Monthly Archives: January 2012

Pentagon is just a big shopping Mall

Do they really need Taco Bell at Pentagon? Come on man.

Yo let me get 2 beef tacos, some cinnamon twists, and make it snappy I’m late for my Iranian Nuclear Missile Crisis Meeting.

Pop culture has lied to you about the Pentagon.

The nerve center of the U.S. military, the movies would have you believe, is a teeming hive of war-planning, a citadel on the Potomac where polished brass plan wars and calculate in dimly lit rooms how to deter attacks. Ask anyone who works here, though, and you’ll learn that the Pentagon is so much less than that. Sure, the work of national defense actually gets done here. But it’s actually a giant mall.

No, really. You can buy any kind of random tchotchke here, from novelty Army-themed shot glasses to an Xbox 360. You can get your hair did and your nails buffed. And you can get all the empty calories you want: with over 20,000 people working in 6.5 million square feet of office, the food courts are as numerous as they are fat-filled. No one in Dr. Strangelove ever munched on a Whopper. But in the real Pentagon, nothing goes with the nuclear codes like a greasy burger.

- Wired

A sign of an Empire in decline.

Drake to be the next Obama?

Maybe on film. A recent article by Tamara Palmer on  MTV News reveals that Drake would like to act as President Obama in a movie.

This isn’t just a passing fancy, as it turns out. Drake’s been trying to actualize this idea through interviews for more than a year. “I hope somebody makes a movie about Obama’s life soon because I could play him,” he told Paper magazine in July 2010. “Anytime I see him on TV, I don’t change the channel, I definitely pay attention and listen to the inflections of his voice. If you ask anyone who knows me, I’m pretty good at impressions.”

His experience in acting includes playing a kid in a wheel-chair. What makes him think he can play the role of Obama? You have gained popularity from your TV Show, and from rapping. You’re not the next Will Smith.

GQ’s list of worst movies of 2011

Pretty accurate list.

US Navy Seals f**k shit up in Somalia

Being American definitely has it’s benefits. US Navy Seals fuck shit up in Somalia to rescue an American Woman and a Danish Man.

According to the U.S. officials, two teams of Navy SEALs landed by helicopter near the compound where the two hostages were being held.

As the SEALS approached the compound on foot gunfire broke out, the U.S. officials said, and several of the militants were reportedly killed. There is no word that any of the Americans were wounded.

The SEALs gathered up Buchanan and Thisted, loaded them onto the helicopters and flew them to safety at an undisclosed location. The two hostages were not injured during the rescue operation and are reported to be in relatively good condition.

Wilco live on Conan

Watch it here.

I’m glad the smartest people are working on the most important world problems

The world’s top engineering school is keeping busy working for flavor companies. Awesome.

One of the biggest flavor companies in the world has turned to researchers in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) for help. To analyze taste-test results, the CSAIL researchers are using genetic programming, in which mathematical models compete with each other to fit the available data and then cross-pollinate to produce models that are more accurate still.

The Swiss flavor company Givaudan asked CSAIL principal research scientist Una-May O’Reilly, postdoc Kalyan Veeramachaneni and the University of Antwerp’s Ekaterina Vladislavleva to help interpret the results of tests in which 69 subjects evaluated 36 different combinations of seven basic flavors, assigning each a score according to its olfactory appeal.

Why MIT? The answer’s always the same. MONEY.

Burger King testing delivery

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/story/2012-01-12/burger-king-delivery/52604104/1

Subway attempted this a few years back and nothing became of it. A spokesperson from Domino’s Pizza, a food research and consulting firm, and even the author of the USA Today article linked above, Bruce Horovitz, seemed to not think highly of BK and their services offered…

Listen. I know the ingredients are shit and poison, but, if offered, I’m still going to use this delicious, convenient, cheap, delicious, service to enjoy maybe a TENDERCRISP® Chicken Sandwich on Artisan Bun, or possibly a WHOPPER®, Onion Rings con Zesty Sauce, and an ice-cold soda pop, without ever needing to leave my home. And! If I’m feeling it, I’ll get a dessert or some food for later on. Fuck it, might as well.

