So, seems that, after using them as an example of a bad idea, Delicious went and fixed themselves up with a new website design. And it’s great! Very clean, very functional, and no more idiotic URL. Well done, Yahoo, well done.

Mad Men, which just started its second season on AMC recently, is fantastic television. This is a show I wanted so much to dislike, but couldn’t. The characters are awful people; the men ogle the women, the women demur and scheme, the office is a cesspool of lies, sex, and politics.

It’s great television, in other words. You cheer as the cheating husband finds the solution to his problem, allowing millions of additional sales for a cigarette company. You sigh in defeat as the good secretary succumbs to the lying bachelor on his wedding weekend. And, most importantly, you can’t wait to watch the next episode.

As I said, season 2 just got started, but I will try my hardest to wait until the DVDs come out. I’m 3 episodes away from the end of season 1 and I can’t imagine having to wait a whole week to know what comes next.

Curmudgeon mode, Engage!

I’m a big gadget/Web/Internet/wasting time fan, but the latest waste of time just made me laugh today. It’s called firefly. Firefly (sorry, firef.ly; did no one learn from del.ici.ous, wait, deli.cio.us, damn it del.icio.us?) is a service that lets you add (sigh) live chat to your web site. Really. Live chat. You know, for all those deep, moderated discussions taking place on the Web.

Firefly runs on Flash and a Javascript library (as far as I can tell), that lets anyone on your site chat with the other people on your site. I don’t know if someone on the homepage is chatting with someone on a sub-page, but really, who cares? This only works when a couple of things are in alignment: you have sufficient traffic and people want to talk about what you’re writing about.

Those two things also basically guarentee that you will have a high Internet troll quotient. And now, he’s a real-time, unmoderated, permanently S3-stored troll. It’s also next to impossible reference another chatter to, yah know, have a conversation.

It’s a cute toy, but that’s all it will be. Om Malik is saying it’s in Alpha on HuffPo; I’d love to hear how they’re dealing with political Internet trolls over there.

This is satire. It’s also ham-fisted (thanks J–) and stupid for a cover, but satire nonetheless. If When you encounter someone who thinks it’s prescient or insightful or whatever, you have my permission to smack them upside their idiotic skull*. ‘Grats to the New Yorker for the best attention whoring of the election season so far.

* Note, my permission doesn’t mean crap in any court, workplace, or household, including my own.

Already more than halfway through this list; picked up Slaughterhouse 5 at a booksale this weekend for $.50.

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