December 19, 2011
A rumor zipped tsunami-like around the internets today that rock superstar Jon Bon Jovi had died.
We can only think that someone believed that “Jon Bon Jovi” was actually an alter-ego of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, and due to “Dear Leader’s” death yesterday, well, one thing followed another…
December 19, 2011
This is rare. You’ve probably heard, like we have, dozens of times, how scientists have proven that acupuncture is a bunch of hokum. (And heard dozens more times from friends, aunts, wandering musicians, etc., that “No, it really works! I quit smoking, became psychic, and had my piles cured—all from acupuncture!”)
Well, score one for Team B above, as for one of the first times we’re ever seen, a medical research team has just recently found that acupuncture does something quite good:
Acupuncture significantly reduces levels of a protein in rats linked to chronic stress, researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) have found. They say their animal study may help explain the sense of well-being that many people receive from this ancient Chinese therapy.
Now, that’s not a complete vidication for acupuncture supporters, of course, but it is something.
And how they conducted he experiment is pretty cool, too:
December 18, 2011
I SPY…AT THE MOVIES
More fun in-jokes and cameos from the silver screen.
CHARLIE’S ANGELS (2000)
I Spy…E.T.’s living room
Where to Find It: Wearing nothing but a plastic blow-up swimming-pool toy, Dylan (Drew Barrymore) bursts into a house where two boys are playing a video game. It’s the same house in Tujunga, California, that was used for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the film that launched Barrymore’s career in 1982. (To hammer the point home, the kids are eating Reese’s Pieces and there’s an E.T. poster on the wall.)
That’s just one tiny excerpt from the brand new Uncle John’s 24-KARAT GOLD Bathroom Reader.
December 17, 2011
If you put just the word “no” into the Great Google Machine (with a space after it), it will prompt you to fill in “No Fear Shakespeare.” (This place, apparently.)
We find this odd. And funny. And if only we could go back in time and tell Shakespeare about his place on Google…
This has been “Your Saturday Google Moment.”
December 16, 2011
This is a heck of a story. Dark Knight star Christian Bale recently finished a film in China—the most expensive Chinese film ever made—set in 1937 against the background of the “Nanking Massacre,” in which the Japanese brutally assaulted the Chinese city of Nanking.
The Chinese government has been heavily promoting the film, and Bale has taken some flak for taking part in what has been called a Chinese propoganda film.
All that changed today:
As Christian Bale approached an impromptu checkpoint leading to this tiny village in eastern China, four men blocking the narrow path started marching toward him in menacing unison.
“I am here to see Chen Guangcheng,” the “Dark Knight” actor said and I translated, with correspondent Stan Grant and cameraman Brad Olson next to us.
“Go away!” the plainclothes guards barked, pushing us back.Amid the scuffling and yelling, dozens more guards in olive-green, military-style overcoats — and two gray minivans — emerged from the other side of the checkpoint, all coming toward us.
“Why can I not visit this free man?” Bale asked repeatedly, only to receive punches from guards aiming for his small camera as they tried to drag him away from the rest of us.
December 15, 2011
FYI, sports fans: There could be a big story concerning the National Football League breaking pretty soon:
Chicago Bears wide receiver Sam Hurd was locked up in federal custody Thursday as his stunned teammates learned he had been charged with trying to set up a drug-dealing network following his arrest with more than a pound of cocaine.
A POUND of cocaine. That’s not your “personal-use” amount of cocaine, as the story implies with the “network” comment. And the dude just signed a three-year contract worth $5.15 million! Why on earth…?! Wow.
But for the REALLY big ingredient in this story we have to go to another site:
Bears wide receiver Sam Hurd, who was arrested Wednesday on federal drug charges, was a top drug dealer in Chicago and police have a list of NFL players who were supplied drugs by the receiver, a law enforcement source told 670 The Score.
Oh. Dear. This is really, really ungood for the NFL.
December 15, 2011
That is not one of Uncle John’s special euphemisms! (Although it really should be.)
You see a video like this and you just wonder – how in the heck do they get that? Wow!
Comet Lovejoy’s tail gets a special wiggle from the solar wind. This video comes from the Sungrazing Comets website at the Naval Research Laboratory.
Check this little tail-shaking streaker out:
December 14, 2011
This story is about something else – a robbery? The New York Mets? Lady Gaga? – we can’t remember. We read this part and forgot everything else:
Members of an armed gang are on trial after they’ve been charged with stealing millions from the Dubai royal family. The £2million heist ($3,099,000) was the royal family’s “holiday spending money” set aside for its visit to London on June 24.
