dave submitted an article in the New York Times about how the government sent The Onion a letter telling them they could not use the Presidential Seal.

You might have thought that the White House had enough on its plate late last month, what with its search for a new Supreme Court nominee, the continuing war in Iraq and the C.I.A. leak investigation. But it found time to add another item to its agenda - stopping The Onion, the satirical newspaper, from using the presidential seal.

The newspaper regularly produces a parody of President Bush's weekly radio address on its Web site (www.theonion.com/content/node/40121), where it has a picture of President Bush and the official insignia.

"It has come to my attention that The Onion is using the presidential seal on its Web site," Grant M. Dixton, associate counsel to the president, wrote to The Onion on Sept. 28. (At the time, Mr. Dixton's office was also helping Mr. Bush find a Supreme Court nominee; days later his boss, Harriet E. Miers, was nominated.)

Citing the United States Code, Mr. Dixton wrote that the seal "is not to be used in connection with commercial ventures or products in any way that suggests presidential support or endorsement." Exceptions may be made, he noted, but The Onion had never applied for such an exception.

The Onion was amused. "I'm surprised the president deems it wise to spend taxpayer money for his lawyer to write letters to The Onion," Scott Dikkers, editor in chief, wrote to Mr. Dixton. He suggested the money be used instead for tax breaks for satirists.

More formally, The Onion's lawyers responded that the paper's readers - it prints about 500,000 copies weekly, and three million people read it online - are well aware that The Onion is a joke.

There's a review over at chud.com that caught my eye. I saw the trailer for this movie which stars Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr., and it looked quite good. The review is convincing me even more that I want to see it when it comes out. IMDB says it's out in limited release since the 21st, but full release on November 10th.

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is a grin-making machine. It’s relentlessly clever and quick. This is the kind of movie that shows up all the ‘fun’ movies that people love. Black has sat in the director chair and begun his new career by reminding us that a fun movie can also be smart. That you can go to the movies, have a complete fucking blast, and not feel like you were being condescended to for two hours.

This is one of those films that you want your friends to see because you want to have someone to bounce these great lines off of. It’s the kind of movie that you want to share because elements of it are going to become part of your personal vocabulary in the months and the years to come. This movie is a classic already – you’ll be quoting it and referencing it as soon as you have walked out of the theater.

If I have as much fun in a theater with another movie this year as I had with Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, 2005 will go down in history as the greatest year for cinema ever.

Counting this story, there have been 100 total stories posted! Take a look back at what's been posted so far using the topic list (that page also notes the actual number of stories at the bottom - the sid value of stories are not accurate because of deleted stories). Alternatively, you can search for a specific story. And, don't forget, members can contribute stories too. It takes 2 seconds, submit as little as a link or as much as a full summary.

dave submitted another article which related to work productivity. From the last paragraph:

It turns out that the afternoon games have a real economic impact. A new study shows that all the afternoon playoff games cost employers $225 million in lost productivity. The outplacement firm that came up with the figure said that the biggest impact will obviously be on companies in the eight cities that have teams in the playoffs.

I'm assuming that this study assumed that the time would have otherwise been productive, which may be questionable :)

dave submitted a story from Wired about how many companies are blocking their employees from viewing blogs from work.

Keith Crosley, director of corporate communications at censorware company Proofpoint, says there's no anti-blog conspiracy at work, but that some companies have higher security, privacy and regulatory needs that require greater diligence over what companies can and cannot do.

In particular, companies worry that employees might leak sensitive material -- perhaps inadvertently -- while posting comments to blog message boards. In a survey of over 300 large businesses conducted in conjunction with Forrester, Proofpoint found 57.2 percent of respondents were concerned with employees exposing sensitive material in blogs. That's higher than the portion concerned with the risks of P2P networks.

On the other hand, Mason pooh-poohs the notion that corporate propriety is the real driver for blog blockades. "Sites are blocked more for reasons of productivity than security," he says.

Read on for a related story from AdAge.com about the cost of lost productivity from employees reading blogs.

Read More...

A story in the Washington Post describes how the Senate just approved a subsidy of $3 billion to pay for the converter boxes that will be needed by people who have older TVs when they make the switch from analog transmissions to all-digital broadcasts.

Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said Congress needs to do something to help consumers with the older analog sets, an estimated 21 million households. "If we're mandating this (digital) conversion, we cannot leave people behind because they can't afford" digital television sets, he said.

The draft of a House bill would end analog transmissions on Dec. 31, 2008. It does not mention a subsidy for set-top converter boxes. So, lawmakers will likely have to work out differences between the two bills, though Stevens said he did not anticipate a big fight with the House over the deadline or the subsidy.

The subsidy program would be paid for by money raised from the auction of the analog spectrum the broadcasters are vacating. The subsidy would be available for all those households with older televisions, and it would pay for converter boxes for all the TVs in a particular household, regardless of financial status.

Stevens estimates that the converter boxes would cost about $50. His plan would call for the government to pay roughly $40, and the consumer would make a co-payment of $10.

Interesting info on how the date of the switch was picked:

The seemingly random date of April 7, 2009, isn't all that random. Stevens wanted to make sure that any digital switch wouldn't come in the middle of popular programming during the holidays, football bowl games, and the March Madness college basketball playoffs.

dave submitted an article in the Washington Post about how Budweiser was shocked to discover that people were playing their promotional "Bud Pong" with beer, rather than water as instructed. In related news, the sky is blue and Budweiser representatives were again surprised, this time when told that beer contains alcohol. From the article: "The company said it was pulling the [Bud Pong] promotion, and did not want perceptions of the "Bud Pong" game to conflict with a $500 million campaign to promote responsible drinking, Katz said."

"What injuries has the child suffered? Hopefully, none," he said. "But we know the child is at risk, and we know there are lots of lawsuits being filed and lots of things being done that could affect this child's cause of action should it be born with any kind of injuries." That is why a man is filing a lawsuit against Metra over the recent train derailment, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

One legal expert said it was a "bizarre" suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, as it seeks damages for someone who isn't yet born and might not even be injured.

DePaul University law Professor Bruce Ottley said that while wrongful-death cases have been filed on behalf of "viable" fetuses killed in car accidents, "until the child is born, I don't know what kind of injury you can claim," adding "it seems sort of bizarre to do now."

John Marshall Law School Professor Michael Polelle said the suit "may be premature," as "the child is not even a legal person yet."

dave submitted an AP article about a woman with an outrageous tax bill.

LOVELAND, Ohio -- A woman who hasn't paid a $1.16 income tax bill to this Cincinnati suburb faces up to 18 months in jail and $4,000 in fines. City officials say Deborah Combs hasn't filed city income tax returns for five years. Combs says she has been mostly unemployed since 2000 and didn't realize she had to file the returns until the city notified her in February about the violation. By that time, Combs owed $200 in late fees -- $50 for each year she didn't file a return. "I don't know how they could charge me the fees if I didn't owe anything," Combs said. Loveland officials say everyone is required to file an annual return, regardless of income level.

In an article that seems like it's straight out of The Onion, a dog is relieved of police duties (no more dog duty :) for being lazy.

Buster, who spent some six months on the beat, has been placed with a family in Sheffield, near this town in northern England, Police Constable David Stephenson said. "He has a lack of drive and motivation when asked to do operational work," Stephenson told The Associated Press. "He's just a lovely pet."

Two-year-old Buster performed well at the start of his 14-week training program, but his work gradually deteriorated and the problem worsened once he started patrolling the streets, he said. On one occasion, Buster walked straight past a suspected criminal hiding in the garden of a house late at night and went off to cock his leg. "I searched the garden myself and found the bloke. The dog had walked past the spot where I found him," Stephenson said. "You would have expected him to use his nose to locate him."

During a separate tracking operation, also in the early hours of the morning, Buster gave up while in mid-chase across a golf course . "He just downed tools," Stephenson said. "He just lay down and there was nothing we could do. He has got a very low drive for finding people."

When patroling Rotherham at pub closing times — when the streets are often crowded with drunken revelers — Buster wagged his tail when people came up to him and ate their fries, instead of deterring potential trouble makers, his former handler said. "He just showed no interest in doing the job," Stephenson added. "He had no fire in his belly."