Author: Chad Ossman

Whoda thunk, cows have accents [no longer online: cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/08/23/cows.accent.reut] too. Do Canadian cows say “moooeh”, and do Bristol cows saw “mo’”? (guest submission from “Cows come you moo like you’re from the norf?” Andrea)

Up From the Catacombs: The Best of Jane’s Addiction [no longer online: rhino.com/rzine/pressrelease.lasso?PRID=421], unfortunately including tracks from the 2003 Bob Ezrin-produced travesty Strays.

Every Mac Dork is blogging about the alleged MacBook serious security flaw [no longer online: blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/08/hijacking_a_macbook_in_60_seco.html], so I might as well chip in. Daring Fireball gives an impassioned, detailed overview of the controversy. Two observations:

• The passion with which self-appointed Windows evangelists attack Apple is amazing.
• The passion with which self-appointed Apple evangelists defend Apple is amazing.

Another Apple controversy is brewing: Vivek Sambhara and others leaked a copy of Mac OS X Leopard onto the internet, and Apple’s legal department came down on them like a ton of bricks.

The Hoff Image Database [no longer online: hoffgallery.com] greatest hits: Dr. Hoff [no longer online: hoffgallery.com/displayimage.php?album=8&pos=13], MC Hoffer, and Being John Malkohoff.

My head is spinning, counting all these Doctor Who spinoffs! Cancelled before it even began was Rose Tyler: Earth Defence, starring Billie Piper. The other three are still in motion: definitely Torchwood and maybe K-9 Adventures and Sarah Jane Investigates.

Time Magazine’s 50 Coolest Websites for 2006 (and Top 25 overall). Yay Cute Overload! Boo Shockwave.com! (who knew you still existed? but you still suck for using a cross-platform technology and excluding Macs anyway)

RightWingWatch.org, a new blog keeping track of our own homegrown radical religious nutjobs, such as those that that equate Darwin with Hitler and use cheesy science-fiction nightmares to argue against stem cell research.

Google expands their world-domination plans:

• Writely, a browser-based word processor useful to practically everybody (competing, obviously, with Microsoft Office)
• Google Analytics, for web site, uh, analytics (competing with things like Mint – no longer online: haveamint.com)

Edge Magazine profiles Katamari creator Keita Takahashi (no longer online: edge-online.co.uk/archives/2006/01/everybody_loves_1.php). The original print design is fantastic (no longer online: edge-online.co.uk/archives/katamari11.php).

Life imitates art: Snakes in a Movie Theater! (passed around at work)

Excavating some barely-remembered childhood tunes:

• The Muppet Show Mahna Mahna song. Sublime.
• The Sesame Street pinball counting song. Much more dated than I remember, but I’m digging those steel drums!

A grand idea: My Dream App (no longer online: mydreamapp.com). On my first skim through the submissions, a Quicken-killer sounds like a winner.

Applepeels, the blog of a 20-year veteran at Apple.

Inside the mind of business genius and worst boss ever, the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs. (no longer online: fakesteve.blogspot.com)

A Snakes on a Plane blow-by-blow.

Kitties bustin’ a move (no longer online: b3ta.hnldesign.nl/index.php?list=4) in the rekkid sto’. (passed around at work)

A win for the ACLU! Confirming what every sensible person already knows, the government broke the law.

Flash bites the hand that feeds it. Brilliant (and cathartic)! (spotted on Boing Boing)

Too impatient for Snakes on a Plane to become an audience participation phenomenon (no longer online: uta.fi/~cstivi/rocky.html) the natural way? Here’s a script to rehearse for opening weekend. (spotted on Boing Boing)

The snobs aficionados at Pitchfork have been busy making lists:

• 100 Awesome Music Videos. A few personal faves: Triumph of a Heart, Coffee & TV, and D-D-Don’t Don’t Stop the Beat.
• Worst Record Covers of All Time. How could they have overlooked Yes’ Tormato (also, not coincidentally, once of the worst records of all time)? Actually, come to think of it, one of their better albums also has a horrific cover.
• Top 100 Albums of the 1970s, from Eno to Bowie.
• Top 100 Albums of the 1980s, from Minor Threat to Sonic Youth.
• Top 100 Albums of the 1990s, from The Orb to Radiohead.

