In other news... (humorous news items, etc)

[Iulus Cofield]

My apologies, in a next live I will try to be born as native speaker of your language.

It is my sincerest hope that all people may be so blessed as to be born as American's in the 1990s.

[Princess Marzipan]

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/03/23/book-tells-muslim-men-how-to-beat-and-control-their-wives

Where can I get this book???

Spoiler:

I kid, I kid..

You don't seem to have much of a grasp on what this community finds amusing.

[Zamfir]

We actually have a book like that at home, called "The ideal muslim wife" (in Dutch). It is indeed full of traditional "show him respect and servitude" stuff, up to and including beatings.

My (then not yet) wife ordered the book for some research project at the university, and the publisher turned out to be just a few miles away. So she went over (it was in a small appartment) to pick up a copy directly. The publishing company turned out to be run by three women, devout muslims but for the rest clearly not of the subservient type.

They were delighted to have a native dutch customer, and went in full proselytising mode. They wanted to invite her to all kinds of tea parties and courses on how to become a better muslim. There was another set of courses for her future husband, and they particularly wanted her to have a "The ideal muslim husband" as well, to give to me.

[Nylonathatep]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/24 ... b-c-coast/

[Gellert1984]

http://jhameia.tumblr.com/post/19862833842/masteradept-fyi-from-sgt-mad-dog-tracy-as

Spoiler:

FYI - from Sgt. Mad Dog Tracy - As the Chalk Leader for my flight home from Afghanistan, I witnessed the following: When we were on our way back from Afghanistan, we flew out of Baghram Air Field. We went through customs at BAF, full body scanners (no groping), had all of our bags searched, the whole nine yards. Our first stop was Shannon, Ireland to refuel. After that, we had to stop at Indianapolis, Indiana to drop off about 100 folks from the Indiana National Guard. That’s where the stupid started. First, everyone was forced to get off the plane-even though the plane wasn’t refueling again. All 330 people got off that plane, rather than let the 100 people from the ING get off. We were filed from the plane to a holding area. No vending machines, no means of escape. Only a male/female latrine. It’s probably important to mention that we were ALL carrying weapons. Everyone was carrying an M4 Carbine (rifle) and some, like me, were also carrying an M9 pistol. Oh, and our gunners had M-240B machine guns. Of course, the weapons weren’t loaded. And we had been cleared of all ammo well before we even got to customs at Baghram, then AGAIN at customs. The TSA personnel at the airport seriously considered making us unload all of the baggage from the SECURE cargo hold to have it re-inspected. Keep in mind, this cargo had been unpacked, inspected piece by piece by U.S. Customs officials, resealed and had bomb-sniffing dogs give it a one-hour run through. After two hours of sitting in this holding area, the TSA decided not to re-inspect our Cargo-just to inspect us again: Soldiers on the way home from war, who had already been inspected, re-inspected and kept in a SECURE holding area for 2 hours. Ok, whatever. So we lined up to go through security AGAIN. This is probably another good time to remind you all that all of us were carrying actual assault rifles, and some of us were also carrying pistols. So we’re in line, going through one at a time. One of our Soldiers had his Gerber multi-tool. TSA confiscated it. Kind of ridiculous, but it gets better. A few minutes later, a guy empties his pockets and has a pair of nail clippers. Nail clippers. TSA informs the Soldier that they’re going to confiscate his nail clippers. The conversation went something like this:

TSA Guy: You can’t take those on the plane.

Soldier: What? I’ve had them since we left country.

TSA Guy: You’re not suppose to have them.

Soldier: Why?

TSA Guy: They can be used as a weapon.

Soldier: [touches butt stock of the rifle] But this actually is a weapon. And I’m allowed to take it on.

TSA Guy: Yeah but you can’t use it to take over the plane. You don’t have bullets.

Soldier: And I can take over the plane with nail clippers?

TSA Guy: [awkward silence]

Me: Dude, just give him your F**K**G nail clippers so we can get the F**K out of here. I’ll buy you a new set.

