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Stephane Dion has been elected Canadian Liberal Party leader at a convention in Montreal. Barely third (by two votes) on last night's first ballot, Dion gained support today through each of the next three ballots he needed to reach the 50%+1 level. An Quebec academic known for his federalist writings, he was originally recruited by former PM Jean Chrétien to fight Quebec separatists in the mid-nineties. He served as intergovernmental affairs minister for several years under Chrétien, then later organized the UN Climate Change summit as environment minister. He now goes to Ottawa as Leader of the Opposition, in hopes of soon replacing current PM Stephen Harper.
comment posted at 4:34 PM on Dec-3-06
comment posted at 9:00 PM on Dec-3-06
comment posted at 7:57 PM on Dec-9-06

Rolling Rock is sorry for their offensive new ad. Never mind that no one was complaining about the ad because they never aired it-- they are spending millions on radio, web and print media to let you a) see the ad b) understand how terrible it is and c) know how very, very sorry they are to have made it. The recently bought out Rolling Rock brand is hoping this manufactured controversy will somehow convince people to drink their beer.
comment posted at 8:41 PM on Dec-1-06
comment posted at 8:45 PM on Dec-1-06
comment posted at 9:59 PM on Dec-1-06

There is a killer lurking in your local auto wrecking yard. Sodium Azide, the chemical used in automobile air bags, is available to anyone who asks for it. Conceivably anyone could obtain several pounds of this poison, yet it takes only a few grams to kill. A late model SUV will have enough in it's air bags to kill a couple of hundred people.

It explodes. It kills on contact with the skin. It kills via air, food, or water. It is odorless and colorless. There is no antidote. Even minor exposure will result in permanent damage to brain cells. University of Arizona atmospheric scientist Eric Betterton was one of the first to expose the hazards of this unregulated material in 2000. The author J. A. Jance used it as the poison of choice in her book 'Partners in Crime'.

The perfect terrorist weapon? It would seem so, but the Federal government doesn't regulate it's post-manufacture distribution. Got a grudge? Go pick up a few hundred pounds.
comment posted at 4:54 AM on Dec-1-06

"The OhMiBod vibrator is a whole new way to enjoy your iPod® or any other music player. Everyone loves music. Everyone loves sex. OhMiBod combines music and pleasure to create the ultimate acsexsory™ to your iPod." Keep in mind that if you try to use it with Damien Rice or Bread, your girlfriend will leave you.
comment posted at 10:21 PM on Nov-30-06

Today is a big day for Microsoft with the launch of three key products - Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007. User groups are already up-and-running. Vista and Office have been available for some time. But maybe this is just clever viral marketing? In spite of lots of new and improved features, Vista has not been well received by reviewers. But this has been true of every Windows version since Windows 95. One thing is certain, these versions will be the last releases that focus on the desktop rather than the Internet.
comment posted at 4:35 PM on Nov-30-06
comment posted at 4:40 PM on Nov-30-06
comment posted at 5:28 PM on Nov-30-06
comment posted at 8:27 PM on Nov-30-06
comment posted at 2:01 AM on Dec-1-06

GQ interviews Al Gore. "I have a battery-powered hubris alarm on my belt. And it's set on vibrate, and it's going crazy."
comment posted at 4:52 PM on Nov-30-06

How can one bit actor have hundreds of millions, perhaps over a billion adoring fans and yet be a virtual unknown in his native land? Ask Mark Rowswell, aka DaShan. In 1988, Rowswell won a scholarship to study Chinese at the prestigious Peking University. More than twenty years later he has one of the most recognizable faces in China. He's been awarded and investigated for his work in film, on stage, in television, in commercials and for charity. So just who the heck is he?
comment posted at 10:06 PM on Nov-28-06
comment posted at 10:18 PM on Nov-29-06

