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I haven’t pissed people off by making fun of the Snooze Hour in a while (via Wonkette):
September 30, 2010 5:33 pm
Posted in: General Stupidity
69 Comments
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69 Responses
slag - September 30, 2010 | 5:34 pm · Link
Maybe not. But you have probably pissed people off by making of the incomplete sentences.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice. - September 30, 2010 | 5:36 pm · Link
@slag:
Off to read Matt Yglesias for a while to make myself feel better about my proofing skills.
MikeJ - September 30, 2010 | 5:37 pm · Link
PBS? That’s the infomercial channel, right?
srv - September 30, 2010 | 5:38 pm · Link
What’s up with Gwen’s Deaniac posters?
Politically Lost - September 30, 2010 | 5:39 pm · Link
Instant classic:
Jim Lehrer: “This is an iPhone!”
My technologically challenged grandmother just twitched in her grave.
beltane - September 30, 2010 | 5:42 pm · Link
Gwen Ifill has a Howard Dean bumpersticker on her bulletin board. I hope this does not mean a visit from James O’Keefe is in the works.
slag - September 30, 2010 | 5:42 pm · Link
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.: Don’t be too hard on yourself. One sentence can put a lot of pressure on a person. Economizing isn’t easy.
Lukeness - September 30, 2010 | 5:46 pm · Link
There’s no parody like self-parody!
MikeJ - September 30, 2010 | 5:46 pm · Link
@beltane: I think that’s a John Edwards sticker next to it.
garbo - September 30, 2010 | 5:48 pm · Link
Remember the Hot Potato toy that you didn’t want to be holding when it “buzzed”? I’m getting that vibe from these folks holding the iPhone.
Captain Goto - September 30, 2010 | 5:51 pm · Link
OT, but relevant to us Pennsylvania peeps:
Considering that I have been told that the gas drilling business is full of right-wingers, why am I not surprised that they’re trying to bully and bullshit their way out of this??
joe from Lowell - September 30, 2010 | 5:51 pm · Link
Shorter Jim Lehrer
Captain Goto - September 30, 2010 | 5:58 pm · Link
Aw, crap. Did I break it?
Just Some Fuckhead - September 30, 2010 | 6:05 pm · Link
I’d love to see the outtakes on that promo.
Cut!
You got it upside down Jim.
Cut!
Now it’s backwards Jim.
Cut!
It’s “app” Jim, not “apple”. Apple is the manufacturer.
PurpleGirl - September 30, 2010 | 6:08 pm · Link
Not going to get the News Hour App because I don’t have an iPhone.
JR - September 30, 2010 | 6:11 pm · Link
Now that his kids are grown, my father’s sole remaining goal in life seems to be to get invited to appear on the News Hour.
Dennis SGMM - September 30, 2010 | 6:12 pm · Link
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Next up:
No, Jim, you’re wearing Depends. An iPad is a sort of a computer.
Brachiator - September 30, 2010 | 6:15 pm · Link
Listening to the News Hour on an iPhone while driving is more hazardous than texting. Drowsing ensues in a matter of minutes.
Zifnab - September 30, 2010 | 6:16 pm · Link
Hey! I have that app. :-p
Haters gonna hate.
Crockpot - September 30, 2010 | 6:28 pm · Link
Something about Lehrer’s eyes always freaks me out. Like a drawing where the artist forgot to put in the pupils or something.
Dennis SGMM - September 30, 2010 | 6:34 pm · Link
@Crockpot:
It’s as if someone airbrushed out the highlights – like they used to do with the photos of the deceased in old time newspaper days.
DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio - September 30, 2010 | 6:36 pm · Link
There are no words in the English language to express the amount of lameness in that spot. Or for that matter in the SnoozeHour.
But these people have been embarrassing themselves for years, so I doubt that this hurts them much.
BR - September 30, 2010 | 6:55 pm · Link
@Captain Goto:
This is closing the barn door after the water has already been poisoned with fracking chemicals. Maybe they should just ban fracking?
Amanda in the South Bay - September 30, 2010 | 6:56 pm · Link
That video was the equivalent of seeing a picture of your parents modeling toys on a website that sells B*SM apparel.
Omnes Omnibus - September 30, 2010 | 6:58 pm · Link
I was amused that they didn’t trust BoBo to hold the iPhone.
