CNBC has a bad rap. It began with Rick Santelli's made-for-youtube tirade in which he blamed home-buying "losers" for causing the mortgage the crisis. Then Jon Stewart skewered the CNBC journalists who promoted the banks that most analysts blame for the mortgage crisis, sparking a minor media war with Jim Cramer that left Cramer appearing petulant and self-important. A few weeks later, Cramer exploded at blogger Dan Solin and stormed off the set of the CNBC's Power Lunch. Then just last week, CNBC Reports host Dennis Kneale rampaged against "bloggers" calling them "digital dickweeds" and accusing them of living in their mothers' basements, among other clever gibes. [Read more]

The NYT reports that Google is planning the most direct challenge to Microsoft to date: an operating system.

The software, called the Google Chrome Operating System, is initially intended for use in the tiny, low-cost portable computers known as netbooks, which have been selling quickly even as demand for other PCs has plummeted. Google said it believed the software would also be able to power full-size PCs. [Read more]

DEAR SARAH PALIN,

i am writing 2u becuz i have been reading lots of stuff from media dorks who hate u becuz ur beautiful and successful . [Read more]

The AP has posted an article detailing Obama's new regulatory plan that would if enacted impose serious penalties on financial institutions when they get too large.

Although there aren't many specifics in the article about what those disincentives would be or exactly how the government would define 'too big', this is a much-needed step back on the road to financial sobriety. We should never as an economy or a country be held hostage to the failings of one single entity. [Read more]

In her surprise resignation speech, Sarah Palin confidently quoted Gen. Douglas MacArthur to the hastily assembled press corps, "We're not retreating, we're advancing in another direction."

But Gen. MacArthur didn't say that. It was Major General Oliver Prince Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division, joking darkly about what was unquestionably a retreat under fire during the Korean War. The marines and soldiers suffered 30% casualties as bulldozers pushed the dead into mass graves. As the survivors straggled to safety, reporters encouraged them to "wave and look happy." [Read more]

I don't actually know how the folks who manage Eve Online plan to deal with this, except that they've booted the virtual fraudster out of the game.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/07/03/science-online-bank-heist.html

The scary part is that he successfully traded the "interstellar kredits" he stole for real-life money. Only $5,000 or so -- but still! If what you stole doesn't really exist, can you be accused of committing a crime in the real world? Especially when the virtual world permits and even encourages illegal activities? Suppose you libel a fellow player in an interactive game. Does he or she have recourse in a real-world court? [Read more]

A couple of weeks ago, I went to see Regina Spektor perform at the Beacon Theater in NYC's Upper West Side, courtesy of a gift from the soon-to-be-Mrs. Deadman.

What a disappointment.

I really like Ms. Spektor, could listen to her breakthrough album 'Begin to Hope' over and over again. But her live performance was uninspired and pretty boring, to be frank. Spektor just wasn't connecting to the audience and it really put a damper on the evening. [Read more]

Happy Canada Day, everyone. Snap quiz, if you're up to it:
1. Exactly what are we celebrating the anniversary of?
2. Who gets top billing as "Father of Confederation?"
3. Name one other.
4. Where exactly is the Canada-U.S. border (I mean the long straight part)?
5. Why did Canadians decide they wanted a country anyway?
6. What's the national anthem? Fairly easy one.
7. What's the flag? Ditto.
8. What's the national sport? What, another gimme?
9. How many provinces are there? Territories?
10. Aside from free-trade squabbles, what's our biggest looming dispute with the U.S.?

Is this incredibly lame or amazingly awesome? 

Mitt Romney was on Meet the Press on Sunday, where he argued essentially that the United States doesn’t need a public health insurance option because Americans like to have choice when it comes to health care. After hearing this, I realized a couple of things.

First, Romney needs a Thesaurus for Christmas. Badly. Desperately, too. [Read more]

The media continues to lionize Michael Jackson with a deluge of tributes, retrospectives, and eulogies, and a stream of breathless reporting about what his doctor said and what his sisters did and where his kids stayed. Some of my co-bloggers have compared him to John Lennon. Other articles have placed him in a triumvirate with Lennon and Elvis Presley. [Read more]

It is easy to say that others are responsible for progress.  To fail to take ownership of the here and now.  Well, as one member of this community, I am here to tell you, it is time for all of us -- for me, and for you -- to take responsibility now to move our community forward, together.  There is nothing that could possibly be more important.

For many years, this community has been divided.  People have formed factions.  They have fought.  They have argued.  On one hand, a faction argues for its vision of things -- the things our community should focus upon.  On the other side, the other faction argues fervently for its competing goals.  When these factions split our community, it has become crystal clear:  nothing gets done.  Nothing.  So what are we to do? [Read more]

When Abram turned 99, God came to him and said, “'I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be perfect.”

Commentary: Yessir, God definitely had a man-crush on Abram.

Abram complied by falling flat on his face. Then God promised several more times to give Abram many, many offspring until Abram was about ready to tell God to shut up about the offspring already.

But then God demanded a price for his largess: circumcision.

Commentary: A kinky man-crush. [Read more]

I thought I'd share one of those channel-surfing moments that make you wish all TVs came with a screen-grab function. I happened to switch to TSN as they were doing an item on the end of Manny Ramirez's 50-game suspension. What immediately caught my eye was the chyron at the bottom of the screen: "suspended due to darkness."

"Holy crap, TSN," I immediately thought. "You can't say that. They caught the guy fair and square." A second or so later, I realized I was seeing the second half of a line that probably referred to the game he'd been expected to play in.

Is there a moral to this little anecdote? Nope. None at all. Have a good night, folks.

Michael Jackson dead?? That's what the LA Times and AP are reporting, anyway (CNN hasn't yet confirmed). Unbelievable.

Earlier today, my brother was bemoaning Farrah Fawcett's death, trying to come to grips with the loss of his most common inspiration for those special, intimate teenage moments. (I kind of remember Charlie's Angels and thinking of Farrah as a sexy broad, but she was a bit before my prime mastubatory years).

Michael Jackson, however, was kind of like my Beatles. So I'm in shock, and surprisingly sad to learn of his premature death. [Read more]

Wow, and I mean wow.  This is a quite the romantic email thread.  After reading this, I honestly think he originally went to Argentina with the intent of never coming back, but his conscience got the better of him and he decided it would be poor taste to leave his South Carolina (oh, and his 4 young children) hanging.  I can't really blame him, what would you rather do: wrangle in American politics with blowhard unscrupulous lawyers or live on the beach in Argentina with your South American lover?   The thing that strikes me about these emails is that he genuinely seems to care for this woman and her for him.

------------------------------------------------------------

From: Mark Sanford

To: Maria [Read more]

I've been sort of hounding my elected officials lately; sending them poll results, asking them to commit to the public option, following up on their correspondence with me to ask them to please answer my questions instead of responding with canned crap that somebody on their staff wrote.

Seriously, how hard is it to answer the question "Do you support a public option for health insurance?" Yes? No? You haven't made up your mind yet because you get a lot of money from the insurance industry and you're afraid the Republicans will use the issue to run against you in 2010?

I think that about covers it. [Read more]

***Breaking News*** [Read more]