Ah, the good old United Nations. It recently elected Libya (yes, LIBYA) to head up the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. It makes sense, since Libya, according to human rights groups, is one of the top 6 most repressive regimes in the world. I’m increasingly frustrated at the U.N.’s ability to do anything productive these days but this just makes U.N. supporters look simply ridiculous and asinine.
From the UN press release: “Upon her election, Ambassador Al-Hajjaji said the Commission must affirm the universality, indivisibility and complementarity of human rights, and that it must send a clear message that it will deal with human rights in all countries – not just some of them – taking into account the different religious, cultural and historical backgrounds in the world.”

As of January 25, 2003, the very unkind VeriSign company will thankfully relinquish its ownership of the .org registration process to an organization called Public Interest Registry. It’s a good thing and is very long (about 10 years) overdue. For some reason, anyone can have a .org Web site, though it was intended to be used for non-profits in order to distinguish them from commecial online vehicles. (Note: MANOVERBOARD does own a few .org domain names.) While proof of non-profit status will not change now that VeriSign (a company that has been sued multiple times for trying to swindle customers like me) is bye-bye, the switch does mean that a real non-profit will be in control of the .org registry.
PIR intends to use its new powers to ” institute mechanisms for promoting the registry’s operation in a manner that is responsive to the needs, concerns, and views of the non-commercial Internet user community, including web-based input mechanisms for interested parties.” This is very cool news for the non-profit online world and a welcome reprieve from the flawed governance of registries past.

Art.com has a running list of 100 top posters, all of which are absolutely horrendous. They feature either Eminem, giraffes, or cars. People, people. What is this, 1974?
More importantly, I really need some good suggestions for good artists, folks. The Site at MANOVERBOARD.net is in need of some fresh, fresh 2003 blood and I would like to kick off the year with some great work by a few rarely seen but visionary artists. Please do not nominate yourself.

I’m not sure how long ago it happened, but the Animal Legal Defense Fund has a new Web site. It’s quite nice — an unusual navigation 1/3 down the page and a lot of room for images at top — but I’m not sure it really speaks “legal defense fund.” Perhaps a more news-like site would have been in order. (I’m a supporter of ALDF, which works within the U.S. legal system to create better lives for animals.)

Dr. King gave this speech in Oslo on December 10, 1964. No further commentary necessary.

Self Promotion Friday: I just launched a new component of MANOVERBOARD.com, called Downloads. The first download available is a free 2003 calendar I originally created a year ago for my clients. The whole calendar fits on 1/2 sheet of paper and you can see the entire year in one fell swoop. This year’s calendar is updated with a new bird, and yes, new dates!
(I should note that my biggest concern was that some unfortunate client would plan their get-away based on this calendar and would, upon getting to the airport, find that they were supposed to have left *yesterday*. Because of this, I believe that all the dates are indeed correct.) Look for other downloads to come, including a number of MANOVERBOARD-designed fonts and icons.

President Bush is absolutey right about eliminating the double tax on dividends. He says it’s wrong because the government not only taxes the corporation but then goes on to tax the dividends paid to shareholders. But I argue that Mr. Bush does not go far enough. My suggestion is that he call for an immediate repeal of all state sales taxes (like good old New Hampshire has done). Think about it — not only does the state tax me on my earnings but then it goes ahead and forces me to pay sales tax (8.25 percent in New York City) on everything except some food and some clothing. Why should I pay taxes twice? Hey, on the Internet, I rarely have to pay tax at all! Who needs taxes anyway?

On the recommendation of The Strokes, I recently bought the new Interpol album, entitled Turn On the Bright Lights. Boy, am I not disappointed. The music ranges in style a bit but overall, these guys are very talented musicians — bringing in 80s and 90s influences into original and smartly catchy pop songs. In fact, Interpol is a kind of perfect combination of some of my favorite 80s and 90s bands, including:

1. Echo and the Bunnymen
2. The Smiths
3. The Flaming Lips
4. The Stranglers
5. Talking Heads
6. The Shins
7. Sonic Youth
8. My Bloody Valentine
9. Psychedelic Furs
10. Galaxy 500
11. Luna
12. And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead
13. Belle and Sebastian
14. Yaz
15. The Fall
16. Pavement

I took See No Evil by Robert Baer out of the library today (on a supersmall one-week loan) and it’s quite good. It reads a bit like a disgruntled CIA op who is all too willing to pass lots of blame around for the lack of good intelligence pre-September 11 (for instance, he blames political correctness, among other things, for the CIA’s slacker-hood). But as a story of a person’s life in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, it’s a good biography of a person who entered the organization with idealism and high hopes. Of course, I’m mostly reading it for the intrigue.

It’s not so amazing, but Wrigley, the company that sells gum products, has spent a good deal of money and effort redesigning its packages of Doublemint, Juicyfruit, and Spearmint. It’s all part of an effort, according to a recent issue of How Magazine, to rebrand companies with a look of just-popped-off-the-shelf-and-into-your-brain look. Flat, plain, solid colors and lines are out. Rounded, 3D, motionized, and corpulent images are in. Take a look at other shelf brands, such as Doritos, Cheetos, Pringles, and new cereals (like Spiderman) next time you’re shopping.