Love this:
The net is an unending NOW of moments and distractions and wonderments and puzzlements and rages.

And this is so true:
Asking someone riding its currents to undertake some kind of complex dance before she can hand you her money is a losing proposition.

I notice this a lot when I go to a website in order to make a donation. If they let me use Paypal I can click right thru and they get my money. If they're going to make me dig thru my purse to find my credit card and fill out a form, well, it's too much trouble and they don't get my money. Get with it, people!

I had been under the impression that the sort people who actually went to Disneyland were the most sheep-like demographic of Americans

I think you're labouring under a misimpression, then. Disneyland and WDW attract all sorts of different demographics - remember the Goth day? It's a fun thing to do, and a fun place to go.

I think it's completely appropriate to title this post "Disneyland bans pictures in its parking lots". Sure, once contacted, the "appropriate people" (Guest Services?) said that there is no ban, but that didn't help this guy when he was actually in the parking lot. Goon authority won out over real authority.

Ditto on the Ffox with Adblock Plus. I still see plenty of old-style unanimated ads, so they're still getting revenue out of my eyeballs.

I have observed one couple having a discrete and fully-clothed boink in the lea of large plinthe raised to commemorate a long-dead minister, out of sight of, well, everybody but me.

Heh heh heh - I read that as the couple boinking to commemorate the minister! Today I am 12.

The airport thing really ticks me now, since they were first installed at a time when "yikes the homeless could sleep on ur benchez!" but now only the lucky few actually make it past security. There should be couches for everybody.

In short, Newsweek magicked up this alarming story out of thin air. It's one more thing to think about the next time the conventional media make snotty remarks about the journalistic standards of weblogs.

Excellent point, Teresa.

I hate that elective cosmetic surgery has to exist, but as long as we all prefer "pretty", it will. I myself used to be all self-righteously against it, but now that I'm 45 and seeing some sag, I view it more positively. I like to look pretty!

Really, my main problem with this book is the extreme imagery that is used (at least on the cover). Why can't Beautiful Mommy just be Pretty Mommy? Instead, she has huuuge breasts, a tiiiiny waist, and razor sharp cheekbones. I think if cosmetic surgery were to be treated just a little more realistically we wouldn't be having as much discussion.

How do we know they called you a liar? We only have your word to go on. [ducking]

She has since apologized.

Just heard on Oregon Public Broadcasting - the victim is still missing approximately $1,000 worth of belongings. While that still sucks, fortunately it sounds like far less than was earlier reported.

I went out walking one day, and there was a brand new pedestal sink in its box, sitting on the sidewalk, marked "Free - please take". I took, and I'm glad, because it's a lovely sink.

If I had gone out walking and seen a sign plunked in somebody's yard saying "Free - everything must go!" I would not take a thing unless I could verify that the offer was valid.

It doesn't take computer savvy to determine when something is too good to be true. Frankly, this kind of greed informed by willing blindness is what also gave us the mortgage crisis.

On another note - "Mr. Herbert was lodged in lieu of $30,000 bail"! How kind of the cops to provide "lodging"! Love it.

every woman knows that our notions of feminine beauty are based on the male form

Hm, I must have been absent the day they taught this in Womanhood 101.

Damn, double posting - apologies.

I too would love to know the name of the church. I'm a member of Sunset Presbyterian in PDX, and they have an international adoption agency operating out of the church (I think it's completely separate, but pretty much everybody who works there belongs to Sunset). I would be appalled if it was us and would take it up immediately with the church leadership.

Can you talk a little more about why you named the adoption agency but not the church?

Go easy, Takuan. if CQParent is indeed that little boy's mom or dad, their emotions are justifiably heightened, regardless of the legalities involved.

CQParent, Teresa's points are well-spoken. She needs to take the proper steps on her end to make sure the photo is being used appropriately by BoingBoing. I can see BB's point, though, that if you have already given permission for your child's photograph to be used for publicity purposes it seems likely that reprint for use in commentary is going to be fair use. Yes, it may suck, but that's the way it is.

