Some Old Dude

A Pakistani by the name of Khurram Sher was arrested arrested as part of an alleged terrorist plot against targets in Canada and abroad.

From an article on MSNBC

“The arrests have prevented the gathering of bombs and the execution of one or many terrorist attacks,” RCMP Chief Supt. Serge Therriault said.

Therriault said details on the targets would be released in court.

Police allege the suspects conspired with three other individuals to “knowingly facilitate terrorist activities” in Canada and abroad. Police say the plot ranged from Canada to Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan, but did not elaborate.

But before his arrest, Sher, a doctor in St. Thomas, Ontario, auditioned for Canadian Idol.

He told the judges he’s from Pakistan and likes hockey, music and acting. —I guess he forgot to mention his love of blowing up infidels.

Meet the Seabreacher X

by Seabreacher

Taken from Rag Hand:

This came from a blog post by David Gewirtz for ZDNet Government:

“According to InformationWeek, the U.S. agency known as USAID (United States Agency for International Development) is partnering with outsourcing service companies in countries like Sri Lanka to teach more than 3,000 workers technology skills in tools like Enterprise Java.

To make it easier for those workers to work with American companies who have outsourced work, American taxpayers are also paying to train the workers in English.”

This is from the InformationWeek article:

“Courses in Business Process Outsourcing, Enterprise Java, and English Language Skills will be offered at no charge to over 3,000 under- and unemployed students who will then participate in on-the-job training schemes with private firms,” the embassy said. [...]

While Obama acknowledged that occupations such as garment making don’t add much value to the U.S. economy, he argued relentlessly during his presidential run that lawmakers needed to do more to keep hi-tech jobs in IT, biological sciences, and green energy in the country.

He also accused the Bush administration of creating tax loopholes that made it easier for U.S. companies to place work offshore in low-cost countries.

Apparently USAID is beginning a similar program in Armenia.

This whole “let’s ship US jobs overseas and keep our friends in the extremely profitable IT outsourcing business fat and happy” project is run by Rajiv Shah, who was hand picked by President Obama.

Obama is the guy who swore that if he was elected he would keep tech jobs here at home, and who is just another politician who plays to the masses when he wants to get elected but pays to the rich and powerful now that he’s in office.

Why is it that our government will help fund a free education for someone overseas, but in the country where people pay the taxes that fund this project, students are expected to take on massive amounts of debt to pay for that same education?

According to Advertising Age the Wall Street Journal is now publishing coupons in it’s weekend edition.

The Journal said coupons will just make the paper more compelling for everyone. “Who doesn’t like some value, regardless of their income?” asked Michael Rooney, chief revenue officer at the Journal. “Everybody likes a good deal.”

“Business is our core but we no longer are the second read in any marketplace,” Mr. Rooney added. “As part of our effort to grow the business and serve our readers with a complete newspaper, this is added value.”

No, you did not misread that. The WSJ, that bastion of right wing stodgyness has stooped to the level the pedestrian press, and expects it’s readership to clip coupons.

This shows how desperate times are. It wasn’t too long ago the average reader of the WSJ was more likely to shop for stock in the grocery chain, than the stock on the grocery store shelves.

Coupons? In the Wall Street Journal? Isn’t this one of the signs of the Apocalypse?

Coca-Cola is being sued for misleading health claims about their “VitaminWater.”

First the reasonable part:
Coca-Cola is being sued by a non-profit public interest group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, on the grounds that the company’s vitaminwater products make unwarranted health claims.

WASHINGTON—A federal judge has denied Coca-Cola’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit over what the Center for Science in the Public Interest says are deceptive and unsubstantiated claims on the company’s “vitaminwater” line of soft drinks. The company claims that vitaminwater variously reduces the risk of chronic disease, reduces the risk of eye disease, promotes healthy joints, and supports optimal immune function, and uses health buzz words such as “defense,” “rescue,” “energy,” and “endurance” on labels.

Now the WTF? part:
Coca-Cola’s defense is that “no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking vitaminwater was a healthy beverage.”

The judge also rejected Coke’s argument that disclosing sugar content on Nutrition Facts labels eliminates the possibility that consumers may be misled into thinking the product has only water and vitamins, and little or no sugar. Gleeson cited a similar case involving deceptive fruit imagery on packages for Gerber’s Fruit Juice Snacks, which are mostly corn syrup and sugar. That court held that “reasonable consumers should [not] be expected to look beyond misleading representations on the front of the box to discover the truth from the ingredient list in small print on the side of the box.” Vitaminwater has 33 grams of sugar in each 20-ounce bottle.

Sounds healthy enough to me. — Providing you’re a hummingbird and can live on sugar water.

William Shatner aka “The Shat” has a new gig as the Admiral on My Outerspace dot com

The site is completely SiFi themed and subdivided in to ships and planets where the members interests can be explored.
The planet Orpheus has a musical theme and the Galaxy is where Sci-Fi Fans and MYOUTERSPACE observers participate in discussions, view videos, and communicate with the MYOUTERSPACE community.
But my favorite planet is Creatia:

Creatia
People like writers, directors, and playwrights call this planet home. Creatia hosts a creative environment for thinkers of all kinds like writers, directors, and playwrights, who call this Planet home. Become a citizen of Creatia today and take advantage of the rich resources that this planet offers its citizens.

Obviously writers, directors, playwrights and the other masters of redundancy are welcome, but editors are strictly persona non grata.

The site’s been kicking around since 2009 so it’s still young and the only thing that bothers me about it, aside from the copy being written by someone from the Department Of Redundancy Department, is the Shat’s green hair. –I wonder if it’s supposed to be a joke, or if all those years knocking boots with brightly colored women has finally taken it’s toll.

For those of you who don’t remember Shatner’s younger years, follow this link to his classic rendition of Rocket Man.

Vremya Novostei: The content of toxic substances – lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, radioactive nuclides, caesium, pesticides and ergot – must be restricted in the Russian beer. Parasites of bread reserves – insects and ticks – must not appear in the production process. Beer must be made without the use of ethyl alcohol. Labels on the end product must provide full and true information for customers. These are a few of the new technical regulations on beer.

They are also regulating the amount of beer in special beer. It must contain at least 80% beer.
Beer based soft drinks and cocktails must contain at least 40% beer.

Beer based soft drinks??…. Only in Russia.

Ok guys. How many of you read this as Erotica?

Only in Japan would you buy a fizzy yellow drink called Unagi Nobori (surging eel) without having everyone in the immediate vicinity start to feel nauseous.

Unagi Nobori is made from eel extract and vitamins that some people believe will boost energy during the summer’s hot and humid conditions.

Kazunori Hayashi, spokesman for Japan Tobacco Inc, the makers of the drink, said it is “mainly for men who are exhausted by the summer’s heat”.

It may seem like an odd niche market to foreigners, but in Japan demand for eel is so high during the season that some businesses have been caught importing eel from foreign sources and relabeling it as Japanese.