Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[MrTerrorist]

Three out of the four US factories making "lean beef trimmings" are to be shut down following a public outcry. Is "pink slime" - as critics call it - finished or could it be relaunched under a new name?

[ganbaru]

^ As long as there's customer for the product, I would have to say yes.

[Endless Soul]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Spoiler for tidiness:

Thank you Vexx, for averting a disaster where the checkpoint is singlehandedly painted blood-red by an angry woman.

I remembered in a report in the 08s and 09s after the financial crisis that US was saved by drug money because that is what made the USD so volatile and liquid, allowing the worst case scenario to be averted (illiquidity of currency).

Blame the ATF? I don't know lol.

Police investigate CHIJMES 'Chapel Party'


This image of a model in a provocative nun's costume can still be found on the Facebook event page's wall.

I couldn't stop laughing at this one. OMFG.

Originally Posted by The Article

“I feel it is getting out of hand because it seems like people look at Christianity as a fair target,”

Fool! Of course it's a fair target. Just like all the other organized religions.

Endless "Equal Opportunity" Soul

[AnimeFan188]

"Are we on the brink of an arms race over zombie ray guns? You might think so,
based on the alarms being rung over Russia's potential to create mind-scrambling
weapons. But the reality is that it'll be a long time before we have to worry about
super-soldiers taking over our brains.

The Americans as well as the Russians have been looking into psychotronic
weapons for more than 15 years. You can find ample references to the subject on
the Internet, including a feature published by U.S. News and World Report in
1997 and a report written for a U.S. Army publication in 1998.

Such weapons purport to take advantage of the effect that pulsed microwaves
can have on brain activity. Some researchers have reported an effect known as
microwave hearing, in which a directed beam of radiation produces a sensation of
buzzing, clicking or hissing in the head. "This technology in its crudest form could
be used to distract individuals," according to a declassified Army review of
non-lethal weapons."

See:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news...ay-gun-program

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

"Are we on the brink of an arms race over zombie ray guns? You might think so,
based on the alarms being rung over Russia's potential to create mind-scrambling
weapons. But the reality is that it'll be a long time before we have to worry about
super-soldiers taking over our brains.

The Americans as well as the Russians have been looking into psychotronic
weapons for more than 15 years. You can find ample references to the subject on
the Internet, including a feature published by U.S. News and World Report in
1997 and a report written for a U.S. Army publication in 1998.

Such weapons purport to take advantage of the effect that pulsed microwaves
can have on brain activity. Some researchers have reported an effect known as
microwave hearing, in which a directed beam of radiation produces a sensation of
buzzing, clicking or hissing in the head. "This technology in its crudest form could
be used to distract individuals," according to a declassified Army review of
non-lethal weapons."

See:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news...ay-gun-program

The Europeans will be first after their Big Corps take over them. The weapon will be called the Persuadertron.

[RandySyler]

Originally Posted by Endless Soul

Fool! Of course it's a fair target. Just like all the other organized religions.

Endless "Equal Opportunity" Soul

Ah, but what he's getting at is that the other religions are not. It's not politically correct to make fun of any other religion but Christianity. I'm not Christian myself, but I do realize that yes, it is the most picked on religion out there.

[Ridwan]

Originally Posted by RandySyler

Ah, but what he's getting at is that the other religions are not. It's not politically correct to make fun of any other religion but Christianity. I'm not Christian myself, but I do realize that yes, it is the most picked on religion out there.

Not sure if we can really confirm it. I'd say it would depend on where we are.

===============================


Sex for Cheeseburgers


Oppressive enforcement of social norms

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by RandySyler

Ah, but what he's getting at is that the other religions are not. It's not politically correct to make fun of any other religion but Christianity. I'm not Christian myself, but I do realize that yes, it is the most picked on religion out there.

That seriously depends on where you're standing .... it seems more the case the feeling is a new one for some Christians and they've amplified this idea because its such an unusual position to be in for them. Christianity is the dominant religion in the US and exerts a tremendous amount of control/influence on society, often to the detriment of other religions.

OTOH, in some other countries (e.g. Egypt, most Islam dominated countries, etc), Christians are sometimes in very precarious situations.

[ganbaru]

Turkmen president wins on racing track
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...04-07-10-12-43

Turkmenistan's authoritarian leader has proven he doesn't only win elections easily, coming first in a car race he wasn't even supposed to take part in.

[Dhomochevsky]

Between this and Putin wrestling with bears as a weekend pastime, which one should I trust more?

[Azumanga Davo]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

Turkmen president wins on racing track
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...04-07-10-12-43

Turkembashi 2: The Sequel...

[synaesthetic]

Originally Posted by RandySyler

Ah, but what he's getting at is that the other religions are not. It's not politically correct to make fun of any other religion but Christianity. I'm not Christian myself, but I do realize that yes, it is the most picked on religion out there.

I'm going to have to agree with this. I see it often--there are loads of athiests, anti-theists and religious critics who have no problem harshly criticizing Christianity, but when it comes to Islam or Judaism they get a lot more... polite. Especially in regards to Islam.

This may have something to do with the fact that extreme Islamic types are more than happy to threaten to kill people for drawing a picture of their Christ figure, or making some vaguely anti-Islamic tweets, or burning a Koran.

