Breaking Windows

When a 7-year old kid, obviously being well monitored, goes on a driving spree and smacks four cars (and more) that's actually pretty impressive. I mean, he couldn't even see over the dash and manages to keep going after four accidents? Kids got some skillz.

That said, the interview in the video is unbelievable. "It's fun to do bad things" and he wanted to let his friend smoke are his reasons. His punishment according to him? Take away the video games for a weekend. One weekend. The car is almost totaled. I'm thinking he's a little more screwed than that. I'm sure someone will hear video game and driving spree in the same sentence and run with it.

Yes, third graders. That's what, eight years old?

And not just one of them. Nine of the kids in the class plotted to kill their teacher. It wasn't just a basic let's stab her and run thing either. No, these little bastards had a plan. One was going to tie her up, another planned on blocking out the windows, another was a lookout, etc. They planned this better than some adult criminals plan their own crimes.

I'm not sure whether these kids are evil hell spawns or should be members of Mensa. These are some smart third graders. I felt bad when I heard of kids putting tacks on the chair in third grade. Now these little suckers are skipping the tack phase and going straight for assault with a deadly weapon. Times change.

This is yet another reason why I hate most Facebook apps, they can be easily hacked. Nice programming guys, really. YouTube video via The Consumerist.

Why else do I hate Facebook apps? They have poor user interfaces, they clutter an otherwise clean site, they are just plain stupid and serve no purpose, they don't work correctly/ are half baked,.. I think I will stop there. 

From Ars and WSJ, via Daring Fireball.

While Gruber's comment is pretty funny, this brings an entirely new meaning to "Photoshop Friday" and yet another black eye to photo journalists everywhere.

This is obviously not the first time this has happened, but this is rather high-profile. It won a major award for the photo photo illustration.

It is not as bad as it sounds, but it is NSFW. The Reg has the full details. The Reg has had some funny stuff in the past, but this one is pretty good.

Fascinating look at a freakish cult that pickets military funerals. Just seeing them in action as the words come out of their mouth is unbelievable. Especially tragic is when the kid has no clue what they're doing holding a sign at a picket and another is blasted by a cup from a passing car. It's an hour long, but well worth the time. Disgusting people, but impossible to stop watching.

Per Ken's request, I am spending my time outside of YouTube and finding articles on another one of my favorite topics to post about from here on out: public urination.

Rather disgusting story though about a guy who pissed all over a dying woman, covered her in shaving cream, and yelling out loud "This is YouTube material" as he filmed it.

Oh crap, I guess this is a YouTube post after all. Oops. Still, the guy should probably burn at the stake, though that still wouldn't be enough punishment.

Two new restauraunts opened up recently locally. One is Johnny's Lunch, who claims their burgers are "hot and juicy but never greasy." Bullshit. The burgers we had were drowning in so much grease that when we pulled them off the tray, they left a puddle behind through the wrapper. Trying to remove them from the wrapper was nearly impossible. The bottom bread was stuck completely to the paper. That will be the last time we eat there, as the burgers were flat and nasty on top of the other issues.

So I get a new cell phone from Verizon. I browse the V-Cast ring tones (my only option), find some I like, and head to download them until I see the price of $2.99. Yes, $2.99 for a brief clip of a song. That's absurd.

Looking at my other options, I can download the entire song in MP3 format right to my cell for $1.99, and I can't use it as a ring tone. If anyone can logically explain why three minutes of a song is worth $2, and why a brief clip is worth $3, I'd love to hear it.

That said, Song ID is kinda cool. You activate the feature, put it anywhere near a speaker playing a song, and the service identifies it. I'm not paying $3 for any song it finds, but it's fun to play with.

We need an "idiot" category here on BW. The PTC would fit right in.

The headline? "Court OK's F-word in Front of Kids."

The complaint? The lack of a fine in 2002 and 2003 for the airing of two words during the Billboard Music Awards. Seriously, it was five years ago. How many kids were adversely affected by this exactly? Well, they don't have that stat. If it happened again, how many kids could potentially be warped for life? Well, they don't have that stat either. However, they do believe this is against the beliefs of the overwhelming majority of American people*.

