Slate

PardonPower had a great conversation with Jacob Leibenluft today. He has written a piece for the The Explainer over at Slate. Liebenluft asked great questions and was clearly doing his work well. He also seemed to be listening, as opposed to merely fishing for commentary that he was inclined to accept. In addition, he took the time to track down/talk to individuals who were actually clemency exper

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Legg Mason Inc.’s (LM) Capital Management unit - which owns 4.4% of Yahoo Inc.’s (YHOO) outstanding shares - plans to vote in favor of Yahoo’s proposed slate of directors at the annual meeting in August, defying Carl Icahn’s efforts to replace the board with his own slate after Yahoo rejected a takeover by [...]

Investor activist Carl Icahn is seeking control of the Yahoo board and will run a slate of nine dissident directors, according to his definitive proxy, filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

If gas prices are killing you, here's a guide to thrifty ...Slate - Jul 3, 2008... from the ultraforgiving, featherweight Honda Rebel 250 ($3199 MSRP) to the massive, mighty, and mad Triumph Rocket III 2500 ($14999 MSRP). ...

This is a new phone by the pioneer of the mobile phone industry, Motorola. This leader of mobile communication technology is widely known for it’s intelligent inventions. Motorola has come up with a phone that uniquely blends style, performance and functionality. The phone is available with amazing features, attractive looks and intelligent functionality. It's no wonder that the Motorola MOTOSLV

Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray, Other formats, Cable Although it was tough to see then, the writing has been on the wall in hindsight. After Warner Bros. absorbed New Line Pictures, characterizing it as a “redundant infrastructure,” it’s now looking to focus less on cranking out blockbuster theatrical releases and more on pushing Blu-ray / VOD adoption. [...]

The best soccer Web sites and books to read during the Euro 2008 - SlateOn Saturday, the curtain lifts on the UEFA European Soccer Championship , a quadrennial rite that sublimates centuries of murderous nationalism into three weeks of slide tackles and corner kicks. Euro 2008 will feature 16 teams, including first-time [...]

Last trip in Singapore was a short but nice one cos I got to spend time with mom on Mother’s Day and did a little (just a little) shopping. I tried on a few items in MaxStudio.com and finally settled for this slate jersey and bastiste dress. Honestly, this dress didn’t appeal to me [...]

Okay, I've pretty much had it with this. We knew she wouldn't go away and unite the party even if she didn't take both Indiana and North Carolina. She barely won Indiana and got firmly beaten in North Carolina. Now she's running back to the white voter. Um, lady, the people voting for Obama ARE white too. Blacks are around 12% of the US population. Good grief.What's funnier is the folks over at the Trailhead blog at Slate had a Obama Doomsday Scenario contest:Obama Doomsday Scenario Contest Results!Yesterday, Trailhead invited readers to imagine what would have to happen for Barack Obama to lose the Democratic nomination. And boy did you respond. You, dear readers, are a motley assortment of creative and disturbed geniuses.Scenarios tended to fall into a few categories: embarrassing re

This article basically covers everything you need to know about natural slate building tiles. It goes into details about sizes, specifications, installations, maintenance, and care, as well as providing in depth information about its practicality and applications. More: continued here

Nikon Coolpix S600 10MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Angle Optical Zoom with Vibration Reduction (Slate Black) (Electronics)By Nikon Click to see price Customer Rating: First tagged “digital camera” by Anraku Customer [...]

Merrell Mens Pursuit Ventilator Dark Slate - Discontinued Item Outdoor shoe The Pursuit Ventilator from Merrell is a trail running shoe with all the performance of the Full Pursuit with more ventilation to keep you running a few more miles. Features Trail Running Speed II Last. Combination lasted construction. View product details

There is a great article written by Linda Shaprio on Slate critiquing Gordon Ramsay’s (him again!?) new book ‘Gordon Ramsay’s Fast Food’ in which Ramsay like so many celebrity chefs attempts to convince that the only difference between your cooking and theirs is a few tips and recipes ultimately worth about $25. Shaprio writes- Fantasy has [...]

