Cuppacafe

You see, here is why I like Jon Stewart so much, he is able to take a complex, convoluted, partisan issue, and boil it down to its core essence. Watch as he dissects the Wall Street Meltdown. He really gets to the most salient parts about half-way through this bit. Seriously, it is worth sitting through the whole thing to hear the explanation.

Now watch him as he goes after the Catholic Church's "swift" condemnation for a German pedophile priest.

Don't you just love it?

The Perfessor

Just in time to (potentially ) ruin the most important holiday in Ireland, there is a severe shamrock shortage which could seriously impact on the “wearing of the green," according to leading botanist Dr. Declan Doogue of the Royal Irish Academy.

The shamrock was “hit hard” by the severe winter weather and “won’t be easily found” this week, said Doogue, who also stated the national plant was under threat because of modern farming methods.

In its place, bogus shamrock plants are being used, he said, stating that he hoped the shamrock that President Obama would receive from Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen would be the real thing.

Now all we have to do now is eat green bagels and drink green beer.

The O'Perfessor

Some things simply defy explanation...

How ever did that river turn green?

Oh, I see

And then there's this:

"These are not the stormtroopers you are looking for."

Happy St. Paddy's day.

The Perfessor

Yes, we love Jon Stewart (often to unintentionally ignore Stephen Colbert), but we couldn't agree more with Stephen than when we saw this.

I keep remembering what a teacher of mine once told me, that the peace movement didn't end the Vietnam war, it was the news media's 24/7 reporting of the event. It was Pentagon-supported body counts, watching the war on TV served up on the 6:00 news with dinner, and watching them unload dead US soldiers off airplanes at Dover air force base.

I honestly think that the media should go back to doing that, and bring our soldiers home. We've been in Iraq & Afghanistan too long, and we need to bring them home. We can't win these wars, and all we are doing now is killing soldiers.

The Perfessor

Yes, I fully understand that there are stupid, disturbed, and well, folks who simply aren't right in the head, but please, could someone explain this to me?

20 year old Lee Deitrick from Stark County, Louisville, Ohio has allegedly tattooed a one year old girl as reported by Fox8 news . The suspect, accused of putting a non-removable tattoo on the back side of the girl that only says “A” is facing a felony child endangering charge. It is to be noted that Lee Deitrick, who is not the father of the child, has previous criminal records involving arson and domestic abuse. If found guilty, the suspect could face a minimum of 5 years behind bars.

If ever I read about someone who deserved to be repeatedly bitch-slapped, it is this guy. I say we form a line.

The Perfessor

You remember that classic Superbowl commercial where the Coke driver was drinking Pepsi (or was it a Pepsi driver who drank Coke). Truly it doesn't matter (at least for this post), in that brand loyalty is de rigueur when working for a particular company, in that you should probably use their product while on site that company.

Imagine then being a tech-head working for Microsoft, and showing up to work with an Apple iPhone.

The perils of being an iPhone user at Microsoft were on display last September. At an all- company meeting in a Seattle sports stadium, one hapless employee used his iPhone to snap photos of Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. Mr. Ballmer snatched the iPhone out of the employee's hands, placed it on the ground and pretended to stomp on it in front of thousands of Microsoft workers, according to people present. Mr. Ballmer uses phones from different manufacturers that run on Microsoft's mobile phone software.

In fact, in a discussion about Microsoft employees using iPhones, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer once told company executives that when his father worked at the Ford Motor Company, his family always drove Fords. Seems like a pretty clear stance, eh, however, Despite Mr. Ballmer's theatrics, there are apparently plenty of iPhone users operating in in plain sight at the sprawling Microsoft campus in Seattle. In fact, among the top Microsoft executives who use the iPhone is J Allard (who helped create the Xbox game console and is chief experience officer for the entertainment and devices division). Further, there are nearly 10,000 iPhone users were accessing the Microsoft employee email system last year, say at least two people inside the company.

Interestingly enough, Brand loyalty over at Apple, is much stronger, because, in contrast, appear to be more devoted to the company's own mobile phone. Several people who work at the company or deal regularly with employees there say they can't recall seeing Apple workers with mobile phones other than the iPhone in recent memory. Makes you wonder, eh? (In a related item, we recall seeing a story of how Google was giving Google-powered Android phones out as year-end bonuses to their employees at the close of last year.)

Personally, I wouldn't mind what Internet-powered smart-phone that someone wanted to give me. I promise to use it and say nice things about it.

The Perfessor

So, I know that weather-geeks like Walt (probably) spent much of the weekend glued to the weather channel watching Southern CT get slammed by a wicked-serious storm on Saturday. (My in-laws drove all the way up the East Coast from Florida with it.) Well, Having spent much of the day indoors (hoping that I wouldn't ship water in my basement again), I missed quite a bit of it, but for reasons that pas understanding, we had to go out last night (after much of the high winds were over), but as we drove two towns over (in the dark), we did get to experience some of the aftermath of the event.

Well, we had to detour around a few fallen trees a few times to get where we were going (and then a few more times before we got back — at one point even calling in a 911 call to report a downed tree that had taken down a power line which was arcing and had started a small fire).

