/ Politics

Land of the Free . . . As Long as You Conform to Puritanical Ideals

All of America should breath a collective sigh of relief to know that our diligent border officials are on the case:

LONDON, England (AP) — British writer and self-styled dandy Sebastian Horsley was denied entry to the United States after arriving to promote his memoir of sex, drugs and flamboyant fashion.

Horsley said he was questioned for eight hours Tuesday by border officials at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey before being denied entry on grounds of “moral turpitude.”

Because, you know, someone who did drugs and led a dissolute life should not be paraded in front of all those impressionable youngsters. Oh, wait, George W. Bush did what when he was young?

Link (via BoingBoing)


/ Politics

Hypocrisy

Can you imagine the hue and cry, the cries of “foul,” the accusations of partisanship and un-American behavior if the Democrats engaged in such cynical, low-brow, desperate and disgusting behavior? Limbaugh is relishing the Democratic battle. On primary day in Mississippi he told listeners: “I’m not going to tell Republicans to go over there and …

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/ Politics

Why Obama is Not Just about Rhetoric

I just finished watching Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” speech and can already imagine the media and conservative spin on it boiling down to the notion that he can sure talk pretty, but there’s no substance behind his words. I think anyone who dismisses Obama as nothing but a good speaker is missing the point …

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/ Books

Goodbye, Arthur C. Clarke

While I haven’t read any of his work in years, Clarke’s novels had a major impact on my teenage imagination, from Childhood’s End to Rendezvous with Rama, he made the universe wonderful even if, at times, it might be challenging or even frightening to our fragile human minds and egos. Ars Technica has a fitting …

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/ Podcasts

Color Me Drabbled

I recently found an excellent fiction podcast called The Drabblecast. Run by Norm Sherman, it focuses on flash fiction of up to 2000 words, but also precedes those stories with “drabble.” A drabble is an extremely short work of fiction exactly one hundred words in length, although the term is often misused to indicate a …

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/ Mac

Now’s the Time to Buy a Macbook Pro

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While there are some slight bumps to the computing power of Macbook Pros, the biggest difference between the previous generation and the current is the addition of a multi-touch trackpad. If you are willing to forgo that, this is a kick-ass time to get a Macbook Pro for some really good prices. MacMall has the lowest end models selling for $1544 after rebate, which is over $400 less than I paid for the same model only 8 months ago. Even Apple has them priced down to $1699. Unfortunately, if there is an Apple store in your state, you’ll have to pay tax on the purchase so you might be better off with MacMall.

If you want an excellent, powerful and dependable laptop and don’t need a multi-touch trackpad, at these prices you can’t go wrong with the previous generation Macbook Pro.