textz.com [via oldtimey].

OT describes it as ‘for all your countercultural e-text needs’ but the site proppah includes a black-beret-and-turtleneck worthy manifesto and the cache includes not only many works of the red-and-black variety but also works by Umberto Eco and Stephen King, to cite two random authors.

PF takes note of a mysterious mass failure of auto locks in Vegas on Friday.

He fails to note the story’s links to the Puget Sound area, the last two paragraphs in the story:

News reports of a similar phenomenon several years ago in Washington state suggested the outages were linked to the arrival of military aircraft carriers to Bremerton.

In March 2001, the keyless entry failures began at the same time the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson returned to Bremerton. Then in April of that year, the outages began one day after the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln arrived at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

The original Ed Anger, dead at 56 (spotted on MeFi, natch).

The Economist runs the only story I’m ever likely to cite approvingly. Somehow, it seems appropriate that the magazine should salute the Weekly World News – I certainly have had trouble believing more or less anything I ever read in both publications. Of course, it’s usually a heck of a lot more fun chez the WWN.

The Danelope bravely takes us into the unknown world of the Potted Meat Food Product, clearly earning the mantle of an heroic explorer.

Bells and Whistles: Naked in America.

Sounds like AZ needs a little Flexcar – er, I mean, I-Go. Oh look, a referral-based membership discount.

Viv and I are founding members of the initial branch here in Seattle. Haven’t made much use of it lately, having a decent (if dented) car.

I have had issues with them over some marketing and customer service decisions. We joined under an expensive upfront payment ‘lifetime’ membership plan which lasted exactly as long as the federal and city subsidies, two years. I did, I am happy to report, get the CEO on the phone and raked him over the coals without mercy but politely for a good forty-five minutes, which did not lead to a policy change but which felt good. I’m also certain that the man in question was both taken aback by my anger and one hopes that the company’s other locales avoided the same errors in marketing.

That said, Flexcar has proved a highly attractive and useful option. The cars are immaculate, so far, and have been rotated and replaced about once every two years. There are a variety of vehicles available. Interested persons who believe that the idea of a commons is an important and useful feature of civilized life are highly encouraged to explore the service. Insert gratuitous crack about SUV-driving suburban anti-tax activists here.

Metafilter | Community Weblog is back up. Man, it’s truly amazing how central that website is to my daily linkfishing.

In other news, I just noticed that tireless linkfisher Dirk Deppey over at Journalista has been kicked upstairs upon the departure of the capable Milo George from TCJ‘s hotseat.

Hey guys! Where’s my check? But seriously, condolences to Milo and congrats to Dirk.

tpc.int is a gateway to remote online faxing services, free of charge.

I am happy to see that American Museum of Radio is alive and kicking up the Washington coast in beautiful downtown Bellingham. I wsas inspired to google for this place in the wake of reading the teasers for the intriguing-sounding The Phantom Museum, a book featured on the Things Magazine web site.

I visited the radio museum several years ago, and it was a sterling example of the vernacular museum. It’s based on a quite excessively large collection of antique radio and electricity gear; on the day I visited there were two people puttering amidst the cabinets and so forth, In the back was an individual who was clearly in charge. We talked about the internet and he showed me an amazing device, a radio modem. At the time the museum was reflecting some old-time radio program streams (possibly from Shoutcast but it’s quite possible the visit was before they came into existence).

Most wonderfully, that internet feed was also being rebroadcast from a low-wattage transceiver just outside of town, so at the time it was possible to drive around Bellingham listening to Fibber McGee and Molly and the strains of Benny Goodman at the Savoy, an audio timewarp that was on the airwaves via the internet, a conundrum I’ve savored happily ever since.

inthe90s, The Nineties nostalgia site.

A helpful resource I came across while researching this pressing set of queries.

The ever-excellent Cartoonist notes three old star atlases available online. Most cool. It’s almost embarrassing to just link like this, as the bande dessinateur (if you’ll pardon the expression) is such an exemplary practitioner of le bloguage court.

If you’ll pardon the expression, messieurs-dames.