Quebecois now a nation. Arguably, this all started with Liberal Party leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff opening the Pandora's Box of Quebec nationhood earlier this fall, pondering whether the French-speaking province of Quebec should be granted some sort of special status. Canadians old enough to remember Meech Lake and the Charlottetown Accord feared the worst. Before you knew it, the Bloc was arguing that Quebec ought to be viewed as a "nation without conditions". Prime Minister Steven Harper then presented a motion to Parliament recognizing the Quebecois as a nation. The controversy raged, both from the Conservatives and the Liberals. Yesterday, the House of Commons overwhelmingly voted for the motion. Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Michael Chong has resigned. His statement. How will this change the country? How do nations operate within other nations? Who is a Quebecois anyways? How does this work? Could other groups in Canada be recognized as nations? And what about those separatists? Looks like they already want their own hockey team.
comment posted at 4:57 PM on Nov-28-06
comment posted at 9:50 PM on Nov-28-06
comment posted at 3:11 AM on Nov-29-06

Fight the Powah! Small-town Maine teens set off bombs at their local Wal-Mart. Maybe they were hopped up on Skowhegan Martinis. Perhaps they wouldn't have been so angry if The Revolution had happened.
comment posted at 1:39 AM on Nov-28-06
comment posted at 1:39 AM on Nov-28-06
comment posted at 1:50 AM on Nov-28-06

Top properties of the nation’s 15 largest media companies [big pdf, From AdAge]
comment posted at 9:03 PM on Nov-26-06
comment posted at 11:50 PM on Nov-26-06

Put a little commerce in your art with Lulu's Titlescorer, a widget that analyzes your book title's chances of gracing the top of the New York Time's bestseller list.
comment posted at 9:09 PM on Nov-26-06

The Peacock : "We Challenge you to find a more Beautiful, Enlightening, and Inspiring Website on the Internet!! Please CLICK your Mouse HERE!"
comment posted at 4:24 AM on Nov-26-06

it, it, it's alive! social networking sites have a pulse. "The form of the monster on whom I had bestowed existence was forever before my eyes, and I raved incessantly concerning him."
comment posted at 8:40 PM on Nov-24-06

Withnail & I on the YouTube:

Drinking the Lighter Fluid
In the tearoom
Withnail and Danny argue about drugs
Withnail and the Telephone Box
Monty and I
Withnail's monologue in the rain

Withnail & I - A review, Sanjek on Withnail and I
Concerning film maker Bruce Robinson
Withnail & I - The Screenplay
Withnail & I  locations, Withnail and I  quotes and picturesand...
Kids, don't try this at home!--Regarding the Withnail & I drinking game
comment posted at 8:44 PM on Nov-24-06

BlogPulse keeps track of the most popular videos on the web, many of which have been featured in the blue recently. Are we trend setters or trend followers?
comment posted at 8:45 PM on Nov-23-06

The Trash Princess: Why Americans love to hate Paris Hilton. "You don’t need to share Osama bin Laden’s view of America to see that Paris mirrors us at our contemporary worst. But something still doesn’t compute: Why, if Paris says so much about us, do Americans—not just college professors and the commentariat but celebrity watchers and tabloid junkies—hate her so much? And why, if she is so offensive, is she so ubiquitous?"
comment posted at 12:50 AM on Nov-22-06
comment posted at 4:19 AM on Nov-23-06

Sick, scum, bloodstained trash [see more tags] . . . . Now that O.J.'s book has been cancelled, the book's Amazon page has become a virtual spitoon memorial wall for this "ill-considered project." One thing's for sure: O.J. did it! Or he didn't. Well, you can discuss it on over 320 forums. Or here, for that matter.
comment posted at 12:56 AM on Nov-21-06

Sites that know what you want before you do The web is transforming from a paradigm of self-orchestrated searching to a world in which your shopping cart is full before you login.
comment posted at 2:02 AM on Nov-21-06

Michael ("Cosmo Kramer") Richards loses his mind. On stage at the Laugh Factory in L.A. last Friday, Richards flipped out at heckler and launched into a stream of racist taunts, all caught on video. The Seinfeld Curse strikes again.
comment posted at 12:10 AM on Nov-25-06