JPL - September 30, 2010 | 6:58 pm · Link
Gwen Ifil and I share the same computer/desktop background. I chose it because i can picture the teletubbies coming over the hill. Maybe she imagined something else.
Citizen Alan - September 30, 2010 | 7:01 pm · Link
Is that MacNeil or Lehrer? I can never remember. Or possibly it’s Tim Lahaye? Or maybe the Crypt Keeper? They’re all starting to look the same to me.
middlewest - September 30, 2010 | 7:13 pm · Link
Mark Shields frozen in place, looking at the wrong camera is the funniest moment of tv I’ve seen all week.
Redshift - September 30, 2010 | 7:19 pm · Link
@Dennis SGMM: That’s actually literally true—with the switch to HD, pretty much all TV makeup is now done with an airbrush, because anything less leaves visible traces. (At least according to my friends who are professional TV techs.)
Nom de Plume - September 30, 2010 | 7:21 pm · Link
@Just Some Fuckhead: It’s “app” Jim, not “apple”. Apple is the manufacturer.
Makes me feel just slightly better that a few months ago I marched into a cellphone store and announced, “I’d like to buy an Android”.
I’ll give the kid who waited on me some credit, he didn’t laugh in my face.
joe from Lowell - September 30, 2010 | 7:27 pm · Link
C’mon, this is unfair. They’re not old and out of touch; they interviewed Sting.
The kids love Sting.
Amanda in the South Bay - September 30, 2010 | 7:29 pm · Link
@Nom de Plume:
Actually that makes sense, since there are only a bazillion different kinds of Android phones it seems, and most people who don’t spend every day browsing tech blogs and such probably don’t know more about it other than “a popular alternative to an iPhone.” I mean, people talk about Android tablets all the time in a generic sense without referring to specific manufacturers.
EDIT: I think the introduction of Android tablets has been one colossal fail after another, but assuming they were widely available, you wouldn’t raise any eyebrows (I think?) if you walked into a store and said you wanted an Android tablet.
Nom de Plume - September 30, 2010 | 7:34 pm · Link
@Amanda in the South Bay: Well, the guy’s response to me was, “Android is an operating system, sir. There are many phones that use it. Did you have a particular phone in mind?”, which I thought was a reasonable enough answer. Either way, it distinctly felt like an Andy Rooney moment.
JPL - September 30, 2010 | 7:34 pm · Link
My favorite NewsHour occurred a few years ago when they tried to explain the hype over the Super Bowl. Sample question what is a super bowl and it went downhill from there.
jeffreyw - September 30, 2010 | 7:36 pm · Link
Thread needs more Homer.
Seanly - September 30, 2010 | 7:44 pm · Link
The only way that could’ve had more win would be if an alien burst out of David Brooks’ chest right at the end. Why was Mario Van Peeble sitting next to him?
Cat Lady - September 30, 2010 | 7:46 pm · Link
Ray Suarez is pretty smooth. He’s the only one who looks like he actually has his own and not the prop. Mark Shields looks like it’s burning his hand.
JPL - September 30, 2010 | 7:49 pm · Link
OT..If there are any other folks from the Atlanta area, what do you think about homeland security using radiation devices, x-ray devices and bomb sniffing dogs to check all the trucks traveling on Interstate 20 Tuesday and again today. It’s nice to see our tax money working but it’s a tad unsettling. Any comments?
Linda Featheringill - September 30, 2010 | 7:52 pm · Link
@jeffreyw:
Homer is still a cutie. You’re not going to give him away, are you?
stuckinred - September 30, 2010 | 7:52 pm · Link
@JPL: Boortz was on that this afternoon with Jamie Dupree. Sounds like a good idea to me. (I’m in Athens so I may not have as big a stake as others).
Gozer - September 30, 2010 | 7:54 pm · Link
“This is an iPhone and you can get one at your local Atlantic Telephone and Telegraph establishment.”
Martin - September 30, 2010 | 7:57 pm · Link
@Amanda in the South Bay: I think Android in general is shaping up to be one colossal failure. Sure, there will be plenty of phones out there running it, but with each new handset it seems more and more that it’s just a platform for the carriers to assrape consumers. It’s started off well for consumers, but more and more the carriers are figuring out how to reclaim their territory, with Verizon as owners of the Droid brand leading the way.
