re on the topic, I think TV networks should be forced to verify facts put out in advertisements for one politician or another (which, for local politics, are usually attack ads) through an independant factchecker (like, oh, say, FactCheck) before being allowed to run them.

This is related to a point that Dan Gillmor makes, but he’s pushing for letting the candidates use technology to check their own facts. I don’t think we should give them the opportunity; I say we find the truth ourselves and make them live up to it.

From the CBC: ‘Do They Know it’s Christmas?’ returns.

“The founders of the charity group Band Aid plan to record and release a new version of Do They Know it’s Christmas?.”

Unbelievable.

I’m not a Red Sox fan. I don’t even care that much about baseball. But I know that I dislike the Yankees (and before you accuse me of being a bandwagon jumper, I’ve always disliked them…they have too much money, they have Steinbrenner and they act awfully high and mighty for a team that hasn’t won the series in several years). So watching them win this series, coming back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the team they hate the most, the team behind the curse, (which has never been done before)…well, it was amazing. I watched Ortiz hit the home run in game 4 to keep them alive. I saw him drive in the winning run in game 5 to make it close. I saw some of game 6, where Curt Schilling went all “The Natural” on us and pitched a spectacular game on an ankle so badly damaged that it was bleeding through his sock, and where A-Rod tried to karate chop his way to first base. And I saw them crush the Yankees last night, in front of the home crowd.

I’d have to say that even if the Sox lose the series, they’ll still revel in the memories of the win over the Yankees (despite cries of the curse living on). Many are calling this the greatest series ever played. I’m no baseball historian but I think you’d be hard pressed to make an argument against that. I’m pulling for them to win it all, if for not other reason than that I never want to hear Bill Buckner’s name again.

Oh, and lest you forget, Jim Edmonds cranked a home run in the bottom of the 12th last night to force game 7 in the NLCS. That goes tonight.

Despite being the bestselling book in the country, Jon Stewart’s America doesn’t appeal to the average Wal-Mart customer. At least that’s what the minds behind the retail behemoth have chosen to believe. The chain canceled its order for the book after learning that page 99 features a doctored photo of nine naked bodies with the heads of the Supreme Court justices attached.

So WalMart doesn’t sell any movies that contain frontal nudity? I’m willing to bet there’s a copy of, say, Titanic floating around one of their stores.

From Yahoo: Wal-Mart Nixes Stewart’s “America”

Why couldn’t he have said this to someone with more credibility than utter nutbag pat Robertson?

The founder of the U.S. Christian Coalition said Tuesday he told President George W. Bush before the invasion of Iraq that he should prepare Americans for the likelihood of casualties, but the president told him, “We’re not going to have any casualties.”

From CNN, by way of This Modern World.

This is kind of sad. I haven’t so much as thought about Doug & The Slugs in 10 years. Too bad this is how I’m reminded of them.

from the Bastards

If I were still a drummer, I’d probably be feeling real, palpable fear just about now. Granted, it can’t possibly provide nuanced playing, but stilll…how long before that’s programmable too? That said, if you can build a robot like this, how hard can it really be to have one that holds a bass/guitar and plucks strings while pressing & bending certain combinations of frets?

And to think…they named it after a god of drumming. It’d be like a guy named Jesus trying to bring down the Catholic church…

Sigh…reminds me of the old joke: “How many drummers does it take to screw in a light bulb? None! They have machines for that now!”

I’m having a hard time choosing who to vote for in the contest of Greatest Canadians. I’ve split the top ten list into 3 groups: “contenders”, “almost contenders” and “no fucking way”.

Contenders: Frederick Banting, Tommy Douglas, Terry Fox, Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Almost contenders: Alexander Graham Bell, Sir John A. Macdonald, David Suzuki and Wayne Gretzky
No fucking way: Don Cherry.

Two things: 1) I’m having a very hard time picking between my top five; 2) Don Cherry…really? You guys? Seriously?

Honestly…does anyone take either the Conservative Party or organized religion seriously anymore?