Why A Fake Article Titled "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs?" Was Accepted By 17 Medical Journals

Why A Fake Article Titled "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs?" Was Accepted By 17 Medical Journals
Excerpt:

Shrime decided to see how easy it would be to publish an article. So he made one up. Like, he literally made one up. He did it using www.randomtextgenerator.com. The article is entitled "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs?" and its authors are the venerable Pinkerton A. LeBrain and Orson Welles. The subtitle reads: "The surgical and neoplastic role of cacao extract in breakfast cereals." Shrime submitted it to 37 journals over two weeks and, so far, 17 of them have accepted it. (They have not "published" it, but say they will as soon as Shrime pays the $500. This is often referred to as a "processing fee." Shrime has no plans to pay them.)

Comment: Image source

Finding Elizabeth Gallagher

Canadian man finds woman with ex-girlfriend's name for free trip around the world

Excerpt:

A Toronto man who made headlines last month by offering a free round-the-world air ticket to a woman with the same name as his ex-girlfriend has found Ms. Right. Jordan Axani, 28, and his then girlfriend, named Elizabeth Gallagher, booked heavily discounted round-the-world air tickets in May, but their relationship ended and he didn't want her ticket to go to waste. The ticket had a strict no-transfer policy, but since passport information was not required when booking, it can be used by any Canadian named Elizabeth Gallagher. Axani posted his offer last month on the popular Reddit social media website, and received thousands of emails, including 18 from actual Elizabeth Gallaghers with Canadian passports. He's now chosen his travel mate, Elizabeth Quinn Gallagher, a 23-year-old student and part-time office administrator from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. "It's strictly a platonic trip. It's going to be great," Axani said. At first the new Elizabeth Gallagher thought a trip with a stranger whose ex-girlfriend's name is the same as hers was "crazy" but she hit it off with Axani after talking on the phone with him for hours. "It definitely did seem a little bit creepy at the beginning but now that I talked to him it's less creepy and more awesome," she said.

Comment: Image capture from Yahoo Travel. More from Canadian News

"Calling it #EatenAlive is like having a show on the Food Network about cooking a turkey and all they do after 2 hours is preheat the oven"

Eaten Alive Viewers Outraged Man Wasn’t Actually Eaten Alive

Excerpt:

Apparently the only thing worse than promising a man will be eaten alive by an anaconda is for a man to not be eaten alive by an anaconda. Many viewers felt Discovery had pledged adventurer Paul Rosolie would be utterly consumed by an anaconda on his special Sunday night. After all, the show was called Eaten Alive and its official programming guide description told viewers that a man “enters the belly of an anaconda.” What viewers eventually saw during the two-hour special was a large anaconda attack Rosolie, coil around him, then start to eat his helmet. That’s when Rosolie had to call in his team to rescue him, saying his arm was being crushed. “I started to feel the blood drain out of my hand and I felt the bone flex, and when I got to the point where I felt like it was going to snap I had to tap out,” he said.

Comment: Image source | More

"John Wyclif" takes bullet saving FSU student

The library book that saved my life: Student shows off pages that stopped gunman's bullets

Excerpt:

A student believes a book he was carrying in his back pack saved his life during a shooting at a Florida State University library. Three people were wounded in the attack by gunman Myron May, a lawyer and school alumnus, who opened fire at 12.30am on Thursday morning. He was then shot dead by police outside of the Stozier library which was full of students studying for their exams. Jason Derfuss was walking out of the building when he was shot in the back. However he did not know he had been hit until his roommate emptied his bag at home. He found bullet holes in two of the books he had checked out just minutes before the rampage.

Comment: The book John Wyclif (Great Medieval Thinkers). My wife is a FSU grad.

Entrepreneur Barbie: If I really wanted to "piss off" my daughter ...

