Thursday, January 22
Tuesday, January 20
Monday, January 19
AP: Federal Inquiry Into Salmonella Outbreak Widens
Looks like the FDA is finally starting to get a handle on the latest contaimination of our food supply...
From the AP:
"Federal officials have confirmed salmonella contamination at a Georgia facility that ships peanut products to 85 food companies. The outbreak has sickened hundreds of people in 43 states and killed at least six. Stephen Sundlof, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety center, said, “This is a very active investigation, but we don’t yet have the data to provide consumers with specifics about what brands or products they should avoid.” The investigation extends beyond peanut butter to baked goods and other products that contain peanuts and are sold directly to consumers. Health officials say as many as one-third of the people who got sick did not recall eating peanut butter."
Sunday, January 18
Factory Workers vs. NFC Title Game Ad
This afternoon I watched the NFC Championship game. I hate all teams involved, but since the Eagles are playing and Donavan McNabb doesn't know the rules, I was hoping for a tie. Alas.... no. However, while I was watching the game I noticed something. Before halftime I counted no less than eight GM or Chrysler commercials and somewhere around 14 for the game itself including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, etc.. .
Am I dreaming? Is the financial crisis over? Did I imagine GM, Ford, and Chrysler executives traveling to Congress in corporate jets to beg for money?
I am not dreaming. The financial crisis is real and the Big 3 are smack dab in the middle of it with declining sales and an unsustainable business model. Given the fact that the American tax payer just bailed out two of the big three for something like $25 billion, can someone explain to me why I saw any commercials for any of these "impoverished" companies during the NFC title game no less? I have no idea what it costs to advertise during the NFC championship game but I'm guessing its in the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands per advertisement. These are the same companies that complain their legacy costs are too great to be competitive without significant give backs from the United Auto Workers. How many factory workers can you pay with what it costs to run one 30 second add during the NFC title game?
Anyone see a serious problem with this?
I think I'm really pissed because I had to watch commercials like this 14 times:
Quick Thought: Reagan, big government
As we are about to witness President Elect Obama's inauguration, I had this thought: As Wall Street melts down and economic growth slows to a crawl due to a general lack of government regulation, will these words, spoken by President Elect Reagan in 1981, live in infamy?
"Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem."
A few other Reagan quotes:
"Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them."
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
I'm really annoyed with Peanut Butter.
I'm really annoyed with Peanut Butter.
The FDA has announced that no one should eat dog food... I mean tomatoes... I mean peanut butter because of salmonella poisoning somewhere in some food processing plant somewhere in America or the world. Can the FDA (link) please get their shit together? I've decided that despite all the problems we have economically here in America, the one thing that President Elect Obama needs to fix is the Food and Drug Administration. We take for granted how important government regulation is until the stock market explodes or we can't eat a basic staple of many people's diet, including my own children.
Lock it up FDA.
Saturday, January 17
B A N A N A S.
Worth reading:
The banana is dying. According to this article within the next few decades, bananas will be extinct from a "cancer" like illness called Panama Disease.
"Below the headlines about rocketing food prices and rocking governments, there lays a largely unnoticed fact: bananas are dying. The foodstuff, more heavily consumed even than rice or potatoes, has its own form of cancer. It is a fungus called Panama Disease, and it turns bananas brick-red and inedible.
There is no cure. They all die as it spreads, and it spreads quickly. Soon -- in five, 10 or 30 years -- the yellow creamy fruit as we know it will not exist. The story of how the banana rose and fell can be seen a strange parable about the corporations that increasingly dominate the world -- and where they are leading us."
The article makes some inserting points about how evil fruit corporations have brought this upon themselves through horrendous business practices.
That shit is B A N A N A S. Sorry... couldn't resist. (Fast forward to 2:34 if you live under a rock.)
Some awesome crap about chocolate.
I like chocolate. There, I said it. The darker, the better. I sorta heard that it helps my heart or something. Don't care, that's not why I eat it. This article, however, makes me happy. Who knew bacon and cheese/chocolate went so well together.
Ecosalon
From Cavity Care to Cold, Hard Cash: 15 Things You Didn’t Know About Chocolate
Things we should regulate.....like child rearing.