When we finally got home (to discover a dry basement), all was well (except that we had no land-line, internet, or cable; requiring me to fall asleep in front of a DVD, before getting up and going to bed). This morning I did venture out again to discover a few more fallen trees (this time in my own neighborhood). These trees included:

One in my back yard (that fell into the woods behind my house, thus causing no real damage or mess).

A second that had fallen across the street and was precariously leaning on the high-tension wire.

And a third that had fallen across a street leading to my house.

There were more, (much more), this is just what I was able to snap from my house.

Isn't the weather fun?

The Perfessor

Wait, is it Fall forward and Spring back, or drink until you don't care any longer, then throw up, and drink some more? I always get those two mixed up?

Ah, no matter, just hang in there.

The Perfessor

The answer isn't in this video, but watching it does make me want to go back and try for my Eagle...

(with a tip of the hat to Eagle Scout Dylan, who brought this to our attention)

The Perfessor

OK, normally we don't post stuff like this here at Cuppa, but it is faux news story we got off The Volokh Conspiracy that they got off The Onion, that we, well giggled like a schoolgirl all the way through. So we felt that we should share it with you all.

Long have we contended that, when growing up, all the news of the world could be told in 30 minutes a day. These days with four or five 24/7 news channels, there is still only 30 minutes of news every single day, but now these stations still have to fill up 23.5 hours every day, just to sell commercials to keep their stations on the air, so that they can get paid.

Needless to say, what we so often wind up is is something like, well, this:

There is some (mild) cursing in this vid, so be aware.

The only thin that is worse than this type of story (told seriously) is when they break into regular programming to tell us that there is no new update on the critical story that they are going to lead off the news with in 20 minutes.

The Perfessor

I know that by now you are all familiar with the national sport of the U.S., suing the crap out of everyone. Lindsey Lohan tried it recently, and since this is something of a "fake" lawsuit (OK, it is a real lawsuit, but no one other than Lindsey is taking it seriously). Want to know how I know this? I just read the following on Legal Blog Watch.com.

Welcome back to Judge Carton Rules, where a fake judge issues rulings to spare the parties to cases in which the outcome is obvious the time and expense of further litigation. Here is today's docket:

Case 1: In the awesome commercial below, the toddler girlfriend of the E-Trade baby demands to know if "that milk-o-holic Lindsay was over" at her boyfriend's house. Lindsay "You're So Vain, You Probably Think This Commercial Is About You" Lohan says that she “has the same single-name recognition as Oprah or Madonna,” and as such, the ad has misappropriated her "name and characterization.” She's asking for $100 million.

Judge Carton's ruling: Bwaaaah haaahaaaaahaaaaaa hahhaaaaa!! Wow. Good to laugh like that once in a while. Now get out of my fake courtroom, "Lindsay," and do not return. E-Trade's future Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED.

(In case you missed the vid, we posted it here)

The Perfessor

Have you heard this silliness?

Actress and sometimes singer Lindsay Lohan filed a lawsuit against financial-services company E-Trade on March 8, 2010, saying one of its television ads "used her name and characterization" without her permission. What characterization was she referring to? A baby named Lindsay that is referred to as a "milkaholic." Apparently, Lohan takes offense to other people — fictional babies included — being referred to as any type of -holic. Lohan's lawyer went on to claim that the company was clearly referencing the socialite because she has the same one-name recognition as people like Oprah or Madonna and that E-Trade was "using [Lindsay's] name as a parody of her life." Lohan is seeking $100 million in damages.

Talk about an inflated ego!

I know that after seeing that, my first thought was about Lindsay (not)

So seriously is Lohan admitting that she is some sort of lactate-swilling slut?

The Perfessor

Yep, that's what Jon Stewart said at the top of his show where he introduced Harry Markopolos on his March 8^th show. Markopolos is the fellow who (back in 2000) blew the whistle on Bernie Madoff.

The man who spent nearly a decade trying to blow the whistle on what appears to be the largest Ponzi scheme in history has achieved a kind of hero status within the investment world. He is poised to reap both fame and fortune from a disaster that has cost the investors of Bernard L. Madoff as much as $50 billion.

Now Markopolos is telling his story in his book, No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller.

The Perfessor

So, would you be surprised to learn that Sarah Palin has two sets of rules, the ones she preaches (that she wants you to live by), and another (easier, for the empowered elite, by which lives)? No? I didn't think so.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- who has gone to great lengths to hype the supposed dangers of a big government takeover of American health care -- admitted over the weekend that she used to get her treatment in Canada's single-payer system.

"We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada," Palin said in her first Canadian appearance since stepping down as governor of Alaska. "And I think now, isn't that ironic?"

Isn't it grand to be the Ex-Governatrix?

The Perfessor

By now, we've all heard about Toyota's inability to stop their cars, well, we just learned that a California Highway Patrol officer assisted in slowing down a runaway Toyota Prius (from 94 mph to a safe stop) on Monday after the car's accelerator became stuck on a San Diego County freeway.

Prius driver James Sikes called 911 about 1:30 p.m. after accelerating to pass another vehicle on Interstate 80 near La Posta and finding that he could not control his car, the CHP said.

"I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny... it jumped and it just stuck there," the 61-year-old driver said at a news conference. "As it was going, I was trying
the brakes...it wasn't stopping, it wasn't doing anything and it just kept speeding up," Sikes said, adding he could smell the brakes burning he was pressing the pedal so hard.

Video after the break
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