A moment of silence for one of the greats … Vern Gosdin

You have to be pretty deep into country music to know about Gosdin, who died yesterday at 70. A wonderful songwriter, he was nicknamed “The Voice” and if you ever heard him sing you know why. He had a rich baritone, and once was described by Tammy Wynette as "the only other singer who can [...]

Krispy Kreme forced to eat half-baked marketing scheme

Last week, the kreme hit the fan when An Australian biscuit company has threatened legal action against US chain Krispy Kreme if does not stop selling its Iced Dough-Vo doughnut. Arnott believes the product is almost identical to its own Iced Vo-Vo biscuit, and breaches trademarks registered in 1906. Krispy claimed the confection was meant [...]

Aporkalypse Now: Rebranding swine flu is like putting lipstick on a well, you know

What with the World Health Org declaring Defcon infinity I suspect yesterday was the last day which anyone will find swine flu funny for a while. That said, here’s a round up of humorous headlines Bloomberg coughs up some humor during swine flu news conference (NY Daily News) Pork Industry Has Beef With Swine Flu [...]

Obama tries to revive hopeless “Hope for Homeowners” plan

Last fall the Administration unveiled its "Hope for Homeowners" program in the hopes it would allow some 400,000 troubled homeowners to swap risky loans for traditional 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with lower rates. “Instead only a handful of borrowers have been able to qualify, and as of earlier this spring only one loan had completed the [...]

Bank robber says bank bailouts justify abrupt withdrawal

San Francisco police investigators are seeking the public’s help in tracking down a suspect who walked into a downtown bank, explained that he was fed up with corporate bailouts and threatened to detonate a bomb. The manager escorted the man to a private room, where the suspect explained that he was employed by an organization [...]

Craigslist CEO doesn’t giggle when he says site has no sex-related ads

"I would not describe any section of our site as ‘sex related,’ " [Craigslist CEO Jim] Buckmaster wrote in response to a series of e-mailed questions from the Globe. He acknowledged that Craigslist offers an "erotic services" section that should not include more than "legitimate escort services, sensual massage, exotic dancers, etc.," but said that [...]

Press release wants you to “Celebrate Hitler’s Birthday by Knowing the Truth about Christianity, Nazism, and the Holocaust”

MEDIA ADVISORY, April 20 /Christian Newswire/ — In a book released today, on Hitler’s birthday, Author Joe Keysor combats the growing charge that Christianity fed the Nazi purge of the Jews and Hitler’s hatred in his book "Hitler, the Holocaust, and the Bible: A Scriptural Analysis of Anti-Semitism, National Socialism, and the Churches in Nazi [...]

The whistling at the financial graveyard grows increasingly repetitive

This brilliant post is entirely from the great blog Financial Armageddon These days, lots of people seem to be reading from the same script: "CBI Says Worst of British Recession Over" (Reuters) "China’s Premier Says Economy Better than Expected" (Associated Press) "Dubai’s Ruler Says the Worst Is Over" (Financial Times) "U.S. Officials Suggest Worst of [...]

A moment of silence for one of the greats … J.G. Ballard

If you’re an American chances are very slim you’ve even heard of him let alone read him. In the UK – where they seem much more open to speculative fiction – Ballard is a Significant Name & Writer. I’ll be honest, I’ve only read the end of the world trilogy: The Drowned World, The Burning [...]

Amazon explanation fails to actually explain

Online retail giant issues an explanation for delisting of books — many of which had gay and lesbian topic matter: "This is an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error," Drew Herdener, spokesman for the online retailer, wrote in a statement. "It has been misreported that the issue was limited to gay- and lesbian-themed titles," he said. [...]

"GM shares slump as bankruptcy fear grows"

I hadn’t realized they still had lower to go. Hmmm, as of noon they are at $1.65 – down 17.5% Go figure.

Press release alleges I am “part of a select group of media purchase influencers”

As a part of a select group of media purchase influencers, we will pay you $20.00 in return for completing our Media Influencer Survey. You will also receive special highlights of the results after you finish the survey. It’s our way of thanking you for your participation. We’ll also send the Advertiser Optimism Report to [...]

Amazon unveils homophobic computer software

Over the weekend Amazon seems to have broken through the Turing barrier and unveiled an artificial intelligence that is predisposed to homophobia. At least that’s how I read their explanation for why the sales rankings for books with gay, lesbian and other non-heterosexual “adult” topics. “We recently discovered a glitch to our Amazon sales rank [...]

Japanese cafes where you pay to pet cats

“In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this.”  — Terry Pratchett In Japan, pets are the new kids. As the nation rapidly edge toward zero population growth (1950 fertility rate = 3.65; 2009 = 1.21), cat and dog obsession is reaching strange heights – even for the Japanese. The latest [...]

Irate French workers kidnapping bosses

In the past month there have been four separate incidents of workers taking their bosses hostage for up to 24 hours. Also, a billionaire boss was blocked in his taxi by employees for an hour on March 31. It even has its own word: Bossnapping – which sounds a lot more like what workers always [...]