We're in the shit now. Beer no longer recession-proof.

People thought the video game industry was recession-proof. Well, they were wrong as shit about that one. Game studios have been closing down left and right and larger developers and publishers have been trimming jobs in the tunes of hundreds.

According to FiveThirtyEight.com, which gained national prominence for being incredibly accurate in its guess of the 2008 Presidential Election (actually being the most accurate to a nearly uncanny degree), beer sales are declining. Beyond just being very politically savvy, FiveThirtyEight.com obviously has good taste. As they ponder some of the reason's for the decline, they make note and mention of both ThreeFloyd's Alpha King and of famed Maryland brewery, Dogfish Head. And not just mention, but hotlinks as well. Huzzah! While I prefer ThreeFloyd's Robert The Bruce scotch ale, Alpha King is a damn good beer for any hop-lover.

Beer, it seems, is no longer what's for dinner.

The chart that follows details the quarterly change in alcohol purchased for home consumption, adjusted for inflation and dating all the way back to 1959. We can compare this against the quarterly change in real GDP:









As you can see, there has generally not been much of a relationship between alcohol purchases and changes in GDP -- the correlation is essentially zero. Nor have alcohol purchases historically been any kind of lagging or leading indicator.

But something was very, very different in the fourth quarter of 2008. Sales of alcohol for off-premises consumption were down by 9.3 percent from the previous quarter, according to the Commerce Department. This is absolutely unprecedented: the largest previous drop had been just 3.7 percent, between the third and fourth quarters of 1991.

Beer accounts for almost all of the decrease, with revenues off by almost 14 percent. Wine and spirits were much more stable, with sales volumes declining by 1.6 percent and 0.9 percent respectively.

Now, there are several plausible explanations for this. Alcohol sales -- but particularly beer -- had been on something of a hot streak prior to the 4Q, so perhaps there was some reversion to the mean. Perhaps people are substituting Michelob and Coors for more expensive microbrews like Alpha King and Dogfish Head. (This is unpatriotic, by the way, since all the macrobrews are now owned by foreign-based multinational conglomerates. Stimulate your country -- and your tastebuds!).

Perhaps retailers are discounting their prices, or brewers are passing along cost savings to their consumers (there had been a hops shortage for much of 2007-08). All of these are probably factors to some extent or another.

Nevertheless, it's absolutely startling to see a major consumer staple experience a sales decline like this.
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FiveThiryEight also notes that both gambling and jewelry/watches are down too, but I couldn't care less about that. I don't wear jewelry nor watches, as the societal norm of wearing a watch on your left wrist feels awkward against my nerve-deadened scar (which basically feels like permanent local anaesthesia), and Virginia doesn't have gambling. And, no, the lotto doesn't count. I mean good, fun gambling, like blackjack and poker.

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Famed atheist, Christopher Hitchens, beaten in Lebanon.

Found this on Andrew Sullivan's delightful blog, and thought I'd go ahead a repost it here. Seems that Christopher Hitchens, famed drunken atheist and writer of God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything was roughed up some thugs outside of a watering hole in Lebanon. I agree with Sullivan that it could have been worse. Much worse.

For those that don't know, the SSNP is a radical nationalist organization, previously tightly linked to Baathist party. In short, they're basically Syrian fascists.

At the invitation of Hariri-Saudi group, Hitchens is visiting Lebanon. A source sent me this: "I dont know if you find this as news worthy or not, but Christopher Hitchens is currently in Beirut sponsored by the same group that owns that crap NOW Lebanon. He got in a few nights ago and surprisingly went out drinking. On his way out of the bar he saw an SSNP poster and wrote on it "Fuck the SSNP". There just happened to be some SSNP thugs near by--most likely asking people for their ID, and most likely to no avail--and saw him write on the poster and kicked his ass. He is still walking with a limp."
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"Surprisingly"? Come on, this is Hitchens we're talking about. I don't think I've ever seen an interview where he didn't have scotch in hand or just within hands reach. Of course he's going to go out for a drink!

This story has now been confirmed. Look, it's widely known that since the May 2008 events the SSNP guys have behaved like thugs in Hamra (where the ass-kicking took place). But seriously, would you roll into East L.A. and start writing over gang signs? I mean, is that smart? C'mon, Brother Hitchens, we're rootin' for you, but have a little walkin' around sense. He was probably at De Prague. Where the wait staff is, like, 90% SSNP. Abu Muqawama's Top Three West Beirut Watering Holes: 1. Barometre (cheap arak, great fattoush); 2. Captain's Cabin; 3. Danny's. (In response to a reader, the great Chez Andre closed sometime a little over a year ago. That hole-in-the-wall was great.)
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NY noping to stymie rise of DIY medical treatment.

Think you could set your own broken bone? That's what some of the millions of uninsured people in America end up doing when they need medical care.

I can personally attest to as to why you should not do this, but obviously some people have to resort to this kind of thing when they can't afford the hospital bills or don't have insurance. And the numbers of those people is most lively increasing in these hardened economic times. At least, it certainly is getting talked about more often.

They borrow leftover prescription drugs from friends, attempt to self-diagnose ailments online, stretch their diabetes and asthma medicines for as long as possible and set their own broken bones. When emergencies strike, they rarely can afford the bills that follow.

“My first reaction was to start laughing — I just kept saying, ‘No way, no way,’ ” Alanna Boyd, a 28-year-old receptionist, recalled of the $17,398 — including $13 for the use of a television — that she was charged after spending 46 hours in October at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan with diverticulitis, a digestive illness. “I could have gone to a major university for a year. Instead, I went to the hospital for two days.”

