I just found a website called new world report that is updating with photos of what is happening in the gulf.
A dolphin from the oil spill
Washed up fish from the oil spill
A pelican trapped in the oil spill
There needs to be a 13th circle of hell just for BP.
All these terrible things…all these nightmares that will never be undone… just to save a few pieces of colored paper.
A new article on Neowin says that “the new OS is thrashing battery life for previous generations of iPhones.”
Apparently the new operating system is destroying the battery life of every “older” iPhone it is installed on. There are dozens of posts on the Neowin site confirming this and a “31 page forum post” on Apple’s own website.
Seriously? Did nobody in Apple’s tech team test the new OS on older iPhones?
Hey Apple! Do you need someone in quality control that actually finds “real life” bugs in your products and isn’t afraid of calling engineers to task for them? Or someone who isn’t afraid of actually telling suits they’re full of BalognaSlices for pushing a tech project out the door when it obviously isn’t finished “cooking”? Call me!
A new article on Bloomberg today whips out a size 13 chankla and goes all upside Steve Job’s head.
The first paragraph of the story says that “Consumer Reports said it isn’t recommending Apple Inc.’s iPhone 4 following tests confirming it has a hardware flaw that causes signal quality to degrade. “The problem seems to be a design flaw, and it is significant,” Mike Gikas, senior electronics editor for Consumer Reports”
Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!
And duh!
I’ve been suffering with AT&Ts craptacular service for years now, and it’s only a matter of time before I can finally get away from dropped calls, dozens of missed texts that suddenly flood in, and phones that don’t ring when someone calls me. But I have noticed the iPhone itself will completely “forget” it has WiFi, and will often power off for no reason. Neither of those problems have anything to do with AT&T’s service.
Maybe Apple and AT&T were made for each other after all.
For a brand new 2010 iPhone to drop calls because someone is “holding it wrong” is complete garbage. That should have been caught in the “alpha” stage of testing, not the “consumer testing” phase.
Just saw this on Business Insider. If you hit the “Click here to see the Evidence”, (or here) you’ll jump directly to the infographic on their site.
Every Monday I like to post some music to start the week off on the right foot.
This week….
Dim Chris Feat Amanda Wilson – Sometimes
The Pass – Treatment of the Sun
Rodrigo y Gabriela – Hanuman
Happy Birthday – The Beatles
…and finally, Cookie Monster – C is for Cookie
Here are some news stories from this week that I think the mainstream media completely missed out on. All links are from legitimate news sources and not the fringe / wacko sites.
* UFOs are now showing up in China? You know times are tough when UFOs don’t even want to stay in the United States anymore! [DAILY MAIL]
* Speaking of China, things are about to get very ‘spensive for WalMart and a lot of toy companies. Apparently Chinese laborers are getting sick tired of working in crap conditions for almost nothing, and companies are being warned to… “brace for [the] end of cheap made-in-China era.” The good side of this is that this will also be the end of the era of new products breaking in the first year of ownership! [YAHOO]
Mercedes? Is that you?
* This looks like something that crawled out of my 1970s toybox and is really mad I left all the batteries in it to corrode. Apparently Mercedes-Benz has been working on a “armored personnel vehicle” concept for awhile, and a new headline says that Mercedes-Benz just unveiled this “Snazzy New Armored Patrol Vehicle” this last week to the public. “Snazzy”? You can’t use “snazzy” and “Mercedes-Benz” in the same sentence, dammit! What gansta’ rapper can come up with something hardcore that rhymes with “Snazzy”? [DEFENSE TECH] and [AUTOBLOG]
* The United States military just came out with a “green bullet” in the popular 5.56 cartridge. It does even more damage to living tissue than the previous 5.56, but it doesn’t harm the environment! Um… misplaced priorities much? [ARMY.MIL]
* Speaking of the military, did you know Aspartame was previously listed by the Pentagon as a “biochemical warfare agent”? Aspartame is also known as “NutraSweet” and “Canderel”. Now the company that owns and sells this “biochemical warfare agent” is changing the name again to “AminoSweet”. Damn! Last I heard, the Pentagon used real sugar in coffee and left the Aspartame for the front lines. And if that’s good enough for the Pentagon, it’s good enough for me! [HUFFINGTON POST]
* Scriptwriters can’t easily find a job in Hollywood anymore? Here’s a hint for all the poor, sad, unempoyed scriptwriters out there… QUIT REHASHING THE SAME CRAP I SAW ON TV IN THE 19-FRIGGIN’-80s AND TRY COMING UP WITH AN ORIGINAL IDEA YOU POOZERS!! That is all. [LA TIMES]
* Speaking of Hollywood, the next time somebody wants you to prove to them that the movie industry is full of lying snakes, show them this… Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix made almost $1 billion dollars, but the studio cooked their books to show that it is still almost $170 million in the red! What circle of hell to corrupt accountants wind up in? First? Fifth? [DEADLINE]
