Read Some Stewf

Alan Alda is a birder

Chris Buttars, Professional Grump

SL Tribune photographer Scott Sommerdorf caught this spectacular image of poor old gay hater Chris Buttars listening to Cristy Gleave, of Salt Lake City, as she testifies before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Monday about Buttars’ bill to repeal the new domestic-partnership registry that Salt Lake City’s new mayor and city council heroically passed.

My pal Jesse said it well: “Something about Rep. Chris Buttars face speaks of a man who has no joy or happiness in this life except when denying it to others.”

Michael adds: "He needs a cup of tea."

THE GAY AGENDA WILL SPREAD TO THE SUBURBS!

SAVE OUR CHILDREN!

This just in: It appears as though Buttars’ heart isn’t fashioned entirely of coal. His Wikipedia entry claims he “has sponsored legislation to fund drug treatment programs, supports raising the minimum wage and assisting child crime victims.”

FundRace Fun

This Google Maps/fundraising mash-up is a fine example of how the web illuminates politics. Thanks to campaign finance laws and the magic of the InterTubes, we can uncover countless fascinating facts, such as:

• LIke most of the Bay Area, my neighborhood is very blue. Hey, look! The cat I greet every day when I walk home from work is a John Edwards fan.


• Laurene Jobs (Steve’s wife) gave $4,600 to HIllary Clinton, but more importantly: now we can stalk the God of Apple at his actual residence!


• Did you know the wonderful jazz-pop pianist Ramsey Lewis was politically active? (I didn’t even know he was still alive. Shame on me.)


• While searching for my family members to dig up their true political leanings, I came across a James Coles who supports Obama. Thought it was my brother, until I saw this James lives in Maryland. It’s your East Coast twin, Jims!


• Yahoo! employees have contributed $27,314 to Democrats and only $5,591 to the GOP. Apple and Microsoft folks show a similar bias, although, as can be expected, the monopolistic crew at MS leans a little less to the left.


• Employees of the State of California overwhelmingly support the Dems. Unfortunately, as is the case in most of the country, the big name senators and insiders have given most of their cash to Hillary.


• No surprise here: those few who listed the LDS Church as their employer all backed their fellow Mormon, Mitt Romney. Salt Lake City bleeds red, of course. It’s interesting to note that the prominent Huntsman family gave as much to McCain as Romney, who’s from the other famous Utah clan. Is there a rivalry I don’t know about?


• Basketball is blue. Not one of the 13 recorded NBA employees donated to the Republicans. Professional football puts forth far fewer contributors and is more evenly split between the parties.


• As much as I hate to promote the stereotype of a liberal media and entertainment industry, workers from each of the three major broadcast networks (NBC, ABC, CBS) overwhelmingly support Democrats. Strangely, one dude from Fox News donated $500 to John Edwards. A token gesture to support their “Fair and Balanced” claim?

Eye to the Future

says Herbert P. Heath, manager, Western Electric's Omaha plant . "We are pleased with our decision...and with Omaha. We are also highly pleased with the capable and conscientious type of worker we find here in Omaha." The favorable balance of plant location factors, which made Omaha attractive to Western Electric, may fit your expansion plans equally well. The Omaha Industrial Foundation suggests it may prove worthwhile to include Omaha in your investigations.

from an advertisement for the Omaha Industrial Foundation in the July 1959 issue of Fortune.

Celebrities

Alec Coldwin

Keep the Dream Alive

Gaela informs me that utopia is not far off:

MIT team experimentally demonstrates wireless power transfer, potentially useful for powering laptops, cell phones without cords.

... for laptop-sized coils, power levels more than sufficient to run a laptop can be transferred over room-sized distances nearly omni-directionally and efficiently, irrespective of the geometry of the surrounding space, even when environmental objects completely obstruct the line-of-sight between the two coils. Fisher points out: “As long as the laptop is in a room equipped with a source of such wireless power, it would charge automatically, without having to be plugged in. In fact, it would not even need a battery to operate inside of such a room.” In the long run, this could reduce our society's dependence on batteries, which are currently heavy and expensive.

As for what the future holds, Soljacic adds, “Once, when my son was about three years old, we visited his grandparents’ house. They had a 20-year-old phone and my son picked up the handset, asking, ‘Dad, why is this phone attached with a cord to the wall?’ That is the mindset of a child growing up in a wireless world. My best response was, ‘It is strange and awkward, isn’t it? Hopefully, we will be getting rid of some more wires, and also batteries, soon.’”

Flight of the Conchords

You who know me know that there is very little media that will make me laugh out loud. Home Movies, The Daily Show, Python, anything Gervais. That’s about it — barring some one-offs like “The Thick of It”. Today you can add another act to that list: Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie. Praise to Jesse for the recommendation.

N Kishishita on Stenograph

Watch her smash hit video debut now and soon you can tell all your friends, “I was kicking to N Kishishita way before she got famous!”

Pitiful in Portugal

The photos from ATypI (the Euro type nerd conference) have come in, and, as you can see, everybody had a lousy time in Lisbon without me.

Thanks for pretending, friends.

Marmaduke Explained

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