"Sarah Palin: I Could Beat Obama"

Gag. Read this story.

Sorry guys. I know I have been absent from POT for a really long time and it's really not nice of me to return with a posting like this. But I felt it was really important everyone heard the latest Palin news.

Sort of makes me feel like this guy.

Snarky post #2

A U.S. congressman is worried Guam may capsize.

Snarky post #1

Tea party signs.

A political guide

Drunk History

Sokeripupu just sent me Drunk history, which is funny. I especially like the one about Oney Judge.

I hope someone tests this in court

Texas' gay marriage ban may have banned all marriages.

How the iPod Saved America from Being Sad Forever

It's the first iPod commercial ever. Contrast it with the "unplanned" "spontaneous" "expression" of "group enthusiasm" at the Microsoft store. Sure; to be fair, one's a produced advertisement, and the other is a WELL-produced advertisement oooooOOOOOOoooo! ZING!! BURRRN!!!22!

I'm thinking, however, about the success of the iPod product line, and the genesis of that success. Sure, the interface is great--navigating that much content with what is essentially one big button is no small feat. The form factor is simple, almost generic, allowing anyone to integrate the thing into their personal style. The ads emphasize personal freedom and joyful abandon and an unapologetic love of music and dancing to said music (and again with the generic thing).

This has all been discussed over and over, but the one factor I've never heard mentioned when trying to understand the iPod's success is the release date, October 23, 2001. A little over a month after 9/11. Everyone in America was still pretty bummed, if I remember right. We thought nothing would ever be the same; that we'd all have to be vigilant and well-informed and serious for the rest of our lives. We didn't, it turns out. Our culture was still there, and we are who we are, for better or for worse. It didn't take long for reminders of who we are to creep back into daily life, and now here we are. Hello!

Makes me wonder, if the iPod doesn't occupy some special place in the American psyche, because it helped come to a timely rescue. Did these simple, happy, ads stick in our heads; not simply hawking a music player, but as a reminder that there were still good reasons to be consumery, dancey, slightly oblivious Americans? Are we repaying the iPod for helping us not be sad forever?

Incredible

A look at TV news in America:

While doing some recent research on the news business, I came upon this remarkable fact: Katie Couric’s annual salary is more than the entire annual budgets of NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered combined. Couric’s salary comes to an estimated $15 million a year; NPR spends $6 million a year on its morning show and $5 million on its afternoon one. NPR has seventeen foreign bureaus (which costs it another $9.4 million a year); CBS has twelve. Few figures, I think, better capture the absurd financial structure of the network news.

How Americans Spend Their Day

I thought this was particularly interesting: The NYT's interactive graph (for Ponay: an intergraph) of how Americans spend their day.

There's a lot of useful information to be gleaned, here. For example:

65+ people watch a lot of TV.

People with advanced degrees are slow eaters.

You people with two children sure appear to work a lot.

Under Personal Care, apparently Americans spend an average of 54 seconds on "personal or private activities," like having sex.

The Jesus cheeto!