Soldier: [hands nail clippers to TSA guy, makes it through security]

To top it off, the TSA demanded we all be swabbed for “explosive residue” detection. Everyone failed, [go figure, we just came home from a war zone], because we tested positive for “Gun Powder Residue”. Who the Hell is hiring these people? This might be a good time to remind everyone that approximately 233 people re-boarded that plane with assault rifles, pistols, and machine guns-but nothing that could have been used as a weapon. Can someone please tell me What the hell happened to OUR country while we were gone?

TL:DR - a bunch of US armed forces guys flying back from Afghanistan get stopped at a layover in indianapolis, they're still carrying their assorted firearms (minus ammo), one guy gets his nail clippers confiscated all of them fail explosive residue tests due to GSR...I wonder why.

Can someone please tell me What the hell happened to OUR country while we were gone?

[KnightExemplar]

Soldier: [touches butt stock of the rifle] But this actually is a weapon. And I’m allowed to take it on.

TSA Guy: Yeah but you can’t use it to take over the plane. You don’t have bullets.

Soldier: And I can take over the plane with nail clippers?

TSA Guy: [awkward silence]

Me: Dude, just give him your F**K**G nail clippers so we can get the F**K out of here. I’ll buy you a new set.

That made me laugh.

And then it made me cry.

[Ghostbear]

Too bad it's a hoax:

TSA does not have personnel or conduct any screening in the facility where military charters are processed at Indianapolis International Airport.

[Gellert1984]

Too bad it's a hoax:

TSA does not have personnel or conduct any screening in the facility where military charters are processed at Indianapolis International Airport.

I'm not sure if I'm dissappointed, relieved or surprised...

[addams]

Too bad it's a hoax:

TSA does not have personnel or conduct any screening in the facility where military charters are processed at Indianapolis International Airport.

I'm not sure if I'm dissappointed, relieved or surprised...

ech. I don't know what to believe, anymore.
Twain. Mark Twain. "Don't believe anything you read and only half of what you see with your own eyes."

Went looking for the exact quote and found the following. Decided to quit while I was laughing.
"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."
Mark Twain
Airport security is a pain. I have become airport phobic. I used to love those places. They had art and there was such a sense of adventure. Now; I can not get near the art without a ticket. With a ticket I am too stressed to enjoy the art.

[Nylonathatep]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/26 ... qualified/


edit: It's not meant to be a humours link. It's just an item of interest. In fact the last few articles that was linked on this forum are not very humous at all. Thanks.

Also I find the article very self-explainatory. If the link doesn't work for you please PM me.

[Angua]

Why, exactly, do you find that humorous? If there's nothing in the rules about cosmetic surgery, I don't see why she should be disallowed.

Even if there were rules about cosmetic surgery, if she hasn't had breast implants which is entirely possible as she's been on hormones since 14, then I think it would be ridiculous to count a sex-change in this matter. I can see why the organisers might want to disallow things like breast augmentation and facial surgery from this competition.

[Dauric]

Rule of thumb: don't just slap down a link. At the very least TL;DR paraphrase the article in case the link doesn't work for someone.

[omgryebread]

http://digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/23/10827562-porn-star-accepts-prom-date-over-twitter-gets-banned-by-school

The rare story that's both funny and sad and sort of anger-inducing.

[Gellert1984]

http://digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/23/10827562-porn-star-accepts-prom-date-over-twitter-gets-banned-by-school

The rare story that's both funny and sad and sort of anger-inducing.

Yeah I've seen this story knocking about over the past few days. IMO the school should have kept schtum anybody points out she's a porn star just say 'oh, we don't know anything about that, out of curiousity Mr. A. Parent how do you what she does for a living?'

Hell, in a british school this wouldn't even be a thing, she'd just be the +1 on an invite, our teachers tend to get up to far more shenanigans than the students.

[Роберт]

http://digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/23/10827562-porn-star-accepts-prom-date-over-twitter-gets-banned-by-school

The rare story that's both funny and sad and sort of anger-inducing.

I don't get what school policy this was breaking, perhaps I'm missing some information. It'd be nice if they said which two policies they went against. Do dates have to be in high-school at the time or something?

[Gellert1984]

http://digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/23/10827562-porn-star-accepts-prom-date-over-twitter-gets-banned-by-school

The rare story that's both funny and sad and sort of anger-inducing.

