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26 Aug 2009 23:05

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Politics: The A.V. Club provides critical analysis of the KFC Double Down

  • Well naturally it’s exceeded expectations: Not only is its design a blow against ‘the tyranny of the bun,’ it’s also the ultimate challenge to the rest of the fast-food industry to step up its game.
  • The Onion A.V. Club columnist Sean O’Neal • On our new favorite sandwich ever, the KFC Double Down. To us, it takes a high level of criticism for us to cover a story like this two days in a row, but Mr. O’Neal (yes, we called him Mr. O’Neal; We’re channeling our inner New York Times) is up to the task. O’Neal suggests that this sandwich is the fast food industry’s way of pushing through health care reform (or as O’Neal hilariously calls it, the “Reichstag fire of health care reform”). • source

26 Aug 2009 22:11

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Politics: Why so secretive, Flickr? The Obama Joker mystery continues

Flickr says they got a DMCA takedown notice. None of the usual suspects – Time Magazine, DC Comics, the photographer – claim to have sent one. Hmm. source

26 Aug 2009 21:56

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Biz: Toyota just recalled a ton of cars with brake problems

  • 95,700 Toyota & Scion cars recalled source

26 Aug 2009 21:54

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Culture: Dominick Dunne, Vanity Fair’s biggest smart aleck, dead at 83

The author, known for his ability to find humor in media circuses like O.J. Simpson’s murder trial, is probably bristling that he died the same day as Ted Kennedy. source

26 Aug 2009 21:41

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Sports: American Defenders no longer allowed to play baseball

  • No, really. The American Defenders didn’t pay rent. The mayor of Nashua, New Hampshire has decided to call out the minor league baseball team on its inability to pay rent by locking the doors of their home field and putting a freaking tractor on home plate so that they literally can’t play. The team, which received a notice of default on Friday, owes $45,000 in rent and fees for police and fire services. To prove that the city has no heart in a bad economy, we must point out that proceeds from last night’s game would have benefited the American Heart Association. How considerate of them. source

26 Aug 2009 21:26

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U.S.: When Mass. last had an open Senate seat, leg warmers were popular

  • 25 years since both Senate seats weren’t filled by somebody source

26 Aug 2009 21:17

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U.S.: Mark Sanford: You South Carolina sons of #(^@&! are stuck with me

  • I’m not going to be railroaded out of this office by political opponents or people who were not fans of mine in the first place.
  • South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford • In remarks regarding his status in office after Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer (who, like Sanford, is a Republican) pushed for the governor to resign. We wish that the lieutenant governor were Andre Braugher. He’s a great actor, not a guy plotting against a governor who hasn’t broken any laws. • source
 

26 Aug 2009 21:01

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Biz, World: IKEA changed their fonts to reach Chinese *yawn* customers

Futura didn’t have an extended character set like Verdana does. How do the Chinese repay them? By loitering in their stores. source

26 Aug 2009 20:46

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Biz: Verdana is not a font. We repeat, IKEA: Verdana is not a font.

The 2010 IKEA catalog

Verdana is a mistake. With all apologies to noted typographer Matthew Carter (who we saw speak a couple of years ago and have a lot of respect for), Microsoft has ruined his most well-known font. Its use has become such a sign of amateurism that we consider it a mistake. So its usage in the IKEA catalog, above, requires us to complain. Loudly.
  • Where it looks good Microsoft’s Web site. Internet Explorer interfaces. Computer screens. Body type. That’s about it. source
  • Where it looks good Microsoft’s Web site. Internet Explorer interfaces. Computer screens. Body type. That’s about it.
  • Where it looks bad Just about everywhere the IKEA catalog uses it. Big type. Bad tracking. The kerning sucks. The corners that make the font so distinctive turn in ways that scream personality in all the wrong ways. The catalog looks like something a first year design student at ITT Tech would make, which is the harshest criticism we could come up with. It looks like the font blew out when the catalogs were being printed. source
  • Where it looks good Microsoft’s Web site. Internet Explorer interfaces. Computer screens. Body type. That’s about it.
  • Where it looks bad Just about everywhere the IKEA catalog uses it. Big type. Bad tracking. The kerning sucks. The corners that make the font so distinctive turn in ways that scream personality in all the wrong ways. The catalog looks like something a first year design student at ITT Tech would make, which is the harshest criticism we could come up with. It looks like the font blew out when the catalogs were being printed.
  • The font in context Carter designed this typeface (along with Tahoma and Georgia) for a specific purpose in 1994 – to look good on a computer screen. A lot has changed since 1994. Most notably, we use LCD screens, not CRTs. Improved font rendering makes screens look nearly as good as print. We don’t need Verdana anymore. IKEA needs Futura, an iconic font it used for 50 years. Stupid Swedes. source

26 Aug 2009 11:24

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Sports: The Humane Society’s new spokesman: Michael Vick. PETA, take notes

  • This is how you should handle a PR disaster like Michael Vick. Don’t call him a d-bag in the press: Everyone knows he is one. Instead, give the dude a chance to show that he can rehab his public image. Kudos to the Humane Society for realizing it. Bad on PETA for screwing this golden opportunity up.source