Why ‘Entrepreneur Barbie’ is another miss for Mattel

Excerpt:

Silicon Valley Barbie is finally here! Mattel is rolling out a new line of ‘Entrepreneur’ Barbie dolls, adding to a resume of various careers fashion model to astronaut, veterinarian, firefighter, and fitness instructor. It’s understandable why Mattel wants to push another line of Barbies from a business perspective, but the question remains if this will be (1) a profitable move, and (2) a good way to encourage young girls to get into the business world. Danielle Hughes, founder and CEO of Divine Capital Markets (which is a WBENC certified Woman-Owned firm), isn’t a fan. "Barbie sales have been decreasing, it's an opportunity for them to try this out, but i just think it's going to fall flat," she says in the attached clip. "It just hits the wrong note." The message being sent is what bothers Hughes the most. “Is it the right message to take a doll who’s always been a fashion icon with unbelievable measurements and then stick a cellphone and tablet in her hand and say ‘oh, she’s CEO Barbie’? I don’t think so.”

Comment: (In 2nd year of MBA at M.I.T. majoring in entrepreneurial finance and now doing internship at major investment bank in San Francisco.) Entrepreneurial Barbie also available in black, asian, and hispanic models!

Yawn

About a guy who seems to think I am someone important (which I am not) and has misrepresented me: His comment in this post of his ...

Excerpt:

To All: Sharper Iron (SI) posted a Filing today on the Woman Preaching at NIU. As one could expect, Aaron Blumer and Jim Peet create ways to allow for and legitimize NIU having a woman preaching in chapel. One example reminds one of Dave Doran's Second Defintion for "Separation" in Academic Contexts teaching to essentially escape the force of Scripture. Peet wrote, "NIU is not a church." Blumer wrote, "Is a Bible college a church?" Both Blumer and Peet reject that this was a chapel preaching service, to instead as Blumer calls it, "address the organization...inspiring lecture." No surprise here from the pseudo- fundamentalist SI.

Comment: My full comments are here. On NIU ... never been there. I am neither a defender nor a critic. Outside of my orbit of interest.  Been close once. Wanted to go there when K and I drove around Lake Superior but we mapped it out and it was hours away. On the man and his comments about me. He has a serious inferiority complex. I mentioned him once before on my blog. On pseudo-fundamentalism (I'm not even sure what that means ... but see this link for my entire view on "prefixes"). Image is a cat yawning. Source.. Having had many cats ... a cat yawning and a cat about to cough up a hairball ... look very much alike! Just saying!

Phlogiston, Miasma, Orgone, and Alkahest

Best Discredited Substances

Comment: Pick one ... work on the pronunciation ... attempt to use in a sentence at work ... report back.

Available wiki articles:

• Phlogiston theory
  
• Miasma theory
  
• Orgone (image source)
  
• Alkahest
  

Extreme Wart-Off

'Didn't expect' to lose finger, says man who shot off wart
British man attempts surgery with shotgun after dealing with painful blemish for years

Excerpts:

In a move that seems fitting of the Wild West, rather than modern England, the security guard fortified himself with a healthy dose of the local anaesthetic — in lager form, naturally — stretched out his left hand, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

Unfortunately for Murphy, the blast had collateral damage. According to The Telegraph, it blew off nearly the entire middle finger on his left hand


...

Defending the at-home surgery, Murphy's lawyer, Richard Haigh, told the Telegraph that Murphy had been "a victim of his own stupidity when domestic pressures got to him."

Despite all the trouble he caused, Murphy stood by his decision, telling the Yorkshire Post: "The best thing is that the wart has gone. It was giving me a lot of trouble."

Comment: I hope this guy never gets a head ache! A picture of the brainiac is here.

"News" from The Onion? Nope?

Senator questions benefits to ‘adult baby’

Excerpt:

Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican and the Senate’s top waste-watcher, asked the agency’s inspector general to look into 30-year-old Stanley Thornton Jr. and his roommate, Sandra Dias, who acts as his “mother,” saying it’s not clear why they are collecting Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits instead of working.

“Given that Mr. Thornton is able to determine what is appropriate attire and actions in public, drive himself to complete errands, design and custom-make baby furniture to support a 350-pound adult and run an Internet support group, it is possible that he has been improperly collecting disability benefits for a period of time,” Mr. Coburn wrote in a letter Monday to Inspector General Patrick P. O'Carroll Jr.

