Gimme a Break! Next Android Operating System: "Kit Kat"

For months, the tech sites have speculated that the next iteration of the Android phone and tablet operating system would be called "Key Lime Pie." It was so prevalent I thought it was official. Turns out, they all got it wrong. The next version will be called Kit Kat after the Hershey (Nestlé outside the US) candy bar. Most previous versions have been named after sweet treats, such as Cupcake, Éclair and Ice Cream Sandwich. Now, apparently they're opting for a brand name, which is interesting. It's low-risk for Hershey and Nestlé, since even if the operating system turned out to be buggy and glitch, would be unlikely to damage the reputation of a top-five favorite candy bar. I bet you the Jelly Belly people are sorry to have missed the boat with the last release though.

[Excerpt]
 
Break Me Off a Piece of That: Kit Kat Will Be the Name of the Next Version of Android

". . .Android chief Sundar Pichai announced Tuesday via Twitter and Google Plus that Android had hit 1 billion activations and also added a little treat. The next version of the operating system -- Android 4.4 -- won't be named Key Lime Pie, as rumored, it will be called or codenamed Kit Kat. And don't worry, that's a fully licensed name and partnership too. . ."

Read more at: ABC News

Minority Report Is Here

This is my actual ring. Seriously, unless you're buying diamonds and
other precious stones and such, get your wedding rings online.
You'll save a hella lot of money.

No, I don't mean that we're putting people in jail for crimes they're going to commit in the future. We might be--who knows at this point--but I'm talking about the hyper-intense, very personalized marketing that the film Minority Report depicted.

We all know that if we buy something on Amazon, we start to see related advertisements in other internet activities. It gets really weird when you search for something on your computer, then get an ad for it on your phone. And I understand that when huge corporations run software and hardware companies that are integrated, and cross-platform, and all of that kind of crap, we're bound to start getting weirded out a little.

I've actually been trying to create this phenomenon by searching for odd things, things I don't normally have any interest in, like Harley-Davidson motorcycles in Bing, ladies' golf shoes in Yahoo, and Dymo label makers in AOL, just to see where those things might pop up. Oddly enough, none of that worked. What did, was by accident. My boss needed to get a ride to a Lexus repair shop, and I typed "Lexus Las Vegas" into a Google Maps search. After that, I got used Lexus ads in AOL email for weeks.

This is not an ad for you,
it's the targeted ad
for ME.

I unwittingly prompted this again just a couple of days ago. A couple of weeks ago, I bought matching wedding rings to replace our old ones, to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary. I bought them from eBay, having learned that jewelry is crazy expensive from traditional sources. I got lovely tungsten carbide/carbon fiber rings for $14.99 each, no joke. And no shipping charge! But that isn't what flagged me. No, just a few days ago, I got it in my head to find out what the rings would have cost if I'd bought them from standard jewelry retailers.

I tried some local Vegas outlets like Tower of Jewels, to no avail. I tried Zayre, and couldn't find our rings. Then I tried Kay Jewelers ("Every Kiss Begins with Kay!"), and found our exact same rings. The cost $299 each. Wow, did I ever get a great deal, and wow is Kay ripping people off! After I found that out, I closed the browser window, and didn't think another thing about it. Then, while cruising the inernets, I was stunned to see the ad you see at the right. That's my ring, that's Kay Jewelers, and they really apparently want me to spend $274 more dollars than I did for the same ring. Again. Or something.

This is really no big deal of course. It's just deeply weird. I mean, I did use Google to search for a "tungsten carbide men's wedding band." I did click Kay Jewelers' matching picture, along with a pictures that matched from a couple of other sources. I'm just kind of surprised that Kay puts together the actual image search into an ad that specific. They can't know I already have the rings, and wouldn't dream of spending that much!  And when I think  of other pictures I've searched, I'm a little horrified at what might pop up on a any random web page!

And PS., Kay: I doubt I'm going to surprise "her" with matching men's wedding bands! But thanks, just the same.

