Next thing you know, we'll be standing in line for bread and potatoes...

You probably know that Joseph McCarthy was a Republic Senator from the state of Wisconsin, best known for pursuit of alleged "Communists" during the Cold War.

What you might not know is that we've got a McCarthy-style witchhunt going on right in our midst. Michael Rosenberg, a Detroit Free Press "journalist," wrote this article back at the end of August, alleging that the U of M football program had violated a variety of NCAA rules. This ignited a firestorm on the blogosphere, with allegations being hurled back and forth, and any reasonable person coming to the conclusion that the Free Press writers seem to have an unhealthy obsession with bringing U of M down.

It also resulted in this:

This (the article, not the photo) triggered an NCAA investigation, and today, the NCAA issued a "notice of allegations" regarding the alleged violations. What's interesting to note, though, is how this was interpreted by various parties involved. The Free Press issued an article (also co-written by Michael Rosenberg) with a headline that practically screams "NCAA alleges 5 potential major rules violations by U of M football program." I refuse on principle to actually read the article, but if you go to mgoblog.com (my personal favorite source for thoughtful U of M sports-related analysis), you'll discover that there were more like three violations, only one of which could be considered *major* (the QC assistants overstepping their bounds and performing prohibited coaching activities--see the mgoblog article for more info).

At this point, the Free Press basically *has* to backpedal (although we know they won't). In fact, mgoblog calls it a "free press: fail" (perhaps we could get that on failblog.org???). I won't get into the analysis of all the allegations, but it's hard to believe that any legitimate journalist in any other city would be able to get away with this type of "investigative journalism." Or that they would be employed by a respectable news organization. I don't know why Rosenberg and the rest of the Freep has it out for U of M, but I have to wonder if their audacity will ever end...

You AutoComplete Me

We've all heard the news about Google Buzz by now, right? Everyone is up in arms about the fact that Google has developed yet another way to broadcast every detail of our life to everyone around us.

But, did you know that google is also keeping track of things you're not purposely trying to broadcast? Yup, you guessed it...they're keeping track of your search terms, more commonly known as the "autocomplete" feature.

I actually read about this awhile ago, when I read a blog post by Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational, a fascinating book about how and why we make our decisions. Professor Ariely's book is all about real-world application, so he decided to check up on what people were searching for on google. He started a search fragment with "how can I get my boyfriend to" and "how can I get my girlfriend to" and waited for autocomplete to kick in. This is what he came up with:



Enlightening, right? I guess, to get a guy to propose, a girl needs to give him head, lose weight, and have sex with him. Perhaps the oral sex light from my old post would come in handy during this??? A couple more searches on my own showed me just how much people rely on google to give them advice about things they should be talking to a licensed professional about. For example, when I typed in "how can I" one of the top ten results was "get pregnant." I have to say, if you're asking google, you probably shouldn't be bringing a child into this world. And when I typed in "why can't I" I got both "own a Canadian" (yes, really!!!!) and our old favorite, "get pregnant." Apparently, google is the new sex ed, or maybe this is the result of eight years of abstinence-only education. Either way, just remember that when you're searching, google is watching...


PS-In case you need some entertainment that's right up there with the fail blog, there's a whole site dedicated to crazy autocompletes. Check it out here

Do We Have to Accommodate Stupid People?

I have to admit that I was at least partly inspired to write this post after witnessing the terrible driving that goes on when it starts to snow. Let's make this clear, people--when it's snowing, you don't have to drive like a grandma, and you don't need to drive like a maniac. This is one of those instances where there really is a happy medium--it's also known as cautious, defensive driving.

Seriously though, I was reading this article over the weekend and really got to thinking about how much influence uneducated, uninformed people have on our day-to-day lives and how much their ignorance is accommodated.

For example, I haven't talked about it yet on the blog, but I recently bought a brand new Ford Fusion hybrid. It's an amazing car and quite frankly, I am a little bit obsessed with it (I named her Hydi, but that's for another post). As you've probably heard, Toyota has issued a recall for its 3rd generation Prius after it developed issues with its brakes. While reading about this online, I found another article discussing that Ford was recalling some of their Fusion and Milan hybrids. Naturally, I was concerned, but as I read the article, I quickly discovered that there was nothing actually wrong with the brakes. Instead, when the car switches from the regenerative braking system (the part that makes it a hybrid) to conventional hydraulic braking, the brake pedal "drops," which causes "some people [to] perceive that condition as a loss of brakes." I've felt this shift in the brake pedal. It doesn't drop. And remember, if you keep the brake pedal depressed (like you usually would when you're braking), you maintain full braking capability. Apparently, this all started when a Consumer Reports engineer was test-driving a Fusion hybrid, felt the brake pedal "drop," thought the brakes were failing, and for some inexplicable reason, then released the brake pedal and drove through a stop sign. So now Ford is offering to fix the "problem," which is NOT an actual problem. And we're back to accommodating stupid people. When does it stop?

Let's talk about sex...

I know we haven't really gotten personal yet on this blog, but I have to reveal something...

When I'm feeling down, I sometimes comfort myself with a quick visit to failblog.org. Have you been there before? It may be a little sick, but I always feel a little bit better about myself after I've been there.

They've always got some classic fails. But, I saw one the other day at work that surprised even me:


see more Epic Fails

Are you as shocked as I was? (And are you even more shocked that my work doesn't block access to this but I can't get on facebook???) At first, I thought it was some kind of joke, and your first instinct might be that this was photoshopped by some fraternity boy with too much time on his hands. However, you'd be incorrect. A quick search reveals that you can actually purchase this product on Amazon for the low, low price of $7.35 (discounted from the original $14.00 price). You probably won't be surprised to discover that there aren't any product reviews.

But, let's think about this (semi) seriously for a moment. If anyone is going near my business and he needs a light to figure out what's what, I'm pretty sure I don't want him down there. And I wouldn't be able to avoid constantly thinking that some guy was wearing a bluetooth headset while moving toward my lady bits. But if close-up illumination of your privates is what turns you on, then I guess this product is for you!

PS-Because we're trying to mention the Snuggie as often as possible around here, you'll be pleased to discover that there's a whole website dedicated to SnuggieSex. Are you thoroughly disturbed now?