HuffPo is doing something called the “Contagious Festival” that features a hilarious imagining of the mental remix conservatives seem to do when when viewing the NYT front page. Just mouse over each headline to reveal their paranoid re-imaginings of the day’s news.

It explains their generally inexplicable outrage at the “librul media” institution that we now know helped ensure Bush’s (re)election in 2004 by burying the NSA wiretapping story until after the election.

This just in ladies…big, bushy eyebrows are back.  In case your eyebrows don’t suddenly grow in because Vogue has issued an edict (in direct contrast to the edicts of the past 10 years), there is help:

“For those with very sparse brows, some salons offer eyebrow extensions. At LuxLash on Newbury Street in Boston, for example, Suzanne Cats, the owner, thickens brows by gluing a tiny fiber onto each existing hair. The process, which costs $75 to $250, can take 45 minutes to two hours and the false eyebrow effect lasts two weeks, she said. She also offers brow prosthetics — hairpieces for the eyebrows — in 20 different shapes and shades.”

Seriously, eyebrow merkins?  Thank god I live in the NW.

The Federal government now has one less way to screw gay couples when one partner dies. Courtesy of the HRC and a few reasonable legistlators:

The Federal Pension Protection Act passed by Congress and signed into law today by President George W. Bush contains two key provisions that will extend important financial protections to same-sex couples and other Americans who leave their retirement savings to non-spouse beneficiaries. The bipartisan provisions in the bill are a step forward in equality and stem from a continuous effort led by the Human Rights Campaign.

David and I have actually worried about this sort of thing a lot. It’s one less thing to worry about, which these days is really important–because we all have plenty to worry about!

A SNAKE! A SNAKE!

 

But then again, I never learned this stuff in the third grade. Can you associate all 50 states on a map with their names within the time limit?

play flash game | digg story

I love those new “I’m a Mac” ads on TV (and I know Jay does too — he always rewinds them when we’re fast forwarding through the commercials on TiVo). This LA Times article is about the actor who plays the Mac. (The PC guy, John Hodgman, is regularly on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.) I didn’t realise he was in Galaxy Quest until I read the article. And he didn’t have a Mac when he shot those commercials, but he does now.

read article | digg story

I also forgot to mention, there are cows among us, and they are pissed.

The Space Cows are cattle that look and exactly like normal cows. But, behind those dull eyes, there is a brain seething with rage and the urge to rule the world…

You’ve been warned.

Today’s Slog was rather ripe with notable stories, and even though very few of them dealt with the whole supposed plot to blow up airplanes with Gatorade and iPods.

• About half of Americans think that American Muslims aren’t loyal to the US, and almost 40% think they should have to carry special ID. (maybe like wearing some kind of symbol to identify themselves?)
• Five years is too long for Americans to remember major events like September 11. No wonder Georgie-Boy’s handlers figure no one will remember that they made up the reasons for invading Iraq. Entertaining:
• This guy is challenging Maria Cantwell in the democratic primary. My personal favorite of his platforms: “Promote the involvement of for-profit companies such as Boeing and also Washingtonians in the coming, amazing colonization of orbital space (the high frontier), which begins not far above us, but very far away from the minds of many people.”
• A vote for Darcy Burner is apparently a vote to open up the gates of hell!
• Kurt Cobain’s kid kinda looks like Drew Barrymore. 
• It’s Hammertime. Again. 

Here’s a really cool piece of interactive Flash Art. Drill down into the picture by clicking on it. Then keep on going down … it’s kinda hypnotizing. Can you find the rugby players, or the naked man holding the neon hula hoop? The pictures that are made of pictures of themselves are kinda trippy too … it’s easy to find “loops”.

Maybe Getty Images could advertise their wares this way? Update: they do.

With all the news about the foiled plot in the UK today, this article Bill Biggart’s Final Exposures is a sobering reminder of the times we live in. These photos were recovered near the body of Bill Biggart on September 11, 2001. He was crushed by the falling second tower. You can also see the photos as a slideshow on Flickr.