Behind the Blogger: Pop Culture Potholes

I like to consider myself a pop culture guru. I have a talent for remembering the minutia of cast lists, TV schedules, the years movies or songs came out, third or fourth hits from bands people think are one-hit wonders. . . the lot. It's something of a useless talent, now that we have the Googles on the internets. I've been replaced by a smart phone these days.

But it's always been something of a sham, anyway. There is a huge list of pop culture that I've never sampled. Some of it proudly (oddly), and some I've just either never gotten around to, or never had any interest in. So here, in brief, is a list of pop culture that I've never taken part in.

Movies

- Any Godfather movie
- Citizen Kane
- Any Twilight movie
- Enter the Dragon, or anything from the martial arts ouvre
- Rudy or almost any other sports-themed movie
- Any Rocky or Rambo movie
- Annie Hall
- Any Acadamy Award Best Picture movie from 1976 to 1989, including The Deer Hunter, Amadeus, Platoon, Terms of Endearment and Gandhi 

Television

- The King of Queens
- The Nanny
- According to Jim
- The Sopranos
- Game of Thrones
- Madmen
- Monk 
- Walker, Texas Ranger
- Sons of Anarchy
- Breaking Bad- The Vampire Diaries
- And oddly for me, Smallville, Arrow, Charmed and Supernatural 

Books


- Any The Gunslinger Stephen King story (though I've read everything else)
- The Red Badge of Courage
- The Grapes of Wrath
- Gone With the Wind
- W.E.B. Griffitn, Tom Clancy or almost any other military-themed work
- Fifty Shades of Grey
- The Book of Mormon (I tried, but then "it came to pass. . ." 10,000 times)
- The Scarlet Letter
- The Catcher in the Rye
-  Diary of Anne Frank

Blast from the Past: The Past Repurposed as Ringtones

A good bit of my weekend has been taken up getting used to my new Samsung Galaxy S4 smart phone (and don't worry, I'll stop talking about it soon). But it got me to thinking--as I loaded it up with my usual ringtones and notification sounds--that it might make a good topic for Blast from the Past. In fact, it might make a good psychological study. New phone, same old tunes and sounds.

Notification: Samantha from Bewitched's nose twitch. This is from the old days of my Windows 95 computer themes. I found that this particular sound effect was one I never got tired of. And those themes were usually tiring. Ironically, it's paired in this clip with easily the most annoying sound on earth: Fran Drescher. And here's the Bewitched theme for the sake of it. I have it saved on my phone too.



Default Ringtone: Theme from Match Game '76. Though I can't claim I got half of the jokes (or even knew that the cast was shitfaced) on this classic, long-running game show (with PM and '74, '75, '76, '77, etc. editions), I loved it as a kid. The theme seemed to know it was cheesy, and that's what I liked about it.



The Other Half's Ringtone: Making Our Dreams Come True by Cyndi Grecco, the theme from Laverne & Shirley. I'd like to say it was because of the song's indefatigable spirit of togetherness and can-do friendship. But it's really because we both loved the show. For a while, I had Georgie Girl by The Seekers, but it seemed like a confusing androgynous tune for my husband, so even though it's a favorite of his, it had to go.



Mom's Ringtone: Is Three Dog Night's Mama Told Me Not to Come a little too on the nose? Well, at least I'm using that instead of the theme from Halloween 2 I once used!

Sister's Ringtone: Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode, which was always one of her favorite bands, and Brother's Ringtone: You're Driving Me Crazy by Squirrel Nut Zippers, because, well, sometimes he does. . .




Others on my custom list are my friends Dona and Lester (Puttin' on the Ritz by Taco and Green Onions by Booker T and the MGs, respectively), Jeff and Sandy (Top of the World by The Carpenters), Denny and Kardinal (Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones and Hit Me with Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar), my boss ladies (You're the First by Barry White and I Love the Nightlife by Alicia Bridges), and my other boss (Popcorn by Hot Butter). But putting all of these clips up would wreck your browser, so here's just a couple of them.