In the parlance of the health care industry, Ms. Boyd, whose case remains unresolved, is among the “young invincibles” — people in their 20s who shun insurance either because their age makes them feel invulnerable or because expensive policies are out of reach. Young adults are the nation’s largest group of uninsured — there were 13.2 million of them nationally in 2007, or 29 percent, according to the latest figures from the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit research group in New York.

Gov. David A. Paterson of New York has proposed allowing parents to claim these young adults as dependents for insurance purposes up to age 29, as more than two dozen other states have done in the past decade. Community Catalyst, a Boston-based health care consumer advocacy group, released a report this month urging states to ease eligibility requirements to allow adult children access to their parents’ coverage.
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The consumerist has a bit of good advice for those seeking insurance.

The good news is that by joining a group like Freelancer's Union you can get access to affordable health care, provided your industry meets the eligibility requirements. It's certainly better than the alternative, putting a $17,000 hospital bill on credit cards, or tying a split with one hand while turning the pages of a battlefield medic manual with the other.
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Seems the problem is, you got 35 pounds of pot cloggin' up your tank.

35 pounds of pot. That's a lot of cheeba. Especially to be found, just by chance, hidden away in your newly bought car's gas tank. The real kicker is that this car wasn't bought at a police auction, which occasionally does sell confiscated cars which have not always had all the drugs located and removed. Just remember, if you want o increase the likelihood of your bought used car containing a hidden stash of drugs, buy from police and federal confiscation auctions. The downside is, you might wind up with a stash of something that you want nothing to do with, such as heroin. But, hey, that's the way the dice roll.

A man who brought his newly bought car in to see why the gas gauge always read half full got quite a surprise: a stash of marijuana hidden inside.

A mechanic in Sandy who took a look at the gas tank discovered about 35 pounds of pot, which Sandy police say is worth about $35,000. The packages of drugs were wrapped in plastic and could have been in the tank for several months.

The Nissan Armada had several different owners and was once a rental car. Police are trying to figure out who stashed the drugs in the tank. Police say the current owner is not a suspect.
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Poor, poor Alfie. This shit is going to turn the kid celibate for life.

It seemed that the other boys who came forward to say they also knocked boots with Chantelle Stedman, the 15-year old British girl who was (supposedly) knocked up by, then 12-years old, Alfie Patten, were only seeking some media attention at their 15 minutes in the spotlight. As to why someone would want to be made infamous for that, I don't know, but people are weird, stupid beasts.

Anyways, it turns out that it may actually have been Chantelle's parents that originally wanted the 15 minutes of scorn, I mean, "fame."

A friend of the family of a 15-year-old British teen, who recently gave birth and claimed a 13-year-old boy was the father, claims the boy was scammed by his girlfriend's parents who wanted to cash in on the sensational story, the Daily Mail reports.

Clive Sim, 39, a close friend of Chantelle Stedman's parents, says they forced their daughter to keep quiet about the other boys she had slept with in order to make some money off the media attention given to Alfie Patten, who looks much younger than his 13 years.

It has been suggested that there may be as many as six other potential fathers to Stedman's newborn daughter, Maisie, although Stedman is said to be distraught by the allegations, the Daily Mail reported.

Patten has requested a paternity test in order to prove that he is the father, according to the Daily Mail.

"It's all pretty sordid," the Mail quotes Sim. "Alfie may not be an angel and nor is Chantelle. But at the end of the day they are only children and it is the adults around them making bad decisions based on money, not their welfare."
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Well, good on the 13-year old's part that he's getting a paternity test. If all of this turns to be the truth, that Chantelle's parents did cook up this scheme, I hope they are arrested. It may suck for the 15-year old girl to be placed into foster care, but no matter how bad foster care is, it'd be a much better choice than staying with her parents. What kind of twisted fucks knowingly and willingly let a carnival parade of young boys come in to bang away at their daughter? Six, yes SIX different boys might be the father. That makes me wonder how many other boys probably aren't the father.

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"Success! And now the child doesn't want to swear!"

Remember that scene in South Park: Bigger Longer, and Uncut where Cartman has the V-Chip device that shocks him whenever he cusses? A new type of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder treatment might seem eerily similar, but it's actually rather different. It doesn't deliver a shock to prevent these behaviors, instead it delivers a steady stream of impulses to the brain, targeting at quelling abnormal brain signals.

Personally, I wonder about something like this. We don't actually know that much about the brain, and I can't help but wonder what types of complications and side effects may occur. Still, the FDA has approved it, so you know it's safe, right? Oh... wait. Never mind.

Patients suffering from obsessive, distressing thoughts have a new treatment option: a pacemaker-like device that relieves anxiety with electrical jolts to the brain.

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved Medtronic's Reclaim Deep Brain Stimulator device as the first implant to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder, which causes uncontrollable worries, such as fear of germs or dirt.

Patients suffering from the disorder try to relieve their anxiety with obsessive behavior, such as washing their hands or checking locks repeatedly.

"These are obtrusive thoughts that take control of people's lives to the point that they lose their jobs, can't have relationships and in many cases, can't even leave their homes," said Dr. Hooman Azmi of Hackensack University Medical Center.

While about 2.2 million Americans have the disorder, the new device would only be available to a small group of patients who don't respond to other treatments, such as antidepressant drugs and therapy.

The FDA approved the device under a program reserved for conditions that effect fewer than 4,000 people each year.

