general

On Salon, Gabriel Winant watches CNBC so we don't have to (subscription prob. required). The article chronicles 12 horrible hours of a typical day's business reporting:

I have also noticed, by "Power Lunch," that the seemingly endless market slide is posing a profound problem for cable news experts. As the hardheaded veterans, these guys are full of disdain for the weekday warriors who expect to work the market and make a quick buck. That's how you know you can trust them. "Right now, attempts at stock-picking, for six months, have been completely unsuccessful," warns Bob Pisani, standing on the trading floor. Guest Vern Hayden advises, "People have to not worry so much about missing the turn!" Bob Griffeth, agreeing, shakes his head in consternation at "human nature, wanting to get that last downtick."

A heartbeat later, Sue Herera is asking Hayden, "What's the signal of the turn, for you?" Because CNBC is aimed at making its viewers feel like masters of the universe, it has to offer them this bizarre sweet-and-sour cocktail of happy-days-around-the-corner optimism and I'm-no-sap flintiness.

Banks bleeding jobless for fees related to their state unemployment payments. This is happening because certain states are saving costs of administering unemployment by contracting the payments to...the industry that caused the financial collapse. Instead of receiving mailed checks the unemployed get "smart cards" with hidden fees.

No bank that receives Federal funds or assistance should be allowed to do this.

...by Bennett Williamson at Double Happiness.

"my lyfe in my apartment on the 36800th floor can’t decide what DVD to watch LIFE SUCKS but my wife wears pantyhose under her pants and LED cupholders are a must"

Also check out the group of posts before and after this (partially not work safe, fair warning); d.h. has been on a roll lately. The thing I like about the site is they wander around the wide web with eyes peeled back like Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange. No filters, no political correctness...

Club Internet's theme this month is "Reverse Engineering." Click "next" to see each of the pages.

The topic was announced at 4 pm today and the show went live at 8 pm in connection with the IRL exhibit in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Harm van den Dorpel for the invitation to participate, giving me an opportunity to stretch beyond my usual 450 pixel blog prison.

...commenters, that is:

"That artwork is not good, but if it is, it's something I did back in the '90s, with much lower bandwidth."

"You're a troll, and if you're not a troll you are posing as one for some perceived strategic advantage."

"You suck, and I would really like to buy you a beer sometime."

(based on actual online conversations with the regular commenters on the Rhizome.org chatboards)

Update: some revisions to make quips snappier.