i am _so_ buying one of these

TV-B-Gone is a keychain-sized universal remote that turns off almost any television. The device, which looks like an automobile remote, has just one button. When activated, it spends over a minute flashing out 209 different codes to turn off televisions, the most popular brands first.

only $15 - buy em here: http://www.tvbgone.com/

and read my friend steven's article about em for more info: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65392,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

boys will be boys, and girls will be girls (or be fired).

in a bold move to codify gender norms, the 9th circuit u.s. court of appeals ruled that a female bartender in a casino's sports bar could be fired for failing to wear make-up and style her hair.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/colb/20050111.html

"In February 2000, Harrah's instituted a set of mandatory "appearance standards" for employees in guest services, including bartenders, and the standards were soon modified to require that women wear makeup.
The amended policy specifically stated that "make up (foundation/concealer and/or face powder, as well as blush and mascara) must be worn and applied neatly in complimentary colors," and that "lip color must be worn at all times." In addition, women had to have their hair "teased, curled, or styled every day," in addition to wearing stockings and nail polish.
In contrast, under the men's appearance rules, male service employees were, among other things, prohibited from wearing makeup and nail color. Men also had to keep their hair short and their fingernails clean and neatly trimmed."

im really too depressed by the implications of this to write any more about what this means for, say, the protection of transgender employees under law, and wont even mention the legal precedent esatblished here that could allow an employer to fire a male employee for wearing an earring.

from the 'truth is stranger than fiction' department

apparently u.s. troops will soon have the option of microwaving iraqi citizens with a targeted weapon that beams low-level radiation at the 'target', causing "a burning sensation on the skin".

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m9462&l=i&size=1&hd=0

just hope they dont hit any gremlins...

thinking outside the two party system

here's a look at a more playful politics being tried out (to great success) by the mayor of bogota, columbia. to me, this is somewhat of a vision of what we need to see - people breaking them mold of what is expected and really making change occur.

"Antanas Mockus had just resigned from the top job of Colombian National University. A mathematician and philosopher, Mockus looked around for another big challenge and found it: to be in charge of, as he describes it, "a 6.5 million person classroom."
Mockus, who had no political experience, ran for mayor of Bogotá. The fact that he was seen as an unusual leader gave the new mayor the opportunity to try extraordinary things, such as hiring 420 mimes to control traffic in Bogotá's chaotic and dangerous streets. He launched a "Night for Women" and asked the city's men to stay home in the evening and care for the children; 700,000 women went out on the first of three nights that Mockus dedicated to them."

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/03.11/01-mockus.html