What Caught My Eye Today

Did You Know - Fred's Note: I saw this fascinating comparison of U.S. states to other countries on a variety of different metrics. See if you can guess which rated higher. Check out the answers at the end of today's posting.

• Higher per capita income: Italy or Mississippi?
• Higher infant mortality rate: Sri Lanka or Washington D.C.?
• Higher number of physicians per 10,000 people: Kuwait or Idaho?
• Higher birth rate: Jamaica or Utah?
• Higher number of students per teacher: South Korea or Oregon?
• Higher Hispanic population: Guatemala or California?
• Higher Gross Domestic Product: Nepal or North Dakota?
• Higher unemployment rate: Croatia or Michigan?

Sarah Palin - It was bound to happen. At some point Sarah Palin was going to become an "-ism". Full disclosure: I'm stealing from an editorial written by an author who probably leans a bit left on center on the political spectrum...but, then so do I. Sarah Palin's celebrity is so powerful that it has reduced a large part of the Republican Party to irrationality and civic incoherence. That's laying it on a bit thick, don't you think? She couldn't possibly be that influential. According to a recent poll, Republicans are more likely to say they would seriously consider voting for Palin for President (65%) than to say she is qualified for the job (58%). But wait, there's more. Apparently, some dudes in the White House with way too much time on their hands have coined a phrase for this disturbing phenomenon. What Obama advisers privately refer to as "Palinism" has created a climate of ideological purity inside the GOP. To deviate from the anti-Obama line at all--that is, to acknowledge that politics is the art of compromise--risks the censure of the party. The editorial goes into more detail, but you get the idea. Apparently, ideology trump rational thought. Seriously, how could you possibly explain voting for someone that you don't this is qualified to be the leader of the free world. I appreciate the fact that being able to see Russia from your house, counts for a lot, but still...what could you possibly be thinking?

Word of the Year - I guess it all depends on who you ask. "Admonish", a verb dating to the 14th century meaning "to express warning or disapproval in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner," generated enough curiosity to crown it Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2009. It beat out several other finalists that emerged the "intersection of news and vocabulary." Runners-up included inaugurate, pandemic, furlough and rogue — the latter tied to Sarah Palin and the sole carryover from the 2008 list. Other dictionary makers and groups also announce Words of the Year, using different methodology. The New Oxford American Dictionary chose "unfriend," the act of removing someone as a friend on Facebook or other social networking site. Oxford uses a committee of lexicographers and other experts to select a word that is not currently in the dictionary but will be added. Merriam-Webster, on the other hand, selects among existing entries based on Web site traffic. And for those of you who don't trust those shady dictionary publishers, there is the American Dialect Society. Though, these guys need a few more weeks to weigh in on their Word of the Year--though rumor has it that they will go with "unfriend". I did some checking--because, I too clearly have too much time on my hands--and it turns out that this American Dialect Society is pretty hardcore about its words. They also came up with the "Word of the 1990s" (web), "Word of the 20th Century" (jazz), and "Word of the Past Millennium" (she). Seems to me they, too, need to find more productive uses of their time.

Did You Know - Okay, let's see how well you did. The common thread among all these comparisons was to highlight how closely the conditions in some U.S. states mirror those of other countries...at least from a statistical perspective.

• Higher per capita income: Italy ($30,250) or Mississippi ($30,399)
• Higher infant mortality rate: Sri Lanka (11/1,000 births) or Washington D.C. (11.26)
• Higher number of physicians per 10,000 people: Kuwait (18) or Idaho (17.9)
• Higher birth rate: Jamaica (20.8/1,000 people) or Utah (21)
• Higher number of students per teacher: South Korea (21.1) or Oregon (21.3)
• Higher Hispanic population: Guatemala (13 million) or California (13.5 million)
• Higher Gross Domestic Product: Nepal ($31.1 billion) or North Dakota ($31.2 billion)
• Higher unemployment rate: Croatia (14.2%) or Michigan (14.7%)

What Caught My Eye Today

Russia - Mikhail Kalashnikov, the man who invented the AK-47 assault rifle has won Russia's highest honor--Hero of the Russian Federation. Presenting the award to Kalashnikov on his 90th birthday, Prsident Dmitri Medvedev said the AK-47 was "a national brand that makes each citizen proud." Sort of the Russian version of the Smith & Wesson...I guess. Kalashnikov himself expressed mixed emotions, saying he regretted that his rifle was "sometimes used where it shouldn't have been." The AK-47 is the weapon of choice for guerrilla groups, because it is easy to take apart and won't jam in sandy or wet conditions. Meaning it can kill people no matter how inept the person pulling the trigger happens to be. Nonetheless, I do feel for this guy a little bit. More than 100 million AK-47s have been sold worldwide and the inventor never got a single royalty check. Moral considerations and karma aside, this guy got hosed on this deal. It's this sort of thing that, in my humble opinion, will always doom communism to failure. People want to get paid fairly for what they produce. Think about it, if this guy had invented the AK-47 in Sweden, we'd probably have a bunch of Kalashnikov laureates, in addition to those Nobel prize winners. Royalties on guns certainly would have been at least as much as what was paid for a few sticks of dynamite.