Clean Slate restores your computer to its original configuration discarding unwanted computer changes. Blocks unwanted programs from running. Restores on reboot or logoff, you decide. Easily accommodates Windows Updates and virus protection signature downloads while security is active with no configuration required. Eases management of all your public access computers. [More Information]   Download : [Clean Slate 5.0 build 3007]  [Patch]

The Slate Roof Bible: Understanding, Installing and Restoring the World’s Finest Roof (The Slate Roof Bible, 2nd Edition) (Paperback)By Joseph Jenkins Buy new: $40.00$26.4023 used and new from $25.68 Customer Rating: First tagged “roofing” by [...]

I tried to think of the most ridiculously absurd title for this post and this was what I came up with. I recently had the 2006 Monchoff Mosel "Slate" Riesling which is all from Erdener Treppchen fruit and also a bottle of the 2006 Donnhoff "Grey Slate" Riesling which is Oberhauser Leistenberg but done in a dry style. Both fantastic wines and each very different. The Monchoff is just a great fun classic Mosel fruity Riesling. Slate, pit fruits, citrus and richly textured are the hallmarks of this wine. The acidity is no slouch either. It was fresh, slightly sweet, invigorating and perfectly balanced. Lovely purity. Labeled "Slate" but is %100 Erdener Treppchen fruit. Just too easy to drink.Last night had the Donnhoff and it was lovely albeit in a totally different way. Palate was like su

Nothing looks cooler on a hot day than wearing anything white, and in the auto world nothing is cooler than a Porsche. Well those German guys have come up with a range of product called Blanc Slate, which is known as the Porsche Design White Collection. Just imagine what it would look like driving around in [...]

Clover Signs would like to announce that we are no longer making slate house signs.  The simple reason is this: Our carved house signs have become so popular that we cannot concentrate on 2 things at once. Slate and stone is still a great choice for a house sign, so we would like to recommend Rustic [...]

There are a huge variety of different types of wall mounted fountains, including slate wall fountains which easily add the perfect mix of drama and tranquility to any setting, indoors or out.Slate wall fountains are available in numerous styles, colors, shapes and sizes. They fit into corners or alcoves, tall, there are free standing fountains, and that are small and light enough that they can be mounted on walls or gazebos. These fountains are primarily constructed from slate, but they often include other composites that add tiny details.For example, some fountains have steel or copper accents, carvings or stained color accents and often other special details that make them unique. Slate wall fountains also come in a variety of different sizes, so no matter how much space you have, there

Does welfare spawn out-of-wedlock babies? The architects of the recently passed welfare reform believe it does. They hope that curbing payments for additional children and enforcing parental work requirements will reverse the 25-year trend that has brought large numbers of unmarried mothers onto the welfare rolls.

You may think Hillary Clinton won Texas, but she didn't, at least not by the rules of the game. The eventual Democratic nominee will be the one with more delegates, and Obama won more of Texas' than Hillary did. [more ...]

The first thing that grabs your attention about the sex scandal involving New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is, of course, the client. But, there's another aspect to the story that should raise eyebrows: $4,300. That's the bill Spitzer incurred for his dangerous liaison at the Mayflower hotel. Who would pay that much, and could you ever really get your money's worth? [more ...]

Promos for Top Chef (Bravo, Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET) bray that it's "the No. 1 food show on cable." The cable part is clear enough, and one doesn't even mind that they call it a show, as it features all the signature elements of one: image, sound, conflict, commercial breaks. It is the food part that sticks in the craw, for no matter how ardently the kitchen-bound players on this reality competition mince, grate, knead, roast, deep-fry, and julienne, there is no shaking the suspicion that the show is not actually about cooking or eating. This is a lifestyle experience, and the food is just an ingredient. [more ...]

