Short-fingered vulgarian Donald Trump, whom Spy notes was teasing a Presidential run a generation ago, lays it on the line: “Part of the beauty of me is that I’m very rich. So if I need $600 million, I can put $600 million myself. That’s a huge advantage. I must tell you, that’s a huge advantage over the other candidates.” [ABC]

“Independent voters say they would support Charlie Sheen over Palin for President by a 41/36 margin. Seriously. Despite her deficit with independents Palin does lead Sheen 49-29 overall. We also tested Barack Obama against Sheen and the President leads 57-24.” [Public Policy Polling]

It’s been an on again, off again affair for the New York Times, trying to figure out how to make money publishing a newspaper while making its contents freely accessible to all on the web. A few years back, the Times experimented with a paywall, forcing users to pay $50.00 a year for access to the paper’s online content. Then, at one point, the paper hid only its opinion pages behind a paywall. Finally, (no doubt inspured in part by the protestations of its editorial contributors) the paper opened up again, offering all its content for free to anyone with a web browser and the ability to remember (or bookmark) the word: NYTIMES.COM. Read more »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNEyvJgfKfM

Forty years ago, we’re told, one in four college-aged men bought Playboy, more than enough for Hef to purchase and pimp a DC-9, lovingly documented in this long-lasting airline porn. Yes, yes, that’s an eight-track tape they’re popping in the hi-fi, but we have to admit legitimate fascination with the two-inch videotape player on board. We didn’t know those existed outside TV stations.

But here’s the thing: It’s easy enough, at this distance, to giggle at the period quaintness of what’s depicted, not to mention the depiction itself. But what about the contemporary audience? Did they drool as intended? Or was the Space Age Bachelor Pad lifestyle already outdated the moment this was made in 1969?

The Playboy jet: How Hugh Hefner traveled in style [Gadling, via Nerdist]

We interrupt the serious and worldly for what has been charitably described as the worst song ever sung.

This probably has already hit you across the face with a claw hammer. (10m Youtube hits in the space of a week. No words are adequate for that.) But, if not… I proudly give you… Rebecca Black.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0

Resolved: that whoever put this girl (age 13 if Twitterstan is correct) up to this — her parents, an unscrupulous producer, whoever — should (1) fork over every dime earned off this song, from whatever source, to the American Red Cross, and (2) be banned for life from the music industry.

Discuss.

NYT:

The chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave a significantly bleaker appraisal of the threat posed by Japan’s nuclear crisis than the Japanese government, saying on Wednesday that the damage at one crippled reactor was much more serious than Japanese officials had acknowledged and advising Americans to evacuate a wider area around the plant than the perimeter established by Japan.

Read more »

“The Republican National Committee is considering sanctioning the GOP presidential primary debates and then selling the broadcast rights to news outlets, two Republicans with knowledge of the idea tell CNN.”