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21 minutes ago
Joe Lieberman is a moron
Connecticut – what the hell are you people thinking? Oh right, Hartford = Insurance Companies = big dough. Someone needs to run a real campaign against him and get him the hell out of the Senate.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Joe Lieberman Is a True Independent | ||||
| ||||
Joe’s party is Connecticut for Lieberman not Lieberman for Connecticut”.
Word.
Colbert takes on the nutty anti-gay bigots in Washington State
We're working on pass Proposition 71 here in Washington State. It's nice to know the Colbert Nation is behind us.
That's it. I heart January. Jones.
Many of us Mad Men fans have gotten to know powerhouse actor January Jones through her role as Betty Draper in the series — and if you’re like me, you might have a bit of a crush on her as well. Like her character on the show, Jones has a past in modeling so it’s no surprise that the new shots of her by Terry Richardson in November’s GQ Magazine are star quality (and sexy as hell). You can find video and pics in GQ’s feature, and I’ve got some handpicked samples from the shoot after the jump, plus extras from others she’s done. She may indeed be America’s sexiest housewife. Here’s a snip from Oh, Betty! which has a photo slideshow (with an annoying ad in the middle of it) as well:
January wants to go to the Chili’s near the H Gates. She loves the queso there. Loves it even though it doesn’t always come in one of those little cast-iron skillets like at regular Chili’s and they don’t have a “red beer” (beer and tomato juice) here like she’s seen at the franchise’s other midwestern outlets. It doesn’t matter that the place is noisy and crowded and the only TV is tucked way up behind the bar and she probably won’t be able to catch the last preseason Bears game. The queso’s that good.
While we wait for a table, she explains that she also feels a bit of nostalgia for this particular O’Hare branch of the chain: She passes through here a lot when taking time off from acting—traveling home, say, to her parents’ house in Des Moines around the holidays. So it’s fitting that she’s here tonight, fresh from taping Oprah with Mad Men co-star Jon Hamm and at the beginning of a Labor Day break from shooting the series’ third season. The two of us are headed back to Los Angeles on a seven-thirty flight.
“I’m on vacation,” she says as she navigates a beat-up old Nike-brand roller bag through the crowd of overstuffed patrons. “It’s time to relax.”(…read more, gq.com)
If you can’t get enough January in late October, she also did a set for GQ UK in May 2009 and I found a very racy set of our sweet Betty here, in Maxim from a couple years ago. Starting in the now, we go back through time…
Gorgeous photo, source unknown (tips welcome):
via tinynibbles.com
Mr Singh International 2009 Turban Pride Fashion Show
Indian Sikh models walk the ramp during the Mr Singh International 2009
Turban Pride Fashion Show on the outskirts of Amritsar on October 26,
2009. A total of 64 contestants from various parts of India
participated in the event. By Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty Images.
Let's Talk Scientology
I could have headlined this let's trash Scientology but they really don't need our help, they seem to f**k things up pretty well on their own. For that I am grateful because I really do hate them. I especially dislike their spokesperson Tommy Davis. He is the kind of guy who was probably backstabbing other 5th graders in his class so he could get credit from the teacher for someone else's work. He just seems that type.
Anyway this was a bad weekend for the a-holes. Paul Haggis left the church/cult/freak show because he finally realized they were lying to him about everything. Paul was in the church for 35 years and he only figured out this week that they lie and are ruthless. Seriously? It took him that long? I'm glad he left but honestly if it took him that long to see the light you have to think he chose not to do anything about the lies until they finally lied about something that was important to him.
Here is some of Paul's letter to Tommy Davis. You can read the entire thing here.
Tommy,
As you know, for ten months now I have been writing to ask you to make a public statement denouncing the actions of the Church of Scientology of San Diego. Their public sponsorship of Proposition 8, a hate-filled legislation that succeeded in taking away the civil rights of gay and lesbian citizens of California – rights that were granted them by the Supreme Court of our state – shames us.
I called and wrote and implored you, as the official spokesman of the church, to condemn their actions. I told you I could not, in good conscience, be a member of an organization where gay-bashing was tolerated.
In that first conversation, back at the end of October of last year, you told me you were horrified, that you would get to the bottom of it and “heads would roll.” You promised action. Ten months passed. No action was forthcoming. The best you offered was a weak and carefully worded press release, which praised the church’s human rights record and took no responsibility. Even that, you decided not to publish.