Galactus is Coming! Galactus is coming to eat your planet, and nothing can be done to stop him! There is only one way to be saved!
comment posted at 12:59 AM on Nov-21-06

With hundreds of die hard PS3 fans camped outside Metreon, site of the San Francisco Playstation store and home of the official US launch for the Playstation 3, PC Gamer magazine showed up and presented one die-hard PS3 fan with arguably the hardest choice he'll ever have to make; to give up the right to own (or be gifted) a Playstation 3 for the next three years in exchange for a free $7,500 custom-built Falcon PC and "a better gaming experience." Here's what happened and here's the signed contract.
comment posted at 8:24 PM on Nov-19-06

All I wanted was a pepsi.
comment posted at 11:44 PM on Nov-19-06
comment posted at 11:46 PM on Nov-19-06
comment posted at 11:47 PM on Nov-19-06

Muslim UCLA student tasered for not having ID
"It was beyond grotesque," said UCLA graduate David Remesnitsky of Los Angeles, who witnessed the incident. "By the end they took him over the stairs, lifted him up and Tasered him on his rear end. It seemed like it was inappropriately placed. The Tasering was so unnecessary and they just kept doing it."

Some additional coverage. Patriot act craziness or simple police overreaction?
comment posted at 6:18 PM on Nov-16-06
comment posted at 5:35 PM on Nov-19-06

In a rare interview out of character, Sacha Baron Cohen discusses his reaction to the controversy over Borat:

And the reason we chose Kazakhstan was because it was a country that no one had heard anything about, so we could essentially play on stereotypes they might have about this ex-Soviet backwater. The joke is not on Kazakhstan. I think the joke is on people who can believe that the Kazakhstan that I describe can exist -- who believe that there's a country where homosexuals wear blue hats and the women live in cages and they drink fermented horse urine and the age of consent has been raised to nine years old."

Maybe this Kazakhstan doesn't exist--but Borat's antics sometimes aren't far off the mark from other parts of the world where gang-rape and stoning are meted out as punishment. Is it so silly to appreciate Borat as a comical icon from these dark corners of the world? Who is ignorant of what is really happening in the world--Cohen or his unwitting interviewees?
comment posted at 1:48 AM on Nov-16-06
comment posted at 4:45 PM on Nov-16-06

Good news for the world's forests. "...the researchers, using new analytical techniques, calculated that in the last 15 years forests had actually expanded in 22 of the 50 countries with the most forest, and that many others were poised to make the transition from deforestation to reforestation in the coming decades." Unfortunately, countries like Brazil and Indonesia aren't doing so well.....
comment posted at 4:12 PM on Nov-14-06

The Silent Penultimate Panel Watch Each and every day a comic strip abuses the use of the silent second-to-last panel.
comment posted at 10:52 PM on Nov-12-06

Mark Curtis' three-hour BBC documentary The Power of Nightmares [2004] is pretty engrossing stuff, explaining the intellectual roots of the neo-cons and Al Queda way back to the fifties as well as explaining how politicians have turned away from inspiring citizens with "dreams" and now use "nightmares" to govern society. The film has never been shown on American television, which is probably why the director made the full DVD available for free download at archive.org. You can also watch it at Google video in three chunks 1, 2, 3.
comment posted at 9:32 PM on Nov-12-06

The flightless kiwi, in flight, finally.
comment posted at 8:42 PM on Nov-12-06

A PORTION OF THIS TRANSCRIPT HAS BEEN REMOVED Not only did CNN edit out a portion of the Larry King Live show from last night for the west coast and later showings, they also edited their transcripts and have sent DMCA takedown notices for the copies on youtube. What was so controversial? Just Bill Maher claiming that Ken Mehlman is gay, something Mehlman neither confirms nor denies.
comment posted at 12:06 AM on Nov-10-06

That clever Ryan North fellow has come up with a fool proof plan to solve wikipedia's vandalism problem. Trouble..
comment posted at 12:13 AM on Nov-9-06
comment posted at 12:14 AM on Nov-9-06