From the BBC: ‘Most expensive sandwich’ on sale

You know, I’m really not that hungry…

From Information Week: AOL Accused Of Blocking Critics’ E-Mails

From the story: “‘Left to their own devices, AOL will always put its own self interest ahead of the public interest in a free and open Internet,’ Timothy Karr, campaign director of Free Press, said in a statement, which also accused AOL of trying to censor its critics.”

From the Electronic Frontier Foundation: Your Tax Dollars at Work … for Viacom

Kevin Murphy, a legislative aide to Senator Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), has recently taken a job with cable and film giant Viacom. Senator Smith, you may remember, is one of the Hill’s leading proponents of the broadcast flag. Smells fishy, you say?

From Ananova: Pensioner used TV karate on burglar

So much for television being a vast wasteland…let’s just hope retirees don’t start watching 24…

The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression has released their annual Muzzles Awards. These awards are given each year around the birthdate of the Center’s namesake to draw national attention to abridgments of free speech and press.

This year’s Muzzles go to:

* 1) President George W. Bush
* 2) The U.S. Department of Justice
* 3) FCC Chairman Kevin Martin
* 4) The Florida Supreme Court
* 5) New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
* 6) Hecklers of the Ann Coulter Speech at UConn
* 7) The Yelm (WA) Town Council
* 8) The U.S. Department of Homeland Security
* 9) The Command Authority of the U.S. Army Base at Fort Bragg, NC
* 10) The School Administrations of Tennessee’s Oak Ridge High School, Florida’s Wellington High School, and California’s Troy High School
* 11) Orange County (FL) School District Superintendent Ron Blocker
* 12) William Paterson (NJ) University Administration
* 13) U.S. Representative Joe Barton

From CNN: Alaskans get their pizzas by air

Well, yeah…I bet it’s one helluva walk…

From USA Today: ‘24′ prez pivots from weasel to evil

I think this is a terrible idea, but I don’t want to expouse on this until after this evening’s episode where I’ll get a glimpse of how they’re going to play this out.

Related link from The Hollywood Reporter: Sutherland boosts pact at 20th TV; Signs for Three More Years of 24

From Information Week: Adware Firm Facing NY Lawsuit Denies Wrongdoing

Well of course they do…there’s nothing wrong with putting a trojan on your machine, watching every place you go on the Web, and then selling that information without your knowledge or consent. Of course that’s fine…

C-SPAN cameramen record the event…

…for broadcast earlier this evening.

As mentioned, C-SPAN broadcast this evening the talk last Wednesday by Studs Terkel at the Politics and Prose bookstore; when I watched it (hum…seems I’d seen it before…), I realized I forgot to post a pic of the intrepid cameramen who were working the event; so to make up for that oversight, this post.

On the left, my photo and on the right, a screen capture from C-SPAN. What surprised me a little bit was that there was no “bad” place to shoot…I was on house right, where the non-center C-SPAN cameraman was house left, yet other than the audience questioners (which I could not see), we both had great views of both participants. Yet another reason to love that bookstore…

Edit 4/9/2006: This talk should eventually be available on the C-SPAN website for streaming viewing; hit the home page and click on the link for American Perspectives (their database URLs are too cumbersome to include a direct link).

According to the C-SPAN website, the conversation between Studs Terkel and XM’s Bob Edwards is scheduled for this Saturday (tomorrow) evening, approxmiately 9:45 PM EDT, with a re-air at approximately 1:00 AM EDT Sunday. Set your VCRs.

As I mentioned before, last night I played hookey from work and drove down to Washington, D.C. to hear Studs Terkel at the Politics and Prose Bookstore, in conversation with Bob Edwards. (Photos below; click thumbnail for larger version.)

To say the man is a firebrand is a considerable understatement…I think Bob knew he was in trouble when Studs introduced him instead of the other way around…it was pretty clear Studs was holding court. He noted that both he and Bob were born the same day of the year (May 16th), although the years are a bit different; Studs was born in 1912, and Bob…wasn’t. Studs commented that he believed the country was suffering from “National Alzheimer’s Disease” in that students aren’t taught enough history to avoid making the same mistakes over again, and he had some…sprightly things to say about the current administration. He had an interesting list of the three greatest men of the 20th Century - Franklin D. Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Henry Wallace (Vice President during FDR’s final term and former Secretary of Agriculture). After discoursing on Mr. Wallace for a bit, he suddenly turned and said, “Bob … whaddya think?” To which Edwards replied, “You’re just workin’ me so hard…”
(more…)

I’m embarassed to admit it, but I played hookey today. I left town, drove to the Nation’s Capital, went to my favorite D.C. bookstore Politics & Prose, had two (yes, two) of the best cappuchino in Washington at the coffeeshop, picked up a book for my daughter…

…and while I was there, heard Chicago’s national treasure, Studs Terkel, hold the crowd in thrall.

It’s a little late tonight, but tomorrow I’ll put together a few of the photos and a narrative of my tiny little vacation, and even a few quotes from Mr. Terkel. I’ll also keep you posted on how you can see it, too.

From CNN: Exploding paperweight costs teacher his hand

Oops. Perhaps using a 40 mm round as a paperweight is a bad idea…

From The New York Times: Smithsonian Agreement Angers Filmmakers

You know, there’s nothing safe anymore. Not even the nation’s heritage.

OTR hobbyists with XM Satellite Radio should not miss today’s The Bob Edwards Show interview with Richard C. Hottelet, who talks about his experiences reporting World War II as one of the “Murrow Boys.”

It’s aired this evening at 8:00 EDT, 5:00 PM PDT, and available all day on the web at XM Online.

Received the following sad news earlier today:

Am very sad to have to tell everyone that Harold Zeigler had a fatal heart attack this evening..

          Jerry Williams
          Oroville, Ca

The photograph on the right is from last year’s Cincinnati Old-Time Radio and Nostalgia Convention, where Harold was honored to receive the Parley Baer award from Terry Salomonson.

From TechWeb: Dell, Apple Lead In Brand Trust, Microsoft Dead Last

Ok, ok, since everyone thinks I’m a Microsoft-basher, I’ll make no comment.

From CNN.com: Time change is money for Indiana teen

Gotta love an entrepreneur…

For those looking for love, with contextually-relevant advertising: Google Romance

This one only makes sense to geeks; it defines a buffer overflow in one of the functions in OpenSSH: OpenSSH Remote Overflow 0day

Information on the newest licensing from Lucasfilm: Lucasfilm announces “Adult” Star Wars Novel Line

From The Economist: Here be Dragons: With luck, you may soon be able to buy a mythological pet

Search Engine Innovation: Ask.com^TM Introduces RhymeRank^TM

For all things television: TeeVeePedia

ThinkGeek.com has a number of new products for today, including the one I ordered by the gross: The Buzzaire Caffeine Inhaler

Technology Transfer: The People’s Republic of China has acquired a controlling stake in the United States’ fastest growing technology company, Google.