The church’s refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of no other word. Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.
I joined the Church of Scientology thirty-five years ago. During my twenties and early thirties I studied and received a great deal of counseling. While I have not been an active member for many years, I found much of what I learned to be very helpful, and I still apply it in my daily life. I have never pretended to be the best Scientologist, but I openly and vigorously defended the church whenever it was criticized, as I railed against the kind of intolerance that I believed was directed against it. I had my disagreements, but I dealt with them internally. I saw the organization – with all its warts, growing pains and problems – as an underdog. And I have always had a thing for underdogs.
But I reached a point several weeks ago where I no longer knew what to think. You had allowed our name to be allied with the worst elements of the Christian Right. In order to contain a potential “PR flap” you allowed our sponsorship of Proposition 8 to stand. Despite all the church’s words about promoting freedom and human rights, its name is now in the public record alongside those who promote bigotry and intolerance, homophobia and fear.
The fact that the Mormon Church drew all the fire, that no one noticed, doesn’t matter. I noticed. And I felt sick. I wondered how the church could, in good conscience, through the action of a few and then the inaction of its leadership, support a bill that strips a group of its civil rights.
This was my state of mind when I was online doing research and chanced upon an interview clip with you on CNN. The interview lasted maybe ten minutes – it was just you and the newscaster. And in it I saw you deny the church’s policy of disconnection. You said straight-out there was no such policy, that it did not exist.
I was shocked. We all know this policy exists. I didn’t have to search for verification – I didn’t have to look any further than my own home.
You might recall that my wife was ordered to disconnect from her parents because of something absolutely trivial they supposedly did twenty-five years ago when they resigned from the church. This is a lovely retired couple, never said a negative word about Scientology to me or anyone else I know – hardly raving maniacs or enemies of the church. In fact it was they who introduced my wife to Scientology.
Although it caused her terrible personal pain, my wife broke off all contact with them. I refused to do so. I’ve never been good at following orders, especially when I find them morally reprehensible.
For a year and a half, despite her protestations, my wife did not speak to her parents and they had limited access to their grandchild. It was a terrible time.
That’s not ancient history, Tommy. It was a year ago.
And you could laugh at the question as if it was a joke? You could publicly state that it doesn’t exist?
To see you lie so easily, I am afraid I had to ask myself: what else are you lying about?
***
Now you would think that would be enough damage for Scientology for the weekend, but Martin Bashir went ahead and took Tommy to task and made him look ridiculous on Nightline Friday night. Here is Part One of the interview on Nightline. Oh, and ABC News has devoted a whole section to trashing Scientology and you can read it all here.
Sit up!
The art of sitting or standing up straight might seem like something out of a 1950's etiquette class, but it actually plays an important role in staying energized and efficient throughout your day at the office. Here's why:
Health and home weblog Real Simple claims that by slouching, our body takes in as much as 30% less oxygen than we'd take in with good posture. When we sit slumped over (which is easy to do if you spend a great deal of time at the computer), we aren't just harming our posture, but our bodies ability to keep our energy up.
Next time you you're feeling a little down in the dumps or need a little boost at work, check to see if your chin is up and your shoulders are back (or try other methods to fix your PC posture). It could mean the difference between making your workday frumpy or fabulous.
9 Energy Boosters [Real Simple]
An Environmental Albatross
An Environmental Albatross: "
Will Sherman writes:
Visiting the Midway Atoll, at the center of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, [Chris] Jordan took these disturbing photos of dead albatross chicks raised on a steady diet of plastic debris floating in the water: lighters, bottle caps and other colorful trash. He writes:
To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible,
not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved,
placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images
depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world’s
most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest
continent.
The rest of his fascinating, heartbreaking series here.
Need 700 mile trip
On NorthWest Airlines to achieve elite status before the end of the year.
Hmmm…any suggestions? Must be a direct flight on NW that I can do for a day or a weekend.
Half Bearded Man Arrested (WTF?)
via buzzfeed.com
A 27-year-old St. Petersburg, Fla. man was arrested early Saturday morning on a misdemeanor open container charge.
5 Legal Ways To Get Windows 7 For Under $120 [Windows 7]
5 Legal Ways To Get Windows 7 For Under $120 [Windows 7]:
Windows 7, Microsoft's big bucket of bugfixes, hits stores tomorrow. If you had enough foresight to take advantage of Microsoft's public beta and pre-order discounts earlier this year, you may already have a cheap version of the new OS. If not, here are a few ways to pick up Windows 7 now, without having to hand over $120, the lowest official price for an upgrade.
