Archive for the ‘News Stuff’ Category

Cheerloser fraud mom might for realz be my friend Lauren in the future

Friday, September 19th, 2008

Hot on the trail of the story of a 30-year-old pedophile who posed as a 12-year-old boy and got away with the deception for two years in a local Arizona public school system comes THIS one about 33 year old mom posing as her 15 year old daughter so she could be a cheerleader.

Oh ya. and it’s my friend Lauren. I think.
I’m still looking into the science of this, but it appears as though Lauren’s future self (she’s 22 currently), realizing she’s wasted her life in a downward spiral of alcoholism, drugs and a shotgun marriage, tried to regain her youth any way she could and somehow through her experiments, accidentally exited her own time zone and entered ours. Disappointed at the mistake in her effort to turn back the clock, she did the next best thing and tried to relive her youth from when she was a cheerleader at our highschool and I was the dude that graduated 2 years ago but still comes to the football games so he can score with her.


Left: 33 year old “Wendy Brown” (future-Lauren). Right: 22 year old “Lauren” (present day Lauren)

More:

A 33-year-old woman who enrolled at Ashwaubenon High School posing as her 15-year-old daughter and practiced with the cheerleading squad told police she was trying to relive her high school years. Wendy Brown was charged Friday in Brown County Court with identity theft, a felony, after using her daughter’s documentation to become a student at the school. Officials said the woman stopped attending school after the first day, prompting a truancy investigation and leading to the discovery of the woman’s true identity. Brown enrolled using her daughter’s official transcript, Social Security card, birth certificate and other personal identification, according to court documents. School officials and teachers said the student appeared older but had a teenage-like demeanor. Brown had told teachers and some school officials that she and her mother had to leave Nevada to get away from her father. “In school you see a lot of children who look older and dress older,” said Don Penza, liaison officer. “At what point do you say, ‘You’re lying’?”

Read More at DailyGut cuz that’s where I saw the picture

The Evolution of the College Dorm

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Time mag has this interesting photo essay that covers college campuseses (campi?) from the cinder block 30’s where the male dorm would communicate with the segregate chicks through light flashing morse code to the campus of today that features Coldstone Creameries, 7/11’s and rock climbing…
Here are the 3 best from the 15 picture slideshow:

The 1950s and 60s saw a surge in political and civil rights debates in America, with the college campus taking center stage in the debate over equality. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined his plans for affirmative action during a graduation speech at the historically all-black Howard University, above. Meanwhile, massive state and federal spending sparked a boom in dorm construction, as minorities and disadvantaged students began flocking to campuses nationwide. In 1958, the University of California’s nine campuses could house only 2,900 students; by 1970, they had residential space for nearly 20,000.

campus pool

Though La Vista del Campo Norte seems at first glance more like a hotel than a dorm, Bill Bayless, CEO of American Campus Communities, says these buildings aren’t just real estate opportunities: “Our properties are not Animal House. There are no kegs out by the pool.” Nowadays, students demand privacy, technology and the same amenities they grew up with, he says. “It’s what the student expects when they leave Mom and Dad’s.”

farm campus

Not everyone agrees with the luxury-dorm fad. At Berea College in Kentucky, school administrators have adopted a unique approach to the problem of strangled budgets and coddled kids: Dorms are furnished by the college crafts workshops, cafeteria food is provided by the school’s farm, and students are required to work 10 hours a week in various campus jobs. “It’s about identity and the culture you want to develop,” says Gus Gerassimides, the college’s assistant vice president for student life. “Ultimately every community has choices to make. It’s who you choose to be.”

AOL Food review: McDonalds Mushroom Swiss burger is evil between a bun

Monday, July 7th, 2008

AOL Food lays the slamdangle down on McDonald’s Third Pounder Angus Mushroom and Swiss today.

Grade: F
Our food editor’s husband proclaimed that he’d just had the worst burger in all the land, so naturally, we had no choice but to sample for ourselves. Turns out he was wrong. It was in fact the absolute, most extremely, terribly, awfully horrible burger in the known universe.

