The Power of Seduction

After reading the 23 page grand jury report of the Penn State saga, it is easy to understand the inevitable firings.  Read it for yourself and if you're not sick to your stomach before you finish reading it, there's something wrong with you.

Past and Future Predictions in Technology

In 1993 AT&T ran this seriers of ads.  Most of these have arrived. 



And here's a video from Microsoft about future technology in 2019:

Drinking our way to healthfulness

American really like their beverages.

Here are the top ten U.S. Supermarket Sales for the period June 2009-2010:

1. CARBONATED BEVERAGES $11,895,100,000

2. MILK $10,082,840,000

3. FRESH BREAD/ ROLLS $9,544,454,000

4. SALTY SNACKS $8,408,432,000

5. BEER/ALE/ALCOHOLIC CIDER $8,289,052,000

6. NATURAL CHEESE $7,233,494,000 

7. COLD CEREAL $6,025,857,000

8. FZ DINNERS/ENTREES $5,886,527,000 

9. WINE $5,707,296,000 3.58

10. CIGARETTES $4,810,215,000 3.76

Of course, when you're drinking, you need the other things like salty snacks, cheese, and cigarettes.

Other interesting observations:
Dog food sales are higher than vegetables and frozen pizza.
Cat food sales are higher than frozen vegetables and poultry.
Sanitary napkin sales are higher than seafood.

You can see the entire list here.
Using this information, here's a typical American daily diet:

Breakfast - cold cereal with milk, cigarette, and a soft drink
Mid-morning snack - salty snack and a soft drink
Lunch - bread and cheese, soft drink
Afternoon snack - soft drink
Dinner - frozen dinner, beer
Bedtime snack - glass of wine

Vinyl is dead

Some of us just can't give up our old vinyl albums.  Even with our CD collections and Ipods, there's something about the scratchy sounds of the record and the beautiful art of the album covers that are wistfully nostalgic.  Now there's something new in vinyl to attract all us baby boomers as we approach our final years.

A company in England, "And Vinyly,"  will mix your body ashes into vinyl particles and produce a vinyl album of you. 

According to a WiredUK article:

The process of setting human ashes into vinyl involves a very understanding pressing plant. Basically the ashes must be sprinkled onto the raw piece of vinyl (known as a “biscuit” or “puck”) before it is pressed by the plates. This means that when the plates exert their pressure on the vinyl in order to create the grooves, the ashes are pressed into the record.

You can pick your own playlist, including your favorite songs or sounds or even your own voice or your last will and testament. They'll even design an album cover or write an original song for you.

If you used to think you were groovy back in the 1960's, now you can prove it to your friends and family for eternity.

More Monkey Business News

First I write this post about monkeys. Then today I write a post about people protesting businesses.

Now comes this.  Chrysler  has changed its Dodge tent event commercial because PETA objected to them using a monkey to blow up confetti.  I'm not sure why they objected. The monkey appeared to be disguised in a chimp costume.
Here's the original commercial:


Here's the revised one:

Union fights for teacher support

This AP article illustrates just how important unions are these days.  There's a battle in Milwaukee school system to reinstate health coverage for Viagra.

"A consultant for the school board has estimated that reinstating the drug benefit would cost $786,000 per year — the cost to keep perhaps a dozen first-year teachers employed."

"Other options such as penile pumps and implants included in the plans "are far less desirable than oral medication," the filing said. "

 
This at a time when the school system is having financial difficulties.
 

"Citing a "financial crisis" caused by exploding benefit costs and revenue shortfalls, the district's outgoing superintendent proposed laying off 682 employees in April."

Do male teachers really need free Viagra when they spend all day teaching teenage girls?  I know some parents who would much prefer eunuchs.

Laugh or Cheer (Depending on Your Political Views)

Jesus Struck by Lightning

Just more evidence showing the lunacy of religion.  Jesus doesn't know it's dangerous to stand out in the open and near water during a thunderstorm.

 "Jesus is on fire.  It's amazing."

Current Events Observations

1.  What happened to the exhilaration of seeing the power of gushing oil? 

If oil companies were allowed to drill above ground in remote areas,  capping a gushing well wouldn't be nearly as difficult as capping one a mile under water.  There would also most likely be much less environmental damage if an accident occurred and certainly an easier clean-up.

2.  Al and Tipper are separating.  Could he have finally decided to step out of the closet?

That news would be just as surprising as when Clay Aiken announced that indeed he is gay.

3. If you're a drunk and desperate Duchess, it is quite all right for a journalist to capture an entrapment on hidden camera.  If you're a US senator, well, that's a different matter.

