Bill Maher: "I'll Show You Mine, If You Show Me Yours!"

Bill Maher has a better name for the Dumbos: Lizard People. If this is (fair & balanced) truth to stupidity, so be it.

[x HuffPost]
Bill Maher Issues Warning On Birthers
By Lila Shapiro

Tonight (Friday, 07/31/09) on HBO, Bill Maher took on the "birther" movement because, in his words, "In America, you know what, if you don't immediately kill errant bullshit no matter how ridiculous, it can grown and thrive and eventually take over like crab grass or Cirque du Soleil."

"In America," Maher explained, "There is no idea so patently absurd that it can't catch on." The idea catching on here is that Obama is an undocumented alien, with no U.S. birth certificate, and his presidency is, thus, "illegal."

"Lou Dobbs said recently that people are asking a lot of questions about the birth certificate." Maher continued. "Yes. The same people that want to know where the sun goes at night. And... where to put the stamp on their email. And Lou, you're their new king"

[x HBO]
"Real Time With Bill Maher" (07/31/09) — Grand Kenyan/Birther Rant
By Bill Maher

Ω


[Lila Shapiro is a recent graduate from The University of Chicago. She is an Associate Editor at "Talking Points Memo." She edits TPM Cafe and develops and executes special projects through out the sites. She began her journalism career as a production intern at PBS working on Bill Moyers' "Buying the War."

William (Bill) Maher, Jr., is a comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He hosted the late-night television talk show "Politically Incorrect" on Comedy Central and ABC, and is currently the star of "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO. Maher received his Bachelor of Arts in English from Cornell University in 1978.]

Copyright © 2009 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

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Copyright © 2009 Sapper's (Fair & Balanced) Rants & Raves

Here's A Tweet To End All Tweets: U R Alembic!

This blogger doesn't Tweet or text. Instead, he writes old-fashioned HTML-code for this blog. Get a life, blogger! If this is (fair & balanced) quasi-Luddism, so be it.

[x NY Fishwrap]
Twittergraphy
By Ben Schott

The 140-character limit of Twitter posts was guided by the 160-character limit established by the developers of SMS. However, there is nothing new about new technology imposing restrictions on articulation. During the late 19th-century telegraphy boom, some carriers charged extra for words longer than 15 characters and for messages longer than 10 words. Thus, the cheapest telegram was often limited to 150 characters†.

Concerns for economy, as well as a desire for secrecy, fueled a boom in telegraphic code books that reduced both common and complex phrases into single words. Dozens of different codes were published; many catered to specific occupations and all promised efficiency.

The phrases below are from the third edition of “The Anglo-American Telegraphic Code,” published in 1891. It can only be hoped that, as Twitter advances, more people will begin Tweeting in code, thus:

Click on image to enlarge. Ω

[Ben Schott, the author of Schott’s Miscellany 2009, is a contributing columnist for The Times. Schott was born in London and graduated from Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, where he read Social and Political Sciences with a Double First. At Cambridge he was a regular photographer for the university student newspaper Varsity. He writes "Schott’s Vocab" at this link.

Copyright © 2009 The New York Times Company

Get the Google Reader at no cost from Google. Click on this link to go on a tour of the Google Reader. If you read a lot of blogs, load Reader with your regular sites, then check them all on one page. The Reader's share function lets you publicize your favorite posts.

Copyright © 2009 Sapper's (Fair & Balanced) Rants & Raves