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20 Aug 2009 15:18

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Offbeat, U.S.: Resume fabricator Antwon Womack drops out of the race

  • This race has just gotten to be too much for me.
  • Birmingham, Alabama school board candidate Antwon Womack • Whose pumped-up resume got him into a world of criticism (and us into world of hilarity). He will drop out of the race today. • source

20 Aug 2009 02:02

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Offbeat, U.S.: Meet Antwon Womack, perhaps the most inept politician ever

  • Antwon Womack is running for the Birmingham, Alabama school board (✓) in a district he reportedly doesn’t even live (✓) after giving false credentials – lying about going to college (✓), lying about his age (✓), lying about which high school he went to (✓), lying about graduating from high school (✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓), and calling himself a doctor (ahahahahah ✓). His political career is over before it even began, and this video deserves to seal the coffin.source

19 Aug 2009 21:19

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U.S.: This report says we’re gonna live longer than ever. Awesome!

  • 78 the U.S. life expectancy, according to the CDC; don’t die early source

19 Aug 2009 20:49

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Tech: We have an invite to Typekit. Here’s a sneak peek.

Here it is in action. It's not cheap. But it sure looks neat, doesn't it, guys?
Here's a lineup of costs:

Trial: Free (but you only get to use two fonts out of a mediocre collection, lame icon in the bottom corner – see below)
Personal: $7/month, $24.99 launch special (bigger collection, up to five fonts)
Professional: $17/month, $49.99/year launch special (bigger collection, unlimited fonts)
Corporate: $49.99/month (pretty much the whole kit and kaboodle)

Did they pull it off?:

They did their homework. The prices are fairly reasonable for web developers. The interface doesn't suck. The rendering, while good, isn't perfect (but that's more a Web browser problem than anything). And the DRM doesn't seem so overwhelming that you can't enjoy the technology for what it is. Good for them. Source

19 Aug 2009 10:09

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Politics: Thank you, Barney Frank: The greatest Town Hall video of all time

  • Barney Frank is too smart to get taken down by this questioner who tries to compare Obama to the Nazis. So instead he comes up with some of the best one liners we’ve ever heard. Talking to you is like talking to a dining room table.source

17 Aug 2009 23:13

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Music: ShortFormBand: SUNBEARS! makes us feel cheery and excited

Sunbears
  • Whoa, what is this?

    In our continuing effort to try new things, here’s our latest: Band coverage! This time, SUNBEARS! completely ignores our rules on brevity, but because we like their pop-laden music so much, we learn not to be such sticklers. Want to see your band here? E-mail us or bug us on Twitter!

    Listen to them

    Q1: In 15 words or less, describe your sound: Interesting music with a bit of pop-sensibility.

    Q2: Name three influences that inspire you, with three words each on why they’re awesome:
    Scriptures/texts (any religious/philosophical scripture/text will do): To get inside the heads of thinkers/spiritualists long past no matter how bonkers or completely boring they may be.
    The outdoors: Because there’s always something more to look at.
    Real smiles: Because it’s always inspiring to witness someone being truly happy.

    Q3: What’s a recent song you’ve been digging? Write ten words explaining why:
    Animal Collective – “My Girls”: I love the beginning with the triplet synth part, how swimmy it all is, until the beat drops on brings it all together.

    Q4: In 140 characters or less, how do you use social networking to get the word out: Just using things like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter to communicate with people in an everyday sort of way. “What’s up? What’s happening!? These are my thoughts…”

    Q5: In 15 words or less, what’s next for you? To keep pushing forward. Writing more tunes, Playing more shows. source

17 Aug 2009 11:25

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Music: Radiohead: Screw it, we’re gonna upload our songs to torrent sites

  • The new song had a twisted journey online. “These Are My Twisted Words” leaked a few days ago on a torrent site with zero information to go with it, but with a sound that was VERY close to Radiohead. However, the band only confirmed they uploaded the track this morning. While they’re not the first band to use BitTorrent as a distribution mechanism (Harvey Danger comes to mind), they’re definitely the biggest. Kudos to Radiohead for being game for reaching audiences in new, interesting ways. source
 

16 Aug 2009 23:29

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Culture: Are you a fan of Sesame Street? You’ll freaking love this.

101 Muppets of Sesame Street
  • There’s a lot of characters here, most of which we’ve never seen before, but all of them incredibly awesome. We’re suckers for deep, interesting Flash infographics like this one, and you should be too. Most unsung popular character here? Grover. Duh.source

14 Aug 2009 00:26

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Music: More on the coolest guitar hack ever, Les Paul’s “The Log”

When Paul introduced this guitar to guitar manufacturers, they laughed at him, calling it a “broomstick with pickups.” They’re not laughing anymore, kids. source

12 Aug 2009 11:28

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Offbeat, Tech: Two nerds figured out a way to get nerds to exercise more

  • You pedal the bike, the Internet goes faster. It’s a total carrot on a stick thing. Or at least a really entertaining viral video of a technology we’d never use. Just think, though, if this showed up in gyms, people would use it.source