links for 2009-10-22

"They’ve come up with a number of their own solutions to solve a massive scaling problem, and sometimes we (the users) see bugs as a result of that. But, in a world where the much smaller Twitter goes down regularly, Facebook’s relative stability is pretty impressive."

"You now will be able to purchase songs as gifts for your friends. The "Music and MP3s" section of the Gift Shop, powered by LaLa.com, offers over 8 million songs for any music lover from artists such as Beyonce, the Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, Imogen Heap and even Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Web songs are 1 credit each, while full, downloadable, and digital rights management-free (DRM) MP3s are 9 credits each." Cool.

"You know what pisses me off? Getting a PR email from one of my favorite online retailers showcasing a buyers guide for “great gift ideas to pamper the women in your life,” including a pots and pans set, a hair dryer, and tons of gadgets in hot pink." Pink is not marketing to women.

"The Patriot Act does make “interferring with flight crews” a felony offense carrying a maximum 20-year sentence. However, using this law as a bludgeon to beat up a citizen who might simply have had a disagreement with a flight attendant over a glass of wine, is a monstrous abuse of federal law and federal power. It represents “overciminalization” with a capital “O.”"

"Springfield, Virginia resident Eric Williamson was arrested and charged with indecent exposure yesterday for failing to put on any clothes after getting up at 5:30 am to make some coffee. A woman and her 7-year-old daughter had cut across Williamson's front yard and saw him through his kitchen window."

"I believe this is a first: The Chief Financial Officer of the City of Lubbock, Texas wrote to the Shire of Toodyay, an area in Western Australia and asked for permission to repurpose the Shire’s logo for Lubbock. The Shire of Toodyay agreed to the use and at no charge either. The City of Lubbock then proceeded to lop off a water-like appendage from the icon to now symbolize a windmill — as Lubbock has a strong windmill tradition and is home to the Windmill Museum — and then typed in their name." WTF is appropriate here.

"At this early date, these numbers tell us about as much what we'll see from the GOP in 2012 as a Variety story about a studio optioning the rights to a novel tells us about the eventual movie that may or may not get made from it. But it's interesting to me in that it suggests that, despite talk of the Republican party prioritizing economic concerns over social policy, their current top candidate is the one who's most squishy on economic policy and most known for his social conservatism." Indeed.