* And speaking of going in the red, Illinois, the state, is about to go under. Big time. The state owes over $5.01 billion, and it’s just adding to the amount every single second. So, ah, Oprah? Obama? John Cusack? Calista Flockhart? Denise Richards? Gary Shandling? Daryl Hannah? Billy Zane? Ludacris? Virginia Madsen? Frances McDormand? Gary Sinise? Harold Ramis? Michael Clarke Duncan? You’re all from Illinois, right? Soooo… what’chall waiting for? Help your home state out! [NY TIMES]
* In the “uh-oh” category, this little clip from the Wall Street Journal is fairly terrifying… “President Obama said earlier this year that the health-care bill that Congress passed three months ago is “essentially identical” to the Massachusetts universal coverage plan that then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed into law in 2006. No one but Mr. Romney disagrees. As events are now unfolding, the Massachusetts plan couldn’t be a more damning indictment of ObamaCare. The state’s universal health-care prototype is growing more dysfunctional by the day, which is the inevitable result of a health system dominated by politics.” Somebody needs to repeat this on one of the big networks. Soon. [WALL STREET JOURNAL]
* In the deep deep deep “uh oh” category, “NSA has issued a $100-million contract to defense contractor Raytheon to build a system dubbed “Perfect Citizen,” which will involve placing “sensors” at critical points in the computer networks of private and public organizations… an unnamed Raytheon employee describes the system as “Big Brother.”” OK. All you crackhead politicians out there asking for this damn system… show me ONE terrorist all this illegal surveillance of private citizens caught. JUST ONE! All this government surveillance isn’t good, it isn’t right, and it needs to be taken down and thrown out along with all the punk-ass politicians who approved it. [RAW STORY] and [WALL STREET JOURNAL] and [THE REGISTER]
* Democrats are demanding sales taxes in everything sold on the internet. Oh yeah. This is going to be popular. Way to bury yourselves, guys! [CNET]
* A handheld laser that can blind people and set fire to skin? Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! [DIGITAL TRENDS]
* So what can possibly go wrong with researchers finding a way to edit a person’s memories? In the history of bad bad bad bad ideas, this one takes the gold medal. The only good news I can see out of this is I can start a business called “Guaranteed Life”. It would be a “memory insurance” company, where I would backup a person’s memory and keep it secure for them in case their present memory gets wiped out. Call me Google! Call me Hollywood! [NY TIMES]
* You know the government is out of cash when it now has a $450 fee to “formally… renounce your U.S. citizenship.” [CNN]
* What does drowning really look like? Not like the movies! Here’s what to watch for… [MARIOVITTONE.COM]
* And finally, Kevin Costner has been secretly working on a high-tech way to clean up a large oil spill? For years? And now that tech is in the gulf? And it works? Kevin Costner is apparently the new Buckaroo Banzai!
That’s all I got this week. Back Monday!
Anderson Cooper, one of CNN’s best reporters, has a great video on how the first amendment has been suspended in the gulf.
A user called Sharky734 posted Anderson’s recent CNN editorial on YouTube…
No reporters or photography allowed within 65 feet of any “response vessel or boom” in the gulf? That’s a very broad restriction. Since the booms surround the shoreline, 65 feet away in both directions means there is actually a 130 foot “dark zone” on the area most affected by the spill.
This is completely unacceptable.
This isn’t a warzone. This isn’t a foreign country. Nobody’s life is in imminent danger. Why the hell can’t the press take photos of what is going on in the gulf whenever they want to? Why the hell can’t the press take photos of the shorelines? Who, exactly, is going to get hurt if they do so?
And since when does the coast guard bend over and say thank you to BP?
Most important of all, why the hell has the “new and improved” Obama administration condoned this egregious restriction on the press?
Of all the things for the Democrats to copy from the Republicans, restricting the press under the pretense of “safety” and then creating laws out of thin air to help cover a corporation’s error are the most despicable.
The first amendment applies on American waters as well as is does on American land. There is no compromise on this. With modern technology and “live” streaming capabilities available to virtually everyone, there is no reason to let corporations, and especially our own government, restrict the truth in any way, shape or form to further their own agenda.
There’s been exactly one rule that works when it comes to losing weight. That one thing, that one simple rule is… eat less junk and exercise.
That’s the secret formula. That’s the holy grail of losing chunk, flab, pooh-bear-panzas, wiggly jiggly bits, spare tires, porkiness, and plain old garden variety fat. Eat less junk and exercise. Voila. Done. No TV series needed. No screaming coach to hire. No DVD collection volumes one through ten to watch.