What I've found out over several phones (and others' phones) is that you have to pick songs that you'll hear clearly, you need to edit clips that have the good part of the song right at the beginning, and you need to make sure the sound level isn't too high, or the tinny cell phone speakers will distort. Also, I've found that putting songs onto an Android phone is fairly easy, and doing the same on an iPhone is a multi-step process that taxes your patience. Oh, also that downloading sound software--even from a reputable site like CNet.com is very, very risky. I was up until 3:30 am on Friday night purging the gremlins from my computer.

And with that, we'll end this week's edition, and wish you all happy Monday!

Samsung Galaxy S4 Update

I said I'd update my experience with my brand new Samsung Galaxy S4 phone (on Sprint), as a help to anyone who is trying to decide to buy one. Here are just a few quick notes on my experience so far:

Pros
- Integration with my car stereo (via blue tooth) is much more successful and useful than my old HTC Evo was. Synching was easy, and I figured it out without a manual. Pandora worked like a dream, with full functionality, album art, song description, thumbs up and down, etc. DAR.fm, the radio recording service is a little more glitchy, but them's the breaks.
- A phone call through blue tooth in my car was clearer. I've only tried one, but it was a better experience than my Evo.
- Useability of the actual phone functions are clearer and easier. HTC's phone and contacts programming was just awful, so even though Samsung's TouchWiz is a bit cartoony, it is very functional.
- Still digging the sharpness of the screen. It's gorgeous.
- One of my favorite app games, 3D Bowling, offers much more precise control. I was able to pick up spares I never had a chance at before. But it takes a game or three to get your bearings.
- I like the lock screen, the default splash sound and ripple effects are fun.
- I was worried about sound quality, since that was the strongest selling point of the HTC One (a phone I'd also considered). But the S4's sound is a notch up from my Evo or The Other Half's Epic. Not disappointing at all.
- I'm getting used to the size and weight of this phone. Even with the rubber cover that Costco supplied, the phone feels slimmer and lighter than my Evo. It is of course larger in its other dimensions, but I think it manages to come in just under "too big." And it dwarfs my friends' iPhone 4S and 5! Hee-hee!
- There's an intangible glee that I get from simply having a brand new, newly-released major phone. That may sound silly, but I've been behind the curve on these things for so long, and you're basically trapped with your choice for two years. I will read the news of the Galaxy S5 and S6 in the coming years, and who knows, the HTC Two? Three? And you know that iPhone 5S, 6 and 6S will be on the horizon while my 2 years play out. But I can rest easy for at least the remainder of 2013 before feeling phone lust again!
- Everything zips along at a faster clip than my old phone could manage. Internet is actually approaching real computer-level functionality on phones like this, though it isn't a substitute if you have a computer or tablet nearby. That may change, however, when the 4G service finally hits Las Vegas (or your area).
 


Cons

- The included pedometer is not useful. I took it on my standard 4-mile walk, and it only registered a 1.6 mile walk. Unless there is some sort of calibration. I will check that out.
- Voice activation--a feature that is unnecessary, but cool--isn't reliable. It works when no one is watching, but when I try to demonstrate by saying "Kirk to Enterprise!" it makes me look stupid by not doing anything!
- The "bloatware" on every home screen is kind of over-the-top. It's nice that Samsung includes so much cool stuff, but I doubt I'll use much of it, and it doesn't need to be taking up so much real estate. Sure, you can take it off the screen but if my previous experience holds true, you won't be able to actually delete any of it.
- Touted features like touchless scrolling and the like haven't worked very well for me yet. The "wave your hand to answer" feature does work, but it's a "look how cool I am" feature more than anything else.
- The default clock/weather app is very nice, pretty and informative. But it is opaque and takes up almost half of that big screen, obscuring any wallpaper you might have. So, though you'll want it front-and-center, you're stuck with it unless you find a third-party solution. Also? It insists that I live in "Arden, NV." Before this, I'd never heard of Arden, apparently an unincorporated region of southern Nevada about 8 miles from me. In reality, I live in unincorporated Clark County, in Paradise Township (the same township as the Las Vegas Strip). This could be the fault of the towers around me, I suppose.
- The biggest con is one recently publicized: Samsung's software takes up a huge chunk of the 16GB internal memory. How big  of a con that is, I won't know until I get deeper into my contract. Right now, I have lots of room. The phone also has a mini-SD expansion slot, but some smarty-pants at Samsung decided to disable the ability to move apps to your external chip! WHY? That said, the HTC One doesn't even allow an external chip at all, so that choice may limit a person even more.

