Part of the job of being a geek is being severely paranoid. You don’t trust anything coming in from the Internet when you’re programming a website. And you especially don’t program a URL that repeats on the page whatever you feed it.

Like, well, this. Or, while we’re playing, this.

Additional nominations accepted in the comments.

Update: Oh, darn, they’re on to us. Say, whose weekend did we just ruin?

So we had a mildly clever idea this afternoon to run various aliens (E.T., Bat Boy, Giger’s Alien) over a stock crowd photo that both Newt Gingrich and Teddy Kennedy have seen fit to use on their websites. We started putting it together, and then we lost interest.

Which is just as well, because somebody else out there had more time on their hands, and a better premise.

Newt Gingrich in Front of Stock Photos [Tumblr, via Weigel]

Newt Gingrich Launches 2012 Presidential Campaign Website With Stock Photo Of Supporters [ThinkProgress]

Do you ever wish that your next-generation cutting-edge envy-inducing iGadget wasn’t so damn quiet? Do you miss the thrill of keeping everyone within fifty feet of you awake all damn night? Well, wait no more!

The USBTypewriter™ is a new and groundbreaking innovation in the field of obsolescence. Lovers of the look, feel, and quality of old fashioned manual typewriters can now use them as keyboards for any USB-capable computer, such as a PC, Mac, or even iPad!

Model as shown: $849. Or you can roll (or solder) your own for only $69!

USB Typewriter [via Tom Tomorrow]

Not only is it a great gag, it’s the first website we’ve seen that captures the rhythm of a comic strip.

Comic Sans Criminal [via Daring Fireball]

Damn, that was fast. We should have programming ready for something like this.

Is Bernie Sanders still talking? [via StarterWife]

Photo: Steve Lambert

Our afternoon guest columnists are A Lawyer and übergeek website 4chan founder Moot, performing in colloquy.

Q. Is there a certain language that is commonly used for users of 4chan?

A. In what sense?

Q. Certain terms have a meaning unique to 4chan?

A. Yes.

Q. Like “OP,” what is “OP”?

A. OP means original poster.

Q. Are you familiar with these terms, having been the founder and administrator of the 4chan site?

A. Yes.

Q. What would “lurker” mean?

A. Somebody who browses but does not post, does not contribute.

Read more »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn-YesqzvNk

While we’ve been preoccupied reading the Riverside Palin, basement-dwellers across America have been enjoying the saga of the iPhone 4’s antenna. (Short version: You lose bars if you hold it a certain way. You also lose bars if you hold every other cellphone a certain way.)

The best take so far appears to be from Taiwan’s Apple Daily (convenient nomenclature coincidence), best known for their Tiger Woods animations. We’ll let you have it raw, although we’ll be happy to annotate upon request.

Oh, and we’re quite happy with our own iPhone 4, thankyouverymuch. But since Steve wants to buy us a case for it, we’ll also be quite happy to take him up on it.