Did Obama brush back Bill's veep pitch?

This one's for you, AFT: RuralVotes' The Field is reporting that Hillary's people, by which I mean Hillary's POTUS-on-call, hit up the Obama people hard for that VP spot -- and Obama's responded with a polite but firm "No." (Time's sourced on the first part of that; The Field's claiming an exclusive on the latter.) Screw his alleged lack of foreign policy experience; if Obama can negotiate the Clintons-scorned minefield, the Middle East should be no problem at all. (But don't start crying about the moribund Clinton legacy just yet; I'm thinking Chelsea's got a bright career ahead of her as a White House food taster.)

Tom Waits in correct proportions

Either the best reason ever for music journalism or the reason music journalism has no reason to exist: Tom Waits interviewing Tom Waits. Come for the list of personally significant songs (everything I recognize, I like, and everything I don't I'm gonna go get), stay for the worldview:

Q: How would you compare guitarists Marc Ribot and Smokey Hormel?
A: Octopus have eight and squid have ten tentacles, each with hundreds of suction cups and each have the power to burst a man's artery. They have small birdlike beaks used to inject venom into a victim. Some gigantic squid and octopus with one hundred foot tentacles have been reported. Squids have been known to pull down entire boats to feed on the disoriented sailors in the water. Many believe unexplained, sunken deep-sea vessels, and entire boat disappearances are the handiwork of giant squid.

Fair enough, CFP attendee lady

If your infant is important enough to be in this Computers Freedom + Privacy conference room making noise, s/he is obviously notable enough to be blogged as the scion of one rude idiot. You must be so proud.

Much twittering ado about (mostly) nothing

So today (Wednesday) is the Twit-Out, in which heavy Twitter users cranky that the free service is in a perpetual state of discombobulation are going to stamp their tiny feet and not Twit for a day in an act of "tough love."

Yeah, I see you're frightened and dismayed by this threat to your... um, yeah. I predict that the world will continue to spin on its axis; that the absence of some of the I-just-made-a-poopy crowd will go unnoticed by those of us with full info-lives; and that both the vast mass of occasional users and those treating Twitter as a practical broadcast tool will appreciate the lighter server loads. (Mediaphyter's got some smart thinking on this.) The organizers seem convinced that their fussing is a means of getting the attention of their admittedly poorly-performing Web 2.0 hangout (Twitter 2008, Evite 2003? discuss); for the sake of increased performance, I wonder if we could convince them to have a sulk like this once a week?

This concludes the whiny-ass bitchery portion of our program today. In recompense for the brain cells you sacrificed on that paragraph, please enjoy this video of Barack Obama explaining in the nicest possible way how the Tennessee GOP will either step the fuck off re his family or take delivery on the deluxe order of whup-ass with a side of Midol. One of the beautiful fringe benefits of having this man lead the nation will be watching him in action at summit meetings, I reckon.

All in your perspective, I suppose

My fondness for Woot extends to actually reading the blog now and then. My obsession with Woot extends to reading that they're painfully overstocked on those cute little Sandisk Sansa "Li'l Monsta" players -- don't look at me, pal, I have two so far -- and saying "yeah, I saw that coming when they offered a free coupon code with one a few weeks back." Nerdity is useless knowledge plus inappropriate smugness, I guess. A shame they didn't find their market; I really like mine, and they're extremely well-built for use at the gym, unlike my iPod. And they have a tactile-feedback interface, something I fear we're losing in the nobody-but-me-apparently-has-smudgy-fingers 21st century.

Vaguely disturbing

Abandoned doll (in plastic bag) with empty bottles in front of the
neighborhood pot dealer's house, Sunday afternoon.

Here KITTY KITTY KITTY!

In response to the prospect of a three-story LOLcat:

- Seattle needs one of these, particularly the Wallingford district, which of late appears to be operated by 12-year-old girls operating on the kawaii!!!!12 theory of civic planning (two supercute greeting-card stores, a new ice cream parlor, a cupcake bakery, and a fancy-wedding-dresses store... but no place to buy flowerpots).

- If I drove a cat car, I would be highly amused to have the O HAI license plate. Also if I drove a cat, I suppose, but I wouldn't like to be the one attaching that plate.

- I had no idea that I Can Has Cheezburger was Seattle-based, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to find it also in Wallingford. Which means that the cheezburger kitteh can has is Kidd Valley, and there are worse things to build an insanely popular meme on than a Dick's bacon cheeseburger.