DudeAsInCool

Microsoft Sees $100 Million First Day for 'Halo 2' Game By REUTERS Published: November 9, 2004 Filed at 5:23 p.m. ET LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - First-day sales of Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT.O) new video game ``Halo 2'' will reach $100 million, a senior Microsoft games executive said on Tuesday. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/...osoft-halo.html

Hollywood's feeling blue and seeing red Tue Nov 9, 2:11 PM ET Online Staff, STAFF HOURS AFTER John Kerry (news - web sites) conceded to President Bush (news - web sites), a map began making the email rounds that renamed the great crimson mass of Republican states as its own breakaway nation, "Jesusland." That same day Tim Winter, exec director of the Parents Television Council, suggested that Hollywood shouldn't ignore the influence of "moral values" on the election -- that is, the theoretical "Hollywood" in New York and L.A. that tends to dismiss the fly-over territory between them. For a week I've absorbed scads of analysis about the great cultural divide, much of it emanating from media folks lamenting the need to co-exist with the pitchfork-waving rabble. As "The Daily Show's" Lewis Black put it last week, Americans remain free to pursue their dreams, "so long as that dream doesn't make Midwesterners feel 'icky.' " Still, whatever people may tell pollsters, I'm not convinced that pop culture, at least, can be dissected quite so readily into the red and blue. CERTAINLY, THE IMPACT of religion and so-called traditional values has been evident long before this election, from CBS' success with "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" and "Touched by an Angel" in the 1990s to the controversy-into-cash miracle of "The Passion of the Christ." Such surprise hits are usually attributed to a backlash against the licentiousness of big media, fostering pent-up demand for such fare. As with most multilayered issues, however, the search for black-and-white answers yields perplexing shades of gray. For starters, except for the most vocal minorities, the "outrage" over permissiveness in entertainment runs wide but not especially deep, as people often express support for one thing but view another. In that respect, New York Times columnist William Safire got it half right on "Meet the Press" Sunday when he cited Janet Jackson (news)'s great boob escape for having mobilized those alarmed by the coarse drift of popular culture. Yes, that was a significant moment, but it took an event with the Super Bowl's massive reach to briefly awaken that group, even with all the orchestrated letter-writing campaigns and ineffectual boycotts in the past designed to marshal those forces. By the same token, at a time when "Will & Grace" is well established, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" became a cable hit and Ellen DeGeneres (news)' chat show is thriving, the Democratic presidential candidate so feared alienating voters that he expressed opposition to gay marriage. In other words, fans might sing along at Elton John (news) concerts (and, if ABC has its way, laugh at his sitcom), but the singer's glass platform heels offer as much transparency as many wish to see. DURING HIS KEYNOTE address at the Democratic National Convention, newly elected Illinois Sen. Barack Obama downplayed the notion of a geographic fissure by emphasizing areas of common ground. "We worship an awesome God in the blue states ... and yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states," he said, characterizing talk of division as a choice between "a politics of cynicism or ... a politics of hope." Cynicism too often reigns supreme in Hollywood, but in terms of popular tastes, Obama has a point. Plenty are watching trashy-good TV like "Desperate Housewives" and "Nip/Tuck" in red states, and tuning in the wholesome "7th Heaven" in blue states. They rent "Kill Bill" in red states and take kids to see "The Incredibles" in blue states. California's conservative Orange County, for that matter, surfs the same wave of channels as bluer than blue L.A. The ultimate challenge remains how best to connect with both the red and the blue, delivering a spectrum of choices catering to more libertine and libertarian views while creating havens for those who fear MTV is making teenagers gay, nymphomaniacal or both. Hollywood actually does a pretty good job of doing just that, assuming one bothers to look -- which, of course, political opportunists seldom do. While auteurs yearn to impress friends by testing boundaries with edgy R-rated fare, studios know Christmas is merrier with a "Harry Potter (news - web sites)"-like franchise under the tree, and Robert Zemeckis used his A-list muscle to direct a lavish G-rated children's movie, "The Polar Express." Granted, media power brokers nestled in blue states have much to learn about their brethren in the heartland. Yet despite the venom that cultural warriors spew to inflame passions and sell books, there is enough shared experience, enough overlap, to find a happy medium. Let's call it "The Color Purple." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor..._and_seeing_red

