Metavirus is a 30-something lawyer in the Midwest who started an obscure politics-focused blog in 2008 in order to join in the excitement of the election cycle.
After the election, he started Library Grape - a more permanent anchor in the blogosphere that gained wider readership and a diverse group of opinionated authors.
If you're interested in reading more about the many stages of Metavirus' political evolution over the years, please check out the following: A Heartfelt Testament from Someone Who Lost Faith in the GOP and The Intellectual Bankruptcy of Today's GOP.
Is there anything more irritating that an error message that gives you no information about the error that occurred?
Was it a network error? Is the server down? Is the authentication service not working? Where can I go for more information on the problem? Can I do anything to resolve it?
Speaking as a former programmer, the problem lies mainly in either laziness or bad customer experience design.
If there was a software user’s bill of rights: fully descriptive and helpful error messages would be at the top of my list. To make it grandma friendly, you could do the explanatory bits via a “more info” link.
It never ceases to amaze me how much of a mindbogglingly shameless bullshitter you have to be to go into advertising. I can’t decide whether this quote about Microsoft’s new logo makes me want to throw up or cry:
We wanted the new logo to be both modern and classic by echoing the International Typographic Style (or Swiss design) that has been a great influence on our Metro style design philosophy…
It was important for Microsoft that the new logo didn’t try to emulate faux-industrial design characteristics such as materiality (glass, wood, plastic, etc.). It has motion – aligning with the fast and fluid style you’ll find throughout Windows 8…
Our final goal was for the new logo to be humble, yet confident. Welcoming you in with a slight tilt in perspective and when you change your color, the logo changes to reflect you. It is a “Personal” Computer after all.
Oh, and the logo is shitty too:
This can’t be good. It appears that Google+ has been leaking Ezra Klein’s private family photos due to flawed privacy settings.
Since joining Google Plus, I’ve uploaded a couple of photo albums with personal pictures. But I set my permissions very tightly: They’re only visible to a very small number of friends. And, it turns out, the world: Seems that those photos have been turning up in Google image searches. And not just mine: Of people who aren’t even on G+, much less my friends on it.
It’s not a big deal. None of the photos were embarrassing — they’re just shots of family, and private events. And they’re down now. Deleted from G+. And I won’t put any more up. The experience has made me trust this social network quite a lot less. And if you’ve uploaded photos that you don’t mean for the world to be able to search, you may want to run a google image search on yourself and ensure they’re not showing up there.
Beware.
I really never thought I’d see the day when the Republican Fake Outrage Machine would try to score political points by slamming Democrats for tweets they find offensive to gay people. I mean, aren’t they the ones who are always bitching about playing the race card and the gender card? Remember all the fooferaw over Sarah Palin saying that criticism of her was sexist?
Read it and weep at the irony:
Republicans are calling for an apology from President Barack Obama’s campaign manager over a tweet they argue is offensive to the gay community.
On Wednesday, Jim Messina sought to call attention to an article by Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank, in which Milbank argued that Republicans will alienate gay voters by opposing gay marriage and giving the cold shoulder to a gay judge Obama had nominated.
“Line of the day from WAPO’s Dana Milbank: ‘The appletini? It may be the only thing Republicans have left to offer gay people,’” Messina tweeted.
Republicans are jumping on the tweet in order to garner much needed support from the gay community in preparation for the 2012 elections. As The Hill reports, Eric Schwanzheim, executive director of the conservative Gay Leadership Network issued a statement in response to Messina’s tweet:
The fact that the campaign manager of President Obama’s reelection campaign thinks it’s appropriate to disseminate insulting jokes about the gay community is a perfect example of the kind of empty rhetoric that characterizes this White House’s so-called outreach to gay Americans. We demand that Mr. Messina immediately apologize and we ask that President Obama disavow his campaign manager’s ridiculous statement.
Messina has drawn attacks from other Republican leaders as well, who did not appreciate his quoting of Milbank’s column. The Republican National Committee’s political director, Rick Wiley, also took the opportunity to berate Messina, calling the tweet “ridiculous.”
Messina responded to the attacks Wednesday afternoon. “Tweeting someone else’s words caused a stir, but the GOP is on the wrong side of every gay voter priority,” he tweeted. His tweet included a link to an Obama strategy memo titled, “Republicans Seal Their Fate with Gay Voters in 2012.”