So, I Got a New Toy: My New Samsung Galaxy S4

These are the phones I've owned.
Until today.

So, here's the deal. With all of our previous cell phones (dating back to 2004), we've never had a top-of-the-line one. That's not so strange, I don't guess. We got in late, bought our first phones just for emergencies and convenience. And as we progressed every two years, we got better, fancier ones. But never the best, newest ones. This time, we realized that if you're going to be stuck with a phone for two years, you should start out with a great one. It's going to stay "new" much longer this way, and not be so far behind the times as our outgoing Samsung Epic 4G and HTC Evo 4G were.

So, this time I was determined to wait until the time was right. My contract was up in March, and The Other Half's just this last week. I'd been running Google Alerts on the Samsung Galaxy S4 (S4 from here on out) and the HTC One for months, so I knew I had to wait for a few weeks. Through all of this, you just get dribs and drabs about what is coming, when it's coming, and hints about how much it'll cost. But it's all mostly rumor. The cell phone manufacturers and the wireless companies (ours is Sprint) are ridiculously secretive, and cagey, and won't be specific about anything. I'm sure it's a competition/one-upmanship issue, but it is maddening.

From Gingerbread to Jelly Bean (I missed Honey Comb
and Ice Cream Sandwich). Next comes Key Lime Pie.

Especially when your old phone is starting to act up. And only one of the two phones you're torn between is released, and you can't compare them. And then when the other one comes out, but in  limited amounts, and eventually is in stock, but only for full price. Costco, I had learned through my studies, sells the phones about $50 cheaper, taxes you less, and includes an accessory package. But when I'd called them earlier in the week, they had none, and had six of them coming in on Monday. Next Monday.  So, who could believe it that when I called on Friday, the six (not cases, phones) had just come in. I reserved two, one black, one white, and now I have them. I couldn't believe it.


When new-phone lust turns to actual acquisition, you come back down to earth. You have to remember all of the stuff you want to save from your old phone. And what you want to dump. You have to transfer to a new ecosystem, even if you're still in the same brand name. I went from
"Gingerbread" Android to "Jellybean" and from HTC's to Samsung's. And with the new S4, there are so many new features (and three years of progress), that I just have a lot to learn.

This is why I didn't even ponder the iPhone.

I picked the S4 over the HTC One for several reasons. The HTC is gorgeous, no doubt. So, I made a pro/con list in my head: what would I regret about getting one over the other? When it came down to it, all that I'd regret about not having the One is that it was pretty, and that it has dual speakers. If I'd skipped the S4, I'd be giving up the replaceable battery, the expandable memory, a bigger screen, a better camera and a bigger company behind it that will probably roll out updates faster. So, S4 it is, and I finally got them.

So, how is it? It is about time I got to that, isn't it? Well, it's pretty nifty. The big screen is gorgeous, and much, much clearer than I'm used to. The touch screen is responsive (though I haven't quite got the new hover-finger thingy down yet). Though the phone is very large, it isn't unmanageable at all. It'll take you a little while to get used to where to place your hands when typing. I like the improvements since my old 2010 phone in the ease of typing, the auto-fill of words. . .it's a little more correct than it used to be. The speed is very definitely better, and I'm not even getting 4G speeds in Las Vegas (of course we rarely did, even with their old WiMax 4G). Searching for something on the internet is getting comparable to to using a desktop PC, and that's new.

They're ugly, but we need more of 'em.

The plastic back of the phone--the key sticking point for so many people--didn't bother me at all. It's got a nice prismatic design, it feels fine in my hand, and most people put cases on their phones anyway, don't they? That was actually the clincher for me before I bought the phones, I wasn't put off by the design. Aesthetically, the Samsung TouchWiz interface is a little disappointing. It's kind of like Windows XP in its cartoonishness, after the improvements of Windows 7. I think that's just me having gotten used to HTC's Sense interface. It's probably even something you can tweak. And who knows what Android Key Lime Pie (due very soon) will be like.