I know people dislike Apple’s approach, but their whole goal has been to break the back of the carriers by getting them out of your phone, and they’ve been pretty successful at that. The handset makers aren’t really making money off of Android, nor is Google, especially as they strip Google’s default stuff off and replace it with MS, etc. with the money coming back to the carrier. Too many phones offered too quickly, with different profiles, and no economy of scale building up. It’s going to end up this unprofitable soup of devices just like you see now with Windows PCs.
JPL - September 30, 2010 | 7:57 pm · Link
@stuckinred: Well depends on what way the winds blow. I figure that most GA’s will head north and I plan on heading west if there’s a problem. What did Boortz say?
stuckinred - September 30, 2010 | 7:58 pm · Link
@Martin: Cue the Apple Haters!
stuckinred - September 30, 2010 | 8:01 pm · Link
@JPL: They were just talking about it, you know that Dupree is in DC and apparently they use this stuff constantly there. I googled it and there is some hysteria about the use of the xray machines and health implications.
stuckinred - September 30, 2010 | 8:01 pm · Link
XRAYS
Amanda in the South Bay - September 30, 2010 | 8:05 pm · Link
@Martin:
My beef is more with Android tablets, which seem to fail in a number of ways:
1.The devices introduced so far have been craptastic-either too expensive, too cheap, resistive screens, require a contract (i.e. no wifi only), etc.
2. No access to full Android app store for non-smartphones (I think??)
3. I’m being serious when I say it seems like every device introduced doesn’t have the latest version of Android. Cue fanboys/girls “But (insert cute name) version of Android will be out soon!”
4. Just from wasting my time browsing tech blogs, it seems like some good stuff will be introduced early in 2011, but way to miss out on the holiday shopping season.
I’m not really into droid phones, mostly cause smartphones are a wee bit outside of my price range for now, but I’m getting some Gi Bill backpay soon, and I’ve been tempted to get a new Touch or Pad, and there’s no way in heck I’d buy any Android tablet.
jeffreyw - September 30, 2010 | 8:10 pm · Link
@Linda Featheringill: Nah, he’s official family now.
Linda Featheringill - September 30, 2010 | 8:17 pm · Link
Not as exciting as the PBS News Hour, but interesting even so:
http://www.dscc.org/news?type=.....m_KEY=5470
An ad against Vitter in Louisiana.
Plus an interesting web site that is similar:
http://www.serioussins.com
burnspbesq - September 30, 2010 | 8:19 pm · Link
As the parent of a gay kid who will be going off to college in two years, this story makes me volcanically angry.
http://my.earthlink.net/articl.....c9bc31c1e8
The dead kid is from my high school, which doesn’t make matters any better. I grew up in one of those towns where, cliches aside, it really does feel like everyone is family.
Those two little fucks had better be prosecuted, and if they are convicted, they’d better get the maximum sentence possible.
Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice. - September 30, 2010 | 8:21 pm · Link
@burnspbesq:
It’s very upsetting, I don’t even want to think about it.
burnspbesq - September 30, 2010 | 8:23 pm · Link
@Gozer:
Dial 611 for repair service.
Roger Moore - September 30, 2010 | 8:24 pm · Link
@Martin:
I don’t know. The carriers can pre-load stuff on the phone, but you can still install your own choice of apps. Even better, the Android Marketplace is controlled by Google, which isn’t in bed with one carrier. That puts a pretty sharp limit on the control the carriers have over the handsets. Since most handsets will even let you install non-Marketplace apps, even Google doesn’t have that much control over the thing.
I also think the worry about handset fragmentation is a bit overblown. There are a lot of different models, but a lot of that is that one set of hardware will get loaded with slightly different software and a different name for each carrier. Even the different makers are using very similar hardware.
JPL - September 30, 2010 | 8:26 pm · Link
@stuckinred: Thanks for the info.
Just Some Fuckhead - September 30, 2010 | 8:27 pm · Link
@burnspbesq: Yeah, that was really rough to find out about, even for someone like me that likes to bully people.
Batocchio - September 30, 2010 | 8:28 pm · Link
The News Hour crew may be old, but just think – when it comes to average age, they still beat the 60 Minutes team by at least a decade.
And seriously, while I wish it did better in challenging bullshitters, it’s one of the few outlets that actually does detailed, in-depth reporting. I’ll take the News Hour over any of the broadcast network news shows any day.
