Overnight Open Thread (6-7-2012)

To help you adjust to tomorrow's upcoming Day of Blogger Silence tonight's ONT will have reduced word count, be less picturey. It good when my laziness, principle coincide.

Underwater Nation

Not bottom yet.

Thumbs Down: Fear and Loathing and Windows 8

I've been playing with preview version for a week or two and so far not impressed at all. They took away and/or hid some of the useful parts of Windows 7 without really adding anything better. I've used many OSs and desktop managers from mini-mainframes to RTOS's and I'm still somewhat baffled at how to do things in Win 8. That ain't good.

As I mentioned earlier, there is no Start menu in Metro.  That's not such a big deal -- you expect changes like that in a new interface.  But the Start menu has also been removed from Windows Explorer.  It's no longer present anywhere.  If you're not familiar with Windows, you won't understand how central the Start menu is to a Windows user.  It's the thing you generally use to turn the computer on and off, launch applications, open file folders, search, and access the control panel.  Recent changes have also made it a preferred place for directly opening documents.

In Windows 8, the functions formerly done by Start have been spread across several locations, some in the Metro interface and some in Windows Explorer.  So Windows users moving to Windows 8 will have to learn parts of Metro before they can get anything done.  In some cases, common functions formerly available through a single click in Start have been buried several clicks deep within Metro.

The Randomness of Luck: Sometimes bad, sometimes good.

When They Came for the Large Sodas I Just Mocked

But it never ends:

"Are bacon-cheeseburgers next? As a practical matter, no. Sodas are an easy target because there is nothing, nothing, nutritionally redeeming about them. But might there come a day when the New York City Department of Health mandates that burgers be limited to, say, four ounces? Indeed there might. And why not? Eight- and ten-ounce burgers are sick things."

Always Room for Improvement: Better Ketchup Bottle

No more anticipation. Also: The Self-Stirring Pot

That 'Embarassing' Star Spangled Banner

I usually pass on stuff like this, but Bill Press has been a major annoyance of mine since back when I was a kid listening to him on the radio in LA. He used to be chair of the California DNC and many of you might recall him from his days on CNN's Crossfire.

In this clip, he says he's embarrassed every time the national anthem is played. It's too -- militaristic.

Which is kind of funny. I'm embarrassed every time Bill Press opens his mouth.

Steve McQueen's Last Interview

He hated interviews but willing to open up to high school student for school paper.

Mexican Cartel Declares War on Cheetos

This aggression will not stand man.

Now several arson attacks over the weekend against a Mexican snack chip subsidiary might be the first time the cartels have targeted a multinational corporation.

That corporation would be PepsiCo. According to press reports, masked men attacked five warehouses and vehicle lots on Friday and Saturday nights belonging to the U.S. snack and soft drink giant. More specifically, PepsiCo's Mexican subsidiary: Sabritas. Dozens of yellow delivery trucks - which transport Sabritas chips and Fritos, Cheetos and Ruffles (among other brands) for the Mexican market - were burned. The good news: No one was injured or killed.

The Bad news: Many cacahuates and rancheritos learned what it was to be roasted in the depths of El Camión that day, I can tell you.

Yahoo group. That is all.

And my Twitter spew.

Tonight's post brought to you by MGM's stable of movie stars in 1943:

Front Row: James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Lucille Ball, Hedy Lamarr, Katharine Hepburn, Louis B Mayer, Greer Garson, Irene Dunne, Susan Peters, Ginny Simms, Lionel Barrymore

Second Row: Harry James, Brian Donlevy, Red Skelton, Mickey Rooney, William Powell, Wallace Beery, Spencer Tracy, Walter Pidgeon, Robert Taylor, Pierre Aumont, Lewis Stone, Gene Kelly, Jackie Jenkins

Third Row: Tommy Dorsey, George Murphy, Jean Rogers, James Craig, Donna Reed, Van Johnson, Fay Bainter, Marsha Hunt, Ruth Hussey, Marjorie Main, Robert Benchley

Fourth Row: Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Keenan Wynn, Diana Lewis, Marilyn Maxwell, Esther Williams, Ann Richards, Marta Linden, Lee Bowman, Richard Carlson, Mary Astor

Fifth Row: Blanche Ring, Sara Haden, Fay Holden, Bert Lahr, Frances Gifford, June Allyson, Richard Whorf, Frances Rafferty, Spring Byington, Connie Gilchrist, Gladys Cooper

Sixth Row: Ben Blue, Chill Wills, Keye Luke, Barry Nelson, Desi Arnaz, Henry O'Neill, Bob Crosby, Rags Ragland

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Please e-mail overnight open thread tips to maetenloch at gmail. Otherwise send tips to Ace.

posted by Maetenloch at 10:23 PM

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