Headlines to deeply ponder over the weekend

Leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales links homosexuality and baldness among Europeans to eating genetic foods and drinking Coca-Cola. What about Big Macs?

“In one shot the troubled actress [er, Lindsay Lohan, folks] – wearing a short skirt, lingerie, suspenders and high heels – is seen smothered in fake blood, which also runs up the walls.“

Named sexiest woman in the world, woman celebrates by eating disgusting greasy pizza

Islamist hackers get desperate: hack into KFC fast food  for ‘educational purposes’

Televised milk debate turns sour with four-letter F-bombs “(Soy ji—um!” “Soy ji—um!” “Soy ji—um!” “Soy ji—um!”)

Vietnam syndrome: 35 years later

The South:  ”…On April 21, 1975, I was 11 and living in Saigon. I turned on the television and saw our president, Nguyen Van Thieu. He had a high forehead, a sign of intelligence, and long ears, indicating longevity. He had a round face with a well-defined jaw — the face of a leader — unlike his main rival, Nguyen Cao Ky, who resembled a cricket with a mustache. Thieu said, “At the time of the peace agreement the United States agreed to replace equipment on a one-by-one basis, but the United States did not keep its word. Is an American’s word reliable these days?”…Here.

The North:  ”AT noon on April 30, 1975, when news that the liberation forces had captured Saigon spread to the North, we thought: “The war has ended. Now happiness will immediately arrive.” All of us, the youth volunteers of Hanoi who were digging a big lake in the suburbs, were allowed to go home, and the next day was May Day, a holiday…” Here.

Mexico’s blind eye syndrome

“Amnesty International called the abuse of migrants in Mexico a major human rights crisis Wednesday, and accused some officials of turning a blind eye or even participating in the kidnapping, rape and murder of migrants…”

Back to the future (or something like that)

Of course, it’s 2010 and so that means there’s a heresy trial going on in the Netherlands.

“The smartphone as a dangerous item”

“…a smartphone is a dangerous item…; with a smartphone you pose a threat to many, whether through botnets or by using your handset to control other devices. Kaspersky alluded to dark doings to which he is privy and the increase in terrorist, fanatic and political activities, some of which are organised or made easier through the use of technology. Because of such threats—and because smartphones are already becoming devices in which people store and organise their whole lives—Kaspersky believes the time has come for a database of smartphone owners. Much like gun ownership, Kaspersky outlined, smartphone owners would need to register their handsets. The handsets themselves would have a unique identifier code associating the handset with the owner. Access to the handset would be controlled by a PIN code or even a biometric fingerprint reader. As well as ensuring only the handset owner could get at the data stored on the device, a hardware security solution would make transactions such as online banking and purchases safe. Executable files and sensitive data could also be securely transferred…” Here.

After the hyperbolic hysteria reasoning emerges

1) From FAIR: “… Arizona’s law provides a carefully crafted set of rules that proscribe how Arizona law enforcement officers are to inquire about immigration status. First, an Arizona law enforcement officer must engage in lawful contact with the individual in question. (SB 1070, §2). That means that the stop or contact must survive any challenge with respect to the 4th Amendment’s protections against unreasonable search and seizure. Then, if an officer has conducted a lawful stop, the officer must also have “reasonable suspicion” that an individual is unlawfully present before inquiring about immigration status. (Id.). Importantly, the Arizona law expressly states that a law enforcement official “may not solely consider race, color, or national origin” in implementing this provision, including forming a reasonable suspicion. (Id.)…” Here.

2) From The NY Times: “Residents are unnerved by the violence in Mexico and the heavy drug trade and illegal immigrant trafficking in Arizona. Most studies have shown illegal immigrants do not commit crimes in a greater proportion than their share of the population, and Arizona’s violent crime rate has declined in recent years. But in this state any crime tied to illegal immigrants gets notice. Half of the drugs seized along the United States-Mexico border are confiscated in Arizona, and it is a major hub for human smuggling. Last month, Robert Krentz, 58, a member of a prominent ranching family, was killed on his property 20 miles from the border, and the police said the gunman was probably connected to smuggling. “People outside of Arizona are not living in this state and don’t understand the issue,” said Mona Stacey, a computer technician from Mesa. “Most of them coming across are mostly good, Catholic families getting over here. But you also have the drug lords and the smugglers. It makes the good guys look bad, and you don’t know who is who.” Here.