Some people should not be parents. Exhibit A: The BBC has an article about this young boy (7) who refuses to eat anything.... as in... he's never eaten ANYTHING. He gets fed through a tube and has for his entire life.
""He gets artificially fed through a tube in his stomach and he gets all his nutrients through that overnight."
Through the years the family have tried various methods of persuading Tyler to eat, visiting a long line of doctors and psychologists along the way.
The amount of milk that Tyler gets at night was gradually reduced to induce hunger and hopefully force him to eat.
But, already small for his age, he would just dramatically lose weight.
It has now been decided that the best thing to do is wait and see if he eats of his own accord.
Tyler said: "I'd like to not have a tube and be like big boys in my class.""
As a parent, I have to wonder WTF is going on in this house. To me, this is child abuse. The article claims there is nothing physically wrong with the child. That means there is something wrong with the parents. Why, in God's name, would you permit this behavior?
Link:
Boy, 7, has 'never eaten a meal'
It's not fast food... we're just fat.
Interesting article here in U.S. News and World Report claiming there is no link between fast food and America (and the world) getting fat. Moreover, taxes and other incentives used to force restaurants into healthier choices (i.e. better oil, less salt, etc) will only hurt their business and not make us, the fat public, healthier.
"The results find no evidence of a causal link between restaurants and obesity, and the estimates are precise enough to rule out any meaningful effect. Analysis of food intake micro data suggests that although consumers eat larger meals at restaurants than at home (even after accounting for selection), they offset these calories at other times of day. We conclude that public health policies targeting restaurants are unlikely to reduce obesity but could negatively affect consumer welfare."
Link:
Nope, McDonald's Isn't Making Us Fat
James Pethokoukis
Study Here
Friday, January 16
More annoying shit about Fall Out Boy.
Not only did Fall Out Boy single handedly bring down Circuit City, they are messing with some of the most important songs in music history.
Full disclosure, I could give a shit about Michael Jackson, but only an idiot wouldn't recognize the importance of Thriller and the song Beat It. Thriller sold somewhere between 48 and 100 million copies. There are just certain songs on certain albums you don't cover. Some one should make a list of "uncoverable" songs. Most Beatles songs, Nirvana songs, and Rolling Stone's songs would make my list. No one, except the aforementioned artists, can do them justice. Beat It, given its incredible popularity, falls into that category.
Well, queue Fall Out Boy:
This is bad for so many reasons. First of all, the original version of this song had Eddie Van Halen playing the guitar line. Fall Out Boy chose John Mayer for this fiasco. Talk about a gigantic step backwards into a steaming pile of dog shit. God, I hate John Mayer. Secondly, there are countless Michael Jackson references from crotch grabbing to stupid hats, gloves, and ties. It looks lame on anyone other than Michael Jackson. Finally, there is the band themself. What is Pete Wentz thinking? His hair is beyond bad. It's unforgivable. He needs to settle down. He plays bass.
Michael Jackson is a freak but not even the king of all things weird and inappropriate deserves this.
Thnks fr th Mmrs Circuit City
If you own a share of Circuit City stock, it is worth exactly zero. Circuit City announced today that it was closing its doors for ever. This is truly a indication of how terrible the economy really is. Circuit City had been around for 60 years but not many are surviving the soon to be depression of 09.
However, there is another way to look at this corporate failure....
FALL OUT BOY!
Seriously... what the hell was Circuit City thinking. Maybe they deserved this. How about taking a business class with Fall Out Boy instead of a study break.
Seriously... watch this piece of shit and tell me Fall Out Boy doesn't suck. I DARE you.
Monkeys, super emo hair cuts, and Kim Kardashian. Buy a vowel for christ's sake.
Ruth Madoff has a cookbook.
According to the New York Times, Ruth Madoff, wife of disgraced investor and Ponzi schemer Bernard L. Madoff has a cookbook!!!!!!
AWESOME!! Smiles and hearts and unicorns.
