"Environmentalists are unhappy that the ban only applies to four supermarkets in Palo Alto and not pharmacies or convenience stores."

I don't know if it was a coincidence, but Monday's Big Picture about Somali pirates works relatively well to illustrate William Langewiesche's Vanity Fair article about... Somali pirates.

Two lengthy excerpts from the interesting article:

If you added up the assets already available, or soon to be, the display of French power was impressive indeed. And it was arrayed against what? A band of barefoot natives, Fuzzy Wuzzies in rags, hip-firing their Kalashnikovs with poor aim, and worshipping some filthy G.P.S. as if it had fallen from the sky. They should have surrendered days before, even to the Canadians...They were not particularly bellicose or arrogant, but they refused to be impressed when they should have been. A warship coming at you is supposed to present an intimidating sight...It raised disturbing questions about the relevance of governments and the exercise of power. More specifically, a suspicion crept in that these pirates knew exactly what they were doing, and that they understood the forces at play with more sophistication than had been assumed. Fuzzy Wuzzies they were, but until Paris decided it could accept casualties among the Ponant’s crew, they had stymied the French national will.

Today, almost one year later, Somali pirates continue to ignore the increasingly urgent displays of national power. One of the ironies of the concern being shown is that the shippers being provided with naval protection are the very same people who for years have made a mockery of the nation-state idea. They know that whatever pirate tolls they pay will always pale in comparison with the taxes that would be imposed if global law and order ever actually prevailed. But there is little danger of that. In its place a convoy system has been instituted for crossing the Gulf of Aden. CMA CGM has ordered its cargo ships to use it when practical... Because of an increase in crew pay, insurance, and other piracy-related costs, the company has imposed a $23 surcharge on every standard-size container that it takes through—amounting to a quarter-million dollars for each trip by the largest ships. Given the margins built in, and despite the need for the occasional payout, this means that CMA CGM, its insurers, and its crews are profiting from Somali piracy.

The pirates are professional and don't typically harm the crews they capture because they know that the ship owners will pay a ransom, covered by insurance companies (AIG in this case) as opposed to allowing the military to mount an attack. This is especially so because everyone is profiting from the current arrangement.

If there's anything on the internet that proves a brand will try ANYTHING to stand out, cornpops.com is it. I don't understand what's going on, but there's definitely an aspect of Choose Your Own Adventure. I imagine the pitch for this going something like, "OK, so we're going to get the most ridiculous shit together and tie it all loosely together and then people will talk about it." And, look, it worked, I'm talking about it. And now you are. (Thanks, Joe.)

Health insurance in Massachusetts is looked at as something of a canary for the rest of the country. This New York Times article discusses some of the challenges facing and accomplishments achieved by the 2006 Massachusetts law requiring health insurance for residents.

They want a new payment method that rewards prevention and the effective control of chronic disease, instead of the current system, which pays according to the quantity of care provided.

But...then that would make too much sense, wouldn't it? Get it done, Deval.

Bruce Schneier has a write up about lock smiths in New York spamming Google Maps with multiple fake business addresses. The result is a single locksmith showing up in every neighborhood in the city regardless of the location of their actual office.

I remember this happening in Somerville when we moved in a couple years ago, so I don't think this is isolated to New York City. What other businesses would find this practice useful? Taxis, courier service... There's got to be others.

Old friend Julian Tavarez used the 'beer goggles' excuse for signing with the Washington Nationals.

"Why did I sign with the Nationals?" Tavarez told a group of reporters. "When you go to a club at [4 a.m.], and you're just waiting, waiting, a 600-pounder looks like J. Lo. And to me this is Jennifer Lopez right here. It's [4 a.m.]. Too much to drink. So, Nationals: Jennifer Lopez to me."

A couple years ago, I was at a Red Sox game and got a tour from one of the minority owners after the game. She took us out the players parking lot and outside the entrance, Julian Tavarez almost ran us over. Twice.
(Via Hot Pink Sheets)

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Last week (Season 7 Episode 13), Jack Bauer brought the carnage, raising the JBKC from 24 to 31, but something about this week tells me there weren't be as much mayhem. The letter for today is M. Morris getting it from Moss and Meyers getting it from, well, Jack Bauer.

For the Live Blog last week, I did the updates in reverse chronological order. This was a huge pain and no one seemed to notice so I'm going back to the old way. If you have thoughts on this, let me know and I'll probably switch back again.

Read the rest of this entry »

From Detroit, Death was punk before anyone knew what punk was, and then everyone forgot about them.

Last week, I flipped out a little at the news that the Hudson River Hero, Sully Sullenberger, was about to sign a book deal for 2 books and $2.5 Million. Well, it's official and it's worse than I thought. The deal is for $3.2 Million dollars! And the second book is a book of inspirational poems. Last week I wondered if Sully was a 'pilot Hemingway', not even having the balls for the terribly alliterative 'pilot poet.'

Good for Sully. Publishers, you're doing this to yourself.

Oh, and since we haven't talked about it in a couple weeks, Clay Shirky says newspapers are still fucked, too.

Round and round this goes, with the people committed to saving newspapers demanding to know “If the old model is broken, what will work in its place?” To which the answer is: Nothing. Nothing will work. There is no general model for newspapers to replace the one the internet just broke.

"I think it’s something that could potentially be a tipping point for other cities, like Calgary or Vancouver, who can now point to Fort McMurray and say, ‘Well, they’re doing it up there, so maybe we should really go ahead in this direction as well.’"