Every Monday I like to post some music to start the week off on the right foot.
This week’s kickoff is from Moscow Olympics – Still
…Hello Again – The Cars
…and finally, the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme
News stories the mainstream media missed : 04/03/10
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.
* You’ll never ever see this in the mainstream media… cola lowers a man’s sperm count by 30 percent. As in only 7 out of 10 are still there! Tea and/or coffee are OK, so it’s not caffeine that’s doing it! Just say no to Coke! [PHYSORG]
* The first paragraph of the story says it all. “Using a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation – in which magnets are used to disrupt neural activity in specific parts of the brain – scientists managed to “turn off” people’s moral centers.” Great. So if someone puts a specially modified hat on someone’s head, they can make them “bad” and forget their own code of morality. This has all kinds of ugly written all over it. The technical story is at [PNAS] and one “in English” is at [IO9]
* In more positive scientific news, “Playing the video game Tetris after a major shock can reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, claim Oxford researchers.” OK. What I wanna know is how the hell did they find this correlation? And why do I suddenly hear the Tetris music? [TELEGRAPH.CO.UK]
* Trees are growing faster and bigger throughout the world? Maybe because there’s more CO2 for them to inhale? [NPR]
* Hoarders may have some serious drain bamage. “…hoarders had lower metabolic rates in the anterior cingulate cortex, one region responsible for motivation, focused attention, error detection, and decision making.” So, according to my sitcom science degree, another whack on the head should restore them to normal, right? Or is that only good for amnesia? [DISCOVER]
* Scientists have also just proven that “the presence of an attractive woman elevates testosterone and physical risk taking in young men.” This needed scientific proof? Seriously? [DISCOVER MAGAZINE]
* In more serious and infuriating news, some U.S. Bishops have very quietly started to allow priests accused of pedophilia back into the church [NPR] AND the head of the Catholic League said all that all this alleged abuse really wasn’t pedophilia because the boys were ‘post-pubescent’, saying “the age at which children become “post-pubescent” is around 12 or 13.” [RAWSTORY] Oh, so it wasn’t 11 year old boys being molested, it was 12 year old boys. And this makes it OK then? Somebody in the upper echelon of the Catholic church needs to clean house with a vengeance. Justified wrath of God, excommunication, “and you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee” kind of cleaning house.
* In another bit of infuriating news, the father of a Marine whose funeral was picketed by the Westboro Baptist Church has to pay the Westboro Baptist Church more than $16,000 for their legal fees and for their protest of his son’s funeral. [CNN] But the cavalry arrives from… Bill O’Reilly?!? Bill O’Reilly said he will pay every cent of that $16,000 legal fee for the father, saying “That is an outrage. I will pay Mr. Snyder’s obligation. I am not going to let this injustice stand.” Wow. I’m actually impressed and surprised. [NEWSMAX]
* If you notice the roads you travel on start to suck in a few years, it’s because gravel roads are making a comeback. Asphalt is $400 a ton and gravel is $20 a ton. That ads up quick! Michigan and Minnesota are starting it off. [KIPLINGER]
* The states are now getting in deep trouble financially in other areas too. Nothing to see here people! Move along! [NYTIMES]
*… aaaaand Greenspan says the economy is going to get worse, too. His early warning prediction was just validated. Keep moving! Nothing to see! [BLOOMBERG]
* …aaaand A giant sell-off in treasuries is being viewed as “a warning to Washington that it can no longer borrow with impunity.” Nothing to see at all! That’s why it’s only being covered in England! Move along now! [TELEGRAPH.CO.UK]
* What kind of man repos private jets from drug lords? Or from corrupt governments? Or steals them out of the heart of Russia? Helloooooo Hollywood? I got another summer blockbuster for you people! Contact me for a script! [AIRSPACE MAG]
* Speaking of summer blockbusters, Independence Day 2 and 3 are in the works, with Will Smith supposedly onboard for both. Yes, Independence Day is a movie with a major plot hole every five minutes, but it was fun to watch. Maybe this time they will send something aside from fighter jets with air-to-air missiles after the motherships. A sequel demands fuel-air bombs and other assorted thermobaric carpet-bomb runs from the stratosphere! I’ll pay to see that! [IO9]
* In technical news, an HDMI cable is an HDMI cable. There is NO DIFFERENCE between a $150 HDMI monster cable and a generic $10 HDMI cable to connect stuff to your High Definition TV. I have three generic $7 HDMI cables, and everything connected to them gives a perfect picture on my HDTV. Here’s the proof… [MINT.COM]
* In other technical news, how about a counter-surveillance camera that “spots other cameras, scopes, binoculars and human eyeballs gawking at it.” You can see who is spying on you or has you in their sights in real time? I’ll take two please. [GIZMODO] and the actual product is available at [JET-PROTECT]
* Want a secret lift to park your car directly in the living room? Not a problem, Mr, Wayne. Will you and Mr. Grayson be dining in tonight? [TODAYANDTOMORROW] with blueprints at [WHATWEDOISSECRET.ORG]
More roadside flowers – March 30 [PHOTOS]
A few more photos from the road trip earlier this week.