The request comes at a time when members of Congress are struggling to cut budgets and weed out waste to try to bring down the staggering deficit, and comes just days after Social Security’s trustees released a grim assessment of the program’s long-term financial health.

SSI is run by Social Security and pays out benefits to aged, blind and disabled people who have little or no income.

The inspector general’s office didn’t return a message seeking comment.

In an email response to The Washington Times, Mr. Thornton threatened to kill himself if his Social Security payments are taken away, and said the television episode showing him doing woodwork oversold his abilities.

“You wanna test how damn serious I am about leaving this world, screw with my check that pays for this apartment and food. Try it. See how serious I am. I don’t care,” the California man said. “I have no problem killing myself. Take away the last thing keeping me here, and see what happens. Next time you see me on the news, it will be me in a body bag.”

Mr. Thornton was featured in early May on National Geographic Channel’s “Taboo” program along with Miss Dias, a former nurse who feeds him a bottle and otherwise attends to his needs when he is dressed in diapers.

In the episode, he shows off the adult-sized crib he built and sleeps in, and the cameras follow him to the hardware store where he buys wood for his latest do-it-yourself project — an elevated high chair that is capable of holding his ample frame.

He said he has been living at least a partial adult baby lifestyle since his teenage years, though he does wear adult clothes when he goes out, fearing embarrassment otherwise.

Comment: The guy can drive! Build his own crib! Threatens suicide if SSI is discontinued. I mean ... how can the government support him!? NOT from The Onion!

Darlie Toothpaste

Back to the Days of Blackface

Excerpt:

Of all the unfamiliar products in a Chinese supermarket, one of the most shocking to American visitors is a toothpaste featuring the logo of a minstrel singer in a top hat, flashing a white smile. Even more shocking: the paste, known as Darlie in English and as Black People Toothpaste in Chinese, is a product of the Hawley & Hazel Group, a Hong Kong–based company established in 1933, which is now owned in part by the Colgate-Palmolive Co.

Darlie used to be called Darkie. According to the book America Brushes Up: The Uses and Marketing of Toothpaste and Toothbrushes in the Twentieth Century, the CEO of Hawley & Hazel saw blackface performer Al Jolson in the U.S. and thought, “Jolson’s wide smile and bright teeth would make an excellent toothpaste logo.” He was right: the firm now claims to be one of the market leaders of toothpaste products in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia.

Comment: Weird!

Ménage à trois? No big deal, "I also stole a honey bun from a store when I was 7 or 8 "

Pastor who banned Facebook had three-way sex affair

Excerpts:

The Rev. Cedric Miller didn't need Facebook to be part of an extramarital affair.

Miller, 48, who gained national attention this week when the pastor banned his church's leaders from using Facebook because he said it is a portal to infidelity, had himself engaged in a three-way relationship with his wife and a man a decade ago, according to testimony he gave in a criminal case.

Miller, pastor of the 1,100-member Living Word Christian Fellowship Church on Route 35, admitted in his testimony to a sexual relationship that included his wife and a church assistant. Sometimes the assistant's wife was present, he testified.

...

"It has come to my attention that a very painful part of my past has resurfaced,'' Miller said in an e-mail response Friday, stating that the same testimony was mailed to his church leaders and other pastors a number of years ago.

"This was resolved at that time and accordingly we will not allow it to detract from our mission at hand to save as many marriages as we can,'' Miller wrote.

In his testimony on April 15, 2003, Miller said his wife had an extramarital affair with a church assistant and that he (Miller) said he was present at many of their meetings. And sometimes the assistant's wife was present, Miller said.

"We would talk and laugh and play and just beyond what was appropriate,'' he testified.

Pressed by a defense lawyer to give more detail about what Miller meant by saying "we had crossed the line many times,'' the pastor said: "I mean between the four of us. It was just, I mean there was touching, there was … it was crazy, it was as wrong as wrong could get. Yes.''