Business Owner Arrested After Allegedly Spanking Two Employees November 10, 2004 RED BANK, Tenn. -- The owner of a shaved ice business was arrested after two employees claimed he spanked them for making mistakes at work. Paul Eugene Levengood, 57, was charged with two counts of sexual battery after the 19-year-old women complained. One of the women told police that on her first day at the Tasty Flavors Sno Biz, Levengood made her sign a statement that said: "I give Gene permission to bust my behind any way he sees fit." http://www.wftv.com/newsofthestrange/3905790/detail.html

This sums up my sentiments

I went to Penn State for my undergrad, which is considered an agricultural school by some, and is also a football school. --Pennsylvania voted for Kerry. Sometimes critics can take things too far, like this self-riteous writer Yeah, things arent going to be good with Bush. However, I'm sure the next cycle will swing our way once people learn what compassionate conservatism really means (war, coporate cronyism, screw the environment, etc) :bigsmile:

Yes. In fact, it recently happened along the coastal, north, and northeastern states, and much of the rest of the world on November 2nd. Still pretty dark here

Skip the drink and innocent verbage and write something nasty -- that's when she really responds That's hilarious.

Now that the war on terror is over, I guess we can get the hell out of Iraq

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Firefox browser fully released Tue 9 November, 2004 11:33 SEATTLE (Reuters) - The free Firefox Web browser, which has chipped away at the market dominance of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, has been readied for a full release including new features designed to make it more stable, backers of the program say. The Mozilla Foundation, a network of programmers that jointly develops the Firefox browser, said the final release of Firefox version 1.0 will attract more users to the browser and away from Internet Explorer. Read more here: http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml...32&section=news

http://www.snowcrest.net/donnelly/piglatin.html

Akufen Fabric 17 [Fabric; 2004] Rating: 8.2 The latest installment in London club Fabric's mix series, Fabric 17, is one of its best, which might come as a surprise considering that unlike the label's other recent successes it was compiled and mixed not by an internationally reknowned DJ such as Jacques Lu Cont or Michael Mayer but by Akufen (Marc Leclair). Which isn't to say that the Quebecois doesn't have the acumen or skill to present a seamless and engaging mix-- the record proves that he most certainly does.. Read more here: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-revie...fabric-17.shtml

More accurate than the Red-Blue state map product that we have been seeing

Guess who will be back in 2005! :bigsmile: Beltran to Yankees Could Be Only a Matter of Time By JACK CURRY Published: November 10, 2004 KEY BISCAYNE, Nov. 9 - Center fielder Carlos Beltran, the most attractive free agent this off-season, has supposedly been fitted for Yankee pinstripes. Several major league executives have said that the Yankees will end up signing him to a mammoth deal. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/10/sports/b...ll/10yanks.html

Yes. Using County-by-County election return data from USA Today together with County boundary data from the US Census' Tiger database we produced the following graphic depicting the results. Of course, blue is for the democrats, red is for the republicans, and green is for all other. Each county's color is a mix of these three color components in proportion to the results for that county. Counties shown in black represent either missing election data or a mismatch between the US Census data and the USA Today data. For example, the New England states' election return data is given for each municipality and/or district rather than for each county. Hence, it couldn't be easily matched with the county boundaries.

Most important issues for voters, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 - interesting data http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/351/13/1314/T1

Here's a more accurate mapping representation via Robert Vandervbai:

Bump - this is worth listening to

A bit harsh. Some of those agricultural schools are first-rate. But the gist of the article is true, except they left out environmental issues - under Bush, the EPA has filed 75 percent less suits against polluters than the Clinton Administration...gee, I wonder if there is a connection between Bush policies and their corporate donors?

Even Digital Memories Can Fade By KATIE HAFNER Published: November 10, 2004 The nation's 115 million home computers are brimming over with personal treasures - millions of photographs, music of every genre, college papers, the great American novel and, of course, mountains of e-mail messages. Yet no one has figured out how to preserve these electronic materials for the next decade, much less for the ages. Like junk e-mail, the problem of digital archiving, which seems straightforward, confounds even the experts. Read more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/10/technolo...artner=homepage

Interesting, though I think religion probably plays a bigger role than murder statistics. Isnt this also really a conflict between urban and small town America?

Nice to seeya, RastaMan

No, Mr. Boo has his master trained on this one

We're f*cked!

Silence of the Eclipse - Christopher Franke