Here we go again.
Ex-Leader of Iran Mohammad Khatami has entered his resumé for the job again, the New York Times reports. It's not surprising, since he's been talking about it for quite some time, recently saying “I never had any doubts... is it possible to be indifferent?” He will be challenging current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the spot.
People who originally supported Ahmadinejad, say that though they don't completely agree with some of the stuff he's done, they will go for him over Khatami.
Ali Motahari, a leading conservative member of Parliament, said in a newspaper interview that he would "prefer a reformed Ahmadinejad to Mr. Khatami."
The idea seems a bit ridiculous to me, and I'm sure the Iranian people must be pulling their hair out: you have two options, the guy who is in charge now, or the guy who was in charge a couple years ago.
Better yet, the guys both have the same first name, just different spellings.
I sincerely hope that a new candidate prevails. It's getting a bit redundant over there.
Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
The Media Is Dying Part I
Being a form of media, Understandable Gumdrops is frightened to find that media is dying. Fortunately, I don't pay for my blog. Yay. We stumbled upon a Twitter channel entitled The Media Is Dying. Every Saturday, from this day forward, we will point out all of the News) flavored Gumdrops that have been eaten in the last week.
This week, 24 Gumdrops:
1. The Medscape Journal of Medicine will no longer print new papers.
2. EMI cuts 1,500 jobs.
3. Indycar Magazine ceases publication.
4. The Monitor is no longer printing.
5. Three Chicago newspapers cut down on their tuesday issues.
6. Doubledown media shuts down.
7. WMFE reports more layoffs.
8. No Cal Public Broadcasting cuts budget by 15%.
9. NYT considers charging again for website.
10. Night Talk is canceled.
11. CNN "will no longer have editorial presence in the New England area."
12. Scyre ceases publishing.
13. The Weather Channel lets 4 on air people go.
14. Arizona Woman ceases publication.
15. Juicy Campus ceases publishing.
16. Walmart stops selling People Magazine.
17. Metal Edge and Metal Maniacs ceases publishing.
18. New England Property Report ceases publishing.
19. Seattle Times asks employees for 12% pay cut.
20. Healing Lifestyles and Spas is closing.
21. Financial Times scraps sports coverage.
22. Vail Sun ceases publishing.
23. The Washington Post will no longer be making freelance payments.
24. Washington Blade out of business.
This week, 24 Gumdrops:
1. The Medscape Journal of Medicine will no longer print new papers.
2. EMI cuts 1,500 jobs.
3. Indycar Magazine ceases publication.
4. The Monitor is no longer printing.
5. Three Chicago newspapers cut down on their tuesday issues.
6. Doubledown media shuts down.
7. WMFE reports more layoffs.
8. No Cal Public Broadcasting cuts budget by 15%.
9. NYT considers charging again for website.
10. Night Talk is canceled.
11. CNN "will no longer have editorial presence in the New England area."
12. Scyre ceases publishing.
13. The Weather Channel lets 4 on air people go.
14. Arizona Woman ceases publication.
15. Juicy Campus ceases publishing.
16. Walmart stops selling People Magazine.
17. Metal Edge and Metal Maniacs ceases publishing.
18. New England Property Report ceases publishing.
19. Seattle Times asks employees for 12% pay cut.
20. Healing Lifestyles and Spas is closing.
21. Financial Times scraps sports coverage.
22. Vail Sun ceases publishing.
23. The Washington Post will no longer be making freelance payments.
24. Washington Blade out of business.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Goody-Bag I
Well.
In my travels of the news today, I found no individual Gumdrop with enough flavor to write an entire entry on it. As a result, I will make what I like to call a Goody-Bag: Two separate Gumdrops put together in one post. This is the first Goody-Bag of an ongoing shipment:
1. The American Historical Review, in addition to having the most original name on the planet, has rejected an essay submitted by Stanley Kutler about the Nixon tapes. Kutler was attempting to have the tapes be more widely available, which they should be, since they're in the public domain. However, since there is no complete version of these tapes, surly because of tampering by the former President, the AHR has decided that the essay was "too narrow," meaning that they don't think there are guidelines to be used in the future, only for this specific case. My take, let these tapes be more easily reachable. Why wouldn't they be? They belong to the people. We want to listen to Nixon's sweet voice one more time.
2. Sorry folks, there isn't going to be a $20 computer for people in India. The story wasn't right. It's a $20 handheld device. Actually it's a $20 handheld device, with no screen or keypad. The story started when the financial times compared the Indian $2000 car, to what they called a $20 computer. Everyone else wondered why they didn't get the story. They wrote about it anyway. Then there was a press conference and everyone found out it wasn't even close to a computer. Tough luck India.
Have a nice day... night.
Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel
In my travels of the news today, I found no individual Gumdrop with enough flavor to write an entire entry on it. As a result, I will make what I like to call a Goody-Bag: Two separate Gumdrops put together in one post. This is the first Goody-Bag of an ongoing shipment:
1. The American Historical Review, in addition to having the most original name on the planet, has rejected an essay submitted by Stanley Kutler about the Nixon tapes. Kutler was attempting to have the tapes be more widely available, which they should be, since they're in the public domain. However, since there is no complete version of these tapes, surly because of tampering by the former President, the AHR has decided that the essay was "too narrow," meaning that they don't think there are guidelines to be used in the future, only for this specific case. My take, let these tapes be more easily reachable. Why wouldn't they be? They belong to the people. We want to listen to Nixon's sweet voice one more time.
2. Sorry folks, there isn't going to be a $20 computer for people in India. The story wasn't right. It's a $20 handheld device. Actually it's a $20 handheld device, with no screen or keypad. The story started when the financial times compared the Indian $2000 car, to what they called a $20 computer. Everyone else wondered why they didn't get the story. They wrote about it anyway. Then there was a press conference and everyone found out it wasn't even close to a computer. Tough luck India.
Have a nice day... night.
Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Phelps Follow-Up
Tough Luck.
Today, Micheal Phelps was suspended for three months by USA Swimming. They say he hasn't violated anything, but rather they wanted to "send a strong message" to him for disappointing so many people.
Kellogg has also said they will not renew their sponsorship with the 13-time Olympic gold medallist, commenting that his actions are "not consistent with the image of Kellogg."
Phelps agreed that his actions were regrettable, though he still hasn't commented on whether what he took were drugs or not. That usually means they were.
I have three comments:
1: It's not a big deal, people. It's better than cigarettes.
2: Kellogg came up with Snap, Crackle, and Pop. Someone had to be high to come up with those guys.
3: USA Swimming has to come up with a better name.
Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel
Today, Micheal Phelps was suspended for three months by USA Swimming. They say he hasn't violated anything, but rather they wanted to "send a strong message" to him for disappointing so many people.
Kellogg has also said they will not renew their sponsorship with the 13-time Olympic gold medallist, commenting that his actions are "not consistent with the image of Kellogg."
Phelps agreed that his actions were regrettable, though he still hasn't commented on whether what he took were drugs or not. That usually means they were.
I have three comments:
1: It's not a big deal, people. It's better than cigarettes.
2: Kellogg came up with Snap, Crackle, and Pop. Someone had to be high to come up with those guys.
3: USA Swimming has to come up with a better name.
Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Micheal Phelps: People with bigger lung capacity have more fun
Start Training.
So Micheal Phelps has twice the lung capacity of a typical human. 12 liters for Phelps, 6 for everyone else. To his benefit, this extra lung capacity theoretically means he would hold his breath under water twice as long as the typical human. That's pretty useful when you're a swimmer. In addition to being really cool, this little Fact flavored Gumdrop does cause some people to have some pretty interesting questions.
Here's one:
With all that breathing room, can he get more high than a normal person when he takes a hit from a bong like he was recently pictured doing?
Well let's take a look. Smoke from Marijuana is inhaled through the lungs. More lung capacity means more smoke. More smoke means more high. Case closed.
A problem for Micheal is that studies have shown that Marijuana that is smoked does actually decrease your lung capacity. This could be a problem for Phelps because of his world champion swimmer status. He needs more lung capacity to... well, be under water so much without letting being out of breath trouble him. Therefore, it's probably not the best idea for him to smoke pot anymore, if he wants to win more gold metals in 2012. Sucks for him.
Fortunately, there's pot brownies.
Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel
So Micheal Phelps has twice the lung capacity of a typical human. 12 liters for Phelps, 6 for everyone else. To his benefit, this extra lung capacity theoretically means he would hold his breath under water twice as long as the typical human. That's pretty useful when you're a swimmer. In addition to being really cool, this little Fact flavored Gumdrop does cause some people to have some pretty interesting questions.
Here's one:
With all that breathing room, can he get more high than a normal person when he takes a hit from a bong like he was recently pictured doing?
Well let's take a look. Smoke from Marijuana is inhaled through the lungs. More lung capacity means more smoke. More smoke means more high. Case closed.
A problem for Micheal is that studies have shown that Marijuana that is smoked does actually decrease your lung capacity. This could be a problem for Phelps because of his world champion swimmer status. He needs more lung capacity to... well, be under water so much without letting being out of breath trouble him. Therefore, it's probably not the best idea for him to smoke pot anymore, if he wants to win more gold metals in 2012. Sucks for him.
Fortunately, there's pot brownies.
Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Obama Apologizes
It's true,
Barack Obama is a smart person. So when two of his major appointees turned out to be tax evaders, he apologized. Did he need to? No. He shouldn't have to apologize for someone else's problems.
