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When Did a VP Debate Become Equivalent to a College Exam?

The New York Times reports:

Advisers said she was a diligent worker and was frequently up until the small hours of the morning in her hotel room trying to cram as much information as possible before the debate.

This should sound familiar to most of my readers. We all did this in college before mid-terms or finals because we missed a few or more crucial lectures.

Because we decided to start Thanksgiving vacation a week early.

Because the previous night involved the power hour.

Because the Ratty had lobster dinner.

We weren't cramming information to become the vice president and be a mere heartbeat away from becoming Commander-in-Chief!

[Via]

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Celebrities Say Don't Vote...

Celebrity after celebrity use reverse psychology to try to tell you to vote. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vtHwWReGU0]

You know you have to register first to vote, right? The deadline to register is only days away. Do it online. It only takes a few seconds. As Sarah Silverman said, "You can literally register to vote while you're pooping if you have a laptop."

Go to www.maps.google.com/vote to register to vote.

[Via]

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Wine Sales of "Palin Syrah" Drops

Serious Eats:

"It was our best selling wine before (the V.P. announcement),” said Chris Tavelli, owner of Yield Wine Bar, which has offered Palin Syrah, a certified organic wine from Chile, by the glass since July. But after Sen. John McCain tagged Sarah Palin as his running mate, sales of the wine with the conservative's inverted name plummeted—not surprising in famously liberal San Francisco."

[Via]

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Conversation

Me: That's your problem Me: You gotta aim real low

Me: ...like around the C+ level

Me: Just enough to pass.

PB: You are going to be the worst dad.

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Sarah Palin Tells Couric that She Reads All Newspapers and Magazines

In the latest teaser from her interview with Katie Couric, when asked what newspapers and magazines she read before she was selected by McCain, Sarah Palin answered, "I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media." Couric followed up. "What specifically?"

Palin said, "Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years."

The last time I heard a response like that was when I was working as a camp counselor and I asked a kid what his favorite ice cream flavor was and he replied "ALL OF THEM." God help this country.

Watch the video of this interview here to see the trainwreck in full detail.

Update: Talking Points Memo has this on YouTube:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9go38MgZ4w8]

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News Bits

1. Leo DiCaprio avoids the reality TV cameras of The Hills. 2. What awaits at the bottom of the Dow Jones Industrial Average trend? DRAGONS.

3. Giant distorted working iPod.

4. New York Magazine "diary" of a single college girl in the City has to be fake.

5. YouTube ups the size limit of uploads from 100 MB to 1 GB. Awesome, now I can watch Chronicles of Riddick in just four parts instead of twelve. [Thanks Nick!]

6. Visual comparison of failed $700 billion bailout with other federal funding.

7. McCain campaign owns the URL voteforthemilf.com. Hah.

8. Great pizza ad.

9. Photo stitching with the iPhone.

10. Where's the freakin' press conference? "Since she was selected, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has held more press conferences with American reporters than she has."

11. This cupcake looks so dang delicious that when I first saw it I said that I wanted to make sweet love to it. Except I expressed this sentiment much more crudely.

And lastly:

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Flickr Community Managrs

As a huge fan and early adopter of Flickr, the online photo sharing community, as well as also being tasked with managing a large online community myself, I found this article about community managers at Flickr interesting:

At first glance this parallel society has been made, quite literally, in the image of our own. But in truth it's more like a Photoshopped image -- the nice parts accentuated, the inappropriate bits cropped away. So it goes with any online community, of course. Behavior must be moderated and a communal ethos must be preserved; Wild West cliches aside, total freedom at any entity like this would sink it in a storm of lawsuits, flame wars and gridlocked cacophony. So directors of community exist. And while the job of nurturing and policing any online realm would make for a fascinating study, I was particularly curious about how it worked at Flickr.

Director of Community Heather Champ doesn't just guard the pool and blow the occasional whistle; it's a far more delicate, and revealing, dance that keeps the user population here happy, healthy and growing. In addressing that question of how much to police and how much to let things be, Champ oversees an experiment that, outside some far-flung and sandy exceptions, one rarely sees in such detail.

I've believed in this website and the product from the very beginning and it's really satisfying for me to see it grow into a vibrant and engaging community. I'm glad to see that its merger into Yahoo has been relatively positive, although I'm still bitter at having to give up my original login for a Yahoo one instead. Boo to that.

Their programmers in particular are top notch, so if any of ya'll read this: Thanks for making the site products so usable!

Read rest here.

[Via]

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Bailing Out AIG Versus Bailing Out the Poor

Maybe this is a bit unfair but Gregg Easterbrook, his demonizing of the Patriots notwithstanding, highlights some good points about the Federal government's bailout proposal including this:

in 2007, George W. Bush vetoed an increase of $7 billion per year in health care spending for the poor, saying the country couldn't afford it.

Sad.

Read more here.

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Sarah Palin Inspired by Peter Sellers

The late Peter Sellers produced one of the greatest doublespeak political speeches of all time. As Andrew Sullivan notes, doesn't it sound a lot like something that Sarah Palin would say?

My friends, in the light of present-day developments, let me say, right away, that I do not regard existing conditions lightly. On the contrary, I have always regarded them as subjects of the gravest responsibility and shall ever continue to do so.

Indeed, I will even go further and state quite categorically that I am more than sensible of the definitions of the precise issues which are at this very moment concerning us all.

We must build, but we must build surely.

Let me say just this: If any part of what I am saying is challenged, then I am more than ready to meet such a challenge. For I have no doubt whatsoever that whatever I may have said in the past, or what I am saying now, is the exact, literal and absolute truth as to the state of the case.

I put it to you that this is not the time for vague promises of better things to come. For, if I were to convey to you a spirit of false optimism, then I should be neither fair to you nor true to myself.

But does this mean, I hear you cry, that we can no longer look forward to the future that is to come? Certainly not!

Voice from the audience: What about the workers?

“What about the workers?” indeed sir! Grasp, I beseech you, with both hands the opportunities that are offered. Let us assume a bold front and go forward together.

Let us carry the fight against ignorance to the four corners of the Earth, because it is a fight which concerns us all.

And now, finally my friends, in conclusion, let me say just this.

Of course, the above is a political satire while the words coming out of Sarah Palin's mouth is very real and sincere. This scares the crap out of me.

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