Chris Reed

Did McCain try the tap you on the other shoulder trick on Obama? - AJ Kohn

That was just odd... why tap his shoulder then back away? - Jason Carreira

HAHAHA AJ... - Amber Horner

"If the lack of new Depeche Mode albums has left a gaping hole in your life, we have good news: the aging synth-poppers have a new album on the way. On April 21, the band will release their 12th yet-to-be-titled full-length via EMI/Mute, which will mark the first time the major label has released one of their records here in North America and extends their long-running relationship with Mute." - Mark Wilson via Bookmarklet

I'm with you Anna...thanks for this post Mark and hi! :) - Emma

Hi Mark! :) - Melissa

Interesting point.. Still seeing it being used on the local level, though.... - Chris Reed

@Logical: i agree. binary thinking will not get us very far. extremes/absolutes do not help. i am anxious to hear leaders talk about this in the same multi-faceted way you mention. - MikeAmundsen

It'll come up again when some people need to scapegoat a group for "taking their jobs." That usually happens during an economic down-turn, when there is more unemployment. I'm sure it will come up again in an ugly way soon in California, unfortunately.. - Cathryn Hrudicka

"A reader snaps this shot from his car in Austin, Texas:" - Kevin Hessel via Bookmarklet

sadly, based on the lines of the bumper sticker near the "HIGHLANDER," this looks highly suspicious as a pretty poor photoshop... :( - Rob Reed

I grew up a few blocks from the late Brown's Bakery, and if it were still around no one would ask "Are there any good bakeries in North Hollywood." Best bagels and black and whites ever, and those charming old ladies always gave you a free cookie. - Chris Reed

I have found two bakeries that come the closest to Brown's... but "close" is still "not really close." Delicious Bakery on Reseda and Plummer (Northridge) makes a KILLER bavarian chocolate chip cream cake and their bagels, black and whites, and challah remind me of Browns... Mort's Deli in Tarzana is also palatable. - Rob Reed

Closest black and whites I've had here are the ones at the Treasure Island Canter's .... and it's not even close... - Chris Reed

we went to Sam's Kosher Bakery and then another one right across the street. Sam's was closing in about 45 minutes so most everything was gone. We did get a nice round raisin challah at the other bakery...although they had no apple-cinnamon challah left. :( L'Shana Tova! - edythe

From BBC News: "The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal is a remarkable website that documents in exacting detail the human exploration of the Moon during the golden age of lunar exploration. NASA has encouraged it by hosting the site and making Apollo-era photography increasingly available for the public to scrutinise and process. Ellison is upbeat about the benefits of such enlightened public outreach. He said: "Putting those images out there, giving people access to information about the missions from the first person perspective rather than relying on news media to relay events to the public, has turned the game on its head." - Mark Trapp via Bookmarklet

I love when she goes "pew-pew" near the end -- soooo cute. lufff tina fey - Brandon

This was the greatest. Kinda sad that a comedy show like SNL, when creating parodies, uses direct and complete quotations from the subject. - JodyUnwired

@Jody - I think the writers realized there was no way they could write anything crazier or off topic than Palin's own answers. I loved Amy's Couric impression - understated, yet hilarious. - Jennifer Dittrich

It's like this every week this season..... The big thing is we've had parity for the last few years but there have still been one or two teams that were heads and shoulders above the others (Patriots, Colts). This season, I can't say there is that one shoo-in for the Super Bowl. I have no idea who we're going to end up with in Tampa.... - Chris Reed

yup - Shey

Channeling my Martha Stewart... It's a very good thing.... - Chris Reed

"Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds Wed in Canada | Ryan Reynolds, Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds made it official with a wedding this weekend, Reynolds's rep, Meredith O'Sullivan, confirmed to PEOPLE." - Abby Martin via Bookmarklet

Especially if they are cranky. (My husband certainly is...and so am I supposedly..err, not that I am a man or wholly Canadian. But for a half-Canadian chick, pretty grumpy.) - Abby Martin

why does it look like scarlett is struggling to carry two very large cantaloupes? if i were her hubby, i would take the chivalrous route, remove my hand from hers, and help her out... - Rob Reed

A profile is badly needed - Steve

Disagree, managing profiles is fairly painless and is needed for FF. If you don't want to use it or update it then don't. Simple. :-) I'd be happy with a simple profile. Is there talk of a mailbox? Not sure that's needed. - Kol Tregaskes

Copying and maintaining profiles wastes too much time. I want computers to work for me. I don't want to work for computers (unless i'm paid)! And yes, Collide81 suggested private messaging. - John Lam

He sleeps like a rock. - Akiva Moskovitz

Good night John. - Mark Wilson

The latest competition for the Craftmatic and Sleep Number beds... - Chris Reed

meh. Even if Obama sucks, you guys will spin it as if he wiped the floor with McCain. The motto? This debate will change very little. - David Risley