The industrial mushrooms had the flavor and mouth appeal of a sneaker insole, while earwaxen Swiss cheese and globbed-on mayo formed a thick slick which was, truth be told, necessary in order to moisten the throat sufficiently to swallow the spongy gray mass that was being hawked as an Angus patty.

Bad things happen when McD’s tries to get schmancy, and they beefed this one badly.

Blame Congress for high oil prices

Saturday, May 31st, 2008

From David Strom.

How stupid do they think we are? How is it possible to simultaneously wean ourselves from oil and the carbon dioxide emissions that stems from it, keep oil cheap and abundant, drill for oil absolutely nowhere, and sue oil companies without hurting consumers? Oh, and don’t forget to slap a “windfall profits” tax on the oil companies just for good measure.

It’s not possible to have all these “good” things together. Instead, we are seeing the consequences of following the anti-oil policies being pushed in Congress. Gas prices have gone through the roof, oil supplies for the future are threatened, and if the lawsuits against “big oil” go through exploration for future supplies will dry up leaving the world with little option but to get poorer over the next few years.

And the unpleasant fact is that a poorer world will be dirtier and less healthy for human beings, and not so great for nature either. Unless we want to concede that the earth would be better off completely without human beings—and just who would judge it so anyway?—then it is time to recognize that both human beings and the earth will be better off the wealthier we become. And for the foreseeable future, that wealthier future will depend upon drilling for oil.

Congress has been standing in the way of that better, wealthier future. By restricting prospecting for and drilling for oil within the United States, Congress has been keeping oil prices higher than they otherwise would be. And while high oil prices will help wean America off of oil eventually, our current experience shows that in the short run they just hurt consumers and help push our economy into a 1970’s-like tailspin that will make Americans less, rather than more environmentally conscious.

Oil prices will only drop if oil supplies can increase, and oil supplies can increase only if oil companies are allowed to drill for oil and be handsomely compensated for extracting and selling it.

Congress should be opening up the continental shelf and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil extraction instead of raking oil company executives over the coals for not selling their product below world market price.

Consumers will benefit only if oil companies can extract, sell, and handsomely profit from the sale of oil that is currently under ground. No amount of complaining by Congressmen can change the laws of economics that makes that so.

Back to You won’t be back on Fox

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

Despite having better ratings than its comedy companion ‘Til Death, the series was not renewed by the network on May 9, 2008, while ‘Til Death was renewed. The show is being shopped to other networks. Ironically, CBS was initially interested in the series before it landed at FOX. Heaton is the former star of CBS’ Everybody Loves Raymond, while CBS several years ago tried to get Grammer to star in a spinoff of Frasier. The network is hoping to open a new night of comedy beyond its Monday lineup, and a Grammer-Heaton project could be a solid anchor for such an extension. On May 27, 2008, it was announced that Kelsey Grammer had signed on to play the lead in a new ABC sitcom Roman’s Empire.

And what’s up with THIS crap? Sounds like a dick move on Fox’s part, no? Check this out:

Kelsey Grammer said Tuesday that Fox is dropping his sitcom “Back to You,” calling the decision a surprise and a shame. “They have let it go,” Grammer told The Associated Press. “We were told all this time we were in good shape and we were coming back.”

On Friday, Grammer taped an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show promoting the series. When the veteran sitcom star (”Cheers,” “Frasier”) arrived home later that evening he received a call telling him that the show was canceled.

Geeeeez. That’s a headline in and of itself.

Exit question: is it hypocritical of me to be sorry a show was canceled that I never supported myself by watching a single episode? Maybe I’m just subconsciously pouty over it cuz I had a possible shot at getting on screen in an episode or more. :/

“The brain of an addicted smoker treats nicotine as if it is essential for survival.”

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

The summary: The brain of an addicted smoker treats nicotine as if it is essential for survival. Genetic traits may predispose some smokers to stronger addiction. Most smokers try to quit unaided, resulting in a high failure rate.

If you smoke, no one needs to tell you how bad it is. So why haven’t you quit? Why hasn’t everyone?

