We're Moving

Hey y'all:
Mainiac Musings is moving to a new location (for a variety of reasons, but mostly because Typepad is making it easy to post from the iPhone and I'm never in the office or at home any more)
You can get theah from heah.

Procrastination Aid

Does anyone else love Blogger Play?
It's the new Bejeweled (aka, mindless entertainment in the midst of boring conference call) in my day, and now, it's a snap to install on your iGoogle page.

Reader's Poll

Via Seacoast Online, I just learned that Columbus Day is now the second busiest weekend for tourism in Maine--more than 700,00 cars used the Maine Turnpike to leaf peep.

Which brings me to my question:
How do you pronounce that word that describes what the peepers are viewing? Foliage?

Is it fO-lE-ij? Or fO-lij? Do you pronounce it with two syllables or three?

"Cool" Blog

It's devoted to unnecessary quotation marks.

Something Smells Fishy at Starbucks.....

Starbucks is giving 50 million songs to launch the new iTunes WiFi music store....that's $50 million dollars of free tunes.

My first thought is "yee haw", I know where I'll be next Tuesday morning. Getting me a no fat latte and a free song.

My second thought was "doesn't seem prudent." What's good for me, might not be so good for Starbucks. That's a lot of songs and a lot of money. Why would they give away so many songs? It only make sense if revenues are down and they need to bring in additional customers in a big way.

Third thought, it might work too well. I'm going to pay them $3 for a latte and they'll give me .99 worth of free stuff. Considering the physical overhead, the cost of goods sold and the cost of the employee makin' my latte (health care, stock options and the hourly rate), there's not a lot of profit left in that cup of joe.

I'm 99% Sure I'll Be Receiving One of These

Given my family's beliefs and my step son's fervor, should the rapture occur in my lifetime, it's certain that I'm going to get one of these....

The really cool thing about this is the way that it works --it's just like that switch on Lost. It's a dead man switch. If someone doesn't reset the bugger, it sends the emails. I'd contend that a sending the left-behind letter will have a way bigger impact than the electromagnetic burst in the South Pacific.

Thought For the Day

This quote was on my Google home page this morning. It made me think a bit (a very rare occurrence), and I thought it worth sharing:
I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions.
- Augusten Burroughs

Maine Passes Net Neutrality Resolve

Maine became the first state to pass a resolution to "protect full, fair and non-discriminatory access to the internet."

LD1675 will help ensure that:

".... that Internet providers should not be allowed to discriminate by speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination,” said Tony Vigue of the Community Television Association of Maine.

This is especially important to Maine because it helps small businesses compete on-line with larger companies.

“With a free and open internet young people are able to start businesses that compete in the global marketplace from their homes in Maine,” said Brian Hiatt, Maine Director of Communications and Online Organizing for The League of Young Voters. “Net Neutrality levels the playing field for Mainers.”

Add a picture to your Blogger header

In case you missed it on the Blogger Buzz, my new blog header (it has a picture) is compliments of Ryanne. Click here for easy to follow instructions via her screencast.

Great News

Monkey is BAACK!
Thank Goodness.

Wicked Good

Hey y'all! Amy is hosting the first month of the Carnival of Ice Cream (I'm hosting June) and we need volunteers for July, August and September.
Amy's got all the details, good links and a graphic that will make your mouth water.

Please join us in celebrating and eating and blogging about New England's favorite food.

Link Fest

1) Monica Goodling, testified before the House Judiciary Committee, and admitted that she violated Federal Law--but it's ok folks. She didn't mean to do anything bad:

But she admitted to have considered applicants for jobs as career prosecutors based on their political loyalties -- a violation of federal law.

''I may have gone too far, and I may have taken inappropriate political considerations into account on some occasions,'' Goodling said. ''And I regret those mistakes.''

Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., hammered Goodling on her decisions to hire prosecutors who favored Republicans.

''Do you believe they were illegal or legal?'' Scott asked.

''I don't believe I intended to commit a crime,'' Goodling, a lawyer, answered.