Political/cultural mind map of Afghanistan leaves generals brain damaged

Afghanistan explained!!!

Click to enlarge

Check the story here

Supreme court takes on digital gaming (hahahaha…)

” The U.S. Supreme Court is taking on the constitutionality of a proposed California law to ban the sale of video games to minors. The same Supreme Court where Chief Justice John Roberts asked the difference between email and a pager, and where Justice Antonin Scalia asked if “spicy little” texts could be printed out and sent in hard copy to buddies…” What kind of technical wisdom can you expect from this bunch of doddering dorks of yesteryear? And so now you’re going to do gaming? Seriously?  Here.

Afterthought: Hey, judges, what’s the difference between Call of Duty and Tag? (Hahahahahaha)

“Boobquake”–coming to a city near you?

“Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes.” –Islamic cleric Kazem Sedighi (sounds alot like Pat Robertson). Here.

The quiet invasion getting louder

…With the support of 70 percent of its citizens, Arizona has ordered sheriffs and police to secure the border and remove illegal aliens, half a million of whom now reside there. Arizona acted because the U.S. government has abdicated its constitutional duty to protect the states from invasion and refuses to enforce America’s immigration laws. “We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act,” said Gov. Jan Brewer. “But decades of inaction and misguided policy have created an unacceptable situation.” We have a crisis in Arizona because we have a failed state in Washington. What is the response of Barack Obama, who took an oath to see to it that federal laws are faithfully executed? He is siding with the law-breakers. He is pandering to the ethnic lobbies. He is not berating a Mexican regime that aids and abets this invasion of the country of which he is commander in chief… Read more here (see Obama’s strategy).

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Related: The real reason Leftists want unstoppable immigration (legal and otherwise) .

How Mexico deals with its own illegal aliens (here).

In Mexico irony abounds.

Is Mexico attempting “racial purity”?  (here).

Also see this post about how the Mexican government profiles its own illegals.

iPhone fiasco, cont’

The iPhone fiasco–this time involving the beloved fascists in blue (actually I don’t kow if they wear blue), otherwise known as the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team.

Lopsided labia and straightened toes

“…The most shocking thing was when a model strode up to my desk and asked me if I thought her labia looked lopsided. Before I could say a word, she had pulled down her skirt and underwear and exposed herself. The girls were friendly—at least to me. But there was a lot of tension and competition among the models. Snide comments about other girls’ plastic surgeries were rampant. There was so much pressure to be perfect, one model had had 14 surgeries—even her toes were straightened out!…” Here.

Words to live by (sort of)

Tracy Morgan says, “…Don’t you think I’m scared? Every day, motherfucker. But I got to do my job. You got to be scared. ‘Cause if you ain’t scared, you got no need for guts. It take guts for you to come up to my house with food. It take guts just to come out your door — you don’t know what the fuck gonna happen out there, man…” He said it well. You never know what awaits you…hell, just staying behind your door can be pretty bad–you don’t know what’s gonna  happen, right? Behind the door I mean. Right?

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Related (mastering fear ain’t easy, as in fear of fear, as in dry mouth, as in foaming mouth, as in the intense need to urinate when you don’t even have to…being in front of a crowd will do it): “Since the book came out, people have asked me: so, having written this book about fear, you must be really brave. My answer to that is: no, unfortunately understanding fear in a rational, logical way does absolutely nothing to help you maintain control over the powerful, ancient fear centers that lie deep in our brain. This truth was brought home to me vividly yesterday as I stood up to give a talk at the Googleplex, Google’s corporate office in Mountain View, California.  They videotaped it, and I understand that they’re going to post it on Youtube….Logically, I knew what was happening. Subconscious awareness of all these watching eyes was awakening my social fear response. My amygdala was on fire. My mouth was dry, my tongue sluggish. Worse, my brain was sludge. It was like going from cable modem to dial-up. The ideas just weren’t there. Or the words. I started to feel faint. I wondered: what if I totally lose it? What if I just pass out?…” Read the rest here (see Extreme Fear: The Science of Your Mind in Danger).