The Vatican released a list of seven new sins on Monday. Dubbed the "social sins," they include conducting stem-cell research, polluting the environment, and causing poverty. Along with the old standbys—like lust, pride, and greed—these seven are considered to be of the "deadly" variety. What kinds of sins aren't deadly? [more ...]

La Motion Computing F5 Slate es una PC para trato rudo, que incluye una pantalla táctil XGA, procesador Intel Centrino, 1GB en RAM y disco duro de 40 GB. El precio de esta computadora estará en el rango de los mil 750 a los 2 mil 650 euros. Otras entradas que podrían estar relacionadas:Otras entradas interesantes:

Slate tiles are very efficient when used in the kitchen since these are very durable and does a great job of camouflaging dirt and other messes in the area. There are so many textures and tones to choose from that will perfectly match your taste and style. Learn how to choose the right slate tiles for your kitchen as well as some installation tips. Slate tiles provide a very nice, warm and comfortable atmosphere with their earth-colored hues since they come from natural rocks. They may come in black, gray, brown, beige, red, blue, green, purple and many others at varying shades. You may choose solid color slate tiles all across your kitchen floor or go country or European style with multicolored ones that have shades of gold and brown over black or dark blue.There are also several shapes t

Recently, Motion Computing nearly after a year of its announcement released their "F5 Slate PC". The device has cool looks and is quite rigid. Its build quality tells us about wear and tear it can bear. This gizmo is water, dust, shock and temperature resistant. Featuring a 1.2 GHz Intel processor, a 40GB hard disk, 10.4" XGA display, built-in bluetooth and a 2 megapixel camera, this gizmo will fulfill all your needs easily and comfortably.You can also have other cool addons like a bar code, a biometric scanner, 3 USB ports, Ethernet and lots more. Sadly, the price which the device carries may not please everyone. It can cost you $2700-$4000 depending upon the configuration you choose.

It has been said in the past that the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr, and Robert Kennedy stole hope, idealism, youthful vigour, and inspirational politics from the US in the 1960s. That has to be tempered with reality, because those three men were not the only idealists in politics but had [...]

We do not make slate signs anymore - we just cannot keep up with the work and the HDU house signs are so popular. The only thing we will do with slate if someone really wants, is artwork.  We did this for a company we know in Germany called Sannerz Designs. You take a picture (in this [...]

New Year, Clean Slate, Fresh Look Sorry I did not write over break, my computer broke and I had no internet access. It’s nice to get in touch with the world again. Happy New Year! What an amazing feeling to know that you have a whole new year to start over. As Natasha Beddingfield says, “Today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten.” I am sure you have all made New Year’s Resolutions by now and I hope you are staying positive and motivated. Just a tip, make realistic goals and not too many of them. I looked back on my 2007 Resolutions and saw that one was to “get over my stomach anxiety” and to gain weight. This made me reflect on everything I have been through this past year and helped me to realize just how much I have accomplished. I have learned so m

If you’ve never used LUSH Cosmetics, you’re missing out. If you’ve never used any of their limited edition holiday products, you’re really missing out. Now’s your chance to experience both their amazing Christmas items and their year-round products, with the annual LUSH Cosmetics Clean Slate ‘08 Promo. Essentially, the promo boils down to this: Buy any one of their decadent Holiday limited edition items, and you’ll get a free item of equal or lesser value absolutely free (you choose which item at checkout). The limit is SEVEN free items, so you can get pretty stocked up through this BOGO promotion. So if visions of eggnog flavored lip balms and sparkly pink cotton candy scented shower gels are dancing in your head right now, you know where to go: LUSH Cosmetics.