Was it the right thing to do? Yes. The American people need to see that Obama is going to take responsibility for mistakes, rather than say they weren't mistakes (wonder what Bush II is doing right now...).
Why bother apologizing for mistakes that aren't his? Because some people are going to blame him for this: he chose them, it's his fault. Guess nobody cares about being qualified anymore.
Let's take a look at what some news flavored gumdrops had to say about it:
NBC: Two tax evading appointees is something the people in the administration "have to take responsibility for."
No. It's not their fault. They didn't know these were going to end up being a couple bad Gumdrops. Or maybe they did, but didn't care because they were the best people for the job. That's not why he had to apologize.
ABC: It's been an embarrassing day for the administration.
Sure it has. Makes them look sloppy. The tone of ABC, however, was more along the lines of "that sucks for Obama," rather than "you suck Obama." I agree.
Fox: Obama needs to learn that we don't have two sets of rules -- one for prominent people and one for ordinary people."
So because the people they chose made some bad choices and therefore they stepped down, Obama thinks he's better than us... do these guys ever make sense?
All in all, Obama did the right thing, though he shouldn't have had to do it.
I'm still disappointed he hasn't saved the world yet. It's been like, 2 weeks already. Get going already.
Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel
Barack Obama is a smart person. So when two of his major appointees turned out to be tax evaders, he apologized. Did he need to? No. He shouldn't have to apologize for someone else's problems.
Was it the right thing to do? Yes. The American people need to see that Obama is going to take responsibility for mistakes, rather than say they weren't mistakes (wonder what Bush II is doing right now...).
Why bother apologizing for mistakes that aren't his? Because some people are going to blame him for this: he chose them, it's his fault. Guess nobody cares about being qualified anymore.
Let's take a look at what some news flavored gumdrops had to say about it:
NBC: Two tax evading appointees is something the people in the administration "have to take responsibility for."
No. It's not their fault. They didn't know these were going to end up being a couple bad Gumdrops. Or maybe they did, but didn't care because they were the best people for the job. That's not why he had to apologize.
ABC: It's been an embarrassing day for the administration.
Sure it has. Makes them look sloppy. The tone of ABC, however, was more along the lines of "that sucks for Obama," rather than "you suck Obama." I agree.
Fox: Obama needs to learn that we don't have two sets of rules -- one for prominent people and one for ordinary people."
So because the people they chose made some bad choices and therefore they stepped down, Obama thinks he's better than us... do these guys ever make sense?
All in all, Obama did the right thing, though he shouldn't have had to do it.
I'm still disappointed he hasn't saved the world yet. It's been like, 2 weeks already. Get going already.
Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel
Monday, February 2, 2009
Iran Launches First Satellite
Be excited,
Iran has officially launched its first domestically built satellite, the BBC reports.
Iranian Prime Minister Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says it's for peace, as it was sent off on the 30th anniversary of the Iranian civil war.
The U.S. says it's for pinpointing targets with the nuclear weapons we think they're building.
Iran says the they're not building nuclear weapons.
The U.S. say they don't believe them.
I say we shouldn't get too freaked out about Iran, and try and negotiate a peace agreement with them, or at least put something in order so we can supervise their nuclear work a bit.
I also say sending what looks to be a giant missile into space is a bad way to promote peace.
Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel
Iran has officially launched its first domestically built satellite, the BBC reports.
Iranian Prime Minister Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says it's for peace, as it was sent off on the 30th anniversary of the Iranian civil war.
The U.S. says it's for pinpointing targets with the nuclear weapons we think they're building.
Iran says the they're not building nuclear weapons.
The U.S. say they don't believe them.
I say we shouldn't get too freaked out about Iran, and try and negotiate a peace agreement with them, or at least put something in order so we can supervise their nuclear work a bit.
I also say sending what looks to be a giant missile into space is a bad way to promote peace.
Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel
Super Bowl XLIII
OK,
Despite being someone who generally doesn't care at all about football, I still manage to watch the Super Bowl most years. That said, I typically have high expectations for the game since it's supposed to be the best, right? Well in my experience, it seems like this:
If you've seen one football game, you've seen them all.
Let me give you the rundown of what I see in every football game I see.
1: The guy kicks the ball off, and the other player runs with it. Everybody starts getting really excited at this point and starts yelling. This makes you think that something special is happening, so you get excited. Then the guy running gets tackled at the 25 yard line. It's very anticlimactic.
2: They run at each other a while, and sometimes someone gets past the other guys, and scores. Hooray.
3: They go into halftime. All football scores are huge so it always seems really close. A bunch of middle aged balding guys shout at each other, even though they all agree.
3A: In the Super Bowl there's the half time show. Typically the people performing used to be good, and you're surprised that they're still okay.