I gotta see this…

“…It’s an Irish space-alien sex comedy, except that in this case the alien, played by Simon Delaney, is actually a pudgy escaped convict wearing a red vinyl bodysuit and a bicycle racing helmet. He manages to sell himself as a space voyager to the innocent inhabitants of Ballymoran, and especially to the town’s women — all the town’s women…” Here. I wonder if it’s as good as “Giant Catfighters from Jupiter” or “Nazi Surfer Girls from Venus”–or even “Sex Villians in Black Leather from Galaxy Seven”?

Sort of reminds me of House of a Thousand Corpses…

“…Mr Gilbert finally died after a new form of torture was devised, involving members of the family jumping on his stomach. They then hacked his corpse into pieces at their home in Luton, Bedfordshire, before throwing it into a lake known as the Blue Lagoon in nearby Arlesey. Some parts of his body, including the torso, hands and feet, were found by two dog walkers last year, while others, including his head, were only recovered in February…” Here.

Religious Kool-aiders strike again…

Instilling  fear and trembling in the hearts of the mighty American cartoon world.

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Related: Live Feed asks, Is “Muhammad” now considered a dirty word?–”…Last night, “South Park” continued the controversial Muhammad storyline, but with a key difference: every instance of the words “Prophet Muhammad” was bleeped out, making the episode practically incomprehensible, especially to anybody who missed the previous week…”

(Also see Jon Stewart on freedom of speech as it relates to this South Park episode as it origianally aired without the censorship.)

Tehran’s  police chief  warns, “Women with suntans are violating Islamic law and will be arrested.” Read here.

Space plane: the launch

Hmmmmm……………”Clearly it will do experiments with worm holes. It circles the earth for 9 months gaining speed then leaves and as they said, they don’t know when it will return. Its a first wave on a war for resources from other dimensions. People from another dimension will consider it an attack on their reality and because we sent a ship their way they will know where we are. Its end. The END I AM TELLING YOU!”……………….Hmmmmmm

See  this story here (comments section)

The black hole of phosphorus

“…From Kansas to China’s Sichuan province, farmers treat their fields with phosphorus-rich fertilizer to increase the yield of their crops. What happens next, however, receives relatively little attention. Large amounts of this resource are lost from farm fields, through soil erosion and runoff, and down swirling toilets, through our urine and feces. Although seemingly mundane, this process cannot continue indefinitely. Our dwindling supply of phosphorus, a primary component underlying the growth of global agricultural production, threatens to disrupt food security across the planet during the coming century. This is the gravest natural resource shortage you’ve never heard of…” Read the rest of this article here.

Portrait of the child as a dog

Capitalist China looking a lot like Dickens’ London. Though China is the upcoming super power, its millions of  migrant workers are as exploited as any people since the industrial age of Europe and the U.S.

“you could eat this and survive”

To quote:

• “Extremely gummy, under-fermented, under-baked — well it’s baked properly solely for appearances.”
• “A product of the Pizza-Industrial Complex.”
• “Should be avoided at all costs”
• “Technically, it is a comestible food, you could eat this and survive.”
• “Give me back the old Domino’s any effing day.”

Gaming with humans/rats

The “Prisoner’s Dilemma” is one of game theory’s oldest, most influential and most poetic ideas. As in life, a player’s best strategy depends on the kind of game she’s in (one round? ten rounds? endless rounds?), who the other players are (strangers? familiar partners?) and how much she knows (being sure there are many turns has different logical consequences from being sure there are exactly 8). Playing it requires arithmetic, logic, memory, and a feel for psychology, perhaps even a philosophy of life. It’s as simple in principle and as varied in variety as chess or go. Which is why I was surprised by this paper last month, which reports that laboratory rats can play the game. Read more of this article here.