5. Check for retailer deals.
Many retailers will be offering discounts on new PCs with Windows 7 preinstalled, so if you're in the market for a new computer, this could be a good time to get it if you're willing to shop around. Alas, discounts on the software itself seem pretty limited; Newegg has the OEM version of Windows 7 Home Premium for $110 . One UK dealer is doing a Windows 7 doorbuster, selling half-price copies of the OS to the first 200 customers tomorrow. We haven't seen any deals that good on this continent, but we'll be looking out for them.
Daily Tech Deal: Windows 7 half price - Pocket-lint
4. Buy The Family Pack
If you have three PCs at home and want to upgrade all of them to Windows 7, you can get 3 licenses for $150. Yes, we know there are other ways to do this, but we're keeping that 'L' word in mind, and that makes this a pretty good deal.
Windows Anytime Upgrade and Family Pack Pricing - Windows 7 Team Blog - The Windows Blog
3. Try Windows 7 Enterprise.
So you missed the big beta blowout over the summer? Microsoft has a consolation prize that may help ease the pain. If you're an IT type (or play one on TV), you can download a trial version of Windows 7 Enterprise for free, and try it out for 90 days. At the end of 90 days, you'll have to install a commercial version if you want to keep using Windows 7, but by then you may have enrolled for half a credit at the local CC. Or convinced a neighbor's kid to order it for you. Or decided to roll back to DOS.
Windows 7 Enterprise Trial
2. Be a college student.
This is the best deal available right now. You can get Windows 7 Home Premium for just $30, as long as you have a .EDU email address, or can otherwise prove that you're a student. The offer is open to both full and part-time students, as long as you're enrolled for at least half a credit.
Win 741
1. Be any other kind of student.
Other students — including that first grader playing with his food over there — are eligible for discounts from retailers like Academic Superstore, where we recently saw Windows 7 Ultimate for $100, which is less than half of the official retail price. (Update: Some offers, including this one, aren't shown to all users. This one didn't show up for us until we "prequalified" by selecting our school from the form linked below.)
Academic Superstore
Of course, you can just skip it, especially if you're still on XP and don't have the stomach for the upgrade process, which involves backing up all of your files, wiping your hard drive, reinstalling all of your applications, and sacrificing a lamb on the altar of Ra. If you're still on the fence, here are are a few reviews and upgrade guides from people who actually seem to enjoy spending their time testing out operating systems. And if you have any other ideas about Windows 7 bargains, add them to the comments.
Prep Your PC for Windows 7 [Lifehacker]
Windows 7 Review [ PC World]
Windows 7 Review: You Can Quit Complaining Now - Windows 7 review [ Gizmodo]
Breakingviews.com - Microsoft May Exceed Low Expectations With Windows 7 [NYTimes]
Windows 7: To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade [Consumer Reports Electronics Blog]
Or...if you're one of my peeps, email me!
Windows 7 breaks Amazon UK pre-order volume record, ousts Harry Potter
Windows 7 breaks Amazon UK pre-order volume record, ousts Harry Potter: 
Take it from us, your London-based sleuths, when anything sells faster than Harry Potter books or DVDs in the UK, it's scorching hot. Case in point is Microsoft's Vista successor, which has sold so well that it has beaten the Amazon UK pre-order record previously held by J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In fact, Windows 7 was able to tally up more sales in the first 8 hours of pre-order availability than Vista was able to collect altogether. Now that's what we call an upgrade.
Take it from us, your London-based sleuths, when anything sells faster than Harry Potter books or DVDs in the UK, it's scorching hot. Case in point is Microsoft's Vista successor, which has sold so well that it has beaten the Amazon UK pre-order record previously held by J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In fact, Windows 7 was able to tally up more sales in the first 8 hours of pre-order availability than Vista was able to collect altogether. Now that's what we call an upgrade.
Filed under: Software
Windows 7 breaks Amazon UK pre-order volume record, ousts Harry Potter originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Wheelchair user, 92, arrested for smuggling coke, sentenced to old folks home
By Al Goodman
CNN Madrid Bureau Chief
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A 92-year-old woman with cocaine strapped to her body flew all the way from Brazil to Spain before police arrested her, in a wheelchair, at Madrid's airport.