Mexico - Mexican security forces have unearthed an elaborate 400-foot tunnel connecting Tijuana to the U.S.--indicating just how sophisticated human- and drug-smuggling operations have become in the region. I'm not so sure about that. For my money, this is more of an indication that the border patrols on both side are woefully understaffed or blind as bats. Dude, it's a freakin' tunnel! What, nobody noticed the massive amounts of dirt being excavated from the ground? It's not like this was a hastily built tunnel either. Check this out. The unfinished tunnel which starts in a building near the Tijuana airport has a lighting and ventilation system, is wood-lined, and roomy enough for a 6-footer to walk through without having to crouch. I hear they were working out a deal for a McDonald's as well, before they got busted by the 'federales'.

Egypt - Italian archaeologists believe they have unearthed the remains of 50,000 Persian soldiers killed in a freak sandstorm 2,500 years ago. Really? That's a pretty big find. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote about the lost army of King Cambyses II, sent to conquer Egypt in 525 B.C. "A wind arose from the south, strong and deadly, bringing with it vast columns of whirling sand which entirely covered up the troops and caused them wholly to disappear." Most modern historians though the story was made up. Can you blame them? Admittedly, technology has evolved a bit in the past 2,500 years, but it is still rather difficult to imagine that a sand storm wiped out a 50,000 soldier army.

Visual Impairment - A visually impaired man is suing the Sony Corporation for not making its video games accessible to blind people. No no. You read that right. The man claims in his lawsuit that the Americans With Disabilities Act entitles him to "full and equal enjoyment" of Sony's products, but that the company has so far "constructed the products in a way that blind people cannot enjoy." Um, okay. So like seeing as you filed the lawsuit, what would you recommend the folks at Sony do to make those video games more appealing to blind people?

What Caught My Eye Today

Sarah Palin - Guess who wrote herself one whopper of book? Shockingly, there are some, like the Associated Press, that question the validity of some of the claims made in the tome. Sarah Palin's new book reprises familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven't become any truer over time. Ignoring substantial parts of her record if not the facts, she depicts herself as a frugal traveler on the taxpayer's dime, a reformer without ties to powerful interests and a politician roguishly indifferent to high ambition. Clearly this is just another pathetic attempt by leftist liberals to smear the reputation of a true-blue American. I cannot imagine what these whack jobs could possibly question about Palin. Let's see what they came up with.

• Claim: Palin rails against taxpayer-financed bailouts, which she attributes to Obama. She recounts telling daughter Bristol that to succeed in business, "you'll have to be brave enough to fail."
  Fact: Palin is blurring the lines between Obama's stimulus plan and the federal bailout that Republican presidential candidate John McCain voted for and President George W. Bush signed
• Claim: Palin says Ronald Reagan faced an even worse recession than the one that appears to be ending now, and "showed us how to get out of one. If you want real job growth, cut capital gains taxes and slay the death tax once and for all."
  Fact: The estate tax, which some call the death tax, was not repealed under Reagan and capital gains taxes are lower now than when Reagan was president. Economists overwhelmingly say the current recession is far worse. The recession Reagan faced lasted for 16 months; this one is in its 23rd month. The recession of the early 1980s did not have a financial meltdown. Unemployment peaked at 10.8%, worse than the October 2009 high of 10.2%, but the jobless rate is still expected to climb.
• Claim: Palin says Obama has admitted that the climate change policy he seeks will cause people's electricity bills to "skyrocket."
  Fact: In January 2008, Obama told San Francisco Chronicle editors that under his cap-and-trade climate proposal, "electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket" as utilities are forced to retrofit coal burning power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Democratic legislation now before Congress calls for a variety of measures aimed at mitigating consumer costs. Several studies predict average household costs probably would be $100 to $145 a year.
• Claim: In describing her resistance to federal stimulus money, Palin describes Alaska as a practical, libertarian haven of independent Americans who don't want "help" from government busybodies.
  Fact: Alaska is one of the states most dependent on federal subsidies, receiving much more assistance from Washington than it pays in federal taxes. A study for the nonpartisan Tax Foundation found that in 2005, the state received $1.84 for every dollar it sent to Washington.