I wonder what some of the recipes are? This fascinates me. I would actually buy the book but I don't want to give another dollar to that crook and his family. What does the biggest crook in history eat? Does he like bacon? Eggs? What are his tastes? Is he like the rest of us?
Recipe for Billion Dollar Beef Stew
* 1/4 teaspoon deregulation
* 1 1/2 cup media ignorance
* 2 1/2 cup crooked investors
* 1 pound clueless investors
* 3 tablespoons feeder funds
* 1 quart SEC
* 1 pint beer
* 1 (15 ounce) blind eyes... make sure they are turned
* 1 cup peeled and cubed capitalism
* 1 (10 ounce) package testicular fortitude
1. In a bowl, mix ingredients.
2. Let fester for several years. Pray no one tastes the mixture.
On a more serious topic, how is it that NO ONE else besides good old Bernie has been arrested for a 50 billion dollar fraud. You think he might have had some help?
Link:
A Madoff Cookbook Has a Secret, Too
Drink Coffee... hatehatehatehate...
According to a new study released by by Finnish and Swedish, people who drink coffee have a lower risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's.
"Middle-aged people who drank between three and five cups of coffee a day lowered their risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease by between 60 and 65 percent later in life," said lead researcher on the project, Miia Kivipelto, a professor at the University of Kuopio in Finland and at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm."
Glad to hear it. That means even more people are going to order coffee at restaurants. For some reason, I HATE severing coffee. Maybe its because it's hot and hard to carry. Maybe it's because I don't drink it myself so I don't get the attraction. Or maybe it's because restaurants never seem to have a good, efficient way of preparing the coffee so it doesn't take a bunch extra steps to get the beverage to the table.
Either way, I hate coffee.
Thursday, January 15
Can't get this song out of my head.
I've been listening to this song ("Bling" by The Killers) non-stop today. I can't get it out of my head.
I really think I like "Sam's Town" better than "Day and Age".
Do some people not have privacy rights?
Interesting article in the NYT about Steve Jobs and his health issues. Joe Nocera believes that Steve Jobs should come clean about this health condition because:
"There are certain people who simply don’t have the same privacy rights as others, whether they like it or not. Presidents. Celebrities. Sports figures. And, at least in terms of his health, Steve Jobs. His health has become a material fact for Apple shareholders. His vagueness about his health, his dissembling, his constantly changing story line — it is simply not an appropriate way to act when you are the most important person at one of the most high-profile companies in America. On the contrary: it is infuriating."
Agree? Disagree?
Dorks Gone Wild.
If you need a laugh, check out the comment sections here on this site (dvice.com). Some genius over at (dvice.com) decided it would be a great idea to compare Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica in an attempt to determine who would win if the two should ever meet in some dork wet dream. The article is, as you would expect, dumb as shit. However, the comments are AWESOME.
A few selections...
Derf says:
"This is pathetic, the author either likes galactica more and or is a complete tard about anything remotely technological. Nukes and kinetic weapons do not have ANY effect on star fleet shields. None at all, why do you think no one uses them in star trek? The galactica would explode from one torpedo. Star Trek shuttles are not fragile, they just seem like they must be shitty because of how terrible their special effects were on, they couldn't really do any good space battles. Simply put a viper couldn't do squat to a shuttle, not even out fly it. I mean for crying out loud, with the enterprise's sensors and warp 3 capable torpedoes they could obliterate galactica from the next solar system. This entire article is pure idiocy, just seems like a sci-fi channel sponsored bump for galactica just in time for BSG's premiere."
phoenix1724 retorts:
I know I'm going to piss-off all of you Trekkies out there, but I agree that Galactica would win. Because the Raptors are capable of making jumps, they could board Enterprise and take out its weapons and shields before Galactica even entered the fight. And if you really want to get hypothetical, they could always retrofit the Raptors with nuclear weapons, and destroy Enterprise while Galactica is in another solar system.
Finally, there was one very important factor they left out: the Commanders of the ships. Adama is a far more experienced and battle-hardened commander than Kirk. While Kirk fights for his crew, Adama is fighting for the survival of the human race, and is willing to die for that cause. So, who do you think would be more motivated to win?
