** same rules as always... make a choice, or you'll be branded a douchebag for all eternity.

on a sidenote, check out these crazy beatboxing birds... classic.

(hat tip: adam, corey)

i know that a few of you have mentioned it in the past... i've had an iphone for more than 6 months, and i'm just now getting around to it.... yeah, i suck.

/better_late_than_never.png

so what are your plans for the 4th?

WASHINGTON - With joblessness rising, President Barack Obama said Thursday he was "deeply concerned" about unemployment and conceded that too many families are worried about "whether they will be next" to suffer economically.

In a White House interview with The Associated Press, Obama said that since he took office, "we have successfully stabilized the financial markets," and "started to see some stabilization on housing."

"But what we are still seeing is too many jobs lost," said Obama, commenting after new government figures showed the unemployment rate had risen to 9.5 percent last month.

On an important international subject, Obama is scheduled to travel to Russia next week, and he said the agenda includes talks on a new treaty to curtail long-range nuclear missiles. Asked why he intends to meet with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the former president, Obama said he "still has a lot of sway." Putin now is nominally the second-in-command in the Kremlin.

Obama also is to meet with the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev.

It is important that both Medvedev and Putin hear the same message from the U.S., said Obama, who added that he believes Putin "has one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new."

instead of bankrupting us for the next few generations, i'm still waiting to hear about some good "change".

p.s. 467K jobs cut in June; jobless rate at 9.5 percent

site is being fucking destroyed completely hammered at the moment... i just tried to register and everything just kind of timed out on me... got an email, but i'm not sure if it worked or not... but looks like a cool idea, and i'm sure it'll be pretty popular since we all love our gadgets. heh.

the first rule of GDGT is:  you do not talk about GDGT...

p.s. looks like they're using clearspring for the gadget sharing, too.... nice.

We haven't heard much about the PS3 slim since E3, but that doesn't mean it's been entirely quiet out there -- the hot rumor today is that Sony's signed manufacturing agreements with both Foxconn and Pegatron to build the revised model in time for July delivery. That much we believe, since it's been backed up by a couple different credible reports, but here's where it gets totally insane: there's a suggestion that the slim will be the last PS3 model of this generation, and that a next-gen console based on Sony's motion controller is due in spring 2010. We don't buy that at all, since the PS3 is just entering its prime and Sony was clear that the motion controller was for the existing console, so we think this rumor is getting garbled down the wire -- it's far more likely that the slim is being prepped for an August launch to coincide with those rumored price cuts, and that new PS3 bundles that include the motion controller are set to drop next year. That's just our take on the matter, though -- we'll see how things shake out.

to be honest, i really don't get all the hoopla about a "slim" version of the PS3... it's not like i'd be running out to the store to get my hands on one just because it was simply a slimmer version of the console or anything -- now, if they release this new slim version at a lower price point, then it'd definitely be a lot more attractive, especially if they bundle it with a new game or something cool.

p.s. i'm actually kind of surprised that microsoft hasn't already come out with a "slim" version of the 360, especially with all the damned hardware problems they've had with it.

A new regulation on keeping dogs, which has triggered controversy by restricting each household to keeping only one dog, will take effect in Guangzhou, the capital of south China's Guangdong Province, today.

Luo Zhenhui, deputy director of the municipal public security bureau, said yesterday that the bureau will see to the enforcement of the regulation.

According to the regulation, a dog owner could be fined 2,000 yuan (US$293) for having more than one dog.

"We encourage residents to send their dogs to the bureau if they want to dispose of them. Police will also seize dogs illegally kept based on public reports," said a police officer who declined to give his name.

The city is gearing up for the Asian Games next year. It is widely believed that the one-dog rules, which have caused public discontent since the draft was announced in March, is meant to reduce the city's dog population.

"If each family can only keep one dog, I'm sure that stray dogs will increase. How would the authorities deal with those stray dogs? Why don't you let me keep them and take care of them?" said a woman surnamed Ye, who has raised two dogs for eight years.

Many who did not own dogs also considered the one-dog rule harsh.

besides making jokes about what the hell they're going to eat now, it really is pretty terrible... heard on the radio this morning that people are getting reports of trucks driving around in china, with guys getting out with clubs in hand to beat dogs over the heads and piling them in the back of trucks... fuck man.

p.s. China Web controversy highlights public role

WASHINGTON – Mississippi's still king of cellulite, but an ominous tide is rolling toward the Medicare doctors in neighboring Alabama: obese baby boomers.

It's time for the nation's annual obesity rankings and, outside of fairly lean Colorado, there's little good news. Obesity rates among adults rose in 23 states over the past year and didn't decline anywhere, says a new report from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

And while the nation has long been bracing for a surge in Medicare as the boomers start turning 65, the new report makes clear that fat, not just age, will fuel much of those bills. In every state, the rate of obesity is higher among 55- to 64-year-olds — the oldest boomers — than among today's 65-and-beyond.

That translates into a coming jump of obese Medicare patients that ranges from 5.2 percent in New York to a high of 16.3 percent in Alabama, the report concluded. In Alabama, nearly 39 percent of the oldest boomers are obese.

oh c'mon alabama, you can beat mississippi in being the fattest in the union... what a bunch of fat-fuck slacers, all they have to do is keep on eating! i've been to alabama once, and boy do they know how to eat down there... felt like all i did was eat from morning until night. seriously.

on a sidenote, i've noticed it more and more over the last few years... but damned if there aren't a lot more girls walking around who are pretty damn fat these days. ugh.

MORONI, Comoros – Despite a fractured collarbone, a teenage girl who is the only known survivor of the Yemeni jet crash clung to wreckage for more than 13 hours before rescuers found her in the Indian Ocean, a French official and a relative said Wednesday.

There was no word on any other survivors from the Yemenia Airbus 310 jet, which went down in howling winds early Tuesday carrying 153 people. French officials said one of the plane's black boxes had been found, which could provide clues into the cause of the crash off the coast of this former French colony.

An Associated Press reporter saw 14-year-old Bahia Bakari in a Comoros hospital Wednesday as she was visited by government officials. She was conscious with bruises on her face and a gauze bandage on her elbow. Her hair was pulled back and she was covered by a light blanket.

damn man, it's like something straight out of a movie or something... i feel horrible for that girl, as i can't even start to imagine what it must be like for her -- out of 153 people on the flight that went down, she's the only survivor? wow....

on the flipside, she's alive, which is simply amazing.

p.s. sure seems like a lot of airplanes have been going down of late... *blink*