I don't get what school policy this was breaking, perhaps I'm missing some information. It'd be nice if they said which two policies they went against. Do dates have to be in high-school at the time or something?

If memory serves from a diferent a article the policy is something ambiguous along the lines of 'the school reserves the right to disallow entry to anyone who may cause a threat or disturbance'. Y'know cos porn actress's are all dirty n' stuff. I'll see if I can find the article.

Edit: Its the linked article actually and just says she might be disruptive...

[Роберт]

http://digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/23/10827562-porn-star-accepts-prom-date-over-twitter-gets-banned-by-school

The rare story that's both funny and sad and sort of anger-inducing.

I don't get what school policy this was breaking, perhaps I'm missing some information. It'd be nice if they said which two policies they went against. Do dates have to be in high-school at the time or something?

If memory serves from a diferent a article the policy is something ambiguous along the lines of 'the school reserves the right to disallow entry to anyone who may cause a threat or disturbance'. Y'know cos porn actress's are all dirty n' stuff. I'll see if I can find the article.

That was mentioned in the article, but it's not clear that that's the clause they're using to disallow it.

[SlyReaper]

I don't see how she would be disruptive though. The whole thing just smacks of prudishness and snobbery to be honest.

[Роберт]

I don't see how she would be disruptive though. The whole thing just smacks of prudishness and snobbery to be honest.

Maybe they don't want to see her attend prom with him because it'll taint their own fantasies?

[addams]

I don't see how she would be disruptive though. The whole thing just smacks of prudishness and snobbery to be honest.

Yeah. Well; The Prom is disrupted, now.
It is sweet that she wanted to go to a Prom.
I hope they have a nice time.
There is some chance that the school will be forced to bend, a little.
What a fun Prom for both of them.

[rath358]

At my high school, the senior prom (which was technically run by the parents' association, not the school), dates from outside of the school had to have the permission of their own principal, and could not be further than freshman year of college. I presume (though do not know for sure) that people who were not in school at all (or were younger than a certain age) were generally not allowed. The rules made sense, and although a few people got the short end of the stick, I didn't really have any complaints about the process.

In this case, is the school being a prudish dick? Probably. But if they allowed this to happen, and it went public, they would probably have to deal with scores of rabid parents calling the school, forcing their children to boycott the dance, and calling for the resignation of the entire school board. Although it is a bit of a shitty situation all around, I can understand the school having to do this.

[Ghostbear]

In this case, is the school being a prudish dick? Probably. But if they allowed this to happen, and it went public, they would probably have to deal with scores of rabid parents calling the school, forcing their children to boycott the dance, and calling for the resignation of the entire school board. Although it is a bit of a shitty situation all around, I can understand the school having to do this.

None of those things force the school to do anything. Just because making a decision makes life easier for the decision makers doesn't make it the right choice. The consequences of not blocking this are exactly the type of problem they're supposed to be able to deal with on their own. I mean, a school could refuse to kick a popular and successful player off a sports team after bullying/committing a crime/whatever for the same reason: they'd get angry calls, people would boycott the games, people would want to replace them... How are the justifications for those scenarios different? They'd both be based around "man, that decision would make our life hell" instead of "yeah, that's the proper way to respond to this situation".

tl;dr Just because it creates less hassle for the school doesn't make it the right decision for the school.

[addams]

At my high school, the senior prom (which was technically run by the parents' association, not the school), dates from outside of the school had to have the permission of their own principal, and could not be further than freshman year of college. I presume (though do not know for sure) that people who were not in school at all (or were younger than a certain age) were generally not allowed. The rules made sense, and although a few people got the short end of the stick, I didn't really have any complaints about the process.

In this case, is the school being a prudish dick? Probably. But if they allowed this to happen, and it went public, they would probably have to deal with scores of rabid parents calling the school, forcing their children to boycott the dance, and calling for the resignation of the entire school board. Although it is a bit of a shitty situation all around, I can understand the school having to do this.

Good points. I have no idea how those things work.
I hope they have a nice time.
I have heard Prom stories that were far from wholesome.
Again, I don't know the first thing about the subject.
Huh? I wonder if he will get laid? We can not assume.

