Pardon the lateness of this week's "News Watch", as it is practically a regional holiday here in Boston as our beloved Red Sox had their home opener against the hated Yankees and, also, received their World Championship rings. Therefore, "nw" had to take a backseat to the festivities until a 7 run lead left me feeling safe enough to take the helm of our weekly excursion into the news cycle. Without further delay, it's time for "News Watch" :
Hot 5 Stories of the Week
1>World's Smallest Dog Died a Natural Death (Reuters via myway.com)
http://reuters.myway.com/article/20050408/2005-04-08T123627Z_01_L07721115_RTRIDST_0_ODD-ODD-CZECH-DOG-DC.html
It's not really news that the dog would have died under natural means. Dogs die that way everyday. What's news is that this dog died 6 years ago. For some people, the World's Smallest Dog is a celebrity and when he went down in 1999, the conspiracy theorists cried "foul play".
The owner alleged that some kind of malpractice was the cause of the death of Ondra, 1999's World Smallest Dog. Insiders say that the life of the World's Smallest Dog was much like your average rock star with celebrity dog flings and excessive abuse of all sorts of substances. And, as when any big time money earner dies, expect a lawsuit as happened in the Czech Republic. Calling CSI : Dogs.
Named the world's smallest dog in 1999, a Chihuahua just 15 cm (six inches) tall, died of natural causes and not medical malpractice as its owner claimed, a Czech court ruled Thursday.
CTK news agency said the court in the eastern city of Olomouc dismissed a one million crown ($43,100) damages claim by the dog's owner against a veterinarian who, she said, gave her pet an injection that left it paralyzed.
2>Earth's 'oldest thing ever' gets viewing (AP via CNN)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/04/09/oldest.object.ap/index.html
Kudos to FAZER for getting this on the Streamlink board and trumping me on finding it. Two things of note for this story. One is, of course, the description of the the "object" by a geologist who was responsible for promoting it : "the world's oldest thing". That's it ? That's what you've got ? Stick to geology, sir, and not promoting, because you are a failure at getting across the magnitude of the object.
Secondly, the genius who promoted the big unveiling of the object had quite a spectacle to roll out "the world's oldest thing", including a six piece jazz band ... seriously. All of this fanfare for the "world's oldest object" looks pretty ridiculous when one considers that the object is " less than two human hairs in diameter." Wha ? Yes, the folks who were duped into coming out to see thing thing had to check it out under a microscope. I could have stuck a bug's leg under there and they would have bought it.
"This is it -- the oldest thing ever. One day only," said Joe Skulan, scientist with the UW-Madison Geology Museum, where the object was displayed under police guard. "The idea of having a big celebration of something that's so tiny -- we're playing with the obvious absurdity of it."
3>Charles shakes hands with Mugabe (BBC via Infowars.com)
http://www.infowars.com/articles/world/zimbabwe_prince_charles_shakes_hands_mugabe.htm
That wacky Prince Charles can't even go to a funeral without upsetting his subjects. From what I can understand, Mugabe is an evil Zimbabwe dictator, not unlike your average James Bond villain. Somehow, he managed to snag an invite to the Pope's funeral, despite being loathed by most of the modern world.
So, during the service there is a part where you shake hands with the people around you as a sign of peace and all that good stuff. Well, that crafty Mugabe slipped his hand over to Prince Charles and the royal obliged with the handshake. And, just like that, the Britons flipped their collective wigs.
I actually take the side of Charles here, as he really had no choice and if he hadn't shaken Mugabe's hand, he somehow would have been vilified by the media anyway. They're looking for any reason to rip on the poor bugger.
Prince Charles was seated one place away from the Zimbabwean President.
A Clarence House spokesman said the prince "finds the current Zimbabwean regime abhorrent" and "was not in a position to avoid shaking Mr Mugabe's hand".
4>Math teacher accused of drinking, smoking pot with two of his female students (sunsentinel.com via badjocks.com)
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-47teacheraccused,0,5737745.story?coll=sfla-news-florida
Yet another case for home schooling. And another reason to lament that I am not 10 years younger. With all of these stories coming out about teachers who have sex with students, I can sympathize with the teachers. Young women today want to emulate the style of their heroes and, thusly, dress like whores. A large percentage of teachers are 22-30 and male. You do the math, as this teacher did.