*They have one million members. That's a little shy of the majority.

Want to see another story on what's wrong with this country? Here you go. Guy took pants to dry cleaner, they lost the pants, guy wants $67 million in compensation for the pants, travel, and mental distress because he couldn't wear them the first day on the job. The worst part? The guy suing is a judge.

If I was the parents of this kid, I'd sue the school for suspending my kid.

The short of the story: A middle school student (no age available) was dared to put some ham on the table of Muslim students. Pork is against the religion. The Muslim students were offended, and the kid who did the deed was suspended... they called it a HATE CRIME. The police were called. Seriously. You can't make this stuff up.

More of the incident and a piece on another parody article that Fox News ran as a real story can be found here. If he's in middle school the kid is, what, 12 at the most? Unbelievable.

This is rich, a must read.

One of those classic "it's a picture of the item" auctions, and the seller gets ripped a new one by the only entertaining judge on TV. I could almost side with the seller if she had listed it properly, but Judge Judy caught her on the weight of the item, and from that point on, all the taunting is fair game.

This isn't what I had in mind.

Imagine you're expecting some parts to a table, and you get some parts from a dead guy (including the head) instead. Ouch.

Yes, that school program you remember from when you were an 80s child has been denounced by stupid people who believe it's responsible for making kids fat. In case you missed it, Book-It is a program in which kids read books and earn free pizza at Pizza Hut when they've read X number of them.

Critics say it's bad to reward kids with food and it's nothing but marketing. These people have high-end college level degrees. See what those shiny pieces of paper do for some people? They let you get paid for being stupid.

Do you think kids will suddenly not want Pizza Hut if Book-It was called off? No. Want to know why? THEY SERVE PIZZA. Book-It or not, these kids are READING. You know, the thing they say kids should be doing instead of playing video games? Now they're bitching because because they're reading too? There's only one very obvious statement left, which if you know me, you probably know what that is and it will save you from clicking on the break.

Truly bizzare story about a man who sat dead for over a year in his home in front of his TV, which was still on. They have no idea why he still had power, and I have far more questions than that. No one noticed this? The mail wasn't piling up? No phone calls unanswered?

If this does happen (by the end of the year?), what would this do to the Cablesystem's service?

It has 85 items. That does say 85. Never again will you be without a mineral crystal magnifier when you need one. Talk about awkward situations...

A while back, I reviewed a book called Parents are Being Played Like a Video Game. I figured I knew what to expect as I've read pretty much every book on the subject, both positive and negative. This was by far the most baffling I've read, filled with innacuracies, wild accusations, and conflicting opinions. As such, I shredded the book in the review.

Well, the author took exception to that, posted a comment, I replied, he replied, and he continues to do so. Each time, it becomes more bizzare than the last. Half the time, I have NO idea where he's coming up with this stuff. Oddly enough, without debunking anything me and Ken have wrote, he still insists he's completely in the right. Click on the book title and scroll down to see the path of destruction.

Dear god. Hell is on Earth, and it's coming in the form of stupid people.

A sure sign of the world coming to an apocalypse, Free Hugs. was a simple idea. It's one of those "feel good" videos, so you've been warned. The problem here is someone wanted it stopped. Apparently, giving people hugs is a problem. 10,000 signatures later, things were back to normal apparently. Neat video!

And yes, that's a YouTube link. Again. The fifth time this week. I should be writing a Lego Star Wars II review, but the inevitable link to the site kept me there for over an hour at this point.

If the PS3 wasn't going to cause enough parking lot muggings, we also have the tenth anniversary edition of Tickle Me Elmo, known as TMX. We had 40 in on day one and they were gone in an hour. They're hitting $100 on eBay already and we're not even close to Christmas yet (retail is $40). A current auction has a Buy it Now of $300. There's a YouTube video showing what these hideous little things do, though they don't show what happens when you open the box (it laughs too).

... but this is something else entirely. I know this is a serious issue and some kind of breakthrough, but seriously?

If you're not brave enough to click on it, a guy recieved the first ever penis transplant. Yes, it was replaced... and later his wife wanted it removed because she had, uh, "emotional issues" with it.

