Wider Angle: Wider Angle Sunday Reader for 09.24.06

Just got back from seeing Michael Showalter, Zach Galifianakis, and friends at Union Hall in Park Slope, Brooklyn. We laughed so hard. My face hurts. And all for $7. [Photo by Allyson.]

Cory Doctorow posted a fun infographic representing Disney's longing for eternal copyright. "I once was on a standards committee with a Disney TV executive who was convinced that every time Disney broadcasted an old show, the copyright clock started over for that program -- so if you put a 50 year old cartoon on TV, it would get another 95 years of fresh copyright."

The Economist says what we all know: LEDs will replace traditional lightbulbs sooner than later. "Light bulbs are among the last devices that use vacuum tubes, an old technology that has been replaced in radios and most televisions."

Kurt Vonnegut says what we all know: this is it. "I pressed him to expand, wondering if he had any advice for young people who want to join the increasingly vocal environmental movement. 'There is nothing they can do,' he bleakly answered. 'It's over, my friend. The game is lost.'"

A top-tier group of government advisors tells the government what citizens already know: The FDA is badly broken. Among their recommendations, "The panel called for a moratorium on consumer advertising of newly approved classes of drugs until they have been on the market long enough for unrecognized side effects and risks to emerge." [via digg]

Dozens and dozens of photos of old children's toy and food packaging. [via BB]

A device that creates thrust by redirecting microwaves using no moving parts could enable everything from fuel-less space travel to hovercars.

Author David Feige was sued for calling a former District Attorney "dowdy" in his new book. Amazing. Even better is his reponse: "Leaving aside that I think she is dowdy, you can't actually sue people for that... She also seems to forget that truth is an absolute defense." Zing!

"They rediscover bin Laden every two years right before the election. If you had a business strategy that worked all the time that was premised on scaring the living daylights out of people, you just keep doing it." -- Bill Clinton on Bloomberg TV.

From page A11 of Thursday's Washington Post: "Former associates of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff had dozens of appointments with Bush administration staff members, according to Secret Service visitor logs..."

"Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand." -- Mark Twain

If you're jonesing for some Simpsons or Futurama, enjoy every episode online.

An $800,000 radiological survey was recently conducted in NYC and authorities found unexpected radioactive locations. "NYPD officials indicated that the survey was tremendously valuable because it identified more than 80 locations with radiological sources that required further investigation to determine their risk."

For some reason, the RIAA can't find a lot of major artists to pay them their money. Gosh, that's weird, cause other people can find them.

Pakistan's military dictator Pervez Musharraf was widely criticized for using his speech at the UN General Assembly and the following press conference with President Numbskull to hype his new book. "I would like to I am launching my book on the 25th, and I am honour-bound to Simon and Schuster not to comment on the book before that day," he said after being asked an altogether different question by a reporter. "In other words, buy the book, is what he's saying," said our President immediately after, just in case it wasn't clear.

A bill that would allow public schools to strip search students without a warrant for any reason has passed the House and is on its way to the Senate.

Fishloft lets your fishies get a better view of the world around them, and you get to see them swimming above the water level.

For some reason the number one request from universities who are thinking of using iTunes U (whereby Apple stores your audio and video data on their servers to make it easier to distribute to students and faculty) is DRM restrictions. "DRM in the classroom flies in the face of not only my general IP position, but everything I like to believe about academic freedom." Related: Yale will be posting many intro courses on the web for free.

Right-wingers have been misusing the term "cultural relativism" to blanket criticize the anti-globalization argument, when the phrase actually describes the condition where someone finds fault in other cultures but is blind to the faults of her own. [thanks Steven]

A former Diebold consultant admitted that more than 5,000 voting machines had their software switched the day of the 2002 election in two Georgia counties alone. Related: Maryland's governor wants to ditch e-voting machines for the 2006 election. [via reddit]

An article from the Globe and Mail (now sadly behind a subscriber wall) details the frequently and tragically overlooked injury affecting thousands of soldiers in Iraq: traumatic brain damage. While a soldier may survive a bomb or explosion, when the brain slams against the side of the cranium, it begins a process of irreparably damaging itself, slowly eliminating function. Frequently the condition isn't noticed immediately because while some effects are obvious, others take weeks or months to surface.

New evidence suggests that Neanderthals mated with modern humans and were not, as previously believed, a completely separated species.

A book of Presidential doodles. "What the fuck is up with Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) and his freaky jack-o-lantern-head-contemplating-sacred-desert-bird doodle? If that's not a 'shroom-fueled Meat Puppets album cover, I'm a mindless idiot on the lake of fire."

A Businessbib is a half-suit for video conferencing from home.

When the RIAA sends someone a letter with a lawsuit, this is what they really mean. "If you would prefer not to be stripped of your home and dignity, please send us $3,750 in the return envelope. If your toddler has been named in this lawsuit, explain to them that the fruits of their labor as an adult will go to pay a debt that will ultimately lead to their death at a young age due to their inability to afford medical insurance. Toddlers never understand that, but they'll get the point if you make them cry."

In what David Cross would call a "Fuck You to poor people," you can get $5000 marmalade with gold in it.

A few decades ago, environmentalists thought they were doing a good thing by creating underwater reefs out of old tires. It turns out that they actually kill life and are now washing up on the beach.