Matthew Inman got more traffic than ever before with his SOPA post, and without any “share” buttons…I think the mention he got on CNN may have had *a little* to do with it, though.  Still, he raises a good question about the usefulness of that line share buttons everybody is using on their sites nowadays.

And, now speaking for a good portion of those same developers, we’d prefer you get the folks off Internet Explorer altogether.

Photo: TheAtlantic.com

When the “Oxford Comma” was drilled into my head in 7th grade by Miss Skinner, she didn’t refer to is as such.  She referred to it as “the proper way you list out items in a sentence.” There was no alternative or exception.  Not putting that last comma in has just never felt right, so I continue to use it.

Hopefully the example Brian Braiker created illustrates to everyone (in a quite memorable way) exactly how the Oxford Comma guarantees a sentence’s meaning is accurately conveyed.

By the way, every restaurant in my town is horrible – just horrible.  Ocelot infestations, radioactive contamination, 12-hour+ waits, all the waiters are two-strikers on parole after raping customers, etc.

Except the IHOP closest to my house – there’s never a wait, the food is ambrosia, and all the staff are super models who got bored with super-modeling, quit at their prime, and chose a new career in food service.

• I did some work from home this morning, via my mostly-reliable Internet connection. My profession is made possible by data and power infrastructures that may be vulnerable to a hot day or a certain service provider trading profit for good service – but not a foreign or domestic enemy, nor government censoring.
• I had a conversation with my wife about which Presidential candidate scares us the least. That fear is about the economic impact of the choice, about how respective ideologies might distract the country — but not fear over private armies being raised by candidates to overthrow or violently defend  the sitting leader.  I’d choose being forced to pick the least-incompetent of two politicians for federal leadership, over enduring a dictatorship, any day.
• The family went down to the park by our house, navigating patches of foreign languages, odd smells coming from the barbecues, and kids running around with no care in the world. We found our patch of park and played among the neighbors just fine.

Thank you to all the men and women, in uniform and out, in my town and all over, who kept my Internet connection and power on long enough for heat and/or my ISP to screw up some other day; who kept me able to bitch and moan about the ridiculous selection of Presidential candidates we have without the fear of a knock at the door; and who kept that park filled with a bunch of strangers.

My Sunday was peaceful and just slightly boring – thanks to all who made that happen.

The NFL performers use interpretive dance, simulating a “battle” right on a large outdoor stage.  They see the “psudeo-combat performance” motif as the best way to relate their artistic material to their audience.

Combat operations were light before and after the spirit-boosting performance, with only minor skirmishes and just two shoot-outs reported (link), with no troop losses.

NFL Interpretive Dance Performers in the Raiders Traveling Troupe. (Image by Eyeshotpictures via Flickr)

The NFL has a long history with entertaining the guerrilla combatants based around major metropolitan warzones. The Raiders traveling troupe has provided Oakland-area fighters with entertainment as a diversion from the hell that is urban warfare since 1963 — except for 1982 to 1994, when the performers’ home base was transferred to the Los Angeles battlefront.

Urban warfare traditionally surges right at Labor Day weekend (particulaly in the Bay Area).  The NFL will be entertaining combatants throughout the fall, with their hard-working traveling interpretive dance performers.

Glendale bear (not the football kind) Photo: KTLA.com

…and then Glendale said, “Ok, Burbank – I’ll see your mountain lion and raise you a BEAR.”

Bear Sighted Picking Through Trash in Glendale

When I said that the Girl Scouts was a shadowy organization bent on world domination, you all laughed at me.  Well, their funding source just got uncovered by the media.

Who’s laughing now – huh? huh? huh?

I said, “most people.” This of course would never apply to you.

The Perfect Meal is available now for Kindle and in print.

Or, is this Google beef you have not really about consumer benefit?

ReadWriteWeb: Reports: Google to Face Broad Antitrust Investigation from U.S. Government.

A very cool idea: Food Desert Solution: Mobile Supermarkets. (via GOOD.is)

(via ReadWriteWeb)

If “well-read” means “not missing anything,” then nobody has a chance. If “well-read” means “making a genuine effort to explore thoughtfully,” then yes, we can all be well-read. But what we’ve seen is always going to be a very small cup dipped out of a very big ocean, and turning your back on the ocean to stare into the cup can’t change that.

via The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We’re All Going To Miss Almost Everything : Monkey See : NPR.

The festival runs from April 30 – May 1.  More info at latimesfestivalofbooks.com

via Bookstore of the Week: Portrait of a Bookstore in Studio City.