Keith G - September 30, 2010 | 8:30 pm · Link
Hey. The News Hour does a good job. There are things I wish they did better, but I value what they do and I value the effort that goes into their product.
Thirty years of watching them (and their predecessors) has definitely enriched my life.
Gozer - September 30, 2010 | 8:36 pm · Link
@burnspbesq:
Dammit, I knew I was going to fuck that up.
burnspbesq - September 30, 2010 | 8:37 pm · Link
If I were anywhere other than Southern California, I would bet money on a massive thunderstorm starting up in the next 30 minutes. You can smell it. Nasty black clouds rolling in from the northeast.
They hardly ever actually happen here, unfortunately. I loves me some thunder and lightning, even if it does freak out the dogs and cats.
Linda Featheringill - September 30, 2010 | 8:39 pm · Link
@burnspbesq:
Best wishes for your child.
Those two jackasses that contributed to the young man’s death probably did not think that he might die.
But they knew they were trying to humiliate him, to hurt him, to damage him.
Exactly what gave them the right to do that?
Keith G - September 30, 2010 | 8:45 pm · Link
@burnspbesq: The story sucks. I work in a gay friendly environment where today a supervisor tried to make some “witty” quip about this. A co-worker and myself (both gay) turned on him instantly. He slunked away.
I was encouraged to see Katie Couric cover this thoughtfully and convey a sense dignity and importance to this story.
Martin - September 30, 2010 | 9:33 pm · Link
@Roger Moore: There’s more than one app store. Verizon is building a V Cast Android app store to push ahead of the Google one. Amazon is building one as well. And these stores aren’t well managed. Quite a few Android apps are sending private data out without user knowledge. Those kinds of things are usually checked for during Apple’s app review.
Choice is a good thing, but choice adds complexity, and complexity is cancer to many consumers. But ultimately, its going to come down to the ability of the platform to sustain itself. In the first half of the year, Apple sold 17M handsets. Nokia, LG, and Samsung sold 400M. Apple turned more profit off of their 17M than the other 3 on their 400M. Now, the iPhone isn’t notably more expensive than competing smartphones, but Apple has a lot more opportunity to invest in the platform without having to resort to crapware and that sort of thing. That advantage is what built the iPad, and why the other companies are having so much trouble really pushing their platforms into new areas. I just don’t see how the economics are going to work for the Android market unless they either learn how to get economy of scale off of their hardware and software or settle further into ways to screw customers in order to squeeze extra revenue.
mclaren - September 30, 2010 | 10:18 pm · Link
Nobody but ER physicians and nuclear strategists and emergency first responders needs a cellphone. Most people don’t need a car. Nobody needs a giant screen HDTV. Nobody needs a blu-ray disc player. Nobody needs a home media server. Most people don’t need laptops or netbooks or dishwashers, and if you need an air conditioner it’s a sign that humans should’nt be living there because it’s too hot and too dry. Nobody needs scented floral air freshener plug-ins or hand sanitizers.
American civilization is now built on manufacturing useless superfluous fragile expensive crap that nobody actually needs.
Corner Stone - September 30, 2010 | 10:29 pm · Link
@mclaren: Umm, then maybe you should get the fuck off the intertubes. Because nobody “needs” them either.
You’ve really hit the trough amigo.
You’ve made a disconnect from what is and what should be.
Corner Stone - September 30, 2010 | 10:31 pm · Link
We can live in what is or we can rant against what will never be.
Ron Beasley - September 30, 2010 | 10:46 pm · Link
“General Stupidity” That sums it up pretty well.
bago - October 1, 2010 | 12:48 am · Link
Nobody but a butcher needs knives, and those kiss today with their fancy footstools and doors. Pfeh.
Bill E Pilgrim - October 1, 2010 | 3:34 am · Link
@mclaren: Well, you’ve proven the part about laptops at least in your case.
Triassic Sands - October 1, 2010 | 10:08 am · Link
I’m not Jim Lehrer and somehow I’m surviving without either an iPhone or the Corporate News Hour being available 24 hours a day. Who would have believed it was even possible?
In defense of the News Hour, all I can say is that if all the people who currently get their
newspropaganda from Fox switched to PBS and the News Hour it would be a step in therightcorrect direction.