Americans are increasingly choosing to live among like-minded neighbours. This makes the culture war more bitter and politics harder

SOME folks in Texas recently decided to start a new community “containing 100% Ron Paul supporters”. Mr Paul is a staunch libertarian and, until recently, a Republican presidential candidate. His most ardent fans are invited to build homesteads in “Paulville”, an empty patch of west Texas. Here, they will be free. Free not to pay “for other people's lifestyles [they] may not agree with”. And free from the irksome society of those who do not share their love of liberty.

Cynics chuckle, and even Mr Paul sounds unenthusiastic about the Paulville project, in which he had no hand. But his followers' desire to segregate themselves is not unusual. Americans are increasingly forming like-minded clusters. Conservatives are choosing to live near other conservatives, and liberals near liberals.

Political segregation | The Big Sort | Economist.com

MTV Networks Europe has been fined a total of £255,000 ($484,500) by U.K. media regulator Ofcom for “widespread and persistent” breaches of its broadcasting code by four of its channels.

The Viacom-owned operator will have to pay the following penalties: TMF £80,000 ($152,000), MTV France £35,000 ($66,500), MTV UK £80,000 ($152,000) and MTV Hits £60,000 ($114,000).

The “highly offensive language and material” was broadcast before the 9pm family-viewing watershed.

Wow. Just wow. Even in Europe I'm a bit surprised they played it, but annoyed that they got fined for it.

Meanwhile in the Land of the Free, at current FCC maximums for 500,000 per incident, that video could've cost MTV America over 20 million dollars per viewing... they say "fuck" about 40 or so times, not even to mention everything else.

The Daily Swarm - MTV fined $484K for playing Aphex Twin's Windowlicker video...

Stepping into the 9-foot-tall glass booth, Eileen Reardon of Baltimore looked startled when an electronic glass door slid around the outside of the machine to create the image of her body. "Some of this stuff seems a little crazy," Reardon said, "but in this day and age, you have to go along with it."

Ugh. You stupid bitch, no you don't. Some things *are* more important than comfort and convenience.

We're into SciFi tech now and it's not the progressive, utopian kind of SciFi.

USATODAY.com

Spot fucking on. Yahtzee nails this review.

-k

The Escapist : Video Galleries : Zero Punctuation : Grand Theft Auto IV

Interactive infographic on money spent after x number of years for buying and renting.

Basically, having now bought a house, I move for at least 6-10 years, depending on house appreciation (or depreciation).

-janelane

[Pretty useful. Bolsters the idea that if you're likely to be someplace less than 10 years, rent, unless you really have an angle. -k]

Is It Better to Buy or Rent? - NYTimes.com

[ But is it approved by the Postmaster General!? -k]

Apple G3 Mailbox

Now you can see what gas prices are around the country at a glance. Areas are color coded according to their price for the average price for regular unleaded gasoline.

[ The most striking thing I see here is that the darkest "green", the *lowest* average, displayed on this map is still set at < $3.55!

Growing up in New York, I was accustomed to high gas prices and found the sub $2.00 prices here in GA when I moved (in 2000) to be quite amazing. To think that the lowest average is well over $3 in the US is pretty incredible. -k ]

USA National Gas Temperature Map

Like the CCTV video from yesterday, these people made their music video with stop animation and a Mac Desktop.

[ Very clever... i like it. -k]

Apple Mac Music Video

Known as the Airborne Laser, the craft will house a multi-megawatt chemical oxygen iodine laser capable of hitting a target many hundreds of miles away. At its core, it's the same basic technology as found in a drugstore laser pointer, only a billion times more powerful. While the craft is scheduled for its first live target test in 2009, the laser and the airplane have yet to be tested together.

"Damn you, Kent! How could you build that mirror!"

The World's Spookiest Weapons | Popular Science

The Vatican's chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God.

[ But do they have a soul? -k]

SPACE.com -- Vatican: It's OK to Believe in Aliens