this is unfuckingbelievable

apparently, *sometime* in the past few days GoogleMaps has gone and replaced post-hurricane Katrina satellite pictures of New Orleans with images taken prior to the storm.  

Google's product manager for satellite imagery doesn't know when the images were taken or when they replaced the post-Katrina ones (!!!)   . from the article in the Huffington Post

"Chikai Ohazama, a Google Inc. product manager for satellite imagery, said the maps now available
are the best the company can offer. Numerous factors decide what goes into the databases, "everything from resolution, to quality, to when the actual imagery was acquired."

He said he was not sure when the current images replaced views of the city taken after Katrina struck Aug. 29, 2005, flooding an estimated 80 percent of New Orleans.

In the images available Thursday, the cranes working to fix the breach of the 17th Street Canal are gone. Blue tarps that covered roofless homes are replaced by shingles. Homes wiped off their foundations are miraculously back in place in the Lower 9th. So, too, is the historic lighthouse on Lake Pontchartrain."

folks, check this out:  the lower ninth ward as per Google maps.  it sure as hell didn't look like
that two weeks ago when we were there.   I'll post some pics this weekend.

Even if I wasn't a cynic, I'd find it hard to believe that this switch of images  "just happened"…  surely City Hall and other assorted city boosters didn't encourage Google to present a less devastated picture of the city, no?

Google, don't forget your much vaunted Corporate Motto and bring back the images of NOLA as it is.

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separated at birth?

Exhibit A                                                                                                      Exhibit B:
                                                          

Poodlewithamohawk

Sanjayawithamohawk

which one would you vote for?

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check out the Gonzo-meter(tm)!

Slate is featuring the high-lay-rioos Gonzo-meter calculating the odds for the retirement * of Al Gonzalez, sycophant extraordinaire.
today's odds: 80%

* to spend more time with family, natch

clipped from www.slate.com Deathwatch: Down and on the way out. The Gonzo-MeterAl's team is breaking up, and he's sinking. By Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and Dahlia Lithwick Posted Tuesday, March 27, 2007, at 3:02 PM ET Last week, Gonzales' DoJ team showed cracks when fired aide Kyle Sampson agreed to testify before Congress. Now the team is breaking into many icebergs. And they're beginning to ram into each other. Loyalty is gone, and even if no one directly implicates Gonzales in wrongdoing, the cumulative chaos may sink him. We're moving the meter to 80.

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goodbye to web and streaming radio

I'm flabbergasted. is there anything the RIAA won't go after?
goodbye to lastfm.com, pandora, and all the others.
I am so tired of the US Copyright office just taking whatever the RIAA feeds them and turn it into law

clipped from copyfight.corante.com Radio Paradise is begging for help. No, this is not the usual "please make donations so we can continue to be free" kind of request that RP and other listener-supported radio stations make This time it's "please stop the US Copyright Office from killing us." On March 1 of this year, the Board issued new rates and decided to base those rates on a "per play" computation scheme championed by (wait for it…) the RIAA. The computation itself is based off an assumption of mass audience and significant commercial revenue. If you're a big Clearchannel station the assumptions behind this new fee schedule make total sense. However, if you're small/independent/not-for-profit or otherwise outside the big media mainstream, well, you're screwed. RAIN (Radio And Internet Newsletter) has a concise breakdown of the fee schedule, and agrees with RP's claim that the schedule amounts to over 100% of station revenues in a typical situation. update 3/28/3007@0735:  please check this post by e to the c on the topic.  she provides more detailed infomation on how this legislation will surely shut down many streaming sites (such as hers), and contact information to protest it.

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[Thy] tongue outvenoms all the worms of Nile.

yeah, you.  oh yeah?  then you are…you are…yo momma…erm,…you suck!

ever been tongue-tied and unable to deliver an insult that will knock'em out and leave them speechless and unable to reply? 
ever wish you had the gift with language that Shakespeare had? and use it for petty, small-minded, selfish reasons?

then run, not walk to the Shakespeare Insulter, from whence the title of this post came.

hours of endless amusement!  try to match the insult to the recipient!

the Shakespeare Insulter is not only available at the site above but it is also one of the widgets available when customizing your google homepage. now you can begin your day insulted by the greatest master of the English language

many thanks to Valerae who wrote about  the customizable google page.

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QotD: Hoop Dreams

Who's going to be in the Final Four?

4
3
2
1

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how very sad – Elizabeth and John Edwards

John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth just completed a press conference.  there had been rumors swirling that it had something to do with Elizabeth's health (she had breast cancer three years ago and after treatment was determined to be "completely cured"), and that John may end his campaign for the Democratic nomination for President in 2008.

the reliable folks at Wonkette (can't live without them) liveblogged the conference
among the major points:

– Elizabeth's cancer is back. in the bone. and most terrifying, Cancer is no longer curable … completely treatable.
 not curable?  that is bad… I feel so much for her.  I always thought she rocked.  Because its small size, we are optimistic … patients with this cancer have lived for years.   :(   I sure hope she does

– Campaign goes on. They have discussed it; not suspended, not put on hold.  We have no intention of cowering in the corner … they leave for Boston and California right after the press conference

I hope the best for her.

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also applies to bunnehs

from the genii at xkcd:

Cat_proximity

found in a CO comment by gisbert.  mercy buckets

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Fry and Laurie – the musical stylings of

in case you were of the (erroneous) opinion that Fry & Laurie are just amazingly brilliant actors, comedians, and writers, allow me to present evidence of their musical gifts:

Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry singing 5 songs

enjoy the amazing range and variety of styles. 

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a bit of fry and laurie do a haircut

earlier today over at little miao's we were discussing P.G. Wodehouse and at some point brought up Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie's marvelous "Jeeves and Wooster" TV series on the Beeb.

now with a hankering for Messrs Fry and Laurie, spent some time in YouTube and snagged this little masterpiece from their series "A Bit of Fry and Laurie".   enjoy

Fry & Laurie – Haircut Sketch (Bitchmother Light My Bottom)

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