This story raises what has to be a record number of questions, thoughts, and general jokes that are horribly insensitive. The "part" was taken from a 22-year old brain dead man. What if he wakes up tomorrow?

BRISBANE, Australia -- Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and environmentalist known as the "Crocodile Hunter," was killed Monday by a stingray during a diving expedition. He was 44.

Oddly, he will be most remembered for dangling his month old child in front of a 13-foot crocodile. He cheated fate so many times, and seemingly provoked the wild animals on his shows. It's a wonder he lived as long as he did. Sad statement I know, but it is true.

The HD format wars are over folks. It was porn that helped VHS win the fight, it will be porn that slams the doors shut on Blu-Ray. Do you find it funny or ironic that Betamax was also from Sony? From Gizmodo:

Format war over, HD-DVD wins by way of pornography appearing on it first. Over in Japan GLAY'z, known for its "Brand-new-century-visual-super-exprotion-entertainment," just released the world's first adult film on HD-DVD entitled (if machine translation isn't too unreliable) "Slave Room." Public fornication aside, it's pretty significant since everybody and their mom knows that whatever format the adult industry supports is automatically the winner, or at least that's how the story goes.

The first Blu-ray (BD) disc drive for desktop PCs is here, but be warned -- it won't play commercial BD movies.

Sony officially announced its BWU-100A product at its "Experience More 2006" event in Sydney yesterday, all the while acknowledging that there's significant room for improvement before the product is viable for integration into media centre PCs.

Lets here it for HDCP, (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) Sony is really making strides in the fight of the HD format wars.

Okay, we all know the facts by now. Adnan Hajj, ex-photojournalist for Reuters, manipulated at least some of his photographs before submitting them to the wire service. Hajj has been fired, and all of his photos have been removed from the Reuters archive pending an investigation.

(The “investigation,” in this case, may involve Reuters dumping 920 photographs with Hajj’s name on them into a deep hole, paving over the top and getting on with their lives.)

A Reuters employee was suspended after using the company's internet access to issue a threat saying "I look forward to the day when you pigs get your throats cut."

The e-mail was sent to Charles Johnson, who maintains the of Little Green Footballs blog.

Reuters really hates bloggers. First they foil a photoshop job, and now they are writing about Israel and jihadist terrorist activities (OMG!).

How stupid was it to send an email from within the company network? I would have at least used an anonymous proxy.

Two black eyes for Reuters, back-to-back no less. Nice job fellas.

Reuters withdraws photograph of Beirut after Air Force attack after US blogs, photographers point out 'blatant evidence of manipulation.' Reuters' head of PR says in response, 'Reuters has suspended photographer until investigations are completed into changes made to photograph.' Photographer who sent altered image is same Reuters photographer behind many of images from Qana, which have also been subject of suspicions for being staged

You could also read this news from Reuters, but do you really want to? Oh and the photog in question is Lebanese.

Ynetnews has both photos for comparison, there is nothing subtle about it. The photo was published on news Web sites for about a day, before Reuters issued a retraction, plus the unaltered photo.

Journalistic ethics have really gone out the window. It is really shocking that any photog, even a freelancer, would do this. After this incident, it is doubtful this guy has a career in journalism.

Creekstone Farms, a Kansas beef producer, wants to reassure customers that its cattle are safe to eat by testing them all for mad cow disease. Sounds like a smart business move, but there's one problem: The federal government won't let the company do it.

Wait a minute. Read that again?

Just months ago, NBC Universal was demanding that clips of its shows be removed from YouTube. In the time since, YouTube has emerged as an Internet tour de force, and now NBC has changed its tune.

Holy Toledo! Did YouTube just get a business model?

My dad mentioned this to me, so I had to go check it out.

"On Aug. 1, Intel issued a bulletin warning of three flaws in the software that lets its Wi-Fi radios communicate with the Windows operating system. Although the company said that it knew of no active exploitation of the flaws, one of them was especially dangerous because it could allow an attacker to take remote control of a computer over the air. Then the next day, on Aug. 2, two researchers demonstrated just such an attack at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas," Wildstrom reports.