I haven't had the phone long enough to give a more extensive review, though I may write a follow-up. I need to go through the manual, check out all of the new features. But so far, I'm pleased. The getting is rarely as satisfying as the chase makes it feel, but it's obviously a much better phone than I had, and I doubt that two year's hence I'll feel as far behind as I did this last time. Especially if Sprint finally gets those 4G towers up. But that's a whole other post.

My (early) grade: A

Nokia Lumia Commercial Mocks iPhone and Android Fans

It's hard out there for a Windows phone. How do you make a splash when you're on a platform that is way, way behind iPhone and Android in the mobile phone race? By making a  brilliant and funny video that skewers Phandroids and iPhans, that's how! It's true, there is a war brewing between fans of Android and Apple's iOS platforms. It's ultimately pretty silly, no different than the PC vs. Mac wars of recent years. [Story continues below]


The whole thing stems from a perceived snobbishness by Apple product users (ie., "The Cult of Mac), who look down their noses at Microsoft and now Google users. I've experienced it first hand, it really is a "thing." I myself am bi-platform on computers (whee, look at me!), And only picked Android due to the timing of my previous phone's unceremonious drowning in the washing machine. The iPhone 4 wasn't out yet, and I needed a phone right away, so I opted for the Samsung Epic 4G, after toying with a lesser phone. That was replaced by the HTC Evo 4G when the Epic got crushed by a car. Now, the Evo is on its last dying breath, and I'm eagerly awaiting a Samsung Galaxy S4 (the enormous phone in the commercial), though I flirted with getting the HTC One. . .still could change my mind, who knows.

But I never pondered a Windows phone (or BlackBerry, or iPhone) as a replacement. It's not brand loyalty or fandom. I want--finally--a top-of-the-line phone at the very beginning of my 2-year contract. I don't want an immediately obsolete one. I'd have to wait several months for an iPhone, and my old one isn't going to last that long, and by now I'm not sure I'd want to switch anyway.

But good on Nokia for giving it their best shot.

"Completely Wrong" Yields Romney Photos in Google Searches

Ha! It looks like the former Senator Rick Santorum isn't the only guy with a Google problem!




[Excerpt]

Google search for 'completely wrong' yields page of Romney photos

To the amusement of Mitt Romney's critics, a Google Image search for the phrase "completely wrong" on Wednesday returned a page nearly full of images of the Republican presidential candidate. . .

Read more at: CNN

Lawrence O'Donnell Rewrites Christian Boycott of Google

Boycott THIS! I dare you! (Click to embiggen)

This is just entertaining as hell. The AFA (American Family Ass.) is a group of busybodies who wants all of America to follow their strict idea of religion. Their many spinoffs, compatriots and copycat groups almost uniformly--and curiously single-mindedly--exist to make life hard for gay people. Sure, some of them are obsessed with abortion too, but it's mostly the gays. . .they just hate the gays!

Anyway, the AFA and the Million Moms (who apparently can't count) and others have pledged to boycott any company that supports The Gay and/or The Gay Marriage. Unfortunately for them--if they wish to remain consistent at least--they're going to have to travel with detailed binders, because lots of corporations support gay rights. Kraft and General Mills make half the items in the grocery store, and both support The Gay. They can't use an iPhone or an iPod or a MacBook to keep track of what not to buy, because Apple is so gay their logo used to be rainbow-colored. No Microsoft computers, phones or tablets, Bill Gates is too gay friendly. They can't use an Android phone or tablet because Google is very gay friendly too. So, get out them binders!

It's Google that caught the eye of the host of The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, who levels a devastating "Rewrite" segment at the AFA and their like-minded friends. It has to do with the Christian right's ironic obsession with porn. Enjoy!
 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Problems With Blogger and with Links

Image found at Wolf-Howl

This post is a general query out there to anybody who uses Blogger. It's the Google-owned service for creating blogs. I've used it for over five years for Greenlee Gazette, and have recently encountered a problem. After I've posted a blog with source links, I've found that my link is broken. On a couple of occasions, Dan from LasVegasBadger.blogspot.com has pointed out that my link didn't work. On each of those occasions (and on several others I've found myself), it wasn't so much that the link was broken, as that it was just flat-out wrong.