See? They got nothing. Nothing at all.

Iran - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cannot be removed from his post because his legitimacy comes from God. Sure it was. Perhaps I should give them the benefit of the doubt. Seriously, who would make such an outlandish claim without some basis in fact to back that statement up? A Khamenei representative in the elite Revolutionary Guards, told a gathering of Khamenei's representatives in Iranian universities that the clerical body that chose him, the Assembly of Experts, could not remove him. "The members of the assembly ... do not appoint the Supreme Leader, rather they discover him and it is not that they would be able to remove him any time they wish so." I stand corrected. In theory, Khamenei can be removed by the 86-man Assembly of Experts, which approved him as successor to Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989. But the system has never been tested. And in reality, it probably never will be.

Russia - Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has proposed reducing the number of time zones spanning his vast country. He did not say by how many, but Russia currently has 11 time zones. President Medvedev said, when he raised the issue in his state of the nation speech, that Russians had "traditionally been accustomed to feeling a pride" in how many time zones the country had "because to us it seemed a vivid illustration of the greatness of our motherland". Makes sense, if you think about it. It's not like these poor slobs have any awful lot to cheer about these days. "Screw those capitalist Western pigs. Those puny countries have only one timezone. Even the Americans can only boast of 5. Mother Russia has 11. Who's the man now?" A spokesperson for Royal Observatory in Greenwich says it is not actually very difficult to go about changing a country's time zones. "The most important thing is to make sure that everyone knows about it. If that is done, there shouldn't be any problems whatsoever," he said. No problems whatsoever? Right. I'll believe it when I see it.

Sexual Harassment - Florida police say a man arrested for repeatedly calling 911 looking for sex claimed it was the only number he could dial after running out of cell phone minutes. So that rumor about 911 operators being hot and horny is true? You hear about such things as plots in adult movies, but never in a million years would I have imagined that there was something to this. Tampa police said the caller made sexual comments to the 911 dispatcher and asked if he could come to her house. Investigators say she hung up, but he called back four more times. You go, boyfriend. Everyone knows "no" really means "yes". He was arrested about 15 minutes later at his home and charged with making a false 911 call. The man reportedly told officers that he didn't think he would get in trouble for calling 911. Dude, you know that 911 calls are tracked from the source of the call, right? Didn't think this one all the way through did you, spark plug?

What Caught My Eye Today

China - An attempt to relieve a severe drought in China has apparently worked too well. This should be good. Meteorologists shot silver iodide into clouds near Beijing hoping to cause rain--but what they got instead was an 11-hour blizzard that buried the city in snow, stranding millions of commuters. Forgive me, I cannot resist...You know what they say--"when it rains, it pours." Still, the Weather Modification Office declared its action a success. There is an official government agency for this sort of thing? Scientists in other countries are skeptical saying that the effectiveness of cloud seeded is uncertain, because nobody can prove that it wouldn't have snowed or rained even without the silver iodide. Sounds like sour grapes to me. Why would the government invest in something that didn't work?

Ohio - Here's a novel approach to dealing with crime. Police in Columbus, Ohio have started telling crime-weary residents to move somewhere else. At least 20 residents told the City Council that when they called police about drug dealing and other crimes, the cops responded, "Why don't you move out if you don't like it." You have to admire their moxie, if nothing else. A spokesperson for the police department, said the police officers are suffering from overwork and frustration. I think the police are onto something here. If the residents don't like where they live anymore, they should look for someplace else to live. I hear there are lots of vacancies in Detroit.

Ethics - More than 30 members of Congress, including nearly half the members of the the House Appropriations Sub-Committee on Defense, are being scrutinized for possible ethics violations. I appreciate the fact that not all news is surprising, but this seems so obvious that it hardly seems to qualify as news. Several of the inquiries involve cases in which lawmakers provided legislation favorable to lobbyists who had given them campaign contributions. Again...duh. What motivation would lawmakers have to favors for lobbyists that didn't suck up to them? Should you be interested, at least 25 Democrats and 7 Republicans are under review.

India - Let's see what the 4-1-1 is on my favorite sub-continent. An Indian man is suing the makers of Axe body spray, claiming that in seven years of using the product he has yet to find a girlfriend. I do so love this country; so ripe with material. The 26-year old man says that Axe's racy marketing campaign lead him to believe the product had love-potion properties and is seeking $40,000 in damages. "The company cheated me," he said. "It says women will be attracted to you if you use Axe. I used it for seven years but no girl came to me." Already then. In no particular order, here are my gut reactions to this luckless soul. #1 - Dude, it's an advertisement. What did you expect them to say? #2 - Yeah, blame the body spray. That's problem. It's definitely not you. And finally, #3 - I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but from the sound of things, I'm not sure there is a potent enough love-potion in existence to help you out, bro'.

