Groundbreaking comedian George Carlin died Sunday of heart failure at the age of 71. He was a brilliant man that was successful due to his ability to takes risks and change with the times. This November he was set to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. We'll miss you, George. jmj

While it's pretty obvious that rising gas prices are affecting most Americans, what I never considered is the affect that it has on Indie bands. [via brooklyn vegan] jmj

Via Things Mag: an interesting take on an interesting new tool, Citysense, a web-tool monitoring the amount of cell phones in a particular area. (San Fran for now)

There are different uses - finding out what bar to go to, checking busy areas during rush hour - but it begs the question: how many other people can track us by our cell phones? tjc

Greg Simkins, aka Craola One, takes some lovable characters and makes them just a bit demented. Format Magazine has an interview. glc

More proof: we are sorely lacking leadership, here in America and abroad. Someone, please step up to the plate. tjc

Nintendo released Wii system menu update 3.3.6 and eight hours after its release, the Wii was hacked again by Team Twiizers, who on Saturday, released an update to the Twilight Hack, which compromises a The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess save file to perform a controlled Wii reboot into a boot program of choice - thus, allowing complete control of your Wii's hardware.

The Homebrew Channel has been the popular boot program of choice because it installs its own channel onto your Wii system menu, designed to simply launch other boot systems such as old gaming system emulators (NES, SNES, Genesis, N64 and MAME, to name a few), MP3 players, browsers, web servers, and even a Linux breed of operating system for the Wii (solidifying hope for endless opportunities and unrestricted access to your Wii's hardware) without having to use the Twighlight Hack each time (see full list of bootable applications here).

Games, known as ROMS, can be easily found using your favorite torrent search engine and loaded from a SD card which is actually legal as long as you own the original game. I surmise a media server application is just around the corner. Modify yours today, full instructions and video thanks to WiiBrew.com's wiki. Happy hacking! haf a.k.a. webmaestro

Radiohead recently gave away 50 passes to their show at Bercy Arena in Paris. The only catch was that to get a pass you needed to ride your bicycle to a downtown office to pick one up. Apparently the French aren't as keen about cycling as you would think, you know since they host the biggest cycling event in the world, the Tour de France. 35 tickets, or 70%, went unused. glc

1. This Slate article pretty much sums it up.

2. Internet : written word :: Mtv : music.

3. Video killed the radio star? tjc

In honor of the Euro 2008 Championships an unbelievable amateur soccer video... I'll let the guys at With Leather describe it: glc

Remember that commercial where Larry Bird and Michael Jordan played that crazy game of HORSE over a Big Mac? This is like that, except it's just one person. And French. And kicking a soccer ball. And presumably not faked. With many shots taking place in street intersections. And angry business owners giving chase. Other than that, totally the same thing.

In an interview with the BBC, former Vietnamese prison guard Tran Trong Duyet says that although he considers John McCain his friend for helping mend the relationship the two countries, he is lying about being tortured at Hoa Lo prison.

We used to argue about the war - about whether it was right or wrong. He is a very frank man - very conservative, and very loyal to his country and the American ideal. He had a very interesting accent and sometimes he taught me words in English and corrected my accent.

I have followed his career since he left prison...he did not tell the truth, but I can somehow sympathize with him. He lies to American voters in order to get their support for his presidential election.

I wish him success in the presidential election. Of course the Americans started the war in Vietnam and killed so many people - but now we want to leave the past behind...so now I consider John McCain my friend because he did much to mend relations between our two countries. And if he becomes president he will do more to improve those ties.

While everyone who reads this site knows that we endorsed Barack Obama months ago, I can't even fathom John McCain lying about this. This story is disrespectful to a man who served our country with honor during a very troubling time. jmj

No matter if it's McCain or Obama, we will definitely have a lefty in the White House. Of the past five presidencies, three lefties have prevailed. Only Carter and Bush II were not. tjc