The FDA's director for devices stressed that Reclaim provides some relief, but patients likely will have to continue taking medications as well.

"Reclaim is not a cure," Dr. Daniel Schultz said in a statement. "Individual results will vary and patients implanted with the device are likely to continue to have some mild to moderate impairment."

Shaped like a pacemaker, the Reclaim device is implanted under the skin of the chest and then connected to four electrodes in the brain. The electrodes deliver steady pulses of electricity that block abnormal brain signals.

Similar devices have been used since the 1990s to treat movement disorders like Parkinson's disease and tremors. But where prior devices target areas of the brain that deal with movement, Medtronic said its product delivers electrical signals to areas that control mood and anxiety.

"What deep brain stimulation does is modulate those circuits that we believe are hyperactive in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder," said Paul Stypulkowski, the company's senior director of research.

Medtronic Inc., the world's largest medical device maker, also is studying the use of the technology in patients with severe depression.

In 2005, rival Cyberonics became the first company to win FDA approval for a device to treat depression. However, the company's Vagus Nerve Stimulator has been plagued by questions of effectiveness.

Members of Congress and consumer watchdog groups campaigned against the Cyberonics device, citing research that some patients who have received it had worsening depression. A number of insurers, including the government's Medicare program, have refused to pay for the device in depression patients.

Medtronic representatives point out that their technology differs from that used by Houston-based Cyberonics, which delivers an electrical signal to nerves in the neck. Medtronic's devices stimulate the brain directly.
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Sub Pop article on CNN Money? Yep. Sub Pop's still going strong.

I was pretty shocked to see an article about Sub Pop on CNN. Let alone a business article about the indie label. It is a pretty interesting read, especially where they talk about how Nirvana is what has essentially kept the label afloat, and not just because of sales from Bleach.

By any reasonable standard, Sub Pop should no longer be in business.

The iconic label, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2008, made its name nearly two decades ago with such classic albums as Nirvana's Bleach and Mudhoney's Superfuzz Bigmuff, but its brand of off-kilter, rib cagerattling independent rock eventually fell out of vogue.

Yet despite self-destructive impulses and changing trends in the music scene, Sub Pop survives. The company declines to disclose revenues but says 2008 was a good year, with a surge in digital sales (which now account for 37% of its business) and strong releases from both the Seattle band Fleet Foxes and the HBO-connected Flight of the Conchords.

In 1988, Jonathan Poneman and Bruce Pavitt quit their day jobs (Poneman at Kinko's, Pavitt at Muzak) and joined forces to parlay Pavitt's underground music compilations into a real record company. Thanks to local bands like Mudhoney and Nirvana, Sub Pop had an auspicious launch. Within two years, annual sales volume grew from a few hundred records to tens of thousands.

But as Megan Jasper, a Sub Pop receptionist at the time, recalls, "The problem was that you didn't have businesspeople working there. It was all music lovers. And people who love music aren't necessarily great at running a business."

Mudhoney singer Mark Arm adds, "We were all just making stuff up on the spot."

The label nearly tanked, but it survived with some unexpected help from Cobain and Co. When Nirvana left for big-league Geffen Records in 1991, Sub Pop was awarded points, or a percentage of sales, on the group's Geffen albums, resulting in millions of dollars in new revenue. Sales of Bleach, Nirvana's only Sub Pop album, skyrocketed; to date the company has moved 1.7 million CDs, a massive number for any indie release. In 1995, at the height of the grunge era, the Warner Music Group (WMG) paid $20 million for a 49% stake in Sub Pop.

Now playing in the big leagues, Poneman overspent on recording budgets and videos, squandering Sub Pop's good fortune. Early this decade, however, business began to improve. Sub Pop released buzz-worthy debut albums by The Shins and The Postal Service, while Poneman built a leaner, meaner organization.

"We try to make our money go as far as it possibly can," says Jasper, who returned to Sub Pop in 1998 and is now executive vice president. There are 27 employees, down from as many as 60 in past years, and the label makes a profit of about $5 a CD.

"It sounds obvious," Poneman reflects, "but it took some tricky navigation to get us back to our original mission: putting out great records by great artists. We felt like we'd become music impresarios, when in fact we were just dirtbags from Seattle."
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Bristol Palin agrees that "abstinence only" education is unrelastic.

Abstinence-only sex eduction is a completely idiotic idea. Bristol gets it, why can't Sarah?

In her first interview since giving birth, the teenage daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said having a child is not "glamorous," and that telling young people to be abstinent is "not realistic at all."

"It's just, like, I'm not living for myself anymore. It's, like, for another person, so it's different," Bristol Palin told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren. "And just you're up all night. And it's not glamorous at all," she said. "Like, your whole priorities change after having a baby."

The 18-year-old, who gave birth in late December, said she is being helped tremendously by her mother, grandmother, cousins and other family members. She is engaged to teen father Levi Johnston, who is now working for his father and trying to complete school, but said she wishes that she waited another 10 years to have a baby.

[...]

an Susteren was delicate with the teenager but pointedly asked if "contraception is an issue here."

"Is that something that you were just lazy about or not interested, or do you have philosophical or religious opposition to it," Van Susteren asked.

Bristol quickly answered that she didn't want to get into specifics. The best option is abstinence, the teen said, but added that she didn't think that was "realistic."

[...]

The network interview was Bristol's idea, the teen said. And she apparently sprung the news to her parents that she was going to speak publicly the day before the network taping. The teen said she wanted to tell her story so that other young people might think twice about having sex.

