The Lostpedia wiki. Useful for tracking all the unresolved mysteries, character 
interrelationships and locations. I spend so much time just trying to keep up that I missed that the characters Locke, Burke, (Desmond) Hume and Rousseau all espouse views on the key issue of fate vs. free will consistent with their philosopher namesakes.
[via Marginal Revolution]
Winfrey, 52, who is reportedly worth more than $1 billion, said she doesn’t feel guilty about her wealth. “I was coming back from Africa on one of my trips,” she said. “I had taken one of my wealthy friends with me. She said, ‘Don’t you just feel guilty? Don’t you just feel terrible?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t. I do not know how me being destitute is going to help them.’ Then I said when we got home, ‘I’m going home to sleep on my Pratesi sheets right now and I’ll feel good about it.’”
Unfortunately, Oprah doesn’t encourage others to feel the way she does about wealth. Still, any progress is welcome. Next up, The Objectivist Hour with Oprah.
The latest target for the AFA ComplaintBot is Fox and NASCAR
Fox allows ’s’ word. Take a stand for our children!File a complaint against Fox network stations for broadcasting the “s” word during a NASCAR race when millions of families were watching with their children.
I’m so sick of these yahoos. Hearing one utterance of the word “shit” is not going to scar your child for life. If they’re old enough to have any business watching NASCAR, they’ve already heard it. More news for the American “Family” Association: according to the US Census, only 32% of American households include children under age 18. Why, then, must we live in Sesame Street Nation, where the only programming that can see air is that appropriate for a three year old?
If you are really offended by this sort of thing, rather than visiting the ComplaintBot to complain about a program you didn’t actually see and wouldn’t even know you were supposed to be offended by but for the convenient AFA Action Alert, try this magic device:
Fight Sesame Street Nation at TV Watch.
The so-called American Family Association is up in arms again about Ford. They’re already calling for a boycott of Ford because Ford refused to capitulate to their demands that the automaker stop “promoting the gay agenda.” And what makes them so mad at this American company? Quotes like this one, apparently:
“For us, it was very natural to address gay families. We’re targeting people with modern day values. It’s a value set and the Volvo-minded consumer is very diverse. ‘Family’ is much more than the traditional family.†- Thomas Anderson, executive vice-president of Volvo Cars North America, a division of Ford Motor Company, on definition of family.
Egad! Ford wants to sell cars to gay people. The horror. But that’s not all! Ford wants to give jobs to gay people, too:
The national morality nannies at the AFA are upset that Ford sponsored an episode of Without A Trace that featured two women kissing:
On a recent episode of CBS’s Without A Trace, Ford proved to the homosexual community the company’s commitment to their agenda. The Ford-sponsored program included a scene of two lesbians passionately kissing each other.
To see what Ford sponsored, click here. (Warning! This scene is very offensive! If you’re easily offended by people Who Are Not Like You –ed)
The national nannies at the AFA need to get a life and shut up. Without A Trace is a show for adults that is a somewhat-glamorized representation of the real world. In the real world, teenagers sometimes have sex (the subject of a different episode drawing the AFA’s ire) and lesbians kiss. Gay people have jobs and families. If that is morally repugnant to you, turn the channel.
The PTC and their lackeys at the FCC are at it again.
A government crackdown on indecent programming resulted in a proposed fine of $3.6 million against dozens of CBS stations and affiliates on Wednesday - a record penalty from the Federal Communications Commission.The FCC said an episode of the CBS crime drama “Without a Trace” that aired in December 2004 was indecent. It cited the graphic depiction of “teenage boys and girls participating in a sexual orgy.”
99% of all indecency complaints come from the ComplainBot at the Parents Television Council. The PTC’s Action Alert page even tells you what to be offended by, and fills in the details of your complaint for you so you can complain about programming you haven’t watched.
The history of this particular episode of Without A Trace is illustrative. After it aired the first time, the PTC minions used the bot to complain about it en masse as directed. The FCC dismissed the copy-and-paste complaints in return for a $3.5 million payment. CBS then had the gall to re-air the episode, even though the PTC had clearly identified it as Something You Shouldn’t Be Allowed To Watch. So the minions used the bot to complain again, and the FCC lackeys gave in this time.
Here’s a news flash for the “private market” censors at the PTC. When you use the power of government to get rid of what you don’t like, it is censorship, making this ridiculous argument even more ridiculous:
The First Amendment begins: Congress shall make no law… and is supposed to limit the powers of the federal government only. The Parents Television Council is not a federal entity or a legislative body. It has neither the power to forbid programming nor the desire for the government to ban legal programming. Instead, the PTC operates by providing members and advertisers with information about the content of programs. Where prime time programming contains significant amounts of material unsuitable for children in a timeslot and venue where children presumably have access to that material, the PTC asks advertisers to reconsider their sponsorship of the program.
In the PTC’s view, of course, using the off button or changing the channel isn’t enough:
Merely changing the channel is essentially to accept what is on that channel, and admit powerlessness to change what is on one’s own television. To be forced to change the channel is to accept the loss of additional stations to unhealthy content and to expect similar material to one day appear on the next channel.
Got that? The mere existence of an episode of Without a Trace dealing with teenage sexual activity, a show which is rated TV-PG or TV-14 and which airs at 10 pm ET, is so threatening to the heads-under-rocks censors at the PTC that they encourage a crackdown by government.
These people need to get a life. Judging from their list of best TV programming, one assumes that said life would not include television.
Update: More from Jeff Jarvis
What song was #1 on the day you were born? For me, it’s Hey Jude. Other family members include “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye, “Wild Wild West” by Will Smith featuring Dru Hill & Kool Moe Dee and “Dilemma” by Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland. Cool St. Louis connection on that last one.
Other dates from recent history:
