TSA: Saving Us From Comic Books

The Transportation Security Administration: bravely protecting our skies from bottled water, nail files, and now, comic books.
Boom! Studios sends word that comics writer Mark Sable was detained by TSA security guards at Los Angeles International Airport this past weekend because he was carrying a script for a new issue of his comic miniseries Unthinkable. … [...]

The Death of the First Post-Human

Michael Jackson is dead. Physically. Michael Jackson the media image, Michael Jackson the celebrity… that’s going to be tougher to kill.
Jackson was probably the first person ever to reach the definition of post-human. He started as a child star, was transformed by wealth and celebrity, then used that wealth and celebrity to transform himself and, [...]

Seriously, TiVo?

TiVo included these questions on its latest consumer survey:
Which of the following things would you give up before you would give up TiVo?
My spouse/partner

N/A – I don’t have a spouse/partner

I would give up my spouse/partner and keep TiVo

I would give up TiVo and keep my spouse/partner

Beer [...]

Reality TV: May Be Hazardous to Your Health

Interesting — though not exactly shocking — report from The Wrap which says that 11 reality show participants have committed suicide, and another two have tried.
As the report says, right up front, someone who voluntarily appears on a reality-TV show might have some issues. But I think there’s something to the idea that reality TV [...]

How did we get here?

If you’re one of those wondering how we ended up in the current banking crisis, you should take a look at my friend Bill Heisel’s stories on mortgage provider IndyMac. Which, incidentally, was the bank that financed my first house. Now I’m even more glad we sold and paid off our loan before everything went [...]

How To Save Newspapers, pt. 2

OK, so, say you’re a billionaire newspaper owner. You’ve tried firing people, you’ve tried hiring executives who barely know how to read a newspaper, let alone run one. And yet, you’re still losing money and readers every day.
The big question is, how do you get those readers back?
This should be obvious, but clearly billionaire newspaper [...]

Heavy Chatter

In 1995, I still lived in Boise, Idaho, at the height of the militia movement. I listened, every day, to AM talk radio. Aside from the usual right-wing blowhards — many of whom are still with us — there were a couple local hosts who were big fans of the militias. One in particular could [...]

Palin-Drones

Caribou Barbie comes complete with matching white sheet and hood.
Worse, Palin’s routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric’s questions for her “less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media.” [...]

Security, Part 3

Inexperience

All this talk about McCain’s choice for veep has raised the question again of who’s got the experience to be President.
Which leads me to ask:
Would you choose a candidate for President who had less than 8 years in public office? Who, during that time, spent 3.5 hours every day playing video games and jogging? Who [...]