I guess people in California put up with this sort of thing because, well, he IS the Governator. But, I have a feeling that in most other states, the last thing anyone would put up with while trying to peacefully eat their lunch is have a politician barge in unannounced and start peddling his agenda like a twisted political ad-in-an-eatery:

SAN DIEGO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger waded into a lunchtime crowd Sunday to kick off a final full week of campaigning for his four state ballot initiatives, telling customers waiting on shrimp salad and clam chowder that lawmakers have failed them.

Schwarzenegger emerged quietly, without introduction, from the kitchen of Point Loma Seafoods. For 45 minutes, he shook hands, handed out campaign booklets, signed autographs and posed for photos. There were no speeches, no loudspeakers and – unlike many of his appearances – no protests.

“Remember one thing: the Legislature couldn’t do it, so the people have to do it,” he told one customer.

“The people have done a better job than the Legislature,” he told another, his voice barely carrying in the noisy crowd.

Ugh. Redgardless of the candidates’ party affiliation, I’d be thoroughly disgusted.

Yup, that’s pretty gay.

Well, THIS was a surprise!

Well, it seems like the US supply of Crackberries may actually be threatened, for real this time. The US Supreme Court has declined to hear RIM‘s appeal to the ongoing patent suit against it, in which an order has been handed down to cease the sale of Blackberry devices in the US.

With the appeals being declined, the case must now press on. While that happens, RIM may be forced to halt all new Blackberry sales. All that remains now is for the ruling court to decide when that will happen, and RIM’s foe in the case wants that to be sooner rather than later:

NTP, based in Arlington, Va., had filed arguments with the Supreme Court earlier Wednesday, accusing RIM of trying to drag the case out.

”RIM intends to take as much time as possible, seek as many extensions as possible, and defer consideration of its [appeal] until after the present Supreme Court term ends next year,” NTP’s filing said.

The White House appears to be making a big stink over The Onion’s use of the presidential seal on its website. While generally, Federal Government logos and insignias aren’t copyrighted, the White House has in the past asked certain parties not to use certain White House emblems and elements “inappropriately.” But such requests have always been haphazard and under shady circumstances, with “inappropriate use” not being clearly defined.

In this case, the Onion has used the seal to spoof Bush’s weekly radio addresses. I think it’s fairly obvious that anything printed in The Onion isn’t to be believed, even if the stories are sometimes so ironic they could be true, especially considering that the Onion’s Editor in Chief made it clear that the White House has bigger things to worry about:

“I would advise them to look for that other guy Osama (bin Laden)…rather than comedians. I don’t think we pose much of a threat,” [E.I.C. Scott] Dikkers said.

So evidently, Apple has established a whole new product rollout cycle for its products:

1. Research and Development
2. Product Release
3. Apple sued over product defects
4. Apple acquiesces and settles. But no matter, the next product cycle has already begun

And so it is with the iPod Nano. Read the rest of this entry »