"I'd love to [be] an advocate to prevent teen pregnancy because it's not, like, a situation that you would want to strive for, I guess," Bristol said.
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And... that's where you lose me. So, Bristol thinks that abstinence is completely unrealistic, but she wants to advocate not having sex instead of use of contraception? What the hell? She's directly contradicting herself. Obviously this kid still has a lot on her mind, but make a choice. You can't reasonably say that abstinence doesn't work, but that is what people need to follow. You're basically saying that the best way is to follow a failed strategy.

Obviously, she has a lot of other things on her mind, but I suggest that, if she is serious about being a teen pregnancy prevention advocate, she think long and hard about the role of proper access to contraception.

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Say what? I couldn't hear you through my 10 inch ear hair.

He may look like a freak, but at least he got a Guinness World Record out of it. Radhakant Baijpai, of Uttar Pradesh, India, has some massive ear chops. Or locks, or whatever.

Radhakant Baijpai has no intention of ever cutting the hair in his ears, which he has been growing since he was 18-years-old.

In fact, the Indian grocer, 58, has let his hair grow so long, it measures 9.8 inches in each ear. He was recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the longest ear hair in 2003, London’s Daily Mail reported Tuesday.

Baijpai, who lives in Uttar Pradesh, India, said he considers the long ear hair a sign of luck and prosperity.

Baijpai’s wife did not always think her husband’s look was sexy, he said.

“She has always been asking me to cut my ear hair, but since the official record was confirmed by Guinness, she has allowed me to keep it because it is a source of pride to me,” said Baijpai, who uses an herbal shampoo to clean the hair.

Baijpai said his son, who is 25, has started growing out his ear hair.

Although everyone has some amount of ear hair, lengthy hair such as Baijpai’s is often the result of genetics.
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I love how he has normally trimmed hair on his head, but has those weird werewolf-like tufts jutting out of his ears. But, hey, if he thinks it brings luck and prosperity, more power to him.

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Paranoid Palin having a rough time back in Alaska.

MSNBC had a pretty big piece about Palin, detailing hoe she is being perceived back in her home state of Alaska. I'm not going to post the whole thing, but there some really great tidbits. Mostly, it seems that Palin has become paranoid about media scrutiny. It also goes into how other legislators are reacting to her new-found socially ultra-conservative mantle.

A couple of weeks before the Alaska legislature began this year's session, a bipartisan group of state senators on a retreat a few hours from here invited Gov. Sarah Palin to join them. Accompanied by a retinue of advisers, she took a seat at one end of a conference table and listened passively as Gary Stevens, the president of the Alaska Senate, a former college history professor and a low-key Republican with a reputation for congeniality, expressed delight at her presence.

Would the governor, a smiling Stevens asked, like to share some of her plans and proposals for the coming legislative session?

Palin looked around the room and paused, according to several senators present. "I feel like you guys are always trying to put me on the spot," she said finally, as the room became silent.

Gone was the self-assurance that Alaska had come to know in its young Republican governor, well before her life and career were transformed by Sen. John McCain's selection of her as his vice presidential running mate. "She looked ill at ease, more defensive than we've been accustomed to seeing her," said one legislator who was there and spoke on the condition of anonymity because he said he might need to work with Palin.

Personally, I see this as a good thing. Palin came across as an obnoxious twit. Her attitude and bravado smacked of high-school elitism, and it didn't help that she obviously didn't really understand the issues that she talked about. It's one thing to be self-confident and to have the knowledge to back that confidence up. It is another to be arrogant and cocky, masking one's complete lack of understanding the fundamentals of an issue.

While her once sky-high job approval ratings in her home state have dropped a little, Palin is still liked by more than 60 percent of the Alaskan electorate, the sort of number that most politicians can only dream about. Still, the anonymous sniping that portrayed her during the campaign as a flighty and demanding running mate continues to resonate with some legislators. Among both Republicans and Democrats, the view persists that she and those closest to her have overstepped their authority on occasion.

Most recently, her appointed state attorney general, Talis Colberg, attempted to block subpoenas issued by the legislature to Palin administration officials during an investigation of "Troopergate" -- an inquiry into a string of events that began with Palin's effort to have her sister's ex-husband dismissed from his job as a state trooper. Colberg's moves culminated with his resignation last week.

[...]

Early in her term, her staunchest allies on state ethics reform and pivotal energy issues included several liberal Democrats. Alaska's current House Democratic leader, Beth Kerttula, joined Palin in successfully arguing for the adoption of a controversial oil tax increase that the industry resisted. "She was . . . completely a pragmatist," Kerttula recalls. "She knew she had to work with Democrats."

Now, two abortion-related bills that Palin had made little effort to promote have been reintroduced, and another Republican legislator has pushed for the state's adoption of a death penalty, something last seen in Alaska during its territorial days. Palin has voiced support for all three bills, but there have been no signs yet of any hard push from the governor's office.

Some Alaska Democrats and Republicans wonder whether Palin, given her new stature among social conservatives who are urging her to run for president, will feel compelled to invest more political capital in the two abortion-related measures.

If Palin does try and play to the ultra-conservative "down with evolution" crowd, then I suggest she get used to losing and being made fun. Her views might be able to fly or be viewed sympathetically in her state, but the rest of the nation regards those ideals and horrendously dense and foreboding of an onset of Dark Ages mentality towards the sciences.