The Mac Observer says:Leopard demolishes Vista in a classy coherent upgrade according to Slate Magazine on Wednesday Apple has underpromised and overdelivered while Vista s techincal improvements remain difficult for users to appreciate and utilizeread more ->Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance says: WASHINGTON Slate V the online video magazine from the editors of Slate today announced the winning entry and finalists from its first ever user generated competition the Comedy News Contest read more ->Reuters via Yahoo! News says: Slate the online news and opinion magazine owned by The Washington Post Co may launch a business news and opinion Web site according to a source familiar with the matter read more ->paidContent.org via Yahoo! Finance says: Slate magazine is developing a business version of its general politics and culture site for a launch by next summer NYO reports and Reuters also confirms later Though the creation of an online business news adjunct has ye

Seven New Additions to the Motorola W Series Portfolio Deliver High Style and Great Features at an Attractive Price “The everyday communications segment represents dynamic growth and is a key area of focus for Motorola,” said Stu Reed, President, Motorola Mobile Devices. “These devices are designed for consumers who are purchasing their first mobile phone, [...]

The big news is that we now make Slate House Signs!  Many people seem to want them, so we have sourced some fantastic quality black slate for the signs: The signs are 6-8mm thick, and we sand blast the letters into them.  We then finish the letters with real gold or palladium.  The hand painted artwork looks great on the natural stone. If you want one - you can buy a slate sign here. Share This

This is a pretty good piece from Slate. It is a collection of email comments flying back and forth from the editors about the arrest of Idaho's Sen. Larry Craig. ~RJH Slate article link Craig's Lust Slate editors squabble about the Idaho senator's bathroom arrest. When the news of Sen. Larry Craig's arrest and guilty plea for lewd conduct broke Monday evening, it set off a vigorous e-mail squabble among Slate editors. Some of us thought the arrest was justified, others were appalled, others were amazed by the arrest report; others were merely baffled. Usually we try to wait until our ideas are fully baked before we publish them, but in this case, we thought the half-baked (and quarter-baked) arguments would interest readers. Dahlia Lithwick: "Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men's public restroom, according to an arrest report obtained by Roll Call Monday afternoo

Just over a fortnight after the TabletKiosk's Sahara i440D Slate PC began shipping out to interested buyers, the niche machine has now been reviewed and benchmarked for those still mulling a purchase. The folks over at TabletPCReview noted that this machine was a breeze to tote around, had a solid feel, sported a satisfactory (though not awe-inspiring) display, and performed sufficiently enough for those not looking to actually replace their (likely more robust) laptop. Additionally, the pen functionality was highly praised as was the respectable array of ports, but the amount of noise and heat that this bad boy emitted was a slight turn-off. Still, the Sahara i440D benchmarked well against similar alternatives, and while we wouldn't recommend 3D gaming or motion picture rendering on it, it seems like a solid choice for those in the market. Check out a videoed extension of the review after the jump.Continue reading TabletKiosk's Sahara i440D Slate PC reviewed, benchmarked(Via Engadg

Hopefully you haven't forgotten all about TabletKiosk's Sahara i440D Slate PC, because the time has finally come to lay down your hard-earned coin and snag one for yourself. Dubbed the first slate tablet PC with 'dual pen and touchscreen input,' the i440D can be ordered with Windows XP or Vista, and features a wide array of ports including PCMCIA, eSATA, USB 2.0, and FireWire. Additionally, you'll find a biometric fingerprint reader, an Intel Core Duo LV processor, and options for up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM and a 160GB SATA hard drive. The base configuration starts at $2,295, and just in case it somehow escaped you earlier, it is indeed shipping right away.(Via Engadget.)