Don't get me wrong, I am a big Star Trek, but I just think Galatica would win this fight."
And my favorite: By Edwild
"If this was Star Wars, the Death Star would kill either of these in one shot."
Who has time to think about shit this mundane? Dorks gone wild.
Now... I know we're screwed. Google layoffs...
It was announced today that google is laying off 100 or so employees. This must be a sign of economic apocalypse right?
From the Google Blog:
"As we made clear during our last quarterly earnings call in October, Google is still hiring but at a reduced rate. Given the state of the economy, we recognized that we needed fewer people focused on hiring.
Our first step to address this was to wind down almost all our contracts with external contractors and vendors providing recruiting services for Google. However, after much consideration, we have with great regret decided that we need to go further and reduce the overall size of our recruiting organization by approximately 100 positions.
We know this change will be very difficult for the people concerned, and we hope that many of them will be able to find new roles at Google. They helped build this company, new hire by new hire, and we are enormously grateful for everything they have done.
Posted by Laszlo Bock, Vice President, People Operations"
6 Worst Diet Fads.
An interesting article from Newsweek here talks about the worst diet fads currently gripping our culture. The diets range from the understandably confusing ("Fat Free Diet") to the dumbest shit you've ever heard (Twinkies... all twinkies).
Steve Jobs Steps Down... kinda.
It has been reported that Steve Jobs, CEO/visionary of Apple Inc. is stepping down until June to get his health in order. This is a truly sad day for those who follow Apple. Lets hope that Steve figures out what is ailing him and comes back soon!
Foods You Aren't Eating.
Great article in the NYT here about foods that you should be eating for your health, but aren't.
They range from the obvious like Pomegranate juice and frozen Blueberries to the obscure like caned pumpkin.
The whole list:
1. Beets
2. Cabbage
3. Swiss chard
4. Cinnamon
5. Pomegranate juice
6. Dried plums
7. Pumpkin seeds
8. Sardines
9. Turmeric
How to eat: Mix with scrambled eggs or in any vegetable dish.
10. Frozen blueberries
11. Canned pumpkin
Wednesday, January 14
Tuesday, January 13
Monday, January 12
Required viewing for anyone who cares about gas.
This is an incredible piece from 60 minutes. It basically says that the price of oil has been horribly manipulated by speculators. Guess who drove the speculation? Investment banks. The same banks that we are now bailing out.
Sunday, January 11
Saturday, January 10
Fox News: Too much govt caused this.
For your consideration: According to Fox News and Peter Schiff, too much government caused the current economic mess we are in. I would give that a big "lol".
Friday, January 9
Thursday, January 8
Wednesday, January 7
Hope you weren't counting on Social Security...
Bad news folks. A 1.2 trillion dollar deficit equals a logical reduction of services. Social Security is the first on the chopping block.
Article here.
NYT: "The don't know what they are doing with money.."
The latest sign that financial apocalypse is upon us comes from the New York Times Op-Ed page:
"AMERICANS enter the New Year in a strange new role: financial lunatics. We’ve been viewed by the wider world with mistrust and suspicion on other matters, but on the subject of money even our harshest critics have been inclined to believe that we knew what we were doing. They watched our investment bankers and emulated them: for a long time now half the planet’s college graduates seemed to want nothing more out of life than a job on Wall Street. This is one reason the collapse of our financial system has inspired not merely a national but a global crisis of confidence. Good God, the world seems to be saying, if they don’t know what they are doing with money, who does?"
Full article here.
This makes me sad (apple, Steve Jobs)
I hate to love apple. And I love to hate them too. Over the years I have both loved and hated many things apple has done. Ipod? Love love love it. Itunes? Also love. Charging for firmware updates? Mobile Me? Cut and paste? Hate hate hate.
Having said that, this article about Steve Jobs' health makes me sad. Mr. Jobs is clearly a visionary and I wish him good health.
A well deserved commentary about Apple and WoW.
Here are two funny videos by the always timely "Onion News" about Apple and World of Warcraft.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, January 6
Monday, January 5
Sunday, January 4
Saturday, January 3
Friday, January 2
Thursday, January 1
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