I just went through two pages of my posts, and found at least half were this way. Now, I've been doing this blog since 2007. . .I know what I'm doing! So, I wonder if any other Blogger bloggers have this issue? In each case, I get a nonsense link with "blog" in the name, and in each case, the usual "open in new window" command that I always use is not employed. Here are a couple of the false links I've found: [http://goog_624617935/]  [http://draft.blogger.com/~mdexpatinpa/] [http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1613533033]. Obviously, I didn't come up with these things by myself. Something is going on that is inserting these bad links. Anyone know what it is?

Thanks!

UPDATE: Since this post, I have written two posts with excerpted and linked articles. In both cases, I paid close attention to my copying and pasting of links, and the boxes I checked in the posting process. In one case, the link worked, in the other it was that garbage I mentioned above, and no checked boxes. So, this is definitely happening in the software, and is not a user problem!

Quote of the Day: Kate Kendall on Rick Santorum

I don't usually outright steal another blogger's post in its entirety. But I simply cannot improve upon it as is. So, full disclosure, this originated on Joe.My.God. Link below. And don't forget to Google Santorum!

"In the repellent race to the bottom (no pun intended) it should be no surprise that Santorum did so well in the Iowa caucuses. Mitt Romney is in a major stall, and in a field of class clowns Rick Santorum stands out as particularly cartoonish. [snip] Santorum's win is not a referendum on who he is as a man (inhumane and ignorant), or who he is as a candidate (pandering and mean). It is simply the gasping statement of a thankfully dying breed of Americans -- those who fear, loathe or hate anyone different from themselves, who mistrust or reject the idea that government can and should be a force for good, and who detest even the slightest exposure to information or ideas that challenge their world view."

 —Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center For Lesbian Rights, via press release.

Source: Joe.My.God.

Frothy Santorum (Frosty the Snowman Parody)

This Mike in Raleigh (of The Stephanie Miller Show) clip requires a little bit of explanation. If you didn't know, the word "Santorum" has acquired an alternate definition from it's original "homophobic ex-Senator" one. If you dare, go to www.spreadingsantorum.com for the explanation!

  Frothy Santorum Holiday Special by Mike In Raleigh

Google Instant Is. . .Revealing!

I got this idea from a commenter at Joe.My.God.com [Editor's Note: my pledge to leave Joe alone for a while was written after this post!] who goes by the moniker of dave02657. Basically, just go to Google, and start typing. "Google Instant" tries to guess what you're going to type next. For instance, type in "Rick Perry is [blank]" and you get:

Hmmm. . . gay, an idiot, crazy, nuts and stupid. Okay, how about Mitt Romney?

 

Okay, Mormon, that's true. The Baptist bit, I dunno. A tool? Sure. Liberal? Not really. Idiot? I'll go for that! Okay, this is fun. How about Michele Bachmann?

I'll go for all of these, idiot, crazy, hot (okay, not to me, but I get it), a moron. But I'd have guessed that "batshit crazy" would make the top of the list.

So, just to be fair, I Googled Barack Obama. And, well. . .

 

Yeah, I don't know.

Axis of Awesome: Four Chords

I found the link to this video while reading about Journey's Don't Stop Believin' on Wikipedia after having heard it on Pandora on my Google Android phone while out walking. Which is a small snapshot of how I get a lot of my ideas. Don't Stop Believin' is a song with an unusual structure. Its chorus doesn't hit until almost the very end, sort of what they did with Michael Jackson's Thriller when they did the video version. But the song has a very distinctive, very familiar four chords. Watch the video, and you'll understand.

Blogger: If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It!

