- Hopefully I’m not the only one who is saddened by the fact that 1968 Olympics hero Tommie Smith is reportedly selling the gold medal he won at the Games because he needs the money. Smith, the American sprinter who won the 200 meters at the 1968 Games but was then expelled from the Games along with bronze medalist John Carlos when they bowed their heads during "The Star-Spangled Banner" and raised their black-gloved fists in protest, is putting his medal and spikes from the race up for auction at New York-based M.I.T. Memorabilia. Smith and Carlos truly stunned the world with their Black Power salute on the podium and in an era when that sort of display was unheard of, the two men went instant legend whether you agreed with their mission or not. Smith, now 66 years old and living in Georgia, has refused to comment on the auction, but M.I.T.'s Gary Zimet says Smith is selling the medal for the money, but also because he wants to share it with the public. The latter part of that sounds like Zimet trying to cover for a legendary athlete who has fallen on hard times and is in need of some quick cash. Ironically, the Black Power salute is all that people remember about the 200-meter race at the 1968 Games, forgetting that Smith won the 200 in world-record time. Staging a human rights protest on the biggest sporting stage there is tends to have that effect. Should you have a quarter of a million dollars or so in spare cash lying around, you can bid on the medal in between now and Nov. 4, when the auction officially closes. Actually, bidding starts at $250,000 and you can bet there are plenty of bored, rich people, er, um, fans of social dissidence out there who would love to own Smith’s medal and spikes, so plan on chipping off closer to half a mil if you want to land this piece of history. And hope that your money isn’t going to a man selling the most valuable thing he owns because life has robbed him of all of his cash and left him scraping to get by………..
- Been looking for that ridiculously overpriced, gaudy cell phone that screams, “I’m better than you and don’t you ever forget it, peasant”? If so, today is your day because Stuart Hughes, the British jeweler known for his tricked-out replicas of popular gadgets and toys, has come up with a diamond-clad iPhone 4 that sports a price tag of 5 million pounds, or roughly $8 million. The bezel (border of the phone around the screen itself) is hand-crafted and contains approximately 500 individual flawless diamonds that total more than 100 carats. But wait…..there’s more. There are 53 more diamonds on the back and when you flip the phone back over to the front, you can enjoy the platinum navigation button topped off with a single cut 7.4 carat pink diamond. Should you want one of these pretentious phones, but advised to act quickly because Hughes will only make two of them because, you know, rich people only want unique, rare items that none of their other rich friends have, things that set them apart from the world even more than their palpable arrogance and condescending visage already do. Of course, buying this phone does raise the obvious question of where the frak you’re going to take it or even store it. You really need a top-notch safe while at home and a personal security detail to roll with it in public. Also, how panicked are you going to be when you misplace the phone in your 7,000-square-foot mansion and are running around frantically trying to find it? On second thought, I’m glad I have neither the wealth nor the pretentiousness to own this sort of in-your-face demonstration of wealth masquerading as a smartphone……….
- Bill O’Reilly is an a-hole. We all know it. He knows it and admits it. He says and does outrageous and asinine things to draw attention to his far-right-wing agenda, so why is anyone remotely surprised that he said and did inflammatory things during an appearance on ABC’s daytime chick-fest known as The View? Two of the show’s loud, obnoxious hosts - bawdy comediennes Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg - took offense to O’Reilly’s blanket condemnation of “Muslims” attacking America on Sept.11, as opposed to phrasing it as “Muslim extremists.” The two past-their-prime funny ladies stormed off the set, which is ironic because to the best of my knowledge, neither of them are Muslim. Behar addressed the spat on her Headline News channel show later in the day by saying, “I thought he was saying something that I construe as hate speech, frankly.” O’Reilly used his own show, The Pompous Ass Hat Windbag Hour, er, The O’Reilly Factor, to put forth his own point of view on the fracas. He referred to it as a “fiery debate” in the show’s “Talking Points Memo” segment and replayed footage of the scene, then later explained his condescending remarks to Behar. “Listen to me because you’ll learn,” O’Reilly said, “She was yapping, so I had to get her attention…. I am often offensive, I think everyone knows that.” His rant also included this gem: “No one I know wants to insult Muslims, but many are tired of the political correctness surrounding the 9/11 attack.” His example: “Did we say, in World War II, ‘We were attacked by “Japanese extremists”? [...] No: we said we were attacked by ‘Japanese.’” What, don’t want to channel Bill Parcells during his infamous chat about trick plays in football and go with an “Orientals” blast? O’Reilly found support in his rantings and ravings from conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham, who also took a run at The View. “Who gave Joy Behar the badge [of] speech police officer?” Ingraham asked before labeling Goldberg’s and Behar’s counterarguments as “an attempt to intimidate others.” Right, because who isn’t intimidated by an old white lady and a dreadlocked, past-her-prime black comedienne shouting angrily and an arrogant, smug, loud-mouthed, rich old white dude whose sole purpose in life is berating cameraman and production assistants for malfunctioning teleprompters and/or offending people with his extremist viewpoints……….