Of course they used a MacBook Pro to demonstrated the attack. The bottom line is that this effects all Wi-Fi radios -- not just the ones in Apple or Intel notebooks. I also like the MacDailyNews Take:

If there is "nothing Mac-specific in the attack," then why use a MacBook? For the headlines, of course. Apple currently has 12% of the portable market share in the U.S. Surely, using a non-Apple laptop from any of makers included the other 88% of the market would have been more representative, but then, who'd be surprised or pick up the story about yet another security breach on a Windows system?

Brian Krebs and The Washington Post should be ashamed of their initial headline, "Hijacking a Macbook in 60 Seconds or Less."

MTVU, an MTV Networks-owned channel geared toward college students, has purchased Youth Media & Marketing Networks (Y2M). Y2M owns College Publisher, which provides Web-based publishing and content management software geared toward online student newspapers. It counts approximately 450 colleges among its clients

BGSU is one of those clients. As you might know by reading this blog, I have been involved with bgnews.com since it launched in 1997. We have never really switched service providers. They always get bought out by someone else.

Rob alerted me to this. It seems that Iconfactory is rebuilding their site. The animations they have are pretty funny, and must have taken some time to produce!

Adobe will take its GoLive Web site authoring software in a new direction when it releases version 9 as part of Creative Suite 3 next year, insiders have tipped off Think Secret. Having acquired Macromedia and its Dreamweaver application, which Adobe will continue to develop and target at professional Web designers, GoLive's focus will shift towards providing traditional graphic designers with a means to easily deliver their creations on the Web.

Take it that this is Think Secret, but this "news" would be music to my ears. Because I don't want to see Dreamweaver destroyed.

Slow news day or not, this one is a wild one. This guys snake managed to take down an entire blanket with his dinner!

Yeah, I could sit here and post crap from YouTube all day, but Chad Vader is special. What if Darth was a day manager at a grocery store?

"It's Randy!"

The question of the day: Is it Michael Jordan's fault that this guy looks like him? Apparently so and Allen Heckard thinks it's worth $832 million in damages for Jordan to pay because (hold for laughs):

"... is suing Jordan for defamation and permanent injury and emotional pain and suffering."

And Nike founder for:

"... defamation and permanent injury for promoting Jordan and making him one of the most recognized men in the world."

Permanent injury? This is must be a reality check to make sure we all know we're still in America.

I can truly say I HATE the Parents Television Council. It's things like this from their review of the CGI animal-based family comedy Over the Hedge that make me sick:

"Finally, the acts of vandalism committed by the animals when they take food from humans are illegal."

Seriously? Yeah, seriously. Yes, animals knocking over trash cans is apparently illegal. Wonder how the cops enforce that in the PTC's own little fantasy world?

That's only one of the many questions I have after reading this story. To make you want to click it, a guy got a light bulb stuck up his ass in prison. Really.

Look, it sucks to feed snakes live food. Sometmes, it'sjust something you have to do. When your heart gets into it, things like this happen.

Controversy in the press surrounding "Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown, just beginning to fade, will likely revive later this week when the July issue of Vanity Fair hits the stands. According to an advance copy, the magazine's contributing editor Seth Mnookin alleges -- in a massive article titled "DaVinci Clone?" -- two new instances of possible plagiarism in Brown's past. Two textual analysis experts also tell him they believe Brown borrowed the plot for his book from Lewis Perdue's "Daughter of God."

Huh? Do we have the next James Fray? Did Opera interview Dan Brown too?

5. On September 1, 2006 the changes to the Russian copyright legislation will come into force. Since January 2006 the site has been making direct agreements with rightholders and authors at the same time increasing the price of the music compositions and transferring the royalties directly to the artists and record companies. The aim of AllofMP3.com is to agree with all rightholders on the prices and royalties amounts by September 1, 2006.

What does this mean? Do all your Allofmp3.com shopping before September 1? There are five other bullet points, and a recap of the events leading up to this at the link.

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- A Russian Web site that lets visitors download albums for less than $1 is a smash hit with music fans -- but not with U.S. trade and music industry officials.

If this was Slashdot, this would be filed under the no-shit-sherlock department.