4: The second half starts. It's just like the first half until the end, lets say the last five minutes. The scores are close. The announcers voices are starting to go coarse because they've been yelling at each other for such a long time.
5: One team scores, and they get really excited because they were losing and now they're winning with only a minute left.
6: The team that's losing is really good all of a sudden, and they get inside the ten yard line, or they're thirty yards away. Either way there's five seconds left and it comes down to one play for a touchdown, or a field goal.
7: The team that has the ball converts whatever play they have to make and they win the game. For some reason the announcers get really quiet all of a sudden. Maybe it's because they've been shouting all game. Maybe it's because they plan to shout some more during the post game show. Who knows?
Super Bowl XLIII went down just like this. Football is still boring.
Here's why.
The salary cap is such that all of the teams are basically just as good as all the others, with only a few exceptions. Also, they only play 12 games a year unless they make the playoffs. How do people seem to get so excited in such a short period of time?Because they only play on Sunday, the day of rest! Of course, there are some exceptions to this rule, they also play on Christmas and Thanksgiving, because Football players are too tough for holidays (that's why they do it of course).
I'm aware that football can be fun to play. Sometimes games are fun to watch too. But it's completely ruined due to it's becoming a media spectacle. Any sport has to do advertise a bit, but come on, this is just ridiculous. They don't even try to cover it up. Pathetic.
Oh, and will someone please explain to me why Bruce Springsteen said "I'm going to Disney Land" at the end of his performance?
Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel
Despite being someone who generally doesn't care at all about football, I still manage to watch the Super Bowl most years. That said, I typically have high expectations for the game since it's supposed to be the best, right? Well in my experience, it seems like this:
If you've seen one football game, you've seen them all.
Let me give you the rundown of what I see in every football game I see.
1: The guy kicks the ball off, and the other player runs with it. Everybody starts getting really excited at this point and starts yelling. This makes you think that something special is happening, so you get excited. Then the guy running gets tackled at the 25 yard line. It's very anticlimactic.
2: They run at each other a while, and sometimes someone gets past the other guys, and scores. Hooray.
3: They go into halftime. All football scores are huge so it always seems really close. A bunch of middle aged balding guys shout at each other, even though they all agree.
3A: In the Super Bowl there's the half time show. Typically the people performing used to be good, and you're surprised that they're still okay.
4: The second half starts. It's just like the first half until the end, lets say the last five minutes. The scores are close. The announcers voices are starting to go coarse because they've been yelling at each other for such a long time.
5: One team scores, and they get really excited because they were losing and now they're winning with only a minute left.
6: The team that's losing is really good all of a sudden, and they get inside the ten yard line, or they're thirty yards away. Either way there's five seconds left and it comes down to one play for a touchdown, or a field goal.
7: The team that has the ball converts whatever play they have to make and they win the game. For some reason the announcers get really quiet all of a sudden. Maybe it's because they've been shouting all game. Maybe it's because they plan to shout some more during the post game show. Who knows?
Super Bowl XLIII went down just like this. Football is still boring.
Here's why.
The salary cap is such that all of the teams are basically just as good as all the others, with only a few exceptions. Also, they only play 12 games a year unless they make the playoffs. How do people seem to get so excited in such a short period of time?Because they only play on Sunday, the day of rest! Of course, there are some exceptions to this rule, they also play on Christmas and Thanksgiving, because Football players are too tough for holidays (that's why they do it of course).
I'm aware that football can be fun to play. Sometimes games are fun to watch too. But it's completely ruined due to it's becoming a media spectacle. Any sport has to do advertise a bit, but come on, this is just ridiculous. They don't even try to cover it up. Pathetic.
Oh, and will someone please explain to me why Bruce Springsteen said "I'm going to Disney Land" at the end of his performance?
Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Welcome
Welcome.
Over the next long period of time I, Lucas Biespiel will be examining the little Gumdrops of the world. A Gumdrop can be anything, a person, a place, an idea... anything that strikes me as important. Some of these Gumdrops are good, others are bad. I will keep in mind this motto as I inform you about these various Gumdrops:
Just because it's understandable, doesn't make it acceptable.
Every Gumdrop deserves to be examined. Every Gumdrop is subject to criticism. No exceptions.
Enjoy!
Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel
Over the next long period of time I, Lucas Biespiel will be examining the little Gumdrops of the world. A Gumdrop can be anything, a person, a place, an idea... anything that strikes me as important. Some of these Gumdrops are good, others are bad. I will keep in mind this motto as I inform you about these various Gumdrops:
Just because it's understandable, doesn't make it acceptable.
Every Gumdrop deserves to be examined. Every Gumdrop is subject to criticism. No exceptions.
Enjoy!
Sincerely,
Lucas Biespiel
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