Bronwen Maddox, writing in The Times, is enthusiastic about David Miliband's future at the Foreign Office:Brown and Miliband are spared current crises, Iraq apart, but there are a few potential horrors that would benefit from Miliband’s intelligence and his unusually good judgment of tone...Miliband’s thoughtfulness will be an asset. He gauged the right tone of voice for the floods in Britain this week: not exaggerating, but not making light of people’s suffering. Nor did he rush to blame global warming. Those are rare qualities (particularly the restraint about climate change) and are likely to prove hugely valuable in King Charles Street.The "potential horrors" she identifies are not Iraq (where the current strategy will do), Afghanistan (problems are a couple of years away), or Europe (where Brown can be strong). They are Pakistan, Iran, and Hamas.The Foreign Office would certainly be in a strong position with regards any crises in these areas. They are not major politicisin

Bronwen Maddox, writing in The Times, is enthusiastic about David Miliband's future at the Foreign Office:Brown and Miliband are spared current crises, Iraq apart, but there are a few potential horrors that would benefit from Miliband’s intelligence and his unusually good judgment of tone...Miliband’s thoughtfulness will be an asset. He gauged the right tone of voice for the floods in Britain this week: not exaggerating, but not making light of people’s suffering. Nor did he rush to blame global warming. Those are rare qualities (particularly the restraint about climate change) and are likely to prove hugely valuable in King Charles Street.The "potential horrors" she identifies are not Iraq (where the current strategy will do), Afghanistan (problems are a couple of years away), or Europe (where Brown can be strong). They are Pakistan, Iran, and Hamas.The Foreign Office would certainly be in a strong position with regards any crises in these areas. They are not major politicisin

Slate is the quiet, little known, but serious, player in countertops for kitchens! Of course, slate is traditionally seen as a building material for flooring, roofing, cladding on buildings, wherever there is a need for a very strong, solidly performing material. So, why not kitchen countertops? I'll warn you in advance...mention slate to people in the biz, including countertop fabricators, and most likely you'll get, "No way, slate will stain and is too porous!" It could be followed by "You're nuts!" While I've been accused of being nuts on numerous occasions, it doesn't apply to this situation. Trust me... Rarely marketed to kitchen and bath designers for some reason, slate is, perhaps, one of the strongest, if not the strongest, materials one can use as a kitchen countertop, even exceeding the properties of granite. Slate, as a countertop material, has numerous properties that we need in a hard working countertop surface. And, by the by, I'm VERY conservati

As I sat and watched my daughter and her class graduate I thought about how lucky they are. I thought of the clean slate that they had and how they could write their dreams and how they had a great deal of time to fulfill them. How I wished I could help them understand that and what that really means. When we are young we are often so frivolous with our time. We think we have so much of it to squander. The truth is we don't! We shouldn't squander our time away. Then I thought that as true as that is so it is true that every day of our lives in some way is a clean slate to which we can write the story of our lives. So I thought perhaps I should wake up each morning with a different thought than usual. Perhaps I should wake up with the question of, What shall I write on my slate today? Do I want to write that I had a lazy day sitting in the sun drinking iced tea? Well perhaps that has its place on my slate but what is important to me today? What would I be happy with accomplishing and

There's been a lot of updates since then, so here's a compilation of what we know so far, including Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Ant-Man, Magneto, Wolverine, Nick Fury, Thor, and Sub-Mariner.

Who Killed Alexander Litvinenko? - SlateExcerpt:"This week Slate is publishing two excerpts from Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB, by Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko. The "I" of the excerpts is Goldfarb—a dissident scientist who left Russia in the 1970s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, he went to work for George Soros directing charitable initiatives in Russia. He befriended Alexander "Sasha" Litvinenko in the 1990s. He is currently executive director of the International Foundation for Civil Liberties, an umbrella group set up by Boris Berezovsky."http://www.slate.com/id/2167972/fr/nl/

Hillary, Eavesdropper? - SlateExcerpt:"Hillary, Eavesdropper? Big Mama is Listening! Kf has obtained a copy of page 93 of the unreleased Gerth-Van Natta Hillary Clinton book, which describes how, during the '92 campaign, Hillary herself"listened to a secretly recorded audiotape of a phone conversation of Clinton critics plotting their next attack. The tape contained discussions of another woman who might surface with allegations about an affair with Bill. Bill's supporters monitored frequencies used by cell phones, and the tape was made during one of those monitoring sessions.""http://www.slate.com/id/2167180/&#clintoncellAlex

