4 February 2005

  • New York's currently: ready to take this thing off some sweet jumps
  • Gonzales squeaks in with Attorney General confirmation.
  • Rhetoric in action: Less than a day after Bush says he's working with Europe to stop Iran's nuclear program, Rice, in her first move as secretary, says U.S. won't participate in Europe's plan to offer incentives for Iran, then insults the Tehran government.
  • Rumsfeld reveals that he tried to resign twice during the Abu Ghraib scandal.
  • The famous Hit Factory, the Manhattan studio where Lennon and Springsteen recorded, is set to shutter.
  • Offer to do something rotten for somebody and you could win a black star.
  • New York Transit says plan to computerize subways will take 45 more years. (Is that six months in subway time?)
  • Russian pianist suspended for playing criminal song.
  • Scottish MPs want to rehabilitate the memory of Macbeth.
  • Really quite beautiful; video: Muppets Overtime.
  • People frown at report that says alcohol is as bad for you as smoking, and people criticize report that says heroin won't destroy your life.
  • How the medical personnel at Abu Ghraib weren't trained to save lives.
  • New York's Rice to Riches exposed as sports-gambling palace.
  • Artists fix thrift-store artworks. [via bb]
  • Paul Sedaris (the REAL Rooster) set to make his big-screen debut.
  • Uh oh; investigations claim: the EPA is corrupt, the oil-for-food program is (even more) corrupt, and mortgage leader Ameriquest is corrupt.
  • For example, about a year ago I said my wife and I "had a baby," when, in fact, we had merely won a goldfish at a street fair. Matthew Baldwin clears up some misconceptions about his blog.
  • Kinky Friedman officially kicks off his bid for the Texas governorship.