New blog

I'm planning on phasing this blog out to turn my attention to a couple of other projects, including this new one.

Fame and fortune

Long story short, my dad stumbled into a Mastercard commercial shoot while visiting his hometown, Chicago, and ended up in the ad. You can see it online, for now at least.

He's the defeated-looking Cubs fan at the beginning (naturally).

There'll always be an England

Because they know how to summarize. We would never see something as practical as this in an American newspaper:

1. Islamic militants are almost certainly responsible.
2. The attacks are linked.
3. The bombs are amateurish.
4. No suicide bombings.
5. Plots involve British citizens or immigrants who have spent some time in the UK.
6. Too much can be made of the 'Iraq link'.
7. Bands of brothers.
8. Message to the UK.

Read the analysis for each. It's short and to the point, and does readers the courtesy of thinking they will make constructive use of actual information.

Insult to injury

Another undiginified death in the news:

DUBLIN, Ireland - Pathologists inspected the thawed remains Wednesday of a missing Dublin criminal whose body was found, frozen rock solid, in the Mermaid Fish Shop.

The owner of the shop in Galway, western Ireland, last week found the body of Patrick McCormack, 52, concealed inside a plastic container. He appeared to have been badly beaten and his hands were tied behind his back.

An examination of the body has been repeatedly delayed at Dublin City Morgue because it had not defrosted.

What an absolutely brilliant idea

Rebuttals to obituaries.

Indeed it will

"It will be interesting to see how low President Bush's numbers can drop," Carroll said.

28% evidently isn't the bottom.

Science!

You have to read all the way to the end of this NYT story on Pepsi and Coke cutting back on animal testing (Animal testing? Yes.) to find this gem:

In January, Roll International, the company that makes Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice, agreed to cease tests on animals after PETA disclosed a 2005 study financed by the company that tested the juice to see if it might relieve artificially induced erectile dysfunction in rabbits.

Let me just enumerate all the ways in which this single sentence short-circuited my brain:

1) A juice company is spending good money to find out if its juice has health effects, and the effect they look for is relief of erectile dysfunction. Not looking for improved cardiovascular health, better digestion, younger-looking skin . . . . Nope. We just wanna cure erectile dysfunction.

2) In rabbits.

3) That's been artificially induced.

4) In rabbits.

5) And then they hid the study until PETA, knowing an opportunity for ridicule when they see one, smoked it out.

It leaves me wondering so many things, such as how they artificially induce erectile dysfunction in rabbits. And how they verify that they've done this.