Every Monday I like to post some music to start the week off on the right foot.
This week….
Animal Collective – Brothersport
Miles Davis – Blue in Green
and finally India Arie – the Alphabet song (on Sesame Street!)
News stories the mainstream media missed : 04/24/10
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.
* Picking up strange objects that hundreds of anonymous people have used before you is a bad idea. A recent study shows there are tons of Herpes and E.Coli on those beauty tester products at cosmetic counters! Yuck! [STYLECASTER]
* That stolen phone from Apple? Looks like Apple is going to file charges for theft. Say goodbye to the website Gizmodo! [ELECTRONISTA]
* Want to see if your kid will be successful in life? Grab a bag of marshmallows and watch this study to see how to test ’em! [CBS NEWS]
* In other kid-research news, everybody needs to let kids play more! Play really develops children’s brains! [THE ATLANTIC]
* Hey Hollywood! Here’s my pitch for the week. Double Jeapordy? Amateur hour. Triple jeapordy? Ah, that’s the trick! Getting someone who committed a crime re-tried and convicted on the same charges that were dismissed at the first trial! How? I have the script framework online at [ABC NEWS]
* Google has been asked 3,500 times in the last 6 months by assorted governments for user’s information. They made a nice map showing the who and the where. [WIRED]
* A mega-giant jellyfish was spotted swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. Considering how much the mini-size jellyfish hurt when they sting with their microscopic barbs, this monster must immediately put you in a coma if it grazes you! [BBC.CO.UK]
* Melt in brain implants are coming! Considering how many people have already artificially melted their brains, this should go over quite well. [SCIENCE CODEX]
* How does the brain slow down time? Mind blowing quote : “The implication is that we don’t really have a direct experience of what we’re feeling ‘right now,’ but only a memory – an unreliable memory – of what we thought it felt like some seconds or milliseconds ago. The vivid present tense we all think we inhabit might itself be a retroactive illusion.” Dude. So I’m actually experiencing life as a memory? Soooo where am I and who’s really guiding the ship? [PSYCHOLOGY TODAY]
* Scientific research shows that psychopaths are not deterred by fearful faces. One psychopath in the study, when shown a photo of a fearful face, said “I don’t know what that expression is called, but I know it’s what people look like right before I stab them.” OK, so now that we have correlation established, let’s work on that causation bit. [SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN]
* New scientific research has also found out that meditation is really good for you. Might I also seriously recommend a good tea to go with it? Not the local stuff mind you… get “London Cuppa” or a quality Ceylon based tea to start off with. [SCIENCE DAILY]
* Next time somebody is getting all “HULK SMASH” on something, they may actually be a heart patient trying to save their own lives! New research shows that “bottled up anger is deadly for heart patients” so they gotta get it out ASAP. [REUTERS]
Tickle This!
* Tickle Me Elmo creator Bruce Lund just created… a rifle-sized weapon for the military called the “Big Hurt”?!? Lund plans on going back to making toys full time after this weapon gets bought by the military. As an extra special bonus, Lund says the weapon has a “stun” and a “kill” setting, and it will be up to the shooter to decide which setting is necessary. Dude. On the one hand I’m psyched that there’s a pre-phaser that’s finally going to see the light of day in my lifetime. But on the other hand, I’ll never be able to look at Elmo the same way again. [POPULAR MECHANICS]
* Some toymaker technician saw the movie “Never Say Never Again” and actually made a toy that shocks the hell out of you! The point is to hold on to the toy as long as possible and be the last one holding it! Story at [BOING BOING] and toy link at [BRANDO]. BONUS: Here’s the clip from “Never Say Never Again” I was talking about. How many brain cells did it take to remember that moment all this time?
* Balloon boy’s parents just agreed to pay $36k in restitution for wasting everybody’s time and sympathy. Considering what national prominence this story had, I don’t think that fine is enough. Especially since that poor kid is stigmatized/traumatized for life. [9NEWS]
* And finally, on the more looney side of things, the EU now says traveling for tourism is a human right! “The plan — just who gets to enjoy the travel package has yet to be determined — would see taxpayers footing some of the vacation bill for seniors, youths between the ages of 18 and 25, disabled people, and families facing “difficult social, financial or personal” circumstances. The disabled and elderly can also be accompanied by one other person. The EU and its taxpayers are slated to fund 30% of the cost of these tours, which could range from youth exploring abandoned factories and power plants in Manchester to retirees taking discount trips to Madrid, all in the name of cultural appreciation.” OK, maybe it’s a gut reaction here, but all I have to say is WHAAAAAT???? [OTTAWACITIZEN]
77 CDs for $77
I’ve been lagging behind posting because I found a local department store in town that’s been quietly getting rid of their entire audio CD department.
