Fake Fans, Fake Buzz, Real Bucks: ‘The 34-year-old computer whiz in Silver Lake got a
phone call from the friend of a friend–the head of publicity
for a movie studio. The offer was $10,000 a week for an
Internet “project.”
Was he interested? Absolutely.
Details quickly followed from the studio’s department of
new media. The computer whiz discovered he would soon
be “purposely forgetting everything I knew about design.”
The job was to construct a phony fan Web site for a new movie.
He selected ugly lettering, the better to mask his sophistication. He scanned in
photos from magazines, just like fans do. He wrote blushing and gushing copy.’ LA Times

Town has had strict gun control law on the books since 1982 — requiring a gun in every household. Marietta Daily Journal

U.S. High Court to Weigh Death-Row Appeal, reconsider wisdom of U.S. execution of mentally retarded murderers. International Herald Tribune

Ethel the Blog is chockful. Checking in tonight revealed, among other things:

reflections on the California “utility crisis”;

concern about the vagaries of Amazon.com’s censorship policy, relating to the Shrub book A Charge to Keep;

consideration of how we should treat First Ladies with real, or putative, blood on their hands;

the first couple of entries in his project to port his vinyl LPs to .mp3;

contemplating The Haggis;

vituperation about conservative columnist Bob Novak’s revisionist history;

a listing of streaming jazz channels on the web

a digression on the avocado

‘Insipid civility’ dominates U.S. politics for good reason, says David Sirota. “…(I)n Washington the compelling motivation has become, as George W. Bush
would say, keeping things ‘civil.’ And the reason is clear: in such
money-flooded politics, it is best for the powers that be to keep politics
boring. That way, politicians never have to really face up to tough questions
about the influence of money, and citizens won’t really engage enough to
care about the fact that their government no longer really represents them.” Tompaine.com

“This year will see the outbreak of price war in the desktop and
notebook PC markets as vendors battle for customers, market
researcher Gartner Group has warned.

To blame are the recession and the depressed state of computer
sales. That, reckons Gartner, will force the direct vendors to cut
prices to build – or at least maintain – their marketshare relative to
the well-known brands.” The Register

Promoting Propagandists. The Illegitimate Son nominates Central American dirty-tricksters for major diplomatic posts. Tompaine.com

Mystery In Bremerton – Why Don’t Keyless Remotes Work?. Starting abruptly last Thursday morning, the keyless remotes of nearly all cars — domestic and imported, new and old, including unsold cars on dealers’ lots — in the Bremerton WA area stopped working. When a car is driven outside the local area, the remote works again. Aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson returned to port in Bremerton from seven weeks at sea at almost exactly the time this started, but the Navy says the ship has been swept for emissions and “…doesn’t appear to be emitting any frequencies that might have an effect on these remote control devices,” said a spokesperson. Sunspot and solar flare activity are near their cyclical peak, but there would be no reason any disruption of transmission would be restricted in frequency, geographically localized, or consistent across so long a period of time.

Discovering Archaeology: New clues to the Easter Island mystery… Surprising archaeological accuracy of the Mummy movies …. New light on Herodotus’ accusations of cannibalism among neighboring peoples.

Microscopic midwives “Long maligned as mere blobs, amoebas turn out to have a
caring, sharing side.” New Scientist

Girl of four leads share-buying test. She was given an imaginary £5000 to invest, as were an experienced private investor and a self-described financial astrologer. Her portfolio, picked at random, is worth more than either of her competitors’ at the halfway point in the two-week experiment. Probably not statistically valid over such a short run, though…

Skeletons in the Closet. Renovations of Odd Fellows’ Halls reportedly frequently reveal startling discoveries.

“Skeletons … reside in closets, drawers, attics and crawl spaces in Odd Fellows lodges nationwide. The fraternal order uses the skeleton in its initiation ritual as a symbol of mortality. Interest in the Odd Fellows has waned in recent years, and as lodges have closed more of the skeletons have emerged from their hiding places.” But where do they come from? Local Odd Fellows have cooperated in some of the resulting investigations, in at least one case pledging the police to secrecy. Fox News

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