Emily, the woman in the video above created by ImageMetrics above, is one of the first animations to have crossed a barrier known as ‘uncanny valley’ — the perception that animation looks less realistic as it approaches human likeness.

By Walter Brasch

Executive management at the Allentown Morning Call recently laid off more than two dozen persons from its newsroom, most of them veteran reporters drawing higher salaries. Management plans to cut 35–40 positions, according to a letter sent by publisher Timothy Johnson. The cuts are about one-fourth of the news staff. The remaining reporters are being told to write more stories under the same deadline constraints. Coverage of local meetings has been put into secondary importance; bureaus have been combined. The Morning Call is not alone. Read more »

Got ammo? Shoot a Democrat. An actual sweatshirt from a right wing website served by CafePress.

By George Friedman

The Russian invasion of Georgia has not changed the balance of power in Eurasia. It simply announced that the balance of power had already shifted. The United States has been absorbed in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as potential conflict with Iran and a destabilizing situation in Pakistan. It has no strategic ground forces in reserve and is in no position to intervene on the Russian periphery. This, as we have argued, has opened a window of opportunity for the Russians to reassert their influence in the former Soviet sphere. Moscow did not have to concern itself with the potential response of the United States or Europe; hence, the invasion did not shift the balance of power. The balance of power had already shifted, and it was up to the Russians when to make this public. They did that Aug. 8. Read more »

‘Medaling’ With Free Speech at the Olympics

by Walter Brasch

President Bush sounded just like a liberal.

Yes, you read that right. Bush. Liberal. Same sentence.

At the new U.S. embassy in Beijing on the opening day of the Olympics, he said, “All people should have the freedom to say what they think.” Without even blinking, he also told the world, while directing his comments at the Chinese, “We strongly believe societies which allow the free expression of ideas tend to be the most prosperous and the most peaceful.”

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Ha ha ha. She is a GENIUS! This is a history-making publicity stunt. I am assuming that democrats.com is a commercial operation, not any kind of official party extension. This is really hysterical. You can see the two of them making a sex tape. And it bites deeply into the basic issue of the race. RACE. Who are we fucking kidding?
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The faces on the money quote referred to this McCain ad:

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Georgia: Town Buys Strip Club

(AP) The town of Lavonia has bought a strip club, but it is not planning to get into the adult entertainment business. The town, 90 miles northeast of Atlanta, could have used nearly $1 million to pay off the bond fund for a water treatment plant upgrade.

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It could be a change in snake venom, a change in the snakes themselves or something altogether different.
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The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, where researchers have tracked network news content for two decades, found that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Obama than on Republican John McCain during the first six weeks of the general-election campaign.
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“If it was $10 a gallon,” he says, “we’d still be out there.”

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Becky Lee, 39, a Manhattan photographer, declined when a friend asked her — and five other attendants — to have their breasts enhanced.
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