Walmart Parking Lots are the new frontier

Apparently you get enough humans in any one spot, make a resource scarce, and you'll get violence and savagery. That is pretty predictable. Was is interesting is that Walmart seems to bring this out of the American people.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-norman/wal-marts-war-zone_b_405640.html

Portion sizes and distorted perception

These kinds of articles are always interesting to me as they show just how pervasive advertising can become. We as a society get such mixed messages. It always eat less, be healthier, eat smarter. However the things we buy are getting larger for similar prices, which we also are taught to always chase (best deal is always better).

Portion Size Comparison

Cloning, its not whats new

Humans often think we have invented everything. Really though, nature has beat us to the punch on so many things. Cloning is one of those things. Obviously if nature has been doing it, you really can't call it 'unnatural'. Here is a tree that has been doing it for thousands of years. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34574720/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Fake Blood, comming soon....

A viable blood substitute has long been sought after. The amount of people who die each year because of lack of blood is a growing concern. If an alternative can get into production it will lessen the impact major disasters will have on the supply. Here is one answer: Fake Blood

Autistics in the workplace

Aspiritech, a Chicago based non-profit company, has launched a program to train high-functioning autistic people as testers for software development companies. The company says autistics have a talent for spotting imperfections, and thrive on predictable, monotonous work. Aspiritech is not the first company to explore the idea of treating this handicap as a resource. Specialisterne, a Danish company founded in 2004, also trains autistics. They hire their workforce out as hourly consultants to do data entry, assembly line jobs and work that many would find tedious and repetitive.

Somebody has got to stop this

Jeasie Creasie People! This is absolutely absurd. No one should be profiting off the actions of pirates. These are real people they are terrorizing. Now the pirates have set up an investment coop. How is this even allowed to be joked about, let alone a fully functioning investment. I think anyone that invests with this should be considered part of the international criminal organization (which it is) and prosecuted as such.
Full link to the Reuters story

Artifical Meat in five years!

Meat grown in the lab has been proven, now they just need to work on flavor. Seriously, the revolution in the culinary arts this could inspire is absolutely fascinating to me. You can grow meat to order, flavoring it in new and interesting ways while still giving the human body all the stuff it needs from meat. No more cattle calamities to affect the market.
Neatherlands labs

Bacteria is capable of being manipulated and is some people's biggest fear that it will be used to create some biological end of humanity. On the other hand, as a tool, it can be used for good like the good people of University of Edinburgh. They are working to make a strain that will glow in the presence of explosives. So many uses...Full article

New Word

Republizombie (re-PUB-li-zom-bee) (n) 1. Former GOP office-holder, now undead, unkillable; see Palin, S.; Cheney, D; Delay, T.; Armey, D.; Gingrich, N. A flesh-eater, the Republizombie counter-intuitively eats the flesh of other GOP; see 23rd Congressional District, NY. 2. Former relative of a former GOP office-holder, such as the former fiance of the daughter of a former Governor; like the other Republizombies, the second-tier Republizombie is seemingly ubiquitous, appearing on The Today Show, Tyra, and naked in Playgirl.

~From The Huffington Post

The PS3, the most versatile machine around

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/700744/PlayStation-3s-Used-To-Nab-Pedophiles.html These machines are being used to crack passwords of pedophiles.  Apparently the $300 used machine is better than the $8000 rigs they were using for this.

How modern day practices screw up kids

Ahh, sometimes an article comes along that puts all these modern conventions in perspective.  This is one of those: Cracked article

Not in my backyard

So here's the deal.  Tehachipi already has a large wind farm, but like prisons people want what a wind farm represents, just not where they can see it.  Some of the concerns the people are coming up with are such common sense/already dealt with issues that makes them sound dumb for bringing up.  Look folks, people want cleaner and cheaper energy, wind is one way, and it has to go somewhere. 
Here is a link to the story that brought this to mind: KGET story

Seriously Chicago?

Come on people, do we have to over react to everything these days.  The kids in this story got in a school food fight.  It happens, kind of fun, kind of messy, but pretty harmless.  But do it in Chicago and get locked up: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/us/11foodfight.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

Fruit Juice, its not what's good for you

Hah suckers.  Just because 'they' have always said its good for you, doesn't mean it is.  Soda gets a bad rap, but where is the fair press showing that its not the only thing that deserves to be bad mouthed.  Well finally someone has looked into it.  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-juice8-2009nov08,0,1821402.story?page=1

Porn goes mainstream

Of all the places for a porn star to go mainstream, this one picks Louisiana.  If she can get even 10% of the vote in a state like that, then it should really show the country that we really are moving away from our puritan roots and that people who choose to work in such industries are part of our culture and shouldn't be shunned. 
Ok, maybe I am reading a little too much into this.  I just hate the stories where a person's life is ruined when neighbors hear about their 'day job' (adult entertainment of any kind).  It is such a huge market and I think we should be allowed to talk about it in an adult matter not whispered back rooms.

Ships being overturned by Jelly Fish

The seas are alive and fighting back.  Those with tentacles shall strike back at those who would feed off of their food.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/6483758/Japanese-fishing-trawler-sunk-by-giant-jellyfish.html

This article reminds me that no matter the age, humans will always look for the easy fix or chase the wild dream
http://www.infoworld.com/print/98248

New Bakersfield Wal-Mart a top seller

So much for all the people saying our town doesn't want or need a new Walmart.
KGET Link

Pirate troubles keep going

Seriously, how the hell is this still going on and to the degree it has gotten to?  170+ suspected hostages being held on a ship off the Somali coast and a home base that everyone knows about.  Why won't some country drop the hammer down on these thugs?  How many people have to go through this before it reaches a level of concern? 


Check out the following link for the latest: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6896668.ece

Nature has the answers

The more we look at nature the more we find that it has ready made answers to the problems that plague 'modern' life.  What is even more amusing to me is how often these answers are cheaper than existing cure.  This story (MSNBC) is one example of how nature deals with pesky bacteria.

Google does good

I know I am something of a Google slut, but it warms my heart to see stories like this come out of them.  Google really is trying to be more than just a company and is actively working  to make the world a better place.
Education Conference by Google

Yale science win!

The genetic code is a literal blueprint and now the good ole boys at Yale are working at practical use and have diagnosed an individual based on their genetic code.  As the price comes down, so to will the usefulness of this branch of science.  First case of diagnosing by genome

France does something right

France doesn't recognize the Church of Scientology as a church and now the court has ruled in favor of two of the cult's victims.  Full story here:New Junkie Post

PG&E Math

Something a buddy of mine (James Geluso)wrote for The Bakersfield Express.org site.  It is a good look on actual rates from PG&E between last year and this one. 
http://bakersfieldexpress.org/2009/10/19/doing-the-math-on-your-pge-bill/

Morality has a scent

It is amazing to me how easily a human can be manipulated (for good or ill).  This study shows a link to moral behavior and 'clean' smells. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091025091148.htm

World not 'cooling'

The data is in, the world is not 'cooling'. http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/ap-impact-statisticians-reject-174088.html

GOP Finds new home

From media matters comes this story: http://mediamatters.org/research/200910260005. Members of the GOP aren't even hiding their involvement in FOX news anymore. I wonder how long until they start poaching active members of congress and the senate to positions at FOX.

Mission Statement

My plan for this site is to aggregate the news that interests me each week. I'll comment on the stories that I think need it and just post the stories that speak for themselves. I'll also post the occasional project I am working on.