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.

* I would like to start off with a news story that I bet will never, ever re-appear in the mainstream media again. Regular use of pain-relief medicine appears to increase men’s risk of hearing loss, especially among middle-aged men, according to an American Journal of Medicine study. I can hear the deafening silence from CNN, MSNBC and FOX now! [WSJ]

* Euro1 and Euro2 are on the way. “”Euro 1” [would be] for mercantilist Germany, France, the Netherlands, and so on and “euro 2″ [would be] for the highly indebted, debt-and-asset-bubble-dependent consumer nations: Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain, and so on.” Some currencies are more equal than others, bro! And why does Euro1 and Euro2 sound like something from The Cat In The Hat? [MORNINGSTAR]

* Speaking of the Euro and the overseas money situation… “European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso claimed that financial stability was so critical that sweeping new powers were needed for Eurocrats in Brussels to meddle in the economies of all EU members.” A giant overreaching European power grab by the financial elite? Now what can possibly go wrong with that? Was? Hat jemand etwas sagen? [EXPRESS.UK]

* A doctor develops a test with COMIC BOOK INK that accurately diagnoses HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria among many others. The cost is about 2 cents each. Give this man some money and a printing press right now! Sheets of these should be free and available at all grocery and drug stores! [GIZMODO]

* In 2008 there were 1,125 billionaires. In 2009 there were just 793. Now there are 1,011. Oh my breaking heart! So many poor souls had to suffer with being just multi-millionaires, and only a precious few struggled back from that abyss to be billionaires again? Sorry. No sympathy from me. For 2009 there’s an article at [FORBES] and for 2010 there’s an article at [CBC]

* The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) will be down until 2012 for repairs. But in 2012, it will reboot to full power! 2012… why does that year sound so familiar? [BBC]

* Speaking of scientific stuff, an official scientific study has laboratory evidence that cooperative behavior is contagious and spreads from person to person. I don’t think these scientists have been Christmas shopping on December 22nd and 23rd  at a major mall lately. [SCIENCEDAILY]

* So aside from figuring out kindness is contagious, scientists also figured out this week that launching into warp speed would instantly create a black hole, and stray hydrogen atoms would shred us to pieces along the way. I still say it’s progress! At least they’re thinking of what happens after we pass warp speed instead of not even considering it at all! [GEARLOG]

* Speaking of black holes, a giant mega black hole has been discovered in a nearby galaxy. It’s stupid big. Scientists are calling it a… “destroyer of stars, ripping the center of the galaxy to shreds.” OK. Revised To Do List: #1 Laundry. #2 Hack nanomachines to gene-splice humanity into perpetual immortality. #3 Design FTL warp drive that doesn’t generate remnant black holes (Note to self: Gravity-Well Catalytic Converter?) #4 Stop pesky galaxy-sized “destroyer of stars”. Right. Lemme go get the soap. [DISCOVERY]

* Real working jetpacks for $75,000? 30 minutes of flight on a 5 gallon tank of gas? Dammit! I need to win that lottery now! [PHYSORG]

* 1024 bit RSA encryption was hacked by choking the electric supply to the computer! The article is moderately heavy in geektech, but very good to know in case you ever have to… uh… recover some passwords you forgot. Yeah. That’s the ticket. [ENGADGET]

* The headline says it all… A French village went insane after the CIA spiked all of its’ bread with LSD. Who needs movies when you’ve got things like this happening in real life? [BOING BOING]

*People Who Donate a Kidney Live Just as Long as Those Who Don’t! That’s great news! Science (and modern medicine) rocks! [SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN]

* OK, dammit. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… if I wanted a Republican to implement BS totalitarian laws, I would have voted for one. But Obama seems hell bent on continuing the things I didn’t vote for him to continue. “The nation’s chief executive extols the virtues of mandatory DNA testing of Americans upon arrest, even absent charges or a conviction. Obama said, “It’s the right thing to do” to “tighten the grip around folks” who commit crime.” Wow. Convictions be damned, huh? If the government even suspects you’re guilty, they get your DNA for all time. I am very quickly turning back to the dark side with all these missteps and broken promises. [WIRED] Oh, and in related news, Obama’s ex-advisor says the democrats will get “slaughtered” in the fall if they don’t start making those changes they promised. [CNN]

* Another week, another wave of financial shockwaves coming our way. Nothing to see here. Move along, people. [BLOOMBERG]

* The underwear bomber’s underwear bomb would not have done enough damage to the plane to bring it down. Despite this, I bet the asshats at the TSA won’t take this into consideration at all. The article is at the [HUFFINGTON POST] and the official video of the recreation of the explosion is below…

Have a great weekend everyone! And don’t forget to push those clocks forward an hour!