What’s next? http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2011-06-30-fast-food-restaurants-offering-alcohol_n.htm

How the food industry is f***ing us royally

Here is another sobering documentary which blew my mind this weekend – Food, inc.

Yes I know it’s not a new movie, but does that mean we should just let it go? Old news, move on? Fuck that.

There is no doubt that the food industry and the oil industry are in bed together and they might be the downfall of all mankind.  Everyone should watch this movie and decide for themselves.

We learn that the country’s top four meatpackers control 80 percent of the beef market. We hear that farmers are subsidized to overproduce corn, which then goes into Coke, Sweet & Low, diapers, Motrin and cattle feed. We’re told that the gut of a cow fed on corn breeds the deadliest strains of E. coli; that the Monsanto Co. owns every last one of its genetically engineered soybean seeds; that the Smithfield Hog Processing Plant in North Carolina slaughters 32,000 pigs per day. Fifty years ago, we’re advised, it took 70 days to raise a chicken to slaughter. Today it takes 48.

Grim statistics pair off with arresting visuals: a researcher with his hand inside a cow’s stomach; conveyor belts full of little yellow chicks, manhandled like car parts; a cow, not quite dead, getting pushed around by a forklift. There’s also video of squealing pigs herded to their death on the “kill floor” of Smithfield, where, a union organizer says, the company recruits cheap workers from Mexico who often wind up arrested by immigration agents.

- San Francisco Chronicle

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

I’m not here to call anyone a fat-ass, but if you feel like a fat piece of sh** today or you just feel sick all the time then you should start your day off by watching this great documentary: “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”.

The Church of Rock and Roll

Foxy Shazam’s Church of Rock and Roll is streaming in it’s entirety here.

Arctic Monkeys release a new song featuring Richard Hawley

No other band releases this many good B-side songs. Damn it’s good.

The track, which features Richard Hawley, will appear as the B-Side to the band’s forthcoming single ‘Black Treacle’, which is due for release on January 23. The single will be released on 7″ and as a digital download. It is the latest track to be taken from last year’s ‘Suck It And See’ album.

- NME

Listen to the track here.

Fighting SOPA, Rep. Jason Chaffetz demands they “Bring in the Nerds”

The solution to understanding the effects of SOPA is to bring in the Nerds!

Apple’s Phil Schiller did OK… I guess

Phil Schiller did,,,OK yesterday, January 19th, when he presented the new iBooks Author app which is suppose to reinvent Textbooks and Education. But Apple events are nowhere near as exciting as when Steve Jobs did them. Not having Steve there on stage is sure to hurt the rate at which Educational Institutions accept this idea of giving iPads to their students.

I think Steve could have convinced more people. He had…charisma. Damn.

Rights and Privacy In Constant Jeopardy

“[Rahm] Emanuel successfully exploited the fact that Chicago will host the upcoming G8 and Nato summit meetings to increase his police powers and extend police surveillance, to outsource city services and privatize financial gains, and to make permanent new limitations on political dissent. It all happened…” -Bernard Harcourt

via: the guardian http://gu.com/p/34pzp

All this bullshit legislation aimed to take away rights and privacy, to establish censorship and militarism, none of it will end any time soon. Presented by radical “politicians”, cradled by corrupt “government”, supported by ignorant. A worldwide, perpetual, failure.

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.” -Orwell

Check out this related link: http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/

Jim Morrison would have hated The Doors Dubstep Collaboration

Ray Manzarek is just plain wrong:

Ray Manzarek, keyboardist with The Doors, has said he believes Jim Morrison would have “loved” the band’s recent collaboration with Skrillex.

Manzarek, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore, the surviving members of The Doors, recorded a track with the dubstep DJ and producer, which is titled ‘Breakin’ A Sweat’.