Unfortunately there’s lots of companies out there that try and sell a shortcut. Pills that supposedly will melt flab away while u wait.
One company that’s selling diet pills just got popped by the FDA. Que She, which is “marketed as an herbal weight loss supplement”, contains some not-so-good for you ingredients.
According to the article…
“An FDA analysis of Que She found that it contains:
What? No Viagra? I’m disappointed!
Que She says it only contains “an all-natural blend of Chinese herbs”. So what’s wrong with herbs from Canada? Or France? Why do super secret diet herbs always have to be Chinese? Or from LA? I don’t get it.
Anyhow, here’s the official press release from the FDA. They strongly advise tossing these pills if you have ’em.
The FDA just announced there are now even more recalled items from McNeil Consumer Healthcare. This is the same recall that is going on due to some heavily-stinkified packaging that is making a lot of people sick.
The current recall list is below…
———–
FULL RECALLED PRODUCT LIST:
| Product Name | Lot Number | UPC Code |
|---|---|---|
| BENADRYL® ALLERGY ULTRATAB™ | ||
| BENADRYL® ALLERGY ULTRATAB™ TABLETS 100 count | ABA567 | 312547170338 |
| BENADRYL® ALLERGY ULTRATAB™ TABLETS 100 count | ABA574 | 312547170338 |
| Children’s TYLENOL® Meltaways | ||
| CHILDREN’S TYLENOL® MELTAWAYS BUBBLEGUM 30 count | ABA544 | 300450519306 |
| MOTRIN® IB | ||
| MOTRIN® IB CAPLET 24 count | ACA003 | 300450481030 |
| MOTRIN® IB CAPLET bonus pack 50+25 count | ACA002 | 300450481764 |
| MOTRIN® IB TABLET 100 count | AFA060 | 300450463043 |
| TYLENOL®, Extra Strength | ||
| TYLENOL®, Extra Strength EZ TABLET 225 count | ASA206 | 300450422378 |
| TYLENOL®, Extra Strength EZ TABLET 50 count | ABA005 | 300450422507 |
| TYLENOL®, Extra Strength COOL CAPLET 24 count | ABA566 | 300450444240 |
| TYLENOL®, Extra Strength CAPLET bonus pack 24+12 count | ACA025 | 300450444318 |
| TYLENOL®, Extra Strength CAPLET 50 count | AFA018 | 300450449078 |
| TYLENOL®, Extra Strength CAPLET 50 count
(included in Day/Night Pack) |
ABA168 | 300450444530 |
| TYLENOL®, Day & Night Value Pack
(contains Extra Strength CAPLET 50 count Lot # ABA168 & UPC 300450444530) |
AEC005 | 300450527103 |
| TYLENOL®, Day & Night Value Pack
(contains Extra Strength CAPLET 50 count Lot # ABA168 & UPC 300450444530) |
AFC005 | 300450527103 |
| TYLENOL®, Day & Night Value Pack
(contains Extra Strength CAPLET 50 count Lot # ABA168 & UPC 300450444530) |
ADC002 | 300450527103 |
| TYLENOL®, Extra Strength RAPID RELEASE GELCAP 24 count | ACA024 | 300450488244 |
| TYLENOL®, Extra Strength RAPID RELEASE GELCAP 225 count | AJA119 | 300450488251 |
| TYLENOL® PM | ||
| TYLENOL® PM CAPLET 24 count | ACA005 | 300450482242 |
| TYLENOL® PM CAPLET 24 count | ADA259 | 300450482242 |
| TYLENOL® PM GELTAB 50 count | AFA100 | 300450176509 |
| TYLENOL® PM RAPID RELEASE GELCAP 20 count | ACA004 | 300450244208 |
Chunk ’em if you got ’em.
I’ve been preparing, yet again, for another gulf storm that formed during the week. It’s not that bad in the grand scheme of things, though. More of a “oh, that’s not going to be fun” storm than a “bad” storm kinda thing.
Here’s the latest from NOAA…
…and here’s the view from the gulf satellite from WEATHER.COM
You can see it isn’t that organized. The dark red bands aren’t anything I would want to go ahead and schedule a outdoor BBQ for, but it’s not hurricane-ugly. NOAA also says there’s only a 3% chance of it getting to a category one before it makes landfall…… tomorrow night?
Good grief! It’s heading right for us!!
Sorry. Couldn’t resist.
So basically, we’re expecting a ton of stronger-than-average rain and some stronger-than-average wind just in time for the weekend. I’ve still got the generator prepped in case TD TWO decides it wants to upgrade and go all BONNIE on us down here.
