Think your computer's memory goes blank as soon as you turn it off, and that nobody could ever gain access to your data if you use an encrypted disk scheme (bitLocker, etc.) ?

Wrong!

Bush: Idiot

Yglesias was over at his fancy blog being all like "Iraq this, Iraq that..." when he let loose with this:

But rather than selling the public on the whole disreputable salami, we're supposed to swallow it in slices.

Now I can't stop saying "swallow the whole disreputable salami".

Making Eye Babies

Guitar Lessons with Mitt Romney

I Really Didn't Love America

Mary, Rhoda, Russert

Heron Eats Duck

Denon's selling a snake oil $500 interconnect cable, and the reviewers on Amazon are having lots of fun with it, just as they did with the Tuscan Whole Milk. For example:

A caution to people buying these: if you do not follow the "directional markings" on the cables, your music will play backwards. Please check that before mentioning it in your reviews.

...and...

The cabling system has a base-plate connector of prefabulated amulite, surmounted by a malleable logarithmic casing in such a way that the two spurving bearings are in a direct line with the pentametric fan. The main cable winding is of the normal lotus-o-delta type placed in panendermic semi-boloid slots in the stator, every seventh conductor being connected by a nonreversible tremble pipe to the differential girdlespring on the 'up' end of the grammeters.

...and...

I was expecting high fidelity using Denon cables but what I got was a revelation. I heard God -faint at first but definitely Him. It turns out He has been wanting to get in touch for a long time but other audio-cables just weren't good enough to carry His signal.

But my favorite is from reviewer R. Blais, who writes:

I accidentally dropped one end of my Denon cable into a glass of Tuscan whole milk I was drinking. Later when I finished my milk (yeah, I still drank it; should I not have done that?), my right arm (lost in an accident in 1987) spontaneously grew back.

Is that normal?

Convergence!

(via)

• The Black Keys - Attack & Release. It has a minimalist soul/blues vibe - similar to the White Stripes - but goes deep & mellow where the White Stripes would choose loud crashing angst. Very accessible, but still interesting. 4 nulls ØØØØ
• Pink Mountaintops - Axis Of Evol. Lo-fi garage proto-psychedelia; iTunes called it "stoner-rock". A double-bill with Viva Voce would make sense. 3 nulls ØØØ
• Mazzy Star - So That Tonight I Might See. Yeah, I'm 15 years late on this one. It really is great, though - well worth the wait. It could be the Cowboy Junkies' 2nd-best record. 4 nulls ØØØØ
• Portishead - Third. Speaking of 1993... Portishead? Yep. The instruments and arrangements are a bit more aggressive and in-your-face than on their other two records, but it's still got that unmistakable Portishead sound (a.k.a. Beth Gibbons' voice). 4 nulls ØØØØ
• Shellac - Beautiful Italian Greyhound. This record demands to be played a couple of notches louder than your comfort level. Not sure why the other guy is singing, though. And their bouncy little major scale instrumental isn't bad, but sure feels strange. 3 nulls ØØØ