"Okay, it was sex, correct?'' the lawyer asked.

"Yes,'' Miller said.

"And you knew about it.''

"Yes.''

"And you watched it.''

"Yes,'' Miller said.

"And you knew your wife was engaging in this freely and voluntarily. Correct?''

"Yes.''

"And it happened many, many times?''

"Yes.''

...

He testified that the encounters "came to a crashing halt'' when several women in the church accused the assistant of sleeping with them.

"My wife found out about it and she just wanted nothing to do with what was going on with us,'' Miller testified. "And I didn't know what it was for awhile. And it wasn't till, as the other women came out publicly, that's when I found out about it. So, at first I didn't know why she just didn't want any part of it.''

In his e-mail on Friday, Miller said: "There are some very innocent people who could be hurt irreparably by the revisiting of this incident.

"I also stole a honey bun from a store when I was 7 or 8 which I was also reminded of,'' he said.

Comments: Previous article Rev. To NJ Church Leaders: Thou Shalt Not Facebook

Another illustration of the abysmally low standards for Pastoral leadership in some churches.

You don't see these every day!

Woman Brings Fake $10,000 Bill to Mass. Bank

Excerpt:

A $10,000 bill? The staff at a Massachusetts bank just wasn't buying it.

The suspicious staffers quickly determined that the bill a woman brought into the Lowell bank was a fake.

Michael Gallagher, risk management director at Enterprise Bank, tells The Sun of Lowell that it is believed there are only about 300 $10,000 bills left, and most are in the hands of collectors.

The bank called police, who in turn notified the U.S. Secret Service, the agency that investigates counterfeiting.

Comments: Wiki with images: Large denominations of United States currency. The largest bill I've ever seen is a $ 100. A couple of times a year my neighbor gives me a $ 50 (I mow her grass and plow her driveway! (By the way ... not required! What a dear neighbor I have!)).

Just "a little over the top"

Woman cited for indecent exposure in Moorhead

Excerpt:

A woman wearing whipped cream and not much else has been cited for incedent exposure at a Walgreens in downtown Moorhead.

The Forum of Fargo reports that police say the 37-year-old Moorhead woman walked into the store about 5:45 p.m. Sunday wearing on a thong, pasties, a "partial" towel and whipped cream.

Police Lt. Tory Jacobson tells the newspaper the woman told police she was a "free thinker" who was trying to attract attention and encourage people to defy society's norms.

A bystander called police and gave the woman a blanket to cover herself.

Jacobson says the woman later conceded her actions might have been "a little over the top." Police gave her a ticket and took her home.

Comment: Image is cover art of Whipped Cream & Other Delights (1965) (which happens to be one of my favorite Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass albums)

Cableland's oddities

Denver Aims to Sell Home Too Odd to Be the Mayor’s

Excerpts:

12-foot fire pole in the master bedroom, the 88 television sets and the retro tanning bed ...

... portraits of barely clad women in the bathroom, personal notes from Gerald R. Ford and John F. Kennedy adorning the walls and a pink baby grand piano ...

Comment: I agree with this assessment

“I used to joke that he was a man for whom money was no object and pleasure was the only object,” said Mr. Hickenlooper, whose wife vowed that she would sooner live in the county jail after staying a weekend at the Cableland mansion with their young son.

Official site: Cableland. Streeview

Pink Dots

Seeing Is Believing...or is it?

Comment: Sent to me from Powers Payton

“Attention - Drunks”

Romanian street sign warns drivers of 'drunk pedestrians'

Excerpt:

Officials in Pecica, a village town about 13 miles from the Hungarian border in the country’s west, ordered the bright red signs, complete with the phrase “Attention - Drunks”.

Comment: Weird

Mother admits: "he may have terroristic tendencies"

Comment: Our government hard at work ... patting down 8 year olds! Read full story for the title quote in the correct context!

