Chewable contraceptives. Of course. What are they, for children? I hear they plan on making them with cute shapes. Wait til someone’s child actually does eat a box of these spearmint-flavored goodies.
Vaguely related Volokh post about government-imposed bias in scientific research, notably related to forcing additional delays to study the effects of emergency contraception, even though it’s been proven effective.
Meth is the new crack: LV Weekly covers the scene in Vegas. Sample line, describing the people who are reduced to stealing to support their habits: “I’ve seen people steal someone’s stuff, forget they did it, and try to help them find it.”
Linux desktop advocates question whether it can happen, but I think it can. I know it can, because it’s what I use, and it’s what I’ve managed to persuade my girlfriend to use, and it works fine for her. And I’ve seen the way Windows users get screwed by popups and things, so I know there’s better out there.
Of course, technophobes are always going to be weird about technology and make mistakes because of their fear. But I think that, given a little encouragement like we’re getting from Sun and IBM and Novell, the Linux desktop is here to stay.
Great, very quiet, music. Ninety nine cents a track, totally silent, and of course DRM-protected. Now, all we need is a copyright lawsuit to argue that the later silence-distributors are pirating, copying, or infringing the earlier silent musicians.
Charlottesville airport has free wireless– I’d grown to expect that to be missing in airports, because everyone wants to make it for-pay, but putting it in tends to make the airport experience better… as they say, what’s the ROI on the bathroom? Nothing, but you need one anyway.
So here I am, happily ensconsed in the waiting area, checking my mail, and I get viral spam with a spoofed return address: Ettore Perazzoli.
SUSE, pronounced with an “uh” on the end, like Porsche (Oh! So that’s how you say Por-shuh!). It’s the new black. Now running SUSE 9 with XD2 and, frankly, I’m liking it. Yes, I even like YAST, despite its tendency to try to out-think me and sometimes change settings in unexpected ways.
As I expected, once I’d gotten used to a few quirks (/opt/ instead of /usr/, /media instead of /mnt/, that sort of thing), it seems perfectly natural and effective. I’m lovin’ it.
(Today I saw a poster advertising an indoor athletic event as “Olympic excitement in Boston!” My immediate thought: they’re not affiliated with the Olympics, they’re going to get called on that. I’m already a marketroid.)
I’m still on the bus. The toilet has frozen solid, but I have network access so it’s all good. They have stopped for pee-breaks periodically, so we’re running pretty late. But again, I have internet access, so I’m doing the same shit I’d be doing at home, except possibly I’m in a more comfortable chair. Although without beer and with a rather icky sandwich from Marche Movenpick.
Anyway, on to the links:
Wonkette, a DC politics-and-gossip blog from a former Suckster. Oh, how I miss Suck and Feed. The “Who’s Better” votes alone were so cool!
Low Culture, which brings us mockery of politicians. Notably, the If Dubya were your boyfriend joke, which is wicked funny.
UnIntelligent Design advocates, trying to persuade the Ohio state legislature to include their non-evolutionary creation theory in high school curricula– namely that the Creator was kinda dumb. I can’t wait for Scientology’s inclusion in 9th grade Life Science.
And speaking of special interests, are you surprised at all that the sugar industry opposes new diet guidelines that suggest we’d be less fat if we ate less sugar? Yeah, me neither.
Finally, I get to make a post for which comment-spam won’t be off-topic: reviews of the latest GSK products. I love how marketing messaging for big pharma can get into Iraqi-minister-of-information levels of denial:
I asked Fleming … is the football-through-tire image almost too on the nose, in a legal sense?
“I don’t think anyone has drawn that comparison,” he said, totally deadpan.
Honestly, you’ve never heard anyone compare the football-through-tire thing to, um, doing it?
“I’ve never heard that.”
If he had, it would make the ad an “indicated” ad, meaning it would require information about how you’re likely to get a heart attack or AIDS or something if you use the drug improperly (say, to fuel weekend-long sex binges).
Top User Agents: Googlebot, Slurp, NetNewsWire, Galeon.
Top Searches: Poo Bear, Cosmetic Pharmacology, Quirkyalone, Peach Friedman.
OK, I think the whole “Quirkyalone” thing is awful and stupid and lame, I feel ambivalent about cosmetic pharmacology (and I talk mostly about cosmetic psychopharmacology, anyway), and the Poo Bear thing was a throwaway one-liner. Are you looking for Winnie the Pooh or something?
Peach Friedman, of course is marvelous, as is Nat.
Bookdwarf now has a blog. Sweet.
Secretly Ironic 