Pakistan on Saturday banned the controversial film The Da Vinci Code days after protests by the minority Christian community.

Of course we ban Catcher in the Rye and Of Mice and Men here in the U.S.

The little blue pill that was supposed to breathe new life into seniors has caused a boom in STDs at one Florida retirement community... It seems old folks can be just as dumb and slutty as their grandkids.

You know, when I think "blue pill" I think The Matrix. Of course I am not 80 years old. This is sad when you think about the fact that they don't know any better, and are spreading STD's like BGSU students.

Her 34-year-old mother, who gave birth to her youngest child eight months ago, said she was 'proud' of her daughter... She told the Sun: "I didn't think I'd get pregnant because it was my first time. But I'm really excited and looking forward to being a mum.

Sal sent me this sad, sad link today. It is even worse that the parent is "proud" of her daughter. What is even worse than that is that this young girl beat the record by one month! That, and this girl smokes and drinks (which is how she got pregnant).

So let that be a lesson kids infants, you can get pregnant the first time you have sex. So for crying out loud buy a condom -- or in this case, get one from your mother!

All joking aside, this is a serious matter. And you should read the entirety of this article, this bizarre article. It is a real shame this girl will not experience a "normal" childhood. It is also unfortunate that the girl's parents are as irresponsible as she is.

It is a good thing the mother and daughter are dealing with the new kid on the way. But man, that is a) going to be expensive with two babies in the house and b) a really messed up family. Counseling may be required years down the road.

Jordan just sent me this Snoops article of the youngest mother on record being a five-year-old Peruvian girl. See that, the Brits lose again!

Oh and don't stop reading at the end of that article at Daily Mail, because some of the comments are just priceless.

This story was just too rich to pass up. From Kotaku:

Note that the first question the police asked him was what his favorite video game was. He replied, GTA. Guess, the cops learned that line of questioning at the Academy, right after the class “Blame Gaming 101.”

I am sure Jack Thompson will be take this case. You know, since he is no longer part of that Alabama one. (Yes I know the boy is not going to be charged, it was a joke.)

I would also like to know who lets their eight-year-old play a M (17+) rated game anyways. From the mother's quote, she clearly knows about GTA. Maybe she should be charged, or fined, or something. Clearly this could have ended in serious tragedy, and gladly it did not.

I am sorry Matt, but that tops the 76-year old door-to-door breast doctor for the day's example of human stupidity.

Three new examples of human stupidity for everyone today.

First is the 76-year guy who posed as a doctor going door-to-door offering free breast exams. How stupid can you be to think this is actually going to work?

Amazingly it did... twice. Two woman were actually dumb enough to believe doctors still do house calls, esepcially for free, and give breast exams.

They got what they deserved, and I almost have to applaud Mr. I'm Not a Real Doctor for making this work. That had to take some convincing, though I guess if they were dumb enough to let him in the first place, maybe it didn't take much.

People suck. They're also cruel, heartless, and damned picky. Then again, maybe I should watch what I'm saying because I may offend someone like the people who came up with this list of offensive words.

Rob sent me this today, with the warning "don't watch this before or while you are eating."

Otherwise, enjoy? this YouTube video.

What is a four-letter word that starts with an S that should not be uttered during a live broadcast? While any normal person might think "shit" would be that word, it turns out that "spaz" is just as bad, if not worse, for Tiger Woods.

And apparently Woods is "stupid," which is how Paralympian Dame Tanni Grey Thompson puts it, twice. Not that "stupid" would be construed as being offensive or anything. According to Tanni, "handicapped" is also offensive.

This is an article, not a pipe bomb.

When Ohio University Police found a bicycle with a sticker reading "This Bike is a Pipe Bomb" on March 2, officers shut down four buildings and called in a bomb squad from Columbus.

This is right up there with the Ravenna Mario boxes prank. Oh and this got syndicated by The New York Times Web site, though I cannot find it right now. Lisa showed it to me in the newsroom though.

Oh, and aren't those article pages on the new bgnews.com looking better and better?

So, not only is this guy dumb enough to keep live ammo on his desk IN A SCHOOL, he's also dumb enough to try and smash a bug with it. The results are explosively funny.