A Civil Guard spokeswoman says the 92-year old was apprehended at Madrid's Barajas Airport.
They found 4.3 kilos, or nearly 9.5 pounds, of cocaine packets strapped to her legs and torso, and also arrested a 44-year-old female companion, who tried to escape on another plane, a Civil Guard spokeswoman told CNN Tuesday.
The two women, both from Uruguay, were arrested Friday after arriving in Madrid on a flight from Sao Paolo, Brazil. But officials did not release details about the case until this week, after a judge had arraigned the two on drug trafficking charges. The judge ordered the younger woman to prison but sent the 92-year-old to a senior citizens' home in Madrid.
Due to her advanced age, "it's practically impossible" that she would be tried or face jail time, said the Civil Guard spokeswoman, who by custom is not identified. Police did not identify the two women.
Civil Guards became suspicious when the younger woman repeatedly told the older woman -- who had asked for an airport wheelchair in Madrid to traverse the terminal -- that if they rushed, they would make their connecting flight to Spain's Canary Islands.
The Civil Guards, who run customs controls at the airport, stopped the woman in the wheelchair.
The younger woman immediately fled, first trying to make the connecting flight, which by then had closed its doors, and then attempting to leave the airport terminal for the street.
But she was stuck in the "satellite," or second building, of Terminal 4, which is connected to the main building and the street by an underground train. Police caught up with her before she left the satellite terminal.
The two would-be smugglers probably expected a cash payment and return flight tickets to Brazil from their drug trafficking contacts, the Civil Guard spokeswoman said.
All About Cocaine • Madrid Barajas International Airport • Spain
via cnn.com
The 20 Best Windows Tweaks that Work in Windows 7 & Vista
Windows 7 is going to be released this week, and it’s a huge upgrade from previous versions of Windows. The big question for us geeks, however, is “Will all of my favorite tweaks still work?”
This list is not comprehensive by any means—if you have a favorite tweak that you like to use, leave us a comment and we’ll see about adding it to the list.
Add Defrag to the Right-Click Menu
Want to be able to quickly defrag a drive whenever you want? You can use a little hack to add the Defragment option to the context menu for each drive. It’ll open up the command prompt, and start the defrag process.
Add Defragment to the Right-Click Menu for a Drive
Create Shortcuts to Lock the Screen, Shutdown, Restart
It doesn’t matter where Microsoft puts the shutdown buttons, people seem to still want to have another way to do it. The good news is that all the same shortcuts that worked in previous versions of Windows will still work in Windows 7.
Create a Shortcut for Locking Your Computer Screen in Windows 7 or Vista
Create Shutdown / Restart / Lock Icons in Windows 7 or Vista
Create a Shortcut to Toggle the Desktop Icons
Sure, you can easily head into the desktop context menu to toggle the icons on or off, but it’s a lot simpler to use a hotkey, or stick an icon into the Quick Launch (which you can get back on Windows 7 with a little trick). This how-to teaches you how to use a little utility that toggles the icons for you.
Create a Shortcut or Hotkey to Turn the Desktop Icons On or Off
Disable Aero (to Speed Up Some Video Games)
If all you do is use your computer for gaming, you might not even care about using Aero. Personally, I don’t know why you’d want to run Windows 7 or Vista without Aero—but if that’s what you want, it’s easy enough to do.
Disable Aero on Windows 7 or Vista
Mount an ISO
So this one isn’t so much a tweak as an additional piece of software—but if you do a lot of geeky stuff on your PC, you’re going to need to be able to mount an ISO image. My favorite tool, by far, is VirtualCloneDrive—it’s just the simplest possible utility that you can get. All you need to do is double-click on an ISO to mount it.
Mount an ISO image in Windows 7 or Vista
Disable those Stupid Gadgets
Windows 7 moves the gadgets onto the desktop, instead of having them on a sidebar like Vista did—but the net effect is the same: it’s all pointless! You can easily disable them in Windows 7, just like you could in Windows Vista.
Disable Sidebar / Desktop Gadgets on Windows 7
Enable Mapping to Hidden Shares
If you did much networking on previous versions of Windows, you probably know about the C$ share that gives you access to the whole drive. Sadly, those shares don’t work since Vista, at least by default. There’s a simple tweak that you can do that will re-enable them for business, however.