Liberia Recovers From War - SlateExcerpt:"He was 14 and had never held a gun. In a few days, he learned how to fire an AK-47, how to disassemble and clean it, how to cover and conceal. He became the commander of a Small Boy Unit in Taylor's rebel army. His youngest soldiers were 11, the oldest maybe 17. He called himself Shavy, a nickname he'd gotten when he used to break dance in his neighborhood before the war."http://www.slate.com/id/2165338/fr/nl/Alex

*In the 27 years that BET has been on the air, the network has never attempted to produce its own, original scripted series. But history was made on Wednesday, as BET's entertainment president Reginald Hudlin announced that one of the 16 new shows to be introduced in the coming months is an original sitcom. ____________________________________________________________________________ "Somebodies" due to premiere in October, is described as a comedy about a group of black slackers in Athens, Ga. Written and directed by Hadjii, the 10 half-hour episodes will follow several U. of Georgia graduates who are trying to figure out the next step in their lives. It’s adapted from the 2006 indie film of the same name, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. “Somebodies” will be produced by Pete Aronson and Warren Hutcherson, executive producers of "The Bernie Mac Show." "For years people have wanted BET to expand the range of its original programmi

Jeff Burton is still chasing a championship. And he hasn’t gotten dirty.Almost 40 years old and nearly three years after a team switch that had some writing off the once up-and-coming star, Burton is only eight points behind Jeff Gordon for the Nextel Cup points lead.”I feel like I’m new at it again,” said Burton, in his 14th Cup season. “My enthusiasm is as high as it’s ever been, my excitement is as high as it’s ever been and I hope that people look at me and say I can do it again. More: continued here

Although the White House and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales initially denied political pressure was applied in the wholesale dismissal of eight U.S. Attorneys, e-mails released by the Justice Department to Congress March 13 (below and on the following nine pages) indicate that Harriet Miers, former White House counsel, initiated removal discussions more than a year ago with Gonzales' chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned when the e-mails were made public. [more ...] Blog Search Links: Blogdigger Bloglines Blogpulse Feedster Icerocket Technorati

If I were a chief of staff in the Bush administration, I would be worried. Of late, the line between "fall guy" and "stand-up guy" seems to be drawn at the chief of staff's door. Two chiefs have gone down in the last two weeks. First, Vice President Cheney's former top man, Scooter Libby, was convicted on four of five counts of perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements. Meanwhile, Cheney remains (no matter that the prosecutor in the case said a cloud continues to hang over the vice president). This week, Kyle Sampson resigned as chief of staff to Alberto Gonzales for not disclosing the role of the White House in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. Gonzales still has his job, and the president fully supports him (though the cloud over the attorney general could be picked up by Doppler). [more ...]Blog Search Links: Blogdigger Bloglines Blogpulse Feedster Icerocket Technorati

On Tuesday, the White House revealed that President Bush had met with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales back in October to discuss the lackluster performance of U.S. attorneys on voter-fraud cases. The Department of Justice fired seven prosecutors on Dec. 7. What's so important about voter fraud? [more ...] Blog Search Links: Blogdigger Bloglines Blogpulse Feedster Icerocket Technorati

One of the great browsers of all time, Jean Baudrillard, died in France last week. Here in America, his legacy is already cooling into embers. He's the philosopher who was namechecked in The Matrix, the French kook who said the Gulf War did not take place, and the man who wrote this about the World Trade Center: "The horror for the 4,000 victims of dying in those towers was inseparable from the horror of living in them—the horror of living and working in sarcophagi of concrete and steel." [more ...] Blog Search Links: Blogdigger Bloglines Blogpulse Feedster Icerocket Technorati