[rath358]

Good point. Again, in my town, the prom was organized by the parents with the presumed goal of preventing as many couples from having sex/getting drunk/etc without their parents knowing. You couldn't get back into the dance if you left, there was a parent-sponsored afterparty at the YMCA, IDs were checked carefully at the door to prevent someone unapproved from entering, etc. I think that out-of school dates also required permission from both the parents of the date and the host.

I would assume that Tartan High has similar goals. First and foremost, they must ensure the safety of the participants. Ensuring that every odd request gets filled is secondary. Allowing someone from across the country, who presumably is no longer in school, to come into the dance is an obvious risk factor. While it would be nice if they could allow it, they have no moral obligation to. Making the decision that they did, while preventing Mike and his date from attending, probably allows several students to go who would otherwise be forced from attending by their parents.

[addams]

Good point. Again, in my town, the prom was organized by the parents with the presumed goal of preventing as many couples from having sex/getting drunk/etc without their parents knowing. You couldn't get back into the dance if you left, there was a parent-sponsored afterparty at the YMCA, IDs were checked carefully at the door to prevent someone unapproved from entering, etc. I think that out-of school dates also required permission from both the parents of the date and the host.

I would assume that Tartan High has similar goals. First and foremost, they must ensure the safety of the participants. Ensuring that every odd request gets filled is secondary. Allowing someone from across the country, who presumably is no longer in school, to come into the dance is an obvious risk factor. While it would be nice if they could allow it, they have no moral obligation to. Making the decision that they did, while preventing Mike and his date from attending, probably allows several students to go who would otherwise be forced from attending by their parents.

Yep. All good points. How silly we can be. We ask for wholesomeness at one moment. Then, pressure people that are attempting to set standards the next.
How nice you have been to explain.

This young man, Mike, can have a wonderful time and not go to the Prom. I started to do the permutations for all the things that he can do without taking his date to the Prom. I am good with letting him figure it out.

[Nylonathatep]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/26 ... na-trench/


Really, I hope nobody is going to be offended by this post.... unless they are living in unfantomable depths and lie asleep, dead but dreaming for endless eons...


Old News, but speaking about proms...

http://www.ecorazzi.com/2012/02/26/tayl ... ng-better/

[Diadem]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/26/james-cameron-mariana-trench/

That is awesome. My respect for Cameron just went up. Also, I want to see that movie.

That graph at the article is rather awesome by the way. Very XKCDesque, explaining the CN tower is not actually at the bottom of the Mariana trench.

[addams]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/26/james-cameron-mariana-trench/

That is awesome. My respect for Cameron just went up. Also, I want to see that movie.

That graph at the article is rather awesome by the way. Very XKCDeque, explaining the CN tower is not actually at the bottom of the Mariana trench.

So, funny. You made me look.

[sigsfried]

On the Prom stuff, my school it was organised by the students and wasn't on the school property. I'm not saying the school couldn't have vetoed anything too outrageous but that seems to work quite well and prevents the school from being held responsible for any minor stunts. That seems to be the best way of doing things in my opinion.

[Angua]

Bottlenose dolphins: 'Gangs' run society

[buddy431]

JetBlue captain loses it during a flight.

Then, he sprinted up the cabin's aisle — ranting about a bomb, screaming "They're going to take us down!" and urging confused passengers to pray.

The captain was restrained, and the plane landed by the co-pilot and another off-duty pilot.

[SlyReaper]

Apple has strange ideas about what "4G" means

'iPad with wi-fi + 4G'

...

At a preliminary hearing, Apple lawyer Paul Anastassiou said Apple had never claimed the device would work fully on the current 4G network operated by Telstra.

And in unrelated news:

David Cameron quote:
"There is no imminent strike. The unions would have to give seven days' notice of any strike so there is no need to queue to buy petrol.

If there is an opportunity to top up your tank if a strike is potentially on the way, then it is a sensible thing if you are able to do that."

BBC Headline: 'Top up' in case of strike says PM

For fuck sake.

[Роберт]

JetBlue captain loses it during a flight.

