“The temple for waisted male self-esteem is Old Navy, where I easily slid into a size 34 pair of the brand’s Dress Pant. Where no other 34s had been hospitable, Old Navy’s fit snugly. The final measurement? Five inches larger than the label. You can eat all the slow-churn ice cream and brats you want, and still consider yourself slender in these.” [Esquire, via Daring Fireball]

So yesterday we were thinking, at least Obama hasn’t said anything about Saturday’s Koran Roast, which really should be beneath notice…

• Obama says something about Saturday’s Koran Roast.
• FBI says something about Saturday’s Koran Roast.
• Interpol says something about Saturday’s Koran Roast.
• The AP says not to say anything specific about Saturday’s Koran Roast.

People, people, people: August is over. Sheesh.

We’ve been online about twenty years, give or take. We skipped the BBS era, but working on campus in the early ’90s, we were privy to the pre-Web Internet: email, newsgroups, gopher. We remember the office geek excitedly telling us about this new software called Mosaic. We remember being excited ourselves about what Netscape 1.1 introduced to the world.

Our life has been almost bifurcated by the Internet: before, after. We managed to reach thirty without it, which, at this point, makes our youth some kind of alien netherworld, full of exotic primal technology like rotary phones, 8-track tapes, console color televisions (works in a drawer!), and free-form FM radio.

You had to be there. And if you were lucky, you weren’t.

Read more »

“A senior aide for Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) was arrested Tuesday for attempting to bring marijuana into the Hart Senate Office Building, according to U.S. Capitol Police reports.” [Politico]

From the people who probably brought you the formerly ubiquitous (although we saw one yesterday) “Baby on Board” signs:

West Vancouver officials will roll out a new way to keep drivers alert and slow them down: a little girl speed bump. A trompe-l’œil, the apparently 3D girl located near the École Pauline Johnson Elementary School is actually a 2D pavement painting, similar to the one shown here.

Nice idea, we guess, but here’s the problem: Once the novelty wears off, running over kids is going to become a familiar experience. You’ll just keep driving as usual until thumpthumpthumpthump…

Speed Bumps of the Future: Creepy Optical Illusion Children [Discover, via Yahoo]

“You know how bad things are for Democratic political figures these days? Even Andy Griffith’s poll numbers have seen a significant decline in the last 2 years. Our latest North Carolina poll found Griffith at 44/22 in the state for a net favorability of +22. That represents a 25 point decline from June of 2008 when Griffith was at a net +47.” [Public Policy Polling]

British Petroleum has released the final results of its thorough, no-stone-left-unturned investigation into the causes of the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and has determined that the company was very much at fault… for believing that the subcontractors it hired were competent in their supposed area of expertise, that is! BP would like you to know that they are genuinely sorry for the unfortunate mess that Halliburton and Transocean caused in your pretty, oil-rich Gulf.
And to think that Halliburton and Transocean had such wonderful references and came so highly recommended! At any rate, BP is terribly embarrased by the whole thing and would like you to know that in the future it will double and triple vet the contractors that it employs, and truly hopes that you will not hold this unfortunate and –given the circumstances– wholly unavoidable tragedy against them. After all, something like this could have happened to any one of us, I think you’ll agree! Let bygones be bygones.