News stories the mainstream media missed 02/06/10

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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.

Jumbo Sized Edition Today!

* The housing market still spiraling down. Walkaways are happening more and more. Things are not getting better. Time for plan…Y? Z? Are we still in the alphabet here? [NYTIMES]

* In January, US predators had 12 missile strikes in Pakistan. 10 went wrong and failed to hit their targets, killing 123 civilians. The two successful drone strikes killed exactly three Al-Qaeda leaders. That’s a horrible ratio! 123 innocents dead per month? Not acceptable. Where’s the outrage on this? Where’s the media coverage? [THE NEWS]

* Apparently the US was close to complete financial collapse, literally minutes away from it at one point, and was about to fall into a second Great Depression. But things are much better now, and it can’t happen again. Right? [BLOOMBERG]

* The lawyers who OKed torture under Bush? Won’t be charged under Obama. Change you can’t believe in! [WASHINGTON POST]

* This is terrifying in a different way. 30 Asian Giant Hornets can take out an entire 30,000 strong European honeybee colony… in about 3 hours! They also like to eat Praying Mantises as a snack. Their venom can disintegrate human flesh in case someone gets too close to try and swat them. They fly without breaking a sweat at 40 km/h (around 25 mph) and will travel distances of 97 km (60 miles) to hit a target. I would recommend immediately killing every single Asian Giant Hornet possible before these juggernauts spread any further. No, it’s not environmentally friendly or “green” to say things like that, but I can’t think of one thing these monsters are good for. [ENVIRONMENTAL GRAFFITI]

* Have you ever wanted a police helicopter to show up to drop a spotlight on your next party? You’re in luck! Since Colorado Springs is slashing their budget to make ends meet, they’ve put just about everything on the FOR SALE pile on the internet… including most of their police helicopters! [DENVER POST]

* No surprise this was coming. And in England, no less! If you don’t want to be scanned in a device at the airport security that shows every inch of your naked body, you don’t get to fly on the plane. Nice. I betcha that within a year of those scanners being installed stateside, you’re going to see some naked scans suddenly appear online, courtesy of those thugs people working the gates as part of the TSA. [TELEGRAPH.CO.UK]

* And while you’re in England, there will be no videotaping allowed! None! Or you will be arrested! Even if you’re a kid. Did someone forget to tell the gestapo in England it was the ideology on the East side of the Berlin wall that had failed? [GUARDIAN]

* A physicist discovered how to teleport energy! This. Is. Crazy. Imagine a car that doesn’t need to carry any fuel because the fuel is constantly being teleported in. Or gadgets that get their power by waving them in front of “reload” stations as you walk by. Please be a proven theory, please be a proven theory, please be a proven theory! [TECHNOLOGY REVIEW]

* Speaking of science being very advanced nowadays, they just proved there was a Roman/Asian connection by examining the teeth of an unearthed body to determine what water source that person was drinking at birth. CSI Smithsonian! [SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN]

* Coming soon…Spray on glass! I would buy as many of these as you can as soon as it hits the store shelves, because spray on glass sounds like it might kinda be somewhat carcinogenic. [PHYSORG]

* Hubble has detected a very mysterious object. It is traveling at 11,000 mph and has a very distinct X shape. The really odd thing is that its’ “460-foot-wide nucleus is outside the dust halo and separated from the trail”. Comets so far have had their nucleus inside the dust halo with the tail attached to it. And if you want to be really technical, 11,000 mph is pretty slow space-wise. So if isn’t a comet and it isn’t an asteroid fragment, what is it? And don’t even mention LIFEFORCE. Friggin’ space visitors like that are the last thing we need right now. [GIZMODO]

* Dinosaurs had feathers! Looks like Jurassic Park was right! And speaking of Jurassic Park, what the hell was that supposed hunter character, Robert Muldoon, doing with a shotgun to hunt dinosaurs? .375 H&H Magnum, .470 Nitro Express, .270 Winchester and a .300 Winchester Magnum would’ve been my minimum arsenal choices for Jurassic Park. A Raptor probably would’ve shrugged off a shotgun hit. And don’t even get me started on a shotgun’s effectiveness on a T-Rex. [BBC.CO.UK]

* Because California has nothing to do, and because they really do own the moon, they are deciding on how to make tranquility base, where the astronauts landed, a state historical resource. Now I wanna know who’s going to enforce that law. [LA TIMES]

* And in other California news, LA might require new homes to capture rainwater. Welcome to California! We’re claiming the moon, but living in the 1800’s! Oh, and for those of you living in California, you might want to find out why there’s going to be a mandatory rainwater capture. If the city can’t get you water, what else is about to fail? [LA TIMES]

