Outside The Beltway | OTB

Google is a Verb, Not Just a Search Engine

James Joyner — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:35:57 +0000

E.D. Kain makes the interesting point that it may be too late for Microsoft’s bing to make much penetration into the search market, regardless of whether it’s better at producing desired results, because we’ve already reached the point where the name of the market leader has become a verb. Once something becomes a sort of universal [...]

Unforced

Dave Schuler — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:06:52 +0000

This morning in the Washington Post Stephen Stromberg echoes a point I made over at my place yesterday about President Obama’s flat joke about the purchase of Alaska, made during his Moscow visit: But Obama probably also shouldn’t have said this. The president joked to a group of Russian businessmen about how Czar Alexander II gave [...]

Swim Club Racism in Philly?

James Joyner — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:09:16 +0000

A rather thinly sourced piece in the Philadelphia News alleging racism at a private swim club is getting quite a bit of attention. More than 60 campers from Northeast Philadelphia were turned away from a private swim club and left to wonder if their race was the reason. “I heard this lady, she was like, ‘Uh, what [...]

CIA Lying to Congress?

James Joyner — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:37:58 +0000

The CIA has been lying to Congress about somethingoranother for years now, sources tell NYT. The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon E. Panetta, has told the House Intelligence Committee in closed-door testimony that the C.I.A. concealed “significant actions” from Congress from 2001 until late last month, seven Democratic committee members said. In a June 26 [...]

Google Chrome OS Undocumented Features

James Joyner — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:57:12 +0000

The buzz yesterday was that Google has plans to develop its mediocre Chrome browser into a mediocre operating system by next summer. Dave Rutledge speculates on some of its “undocumented features.” Your family photos are accompanied by text ads for skin care and diet plans. Removes all Falun Gong references from your files. Every month, the hard drive [...]

The Onion on Star Trek

James Joyner — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:05:35 +0000

This “Onion News Network” parody report on fan reaction to the then-new “Star Trek” prequel movie came out in May but Timothy Sandefur’s post was the first I’d seen it. “Yes it was exciting . . . but where was the heavyhanded message about tolerance, where was the stiff acting . . . I mean, it [...]

OTB Latenight - r.e.m.

Dodd — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:30:50 +0000

Seen in the Comments–Vizzini Edition

Steve Verdon — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:37:15 +0000

In this post of mine on Efficiency and Administrative costs frequent commenter Michael Reynolds wrote, How about we take the French system plus 20%? Hell, France plus 50% would represent a staggering windfall for us. In fact, we could buy France with the savings. I don’t think that word (windfall) means what you think it means. [...]

OTB Radio - Tonight at 5:30 Eastern

James Joyner — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:09:05 +0000

The next episode of OTB Radio, our BlogTalkRadio program, will record and air live from 5:30-6:30 Eastern. Dave Schuler and I will be talk about President Obama’s trip to Russia, the G8 summit, the Afghanistan surge, and anything but Michael Jackson. We’ll also be taking calls at (646) 716-7030. Owing to a high trolls to legit [...]

Getting Even with United

James Joyner — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:23:07 +0000

Sons of Maxwell’s Dave Carroll continues his quest to strike back at United Airlines for the great guitar breaking caper. Actually not a bad song. Some of their non-revenge videos are available at their YouTube channel.

Bruno La Toya Jackson Scene Cut

James Joyner — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:02:29 +0000

He’s dead and buried but Michael Jackson still dominates the news: The makers of the film “Bruno” have cut a scene featuring Michael Jackson’s sister La Toya because of fears it was in poor taste following the singer’s death, a spokeswoman said Wednesday. The scene in the spoof movie featuring British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen [...]

Quote of the Day - One World Edition

James Joyner — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:47:55 +0000

“I just purchased a Routan. I really like it. My friends tell me it’s a Chrysler. I firmly say ‘No!’ to them. I proudly point to my Routan and announce that it’s an American engineered German branded Fiat, manufactured in Canada, using some Japanese parts, by a company that is majority owned by American taxpayers. [...]

Marc Lynch Joins CNAS - Now with More Aardvark

James Joyner — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:00:24 +0000

Abu Aardvark’s Marc Lynch has been absorbed into the CNAS collective. UPDATE: Lynch himself weighs in: he’ll be a non-resident senior fellow at CNAS as well as Director for the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University. Congrats on both gigs from the OTB Gang.

Consecutive Integer Day

James Joyner — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:35:58 +0000

On the East Coast, it is about to be 12:34:56 on 7/8/09. I’m pretty sure this has no significance whatsoever but it’s mildly interesting.

How to Quash a Protest

Dave Schuler — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:12:00 +0000

According to NYT op-ed contributor Russell Leigh Moses the Chinese authorities have employed a successful and repeatable formula in controlling the protests in Xinjiang Province that have claimed more than 150 lives. Step 1: Cut off cellphone and Internet Access Many Chinese officials are quite sophisticated in their responses to threats to their governance, and they [...]