Gawker, in their admirable pursuit to bring down Sarah Palin every way they can, has pointed out that she of the conservative rally cry and nonsensical gobbledegook has been caught with notes on her hand at the much-hyped Tea Party convention this past week in Nashville, Tennessee. This comes after she, in typical Palin fashion, took a nasty side swipe at Obama, referring to him as a “charismatic guy with a teleprompter.” Of course, she names no names in her jab, making it that signature political kind of put down, which combines a lack of direct accusation with obvious insinuation.

And what does the cheat sheet on Palin’s hand say:

–Energy

–Budget (Cut?)

–Tax

–Lift American Spirits

I am as against Sarah Palin as the next Gawker and Huff Po writer, but I still find it hard to believe she actually had the gall to do this. Instead I think she is trying to send the American people a secret communication. If we carefully rearrange the letters on her hand…ah yes, there it is… “American people, I am still in way over my head, how the hell am I still pulling this off.”

Below the video of Palin when she peeks at her hand. Check the 23-24 second mark.

And here are two stills of her hand with writing clearly on it:

Image via Huffington Post

Image via Huffington Post

via Did Sarah Palin Write Notes on Her Hand at the Tea Party Convention? (UPDATE: Yes!) – TV – Gawker.TV.

A quick post to point out a date worth noting. On this day in 1993, the tennis star Arthur Ashe passed away from complications from the AIDS virus. (He contracted AIDS from a faulty blood transfusion.) Ashe had spent much if his life fighting against deeply entrenched discrimination in the tennis world. Look at the sport today and his efforts can be seen, though some would argue too sporadically. Tennis is far from diverse, but the rise of stars like Serena and Venus Williams and James Blake was aided in large part by Ashe’s dogged spirit, by his devotion to the sport and to equality.

To honor the day, here’s a video of Ashe playing Jimmy Connors in the legendary 1975 Wimbledon finals. Ashe won and the video captures this victory.

via Arthur Ashe, Tennis Star, Is Dead at 49.

Image via New York Times

For those who keep track of the discoveries of stores of old alcohol and alcohol-aging caves in odd places, this has been quite an exciting couple of months. In December, the New York Times covered the story of the Ebling Brewing Company beer caves in the South Bronx, which had been dormant and sealed for nearly 60 years and were only found because of a construction project. And now, we have word, from the New York Times again, that a group of conservationists has unearthed three cases of whiskey and two cases of brandy from Ernest Shackleton’s hut in Cape Royd, Antarctica. The whiskey and brandy had accompanied Shackleton on his failed attempt to reach the South Pole in 1909 and remained hidden under a floorboard in his hut for the past century. From the Times:

Al Fastier, who led the team, said that they initially thought that just two crates of whisky had been buried beneath the hut, so the discovery of the brandy was a surprise. The team reported that that ice had cracked some of the crates and formed inside, ‘which will make the job of extracting the contents very delicate.”

As for the taste of that rare, vintage intoxicant, Richard Peterson, master blender at Whyte & Mackay, the company that supplied Shackleton in 1908 when he embarked on his journey, had this to say:

[W]hiskies back then — a harder age — were all quite heavy and peaty as that was the style. And depending on the storage conditions it may still have that heaviness. For example, it may taste the same as it did back then if the cork has stayed in the bottle and kept it airtight.

But if the whisky is on its side, the cork may have been eroded by the whisky or air may have got in some other way — especially if the corks have been contracting and expanding with the temperature changes over the years and seasons.”

In the months ahead I expect to see news of other historic alcohol discoveries. Hemingway’s brandy snifter? An amphora once owned by Julius Caesar? Stalin’s personal vodka distillery?

via Shackleton’s Whiskey Left Near Pole Dug Up.

The results of a study done at Leeds University in the U.K. find that people who are addicted to the Internet show greater signs of depression. The study was written up by the researchers  in the journal of Psychopathology. The data for the findings was gathered from a “questionnaire-based study of 1,319 young people and adults,” which was  “compiled from respondents to links placed on UK-based social networking sites,” the Guardian U.K. reports. They also completed the Beck Depression Inventory, a 21-question-long test designed to gauge the severity of an individual’s depression. From the results, researchers concluded that “excessive Internet use is associated with depression,” said the article’s lead author, Dr Catriona Morrison. “But what we don’t know is which comes first – are depressed people drawn to the Internet or does the Internet cause depression? What is clear is that, for a small subset of people, excessive use of the Internet could be a warning signal for depressive tendencies.”

So, as we all become more and more of a screen- and Internet-focused culture, a study finds that this sort of thing is linked to depression? And, to find these results, we have to ask people to complete a questionnaire where? Oh, over the Internet on social networking sites. Great.

via Excessive Internet Use Linked to Depression.

A few days ago I covered the news that author Douglas Preston and his new book Impact were unfortunately being put through the ringer because fans of his work were angry his new title was not available in e-book format, yet the hardcover was. The hardcover published in January and the e-book was being delayed until May. Those who commented on Amazon were outspoken opponents and supporters, some accusing the publishers of his book of being greedy and some supporting the Preston. They wanted the e-book at the same moment the hardcover was available. The problem, of course, and the reason for the delay between the releases, is that publishers were seeing their hardcover sales cannibalized by e-book sales. At $9.99 for an e-book versus an average $30 price point for a hardcover, it’s clear where there were substantial potential losses for publishers. A higher cost for e-books seemed one of the plausible solutions to the problem.

There is news today that this has now boiled over, as Amazon has ceased the sale of all Macmillan titles on its web site. Macmillan, being one of the six largest publishers in the U.S., was unhappy with the $9.99 price for e-books set by Amazon. An agreement on the price apparently could not be met and in response, Amazon not only pulled all Macmillan e-book titles, but hardcover and paperback as well. Needless to say, this includes a huge number of books, and more than a few top selling new titles, such as Hillary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, winner of this year’s Man Booker Prize.

The implications of this removal from Amazon are many. It will hurt Macmillan in the immediate future, since they will lose a powerful selling venue. There are always others (local bookstore), but Amazon’s selling volume is massive. But it should also strike fear in Amazon. The release of Apple’s iPad and the announcement that the device will have an iBooks selling platform effectively ends Amazon’s strangle hold on e-book sales for its Kindle and related e-reading devices. Five publishers, including Macmillan, have already signed on to sell books on iBooks. The price of these books will be between $8 and $15, and one can assume newer titles will be tagged at $15. So where does this leave Amazon? Although, for now, Macmillan’s titles are not available on Amazon, the release of the iPad seems to have given publishers a little backbone at the bargaining table.

via Amazon pulls Macmillan titles in first e-book skirmish | Jacket Copy | Los Angeles Times.