as a result of this project, Burbank and Seattle airports will begin offering airport-wide free Wi-Fi indefinitely

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Google’s bringing free Wi-Fi to 47 airports this holiday season and keeping it in my home airport! Free, presumably ad-supported Wi-Fi, in airports has seemed like a no-brainer to me for a long time.

In fact, I suggested this very idea at my day job several years ago, as a counter to CNN’s ubiquity on airport televisions. So it goes.

Feltron looks at 13 years of cnn.com

The royal Lindstifa asked for a photo and, well, this was the best I could do. Lacking a kitten to immolate, I thought “what would cause the brilliant and erudite amongst whom I traffic to shriek in terror” and, naturally, I concluded, a book! But not just any book, this being Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking, a bible if ever there was one for foodish types. Such as Her Highness and myself.

It’s a disturbing trend.

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Sarah Palin, in one of her nuttier moments (it’s a sliding scale when Palin’s involved) at a recent Wisconsin Right to Life banquet, discussing the vast left-wing conspiracy that’s moved “In God We Trust” from the front to the edge of the dollar coin. The coin to which Palin refers was commissioned in 2005 and released in 2007, during a simpler time when the world was blissfully unaware of the fact that the governor of the nation’s largest state was, and continues to be, a total moron.

Other highlights of Palin’s jeremiad included a somewhat more refined yet still completely false reiteration of her death panel claim, the standard “liberal media” bashing and plenty of extemporaneous usage of the word “bogus”.

Apparently, she did actually finish the full speech.

Murdoch wants to remove his newspapers from Google?

A few years ago, right around the time News Corp acquired the WSJ, I lost a bet that Murdoch’s media empire would about face on pay-walls: that they would beat other big name sites like the New York Times to opening all of their content up and make a killing on highly contextual ads.

Boy, was I ever wrong. Well, at least wrong about what would actually happen, I’m still convinced it’s a pretty good idea. Never could I have imagined, though, that News Corp would take the step of removing all of their content from Google, that’s like saying that you can’t buy the Wall Street Journal from a street vendor, you can only get a copy from the headquarters on the Avenue of the Americas. Bizarre. Almost as weird as Rupert not really understanding how the WSJ’s pay-wall actually works.

One thing I do agree with Murdoch on is the skewed idea that search engines and aggregators are covered by “fair use”, a claim I don’t think Google has actually ever made, but legions of pro-bloggers certainly try to get away with.

I loved the pilot episode, and loved the idea of the show so much that @phillygirl and I flew down to LA for the launch party. (I still have Adam’s jumpsuit, which I borrowed for a last minute Halloween costume as ersatz Adam; I really should get that back to him…)

Jesse and Adam are trying to raise $15,000 to put together six more episodes. I think the work they’re doing is just fantastic and I’m all to happy to support them.

Search Washington’s liquor control board website by product

Yesterday, I posted a photo and mentioned a specific brand of gin, to which someone left a comment asking where to find such a thing. And this reminded me of one of my favorite features of my tax dollars at work: you can search the Washington state liquor control board website by brand. I know, right?

The results page leaves something to be desired (would it kill you to let me add a zip code or address?) but it’s better than calling every store on Yelp.

Liquor stores in Washington are all state run and the variance in quality between any two runs pretty high. If you’re looking for a particular liquor or liqueur, this is the best way to find it.

The inevitable collision of parents and social networks will never not be funny

@ckwinny captioned this photo of @phillygirl and I “teh cuteness” and who am I to disagree? (via ckwinny)

Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-LA), the sole Republican to vote for the sweeping health care overhaul that passed the House of Representatives last night.

Interesting fellow, he was born in Vietnam, his father was captured by the North Vietnamese towards the end of the Vietnam War and held for 7 years; Cao immigrated to the U.S. with his uncle and 2 siblings when he was 8 years old . The first Vietnamese American to serve in Congress, Cao narrowly defeated William Jefferson in 2008 in a district that hasn’t elected a Republican since 1890. (Jefferson, you may recall, was re-elected in 2006 despite being embroiled in a bribery and corruption scandal.)

Cao is a devout Roman Catholic and almost became a priest instead of a lawyer specializing in immigration issues. He’s been a supporter of environmental causes, particularly those addressing global warming (understandable given that his district is largely below sea level) and appears to have an amicable relationship with President Obama, giving the president an “A” on his first 100 days in office. He voted against the federal stimulus, on the grounds that it wasn’t providing enough assistance for his district, which had been ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, but was one of the few Republicans to vote for the supplemental appropriation for military funding in Afghanistan and Iraq, despite heavy lobbying from the leaders of his own party. He was also one of the few Republicans to vote for a resolution condemning South Carolina Representative Joseph Wilson’s emotional outburst during President Obama’s September address to Congress.

His vote for the health care overhaul package came with the stipulation that he would not support any bill that “allowed for public funding of abortion”, which the controversial, last minute Stupak-Pitts amendment covered.

Cao appears to be one of those rare elected officials who actually not only votes his conscience but also for the interests of his constituents.