"Malcolm Gladwell on different types of generalizations and when it's helpful to generalize (and not)" [Daypop Top 40]

Great article on generalizations, stereotypes and when they succeed or fail and why. Sounds like some people who think about this actual have great ideas. Unfortunately, it may not be heard by others in positions of responsibility.  11:46:58 PM    

"Administration backs off Bush’s vow to reduce Mideast oil imports" [Daypop Top 40]

It was just an example to get people's attention, not actually something he really planned on doing.  10:59:56 PM    

"Brokeback to the Future" [Daypop Top 40]

It is amazing what a few good cuts in a movie can become with the right editing. I'll never look at these two guys the same way again.  10:55:11 PM    

Making Taco Town's masterpiece.

Filed under: Comedy, OpEd, Saturday Night Live

Earlier today, as I was once again watching the SNL skit for "Taco Town", it hit me: Why the hell hasn't anyone tried to make this taco yet? So, I set the Squad (and Slashfood folks) to task: Someone try to make the pizza crepe taco pancake chili bag ... for real. And eat it (or at least try it).

Sarah of TV Squad and Slashfood has said she'll attempt this crazy creation, though she could use some cheering on. Let's get this puppy made, people!

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[TV Squad]

The video is hilarious. And so close to the truth. Years ago SNL did a take off on the, then new, double blade razor. They came of with the tripple-trac. Three blades. This was a joke. But that is exactly what we have today. Will there be a Taco Town in the future?  10:42:05 PM    

Fitzgerald Hints White House Records Lost. Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is raising the possibility that records sought in the CIA leak investigation could be missing because of an e-mail archiving problem at the White House. The prosecutor in the criminal case against Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff said in a Jan. 23 letter that not all e-mail was archived in 2003, the year the Bush administration exposed the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame. More From The AP. [LISNews.org]

I imagine that there might be some people in the White House sweating over just what they did during the 12 hour head start Gonzales gave them. Hitting delete does not really erase all records of what was written. this may explain why it took so long to Libby's lawyer to find the email. It was part of these 'lost' emails and he ahd to search old logs and backups by hand.  10:37:15 PM    

"must create human/animal hybrids" [Daypop Top 40]

Oh, yeah. I forgot the huamn-animal hybrids from the SOTU speech. A few years ago we had steroids And Mars. Now we have human-animal hybrids. The article actually dicusses what is going on and how stupid the comment in the speech was.   10:27:35 PM    

Harry Shearer: New Orleans: Where the Ball Was Dropped.

The Times-Picayune today quotes a National Science Foundation expert on levee failures--of course you've seen him on AC 360 and Brian Williams' program--who appears to have found the smoking gun, or at least the smoking copy machine. It appears that mis-copying soil data from one chart to another may well have led the Corps of Engineers to an errant estimate of the necessary depth the sheet pilings needed to go to anchor the floodwalls in sturdy, non-peaty soil.
Says J. David Rogers:
"So it's easy to deduce that if they saw that peat layer going to 30 feet, they would have placed the piling at least that deep. And it appears pretty clear, at this point, that the transfer of the boring data to the cross section is where the ball might have gotten dropped."
Hey, these things happen among engineers. No harm, no foul.

[The Huffington Post | Raw Feed]

Looks like the levees were incorrectly constructed because of a copying error. 17 feet instead of 30 feet. No hint of fraud or corruption in the construction yet. It would be sad if NO was destroyed because someone misread a chart.  10:18:47 PM    

Seems like Scooter was an even bigger liar. You know you're in trouble when the Washington Post headline links you to lying, "More Allegations of Libby Lies Revealed": The special prosecutor in the CIA leak case alleged that Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff was engaged in a broader web of deception than was previously known and repeatedly lied to conceal that he had been a key source for reporters about undercover operative By noemail@noemail.org (Joe in DC). [AMERICAblog]

Drip. SDrip. Drip. And this will continue through the mid-term elections, along with general corruption issues.  10:08:21 PM    

Any Questions for the White House on the MOADSM?. So where's all the news about the MOADSM (the Mother of All Downing Street Memos), which I reprinted two items below? At the State Department press briefing yesterday, there was one short exchange about it: QUESTION: Jonathan Rugman, ITN. I... [David Corn]

Let's see: He was wrong about reducing our Middle East imports; he is cutting money spent on alternative fuels; he is willfully breaking the law. My favorite was his asking for a line-item veto. Congress gave the President the line-item veto. Clinton actually used it. The Supremem Court said it was unconstitutional. So he wants something that has been declared unconstitutional. Are his script writers brain-dead?  10:04:51 PM