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 headline says “Astronomers Find 90% More Universe!” OK, how can you find more infinity? Isn’t that like the divide by zero thing? [UNIVERSE TODAY]

* The Environmental Protection Agency is gonna require EPA certification for contractors working on homes built before 1978. So now I’m gonna have to get a haz-mat suit to fix Aunt Petunia’s windows on her home? [REASON] and [REMODELING]

* You ‘member those commercials “When EF hutton talks, everybody listens?” It’s like that with T Boone Pickens. He may be a little squirrely, but when he moves on something, pay attention. “In Pickens’ eyes, water is going to have a lot of value going forward”. [FT]

* James Harrison, 74, has an antibody in his plasma that stops babies dying from Rhesus disease. His blood and 984 donations has saved 2 million babies’ lives. Pure awesomeness. If I ever win the lottery, I’ll team up with other millionaires and start the “quiet hero” annual award. Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger would have won it in ’09. James Harrison would have taken it last year. [DAILYMAIL]

* Neuroscientists “created fearful memories in people and then erased them” supposedly to learn how to “treat traumatic memories in people.” Maybe it’s just me, but I think this has the potential to be extraordinarily bad. If the government is still saying waterboarding isn’t torture, imagine what they will do with this? Now I need to add “centered memory retention meditation” to my to do list. [SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN]

* Nanoparticles have successfully killed cancer cells! Repeatedly! And without harming the host cells! The first trial on humans has been a success, with no side-effects at all! Boo yah!!! The future is going to be all kinds of nuts! The story is at [CALTECH], but a friendlier “in english” explanation is at [GIZMODO]

* Scientists think they have a proof of something pulling the entire universe at 2 million miles per hour. It’s pretty mind blowing that we’re all actually moving so fast and don’t notice. [NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC]

* “High Fructose Corn Syrup Is Linked to Liver Scarring”. That’s some very important stuff that I’m sure will be paid off and buried in the mainstream media, never to be heard from again! [SCIENCE DAILY]

* Real “raise the shields” tech is coming? OK, maybe it’s more like “polarize the hull plating”, but it’s a step forward! Captain Archer, Commander T’Pol, report to the bridge. [TELEGRAPH.CO.UK]

* Bill Gates is making a nuclear reactor that will work for 100 years without refueling. It must be nice to be so rich and politically connected you can do those kinds of things! [INDIANA EXPRESS]

* An alligator was found 20 miles out to sea… swimming with whales. I think the animal kingdom likes to mess with our heads like this on purpose. [MNN]

* Binyamin Netanyahu was “deeply humiliated” after Barack Obama “dumped him for dinner”. Looks like Netanyahu finally met the new sherrif in town! Tl;DR for Netanyahu : Stop building. Make peace. [TIMESONLINE]

* Mr. US finance, Ben Bernanke, says the “U.S. Fiscal Outlook is ‘Somewhat Dark’”. Hopefully just because he’s wearing shades. [BLOOMBERG] And if Bernanke feeling a tremor in the force wasn’t enough, Greenspan feels it too. [BLOOMBERG]

* Dear Republicans, This is what you need to do to make a comeback and have everyone take you seriously again. That is all. [TALKINGPOINTS MEMO]

* So when a conservative think tank proposes a healthcare plan, it’s all good. But when Obama successfully passes the identical thing, it’s socialism? Wait, what? [NY TIMES]

* Mother nature has a sequel to peak oil in the works! We’re running out of phosphate rock! It’s a major component of fertilizer, and current estimates say we will be out in 50 to 100 years. “Worse, phosphorus production could peak in just two decades, according to new research from Australia and Sweden. That’s when demand could outstrip supply, playing out a familiar scenario of scarcity, price shocks, riots, starvation and war.” So I’m guessing phosphorus grenades and tracer ammo are going to be even more expensive, too. Has someone given the military a heads up about this? [ALTERNET]

* The French torture a man to death as part of a gameshow. Fortunately, the man was an actor and everything was based on the Stanley Milgram experiment from 1960, but “only 16 of the 80 participants stopped before the ultimate, potentially lethal shock.” Lesson: Idiots blindly obey authority. Especially if they’re French. [BBC]

* It is officially the end of an era. Iggy Pop dove off a stage – and nobody caught him. [MATADORNIGHTS]

*** You know you’re having a great weekend when 8 PM Friday turns into 11 PM Sunday!

I found a website that gives you a quick philosophy/morality quiz. I thought it was entertaining enough to post here.

