The Daily Loper – December 9, 2008

Origami Space Shuttle Edition

Todays links of interest:

• Photos of JAXA’s origami space shuttles
  Origami space shuttles? Hell, yeah!!
• NBC executives call Jay Leno the "killer app" to draw viewers to their prime time
  They then went on to say: "This better work, because — holy shit! –are we out of ideas. Anybody got any ideas? We don’t know what the hell we’re doing anymore!"
• Three Major Record Labels Join the ‘Choruss’
  Oh geez. Is this the big plan for the music business? Add an additional fee to already-high college costs to pay for supposedly pirated music? This is so wrong.
• Young guns storm Sunday mornings
  It’s nice when Politico’s definition of young mirrors ours.
• Sabathia meets Yankees for second straight day
  CC will be signing with the Dodgers. He’s just trying to milk the Yankees for as many free meals as he possibly can. Go CC!
• Homeless dog tries to save dog hit by car in Chile
  Here’s the weird part. The homeless dog was in New York City and he had to catch a plane to Chile to attempt the rescue.
• At Last: Pulitzer Prizes Expand to Include Web-Only News Outlets
  Wow, does this mean the Internets might have some serious thought going on?
• Nagging wife, sausage helps man win .2M lottery
  See, the crankiness and haranguing works!
• How Amazon’s cell phone app can save you money at Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart.
  It actually already has. Rox was walking through the DVD section at Best Buy this weekend, doing comparisons.
• Merrill Chief Wants -Million Bonus For Presiding Over -Billion Loss
  No, seriously, apparently you deserve a bonus for showing up. Sad thing is, someone will say, "Sure, let’s give the guy a little something extra. He tried. He failed, sure, we’re in big trouble, but it couldn’t possibly be the fault of the guy running the company. He’s being scapegoated."
• Wikipedia Censored In U.K. Over Nude Girl
  Uh, we can all agree that child pornography is bad, but there really are better ways to handle things.
• Wait a second: 2008 gets extended by timekeepers
  Yes, Virginia, one more second between us and a new president.
• Tribune Co. files for bankruptcy protection
  And it’s official.
• NBC preps major executive shuffle
  Building on last week’s shake-up, the network tries to redefine itself by redefining its executive team.
• The End Of Online Anonymity
  Darn, just when we wanted to created a few secret identities to cover our nefarious deeds.
• Inherent Vice: Thomas Pynchon preps new novel – The Ampersand
  Note to Kirk: new Pynchon. Your reading list is growing.
• Peter Daou: The Revolution of the Online Commentariat
  Is the ease of online communication putting the citizen back in the political conversation? Is it changing the world, at least a little? Can it create more responsible and responsive government?