Dave Winer wonders how WBUR uses the money he donated to them...#

I paid them $120 in April, a generous amount according to the station. So I listen to the pledge drive guilt-free. They say we get both sides of the story on WBUR, but then I just realized, we don't, they don't explain how they spend our money. This morning Jane Christo, the general manager of the station, is pitching us. How do I call in and ask questions on the air? How much salary does Ms Christo draw? How many execs are there at WBUR and what are their salaries? And how about the talent, how much of my money do they get? I suspect that public radio in the US is like most other industries, execs control the money, and get most of it, and don't do very much for it.

Joi Ito links to a weird image that makes you feel drunk.#

This pic certainly hurts my eyes. I know that it is a trick image, but my brain tries to adjust the focal length of my retina to see what it thinks is the right image.

Joi Ito links to Seth Godin who links to http://www.whowillbeatbush.com/...#

The question isn't whether or not George W. will be re-elected.

The question is, "who's going to beat him?"

Now, in the first ever Internet-wide political market for 2004, we're going to ask you to make a free bet. Pick our next President, pick the margin of victory and you could win up to $30,000 for your favorite charity.

Charles Miller writes something HILARIOUS. About a new programming paradigm called Dysfunctional Programming...#

While no dedicated Dysfunctional Programming language currently exists, Larry Wall was recently caught wandering down a corridor rubbing his hands together and muttering "I'll get them! I'll get them all!"

Ryan McGee is funny times ten.#

Ryan, what if I can't tell if we're really flirting or just faux flirting?

If you're at wit's end on how to tell the two types of flirting apart, you can always interrupt him mid-flirt and say, "Look, either lick me right now or let's put this crap behind us." Licking is an underrated solution to most problems.

"What are the top 5 signs we have gone from simply platonic to perhaps tongue-wrestling compatriots?"

Right, the incredibly awkward, difficult-to-navigate middle ground between friendship and lust buddies. It's a bit like playing chicken, only in this case, you only wish you were moments from a fiery death.

He develops a sudden interest that you two previously did not share. (And no, he doesn't really like it. That's a teen romantic comedy movie myth. He under no circumstances likes the Lifetime Network.)

Why to girls like taken men?

Women want guys who are taken for two reasons. One, most women can't stand to see another woman happy. Plain and simple. I can't figure it out, but there you have it. Women who are lucky enough to find a good guy protect them like gold in Ft. Knox. In my dating days, I knew when I would be going to place that had hot women before I even got there, because my girlfriend would suddenly wear a smoking outfit. She was establishing territory. 2,000 years ago, she would have flat out peed on me before we left. Evolution has only changed the methods, not the rules.

Tony Pierce writes "nads" in the same post that addresses a babe. This is what we call "balls" in the industry.#

half are saying no more politics because it makes you feel so very dirty and ignorant for sticking with our president, the other half are saying please tony please there are no other strong liberal voices out there in the blogosphere please write more about the president and his ridiculous rule since nobody else has the nads to call an idiot an idiot.

Tom Coates explains the strange British people.#

The British don't have a "healthy disrespect" for celebrity and if you've been told that, then you've basically been lied to by a professional Englishman-abroad or by some weird kind of Dick Van Dyke cod-Anglo-faker. The British don't have a healthy disrespect for anything at all, they're just grumpy old sods who don't really like anyone who sets themselves above the rest of the herd. Basically if we don't fancy them and if we don't want to be them, then we pretty much hate their guts. While they're funny or cool or interesting - well that's great - but a chink in the armour and we strike. That's why British celebrities after a while have to either treat the whole thing as a bit of a job or as a bit of a joke. The most successful take the piss a bit. They go, "It's Ok! I understand! I get it too! They give me lots of money and I sing songs and have lots of sex, but I'm just like you lot! I think it's all dumb too!" That's why people get a bit bored when Robbie Williams writes songs about his inner pain. Whatever you do, you mustn't believe the hype. Or you mustn't show that you believe the hype or the cry of 'wanker' will resound from hill and dale, from weir to West Wittering...

Joel Spolsky has created the most beautiful office ever. Oh my god. I am so jealous. I have 1 power outlet and a bunch of strips. I have no privacy and gross windows behind me that I can't look at because my desk is too awkwardly shaped to point it at them. Ugh!#

Most software managers know what good office space would be like, and they know they don't have it, and can't have it. Office space seems to be the one thing that nobody can get right and nobody can do anything about. There's a ten year lease, and whenever the company moves the last person anybody asks about how to design the space is the manager of the software team, who finds out what his new veal-fattening pens, uh, cubicle farm is going to be like for the first time on the Monday after the move-in.