Yesterday we were talking about crappy media coverage of the Schiavo situation. Today's Salon story is on that: [link]

Again and again CNN in particular seemed to do its best to accommodate the Pinellas Park noisemakers. Last week host Miles O'Brien adopted pro-life protesters' language and began referring to Michael Schiavo as the "estranged husband." As Media Matters for America noted, on March 24, CNN host Daryn Kagan said there are "a lot of people in this country agreeing with [pro-life protesters] that this would be a death without dignity." Kagan added that there are "strong, divided opinions across the country." Yet poll after poll showed that Americans were not strongly divided on this issue, and that most did not believe removing Schiavo's feeding tube would mean death without dignity.

Your Car: Politics on Wheels

Among their findings: buyers of American cars tend to be Republican - except, for some reason, those who buy Pontiacs, who tend to be Democrats. Foreign-brand compact cars are usually bought by Democrats - but not Mini Coopers, which are bought by almost equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans. And Volvos may not actually represent quite what you think.

...

Scarborough also determined that Volvos were the most "Democratic" cars, by 44 to 32 percent, followed by Subarus and Hyundais. But although a lot of old Volvos on the road are driven by Democrats, the customers in Volvo showrooms no longer fit the old stereotype, according to a survey of 163,000 new-car buyers last year that was conducted by CNW Marketing Research of Bandon, Ore.

As Volvo's advertising has stressed performance in addition to safety, more and more Republicans are buying Volvos. The CNW survey last year showed that Democratic buyers of Volvo cars outnumbered Republicans by only 32 percent to 27 percent.

"Volvos have become more plush and bourgeois, which is a Republican thing to be," said Mickey Kaus, a dual expert in politics and cars as the author of the Kausfiles and Gearbox columns for Slate. "Subaru is the new Volvo - that is, it is what Volvos used to be: trusty, rugged, inexpensive, unpretentious, performs well, maybe a bit ugly. You don't buy it because you want to show you have money; you buy it because you have college-professor values."

This just in, Gmail now has rich text formatting. This is not an April Fools joke. *hugs Gmail very tight*

Not only that... but Google now owns their very own satelite. Called 'gSat'.

[link]

It's used for taking pictures. So folks can now run out and spell messages before gSat passes over.

But which Eyes guy was the Goa'uld capoeira guy? (I know I've misspelled here.)

I love the Cadbury mini-eggs! I had NONE this year. My local Walgreens had Cadbury Cream Eggs, mini-cream eggs and Caramel Eggs but none of the regular mini-eggs. So disappointing.

And now, you can degronk with Google Gulp! *g* [link]

So how long before Google turns evil?

It might actually take a while, as I think they have "Don't be evil" in their mission statement.

How to get a Gulp Cap? Well, if you know someone who's already been "gulped," they can give you one. And if you don't know anyone who can give you one, don't worry ? that just means you aren't cool. But very, very (very!) soon, you will be.

Okay, the room is spinning. Lightly when I'm upright, but very heavily when I lie down. Which really messes with my choice of not-at-work options.

But I'll work from here anyway, and pray this all clears up in less than 10 hours for many reasons, not least of all the incipient nausea and need to do more instructor training.

More from tommy's link:

a Saturn, the offbeat brand of choice for aficionados who skew heavily Democratic, by 39 to 11 among last year's car buyers. Mr. Kaus says they appeal to Democrats because they are "clunky, Earth Shoe-like cars."

SATURN owners were also prone to put their Democratic loyalties on display, at least according to a count undertaken by Political Bumpers, which was billed as "an extremely unscientific" project undertaken near the end of the presidential campaign last year.

I've been driving Saturns for over 10 years.... Before that, a Nissan....

Okay, the room is spinning. Lightly when I'm upright, but very heavily when I lie down. Which really messes with my choice of not-at-work options.

Yikes. Are you sick? Or really drunk?

ION - from Wired:

No. 1's in the House
Here's one of those secrets no one ever tells prospective home owners: Watch out for pools of urine. Bradley and Maggie Parker shelled out thousands of dollars to have Ryan Homes build their Ohio dream house. While visiting the construction site, however, the couple stumbled upon rivulets of urine on the floors and more of the same seeping under the walls in various parts of the house. The waste products were apparently left by construction workers who were loath to walk to the nearest portable toilet. "It was so shocking at first," Maggie Parker said. "Then it was an overwhelming feeling of disgust." Ryan Homes refused to give the Parkers their deposit back after the peeved pair decided not to move in. The Parkers have since filed suit.

Ew. Part of me wonders if they made up the urine thing to get out of buying the house. But presumably (if they're filing suit) they'd have documented the urine with photos and what-not.

Where are you headed Sheryl?

Toronto, Laura. We're going to FilKOntario.(a filk con)