Enable Mapping to \\Hostname\C$ Share on Windows 7 or Vista
Make Windows Log On Automatically
If you are the only one that is using your machine at your house, logging on can really be a drag. Thankfully every version of Windows since forever has let you do a simple tweak to make it automatically log on for you. Just make sure your door is locked.
Make Windows 7 or Vista Log On Automatically
Use Compatibility Mode
Does your favorite XP application have problems working in Windows 7? You can often make them work anyway by using Compatibility mode to trick the application into thinking it’s running on a previous version of Windows. Tip: This really helps when you’re trying to get a video game working.
Using Windows 7 or Vista Compatibility Mode
Add Any Folder To Your Taskbar
Every version of Windows has allowed you to pin folders to the taskbar, and you can still use this same trick in Windows 7. You can make them use only icons, show text or not, or even use this trick to add the Quick Launch folder back to Windows 7.
Add “My Computer” to Your Windows 7 / Vista Taskbar
Add “Take Ownership” to the Context Menu
This has to be one of the most useful tweaks for the serious geek tweaker—you can easily give yourself permissions to any file by using this registry hack, which adds a “Take Ownership” item to the menu. Once you’ve taken ownership of a file, you can then easily delete it, rename it, etc.
Add “Take Ownership” to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista
Add Copy/Move to the Context Menu
This remains one of the most consistently popular tweaks for Windows, version after version. You can just do a simple registry hack to add the “Copy To folder” and “Move To folder” option to the context menu.
Add Copy To / Move To on Windows 7 or Vista Right-Click Menu
Disable Shortcut Icon Arrows
The Vista Shortcut Overlay Remover still works just fine in Windows 7, and gets rid of those unsightly shortcut arrows that you really don’t need most of the time. There’s lots of other hacks you can use, but this one works really well, and never leaves you with those “black boxes” on your icons.
Disable Shortcut Icon Arrow Overlay in Windows 7 or Vista
Disable the Caps Lock Key
I’ve never used the Caps Lock key for anything, ever. If you are like me, you probably haven’t either, and it’s a lot easier to get rid of it. You can use a registry hack to get rid of it, or you can map any key to any key using an easy freeware utility.
Disable Caps Lock Key in Windows 7 or Vista
Map Any Key to Any Key on Windows 7 / XP / Vista
Stop Windows Update from Automatically Restarting Your PC
I really hate the automatic reboot “feature” built into Windows Update. In fact, while I was writing this article, it kicked in and rebooted me (I forgot to apply this tweak on my new laptop). You can always temporarily disable the automatic reboot, but there’s a registry hack that will prevent it from happening in the first place.
Prevent Windows Update from Forcibly Rebooting Your Computer
Stop Losing the Sleep/Shutdown Button to Windows Update
Have you ever quickly clicked the shutdown button, only to find out that Windows started installing updates and will take forever to shut down? You can tell Windows to stop hijacking your shutdown button with another registry hack.
Stop Windows Update from Hijacking the Sleep Button
Enable Remote Desktop
If you are using the Pro, Ultimate, or Business versions of Windows, you can use Remote Desktop. It’s by far the best way to connect to another Windows PC, especially since Windows Vista or Windows 7 allow you to do Aero through the session.
Turn on Remote Desktop in Windows 7 or Vista
Disable Sticky / Filter Keys Dialogs
Have you ever been doing something, like playing a game, and had that obnoxious Sticky Keys dialog pop up? You answer No and it goes away… and then shows up again the next day. Here’s how to make it go away for good.
Disable the Irritating Sticky / Filter Keys Popup Dialogs
Disable Windows Explorer Click Sounds
The Windows Explorer click sounds are enough to drive you crazy after a while. You’d think that the configuration option to turn them off would be a checkbox saying “Stop Annoying Me”, but that’s just not the case.
Turn Off Windows Explorer Click Sounds in Windows 7 or Vista
Disable User Account Control’s Annoying Prompts
This is the one area where Windows 7 makes it so much easier to get rid of those annoying prompts—just drag the slider adjust your UAC settings. If you don’t want to disable UAC, you can always create shortcuts that bypass the UAC prompts with a simple task scheduler trick.
Disable User Account Control (UAC) the Easy Way on Win 7 or Vista
So what are your favorite Windows tweaks? You can leave your comments here, or join in the discussion over at Lifehacker.
via howtogeek.com
Several of these are handy, regardless of whether you're running Windows 7 or Vista.
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