Not everyone is sympathetic. "There are few political performers in her league, in her ability to draw crowds and stand in front of 10,000, 20,000 people and excite them," said one prominent GOP strategist who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "But the campaign also demonstrated that there is a lack of gravity to her that has hurt. She needs to mitigate her weaknesses. She needs to prepare more, know more. She should try to disappear for a while and be an indisputably effective governor."

Palin's greatest problems in Alaska, as in the rest of the country, seem to be with her fellow Republicans. "What did I say about her during the campaign when somebody asked me if she was qualified?" asked state Rep. John Harris, taking a moment to ponder his own question, smiling. "Oh, I said something like 'She's old enough and a registered voter.' " Another smile.

[...]

Asked how Palin deals with the perception that months of ridicule have irreversibly turned her into what one Alaskan GOP legislator calls "Dan Quayle with a ponytail," Balash confidently responds that she displays political skills that no other Republican on the national scene has shown an ability to match. "She walks into a room, and things change," he said. "She just has that 'it' -- whatever that 'it' is."
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Bangkok Dangerous isn't as deadly as advertised.

I will admit to being a sucker for Nicholas Cage films. The first if which that I can remember being Raising Arizona. As much as people try and typecast Nick Cage as a hack and star of shitty movies, when you analyze the entirety of his work, it just doesn't hold weight. He did Leaving Las Vegas, which was phenomenal. Even some of his more mediocre fare such as Matchstick Men wasn't as bad many detractors made it out to be. The guy has chops. Of course, I'm not oblivious to the complete shit-fests that he's done, like Ghostrider. Still, I'm willing to give a fair shake.

Bangkok Dangerous, for all it's positive story elements, just doesn't hold together, leaving Nick Cage's performance shallow and fundamentally underwhelming.

It's not so much that it's a bad film. It does fall prey to a lot cliches, such as washed-out and muted coloring brought on by the use of green filters. This isn't bad in itself, except the intensity in which it is applied falls flatter with the heavier applications.

The story is 100% solid. It is entertaining, but may be considered slow for those looking for a pure action film. While I don't want to delve into specifics, it involves the cliche of the seasoned veteran assassin compromising the values that have kept him safe. This includes teaching his ways to a young upstart, as well as falling in love with a random girl he meets by pure happenstance. Naturally, these things cannot go well, and all of these actions are predicated on this mission (well, series of missions) being his last before he cashes in and retires. There are some good scenes, but the whole underlying plot is incredibly shallow and feels like something that an old NES game would be built off of rather than a AAA feature film.

The main problem with the film lies specifically in Nick Cage. He comes across as a character we've seen way too many times before with nothing at all new to bring to the table. Which could be fine, except that his performance is just very underwhelming. When he's is supposed to be jaded he looks mildly miffed, when he's supposed to be angry he only looks annoyed. It is as if Cage is purposefully notching down the emotions of his character. In the end, it just comes across as Cage "doing another job", which is what his character, but not he himself, is supposed to be doing. Towards the latter part of the film the character springs a little bit more to life, but by this time you're either committed to seeing the film through to the end or have already stopped watching. By the finale, the film is simply flaccid and so run dry that it leaves little to no impact.

The directions is "by the books" and there's not much to really talk about. Nothing phenomenal nor nothing truly detracting. It's a solid enough job, but it leaves you wishing there was at least some kind of flair or a sense of unique style. Actually, there a scant few scenes that do leave you on the edge of your seat, but they are too few and to far between. The action scenes are well done, at least for a film that is meant to be more suspense-spy oriented, but the sometime deviate into almost Bond-like over the top bits that quickly slink back into the range of stealth assassin. At times the time-line seemingly jerks quickly and you're left with a void of character development and interaction that can be detracting, but is eventually made up elsewhere. It leaves these montages, unfortunately, ringing hollow. However, when the scenes do work, they work incredibly well and are rather invigorating. Which is good, but during the down moments, it rings all too hollow. This is rung especially true during the final moments of the film where it leaves the viewer feeling as if the writers and director didn't know where to go, so they thought to do a cheap rip off of The Professional, but it winds up completely lacking the emotional depth and backstory that made Jean Reno's performance so memorable.

In the end, Bangkok Dangerous isn't a bad film, but not a good one. I can't see myself ever actually buying the film, though I do think it is decent enough for a rental. Much the same way as Wesley Snipe's Rising Sun was worth a rental, but worthy of mocking if actually purchased for repeated viewing. If you don't hate Nick Cage and you're okay with slow-paced sniper/action movies, you won't be horribly disappointed. However, if you're trying to compare this to something high caliber (pun intended) like The Professional, you will be horribly let down by this cheap knockoff.

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"Wha? This no karaoke!?"

Oh, Japan. Even though your finance minister shows up drunk, we still love you. In fact, we love you long time.

Japan's finance minister abruptly resigned Tuesday over allegations he made a drunken appearance at a G-7 news conference, shaking Prime Minister Taro Aso's already deeply unpopular government.

Nakagawa has been under fire over allegations he appeared to be drunk at a news conference following the G-7 finance ministers meeting in Rome over the weekend. TV footage showed him slurring his speech and looking drowsy and confused.

Nakagawa has said he took cold medicine, which, along with jet lag, made him groggy.
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Ah, yes. The "cold medicine" made him act all loopy. We get ya. *wink, wink* It's okay, dude. Those meetings must be boring as shit. I would sneak some grog in too. Though, not if I was going to have to give a speech.

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Prepare for anti-Obama spin on Mohammad al-Awfi.