Poetry - Christopher Walken performs Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" as a spoken-word poem (click here). The funniest bit I have seen Walken do since the Cowbell skit on Saturday Night Live (click here). Judge for yourselves. Dude puts Lady Gaga's original to shame if you ask me.

What Caught My Eye Today

Ethiopia - Finally, Ethiopia has something to brag about that the rest of us don't have--a new ocean. Researchers now confirm that a 35-mile rift in the desert of Ethiopia that first appeared in 2005 will likely become a new ocean eventually. There's something you don't hear everyday. A new study finds the processes creating the rift are nearly identical to what goes on at the bottom of oceans, further indication a sea is in the region's future. Using newly gathered seismic data from 2005, researchers reconstructed the event to show the rift tore open along its entire 35-mile length in just days. Dabbahu, a volcano at the northern end of the rift, erupted first, then magma pushed up through the middle of the rift area and began "unzipping" the rift in both directions. The result shows that highly active volcanic boundaries along the edges of tectonic ocean plates may suddenly break apart in large sections, instead of in bits, as the leading theory held. And such sudden large-scale events on land pose a much more serious hazard to populations living near the rift than would several smaller events. I'm pretty sure that is geologist speak for "when this ocean thing goes down, you don't want to be anywhere near Ethiopia.

National Pride - Or in this case, lack thereof... A new Gallup poll suggests that some 700 million people worldwide, or more than all the adults of North and South America combined, think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence and want to permanently move to another country. Ordinarily, I would find this statement rather intriguing, but like some many other news stories, the headline is a bit deceiving. On average, 38% of the adult population in sub-Saharan Africa, or around 165 million people, said they would up stakes and head for another country if they had the chance. Gee whiz, that is a surprise. Who would have imagined that constant civil war and famine would be cause enough for people to want to re-locate? The most popular destination was the United States, where nearly a quarter of the 700 million -- around 165 million people -- said they would like to settle. Yeah, let's see how much they want to come here after they see the health care system that we have. In joint second were Britain, Canada and France, each being named as the preferred destination of around 45 million people. Thirty-five million said they would go to Spain, 30 million to Saudi Arabia, and 25 million each to Australia or Germany. How refreshing is it that not a single Scandinavian country is mentioned here? Seriously, those guys always seem to top lists like this. The least likely to want to emigrate were Asians -- only one in 10 Asian adults said they would move to another country. Makes sense. Being the most populous continent by a large margin over everywhere else, one would assume there is something desirable about staying put. I cannot for the life of me figure out what that might be, but what do I know.

Armageddon - This topic has always fascinated me. Not that I have a death wish or anything like that. I just find it help put all this other day-to-day nonsense in proper perspective. As you may know the latest prediction for the end of life as we know it is right around the corner in 2012 with the end of the Mayan calendar. Now before you start getting your affairs in order (or plan the life-ending bender), consider these previous doomsday predictions:

• The Prophet Hen of Leeds, 1806 -A hen in the English town of Leeds in 1806 appeared to be laying eggs on which the phrase "Christ is coming" was written. Many people became convinced that doomsday was at hand - until a curious local actually watched the hen laying one of the prophetic eggs and discovered someone had hatched a hoax.
  Don't you hate it when someone with half a brain spoils all of our paranoia by asked a dumb question like, "did someone actually check the eggs to see if anything was written on them?"
• The Millerites, April 23, 1843 - A New England farmer named William Miller, after several years of very careful study of his Bible, concluded that God's chosen time to destroy the world could be divined from a strict literal interpretation of scripture and determined the world would end some time between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. When April 23 arrived (but Jesus didn't) the group eventually disbanded; some of them forming what is now the Seventh Day Adventists.
  Miss a prediction, start a religion. I'd say this dude did alright for himself.
• Halley's Comet, 1910 - In 1881, an astronomer discovered through spectral analysis that comet tails include a deadly gas called cyanogen (related, as the name implies, to cyanide). This was of only passing interest until someone realized that Earth would pass through the tail of Halley's comet in 1910. There was speculation that everyone on the planet would be bathed in deadly toxic gas, resulting in a widespread panic across the United States and abroad. Finally even-headed scientists explained that there was nothing to fear.
  Of course, before this revelation came up, the newspaper publishers that dreamt this rumor up had sold a whole heapload of papers to a very gullible public.
• Pat Robertson, 1982 - In May 1980, televangelist and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson startled and alarmed many when - contrary to Matthew 24:36 ("No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven...") he informed his "700 Club" TV show audience around the world that he knew when the world would end. "I guarantee you by the end of 1982 there is going to be a judgment on the world," Robertson said.
  And indeed there was judgement. The verdict: Those of you dumb enough to be dupped by this guy are guilty as charged for diluting the gene pool.
• Nostradamus, August 1999 - One of the most famous predictions of Michel de Nostrdam read, "The year 1999, seventh month / From the sky will come great king of terror." Many Nostradamus devotees grew concerned that this was the famed prognosticator's vision of Armageddon.
  That's just plain bunk. Everyone knows that the seventh month is July, not August. Duh.
• Y2K, Jan. 1, 2000 - As the last century drew to a close, many people grew concerned that computers might bring about doomsday. The problem, first noted in the early 1970s, was that many computers would not be able to tell the difference between 2000 and 1900 dates. No one was really sure what that would do, but many suggested catastrophic problems ranging from vast blackouts to nuclear holocaust. Gun sales jumped and survivalists prepared to live in bunkers, but the new millennium began with only a few glitches.
  Yeah, the poop didn't really hit the fan until 2001.
• May 5, 2000 - In case the Y2K bug didn't do us in, global catastrophe was assured by Richard Noone, author of the 1997 book "5/5/2000 Ice: the Ultimate Disaster." According to Noone, the Antarctic ice mass would be three miles thick by May 5, 2000 - a date in which the planets would be aligned in the heavens, somehow resulting in a global icy death.
  I'm assuming boy wonder didn't get the memo on global warming.

What Caught My Eye Today

Afghanistan - Try to keep up with me, this gets a bit confusing. Hamid Karzai has been re-elected as Afghanistan's president after a run-off vote was canceled. Afghanistan's government-appointed Independent Election Commission (IEC) called off the November 7 presidential run-off, a day after Karzai's only rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew citing doubts it would be a fair vote. The commission was concerned a one-candidate race would raise concerns about the legitimacy of the presidency. Sure they were. Bear in mind that the reason for the run off election in the first place was the first vote results were deemed to be tainted by the aforementioned IEC. So basically, the dude that claimed foul in the first election got the run off he was looking for, but decided to quit the race, because he thought the results would be equally flawed in a second election. But that's not the weird part of this story. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, visiting Kabul today, congratulated Karzai as did U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Let me see if I've got this right. Karzai wins the first election based on dubious--at best--results. Then dude is basically handed a second term after his sole opponent drops out of the race saying that nothing has been done to prevent the same thing from happening again. And then--and this is the head scratcher--the international community lines up to congratulate Karzai on his triumphant win. Seriously, what gives?

Catholicism - I'm torn between calling this latest ploy by the Catholic Church tactless or just plain desperate. Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would make it easier for Anglicans to convert to Catholicism. The Church of England split from Rome back in 1534, and the two denominations have kept an uneasy truce over the years. but the Anglican Church's recent acceptance of female priests and openly gay bishops has offended many traditionalists. the Vatican will now allow disaffected Anglicans to retain many of their customs--including allowing priests to marry--if they recognize the pope as their supreme leader. Of course, those of us that have been loyal Catholics throughout, don't receive any of these courtesies, but that's a separate discussion. Dude, you are pandering for followers. Where's your pride, man? You know what? I'm not torn anymore. This announcement is both tactless and desperate. As a brief sidebar, I came across an article about Nones--people who say "None" when asked their religious affiliation--and the fact that a growing number of the population (almost 15%) aren't merely rejecting religion, they aren't thinking about it at all. I can see why.

Randomness - Turns out the executive decision maker--also know as the ubiquitous "coin toss"--isn't all that impartial after all. Researchers found that a coin flip favors whichever side of the coin was facing up when the flip was initiated, landing on that side as much as 60% of the time. I knew it! There is no way I could have lost all those "decisions" based solely on chance. No one has luck that lousy.

Juris Prudence - Here's another example of taxpayer dollars hard at work keeping the wheels of justice turning. Parents: you may want to send the children out of the room for this one; it isn't pretty. A Florida man failed to win compensation for a "defective" pair of underwear. The man claimed in his lawsuit that over a two-week vacation in Hawaii, the fly flap of his briefs rubbed his genitals like "sandpaper belts." His words, not mine. But wait, it gets better. When asked by the judge why he didn't notice sooner, the 285-pound man said he cannot see his own genitals, and he didn't ask his wife to look because it might "ruin her vacation." I've re-read this story a couple of times, and it seems to get funnier every time.