The blame can be equally spread to the teacher and the parents, along with the school administrators. The teacher because he was a horn dog. The parents because they are supposed to be responsible for their kids but do not seem to be doing a good job at it. And the administrators, I'm sure, are too afraid of a lawsuit to do much other than let the inmates run the asylum. Then, from outside the bubble where we are, we can see how truly awful the school systems in America are. Good luck to all you parents out there.
A 34-year-old high school math teacher was arrested after two female students said he served them vodka drinks and smoked marijuana with them at his house, officials said. ...
He also took the girls into the garage and showed them a cabinet that containing marijuana plants, telling them he got his seeds via the Internet from another country, the report said.
5>Reborn star surprises astronomers (space.com)
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050407_old_star.html
What ? No story bashing NASA this week ? No, this week I take aim at NASA's ugly cousin ... the astronomy community. Yes, you know those telescope toters who worship NASA and hang on it's every claim. They believe the garbage fed to them by the guys with fancy titles from the maligned government agency. They swear by it, saying, "NASA says" to any anomalous question, refusing to look at anything that goes against the grain of NASA's standard operating procedure.
Then something happens to take yet another shot at the house of cards that is the space agency. Sadly and not surprisingly, the fan boys at space.com completely glossed over how astronomers were wrong regarding white dwarves dying and quickly moved on to pushing the "new model". If the old model was wrong and it being wrong shocked the astronomers, what faith should I have in their new interpretation of things. The answer is "none".
An old star that's been reborn has surprised researchers by flying through the process 100 times faster than predicted. ...
"We've now produced a new theoretical model of how this process works," said Albert Zijlstra, of the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.
Future News Now
Sony aims to beam sights, sounds into brain (Reuters via CNN.com)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/04/07/sony.brain.reut/index.html
Just what we needed ! Corporate America broadcasting directly to our brains. The last sovereign piece of property possessed by man, although most of the common folks have given up use of their brains a long time ago, is about to be assaulted by Sony.
The puppet masters from beyond are devious ones. Much like the infamous "micro chip", Sony will be marketing this new "brain broadcasting" to the kids with their videogames. Tuning into the "brain games" will become hip and cool and if you aren't doing it then you are lame.
The U.S. patent, granted to Sony researcher Thomas Dawson, describes a technique for aiming ultrasonic pulses at specific areas of the brain to induce "sensory experiences" such as smells, sounds and images.
The Noory Story Showdown
I'm not ready to say for sure or not, but I'm of the opinion that the Noory Story Showdown has caused quite a stir and the sense of competition is beginning to heat up here. We've got more scorers this week than I can remember, so the race is on to July 4th and $40 dollars @ the binnallofamerica.com store.
This Week's Point Getters : Baemark gets on the board with the story of the "Hole Drilled to Center of the Earth", posted @ theusofe.com. Jerikai gets on the board as well with the breaking story of the death of Prince of Monocco. outuvbody gets on the board as well with the story on Peter Jennings getting cancer, also posted @ theusofe.com.
Dennis got on the board for breaking the story of the granddaughter pulling her grandmother's feeding tube, posted @ Streamlink and scored a 2nd point for the Jennings Cancer story on Streamlink. Templar scores again with the story on the Pope : Born and Buried Under an Eclipse that was touched on by Noory and John Hogue.
I have doubts about 2 stories that I think Noory or Bell would have read, so if they did, contact me for credit : Oldest Earth Object (FAZER @ Streamlink) and Hominid Remains Thought to be Oldest Ever (Templar)
Current Standings as of 4.11.5 : Templar (9), Oscar (4), FAZER (3), Dennis (2), SimpleComplexities (2), TxStarGazer (2), Raven (2), shanesq1 (1), jerseyred (1), Dustminer (1), afeent1 (1), crimsonadam (1), mirage (1), sideshow (1), Jerikai (1), Baemark (1), and outuvbody (1)
The Rules : Score 1 point for posting a news story that gets read by Noory or Art Bell on the show. If you are not credited by me in News Watch, YOU are responsible for letting me know that I missed it. You can ONLY post your news stories in either the Streamlink message board "Current Events" folder or the U.S. of E. message board "Current Events" folder (News Stories posted in individual episode folders or "Anything Goes" do not count) The WINNER is the person with the most Noory Story points (cumulative) in the July 4th Edition of News Watch. Subsequently, there will be a 2nd competition for the 2nd half of 2005, culminating on 1.2.2006. The 1st PRIZE is a $40 dollar shopping spree @ the official binnallofamerica.com store. Any questions / comments can be sent to tbinnall@hotmail.com This contest is REAL. No wagering, please.