Dessert may be a guilty pleasure, but red velvet cake feels like a crime. The recipe alone stains our conscience with 2 ounces of artificial color—that's two squeeze bottles of FD&C Red No. 40 emptied in your mixing bowl. Some bakers wear gloves to keep the shameful dye off their skin; others scrub at the damned spots with lemon and nail polish remover. It's enough to make a foodie blanch. [more ...] Blog Search Links: Blogdigger Bloglines Blogpulse Feedster Icerocket Technorati

Funny business: When Fox let slip the opportunity to make Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen's follow-up to Borat, some thought the studio let one of the hottest stars in the firmament get away. Others said the deal, which cost more than $40 million, was too rich—especially since it's an open question whether Cohen can pull off another movie based on people not recognizing him (this time as a gay Austrian fashion maven). [more ...]Blog Search Links: Blogdigger Bloglines Blogpulse Feedster Icerocket Technorati

Clive James was born in Australia in 1939 and emigrated to Englandin the 1960s, where he has become a key figure in the world of British letters. A critic, poet, and novelist, he is known for his incisive wit and for his lightly worn learnedness—the person you can reliably turn to when you want to know who once wrote, for example, "There is less to this than meets the eye." This month marks the publication, in the United States, of Clive James' Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories From History and the Arts, which Slate has been serializing over the past month. Until now, James' nonfiction work consisted mostly of book reviews and topical essays on issues of the moment. Cultural Amnesia, by contrast, has been some 40 years in the making. It explores the complex relationship between the totalitarian ideologies that shaped 20th-century history and the intellectuals who opposed or embraced those ideologies. Along the way, the reader is treated to thoughtful essays on pop cultural icons

One recent afternoon, as I combed the racks at American Apparel, I realized that I owned a substantial portion of the collection—in 1981, at the age of 11. I was a committed jock: Even when I wasn't headed to gymnastics or tennis lessons, I favored athletic-inspired fashions. I also grew up in New Jersey. A typical childhood outfit for me is easily approximated with items from the rapidly expanding chain store. For example: the Interlock Running Short in kelly green and white ($22); Unisex Calf-High Tube Socks, also in kelly green and white ($8); the Sheer Jersey Shoulder Tie Tube Top in pastel rainbow and white ($14, reduced from $28); the California Fleece Track Jacket in navy and white (Men's Department, $44); and the Flex Terry Headband ($6)—Bjorn Borg was my hero and locker poster boy. [more ...]Blog Search Links: Blogdigger Bloglines Blogpulse Feedster Icerocket Technorati

When architects today design new buildings, their clients often hope to achieve what is sometimes called the Bilbao effect, after the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Frank Gehry's titanium building has proven immensely popular, turning an old Spanish industrial city into an international destination for cultural tourism. Since then, scores of starchitects have sought to create similar "signature buildings"—museums, public libraries, performing arts centers—that will not only attract the public, but be instant landmarks. The signatures—Gehry's swirls, Richard Meier's pure white forms, Daniel Libeskind's zigzags—serve as a sort of dramatic shorthand for Important Architecture Here. But have recent signature buildings been as successful as the Guggenheim in attracting the public? [more ...] Blog Search Links: Blogdigger Bloglines Blogpulse Feedster Icerocket Technorati

Steven Landsburg isn't calling the poor lazy. But he does say they have an awful lot of free time on their hands.The Fray hasn't made a Marxist of me yet, but it's slowly convincing me that our economic system is gravely disordered. Landsburg notes that poor folks have more free time today than they did forty years ago, and suggests this compensates for rising income inequality in America. Respondents in the Everyday Economics Fray strongly disagree.According to lloyd67, Landsburg has made an elementary economic mistake: [more ...]

The Los Angeles Times leads with word that military planners are working on designing a new strategy for Iraq, in case the increased military presence fails to achieve its goals or Congress intervenes. The plan would be in part based on the experience in El Salvador in the 1980s and involves a decrease in troops and an increase in training efforts. The New York Times leads with a look at how several states have seen a decline in their Medicaid enrollment for the first time in years. Officials agree it's the result of a 2006 federal law that requires beneficiaries to prove they are U.S. citizens in order to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving Medicaid. But, according to state officials, the new requirements are overwhelmingly hurting poor U.S. citizens who aren't able to provide the proper documents. [more ...]

