The NFL said the referee made a mistake: Troy Polamalu caught the ball.

The league acknowledged that referee Pete Morelli erred when he overturned on replay Polamalu's interception of a Peyton Manning pass in the playoff game between Pittsburgh and Indianapolis.

It was a pretty blatant "bad call". In light of the NFL making this rare acknowledgement, it will be interesting what happens to Mr. Porter. Porter, an outspoken teammate, made the claim after the game that the ruling was an obvious example of the referees attempting to directly influence the game in favor of the other team. This is a common refrain in the Steelers' world, but typically it results in fines. Given this concession, will he still be fined for continuing with implying that this was a deliberate act? Probably.

Super Bowl News - SuperBowl.com - Official website of Super Bowl XL

Their Levees - Our Levees

Pictures of Western Levees...

Their Levees - Our Levees

Lifetime today ran radio, TV and print ads in cities including Orlando, Atlanta, Dallas and Houston. Yesterday's newspaper ads, two full pages side-by-side, told viewers to ``Take Back Your Lifetime!'' The letter to EchoStar Chief Ergen says that by removing the channels, ``millions of women will not get the inspiration and support they need and deserve.''

EchoStar's Cicero offered to broadcast, at his company's expense, any valuable information or public service announcements to its viewers that they are missing by not watching Lifetime.

Long or Short?: Melodrama and the Lifetime Channel

There's been lots of talk on the web lately about Digg being the new Slashdot. Two months ago, a Digg reader noted that according to Alexa, Digg's traffic was catching up to that of Slashdot, even though Slashdot has been around for several years and Digg is just over a year old. The brash newcomer vs. the reigning champ, an intriguing matchup.

Last weekend, a piece on kottke.org (50 Fun Things to Do With Your iPod) was featured on Digg and Slashdot[1] and the experience left behind some data that presents a interesting comparison to the Alexa data.

Indepth analysis by Kottke over the Influence vs Traffic of Digg and Slashdot. Short conclusion -- Digg is driving Slashdot (influence), but between Slashdot's audience and its policies (keeping stories for 24 hours on the front page), Slashdot is the bigger and longer traffic provider.

Digg vs. Slashdot (or, traffic vs. influence) (kottke.org)

Stung by a recent Associated Press article that didn't credit him for coining the word "truthiness," Comedy Central's
Stephen Colbert has struck back.

AP covers Colbert's attack campaign on... the AP.

Who wins?

...Truthiness

Colbert: AP the Biggest Threat to America - Yahoo! News

A fairly serous reading list - directed more at the corporate revolutionary than at the corporate drone...If you find the range too broad and the selection on other pages too eclectic to be believeable...chances are you took the blue pill.

Business Books - for the corporate revolutionary

It turns out that by eating the smaller seaweed-grazing parrotfish on the reef, the groupers are freeing up room for larger kinds of parrotfish that are better at mowing down reef-choking seaweed.

Discovery Channel :: News :: Predators Help Reefs

His speciality is designing F.M.C.G.s, or fast-moving consumer goods--products with relatively short life spans. Some of his best designs are disposable, like his shopping bags for Issey Miyake, which are made of transparent polypropylene sheets that fold into shape, with a rubbery handle. He is opposed, he says, "to this old modernist idea of permanence, when designers produce so-called classics that will live forever. Because I don't think we're living in a time where anything will live forever anymore."
The strain of trying to redesign the offending ninety per cent of the world, while at the same time keeping pace with the fast-moving stream of consumer goods, did not look easy. Rashid closed his eyes and took a brief nap.

John Seabrook | Stories | Plastic Man: Karim Rashid

Jan. 5, 2006 — A new chord was scheduled to sound Thursday in the world's slowest and longest lasting concert that is taking a total 639 years to perform.

The abandoned Buchardi church in Halberstadt, eastern Germany, is the venue for a mind-boggling 639-year-long performance of a piece of music by U.S. experimental composer John Cage (1912-1992).

I like slow things. Building an organ throughout the process of playing a concert? Neat.

Discovery Channel :: News :: 639-Year Concert Lets Loose 2nd Chord

7 Habits of
Highly Successful
People.

BY BRENDON LLOYD

- - - -

1. Skiing
2. Yachting
3. Snorkeling
4. Golf
5. Polo
6. Dinner parties
7. Shopping

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: 7 Habits of Highly Successful People.