Jackson Schmackson
The Jackson Trial was a lurid affair this week, as a host of prior accusers took the stand to charge that they were molested by Jackson or they saw him molesting kids. Jackson's defense team was battered and it sure seems like they were not fully prepared for the onslaught of witnesses going after Jackson. They tried to paint them as looking for money or former disgruntled employees, but it most likely was not enough to offset the damage done to Jackson in front of the jury. A former maid, a former chef, a former guard and a kid who was the son of a maid all said they either saw Jackson doing something illicit or were victims of such actions.
Perhaps most noteworthy was the claim of a former chef at Neverland who alleged that Jackson molested child actor Macauley Culkin. Culkin has denied this to the media for years, but one could argue that confirming the rumours would certainly hurt his film career, which has tanked since he grew up anyway.
The media coverage of the trial has taken a decidedly anti-Jackson tone, albeit I've missed the E! show since the foolishly moved it to 9 PM. No word on how much longer the prosecution is going to go (we still haven't seen Corey Feldman) but things do not look good for Jackson so far.
The Jackson Scale : 87 (Last Week : 80)
Comment : 7 points for the series of damning eyewitness testimonies against Jackson.
A scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being nearly certain, I will deduce the odds of Jackson being found guilty and going to jail. This is not an opinion of his guilt, just a barometer of the potential outcome of the trial.
Editorial Let the Chips Fall
At least it is not the random wide eyed conspiracy theorists who show up on C2C who are worried about the impeding availability and use of an implantable microchip. A State Rep. from Wisconsin is attempting to have a bill passed that will outlaw requiring people to be chipped. Sounds like a good idea, so we can expect the bill to fail miserably.
As always, one must look at the bill, and the story in general, as a possible means of preparing the public for the inevitable. Should the bill fail, we can expect the general public to be prepared, in the long run, for a required chipping of the mass population. Just the introduction and discussion of such a bill opens the door for discussion on the matter, which previously was saved for late night fare like C2C and it's many imitators.
Your faithful correspondent is, of course, against mass chipping of the general population. The federal government, and those in the state and local municipalities as well, always seem to either a> bungle an operation so big or b> use it for nefarious means. Much like the Patriot Act that is used to bust drug dealers instead of terrorists, chips used for safety would likely be used for prosecuting people instead.
Where I part company with the body of esoterica, is in my endorsement of limited use of the chip for specific circumstances. Firstly, I support chipping of sex offenders as a means of keeping an eye on them. The death of that little girl in Florida at the hands of the "missing" sex offender from Georgia is a perfect example of why they need to be chipped. Also, a removable chip planted in the nations many jailed citizens would allow for less prison breaks and missing prisoners, provided that the chip is removed either upon the end of incarceration or the end of the probationary period post-jail time.
Where I see an interesting paradox developing is in the chipping of children. I could foresee the mainstream media setting the ground work for this with their non-stop coverage of missing children the last 2 years. While I support a means of tracking young children to prevent abduction, I fear that that would be the beginning of a generation of people accepting of being "chipped" and that would be the beginning of a chipped mass populous.
I have my suspicions that the government would even want to chip the children of America, as books like "The Franklin Cover-Up" suggest there is a suspicious connection between missing and exploited children and the dark underbelly of our electorate. By being able to find missing children, the "supply" for the various evil industries that use children would dry up. Those in power, both in our government and in those industries, would not allow that. So, keep an eye on how they handle that.
It's easy to sit here and say, "I'll never allow them to chip me !" But one must realize that we have precious little choice in the matter. Much like the ATM card and the cell phone, it is merely a matter of putting the chip out there for consumption by the brain-dead, unwashed masses who will lap it up with glee. Those of us who understand the pros and cons will be left to make the simple decision of "getting with it" or being left by the wayside, where the "powers that be" want us.
End Notes
The madness continues over @ binnallofamerica.com. We just rolled out our "UFO Roundtable Preview" over the weekend, as well as bestowed Coastie Contendership to Fr.Andrew Wingate's ill-fated Friday night appearance on 4.1.5.
Meanwhile, and I should have mentioned this on Friday, I expect to deliver "the binnall report" on either Thursday or Saturday this week as I'll be heading into the big city to see the one and only Bob Dylan on Friday night (as well as Saturday and Sunday nights). Therefore, expect an ill-timed "tbr" sometime this week as I try and work it into my busy schedule.
Till next week, when I join you on Patriot's Day in a post-Dylan haze, be safe, be real, and be prepared.