According to late breaking news, Abu Hareth Muhammad al-Awfi was apprehended by Yemen officials. Abu Hareth Muhammad al-Awfi was a responsible for an attack on US embassy. Look for FOX News and other conservative bullshitters to spin this as a direct result of Obama closing Guantanamo Bay. The problem wiht that is, it simply isn't true.

Hit the jump for the posts.

Yemen authorities have arrested and extradited a Saudi man who rejoined al Qaeda after he was released from the U.S. military's detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Yemen's embassy in the United States announced the arrest of Mohammad al-Awfi on Tuesday. Its state-run news agency reported Wednesday that al-Awfi has been extradited to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia recently asked for Interpol's help in apprehending al-Awfi and 84 other wanted al Qaeda suspects. It was a rare admission by the kingdom that some of its most wanted terrorists are on the loose, and it needs help in finding them.

Al-Awfi goes by several names, including Mazin Salih Musaid Awfi, Abu Hareth Awfi, and Muhammad Ateeq Uwaidh al-Aufi.

Last month, he appeared in a video along with another Guantanamo detainee, Saeed Shihri, who is believed to have been responsible for an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Yemen that killed nearly a dozen people last September.

The attack came barely a year after both men were released from Guantanamo to the custody of Saudi Arabia. Shihri is one of al Qaeda's top leaders in Yemen, and al-Awfi is the group's field commander.

Interpol issued a rare global security alert for the men last week. Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said it was the first time the international police organization has "been asked to alert the world about so many dangerous fugitives at one time."

President Obama last month ordered the Guantanamo detention facility closed within a year. Where the almost 250 detainees now in Guantanamo will be moved to has not been determined.
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Delightfully vague as to when Muhammad al-Awfi's release was, no?

Al-Qaeda video includes former Guantánamo inmates

A video has been released by a Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda showing two former inmates of Guantánamo Bay identifying themselves by their names and detainee numbers. Said Ali al-Shihri and Abu Hareth Muhammad al-Awfi were both released from the prison camp in November 2007 and went on to a Saudi Arabian rehabilitation program for jihadists which, according to the Saudi government, has provided a model for other programs. Until now, none of the program graduates had returned to terrorism. It has been confirmed that Ali al-Shihri is now deputy leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen, and it is thought that he took part in the fatal attack on the country's American embassy in September 2008. This news could have an impact on the US government's decision to close Guantánamo Bay, as Obama announced his desire for the facility to be shut within the next year,
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Now, if Obama does fuck up, I want to know about it. I think we all do. We should know when our president fucks up. But this is going to get spun to high heaven as Obama closing Gitmo and terrorists being let loose amongst the populace at large, only to attack us again. And it simply isn't true.

Looking at the Open Democracy report, it is plainly obvious that the administration that released Muhammad al-Awfi was none other than the Bush administration. In November 2007. So, if you see anyone trying to pin this as "see what Obama's doing? He's releasing terrorists!" go ahead and correct them.

Muhammad al-Awfi was released under president Bush's administration back in 2007. Still, don't expect things like "facts" to get in the way of people like Dick Morris, Sean Hsnnity, and Rush Limbaugh. They'll be spinning this and lying their asses off as much as they possibly can.

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Apparently, Muhammad al-Awfi has a Wikipedia page. Seriously. Check it out.

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Drunk man gets shit-ton of money. Jurors are fucking morons.

I don't... Honestly... I can't... This is... FUCK!

This is why trial by jury is fucking stupid. A trial by your "peers" who are made up of fucking complete morons is absolute bullshit. Sure, trial by a jury of your peers sounds great, but it's not. It is so horrendously flawed that the entire concept is beyond just bullshit and falls into the dumb beyond fucking belief category. Proof?

A Brooklyn man who was drunk when he fell into the path of a subway train and lost part of his leg has been awarded $2.3 million by a jury.

Dustin Dibble has admitted that he was so drunk he doesn't even remember the incident at the Union Square subway station in April 2006.

But Dibble's lawyer argued in court that the motorman had time to stop the train when he saw the 25-year-old lying on the tracks 180 feet away — and the jury agreed, assigning most of the blame to New York City Transit.
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Obviously, none of these fucking retards understands how a train works. HINT: It's a big fucking heavy piece of equipment that takes a lot of time to slow down, let alone stop.

Fuck do I hate the shit out of society.

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UPDATE: Facebook turns about-face on ToU changes.

Seems that facebook has changed its mind about their addition. This wasn't done altruistically, either. It was done after a lot of pissed off people got, well, really pissed off. And who could blame them. Despite saying that they would never ever, ever do anything shady with anyone's content, they eventually felt it necessary to revers their update.

After the jump are the stages of anger, pleading, and finally reconciliation.

ANGER

Tens of thousands of Facebook users are protesting new policies that they say grant the social-networking site the ability to control their information forever, even after they cancel their accounts.

Facebook's new terms of use, updated Feb. 4, largely went unnoticed until the popular consumer rights advocacy blog Consumerist.com pointed out the changes Sunday.

That prompted a clarification from Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, although the new terms remain in force. Zuckerberg told users in a blog post Monday that "on Facebook, people own their information and control who they share it with."
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PLEADING

Just trust us.

That's what Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the estimated 175 million users of his social-networking Web site Monday afternoon after the company had stepped into yet another bad-publicity mess of its own creation.

Basically, Zuckerberg told Facebook devotees that he'd never, ever do anything bad with their posted content — even though the user agreement says he's perfectly entitled to do so.