Finally, gotta say that your kid's a cutie! Congratulations.

And get a medal to boot!

The mind boggles.

Of course, the next thing on Bush's to-do list will be to give the guy a medal.

Wow, I guess all the hospitals with wifi networks ought to rip 'em out. Thanks Sebastopol! I feel much safer now.

Wow, can't believe I'm the only one thinking it was, for lack of a better term, faked. OK, staged. She's walking forwards, everybody else has been choreographed to walk backwards. Their feet strikes just don't look natural to me. This would also explain the escalator.

A for effort, C- for execution.

Ewwww - my dog would have to drink the dirty wash water!

Well, it's a beetle. Then again, so are most things.

Chorske, you just made my day!

Zenhammond, scroll down a few more posts to see the entry slamming Verizon for censoring IMs. Happy?

[One typically pleads guilty or not guilty. One does not plead "innocent".

Pet peeve.]

Well put, Gloria.

Khonsu, I'm in PDX too and would love to do something like this. Talk about keeping Portland weird!

The marketing for this software just amazes me. Such cute happy people! Are these the customers or the victims?

Very interesting line of thought, Ken and Bardfinn.

In general, it's a good idea to avoid flushing one's excess pharmaceuticals. Take them back to your pharmacy and they'll process them as the hazardous waste they are.

Dead pool anyone?

but it's tidy

I love Teresa.

Of course none of them could open it; they're all over the age of 10!

Dang!

Oh, I'm sorry - Vicky might not have heard that.

VICKY, IT WAS STROGANOFF!

It was Stroganoff.

Mmmmmm, stroganoff.

Hey Mark - I'm assuming there were some women blogging in the Alley. Any chance you could post their links too?

On another note entirely, why oh why was it important to note the gender of the cop? Sigh...

Damn, I knew I was forgetting something!

Or you could just move to Portland. TriMet uses a GPS-based "TransitTracker" - call the phone number or check their website for real time bus and train arrivals. I get to stay in my office reading BoingBoing until the last possible minute.

Pete / downdb, could you be more specific about where you had to change the permissions?

"Foraging, hunting, gardening are all time intensive as well as seasonal sensitive activities that does not make it practical for the majority."

I disagree. $10 worth of seeds kept me in spinach, chard, lettuce and mustard greens for several months. The initial investment of time was approximately one day, total. I built raised beds, but apartment dwellers can use flower boxes and pots. 15 minutes watering every day (let the sprinkler run while I made coffee).

I have 4 hens who are good layers and take only as much time as any other pet.

I don't hunt, but I occasionally exchange stuff for fish my friend has caught, or pheasant from my dad.

And I live in a dense urban neighbourhood (North Portland).

Totatlly doable.

This would be great instead of the average annual holiday letter.

Telemarketers and other phone workers have been told to smile for years because it's been known for years - see for example the 1994 Journal of the Accoustical Society of America article "Hearing smiles and frowns in normal and whisper registers". This new study is both a)corroborative and b)expansive (in that the test subjects can tell details about the smiles - v. cool!).

The haloes are made of steampunky bits.

Plate o'shrimp!

I work in the Pathology department at a large teaching hospital, and just this morning was asking one of the doctors why the cold, dry weather always makes me cough once or twice every morning. He said the cold air triggers a histamine reaction in the lungs, which produces the cough. He related it to the histamine reaction that occurs in photic sneezing. And since he knows I suffer from chronic migraine (2 to 3 per week) he passed along the insight that red wine-triggered migraines are also thought to be triggered by the histamines in the wine, and that some have been able to avoid migraines by taking antihistamines before drinking - I cannot wait to try this.

Another interesting point is that I am currently taking a daily dose of an anti-epileptic med, which has cut the number of episodes I have in half.

(Good luck, Keri!)

Robotic? Maybe. Then again, there's always the Star Trek way!

Which Congress committee is responsible for this kind of thing? I'd like to request a hearing on the matter.

included a 22-page list of purported agency operatives.

Do we know what happened to these operatives and all of their contacts?