* 15 years ago, Calvin and Hobbes ended. Bill Watterson gives a quick interview about it today. Is it me, or does he look like Uncle Max now? [CLEVELAND.COM]

* The Russians have always been known as being super tough. Even nowadays, a 22 year old woman will just walk home, check in with her parents, and then to to the hospital after getting a 6 inch knife jammed in her neck. Budem zdorovy, guys! (graphic pic warning after jump) [AUSTRIAN TIMES]

Breakin’ The Law, Breakin’ The Law

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Elevator in a Federal Building full of people. A sign on the back says “FILMING OR PHOTOGRAPHY IN THIS BUILDING PROHIBITED UNLESS AUTHORIZED BY BUILDING MANAGER.” So I get my crap iPhone camera out and take a photo just to see if anybody in the elevator would say anything. Nope! Anarchy wins again!

Breakin' The Law, Breakin' the Law

Breakin' The Law, Breakin' the Law

Lame. I know. But it’s mid afternoon Friday and I’m ready for it to be Friday night.

Meebo enabled

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I just enabled the Meebo Bar for this site.

Now if you click and drag an image from this website, a pop-up will appear that lets you share it however you like. Plus you can log into several IM apps from here… a nice end-around for some corporate firewall rules.

Since Meebo is still in beta, please let me know if it acts up on you (or if you just don’t like it).

NASA gets photos of Pluto

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The Hubble Space Telescope took some fairly detailed photos of Pluto recently!

For the first time, everyone can get a decent view of what the dwarf-planet really looks like…

First Images of Pluto

First Images of Pluto

Wow. That’s not at all what I imagined it would look like.

NASA’s website says… “The images taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope show an icy and dark molasses-colored, mottled world that is undergoing seasonal changes in its surface color and brightness. Pluto has become significantly redder, while its illuminated northern hemisphere is getting brighter. These changes are most likely consequences of surface ices sublimating on the sunlit pole and then refreezing on the other pole as the dwarf planet heads into the next phase of its 248-year-long seasonal cycle. The dramatic change in color apparently took place in a two-year period, from 2000 to 2002.”

Here’s the link to the NASA site with the photos and article on how it was done.

FDA : The salami did it!

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The FDA has been investigating how 207 people have been infected with a matching strain of salmonella in 42 states. Of course the mainstream media didn’t cover this… It’s actually important!

Anyhow, the FDA has narrowed it down to salami as the carrier. Specifically, salami made by Daniele International. Now Daniele International already recalled ready-to-eat varieties of their Italian style meats and not too long ago, they expanded their recall to include even more items from their ready-to-eat meat line.

But here’s the twist – their food was actually clean. It was the black pepper that spiced their items that was carrying the Salmonella.

The FDA is still checking out how salmonella got into the black pepper. But for now, if you have anything made by Daniele International, you should toss it to be on the safe side.

Here’s the link to the FDA article about the ongoing investigation.

Wait… It’s Thursday?

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* You know you’re having a rough week when you actually stop for a second and check if your shoes are still on.

* You know you’re having a rough week when you seriously consider adding another vice because the existing ones ain’t cutting it.

* You know you’re having a rough week when you look at a major network TV drama and go… meh. Been there. Done that.

Right. Enough whining. Back to posting!

Monday Morning Music

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Every Monday I like to post some music to start the week off on the right foot.

This week’s post? Something old and something new.

The Pretenders – Middle of the Road.

And Shakira – Lo Hecho Esta Hecho (Official Pitbull Remix)

News stories the mainstream media missed : 01/30/10**

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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.

* Ford, the only ones not to take a government handout, posts a $2.7 Billion 2009 Profit. Good going guys! [BLOOMBERG]

* Tony Blair is facing a serious inquiry into the Iraq war over in England. While he was busy getting grilled, he said “he would do the same again – and warned world leaders they may soon have to take similar decisions over Iran… Saddam had been a ‘monster’ and it had been right to remove him even to prevent the ‘possibility’ that he could acquire weapons of mass destruction. He warned that Iran’s nuclear weapons program now poses an even greater threat.” Danke, Kommandant. Haben Sie einen angenehmen Tag. Nächster! [DAILYMAIL]

* Global Warming really shifted weather patterns 56,000 years ago. Wait… global warming happened 56,000 years ago too? [DISCOVERY]

* Obama cut the NASA budget. No Constellation program, and no Ares I or V rockets. “We certainly don’t need to go back to the moon,” one administration official said. Sad. [LA TIMES]

* The EFF set up a website to show how easy it is for someone to find out your surfing habits. Visit their website and they’ll tell you a lot about your web browsing habits for free. [EFF]

* The movie studio Miramax is done this weekend. My Left Foot, Reservoir Dogs, The Piano, Pulp Fiction, Sex, Lies and Videotape, Clerks, The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, The Crying Game, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Chicago, Kill Bill I, Kill Bill II, The Ciderhouse Rules, Good Will Hunting and Swingers apparently weren’t good enough for Hollywood. [THE WRAP]

* Speaking of movies, here’s a good movie idea – the second and third place superpowers in the world secretly combine forces to pump up certain bonds and then cause the sudden drop of their value to force the number one superpower to spend a fortune just to stabilize its’ infrastructure. Wait… it really happened? [BLOOMBERG]

* Bans on cellphone use while driving…. do nothing to stop accidents! I wouldn’t plan on the bozos who came up with this stupid law to give up their city’s lucrative moneymaking machine without a lawsuit though. [NYTIMES]

* John “Scumbag” Edwards just officially dumped his wife who is suffering with incurable breast cancer because he finally admitted he fathered a child with his employee / mistress. He was lying about everything this whole time to make “Mrs Edwards’s dying days a bit easier.” And this idiot thought he could be president with such rotten morals? With real grade-a despicable character like this, can you imagine what he would have done in the white house? And why isn’t this all over the US media? The news in England is carrying this front and center! [DAILYMAIL]

* And now for something fun to close out…. Three wild cheetahs catch a tiny antelope… and then play with him! And then let him go! Somebody wasn’t reading the right playbook. [DAILYMAIL]

Tag!

Tag!

** This entry was actually posted late Sunday because of a really fun birthday party Saturday.

Update on StopThisBill.Org

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Well, that was humbling.

That personal project website I put up has generated exactly nothing. The consensus from people I asked about StopThisBill.Org is that Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts has made the whole website unnecessary.

My problem is that I prefer a well thought out healthcare bill as opposed to the train wreck is is still floating out there… and I wanted to send a message about that.

I do still think it is possible for the Democrats to try and pushing the poorly constructed bill through for a presidential signature regardless that Scott Brown now has a seat. It would be a protracted and very dirty fight, but it could be done. And it is also conceivable if the Democrats can get just a few Republicans to turn to supporting the bill, the bill can be pushed through even though Scott Brown has the ability to generate a Republican filibuster.

Even though my StopThisBill.Org project wound up as cannon fodder, it’s not all bad. I actually learned some things.

* People are passionate about politics. Even if there’s a common direction, everyone will have a different way they want to get there.

* Peer review is good. Asking for opinions from people who know more than you do will bring out some outstandingly good feedback.

* Don’t get attached to projects.

* Run with your ideas. If I paid attention to my gut instincts and put this website up when I first thought of it, it might have made a blip on the collective radar. Miss by an inch or a mile, it’s still a miss.

* Decent domain names are still available.

* 1&1 hosting is awesome.

* I can generate a website like StopThisBill.Org from absolutely nothing in less than 24 hours.

New website : StopThisBill.Org

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Full disclaimer: I voted for Obama. I wanted a change from apparent direction this country was heading in the previous administration. And I believed in Obama’s campaign ideas of a better America.

But I also think it will be a tremendous mistake if the healthcare bill, as it is currently written, passes into law. I think it has become far too distorted and amended from its’ original version to be a viable healthcare option for this country.

I would like your help in changing the healthcare bill before it is too late.

I just registered stopthisbill.org .net and .com. and stopthatbill.org, .net and .com to try and make a difference.

This new website I created has a simple initial petition. I want the health care reform bill, as it is written now, stopped and re-considered.

My hope is that the initial petition, after reaching a few thousand names, will attract enough legislative attention to stop the existing health care bill before it is enacted into law.

I also added a simple discussion forum on this website in the hopes that a second petition can be created through community forums. A second petition, authored by the internet community, that specifically outlines what should be in the healthcare plan and what should not be.

I think there’s a great collective intelligence online, and I would very much appreciate any help in signing the initial petition, and creating a second directive-based petition.

Hopefully this little project will draw some attention in a positive way to get the idea of healthcare back on track.

For now, I’ve added a page-peel effect in the upper right corner of this website to push some traffic to stopthisbill.org. And I’m going to cross-post this announcement on some other blogs I’m a member of tonight and tomorrow.

Please feel free to tell me what you think about this idea either here or on the stopthisbill.org website or emailing me at admin(at)stopthisbill.org.

We now return you to the personal website already in progress…