The appletini remark made by Milbank and quoted by Messina actually had its origins in a speech by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), however. During a Senate hearing Tuesday, Republicans attempted to block the confirmation of Jonathan Smithberg, who would be the first gay judge to serve on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who delayed the confirmation, Republican senators who had the opportunity to override Paul’s filibuster chose not to. Instead, McCain, took to the Senate floor to highlight important details about the state of Arizona.
“The cranberry juice in your cosmo this month almost certainly came from Arizona,” McCain said, according to Milbank. “It’s also believed that the appletini has its origin in Arizona.”
The GOP has had a strained relationship with the gay community over the years and is seeking to show gay voters that it does care about them, despite opposition by Republicans on key issues such as gay marriage.
Ok, so of course I’m just kidding. That quote is from a real article but I just replaced references to “Latino” with “gay”. For extra fun, imagine using the word “African-American”.
Isn’t it amazing how Republicans only seem to care about minority issues when they’re trying to drive political wedges and not when it comes to, oh I don’t know, trying to actually solve minority issues in our country?

Romney, Summering In Florida
Grover Noquist made an interesting argument for why Republicans should elect Mitt Romney in a recent speech at CPAC:
All we have to do is replace Obama. … We are not auditioning for fearless leader. We don’t need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget. … We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don’t need someone to think it up or design it. The leadership now for the modern conservative movement for the next 20 years will be coming out of the House and the Senate.
So what is Norquist’s fundamental requirement for a Republican President? Apparently: doing what he’s told:
Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the United States. This is a change for Republicans: the House and Senate doing the work with the president signing bills. His job is to be captain of the team, to sign the legislation that has already been prepared.
David Frum scratches his head:
This is not a very complimentary assessment of Romney’s leadership. It’s also not a very realistic political program: congressional Republicans have a disapproval rating of about 75%. If Americans get the idea that a vote for Romney is a vote for the Ryan plan, Romney is more or less doomed.
To date, sad to say, Romney has worked hard to confirm this image of weakness.
Nobody wants a president who acts as the passive instrument of even generally popular groups like labor unions. (Did you know that—despite decades of declining popularity—unions still have an approval rating of 52%? I didn’t until I looked it up.)
But a candidate who appeases the most disliked people in national politics? That guy will command neither public affection nor respect.
via Sully
E.D. Kain ponders “Why conservatives can’t do pop culture very well“
It reminds me of a post I did back in 2009, “And Jesus Blessed This Nation At Our Founding… Literally“
It’s a rare day when bullshit software patents are invalidated but it looks like a ray of sunshine just appeared in the dark gloomy sky:
An East Texas patent case that has attracted the attention of the technology world came to a screeching halt Thursday as the jury ruled that the key patent in the case is invalid. Eolas, a patent troll that has been shaking down technology companies for the better part of a decade, now faces the prospect of losing the patent.
As we reported yesterday, the case centers on a biologist, Michael Doyle, who claims to have invented the concept of interactive websites [!!] back in 1993. He applied for a patent, which was granted in 1998.
But Doyle’s claims are sharply disputed by many in the Internet community, including World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee. They’ve pointed to prior art, including Viola, an early Web browser created by Pei-Yuan Wei.
Berners-Lee took to Twitter to cheer the decision. “Texas jury agreed Eolas 906 patent invalid,” he wrote. “Good thing too!”
Anonymous hacked into the email accounts of Syrian officials and their advisers and are posting troves of confidential messages online.
One of my absolute favorites so far is a message from a press attaché to Syrian President Assad on how to put one over on the gullible rubes in flyover country:
She advised: “It is hugely important and worth mentioning that ‘mistakes’ have been done in the beginning of the crises because we did not have a well-organized ‘police force.’ American psyche can be easily manipulated when they hear that there are ‘mistakes’ done and now we are ‘fixing it.’
She’s got us dead-to-rights there. It almost reads like a PR memo from Karl Rove to GW.
