It's Virginia Tech all over again! Florida attorney Jack Thompson has appeared on Fox News this morning as a "School Shooting Expert", blaming 27-year-old sociology grad Steven Kazmierczak's rampage yesterday at Northern Illinois University on - you guessed it - video games like Counter-Strike. Kazmierczak, identified only this morning, walked onto a lecture hall stage dressed in black and opened fire on a crowded science class, killing six students before taking his own life. As always, no evidence has been found linking Kazmierczak to video games, Counter-Strike or otherwise, but Thompson never let a lack of evidence keep him from shooting off his mouth. I imagine his ears perk up like a dog hearing its master's voice the moment a terrible tragedy like this occurs. We're currently looking into Kazmierczak to see if there is any sort of video game connection. We'll keep you posted.
UPDATE: Here is the video of Jack's appearance, in which he comlpetely ignores the interviewer's question and goes on an anti-gaming tirade.
We'll admit it, we've been teases this week. Two forbidden diesels and nary a whisper of fuel economy. Well, today you get the goods. We aren't going to give you the standard "this is what we got in the city and this is what we got on the highway" spiel, because you can find that anywhere. Officially, the Civic does about 41/56, Q7 does 19/21. Booorrr-ing. What we're going to do is hypermile these cars. Although, much like Jack Nicholson in
A Few Good Men, we're not sure you can handle the truth. To be perfectly honest, we were shocked ourselves. Shocked and giddy, like a bunch of little girls splashing around in a pool of glistening diesel. Before you click through and watch the video, we need to lay down some facts. What we did can be repeated by anyone. There were no tricks, no cheats. Hell, we didn't even make that much of an effort. The footage you're about to enjoy isn't necessarily exciting, but from an engineering standpoint, it's smack-you-in-the-mouth amazing.
Water for $42 per bottle. What is wrong with people!?
I've never understood people's fuss over the water they drink when they go to hotels, let alone their willingness to pay for what is otherwise free in most western countries. When I'm out in cities where you can drink tap water, that's what I ask for; when I have to buy mineral water, I ask for the cheapest.
Water is water is water. Having said that, I agree that sometimes the taste is distinct. For example, here in Madrid, mineral water
Bezoya and
Aquafina taste strange to me; I will drink them if I have to, but I avoid buying those brands -- I don't like water that tastes like something (it's not supposed to taste like anything!), but otherwise I'm not fussed. The whole "tap water isn't good for you" conundrum doesn't phase me in any way.
It totally ruffles my feathers when I go to a posh hotel and people I go with actually have a preference of mineral water, so I would go absolutely bonkers if I went to
Claridge's Luxury Hotel in London and was given a water menu with 30 international brands to choose from.
30!
According to a recent article in the
BBC:
For the most refined palette there is fine artesian water from Japan at $30 a bottle and $40 a bottle, or Mahaolo from Hawaii, described on the menu as "rare deep sea water" that is "very old." And Just Born Spring Drops from India is apparently "light and not aggressive," at $42 per bottle.WHAT!? THAT'S MORE EXPENSIVE THAN A GOOD BOTTLE OF WINE! And this stuff sells?
"We wouldn't do this if there wasn't a demand for it," says the hotel's public relations manager. Apparently guests not only ask for berg or glacial water, but water with no sodium content or water fortified with calcium and magnesium; they even specify the region from where they want the water! "People are so very, very careful about what they eat these days that it's moved into water."
Have I completely lost perspective here or do you find this as absurd as I do?
China to ban horror movies in order to create more balanced culture.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has added ghosts, monsters and other things that go bump in the night to its list of banned video and audio content in an intensified crackdown ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
Producers have around three weeks to look through their tapes for "horror" and report it to authorities, the General Administration of Press and Publications said in a statement posted on the government Web site.
Offending content included "wronged spirits and violent ghosts, monsters, demons, and other inhuman portrayals, strange and supernatural storytelling for the sole purpose of seeking terror and horror," the administration said.
The new guidelines aim to "control and cleanse the negative effect these items have on society, and to prevent horror, violent, cruel publications from entering the market through official channels and to protect adolescents' psychological health."
The regulations suggest China, where graphic, pirated sex and horror movies are available on most street corners, is keen to step up its control of the cultural arena ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August, which are widely seen as a coming-out party for the rising political and economic power.
They come just weeks after Beijing clamped down on "vulgar" video and audio content, slapped restrictions on Internet sites and handed down a two-year film-making ban to the team behind the steamy "Lost in Beijing."
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