Archive for May, 2010
Most Popular Herb In Top Restaurant Kitchens: Marijuana
It’s probably the worst kept secret in the restaurant business, but it takes an outspoken voice like Anthony Bourdain’s to make it the front page headline in the Dining Section of the New York Times:
Even preschool teachers unwind with a round of drinks now and then. But in professional kitchens, where the hours are long, the pace intense and the goal is to deliver pleasure, the need to blow off steam has long involved substances that are mind-altering and, often enough, illegal.
“Everybody smokes dope after work,” said Anthony Bourdain, the author and chef who made his name chronicling drugs and debauchery in professional kitchens. “People you would never imagine.”
So while it should not come as a surprise that some chefs get high, it’s less often noted that drug use in the kitchen can change the experience in the dining room.
In the 1980s, cocaine helped fuel the frenetic open kitchens and…
Facebook’s Privacy Policy Now Longer Than U.S. Constitution
The New York Times decided to write about Facebook’s increasingly-labyrinthine privacy policy and noticed that it is actually longer than the U.S. Constitution:
In recent months, Facebook has revised its privacy policy to require users to opt out if they wish to keep information private, making most of that information public by default. Some personal data is now being shared with third-party Web sites.
As a result, the company has come under a blitz from privacy groups, government officials and its own users, who complain that the new policy is bewildering and the new opt-out settings too time-consuming to figure out and use.
Dog Days of Disclosure: Saber-Rattling for an Alien War, The Maji of Majestic, and the Fight for Free Energy
Shawn Mitzel from Big Medicine:
There is a steady drum being beaten under the daily cacophony of economic ruin, terror,war and celebrity fashion faux pas. UFO’s. Aliens. Threat to Humanity. It is beating louder and louder as each week passes. Stephen Hawking made headlines around the world warning us not to talk to ET. He fears they share our genocidal tendencies, our thirst for plunder of resources, and that we will suffer the same fate as the Native Americans after Christopher Columbus’ “discovery.”
We don’t have to worry about that because we are still breaking our toys in the sandbox, according to official MUFON investigator, and sometimes-actor, Dan Akyroyd on a recent appearance on a Larry King Live panel that included physicist Michio Kaku, Seth Shostak from SETI, and scientist/author David Brin discussing Stephen Hawking’s intergalactic fear mongering…
[continues at Big Medicine]
Mortgage Delinquencies, Foreclosures Break Records
Photo: Brendel (CC)
Anyone who thinks the financial crisis and recession are over, check this out, from NPR/AP:
The number of homeowners who missed at least one mortgage payment surged to a record in the first quarter of the year, a sign that the foreclosure crisis is far from over.
More than 10 percent of homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment in the January-March period, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. That number was up from 9.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and 9.1 percent a year earlier.
Those figures are adjusted for seasonal factors. For example, heating bills and holiday expenses tend to push up mortgage delinquencies near the end of the year. Many of those borrowers become current on their loans again by spring.
Without adjusting for seasonal factors, the delinquency numbers dropped, as they normally do from the winter to spring.
More than 4.6 percent of homeowners were…
The Financial Crisis As A Game Of 3 Card Monte
Photo: ZioDave (CC)
We live in a three-card monte world. Follow the money as it moves from one shell to another. Now guess where it is. Most of us don’t know the hand can be quicker than the eye. That’s why mostly everyone who has ever been suckered into playing ends up losing except those who are allowed to win to keep the hustle going. We miss the tricks of the trade even as we swear we know where the winning card or money or ball is.
Phase one. Begin by showing the cards and explaining the game. Do a fair throw, mix the cards on the table slowly, and then turn over the winner. Do this a few times. Without any warning or any change in your pace or handling, do a fake throw and mix the cards slowly on the table. Point to the actual winner, and say something like…
Babies Display Sense Of Good and Evil
Ever gaze into a baby’s eyes and think, “You are a little sociopath”? Thankfully, you’re wrong — a new study shows that babies as young as six months demonstrate a sense of morality, suggesting that we are born with the ability to know good from evil, and making it harder to train an army of evil babies. From PhysOrg:
The research was carried out by a team led by Paul Bloom, professor of psychology at the Infant Cognition Center at Yale University in Connecticut in the US, and used the ability to differentiate between unhelpful and helpful behavior as their indicator of moral judgement. The results contradict the theories of Sigmund Freud and others, who thought human beings start out as “amoral animals”, or a moral blank state. Bloom said there is mounting scientific evidence that this may not be true and that “some sense of good and evil seems to…
Scientist Claims Sea Level Is Not Rising At All
More from the “no man-made climate change” gang at Fox News, whose Gene J. Koprowski counters reports that rising sea levels will soon drown Venice by profiling a scientist who says he’s got the data to prove that wrong:
In a new scientific paper, Nils-Axel Morner, former emeritus head of the paleogeophysics and geodynamics department at Stockholm University in Sweden, says that observational records from around the world — locations like the Maldives, Bangladesh, India, Tuvalu and Vanuatu — show the sea level isn’t rising at all.
