Hypocritical linking policy
Fodors.com, which now has a travel blog, wants to prohibit anyone from deep-linking into its content ("'deep linking' past the FODORS.COM homepage is strictly prohibited"). So even though the Fodors bloggers deep-link into other sites, Fodors' lawyers want to prevent you from doing the same thing. Someone at Fodors doesn't get the Web at all.Servicing the family-values party
Escorts and strippers from the West Coast and from London will converge on New York for the Republican convention, Aug. 30 - Sept. 2, the Daily News reports. So, how does the god-fearing GOPper explain to his wife where that dose of the clap came from?Constitution eBook
Via Lessig, an electronic version (in Microsoft Reader format) of the Constitution of the United States. Note the following technological or legal restrictions: You can't view it on a Mac and you can't print it. If you purchase the Adobe Reader version instead, you can view it on a Mac, and you can print it, but only twice a year. Here's a better idea. Google it and do whatever the hell you want to with it.Dictionnaire collaboratif des e-technologies
Via Language Hat, this French-language dictionary of e-technologies.
Jason rules the subway
Kottke offers his rules for manuevering the subways. I have to admit that, when I'm alone, I break number 7 all the time. If it's any consolation, though, I try to keep an eye out to make sure I don't get in anyone's way when I pace or meander.piPod
Goddammit, now I'm hungry. Slice has released piPod, an iPod-based field guide to NYC pizzerias. Mmmmm, pizza. I'll have to download this from home tonight. UPDATE: Suuuuuuuuuuuuuck. This doesn't work for me because my iPod's too old. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.Shriek
From today's Times: Simon Property to Buy Chelsea for $3.5 Billion [Simon Property Group and its mostSpeaking of forced worship...
Justices Keep 'Under God' in Pledge (washingtonpost.com): The Court threw out the case not on the merits of its arguments but because the justices concluded that the plaintiff had no legal right to sue on his daughter's behalf. However, the three justices who did comment "supported some version" of the White House's Humpty Dumpty claim that "under God" does not actually refer to God Himself but to a historical idea of God. The White House is basically saying here that the phrase "under God" means that the U.S. is not one nation currently under God but is instead one nation founded under God a long time ago. From Wordspy:Humpty Dumpty language noun. An idiosyncratic or eccentric use of language in which the meaning of particular words is determined by the speaker.
Dating a New York asshole
Is this a joke? "Furthermore, this is absolutely not a joke." Oh, I guess it's not.Stuck at Grand Central
You'd think that the city that never sleeps would have a train station that never closes, but you'd be wrong. After Grand Central's transition from a national to a regional hub, the station began closing during the night, stranding those who miss the last trains out. The Times offers a smart and funny look at the unfortunates who miss the train. Some grab hotel rooms for the night, others stay out on the streets, and some are easy work for cab drivers who charge $60 and up for rides into Connecticut and upstate New York. Grand Central at midnight:
British require worship in schools?
Am I reading this correctly? Does the British government require daily worship in schools? Noncompliance of the law aside, even the idea of forcing children to pray and worship daily seems to fly in the face of what a modern democracy should stand for. Update: I've done a little more research. This Guardian piece publishes the text of a speech by David Bell, chief inspector of schools, on the 60th anniversary of an education bill known as the Butler Act. A portion of Bell's speech indicates that these are state schools in question, not church schools:But we are still left with some weighty questions. What, as a society, do we think about collective worship in non-denominational state schools? Arguably, the 1988 Education Reform Act added a further layer of complexity when it added the requirement that collective worship should be wholly, or mainly, of a broadly Christian character.
Ironically, or not, the United States has a famous "Butler Act" of its own: namely, the 1925 Tennessee law banning the teaching of evolution in public schools.