"The trust you place in us as a safe place to share information is the most important part of what makes Facebook work," he wrote in a reassuring-sounding message on the official Facebook blog. "Our goal is to build great products and to communicate clearly to help people share more information in this trusted environment."
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RECONCILIATION

Under fire from tens of thousands of users, the social networking site Facebook said early Wednesday it is reverting to its old policy on user information -- for now.

The site posted a brief message on users' home pages that said it was returning to its previous "Terms of Use" policy "while we resolve the issues that people have raised."
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Producer who fought Islamic stereotypes commits stereotypical Islamic killing.

This isn't mean to be amusing, but oh the irony of it all! A producer who started an Islamic TV station with the intent of battling Islamic stereotypes becomes, himself, a horrendous stereotype of Islamic psychopaths. Not to say all Muslims are crazy, like this guy is, but the typical fear-mongering image of hard-lined Islamic followers beheading or otherwise killing their wives, termed "honor killings", is a fairly common theme. It was, after all, the central premise of the very infamous Law & Order: SVU episode, Honor.

The founder of an Islamic television station in upstate New York aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes has confessed to beheading his wife, authorities said.

Muzzammil Hassan was charged with second-degree murder after police found the decapitated body of his wife, Aasiya Hassan, at the Bridges TV station in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, said Andrew Benz, Orchard Park's police chief.

Hassan was arrested Thursday.

His wife filed for divorce January 6, and police had responded to several domestic violence calls at the couple's home, Benz said.

Hassan went directly to the police station after his wife's death and confessed to killing her, Benz told CNN. Benz declined to give further details.

Attempts to reach an attorney for Hassan were unsuccessful, and his family didn't return calls from CNN.

He had two children, 4 and 6, with his wife. He had two other children, 17 and 18, from his previous marriage.

He launched Bridges TV, billed as the first English-language cable channel targeting Muslims inside the United States, in 2004. At the time, Hassan said he hoped the network would balance negative portrayals of Muslims following the attacks of September 11, 2001.

The station's staff is "deeply shocked and saddened by the murder of Aasiya Hassan and the subsequent arrest of Muzzammil Hassan," a statement from Bridges TV said.

"Our deepest condolences and prayers go out to the families of the victim," the statement said.
- Source

On a different, but somewhat related note, Bil Maher's Religulous comes out on DVD tomorrow, the 17th. Pick up a copy and mock the types of religious fundamentalist assholes that are so much like Mr. Hassan. And to continue with Bill Maher plugs, Real Time with Bill Maher begins airing again Feb. 20th. Catch it on HBO or look on your favorite torrent site.

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You're fucking FIRED, dumbass!

Oh, Donald Trump. You love to talk a lot of shit, act tough, and pretend like you're some super savvy business prodigy, but in reality you're an idiotic hack who has repeatedly lost billions. Remember when you tried to trademark the phrase, "you're fired"? Yeah, that was funny because it fell flat on its face. And now, Trump, you're going bankrupt. Again. For the third time. You are FIRED, you bloviating fucktard! Try and trademark that.

Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc, Donald Trump's casino group, is expected to file Tuesday for bankruptcy, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The company's board was scheduled to meet late Monday night to decide whether to authorize the filing, the newspaper reported in its online edition. Otherwise, the casino operator would be forced into bankruptcy involuntarily by creditors, the newspaper said.

Such a filing would mark the third appearance in bankruptcy court for Trump Entertainment, which most recently emerged from bankruptcy proceedings in 2005, the newspaper said.
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Oh, and your casinos fucking suck balls.

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Israel really doesn't get it, do they?

Why is it that Palestinians fire rockets into Israel? Is it because they're a bunch of crazy assholes, as Israel claims? Or is it because they're legitimately pissed that they aren't a recognized nation and because Israel keeps going back on their word to occupy more land? Honestly, I think it's a nice mixture of the two. And if Israel thinks that their recent action isn't going to draw more rocket fire, they're just as fucking crazy.

Plans to expand a West Bank settlement by up to 2,500 homes drew Palestinian condemnation Monday and presented an early test for President Barack Obama, whose Mideast envoy is well known for opposing such construction.

Israel opened the way for possible expansion of the Efrat settlement by taking control of a nearby West Bank hill of 423 acres. The rocky plot was recently designated state land and is part of a master plan that envisions the settlement growing from 9,000 to 30,000 residents, Efrat Mayor Oded Revivi said.

Israeli officials said any new construction would require several years more of planning and stages of approval.
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That's great. So, they do a land-grab, plan to build there, and then sit on it for several months to possibly a year or more? Makes me wonder how much more land they will illegally grab, like what was exposed when word leaked of their secret settlement database.

A classified database of construction compiled by the ministry was leaked to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

It suggests most construction took place without the right permits, and more than 30 settlements were built in part on land owned by Palestinians.

Settlements are a contentious issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The defence ministry has not commented on the report, which appears to contradict Israel's official position that it does not requisition private land for settlements.

The internationally-backed "road map" peace plan also calls on Israel to halt all settlement activity.

The database - compiled over about two years - was leaked to Haaretz by the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din.

It focuses not only on some 100 unauthorised settler outposts, but also on about 120 settlements officially authorised since Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

An analysis of the data shows a big majority - about 75% - of construction in settlements was carried out without the right permit or in contravention of permits issued, Haaretz reported.

In more than 30 settlements, buildings including schools, synagogues and police stations, had been built on private Palestinian land.

The newspaper said Defence Minister Ehud Barak blocked publication of the data, arguing it could endanger state security or harm Israel's foreign relations.
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Yeah, I would think that intentionally, knowingly, and secretly violating peace accords would strain foreign relations. Zionist reclamation detractors will argue that such views are fundamentally anti-Semitic, which is bullshit. I don't care if you're fucking Hindu, this kind of action makes you a dick. Why is the US still giving aid to Israel?