''Did you break the law? Is it against the law to take those considerations into account?'' Scott said.

''I believe I crossed the line, but I didn't mean to,'' she responded

2) Jason Giambi is sorry that he did steroids. We'll have to wait to see if he's sorry about using speed.

3) An American Self-Portrait. Simply Amazing.

Sorry about the rant below. I feel much better--and it was far cheaper than paying a shrink.

Oops

Can anyone spot the error on this morning's ESPN.com home page?
(answer later today).

Friday's Diversion

Brought to you by a creative graduate student with too much time on his hands.

Click here for 50 years of history, very cleverly done.

Monkey's Weather Video

Monkey has deep thoughts (and video) on yesterday's event.
We rate this video and the accompanying post a "highly recommend."

Internet Amusements

You've got to try this:

1. go to www.google.com
2. click on "maps"
3. click on "get directions"
4. type "New York" in the first box (the "from" box)
5. type "London" in the second box (the "to" box)
6. Click *get directions*
7. scroll down to step #23

Hat tip to Starfish for passing this along (she recently returned from Ireland....now I'm wondering how she got there and back).

Lookin' Good

Seacoastonline.com has a new do for spring. It's quite nice and much more functional than the old site.
I discovered it while searching for an article on the York/Kittery school merge discussions.
Which will be big news if it actually comes to pass. It will be big news while it gets discussed.

Beyond Irony

I've listened to Don Imus faithfully since 1992, so I know a bit about the guy and aye-uh, I admit that I find his show entertaining. He often says things that are beyond defensible and there's never a protected class on Imus. But, he covers current affairs (no pun intended) and politics in a way that helps me understand complex issues more easily than other talk shows and pundits, so I continue to tune in.


What he said last week about the Rutgers women's basketball team was horrible--racist and misogynist-- and I'm not going to defend him or those comments in any way.

I'd be remiss, however, given my generally cynical view of politics, big business and public life in America, if I didn't share with you the following true things:

While reading MSM articles and blog posts on the controversy, I clicked over to this post at OliverWillis.com.
The most unfortunate google ad appears at the bottom of Mr. Willis' post:

Now I realize that Mr. Willis can't control the ads that adsense flows through to his specific posts, but he can block her ads from appearing on his site, but he makes money from the Coulter ads that appear on the site and he drives business to her. On a post dismissing Mr. Imus' apology and calling for his firing.....(for the record, he called her on the John Edwards slur on his blog--although his comments were directed more towards the Republican candidates who associate with her than about her)

Beyond ironic, is it not?

The other irony of this saga is that the Rev. Al (Crown Heights riot flame thrower, Freddy's Mart "white interloper" man, not to mentionn Tawana Brawley) Sharpton is leading the call for Imus' firing. I think it's fair that Rev. Sharpton, who has frequently used slurs, innuendo, and intimidation to line his pockets and ruin the lives of others, give up his public persona if Imus is fired.

UPDATE: C. Vivian Stringer, one of the icons of women's basketball calls Imus to task in a completely appropriate and (as always for her) classy way:

"It is of the utmost importance to be an inspiration to young people and I truly believe my team represented Rutgers University, the state of New Jersey, and NCAA student-athletes across the country in the highest manner. I am proud of these young women and strongly encourage Mr. Imus to instead read the headlines and the stories that told of our triumphs the past six months."

If you don't know about Vivian Stringer, you should get to know her. She's a role model, a hero, a coaching legend.

Next UPDATE: Hustleknockin' weighs in on the situation:

We give all manner of folks passes for similar language whenever it suits our odd peculiars, particulars and assorted pecadillos. the idea that black women are so second class that they can be insulted at the drop of a hat in word, in song, in image by any and all comers for profit or whim and actually be blamed for it themselves is offensive enough;

We Found the Easter Bunny

Unfortunately, he wasn't as quick as usual.

Awww. Redux

Remember the red panda from a couple of days ago? Here he is with his brother. I think I want one.