Doesn’t Apple remember being part of the pirates of Silicon Valley?

…You know, when any and every technology was ripe for the stealing. Apple wants its secret new iPhone back (it was accidentally left on a barstool by an engineer).

Where’s all the fun gone?

China’s loathesome human web crawler thingies

“The internet vigilantes are after adulterers, citizens who are perceived as unpatriotic, journalists who urge a moderate stance on Tibet, rich people, amateur pornography makers and corrupt politicians. Truth be told, the choice of victims is relative and contingent on anyone who angers the omnipotent and anonymous bulletin board mob. Victims are targeted and treated cruelly. (In one instance, a kitten was killed on video to prove some hideous point.)…” Read more here.

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Related: Chinese internet as entertainment

War without water is hell

We learn that what becomes more dangerous than anything at this point is the lack of water. Nobody has water in their canteens, damnit. They get so desperate that one Marine lifts the pancho covering the body of a dead Marine and goes for his canteen. It’s empty. In a bit of a lull, you hear a Marine yell, “I found a water hole!” It was a water hole all right, but they soon find that the Japanese had poisoned the water. “We need water!” they cry. Read more here about Tom Hank’s “Pacific.”

“Ferdinand Pecora moment”

“…We have waited long and patiently for our Ferdinand Pecora moment – a modern equivalent of the episode when a tough prosecutor from New York seized the imagination of the country in the early 1930s and, over a series of congressional hearings: laid bare the wrong-doings of Wall Street in simple and vivid terms that everyone could understand, and created the groundswell of public support necessary for comprehensive re-regulation…that moment finally arrived…” Read this article here.

Flash race mobbing

[T]he young [black] man who hit Taylor was laughing as he punched her and said, “Bam, there’s another one,” according to Taylor. “It was frightening.” Read more here.

Love God Larry

With Larry King’s upcoming divorce you ask the obvious question. Why has Larry been married so many times (nine?), i.e.,  what is it about him that attracts so many beautiful women? Is he the male version of Elizabeth Taylor?  I’ll give you the simple answer: Larry King has the two things all women want in a man: great hair to twirl around their fingers and tons upon tons of money. If being married to Larry is livin’ large than getting divorced from him is really livin’ large. But both parties are happy. Larry gets a great bedmate who makes believe she really likes him (and who changes his diapers on a regular basis)  and she gets an enormous payday from her nursing home duties.

The Ron Paul (& son) effect

“…It turns out that watching Goldman Sachs, the United Auto Workers, public employee unions and a raft of other vampires drain the treasury at America’s weakest moment in a generation will make a person pretty hacked off…” Read more here.

Get this…

“…Get this: Republicans met Wall Street bankers supposedly telling those crony capitalists that they would oppose financial reform on the fraudulent claim it contained a bailout fund, and Wall Street–ready for this one–lavished them with campaign contributions because they really did not want to be bailed out the next time they failed! What honor! What self-sacrifice! What patriotism! What crap!…” Read more here.

I will get an iPad…I will get an iPad…

My god, man, I’ve just reached orgasm.

Example of a “white liberal” blatherer

Yes, I think we all know racism is something negative, but can Liberal white guilt turn an individual  into a blathering ranting idiot? (Hint: yes.)

The banana republic’s police: rotten to the core? (Hint: yes)

Finally, FBI investigating police brutality in our big [rotten] banana republic (hint: kops like to make believe they’re brave). (Errr, while we’re at it, how ’bout investigating FBI brutality.)

The gamers

” ‘The system is built to be gamed’ ….”The voices of dissent are not being heard.’  These are the words of an anonymous executive [known as the fourteenth banker] at one of America’s 10 largest banks, who after many years of watching the worst of Wall Street’s ethics transform his company, has decided to speak out.. Despite the obvious risks to his banking career, the executive, who’s been in the industry for more than 20 years, says he can’t bear to keep quiet any longer: ‘I decided that I cannot live with the extent of the compromises to my value system.’ “Read more here.