The Washington Post leads its print edition with news that President Bush agreed yesterday to send 8,200 more troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. This increase comes in addition to the 21,500 new troops Bush decided to send to Iraq in January, and may stoke fears that the so-called temporary surge will last longer than was promised. [more ...]

A empresa TabletKiosk lança novos modelos de seus PCs dedicados e atualizados exclusivamente para o Windows Vista. Há 3 modelos disponíveis: Sahara Slate PC i412T Intel Celeron M ULV 423 512 MB DDR2 Memory 60GB SATA Hard Drive Passive Resistive Touch Screen Biometric Finger Print Reader $1,795 Sahara Slate PC i440T Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology Intel Core Duo LV L2500 1024 MB DDR2 [...]

They say we Americans love a good challenge, so in the face of global warming Slate collaborated with Treehugger to come up with the Slate Green Challenge. The idea is that you take a short quiz which determines your annual carbon footprint and then for the next eight weeks, the nation goes on a carbon diet with the end goal of reducing carbon emissions from individuals by 20 percent. The average for a U.S. citizen is 44,312 lbs. I signed up immediately after reading the press release. It just takes a few minutes out of your busy day to take the initial quiz. After that, you'll be directed towards week 1's topic: transportation. The page offers some tips on saving gas and suggestions for air travel such as purchasing carbon offsets through companies like TerraPass or Native Energy. Make sure to check it out and keep in mind that the first 500 people to complete the challenge will receive a free Slate/Treehugger Green Challenge t-shirt. [Source: Slate VIA-www.autobloggre

I discovered that Slate's presenting The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation online, and decided to take a look at the finished product, as can everyone else, and be the judge. It's a presentation that's at least 106 pages long, and may still be updated with more pages even as I write this. It's a lot of material, which is why I may have to add more thoughts even after what I end up posting for starters (update: now it's got several more pages added, bringing it up to 132-133 pages in total. That's certainly a lot).Now from what I can tell, the finished book, if this is it, is surprisingly better than some initial reports made it out to be. However, that's not saying that all is satisfying with it. So, I'll see if I can offer a rundown of the good and the bad.The good:On page four, they give us an illustrated mug shot of all the 19 suspects who committed the sadistic crime in 2001. And, they also call the thugs "Arab nationals" on page five. (On page eight, there's an interestin

In another case of under-informed greenery, Slate.com attempts to answer the question vexing America's automotive environmentalists: should American drivers switch to manual transmissions to save the planet? Answer: yes. Author Brendan I. Koerner says self-shifters can shave 15 percent off their annual gas consumption. "The Department of Energy estimates that the average American driver uses 500 gallons of gas per year, so we're talking about a reduction of 75 gallons. Since a gallon of gas emits 19.564 pounds of carbon dioxide... you'd be reducing your annual CO2 output by approximately two-thirds of a metric ton." But then again no; American drivers lack the right technique/attitude to harvest the savings. "If you're lazy about shifting and allow your RPMs to soar unnoticed, then you might actually guzzle more gas than if your car were equipped with a well-engineered slushbox." Koerner seems blissfully unaware of the wide variety of cog-swappers

We've all watched James Bond films where the bad guy (Blofeld and Goldfinger spring to mind) is trying to take over the world and becomes slightly unhinged in doing so. Sadly, Liverpool fans seem to have a real-life person seemingly doing the same thing at Anfield in the form of ...

We’ve been here before. In the build-up to Chelsea’s semi-final second leg match against Liverpool, Rafael Benitez voiced his concern regarding Didier Drogba’s inability to stay on his feet. He also mentioned that defenders Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel had been briefed on staying vigilant when in close proximity to the striker, not that the [...]