Eat well, dress well. It's all the same

Only a few days after my post about food permits for lingerie stores comes this story from Delish with many lovely pictures of edible clothing that don't involve undergarments.

Beware the bureaucrats...apparel stores will be next on their priority list for food sanitation.

Laugh or vomit - you're taking a risk when you read this

Always on the look-out for interesting stuff (real or created), here's a heartwarming story of a grandmother who makes a real connection with her grandson of the daughter that she had given up for adoption. When they met, they fell in love and now their having a baby. 

Policing for Profit

The Institute for Justice's latest cause is detailed in this just released report on civil forfeiture, which includes a state by state grading system.  Asset forfeiture laws have been and are being used to beef-up police department budgets.  In case you didn't already know, the laws make it easy to confiscate private property without a guilty conviction.

 

The Institute for Justice was responsible for bringing to the national spotlight the issue of the misuse of eminent domain for economic development. If you believe in freedom, please donate to this worthwhile organization.

Why not to rely on spellcheck

Reported by FoxNews:

It is a tiny misprint, but an Australian publisher had to pulp a cookbook after one recipe called for "salt and freshly ground black people" to be added to the dish, AFP reported Saturday.


We had recently had a conversation in our household about the overuse of spellcheck by editors and professionals (bank executives and attorneys) and the resulting poorly written documents that have come across our desks lately.

It is easier to forgive when the mistakes are in a blog, tweet, or other casual writing, but when it comes to printed publications and professional documents, please proof-read (note: "READ") and correct before the final print; otherwise your going to be sorry.

(Yes, I know there is a misprint, and it was intentional)

Animal farm

There's a great movement these days about supporting local farms. 

This is probably not what those promoters have in mind. 

Open Elections

The Illinois Undervote Notification Law, part of the 2007 omnibus election bill, required that by the year 2010 all Illinois voting systems detect and notify voters if they undervote, which is a ballot that does not include votes for one or more races.

In Illinois, the voter must be notified if they do not cast a vote for a statewide constitutional office (Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Comptroller, and Treasurer). Depending upon the voting machine, some state and local undervoted ballots may also be rejected.

What this means is that if you don't cast a vote for every state race, your ballot will be refused. You will have to tell an election judge that you intended not to vote for every office and he will need to override the ballot, which may involve unlocking the machine and pressing an over-ride button several times befor it is accepted. Also, during that process, the election judge could be privy to those office races in which you did not vote.

So much for casting a secret ballot. And be prepared to stand in line because it is estimated that 60-70% of ballots in some counties are undervoted.

Now your news, now

One area TV station's tag line is "Your news leader." It should be "Your news now." They continuously over-use the word now. Just tonight, their Springfield reporter used the word now 7 times in a 60 second news story.

The beginning of this post was also mocking them. Their promos always include "one area school" or "one area town" or "one area business."

It hasn't gotten better since I wrote my rant last year.

Just more Cook County politics?

Northwestern University professor David Protess, founder of the Medill Innocence Project, has been subponaed by the Cook County state's attorney's office seeking his students' grades, his syllabus and their private e-mails.

Protess and his group have been featured numerous times on TV and their efforts have sucessully resulted in the release of eleven people from wrongful imprisonment. They have previously discovered coercion by police in many of those cases.

Be careful what you Tweet

Helping protestors in real time can result in searches and confiscations, at least in the USA.

"When protesters in Iran similarly used Twitter to organize anti-government rallies, the U.S. State Department hailed the micro-blogging service as a boon to democracy."

We wondered when it would happen

A few years ago, after years of investigative journalism on 20/20, ABC's John Stossel finally saw the light and became a libertarian. More significant is that he began reporting on libertarian issues on a more Democratic leaning network. My household TV viewers wondered just how long ABC would tolerate his "Give Me a Break" series.

John Stossel has now left ABC and gone to Fox Business and Fox News. He is probably the most well-known libertarian journalist in the media and perhaps the move will provide more new viewers who will hop aboard the libertarian train to freedom.

Of course, his views will not feel at home there either, because right-wing conservatives are just as guilty about wanting government in their lives as the more left-wing liberals of the other networks. Still, it is good to see that there is at least one Voice of Reason in the media.

Don't slip your tongue in MY mouth

Cargill Meat Solutions is recalling 5500 pounds of beef tongue, because the tonsils may not have been completely removed. This comes after a Nebraska meat packer recalled 33,000 pounds last week for the same reason.

I am not sure which is scarier - the remote possibility of mad cow disease or that there is that much demand for beef tongue.