Road Trip 03 30 10 c
Every other median along the highway has these little purple buds just rising above the grass mixed in with the white flowers from the last post. Very serene.
Road Trip 03 30 10 d
Roadside flowers – March 30 [PHOTOS]
I managed to take a few photos while I was on the road trip yesterday.
The medians were filled with generously sprinkled little white dots along the way. Every so often, there was a patch that fully opened and were catching the hot breeze as it raced by.
RoadTrip 03 30 10 b
RoadTrip 03 30 10 a
New Sprint “Satisfaction Guaranteed or Money-Back” offer sounds very impressive
Sprint just announced a new “Satisfaction Guaranteed or Money-Back” offer.
“Beginning tomorrow, the Sprint Free Guarantee gives any customer opening a new line of service the chance to try Sprint for 30 days. If a customer isn’t completely satisfied, they can get reimbursed for the device purchase and activation fee, get the early termination fee waived, get a full refund for service plan monthly recurring charges incurred and get all associated taxes and Sprint surcharges associated with these charges waived. In addition, Sprint will waive the restocking fee for new customer exchanges as part of this policy.”
Dear Verizon: Wow. The gauntlet has been thrown. Any response?
Dear AT&T : You suck. Don’t bother pulling out some father’s brother’s newphew’s cousin’s former roommate of a celebrity for some lame commercials to pretend you can keep up with this.
For complete information about the Sprint Free Guarantee visit, www.sprint.com/guarantee beginning tomorrow.
Oh, now AT&T wants to improve their crap network [RANT]
Just saw this over on Consumerist…
“Following up on yesterday’s news that Apple is preparing to start production on Verizon-compatible iPhones, the Wall Street Journal now says that AT&T has been working since December to improve their existing networks to remain competitive when the inevitable battle for iPhone market share begins.”
Oh, now AT&T wants to improve their network now that a company with a superior network is coming along to take their customers!
Dear AT&T: It’s too late chumps. Far too late. For years I’ve had nothing but miserable service from since I purchased my iPhone. Constantly dropped calls. Calls that will not go through even after 4 or 5 tries. Suddenly getting a “7 missed calls” notice on my iPhone when it hasn’t rung all day. Having less than 1 bar 90% of the time. Phone conversations so distorted it sounds like I’m talking to an electronic robot and not another human being.
I can honestly say in the 12 years that I’ve had cell phones, AT&Ts service has been the absolute worst. The pinnacle of rotten, slipshod, and pathetic efforts that only a doddering company far past its’ time would have the nerve to pass off and sell. The fact that you launched a “100-day plan in late 2009” and are only now getting your pathetic tech up to date proves you really don’t give a damn about your customers.
You are the proud owners of the technical equivalent of a pitted gravel farm road, and are only now dimly aware of the concrete overpass about to take your livelihood away.
For the record, as of today, I’ve successfully kept 14 people off AT&T’s cellular service. That’s not a lot of people, but it’s 14 customers who now have a chance with a real wireless phone company.
I hope the Verizon story is true this time.
Here’s the story on Consumerist and on the Wall Street Journal.
Road trip!
Another 4 hour road trip today through the Texas valley! New posts probably won’t be up until tomorrow.
Saying Hello! to a Bear [PHOTO]
This isn’t mine. I found it on a wallpaper website but nobody knows who originally made it.
It had me laughing for awhile though. You have to click to enlarge this one.
Hellloooooo bear!
If anyone has any idea who made it, please let me know!
President Obama with a real Thundercats sword [PHOTO]
My nerd card is getting a real workout today.
President Obama is holding a Thundercats sword with what appears to be a genuine blade.
Thundercats!
Right. So who’s Mumm-Ra?
EDIT: It’s a fake!
More photoshopped images of President Obama playing with assorted toys here.
Tea Party Leader Dick Armey previously lobbied for a terrorist organization
File this under “amazingly good to know”.
Apparently the leader of the “Tea Party”, Dick Armey, was a pretty busy guy! Before leading the “Tea Party”, Armey spent “years spent lobbying for a group recognized by the State Department as being a terrorist organization.”
D’oh!
The article goes on to say… “from 2005 to 2009, Armey promoted the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, otherwise known as Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), which the State Department has branded a terrorist group. Armey lobbied his former colleagues on behalf of legislation that would have provided taxpayer support to the MEK.”
And as an extra special bonus, from 2005 to 2008, “two Iranian-American businessmen: Akbar Nikooie and Saied Ghaemi… paid out $910,000 to DLA Piper for the service of Armey, his former staffer Jean Campbell, and a handful of other lobbyists to bring issues relating to Iranian “foreign relations” and “human rights” to the attention of Congress, the Department of Defense, the State Department, the White House, the National Security Council and the Department of the Treasury.””
Of course, none of this is on his bio page or on the Tea Party website.
Hmmmm……
You can read about his little past indiscretions here.
UPDATE: The “full” webpage with comments is here.
UPDATE II: The “comments” on the news website are hilarious. “Why the focus on the personalities rather than the idea?” Ah, hypocritical much? Reason #546,781 I don’t trust the left or the right “movements”.