So, I’m listening to the radio over the weekend.  I hear an Ad Council PSA for Water conservation.  We’ve got to save our water, it’ll run out, prices will go up due to shortages, all that sort of thing.

Then, a few minutes later there is a CNN news donut with the following report.

Water Bills Go Up As Usage Drops

Many water utilities are raising rates because water use is down, in part because manufacturers have closed or are cutting back, tourism has fallen and the real estate market is in the doldrums.

Ok, wait a minute, so people are using less water, now the rates are going up.  Meanwhile, there is someone pushing the idea that using more water will cause the rates to go up!

So which is it?  I should probably point out that the planet has more Water on it than anything else.  Yeah, a lot of it needs treatment since it’s ocean water, but in general, it never really goes anywhere.  Things (plants, animals) consume it, then they expel it.  Much of the treatment happens naturally though weather cycles and such.

Another angle here, PSAs are often not paid for by the industry in question but instead by Non Profits with agendas of their own.  Some do-gooders get the bright idea that we all need to reduce our water usage because they dislike the idea of using recycled piss water even though Nature takes care of this on it’s own anyway, so they run some PSAs and push a campaign to get everyone to conserve.  Next thing you know, the industry itself isn’t making any money anymore.

Water seems to be one area where Supply and Demand just doesn’t work.  There’s an essentially infinite supply and an equally infinite demand.

Airport Tells child to Remove Leg Braces

Four-year-old Ryan Thomas was flying from Philadelphia to Disney World in Orlando with his parents Bob and Leona when the incident occurred.

At the time Ryan, born 16 weeks prematurely with malformed ankles and low muscle tone in his legs, had only just begun to walk.

His parents wheeled his stroller to the security checkpoint then broke it down and put it on the conveyor belt.

They then walked Ryan through the metal detector. The alarm went off and the screener told them to take off the boy’s braces.

“I told them he can’t walk without them on his own,”

Really?

A Four year old crippled kid?

But it’s ok folks.  We all FEEL SAFER if we let the TSA to bull shit like this.  Because when the terrorists see that kids with leg braces are allowed through the security checkpoint then we’ll have 4 year old Taliban kids show up all over with explosives strapped to their shoes and crotches.

Maybe they should have made the Crotch Bomber take off his leg braces…. oh wait….

You know, I used to tell people that I never fly because it’s too expensive (which it is).  Thanks to the TSA for giving me an excuse that’s less whiney.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/20/facebook_fundraiser/

By Tuesday afternoon, over 212,000 had signed up, but were then informed that the organisers were actually the Svenska Nekrofil-föreningen (Swedish Necrophilia Association).

A message on the Facebook page read: “As many already know, it is the Swedish Necrophilia Association which is now sending 500,000 kronor to ensure that the bodies which are brought home from Haiti are in as good shape as possible.”

The moral of the stoy is, don’t just donate to any old group. Sure, support a good cause, help the poor people of Haiti, jsut make sure you’re note randomly throwing money around “just because”. The fact that 200,000 people donated to this thing before realizing it was a HOAX is pretty rediculous.

Something else to consider when donating. There are ads talking about “Donate $10 by texting to this number”. Remember, the money doesn’t go anywhere until your bill actually comes in, which may very well be in a month or more.

Also consider that when donating to th Red Cross, money may be going to a “General Fund” and not nessesarily irectly to Haiti victims.

This advice is good for any donation crisis in general. Make sur there’s No Agenda hidden in the reciever’s motivations.

I’ve heard two relatively prolific conspiracy theories since the death of Pop Legend Michael Jackson. First is that his death was staged in order to create an enormous comeback. Or possibly just so he could simply go away and leave all of the stressful obsessive coverage.

Second, and if either were true more likely, is that he was killed to release the rights to his library of songs. Please note, not the rights to HIS songs, the rights he owned to BEATLES songs.

That’s right, Michael Jackson owned the publishing rights to a lot of Beatles music. Have you noticed the massive influx of Beatles themes lately inc commercials? Then there was Beatles Rock Band.

Eh eh?

Anyway, I’ve seen a video a while ago that was supposedly Michael Jackson casually strolling out of an ambulance after his “death” but it was grainy as hell and frankly, it could have been anyone. Hell the video could have been Obama wandering out of the ambulance. all we know is Someone, or something, got out and walked into a door in an underground garage.

This one takes the cake though for supporting conspiracy theories.

Here’s a photo of Michael Jackson’s “last rehersal”.

Take a minute to look it over. To the casual person it seems ok right? If you’re familiar with Photoshop take a closer look at Michael himself. Still not seeing it? Pretend you’re into “guys junk” and look again. See it yet? Notice that there is no neon sign between his legs? Of course you didn’t see it you were too busy looking at Michael Jackson’s crotch you PERVERT.

Anyway, the guy in charge apparently screwed up a job any regular Something Awful poster could manage (Photoshop Phriday anyone?).

Original Story on HolyMoly.com , via This Looks Shopped…

This is pretty stupid. Who the hell figures this crap out.

PS, the words are pretty weak and who knows if there is some other manipulation going on. Also you can watch about 60 seconds of this and get the gist.

There’s something else to this. The power of suggestion can be extremely powerful on audio understanding.

Here’s an example. Close your eyes, try not to read any suggesting text, and watch this (or at least part of it.)

What’s he saying? Mostly gibberish right?

Now if I tell you “At the beginning he’s saying “Faggot” over and over”. Then you watch it again, what do you hear? Yep, now he sounds like he’s saying “faggot faggot”.

For what it’s worth I found a REAL secret message once on a Pink Floyd album. If you play “Empty Spaces” backwards you get a message along the lines of “Congratulations, you’ve found the secret message, please send your message to old Pink, care of, the funny farm”.

Maybe later I’ll dig up the audio file and post it.