Snack Food
This is not the most important metric of economic success by any measure, but still a pretty significant accomplishment nonetheless. Welcome to the recovery. (0 comments)Richly deserved: The Fix suggests Newt Gingrich may be the most unpopular person in American politics right now. A CNN/Opinion Research poll finds 63% of all Americans viewed Gingrich unfavorably, compared to just 25% who saw him in a positive light. And a new CBS News/New York Times poll shows a similar split: 54% view Gingrich unfavorably, ... (0 comments)GOP Voters: 'Can We See What It Looks Like With Huntsman And Perry Again?'
WASHINGTON—Claiming something “just seemed off” with the combination of candidates currently seeking the Republican Party’s nomination for president, voters asked Tuesday if they could see once more what the GOP field would look like with Jon Huntsman and Rick Perry back in the race.
... (3 comments)Romney Still Soulless, Insincere, Greedy Humanoid
This really pisses me off: Well my own view is, it’s a great idea. People who are receiving welfare benefits, government benefits, we should make sure they’re not using those benefits to pay for drugs. I think it’s an excellent idea. Why not just pass a law requiring HHS employees to just mock people getting their welfare ... (2 comments)E.D. Kain ponders “Why conservatives can’t do pop culture very well“
It reminds me of a post I did back in 2009, “And Jesus Blessed This Nation At Our Founding… Literally“
(3 comments)Official Gingrich-Cain 2012 response to Rick Santorum’s homophobia: “Rick, Rick, Rick. Don’t you know that the anti-gay bigotry only carries water if you have a few failed straight marriages under your belt?” Follow all their other words of wisdom here. (0 comments)Ron Paul Quote of the Week: Honest Rape
Here’s Grandpa Fustypants on rape and abortion:“If it’s an honest rape, that individual should go immediately to the emergency room, I would give them a shot of estrogen.”
via (4 comments)Unhinged vagina-shackler on Komen’s volte face:Cancer is Cancer! Aboration is Aboration!
(0 comments)Since it’s Mitt Romney week everywhere, I figured I’d post this op-ed by an ex-Mormon, which is a pretty interesting take at the institutional culture of the LDS church. Not much to say about it, but it’s definitely worth 5 or so minutes of your time. (0 comments)Why Bipartisanship Is Impossible, In One Sentence
When one party climbs back to power by promising action on the economy, does nothing on it, and instead spends literally all its time trying to hurt the other party. (0 comments)New From The Gingrich-Cain Front
Newt rants about cable movies he doesn’t like, and flips out when Herman tries to seize control. Catch all the fun here. And the main site is here, as always. (0 comments)Headline of the Week: Making Rapeanade
Leave it to TBogg:
(0 comments)Rick Santorum Suggests That When Life Gives You Rape, You Should Make Rapeanade Back when I was in junior high and the Clinton Impeachment was going on, I could hardly have imagined that Clinton would be used as an excuse for wrongdoing by Republican leaders. But that’s where we are. Interesting, isn’t it? (0 comments)Catch up with the official Gingrich-Cain “Great Statesmen” series over at @GingrichCain12. (0 comments)Only 65% of White Americans Have a Favorable Opinion of MLK Jr
…with a whimper. Drum is worth reading on this. I think he’s just got to be the most overhyped and overcovered guy who never managed better than third place since…Joe Lieberman? (0 comments)Fine Vintages
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THE GRAPEVINE
Tasting Menu
- Rick Santorum Is A Extremist Who Could Never Be Elected 0 comment(s)
- Mitch Daniels: The Latest Failure To Build A New McCain 4 comment(s)
- Fox News Has a First Amendment Right to Lie – Updated 50 comment(s)
- Funny of the Day 0 comment(s)
- Grover Norquist Sees Romney As Trained Seal Who Will Do As He’s Told 0 comment(s)
Grape Explorer
- Quote of the Day: Goldwater on Christianists
- Racebaiting Finally Exacting Its Political Toll?
- Quote of the Day II: Obama on Intellectual Exposure
- Ginormous Fuckload of Irony Alert: Iraq to Pay $400 Million for Saddam Regime's Torture of Americans
- Nobody expects the Spanish Inkissition
- How do you cope?
- Ann Coulter Attacks The Faith of Notre Dame Students and Faculty
- Fake GOP Lie of the Day: Bible Toilet Paper
- Quote of the Decade: On Ignorance
- Just Renewing My Objection
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