After years of designing and building web sites on a Mac, and ensuring they work in Safari, Mozilla, Mac Internet Explorer, Opera, etc. etc. etc., only to find them hopelessly busted in Windows IE, I wholeheartedly support any move to boycott IE (no longer online: windowsitpro.com/windowspaulthurrott/Article/ArticleID/47208/windowspaulthurrott_47208.html), a “cancer on the web.” Spotted on project.ioni.st (no longer online: project.ioni.st/post/883#post-883)

Behind the Typeface: Cooper Black (no longer online: veer.com/ideas/btt). (spotted on Typographica)

Macitt (no longer online: macitt.com), a Digg for Apple news. (spotted on Dougscripts.com)

Although it’s hardly unbiased, MacWorld picks apart Apple’s claim [no longer online: macworld.com/2006/08/features/macproprice] that the Mac Pro is almost a thousand dollars cheaper than a Dell, and finds that, if anything, Apple understated their claim.

Pitchfork reports: DJ Shadow is back with a mixtape and new album The Outsider (no longer online: pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/2006/6/29/DJ_Shadow_Reveals_Tracklist), a new album out on September 19.

The Good The Bad and The Queen: a new supergroup comprised of Daman Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz, Tony Allen & Simon Tong of The Verve, and Paul Simonon of The Clash.

A playable Lego guitar (no longer online: geekasaurus.com/clint/gallery/legoguitar).

Yay, fun! Lego Star Wars II! (no longer online: lucasarts.com/games/legostarwarsii)

Sleepy Kitties II and III. (guest submission from Meowzzzzz… Andrea) (YouTube links no longer online)

The Tron Guy, the Peter Pan Guy, and all of us… we are the web (no longer online: wearetheweb.org). Net neutrality is no joke, actually. (spotted on Zeldman.com)

Title near-misses: Trimalchio in West Egg, Tote the Weary Load, or The Nude Bomb.

Revealed at last, the long saga of Snakes on a Plane (no longer online: calendarlive.com/movies/cl-ca-snakes13aug13,0,3273.story).

Proof positive tuxedo cats are obsessive-compulsive. (guest submission from Kitty Shrink Andrea) (YouTube link no longer online)

Oy, Madonna! Damn, girl! When are you not doing something that offends somebody?

September 12 brings And I Feel Fine, a new compilation of R.E.M.’s “early years” (that is to say, when this Dork Reporter first heard them) on the I.R.S. label.

Today we’re at 158 on The Rapture Index. Perhaps not surprisingly, the record high was in September 2001, and the record low was when Clinton was in office.

The Sci-Fi Channel will broadcast Doctor Who season 2 beginning September 29.

Christian Kent notes on Macintouch [no longer online: macintouch.com/readerreports/wwdc2006/index.html#aug10] that in the Apple preview video for their new backup software Time Machine, the demonstrator searches for “Rose.” A coincidence?

Another ordinary person’s life [no longer online: blog.wired.com/sterling/index.blog?entry_id=1536428] revealed by her AOL search history. (spotted on BoingBoing)

Wickerman and A Clockwork Orange bubblegum cards from an alternate universe. (spotted on BoingBoing)

As more of a web designer than a developer (although I do both), AJAX has always been a little bit out of my league. But Adobe/Macromedia’s new Spry framework might make things a little more accessible to non-programmers like myself, I dunno.

What do you think, Art or Crap [no longer online: modestypanel.com/artorcrap]? More importantly, what the heck is a yoyo stand? (guest submission from Dadandrea)

An utterly engrossing Manhattan Star Map. How come I’ve never seen Dan Akroyd? (guest submission from Wishes-she-lived-on-the-Upper-West-Side Andrea)

The mystery continues: how can the only Mac font manager worth using actually be free? Linotype FontExplorerX is updated to 1.1.

Claire Danes wants these so-called snakes out of her so-called life, and this girl took down Arnold, so you’d better listen, you punk-breath snakes.

The fallout from AOL’s release of users’ search data continues. The New York Times reports on the suprisingly poignant personal issues that people look into when they think they’re alone: “mature living”, “depression and medical leave”, “how to kill oneself by natural gas.” (guest submission by Andrea)