In a NASA "what-if" animation, light-blue areas in southern Florida and Louisiana indicate regions that may be underwater should sea levels rise dramatically – which may not be as likely as scientists once thought. Photo: NASA
Morner’s research, revealed Monday at the fourth International Conference on Climate Change, demonstrates that there is no “alarming sea level rise” across the globe, and it says a U.N. report…
Marijuana Plantations Feeding Europe’s Habit
CNN’s Karl Penhaul reports from the mountains of Southwest Colombia:
Through the afternoon downpour a horse plods along a muddy mountain path. I can smell him almost before he rounds the bend. He’s weighed down with more than 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of freshly-picked marijuana.
The Majestic-12 ET Recovery Manual
The message boards over at AboveTopSecret.com are lighting up over the posting on Scribd of the Majestic-12 Group Special Operations Manual “Extraterrestrial Entities and Technology, Recovery and Disposal.” Check it out below – and let us know what you think: is this for real?
SOM1-01: Extraterrestrial Entities and Technology, Recovery and Disposal, April 1954 part 1
Lying Children Will Grow Up To Be Successful Citizens
Did we all already know this … or is it a great leap forward in our understanding? Richard Alleyne writes in the Telegraph:
Researchers have found that the ability to tell fibs at the age of two is a sign of a fast developing brain and means they are more likely to have successful lives.
They found that the more plausible the lie, the more quick witted they will be in later years and the better their abiliy to think on their feet.
It also means that they have developed “executive function” — the ability to invent a convincing lie by keeping the truth at the back of their mind.
“Parents should not be alarmed if their child tells a fib,” said Dr Kang Lee, director of the Institute of Child Study at Toronto Universit who carried out the research.
“Almost all children lie. Those who have better cognitive development lie better because they can…
LifeLock CEO Todd Davis’ Identity Stolen 13 Times
We’ve had this bastard send plenty of spammers to our site … I figured something wasn’t right about this guy. Thanks to WIRED for the investigation.
The hell with you, Todd Davis — some people actually care about personal privacy and you have murdered that trust. Thanks again to Kim Zetter for pointing this guy out on WIRED. Avoid this service at ALL COST:
Apparently, when you publish your Social Security number prominently on your website and billboards, people take it as an invitation to steal your identity.
LifeLock CEO Todd Davis, whose number is displayed in the company’s ubiquitous advertisements, has by now learned that lesson. He’s been a victim of identity theft at least 13 times, according to the Phoenix New Times.
That’s 12 more times than has previously been known.
In June 2007, Threat Level reported that Davis had been the victim of identity theft after someone used his identity to obtain a…
Climatologist: CO2 Poses No Threat To Human Welfare
Carbon Dioxide. Source: Jacek FH (GNU)
You can rely on the “journalists” at Fox News to bring you the latest developments from the “no man-made climate change” camp. In this story they feature a scientist who says his research indicates that CO2 poses no threat to human welfare at all, and he says the EPA should revisit its findings:
Carbon dioxide is hazardous to your health, the Environmental Protection Agency says. Oh really?
EPA scientists say manmade carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are contributing to a warming of the global climate — and as such represent a threat to human welfare. Officials went so far as to declare the gas a danger to mankind in early December. But a leading climatologist says his research indicates that CO2 poses no threat to human welfare at all, and he says the EPA should revisit its findings.