Every new shrink wrapped CD with a red sticker is $1.
This is a major brand-name store too, so I know they’re all legit CDs.
Sooooo needless to say I’ve been going slightly bananas. Last night I picked up 77 CDs for $77. If I bought them for their average price of $11.99, I would have spent $923.23 to get these same 77 CDs, so I actually saved $846.23.
The photo has last night’s run stacked 5 CDs high (except for the top left corner with Stevie Wonder).
77 CDs for $77
White Stripes, Ray Charles, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, She Wants Revenge, Parliament, BB King, Usher, Lenny Kravitz, Elton John, Black Eyed Peas, MGMT, Paula Cole, Melissa Etheridge, Staind, Static X, Willie Nelson, The Boxmasters… they’ve got everything. Even The Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack!
I’m going back later today to see if there’s anything left after the official announcement was made earlier today.
Now I need to get a really big frikin’ hard drive to rip these to!
Late April Skies and Stormy Sunsets [PHOTOS]
Just some more late April skies and assorted sunsets that were fighting through the clouds to make it through.
The weather down here was nice for a few days. Stormy and cool with the occasional clear spot in the mid afternoon. Now it’s just humid and perfectly still.
Late April Skies 01
Late April Skies 02
Late April Skies 03
Monday Morning Music : 04/19/10
Every Monday I like to post some music to start the week off on the right foot.
This week….
Adelitas Way – Invincible
The Kinks – All Day and All of the Night
and Elton John (On the Muppet Show) – Crocodile Rock
News stories the mainstream media missed : 04/17/10
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.
** HIGHLY ABBREVIATED “TWITTER” EDITION **
* Sign o’ the times: A reporter researches how to eat well on a food stamp budget of $68.88 a week. [BOSTON]
* We may be getting a collect call from the M82 galaxy. [NEWSCIENTIST]
* A computer retailer put in their license agreement they own the user’s souls. Too late: Microsoft did this back in ’95. [FOXNEWS]
* Box Office Futures are now a legitimate stock to trade along with oil and gold. Is Wall Street nucking futs? [HOLLYWOOD REPORTER]
* 100,000 Californians’ unemployment benefits are up this weekend. California unemployment rate is 12.6 percent. FUBAR, big time. [KION CBS NEWS CALIFORNIA]
* 3d TV may harm pregnant women, the elderly, children and people with serious medical conditions. That’s a lot of side effects for a TV! [TELEGRAPH.CO.UK]
* School laptops were secretly taking video and photos of child students while they were sleeping. Evil bastards thought it was OK. [PHILLY]
* Polar Bear deals with paparazzi- North Pole style. [TELEGRAPH.CO.UK]
Polar Bear Deals With Paparazzi
Volcanic ash cloud will cover Europe today
The ash cloud that’s grounding flights isn’t just your run of the mill volcanic burp.
A wonderful graphic from timesonline.co.uk shows just how bad it is right now and probably will be in a few days. Check out the “6AM Today (Predicted)” image on the upper right of the graphic. (Click on the image to enlarge.)
Ash Cloud Graphic from timesonline.co.uk
That’s a big ash cloud.
AT&T covers more countries than actually exist?
AT&T now says they cover over 220 countries! That’s quite an upgrade to their cellular network!
AT&T Stupidity
This claim is really amazing since the United States’ State Department recognizes 194 independent countries and the UN says there are only 195!
Here’s the full list of countries from WikiAnswers.com.
Covering more than 25 imaginary countries! That’s AT&T!
Hey AT&T… tell the bonehead who came up with this ad to check out this crazy new thing called GOOGLE next time.
Need a six month extension to file your taxes?
For those of you who have not filed your income taxes yet, here’s the direct link to the IRS form 4868 for a six-month extension to file [NOTE: PDF FILE].
It’s better to have a day or two extra to get everything in line and file this next week as opposed to avoiding the whole process.
Off to do mine now! (D’oh!!)
Every tweet is going to be archived by the Library of Congress!
Be careful what you tweet! A new article on CNN says that… “Twitter and the Library of Congress announced Wednesday that every public tweet posted since Twitter started in 2006 will be archived digitally by the federal library.”
Just think! “Every 140-character snippet of info you’ve ever shared publicly on Twitter will soon have a home next to the Declaration of Independence.”
My big question is if they are they going to link to the photo and web shortcuts that are occasionally referenced in all these archived tweets. Without the link of reference, a lot of tweets will lose their meaning.
I think I’ll have to come up a special commemorative tweet for the occasion! Something for posterity! How about “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rig” (D’oh! That was 140 characters!)