David: "spins like crazy" is far better than outright lying, a la mccain-palin. see factcheck.org and this time magazine piece for examples: http://www.time.com/time/polit... ... even if you support the GOP, i find it fucking. laughable. -- in light of his horrible VP pick and his 'untruths' and his hands-off approach to banking and securities that got us into this economic crisis -- that *anyone* could support john mccain. - tiffany

GOBAMA! - Dana D

"By the time you read this -- and certainly by the time he appears in Oxford, Miss., for the first presidential debate -- the former straight talker will probably have adopted some new stance, in his panting eagerness to appear presidential. His attempts to game this dangerous situation, his waffling between bipartisanship and ideological rigidity, his shiftiness on the real issues and his obvious lack of concentration on the problems that must be resolved -- suggest that he is in fact unfit to serve in the office he desires. Once again he has proved that his claim to put country first is hollow. He was more than willing to take America down as he gambled for that prize." - ☺ Cecily ☺ via Bookmarklet

THIS IS INSANE! - Andrew Baron

Tad, I'm conservative by many standards, but I vote based on qualifications, not party line. You really can't defend her on this one issue. There are issues I do agree with her on, but there are those I do not. - ChangeForge | Ken Stewart

Let's just admit it that we like drama; this election cycle has been full of it. While it's natural to be worried--especially with the inevitable October surprise--this election will be a landslide victory for Obama. Anything short of a landslide will boil my blood and cast doubts of integrity upon my neighbor. Come to think of it, my neighbor is a blowhead. Crap. - Stagekid

A little perspective here, though... It looks bad but space, even in low Earth orbit is pretty big. While on that far away view the specks seem close together, we're actually talking about a pretty decent distance between dots. The equivalent of worrying that a VW in Philadelphia is too close to a bus in New York City. - Chris Reed

Just as hard to watch as yesterday's installment. - Dave "Actual" Winer via Bookmarklet

lol AJ, owch. "I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to consider national security issues with, uh, the Russia because, uh, some people in our nation don't, uh, have maps and realize that we must stop the President of Germany, Putin, from threatening the Iraq-Pakistan border, and I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or, uh, South Africa and the Iraq and the Asian countries... - Karim

...so that we will be able to stand up to Zapatero and say no to those who are willing to harm the U.S. America, and uh, so that we will be able to drill offshore and build up our future, for our [children]." - Karim

"FOX News Producer Shushannah Walshe just lashed out at the McCain campaign for denying access to reporters who wanted to witness Sarah Palin's U.N. photo ops earlier today. Walshe said the McCain campaign's restrictions on press coverage were "just unprecedented."" - Ruth Ferguson via Bookmarklet

Wow, powerful quotes in this one: "What we are witnessing today is how empires end. The Last Superpower is unable to defend its borders, protect its currency, win its wars or balance its budget. Medicare and Social Security are headed for the cliff with unfunded liabilities in the tens of trillions of dollars. What we are witnessing today is nothing less than a Katrina-like failure of government, of our political class, and of democracy itself, casting a cloud over the viability and longevity of the system. " - Bwana McCall

Also this one: "An unelected financial elite is now entrusted with the assignment of getting us out of a disaster into which an unelected financial elite plunged the nation. We are just spectators." - Jason Kaneshiro

Wow - when Buchanan isn't on crazy mode, he's a really smart, shrewd guy. I'm not as pessimistic though and I still think we're firmly in the era of a global economy - we just need to learn to act as a player and not the master. I think what we're really seeing happening now is the beginnings of what's going to propel us to a true one world government - especially if this crap continues... That may end up being the real legacy of George W Bush. - Tad - the Fresh Maker

And they picked Talk Like a Pirate Day.. :-P - Shawn Farner

Who knew?! funny! - Susan Beebe

Arrrgh, if ye be looking fur social media, ye found de place. - Chris Reed

"Sen. McCain, who constantly repeats his no-new-taxes promise on the campaign trail, proposes a big tax hike as the solution to our health-care crisis. His plan would raise taxes on workers who receive health benefits, with the idea of encouraging their employers to drop coverage. A study conducted by University of Michigan economist Tom Buchmueller and colleagues published in the journal Health Affairs suggests that the McCain tax hike will lead employers to drop coverage for over 20 million Americans. What would happen to these people? Mr. McCain will give them a small tax credit, $5,000 for a family and $2,500 for an individual, and tell them to navigate the individual insurance market on their own. For middle- and lower-income people, the credits are way too small. They are less than half the cost of policies today ($12,000 on average for a family), and are far below the 75% that most employers offering coverage contribute. Further, their value would erode over time, as the credit increases less rapi" - Paul Buchheit via Bookmarklet