“There is an overestimation of the environment’s sensitivity to CO2,”…
What Spill? Rig Owner Transocean Approves $1 Billion Payday to Shareholders
Great timing, folks. Does Transocean have a PR department? Excellent report from John Byrne on RAW Story:
Five days after appearing before Congress to testify about its responsibility in one of the worst oil spills in US history, the Swiss company that owned and operated the oil rig that sunk into the Gulf of Mexico announced that it would shell out $1 billion in dividends to shareholders.
The revelation that Transocean is distributing a $1 billion profit to shareholders as one of its drill sites leaks millions of gallons of oil into the sea is sure to inflame an already smarting debate over offshore drilling and the company’s role.
Transocean has passionately argued that they don’t share financial responsibility for the disaster. A clause in a contract they had with BP says that the oil company is obligated to pay for any environmental damage, even though Transocean actually owned the rig. BP was…
Can Researchers Re-Activate Memory In The Elderly?
German neuroscientists have made a breakthrough in “age-related cognitive decline” which often begins in your late 40s (especially declarative memory – the ability to recall facts and experiences)!
Their new study identifies a genetic “switch” for the cluster of learning and memory genes which cause memory impairment in aging mice. By injecting an enzyme, the team “flipped” the switch to its on position for older mice, giving them the memory and learning performance they’d enjoyed when they were young.
Southern Gothic on The Black Fridays Podcast!
The Black Fridays Episode 20 — Micah Hanks
Website • iTunes • Direct Download • RSS
On this episode of TBF, we talk with Micah Hanks. Micah is a “self proclaimed (but not self righteous) skeptic” that has been studying the world of the esoteric for quite some time now.
His articles and stories about the strange have been seen in FATE Magazine, Fortean Times, Mysteries Magazine, UFO Magazine, TCS Daily, The Journal of Anomalous Sciences just to mention a few. He has worked with The History Channel, National Geographic, and The Travel Channel while working with L.E.M.U.R from 2004 to 2010.
Visit Micah at The Gralien Report.
5 Media Trends To Watch
Via Mediapunk:
Here are the five media trends I’m watching and will focus on in future articles on this site:
Sources and advertisers going direct Context is King Journalist as brand Reporting as service Media companies as technology companies I have a heavy emphasis on journalism, but most of these actually apply to other media fields as well.
Sources and advertisers going direct
Dave Winer coined the the phrase “sources go direct” to describe how organizations and individuals are routing around traditional media by using their own web sites and social media. Jay Rosen, as I recall, used the phrase “advertisers going direct” as well.
Another expression of this trend comes from Tom Foremski: Every Company is a Media Company.
But this is by no means limited to companies – activists, watchdog groups, whistle blowers, politicians, sporting leagues (which I guess are usually companies), etc. are now media organizations and all individuals are now media personalities.
[continues at Mediapunk]
…
One Nation, Overweight
A serious look at a serious problem – the ever-expanding numbers of Americans who are overweight and obese – arrives on cable TV this evening with CNBC’s documentary One Nation, Overweight. It receives a serious review from Alessandra Stanley in the New York Times, below. (For an alternative, but equally serious, documentary on the topic, disinformation also recommends Killer At Large: Why Obesity Is America’s Greatest Threat.)
There are two Americas.
One is a ruling minority of the healthy few who rely on vegetable gardens, personal trainers and spa getaways to stay fit. The other is the majority of Americans, who are overweight or obese, many of whom risk their own form of assisted living — XXXL clothes, mobility scooters and diabetes treatments that can tip over $50,000 a year.
One Nation Overweight (CNBC)
“One Nation, Overweight” is a CNBC documentary on Tuesday that provides a chilling portrait of a health epidemic that endangers…
NASA Tests Amazing Bailout Rocket Which Will Never be Used
I had such high hopes for the Orion program. Back to the Moon, and maybe even to Mars… It could have worked. The Register reports:
NASA has spectacularly and successfully tested the launch abort system – the ejector seat, as it were – for its new Orion crew capsule. There’s just one problem: according to President Obama’s stated plans, Orion will never be launched with crew aboard.
Singer-Songwriter Of Tea Party Anthem Unmasked
Even though Jonathan Kahn, who lives and works in Hollywood, says that in his community, “being a conservative is the kiss of death,” he’s decided to go public as the singer-songwriter behind the Tea Party anthem that he’s performed for conservative audiences and luminaries from Sarah Palin to Newt Gingrich. WSJ’s Neil King reports:
