Boulevard of Broken Taco Shells

I was so excited recently when I came across this article that talked up

a new service available in the Bay Area and looking to expand;

one that you could order tacos from your Smartphone

and have them delivered to your location via drone helicopter.

WHUT!?!

Turns out, it was all a hoax.

Oh, interwebz! You promise me such wonderful things

and then you take them away!

I should have known better, though.

A tacocopter? That's too good to be true.

Too deliciously good.

But, I will say this. If we're going to have

drones buzzing through our urban centers,

I wouldn't mind if a few of those would be dedicated to bringing me

tasty noms a la the silver parachutes in The Hunger Games.

The NSA is probably reading this blog...over your shoulder

Photo from Wired.com.

James Bamford wrote a great article for Wired.com on

the NSA's new spy center being built in the Utah desert.

This wouldn't be so disconcerting except that the NSA, an agency

that historically was tasked with preventing another surprise attack

after Pearl Harbor (and clearly, has done a bang-up job since)

has turned its spies inward.

This new facility will be monitoring the

U.S. telecommunications networks and

storing all the data it collects.

I find this particularly troubling considering

I had to OK a new set of Google privacy terms

just to post this.

We live in two different worlds

Everyone knows that China has tight reins on the internet that their citizens see, but most don't realize that the contrast between our internet and theirs is so stark.

Do a search on the U.S. version of Google Images for "Tiananmen," and this is the first result you get.

Do a search on the Chinese version of Google Images for "Tiananmen," and this is the first result you get.

Further search through the Chinese results turns up no images similar to the ones we in America would find.

Understandably, the Chinese government may be embarrassed by the images of the massacre, as most governments would be of their shameful pasts. But do do a quick search for "American slavery" and you'll come up with some pretty honest and harrowing images.

Ain't Democracy great?

Say You're Sorry

Ahhh, Interwebz! You have endlessly creative lovers.

One of them slapped together this gem: "The Kanye West Apology Generator."

P.S. How much do I love that Taylor Swift towers over him in that pic? THIS much!

Lookin' for some law school lovin'

My roommate mistakenly thought I posted this missed connections ad on CraigsList, but I laughed too hard to not give it its due publicity.

P.S. The argument needs some finessing.

The Daily Special 9.1.09

It's September. How did I miss April?

• My state is still on fire. Prayers and love for the families, friends, and firefighting emergency personnel out there battling the blaze.

• Which annoying type are you? My favourite: "The Bad Grammarian. "So sad about Fara Fauset but Im so gladd its friday yippe". Yes, I know the punctuation rules are different in the digital world. And, no, no one likes a spelling-Nazi schoolmarm. But you sound like a moron."

• The tools of modern justice are the same tools that hold your plumbing together.

• Big pimpin' in aisle 3.

• This kid really loves his bacon.

The Daily Special 8.31.09

OK, gonna try to get back to the daily routine here. Fun tidbits below. Enjoy!

• Since when are English muffins considered junk food? And P.S., taxing breakfast is not going to make me skinny.

• The ultimate recycling: illegal home conversion.

• This is why the terrorists hate us. Ugh...even I hate us after reading that headline.

• Look ma! My internet obsession is actually good for me!

• Who doesn't love a foreign prankster?

Power Tripping

I don't trust our government to efficiently screw in a light bulb, so I certainly don't think it should have anything to do with policing the internet. But that's just what Congress wants to allow the president to do.

The President. One man. With the power to control our access to information and communication. Think it'll never happen?

S.773 drafted by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

First and foremost, I want to know exactly what constitutes a "cybersecurity emergency." I can not think of a single doomsday scenario that would justify turning any region of the United States into Burma, even temporarily.

This is bad news.