8 Ways to Sunday

An MSNBC article examines the unique anatomy of the seven-time Tour de France winner, and how it helped him become a record-beating champion.

“Good evening, and welcome to another edition of The Half-Assed Gourmet, with your host Adam Messinger…”

A while back I picked up some Newman’s Own Light Honey Mustard dressing on a whim. I decided I didn’t like it much on salad, but it might taste okay on chicken or pork. Tonight I had a chance to put that to the test with some baked pork chops, and I’m pretty happy with the results.

To do this yourself, just lay out your chops in a pan per usual and douse them with enough dressing to get them covered. Roll them over a time or two to get both sides coated, add a bit of water to the pan, and bake. I cooked mine for about 50 minutes at 350° F; your mileage may vary depending on many chops you’re cooking, how thick they’re cut, etc.

The end result was satisfyingly tasty, but a little sweet for my taste. I may try adding some more spice to it next time. Mixing the dressing with some white wine for a marinade might be worth a shot, too.

Ultra-conservative, FOX News-owning media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is buying Intermix Media Inc., the parent company of MySpace. Already, alarmed conservatives who consider MySpace “a virtual candy store for pedophiles” are making preemptive calls for Murdoch to “clean it up.”

While I’ll concede that there may be more that can be done to police the site’s age restrictions, I don’t relish the thought of News Corp. putting its foot down on a thriving online community. While not a MySpace user myself, I’d hate to see neo-con censorship applied to a community that thrives on free speech and association.

Updates

This just in, from the Los Angeles Times:

The young hipsters who congregate on MySpace.com are known for posting revealing information about themselves. So when Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. announced this week that it had agreed buy the popular social networking website’s parent company for $580 million, pranksters rushed to set up phony profiles of the 74-year-old media tycoon.

In keeping with the site’s subversive tone, listed among his general interests are “World domination,” “Games, specifically Monopoly” and “Making Ted Turner squirm,” referring to his rivalry with the CNN founder.

Under musical preferences, one says, “Yes, money is music to my ears.”

“I encourage my television and radio stations to become Republican soapboxes,” another profile says, adding, “There are important benefits to fascism.”

The site is one of the most popular among teens, and spoofs are common. There are hundreds for President Bush, and such celebrities as Britney Spears are parodied.

News Corp is doing an admirable job of staying cool, at least on the surface:

News Corp. President Peter Chernin vowed to protect the uncensored site.

“If we try to impose our own sensibilities on MySpace, it would be a dopey thing to do,” he said.

News Corp. spokeswoman Teri Everett said the company was aware of the Murdoch profiles.

“But asking for their removal is something we wouldn’t consider,” she said.

Late Wednesday, more than 300 MySpace users were signed up as Murdoch friends, including “Gangsta,” “Bejeezus,” “Lady Love” and “Dr. Teeth.”

Most asked for money. A few wanted movie parts.

Play along at home with Rocketboom’s Karl Rove / CIA leak ongoing investigation drinking game. It’s fun and easy!

Just chug a beer every time White House press secretary Scott McClellan makes a reference to the “ongoing investigation” into whether Rove leaked an CIA agent’s true identity. Scott sure is adamant that he can’t talk about that investigation; too bad all the press really wants to know is whether Bush means to stand by his promise to fire any culpable members of his administration. Oh well… play along with this video and pretty soon you’ll be too drunk to care about shitty, two-faced government officials.

(Props: New Patriot, from whom I shamelessly stole that side-by-side image)

P.S. If you’re interested in other vlogs like Rocketboom, check out FireANT, an RSS video aggregator for Windows XP and Mac OS X.

USC Annenberg’s Online Journalism Review just published a comparative review of popular weblog software. The article covers the most popular hosted services (think Blogger) and DIY web applications (like Movable Type). It also gives definitions of common blogging jargon and provides a handy comparison chart with a feature-by-feature run-down of the products.

If you’re just getting started with a weblog and considering your many options, or if you’re looking into changing platforms for your existing weblog, this is a good place to start for up-to-date and detailed information.

(Props: ProBlogger)

Updates

• 8/3/2005 @ 7:36 AM — Jay Allen of Six Apart has spotted a few errors in the comparison chart that accompanies the article.