Then, he sprinted up the cabin's aisle — ranting about a bomb, screaming "They're going to take us down!" and urging confused passengers to pray.

The captain was restrained, and the plane landed by the co-pilot and another off-duty pilot.

Sounds like the situation was handled surprisingly well. Great job everyone.

[maybeagnostic]

NYC apparently banned the use of some words in public school tests. Some of the words are 'terrorism', 'divorce', 'dinosaur', 'television', 'dancing', and 'birthday.' The whole thing is so absurd I am having trouble believing it (or tracking down the actual source).

[Роберт]

NYC apparently banned the use of some words in public school tests. Some of the words are 'terrorism', 'divorce', 'dinosaur', 'television', 'dancing', and 'birthday.' The whole thing is so absurd I am having trouble believing it (or tracking down the actual source).

Dinosaurs, the Post reports, were banned because they reference evolution, which fundamentalist students might not agree with.

So are they not allowed to reference evolution in tests, then?

[SlyReaper]

So someone might kick up a stink about evolution if you mention dinosaurs? Why do these crackpot fundamentalist morons get to dictate what other people are allowed to say? Or rather, how did we end up being so abjectly terrified of these people that we don't dare mention something that might challenge their ridiculous and provably-wrong notions?

Tell you what, I'll stop mentioning dinosaurs if they stop mentioning Jesus and God. See, I'm an atheist and I object to such things, and you have to respect it because I said so. Oh wait, it doesn't work both ways?

[Diadem]

You can't reference birthdays because of Jehovah's Witnesses? I've never heard of Jehovah's objecting to the the mention of birthdays. I know they don't celebrate them, but as far as I know they have no trouble with the concept. I mean Jehovah's also have a specific day in the year where their answer to the question "How old are you?" changes.

There's certainly some subjects schools should probably steer clear of. Things like abuse or terrorism probably deserve to be on that list. And I've actually seen texts that made me wonder what on earth they were thinking including that. Highly political subjects, but also a text about bullying that basically concluded that it wasn't a problem. That's the kind of stuff that most definitely should not be in school exams.

But if you start including Dinosaurs and Halloween you've lost all perspective.

[Gellert1984]

Tell you what, I'll stop mentioning dinosaurs if they stop mentioning Jesus and God. See, I'm an atheist and I object to such things, and you have to respect it because I said so. Oh wait, it doesn't work both ways?

Silly SlyReaper, everybody knows atheists dont have feelings, you need souls for feelings...and rights.

[SlyReaper]

I found what I think is the full list of expunged words on the Pharyngula blog:

Abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological)
Alcohol (beer and liquor), tobacco, or drugs
Birthday celebrations (and birthdays)
Bodily functions
Cancer (and other diseases)
Catastrophes/disasters (tsunamis and hurricanes)
Celebrities
Children dealing with serious issues
Cigarettes (and other smoking paraphernalia)
Computers in the home (acceptable in a school or library setting)
Crime
Death and disease
Divorce
Evolution
Expensive gifts, vacations, and prizes
Gambling involving money
Halloween
Homelessness
Homes with swimming pools
Hunting
Junk food
In-depth discussions of sports that require prior knowledge
Loss of employment
Nuclear weapons
Occult topics (i.e. fortune-telling)
Parapsychology
Politics
Pornography
Poverty
Rap Music
Religion
Religious holidays and festivals (including but not limited to Christmas, Yom Kippur, and Ramadan)
Rock-and-Roll music
Running away
Sex
Slavery
Terrorism
Television and video games (excessive use)
Traumatic material (including material that may be particularly upsetting such as animal shelters)
Vermin (rats and roaches)
Violence
War and bloodshed
Weapons (guns, knives, etc.)
Witchcraft, sorcery, etc.

So, religion is in there, so at least it's not all religiously motivated. But surely the point of education is to expose students to ideas like the ones contained in this list? No mention of war and bloodshed? Good luck teaching history classes then. No mention of evolution? Good luck teaching biology.

[Роберт]

It's just banned from the standardized tests, which presumably cover things like: not evolution, not racism, not disease, not class struggles.


I guess they probably just cover stuff like reading comprehension, science reasoning, english, and math, like the ACT?