Are they hurting for money or just trying to be hip? Either way, this move is pathetic and I strongly disagree that Jim Morrison would have loved it. I think he would have hated it and probably wouldn’t allow it. It’s just not rock & roll.

See for yourself.

John Gruber talks iPhone mute switch for an hour, forgets other iOS devices

John Gruber:

“I think the current behavior of the iPhone mute switch is correct. You can’t design around every single edge case, and a new iPhone user who makes the reasonable but mistaken assumption that the mute switch silences everything, with an alarm set that he wasn’t aware of, and who is sitting in the front row of the New York Philharmonic when the accidental alarm goes off, is a pretty good example of an edge case.”

I would say the current behavior of the iPhone mute switch is wrong, if indeed Apple called it a mute switch. Which they don’t. It is not a mute switch, and Apple refers to it as Ring/Silent switch so to me it’s pretty obvious that it does not mute the phone.

John Gruber covered this issue on the 5by5 talk show for over an hour but he did not mention the other iOS devices with this problem which I think is important here. All iOS devices can be used for communication purposes with apps like FaceTime and iMessage. I think Apple does fail with the mute/silence hardware switches because their iPad switch is called Silent/Screen Rotation and the iPod touch doesn’t even have a hardware silence switch. iPad also uses a different icon when mute is active which can cause confusion if you own both an iPad and an iPhone.

Also, the iPad does not have an alarm clock app but the iPod Touch does which also makes no sense to me. Will Apple ever give us the rest of the apps we have on other iOS devices? Again, no one knows.

Headphones to Shut Out the World

Noise-canceling models also reduce any dull, consistent roar around you, like airplane engines, vacuum cleaners and presidential campaign speeches.” – David Pogue

via: The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/technology/personaltech/finding-headphones-to-shut-out-the-world-state-of-the-art.html

Brings up some excellent points to consider when in the market for headphones. As a chronic sufferer of Buyer’s remorse and all-around optimistic skeptic, much is to be considered.

Willing to Die For Sex?

For a patient recovering from a heart attack, it can be one of the most difficult questions to ask a doctor: When is it safe to resume a normal sex life? For the first time, the American Heart Association tried to answer those questions Thursday with a new set of guidelines. CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook tells us what they mean.

 . . .says CBS News. Full story here: CBS News

Genophobia? I thought the general fear was; *fingers cross* Please don’t get pregnant. . . not dying during sex from a heart attack.

Another CBS report goes on to describe how low of a risk it is to have sex after a heart attack. - Article Here

Lana Del Rey posts clips from her upcoming ‘Born To Die’ Album

Lana Del Rey speaking to MTV about her controversial SNL performance:

“Things are cool. They always will be, whether the music goes good or not. Like, I consider being able to sing a luxury, it doesn’t run my life, is not my main focus. I love it, I feel grateful. I’m honoured to be on SNL. I’m happy to be here, but if I didn’t have it, I’d be happy too.”

Listen to the new clip here.

Born To Die comes out on January 30th and will feature:

1. ‘Born To Die’
2. ‘Off To The Races’
3. ‘Blue Jeans
4. ‘Video Games’
5. ‘Diet Mountain Dew’
6. ‘National Anthem’
7. ‘Dark Paradise’
8. ‘Radio’
9. ‘Carmen’
10. ‘Million Dollar Man’
11. ‘Summertime Sadness’
12. ‘This Is What Makes Us Girls’

American Idol Must Go

Entertainment Weekly wrote:

The 11th season debut of Fox’s American Idolhad the biggest year-over-year ratings drop for a premiere episode in the show’s decade-long history. Idol delivered 21.9 million viewers and a 7.4 in the adult demo on Wednesday night, according to Fox’s time-zone-adjusted national ratings. That’s down 24 percent from last year.

Any other show taking a huge crash like that would be taken off the air. Don’t make an exception for this. American Idol is causing singers in America to aspire to be the same as everyone else in the competition. . . lousy. 10 Seasons is a pretty good run. Just end it.