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Begala takes the piss out of stimulus detractors.

There's been much bally-hooing by the GOP over the recent stimulus package put forth by Obama. The GOP apparently just plans to sit there, thumbs firmly affixed up their asses, and shout, "no, no, no, no, no..." until the economy slides down the shitter some more. Then they'll pop right up and proclaim, in a chorus, "see! I told ya so!"

Seesm that the recent grandstanding has really hit a nerve with Paul Begala, and he squarely takes aim at South Carolina Governor, Mark Sanford.

Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina took umbrage at my writing that his approach to the economic crisis is to do nothing. I'll deal with his "ideas" in a moment, but first let me make a modest proposal:

If Republican politicians are so deeply opposed to President Obama's economic recovery plan, they should refuse to take the money. After all, if you think all that federal spending is damaging, there are easy ways to reduce it: Don't take federal money.

Gov. Sanford can lead the way. South Carolina should decline to accept any federal funds for transportation, education, health care, clean energy or any of the other ideas President Obama is advocating to fix the economy. And the rest of the GOP can follow suit.

Justice Louis Brandeis famously called states "laboratories of democracy." So let's experiment. Gov. Sanford can be the guinea pig. His Palmetto State already gets $1.35 back from Washington for every dollar it pays in federal taxes, according to 2005 numbers, the latest calculated by the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit tax research group.

South Carolina is a ward of the federal government. It's been on welfare for years. If Gov. Sanford is so all-fired opposed to federal spending, let's start by cutting federal spending in South Carolina. Otherwise, he's got about as much credibility on fiscal conservatism as A-Rod has on steroids.

Under the Bush-Sanford economic theories, South Carolina's unemployment rate has reached 9.5 percent -- among the highest in the nation. But if Gov. Sanford wants to continue those policies, good luck to him.

Make no mistake about it, Republicans like Gov. Sanford want to go back to the bad old days of George W. Bush. In his CNN.com column, Gov. Sanford expends 605 words attacking President Obama's plan to turn the country around after eight years of Bush-Republican-Sanford economics.

That is his right, but attacking President Obama's plan is not itself an alternative plan. Nor is dredging up hoary old gripes about the New Deal. Nor, indeed, is deriding neighborhood electric vehicles -- which create jobs, save money and reduce pollution -- as "streamlined golf carts." But that is what Gov. Sanford offers us. iReport.com: Share your thoughts on the stimulus plan

Then Gov. Sanford turns to his ideas (keep in mind he was responding to my charge that he favors doing nothing). He devotes precisely one half of one sentence to his plan to save the world economy; 24 words that will create millions of jobs, restore liquidity to capital markets, protect investors and consumers, regenerate stagnant demand and restore the capitalist system. Here they are:

"... cutting the payroll tax, opening foreign markets through an expansion of our trade agreements, and reducing our corporate tax, which is among the highest worldwide."

Wow. As we say in the South, I've got the vapors. So cutting taxes and cutting trade deals will get us out of this mess? That's all we need to do?

We don't need to extend unemployment insurance, or update health information technology, or move to renewable energy or repair roads or rebuild bridges or modernize the power grid or prevent states and cities from laying off teachers and cops or any of the other myriad proposals in President Obama's plan?

To be sure, President Obama's plan includes tax cuts -- mostly for middle-class families. But cutting taxes on corporate profits is of little utility when there are no corporate profits to tax. And precisely with whom would Gov. Sanford cut these miraculous trade deals? In case he hasn't been watching CNN, the entire world economy is in the tank.

If cutting taxes for the rich and for big corporations and promoting foreign trade alone could energize the economy, we wouldn't be in this mess. But maybe Gov. Sanford is right. Let's keep our federal money -- give it to states where the governors will actually put it to good use. We'll let Gov. Sanford try his plan, we'll try President Obama's plan.

Something tells me Gov. Sanford won't take that gamble. Because for all his rhetoric about hating federal spending, he can't wait to get his hands on our money.
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Better soldiering through chemistry.

Some soldiers can hack it, some can't. This is often referred to as "battle sense." These soldiers are able to respond to high-stress combat situations, think clearly, and act appropriately. As to why this was, no one was specifically sure. Turns out, it's a neuro-chemical thing.

Soldiers who perform best under extreme stress have higher levels of chemicals that dampen the fear response, a finding that could lead to new drugs or training strategies to help others cope better, a U.S. researcher said.

"There are certain individuals who just don't get as stressed. Their stress hormones are actually lower," Deane Aikins of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, told reporters Sunday at the American American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Chicago.

Aikins and colleagues at Yale study stress hormone levels of soldiers undergoing survival training, which includes mock prisoner of war experiences.

Blood samples taken from soldiers in the training programs showed those who fared best under extreme stress had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and higher levels of neuropeptide y, a chemical that dampens the body's stress response.

"All of the recovery hormone systems, all of the systems that turn it down, really kick in for these resilient individuals," Aikins said.

"The question is how do you get folks who aren't as cool in stress trained up?"

Aikins and colleagues now are studying whether giving other soldiers a dose of this stress-dampening neuropeptide might help people fare better in combat situations.

He said mental training exercises such as meditation also might help improve the performance of soldiers under stress.
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So, the plan is to give soldiers experimental drugs that will help them in battle? Y'know, last time we did that, it didn't turn out so well.

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