The Alice in Wonderland effect

Professor, I am ready when you are. “…So, think of us as ants living on a sheet of paper, but perhaps there are other parallel sheets of paper with other ants living on them.  And perhaps we are very close to these other universes, but we can’t reach them.  The energy necessary to reach a parallel universe would be the Planck Energy, 10 to the 19 billion electron volts….trillions of years from now, intelligent life, facing the ultimate demise of the universe itself might decide to leave the universe.  To leave our universe and enter a parallel universe in the same way that Alice entered the looking glass to enter Wonderland.”  Here.

Evil world tyrant Bill Gates VS Superhero Master iJobs…

And the winner is: “………….But look at the two companies today. Jobs is still running Apple despite cancer and a liver transplant while Gates has moved on to saving the world at the Gates Foundation. Microsoft is worth $240 billion, a tiny drop from 12 years ago, with the shares now around $27 (down from $29). Nothing gained in more than a decade. Apple shares, on the other hand, have gone from $7.25 to almost $240, Apple’s market cap has risen more than 33X from $6 billion to $220 billion. And Cupertino’s cash hoard today is almost exactly the same as Microsoft’s at around $40 billion…” (here, and with audio).

“Skin deep”

“…On the red carpet, if a woman has hairy legs or armpits, it is assumed to be an accidental misstep — a failure of time management, if you will. But that hasn’t been true lately. In January, at the Golden Globes, Mo’Nique, who won for her portrayal of a gruesome mother in “Precious,” lifted her floor-length dress to reveal her unshaved calves, abundant in their hairiness…” (Caution, reader,  this link brings you to a truly disgusting article about females who deliberately choose not to shave their underarms and legs).

More political freakazoidianism

I gotta watch this…

Apple’s Woz/Jobs dichotomy

“…Steve Wozniak has said that he pre-ordered three iPads, two for himself and one for a friend. This is a testament to his incredible good nature and his loyalty both to the firm that marginalized him in the 1980s and to a friend, Jobs, who refused to write a forewordfor his memoirs. Yet somewhere, deep inside, Wozniak must realize what the release of the iPad signifies: The company he once built now, officially, no longer exists.” Here.

A sad truth emerges in Zimbabwe

“When the country changed from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe, we were very excited,” one man, Kizita, told me in a village of mud-walled huts near this town in western Zimbabwe. “But we didn’t realize the ones we chased away were better and the ones we put in power would oppress us.” “It would have been better if whites had continued to rule because the money would have continued to come,” added a neighbor, a 58-year-old farmer named Isaac. “It was better under Rhodesia. Then we could get jobs. Things were cheaper in stores. Now we have no money, no food.” Nicholas Kristof (NY Times): Postcard from Zimbabwe (also see Young Superheroes).

Big [rotten] banana republic

“…From the surface of the moon, to the factory floor – America’s prosperity and power dominated much of the 20th century. But…the world has changed.  ’The mystique of American power I think is gone,’ said Aaron David Miller of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.  The United States is no longer the sole power towering over the post-Cold War era…” Here.

Japanese style death row

I’m pretty wishy-washy when it comes to the death penalty. I don’t like the idea of it  but yet every once in awhile I read some particularly heinous crime where some fiend has cold bloodedly murdered a child, for example, or simply went on a sadistic death rage of the innocent, and suddenly find myself supporting the death penalty.  Anyway, when it has to be administered I think lethal injection is probably for the best.  Here’s an excerpt from an article on prisoner execution day in Japan: “…Prisoners are sometimes given breakfast as they usually are (around 8 or 8:30 a.m.) and told at this time that they are scheduled to die. This allows them a few minutes to clean up their cells, write any letters and be granted rights. With prisoners who aren’t so ‘fortunate’, they are taken directly from their cells to a waiting room where they are informed. They are given fruit and tea while waiting. They are, however, given the option of consulting with the chaplain. Unfortunately, their family members are phoned after the execution has occurred. They are told they they have up to 24 hours to collect the body of their loved one…” Here.