All right, over the last couple of months, there have been a couple of problems with Blogger (the Google-owned software for producing this blog), sometimes resulting in the service being totally out, and posts have disappeared. Things have been back to normal for a little while, but they just pulled a switcheroo on me. The "compose" page where I write all of my blog posts, is suddenly all cattywampus. There are buttons where there didn't used to be buttons, semi-non-responsive areas in which to type. An unnecessarily LARGE window. It's not prettier, it's not easier, and it's not an improvement. BOOOO! But it's free, so I guess I'll just have to get used to it.

What is So Google-able About Rick Santorum?

One of my very favorite political photos. That little girl is probably
driving by now. Photo from Wonkette.

You have no doubt heard that former Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) has a bit of a "Google problem." You've probably even heard that the problem is unwise to research at work. This no doubt has spread (ahem) Santorum's problem even further. But I'm betting it has also scared a few people away from even looking. I mean, you only have to fall for a couple of "whatever you do, don't Google x" before you find out that you really shouldn't sometimes.

Santorum's Google problem really isn't that bad.  Oh, it's bad for him, but it's not so bad to look up. Unless you are a very squeamish or prudish sort, you are more likely to find it funny. If you'd like to see what all the fuss is about, by all means, click this link to find out. Do it from home, just to be safe about it, but honestly, you could air the page on broadcast television, and not be fined by the FCC.  Mmmkay?

Now, a little background. Rick Santorum is a notoriously homophobic politician, who has said some downright awful things about gay people. He's a bible thumper, and has other issues, but it was the gay thing that got this particular ball rolling. One particularly bad thing he said was comparing gay relationships to "man on dog sex." And I tell you, having your relationship compared to bestiality is pretty stinking harsh. Sex advice columnist Dan Savage (later of the "It Gets Better" project) thought it was pretty harsh too, and decided to use his forum to do something about it.

Unrelated image from Tide Detergent.

Savage hit upon the idea to attach an unpleasant "Urban Dictionary"-type definition to the word Santorum. Specifically a sex act, of which there are many with funny names. He had readers send submissions in to him, and people voiced their opinions on the matter. Finally, a definition was chosen, and Savage set up the http://www.spreadingsantorum.com/ web site. And in a rare case of a prank working spectacularly well, the number one result for "Santorum" on Google and other web browsers is almost always Savage's definition.

It's decidedly rare that something like this sticks. It's akin to "tea bagger" being stolen from the Tea Party as an insult of Democrats, and turned around as an insult of the Tea Party itself. It's not just satisfying that it's funny and that it stuck, it's also a good heaping helping of justice. Schadenfreude too.

If you'd like a little more background, here's an excerpt and link to the Wikipedia article.

[Excerpt]

Santorum (neologism)

The word santorum /sænˈtorəm/ is a neologism promoted by American advice columnist Dan Savage in response to statements regarding the US Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas made by then Republican U.S. Senator Rick Santorum from Pennsylvania. . .

Read more at: Wikipedia

Google Runs "It Gets Better" Ad for its Chrome Browser

Very nice, and kudos to Dan Savage for breaking into the mainstream with his important effort.

Conservatives Flip Out Over Innocuous Google Veteran's Day Graphic

It's official. Anything can be made into the latest right-wing faux outrage.  Especially if you throw in some supposedly veiled pro-Islamic sentiment. Honestly. If everything crescent shaped can be seen as a threat, these folks need to start railing about Pillsbury crescent rolls, New Orleans and the moon.

Source (and don't forget to read the comments) at: Joe.My.God.

Rachel Maddow on Keith Olbermann's Suspension; and False Equivalence

I know I just posted a Rachel Maddow Show clip a few posts ago, but given that the story of Keith Olbermann's suspension from MSNBC for campaign contributions is both a Google News top story and a trending topic on Twitter (odd, given that "nobody watches" MSNBC according to conservatives), I thought it was apt. Plus, it's good. Rachel goes to bat for Keith while acknowledging that he broke the rules. And she does so while painting a clear difference between the way MSNBC and FOX "News" operate.

Fun With Google Instant

Have you noticed that Google has changed to Google Instant?  It's pretty nifty.  Just go to google.com, and start typing. You'll see what I mean.  This video will show you what it does, in a very entertaining way, set to Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire.



Found at: Joe.My.God.