Should You Kill The Fat Man? will take about 10 minutes. You answer a few questions, all anonymously, and it rates your views on morality with your consistency in acting on them.

For the record, I got a 100%.

“Your moral consistency score is 100% (higher is better)  Well done. This score suggests that you are admirably consistent in the way you view morality. In fact, none of the people who have completed this activity demonstrate greater moral consistency in their responses than you manage. But don’t feel too pleased with yourself. Most people don’t think about morality very clearly!”

Here’s the link again to Should You Kill The Fatman?

If you’re thinking of not joining the healthcare plan that was just signed, Bloomberg just detailed what the annual fines for 2015-2016 would be.

“Individuals who don’t purchase insurance would be subject to a fine of $325 in 2015 and $695 in 2016. Individuals may be subject to a charge equal to as much as 2.5 percent of their income in 2016, if the total is greater than the flat payment.”

So going with the 2.5 percent of income as the basis of the tax / fine, and looking at salaries right as the $695 minimum kicks in, this is what you will have to pay if you choose not to participate in the healthcare plan and have no insurance at all…

Ouch.

Here’s the link to the Bloomberg article.

Here’s the kickoff for the second quarter….

According to an article on REUTERS, “Virginia’s attorney general said he plans to sue the federal government over the healthcare reform legislation, saying Congress lacks authority to force people to buy health insurance.”

Over at CNN, they report 10 other states plan to sue as well. (Florida, Alabama, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington.)

The gist of the state’s lawsuits is that the federal government can not force people to buy health insurance and this federal mandate conflicts with some of their pre-existing state laws as well.

Bill McCollum, the Republican attorney general of Florida, said in the CNN article “There’s no way we can do what’s required in this bill and still provide for education, for foster care, for the incarceration of prisoners, all the other things that are in this bill.”

In the same CNN article, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said “the Obama administration expected to win any lawsuits filed against the health care bill.”

Maybe the feds will throw Gonzales v. Raich up as their defense, but they can also just drop the “mandatory” insurance part and tax everyone flat out to sidestep this lawsuit.

I’ll be at the concession stand.

The Reuters story about Virginia is here and the CNN story about the additional states is here.

Just saw this in my inbox…

“President Obama will soon sign comprehensive health care reform into law. Supporters now have a chance to add our names as “Co-signers” of this historic legislation — adding our names next to President Obama’s to show our pride in helping bring about this great achievement. Organizing for America will establish a permanent archive with all the signatures, so that generations to come will have a record of those who stood together in this moment and won this fight for our future.”

The email was sent by “Organizing for America”, which is a project of the Democratic National Committee.

If you like, head over to http://my.barackobama.com/Cosign to sign up. The site will ask you for your first and last name, email address and zip code.

I’m waiting for the “Hey, that’s not what I wanted” site to go up!

There’s a pretty straightforward interactive flowchart on the New York Times website that goes over the changes you can expect from the healthcare system. Just click on whether you are insured or uninsured and then choose from one of the four subsections that follow.

Clicking MORE under the summary takes you down the page to a more detailed explanation of what you can expect.

If your company pays your insurance, “Insurers will have to pay a 40 percent excise tax on high-value group plans – those in which premiums for families are $27,500 or more, for instance – starting in 2014. Experts say the tax will likely be passed on to employees through higher premiums or lower benefits and wages.”

If you pay your own insurance, it’s an even a bigger barrel of fun! “Premiums for individual policies will be 10 to 13 percent higher by 2016 than the average premium that year under current law, according to Congressional estimates. But most people would qualify for subsidies, meaning they might pay less than they do now.”

Less pay and less benefits for everyone! Yay!

Oh, wait… it’s not opposite day anymore. Nuts.