[Kotohono]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

I'm going to have to agree with this. I see it often--there are loads of athiests, anti-theists and religious critics who have no problem harshly criticizing Christianity, but when it comes to Islam or Judaism they get a lot more... polite. Especially in regards to Islam.

This may have something to do with the fact that extreme Islamic types are more than happy to threaten to kill people for drawing a picture of their Christ figure, or making some vaguely anti-Islamic tweets, or burning a Koran.

I think it's more so that the same reason that White Heterosexual Cis Males are an acceptable target for being made fun, because they are the majority or rather maybe the privilege they get as a majority .

[Anh_Minh]

As a wise man (Chris Rock ) said, "That's how life works. Those with the most shit, get to say the least shit. Those with the least shit, get to say the most shit."

[MrTerrorist]

Young Chinese Women in Trouble for Writing Dirty Website

How dare they! Leave these women alone and let them write their erotic fiction!

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

Young Chinese Women in Trouble for Writing Dirty Website

How dare they! Leave these women alone and let them write their erotic fiction!

looks like SH's effort paid off. I wonder who he contacted in the Chinese gov't?

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Endless Soul

Fool! Of course it's a fair target. Just like all the other organized religions.

Originally Posted by Vexx

That seriously depends on where you're standing .... it seems more the case the feeling is a new one for some Christians and they've amplified this idea because its such an unusual position to be in for them. Christianity is the dominant religion in the US and exerts a tremendous amount of control/influence on society, often to the detriment of other religions.

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

I'm going to have to agree with this. I see it often--there are loads of athiests, anti-theists and religious critics who have no problem harshly criticizing Christianity, but when it comes to Islam or Judaism they get a lot more... polite. Especially in regards to Islam.

This may have something to do with the fact that extreme Islamic types are more than happy to threaten to kill people for drawing a picture of their Christ figure, or making some vaguely anti-Islamic tweets, or burning a Koran.

Far be it for me to defend the indefensible, especially in the Silly/Odd News thread. My only concern is that, if we're truly interested in equal-opportunity criticism, we ought to remember to mock all kinds of stupid, be they secular or religious in nature.

I'm an atheist or, more accurately, an agnostic who prefers atheism. But, in the spirit of Good Friday just past:

Learning to respect religion

By Nicholas D. Kristof

...The latest wave of respectful atheist writing strikes me as a healthy step toward nuance. I've reported on some of the worst of religion — such as smug, sanctimonious indifference among Christian fundamentalists at the toll of Aids among gay men — yet I've also been awed by nuns and priests risking their lives in war zones.

And many studies have found that religious people donate more money and volunteer more time to charity than the nonreligious. Let's not answer religious fundamentalism with secular fundamentalism, religious intolerance with irreligious intolerance.

NEW YORK TIMES

Or, if that is just a bit too much respect for you to stomach, there are always rejoinders you can relish instead:

Respecting religion for all the wrong reasons

By Geoff Berg

...Kristof is inexplicably impressed with Haidt's research showing that fear of god makes for a more orderly society. Is it really a scientific revelation that fear forces people to act in accordance with what they believe to be the wishes of an omnipotent, jealous, and vengeful being who condemns the non-compliant to everlasting torment if they refuse (as described by his helpful earthly proxies, of course)?

Sounds a lot like a dictatorship, which as Kim Jong Un and his late father and grandfather can attest, is a great way to keep people in line...

...There is a secular society which has enjoyed substantial success, though the people who make it up share no natural "kinship" and religion cannot, as a matter of law, be forced on them. It isn't a commune and it wasn't established in the 19th century but the 18th.

For that matter, why stop at radio talk-show host? Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins are never ones to shy from robust debate.

In my case, I simply observe that if one were to cherry pick evidence to suit one's proposition, we can argue till the cows come home and never come to agreement. Secular experiments at social organisation have come and gone. China's Cultural Revolution comes to mind, as does the American Dream (which, going by last season's Occupation movement, I might be tempted to believe is more a nightmare than a dream).

The evils of religious fundamentalism are easily matched by the horrors of secular totalitarianism. Why condemn one and conveniently forget the other?

The plain fact is that, no matter how benign the original intention, good ideas often go bad. Confucian principles are about as secular as they come. Confucius loved the customs and rituals of the "ancients" not because he was a stickler for tradition, but because he saw in them examples by which others could live by, even as he tried to set a personal example for his students. Yet those who followed him eventually turned his teachings into a quasi-religion, a means to justify an emperor's mandate to lord it over all-under-heaven.

In other words, it's the people, not the idea. To me, that has been clear for a very long while. But the message, it seems, just doesn't get drummed home often enough. I would much prefer to celebrate the good things that ideology or religion share, like the principles of non-violent protest, for example, from the Buddha to Christ to Gandhi and to Aung San Suu Kyi.

We are awash in a sea of mediocrity, but we manage the best we can.

That, quite simply, is about being human.

[Haak]

We now have flying cars:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17626818

[GDB]

I'd call it a road-sized plane moreso than a flying car.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

<snip>

Good morning mister. Just as you posted that, I was about to ask you about a certain article titled "Believers are winning against Atheists" on mypaper.

Couldn't find the online version to post that.

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

looks like SH's effort paid off. I wonder who he contacted in the Chinese gov't?

The CCP has my backing for this.