Urgh. It was another one of those weeks. Just enough time to twitter, but no time for some decent blog posts. But at least this one is getting out!
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.
* THE! DELOREAN! IS! COMING! BACK!! OK, so technically it’s not a “factory new” DeLorean. And it’s only electric. And it can only go 70-100 miles before it runs out of power. And it’s going to cost $90,000…. hey, wait a minute. That’s a giant ball of suck!! Who has the nerve to pass this off as a “futuristic” car when an entry-level Toyota stomps all over it?! It’s more “Back to the Past” than anything else. Linkage at [NPR]
* There’s dumb, there’s really dumb, and then there’s the US Government. This week’s monument to extra large Grade-A+ stupidity is the bipartisan plan in the Senate to “import foreigners” to buy American homes. Apparently us broke-ass American’s ain’t buying mansion-sized homes no more, so the plan is to offer “foreigners a three-year, residential visa if they invest at least $500,000 into the housing market and live in a home they have bought for at least 180 days each year… [and] pay for the homes with cash.” Not written but heavily implied : “To hell with all you existing US citizens who can’t buy a $500,000 home and to hell with all you hardworking foreigners who have been waiting in line for years to be citizens. THBBBTTTTT!!! Nanna-nanna-boo-boo!!” Details at the [NEW YORK TIMES]
* There’s no question where some people are headed in the afterlife, but apparently certain people want to go that extra mile just to be absolutely sure where they’re going to wind up. Lindsey Graham, Republican from South Carolina, witnessed all the bloodshed and violence in Libya, and with a sincere heart, said “Let’s get in on the ground. There is a lot of money to be made in the future in Libya. Lot of oil to be produced.” OK, was that a titanium pitchfork with carbon-fiber accents or the solid gold pitchfork with diamond tips you ordered Mr. Graham? Story and video with Graham’s comment at [THINK PROGRESS]
* Grocery store shenanigans? In this day and age? Apparently Kraft is strong-arming local grocery stores to put their packaged-food up front with the produce! This brilliant but low-key evil plan is based on the fact that comsumers see everything in the produce isle as healthy. Since fruits and veggies are universally accepted as healthy, anything in the produce isle is also seen as healthy (AKA the “halo effect”). So Kraft wants to put their cheez-wiz, processed funk, and all their other items in the produce section to “play up the fresh factor”! I figure strong-arming grocery stores has to be easier than making healthy products in the first place, right? The full story with some seriously subtle underhanded-deviousness-in-progress at the [WALL STREET JOURNAL]
* Speaking of deviousness, Verizon is going to start “collecting your Web browsing history, cell phone location and app usage” and sell your information to advertising agencies. Verizon super-duper promises with cherries on top there’s nothing personally identifiable sent! Just GPS where your cell phone is and where it goes, every website you visit, what time your phone was turned on, if you’re in range of certain businesses that are over-paying Verizon to advertise their crap… you know… Minority Report your ass! This applies to the Verizon 4G and LTE wireless cards too. Story and how to tell Verizon to take you off this list at [PC MAG]
* Who would have thought a Doctor would prescribe videogames to cure a illness? The headline says it all… “Action-packed video games help solve lazy eye”. Yes! We officially live in the future! I wonder if I can put all my Xbox 360 games down this year as medical expenses? Article at [NEW SCIENTIST]
* I secretly love SouthPark. They hide socially relevant and cutting-edge commentaries in simple animation, doo-doo jokes, and amazingly colorful vulgarities. An episode way back in 2009 titled “Goobacks” had a premise that “people from a poverty-stricken future travel back in time to find work, South Park residents accuse them of taking their jobs.” What’s really funny about this episode just happened in 2011. With most of the immigrants gone in Alabama due to recent legislation, the abundant jobs now available, formerly “taken” by immigrants, are NOT WANTED by the jobless local citizens! Delicious irony ensues at [GOOGLE NEWS]
* Want a genuine queasy feeling without having to get in the car, drive to an amusement park and hop on a roller coaster with a five story drop? Check out how the Euro crisis is connected to everything in this easy-to-barf graphic at the [NEW YORK TIMES]
* Do you use words like “because,” “since” or “so that” often? Do you use phrases and write about physical needs such as food, sex or money? You might be a candidate for attending psychopath-u! Or was it u-psychopath? Anyhow, a new computer analysis of word patterns of nutballs says psychopathic killers have distinctive word patterns and those patterns can be detected early. Story (and words for budding writers to avoid) at [SCIENCE DAILY]
* I haven’t run a multi-million dollar company yet, but I would think one of the top five things to do is NOT completely piss off the core customers when coming up with new ideas. Moleskine managed to do just that this week by announcing they are “crowdsourcing a new logo” from their pool of professional customers. Some customers asked if Moleskine was aware a professional design takes around 8 hours and this “contest” is pretty much asking for free spec work. One commentator put best : It’s like Moleskine is “go(ing) around the local bakeries for free bread and then go(ing) back to pay for the one bread they liked”. Moleskine responded to their paying customers questions with this … “If you had spent some time on the “Competitions” area of Designboom website, you certainly have seen that other Brands are running and previously decided to run similar contests, with the same regulation of our with great participation as well as amazing results. That said, being a contest, there’s a final price for the winner, but all the submissions are free, as well you are free not to taking part to it.” Needless to say, a firestorm of bad PR from Moleskine’s formerly devoted customer base has ensued. Expect Moleskine to suddenly realize their oopsie when their core demographic stops buying their overpriced drek. Moleskine’s original logo contest announcement [here] and Moleskine’s backhand response with customer comments [here].
That’s all I got this week!
** Actually posted on 10/23 because I completely blew off yesterday!
