Monthly Archives: October 2010

For Your Halloween Pleasure

Posted on October 31, 2010 by Michael Froomkin

A medical student's real-life story that Might not, technically, have happened.

Posted in Completely Different | Comments Off on For Your Halloween Pleasure

I Remember

Posted on October 30, 2010 by Michael Froomkin

A great piece of electioneering: I Remember.

(Via SFDB via Bark Bark Woof Woof)

Posted in Politics: 2010 Election | Comments Off on I Remember

David Rivera Sinking in Swamp of Lies

Posted on October 29, 2010 by Michael Froomkin

Gina Cooper, Lies, Disappearing Documentation, Surround Republican David Rivera (FL-25)

The article includes this amazing widget that gives a summary of all the media coverage of the scandals.

You really do need fancy tools to keep up, there's so much!

Posted in Politics: FL-25/FL-27, Politics: The Party of Sleaze | Comments Off on David Rivera Sinking in Swamp of Lies

NYT Overdoes the Etymology of Morton’s Fork

Posted on October 29, 2010 by Michael Froomkin

This has to be the most bizzaro sentence in my newspaper in some time. Explaining the origins of 'Morton's fork', prose stylist Clyde Haberman may have gone slightly overboard on the pop culture:

It is named for John Morton, an English lord chancellor in the 15th century who shaped a make-everyone-pay policy for tax collection under Henry VII, one king too soon for Herman's Hermits.

Get the context at On New York Ballot, Questions With No Good Choices.

Incidentally, I also think the basic conceit of the article is wrong: there is no Morton's Fork (“two alternatives that will produce equally unpalatable results”) here as one of the choices is better than the status quo, which is the other choice.

Anyway, what's wrong with Hobson's Choice?

Posted in The Media | 3 Comments

Dept. of Mashups that Shouldn’t Be

Posted on October 29, 2010 by Michael Froomkin

The very concept is evil, so I don't know whether to be appalled, or admiring of the technique displayed in Stayin' Alive In The Wall (Pink Floyd vs Bee Gees Mashup) by Wax Audio. Pink Floyd admirers watch at your own risk:

Oh no, there's more where that came from.

Posted in Kultcha | 1 Comment

Charlie Crist’s Final Flip Flop?

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Michael Froomkin

Charlie Crist flip flops on Sarah Palin and the Post's blogger suggests that it not only epitomizes why Crist couldn't make it as a third party candidate (too much baggage), but that given the likely outcome on Tuesday, this could be “Charlie Crist's final flip flop.”

Posted in Politics: 2010 Election | Comments Off on Charlie Crist’s Final Flip Flop?