Meet Mikey, 8: U.S. Has Him on Watch List

Excerpt:

“Up your arms, down your arms, up your crotch — someone is patting your 8-year-old down like he’s a criminal,” Mrs. Hicks recounted. “A terrorist can blow his underwear up and they don’t catch him. But my 8-year-old can’t walk through security without being frisked.”

It is true that Mikey is not on the federal government’s “no-fly” list, which includes about 2,500 people, less than 10 percent of them from the United States. But his name appears to be among some 13,500 on the larger “selectee” list, which sets off a high level of security screening.

At some point, someone named Michael Hicks made the Department of Homeland Security suspicious, and little Mikey is still paying the price. (His father, also named Michael Hicks, was stopped for the first time on the Bahamas trip.)

Both lists are maintained by the Terrorist Screening Center, which includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They are given to the Transportation Security Administration, which in turn sends them to the airlines.

Full quote from Mother: "I understand the need for security, But this is ridiculous. It’s quite clear that he is 8 years old, and while he may have terroristic tendencies at home, he does not have those on a plane."

"after a year of disagreements"

A Church Divided just Days Before the Church is left in Ashes

Excerpt:

A church is left in ashes after a year of disagreements and a major disturbance during the pastor election on Wednesday night September 30.

Reverend Claiborne Gibbons was elected pastor of Edwards Community Missionary Baptist Church just over a year ago, which is when the disagreements began.

“Some of them tried to vote me out and they kept trying to vote again,” Reverend Gibbons said, “I don’t believe in fighting because it’s the Lord’s house so I had to get order in the church.”

During the pastor election Wednesday night, a man allegedly stood up behind the pulpit while Reverend Gibbons was preaching to the church and tried to start a disturbance.

A second man stood up, told him to calm down and said he was out of order.

At this point the dispute went from verbal to physical.

“One of the men grabbed him and said that he was out of order,” said Reverend Gibbons, “The other man said if you grab me again then I will shoot you.”

A woman in the congregation allegedly began having a seizure and paramedics were called to the scene along with law enforcement.

Reverend Gibbons said the man who allegedly made threats left the church before law enforcement arrived on the scene.

Three days later, the church burned to the ground.

Comment: Claiborne Tennessee

Pigeon-Net

Pigeon beats Internet firm in data transfer race

Excerpt:

A South African company on Wednesday proved it was faster to transmit data by carrier pigeon than to send it using the country's leading internet service provider.

Local news agency SAPA reported the 11-month-old pigeon, Winston, took one hour and eight minutes to fly the 50 miles from Unlimited IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban with a data card strapped to its leg.

Including downloading, the transfer took two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds — the time it took for only four percent of the data to be transferred using a line provided by Telkom.

SAPA said Unlimited IT performed the stunt after becoming frustrated with slow internet transmission times.

The company has 11 call centers around the country and regularly sends data to its other branches.

Comment: I'm thankful for Comcast!

A frog in the Pepsi

FDA says residue is frog or toad; how did it get in Pepsi can?

Excerpt:

The "disgusting" blob that Fred DeNegri's wife says she poured out of his Diet Pepsi can was probably a gutted frog or toad, the Food and Drug Administration said.

DeNegri was grilling in his backyard tiki bar in Ormond Beach, Florida, when he popped open a can of Diet Pepsi, took a big gulp and started gagging, his wife, Amy, said.

He emptied out the can down a sink but something heavy remained inside. His wife took over and shook the can over a paper plate until something resembling "pink linguini" slid out, followed by "dark stuff," Amy DeNegri said.

"It was disgusting," said Amy DeNegri, 55. "And now, what started out as a normal afternoon in our tiki bar has blown up into this crazy thing."

The DeNegris took pictures before calling poison control and the FDA, which showed up the next day to examine the can in question and collect it for lab testing.

The couple received a copy of the completed report last week from the Food and Drug Administration Office of Regulatory Affairs, which concluded the foreign matter appeared to be a frog or a toad.

"The animal was lacking internal organs normally found in the abdominal and thoracic cavity," the report notes.

Comment: My guess is that it was NOT introduced at the plant. Something else is going on here!