Because smoking feels good. It stimulates and focuses the mind at the same time that it soothes and satisfies. The concentrated dose of nicotine in a drag off a cigarette triggers an immediate flood of dopamine and other neurochemicals that wash over the brain’s pleasure centers. Inhaling tobacco smoke is the quickest, most efficient way to get nicotine to the brain.

“I completely understand why you wouldn’t want to give it up,” said Dr. David Abrams, an addiction researcher at the National Institutes of Health. “It’s more difficult to get off nicotine than heroin or cocaine.”

Smoking “hijacks” the reward systems in the brain that drive you to seek food, water and sex, Dr. Abrams explained, driving you to seek nicotine with the same urgency. “Your brain thinks that this has to do with survival of the species,” he said.

Guy tries to change name to “InGod WeTrust

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

Steve Kreuscher has let his status as a denizen of Zion (Illinois, that is) go to his head and has asked a judge to legally change his name to the motto that backs our money: In God We Trust.

First name, In God. Last name, We Trust. The reason, he explains and is relayed from Christianity today’s blog which itself was relaying a story from Daily Herald, is that God has been good to him, and he wants the world to know. The also reveals a few other interesting name changes from recent memory:

Santa Claus: Robert Rion of Mundelein, 1997

GoVeg.com: Karin Robertson of Virginia, 2003

Megatron: Michael Burrows of Washington, 2007

Optimus Prime: Scott Nall of Ohio, 2001

Pro-Life: Marvin Richardson of Idaho, 2008

Low Tax: Byron Looper of Tennessee, 1998

Jesus Christ: Jose Espinal of New York, 2005

Stephen King Shot John Lennon according to the internet

Monday, May 12th, 2008

I heard some nut drop this website name on Michael Medved’s show Howard-Stern-bobba-booey style twice so I checked it out. It looks boring and lame and I didn’t have the patience for it.

Basically, it says Stephen King killed John Lennon.

If you care more than I do, you’re welcome to go to Lennon Murder Truth and summarize it for me…

Steve Lightfoot is a cool name though.

Good News: Microsoft is lobbying for cheap laptops to perform like cheap laptops

Sunday, May 11th, 2008

Microsoft is pressuring vendors to limit the hardware capabilities of low-cost laptops so that they don’t eat into the market for mainstream PCs running Vista.

Microsoft plans to offer PC makers steep discounts on Windows XP Home Edition to encourage them to use that OS instead of Linux on ultra low-cost PCs (ULPCs). To be eligible, however, the PC vendors that make ULPCs must limit screen sizes to 10.2 inches and hard drives to 80G bytes, and they cannot offer touch-screen PCs.

The program is outlined in confidential documents that Microsoft sent to PC makers last month, and which were obtained by IDG News Service. The goal apparently is to limit the hardware capabilities of ULPCs so that they don’t eat into the market for mainstream PCs running Windows Vista, something both Microsoft and the PC vendors would want to avoid.

Imposing the limitations solves a number of problems for the PC industry, said industry analyst Roger Kay, president of EndPoint Technologies Associates. “It allows PC makers to offer a low-cost alternative, and it prevents eroding of pricing and margins in the mainstream OS market,” he said.

Microsoft declined to comment on the documents. “We don’t speak publicly about our agreements with [PC makers],” the company said in a statement via its public relations agency.

Massachusetts Woman Faces Three Years in Prison for Switching Flintstones Vitamins with Candy

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

A Woburn woman has admitted she switched Flintstones vitamins with candy in stores, saying she was angry that vitamins she bought had been tampered with.

Denise Shannon told federal investigators she substituted the chewable vitamins with red-hot candy, jelly beans, M&Ms and gumballs eight to 10 times in 2004 and 2005 at various supermarkets in the Woburn area.

According to a plea agreement, the 38-year-old Shannon said she did it because she felt “violated” after she bought Flintstones vitamins that were tampered with in 2004.

Shannon was indicted on federal charges of tainting consumer products with intent to cause serious injury to a business.

Her plea agreement has not yet been accepted by a judge. She faces up to three years in prison.

source


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