- Another day, another threat of commencing World War III from that kook Kim Jong Il and his North Korean government. The latest threat from the consensus No. 1 pick in everyone’s fascist dictator fantasy league draft came Friday as North Korea restated its threat to attack South Korea over anti-Pyongyang leaflets being sent into the country. Really, the tension originated several months ago with the sinking of a South Korean warship and subsequent allegations that the North was responsible, but this latest round of smack talking is fanning those flames. The practice of using balloons to launch leaflets condemning the maniacal K.J. Il is nothing new, as activist groups have long employed the tactic to push their own propaganda across the heavily fortified border. And of course, the North views it as an official South Korean psychological campaign to undermine and ultimately topple its totalitarian regime. In retaliation for the balloon launches, North Korea threw down a warning during military talks with South Korea last month that it might fire artillery at sites the activists use to launch the balloons. Right, because that’s a rational and sensible response. How about installing a giant, 5,000-foot-high net at the border or maybe throwing up some ginormous spikes on which to impale the balloons before they can reach your impressionable citizens. Or hey, while you’re eagerly awaiting your chance to start our next world war, how’s about having your military use the balloons are target practice and hand out awards and medals for the soldiers who shoot down the most balloons? The South isn’t exactly helping calm tensions, as South Korean Defence Minister Kim Tae-young warned earlier this month that the military would immediately resume full-scale propaganda activities against North Korea in the event of any new provocations by its neighbors to the north. So far, those efforts have been limited to radio broadcasts that have been airing since the sinking of a South Korean warship in March that killed 46 sailors. As you would expect, North's military denounced the comments as a declaration of a war against North Korea. "If the South side does not halt ... broadcasting and the scattering of anti-(North Korean) leaflets, it will never be able to escape the KPA's physical strikes at the broadcasting means and leaflet-scattering centers," the North's military said, repping its self-administered hande of the Korean People's Army. Those words are something of a mixed message given that the North has also made noise about reviving peace talks between the two nations. Then again, Pyongyang did throw a diplomatic fit over South Korea staging naval drills with the U.S., Australia and Japan this week. For some odd reason, the North believes these exercises are practice for a future invasion of its borders. Right, because occupying your hole of a country is exactly what we want and need at this point. Nice to know that was can always count on your for this sort of irrational nonsense, North Korea………
- Wow, color me shocked. A laptop went up in flames? When every laptop in the history of computing has felt like it’s about to burn a hole right through the user’s legs, how can anyone be stunned if their lapper goes up in flames? So to Boston College senior Kevin Howard, whose Dell laptop went up in flames Wednesday afternoon at the school’s O'Neill Library…..sorry bro, but you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong computer. First of all, get a Mac. They run hot like every other lapper, but they’re better computers and thus less likely to burst into flames. Secondly, who goes to the library anyhow? I think I’ve set foot in my college’s library less than five times in my entire life and that includes visiting a sibling there before I went to the school. Still, my few trips to the library would have been a lot more interesting had someone’s laptop erupted in a ball of fire while I was searching for some obscure book or sifting through the microfiche collection. "I was just surfing the net and all of a sudden it started smoking and liquid started spewing out," said Howard. "I kind of jumped back, stood up and unplugged the laptop, and then everybody was kind of looking at me.” His pal David Lavander was with Howard at the library and saw the scene unfold. "I looked up and I saw smoke coming out of Kevin's computer, and he just looked at me with these wide eyes," Lavander recalled. As it turned out, the smoke and liquids of various color and viscosity pouring out of the machine were just the start of the show. "The bottom of the laptop was just melted off, and then I got a little closer and all of a sudden it just exploded and I felt heat on my face and jumped right back," Howard explained. The library was evacuated and the Newton Fire Department arrived on the scene put the kibosh on what had to be one of the weirdest fires to which they’ve ever been called. As for Howard, he chose not to dwell on the loss of his second-rate computer and instead accentuated the positive. "They told me I was lucky I didn't go blind. I was just basically thinking, I'm glad this wasn't on my lap when this happened," he said of the firefighters. Visitors to the library can still see the table where the meltdown occurred and view the blackened circle in the center. Dell has promised to investigate the incident and released what sounds like a very sincere statement about the situation: "Dell takes the safety of its customers and the quality of its products very seriously and anytime there is a problem with one of our products, we obviously want to know about it to determine the cause and whether it's an isolated incident." The company also plans to contact Howard and determine what the issue was with his specific computer. Well, other than it being a piece of crap, of course……..
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