October 2009 Archives

I was reading about this 2010 California Marriage Protection Act video today at work, which mocks the Defense of Marriage Act, and I thought, "that's a friggin' great idea!"

Lest anyone watch this and be confused, let me 'splain what's going on here: This phony PSA mocks people who are opposed to gay marriage and use the "sanctity of marriage" as argument for things like Prop 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. By suggesting a Marriage Protection Act that would make divorce illegal, this parody points out the hypocrisy of such morality-based anti-gay arguments. Namely, if the core issue were really about "the sanctity of marriage" then anti-gay proponents would be against divorce as well, right?

Smart way to call a bigot's bluff... at least in theory. (Video inside...)

LMAO... I had to do it.

You know how something really shouldn't be funny to you at all but for whatever reason you just find yourself in a mood where anything inappropriate is particularly funny?

Well, I guess I'm in that sort of mood. Because when I saw this photo of former X-factor winner, current cowardly lion stand-in platinum-selling songstress Leona Lewis, I just couldn't stop cracking up!

If you haven't heard, for some reason, a guy ran up and punched Leona Lewis in the head while she was signing copies of her autobiography, "Dreams" at a Waterstone's bookstore in London.

Afterward, she was quickly escorted out of the store. A representative said she was "absolutely gutted she did not get the signings finished."

It's a shame... I hear Leona is a nice girl.

The guy who punched her has since been arrested, but the crazy thing is no one knows why he did it!

I secretly hope he's working through a celebrity "hit" list. I can name a few celebs who are in serious need of a an old school slap upside the head.

If you've ever dated someone who texted or emailed you an uncomfortable amount of times, asked for lewd photos or made you feel like they were trying to control your life by spying on your social profiles, you're not alone.

ThatsNotCool.com is a new site dedicated to raising awareness about digital dating abuse.

Sponsored and co-created by the Family Violence Prevention Fund, the Office on Violence Against Women and the Ad Council, the site is designed to address new and complicated problems between teens who are dating or hooking up--problems like constant and controlling texting, pressuring for nude pictures, and breaking into someone's email or social networking page.

It may not seem like a big problem to some, but for many teens and even adults, the anxiety that can stem from online harassment is very real. And when personal information is distributed, the results can be damaging.

Some teens have even faced criminal charges for having nude photos of minors on their mobile phones. In the eyes of the law, it doesn't matter if that photo is of your boyfriend or girlfriend, share it and you can be charged with distributing child pornography.

In just a year Lady Gaga has taken the music world by storm. She recently won Billboard's "Rising Star" award and has been garnering comparisons to Madonna - for her iconic fashion and rocket-like rise to fame - and Christina Aguilera - for her sex-appeal and chops.

Part of her success is in her divisiveness. Critics and music lover's alike can't decide whether to love or hate her.

Gaga is contrived, but not manufactured. She's talented, but not modest. She's thoughtful, but shallow. She's bisexual, but not really.

It's no surprise audiences are ambivalent. Between Lady Gaga (nee Stefani Germanotta) and the public are lots of smoke and mirrors. But I can't help but wonder why? It's not as if she can't sing... like some other artists.

This story I'm about to tell you sounds like something out of a horror film. Only difference is it's real.

4 people were brutally murdered in the small town of Farmville, VA. It all started with Richard Samuel McCrosky III, 20, and a 16-year-old preacher's daughter named Emma Niederbrock who both shared a love of horrorcore music.

The two met through their mutual affection for the genre, reports say. But what she didn't know was that McCrosky was more than just a fan of the macabre killings described in the music.

McCrosky delighted in the blend of horror and hip-hop. Under the name Syko Sam, he published his own horrorcore YouTube videos. In one video, he wields a hatchet and sings,

"Last night I was the murderous rage. Now, I gotta get rid of the bodies before the corpses start to get to rotting."

I can remember being 12-years-old and wanting nothing more than to drive a car. I had friends and cousins my age whose parents would let them pull their cars out the driveway, or ride a short distance to the grocery store.

My parents considered it a priviledge to let me start up the car to warm the engine when it was cold outside. I would say to myself "everyone else's parents are cool and mine don't trust me to do anything."

But watching this tragic video about a 12-year-old boy who accidentally ran over and killed his mother makes me think perhaps my parents are wiser than I gave them credit for.

 

Do you have a computer that boots up slow, like a toaster? Wouldn't you prefer  one that boots up fast... also like a toaster?

The VP of Phoenix Technologies sure thinks so.

In this instant gratification culture where consumers need access to information quick, fast and in a hurry, slow boot up time is the one obstacle remaining between you and porn your favorite Web sites.

Wired magazine reported that at Intel's developer conference last month, Phoenix Technologies, one of the biggest basic input/output system (BIOS) makers announced that the latest version of its BIOS could boot in just about a second by cutting out redundant checks and creating a smarter version of the firmware.

Steve Jones, VP of Phoenix Technologies, made this comparison:

"People want PCs to be like their toaster. Push a button and it is ready."

I'm not a chef or anything, but last time I made some toast I had to wait at least  60 seconds before it was ready. Maybe I just have an old toaster.... or perhaps I need to change its settings.

Anyway, I guess a slow toaster is what the reporter was thinking when she wrote this asinine gem of an intro:

"In the time it takes your computer to boot up, you can probably make some toast or a cup of tea before the thing is ready to use. In the near future, you might only have enough time to take a sip of that tea or check your watch."

She says the old boot up time is like waiting for toast, he said the new PC is like a toaster... what in the hell are we talking about here?

I don't know whether to blame Wired or the VP of Phoenix Technologies... but someone effed up with their analogy. The rest of the article makes it seem like this is a technological advancement for PC. All I can say is if the old boot up and the new boot up are both like a toaster...I might just need a microwave.

Full Wired article here: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/10/05/computers.bootup.speed/index.html