China offers to modernize America (about time somebody offered assistance)

“…Nearly 150 years after American railroads brought in thousands of Chinese laborers to build rail lines across the West,China is poised once again to play a role in American rail construction. But this time, it would be an entirely different role: supplying the technology, equipment and engineers to build high-speed rail lines…” (here) About time another country offered to rebuild out crumbling infrastructure.

The prohibition effect rages on…

“When an assistant district attorney recently told me that she doesn’t handle any of the county’s drug cases, I was taken aback. With drug cases filling our courts, how could she not handle them? “Let me clarify that,” she said, ” I don’t handle drug cases per se. I handle the homicides, assaults, robberies and child abuse cases, probably seventy-five percent of which are related to drug prohibition.”…Her point was clear: The drug war doesn’t reduce crime and violence. It breeds them…” This is from a book excerpt from 2004′s The New Prohibition (nothing has changed in these last 6 years): see Reconsider.org

Too big to–succeed

…What topic? “America!” America? “What could I possibly teach this esteemed group about America?” A lot. The core issue became clear when the CEO of one of America’s top companies pulled him aside: “We’ve had tremendous success in recent years,” but “when you are at the top of the world … the most powerful nation on Earth … the most successful company in your industry … the best player in your game … your very power and success might cover up the fact that you’re already on the path of decline?…? Mighty America’s five stages of rapid decline

Here’s an alternate title: Who moved my cheese to an undisclosed location?

The fast pace of techno gadgetry reduction…

Projects to make with a dead computer:

1. Make a gap between the iPod’s two halves with a blade and gently pry it open with a mini screwdriver.

2. Remove innards and unnecessary plastic tags from the case.

3. Pass one end of a 12-inch cord through headphone jack hole and the other through an adjacent hole. Tie ends.

4. Cut a red paper cross, tape to the inside window of the case.

5. Fill your Don’t Die-Pod with plasters, disinfectant wipes, etc.

The “necessary psychology” of battle

“…In recent days, many veterans have made the point that fighters cannot do their jobs without creating psychological distance from the enemy. One reason that the soldiers seemed as if they were playing a video game [the recent and now infamous Wikileaks video] is that, in a morbid but necessary sense, they were…” Here.

And the survey says…

“…Of the 1,178 women surveyed on the website Good Surgeon Guide, 78 per cent named Cheryl their inspiration and nearly a third said it was due to her ‘natural beauty’. What about her hair extensions, new teeth and fake tan? Surely, we should be saluting a Nobel Prize winner, a great novelist or a courageous human rights activist? Instead, true female achievement is being ignored in favour of a pretty little sexpot who made her name on a reality TV show…” Here.

The ethics behind “atomic bedbugs” disclosure

“…Here’s one way to avoid spreading panic: shun the phrases “atomic bedbugs” and “giant zombie bedbugs” and “mutant vampire bedbugs from outer space.” People can be so nervous. But if you speak in a normal tone of voice and avoid sudden movements, I’m confident that your neighbors will stay calm and take appropriate precautions…”

iPad, iProblems

Rule of tech: Never buy the first generation–of anything. iPad buyers are finding that out. Hint: wi-fi buggery)

Note: but here’s the Catch-22 effect: if no one buys the first generation there probably won’t be a second generation. Solution: convince enough suckers to buy that new gadget, then sit back and wait for the improved versions. For example, I bought the second generation iPod and the second generation iMac, to name a couple of famous Apple products. I bought the revised xBox 360, and skipped Playstation 1 for 2. Look at it this way: All first generation products are merely expensive, heavily  hyped beta products.

Bottom line: do I want an iPad? Yes. Every time I look at the damn thing I get an erection. But debilitating, as frustrating as it is,  I’ll wait.

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Update: Just one flaw? That’s what the man said, and that’s the price. Here.

Update: Apple admits wi-fi problems; commenter gets it right: “Folks, when will people learn that the consumer pays big bucks to be a beta tester. Doesn’t matter what company it is. And what control do users have over routers that they don’t own to “fix” the problem. Bad PR, Apple.”

Documentary: “In the Land of the Free”

Background is here.