MAGIC         PORK

I just love the way that the media almost always covers any “paranormal” event:

1. Interview some people that believe in it.
2. Interview some skeptics. (This step is optional.)
3. Declare that no one knows the truth.

Case in point, this article on ABCNews.com about crop circles, which features this little gem:

From crop circle designers and top-level researchers to the baffled farmers who usually find them, nobody really knows the origin of crop circles.

Really? Because I believe there are plenty of people that do. For more information, see this entry from James Randi’s An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural.

The article continues:

Remember, as the Gallup Polls tell, three-fourths of people in this country believe in paranormal activity.

Just in case that affects whom you choose to believe.

It does not. But thank you for sharing that statistic. It’s bogus by the way because the percentage of people that believe in the paranormal is much higher than that, so the people being polled must not have considered some of their beliefs to be paranormal. Like for example… um… God anyone? One out of every four Americans is not an atheist. Even if you exclude religion (despite the fact that it meets the definition of paranormal), I still bet if you had questioned everyone in more detail about their beliefs, you would have gotten a higher figure. I was going to use some examples but I probably ticked off enough people already so I’ll move on.

The point is, crop circles are a hoax. They always have been a hoax. There have been patterns that were supposedly “proven” to not be man-made that… guess what… were later proven to be man-made. By the people that made them. These are no different. Even if you don’t know how they were made, it’s stupid to conclude that men couldn’t have done it. But of course a reporter can’t just come out and say that. They have to shut off their brain and just conclude that it must be unknowable because people have different opinions on it.

It should roll “over”:

NOT “under”:

Don’t ask. It’s just the proper way to do it.

I flew this last weekend with the new “no liquids” rule in effect.  I was expecting big hassles but for whatever reason, everything was a breeze, both departing and returning.  Must be I just flew at times when it wasn’t busy.  I had no lines at check-in or security, got my baggage quickly, and my flights were actually about 5 minutes early.

Anyway, I see that they’re running the Sierra Mist airport screening ads again.  I’m not the only one to notice of course because I see others have blogged about it already.  But that won’t stop me from mentioning it too.  The ad I’m talking about is the one where Kathy Griffin plays an airport screener who takes Michael Ian Black’s Sierra Mist away from him.  You can watch the ad here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5074243333008673242

At the time it originally aired (the Superbowl) it was funny because of course they wouldn’t need to take a Sierra Mist away.  (Also because Griffin & Black are funny.)  Now that ad is funny for different reasons. For the record, I’ve never tasted Sierra Mist and I haven’t received any money to mention Sierra Mist multiple times by name.  But as I’ve explained previously with Gillette, I have no problems with selling out.

Speaking of airport screening ads, I remember an ad for a radio station.  I don’t remember what station but it was some local ad in either Rochester or Syracuse that used to run years ago.  There were two female screeners and they kept making some man take off more & more of his clothes until he finally walked through wearing just his underwear and they both leered at his backside and smiled at each other.  Take note advertisers: People in power forcing others to strip for their pleasure - not so funny.  That would never get on the air if the roles were reversed.  Then again, maybe someday we’ll see people stripping down to their underwear at airports.

I realize I haven’t written a post in a while. I’ve been traveling a lot. I was in Nashville for two weeks for work, then last weekend I was in Chicago for Lollapalooza. That’s not really an excuse because I had Internet access from the hotel in Nashville, but it sounded better than saying that I just didn’t feel like posting anything.

I still don’t feel like posting anything but I’ll give a quick update about the Lollapalooza trip. It was fun. I saw these bands: The Subways, Panic! At the Disco, Editors, The Raconteurs, Sleater-Kinney, Ween, Be Your Own Pet, Living Things, Wolfmother, Sonic Youth, The Flaming Lips, The New Pornographers, Sparta, Hot Chip, The Shins, She Wants Revenge, and Queens of the Stone Age. I also saw a bit of The Frames, The Go! Team, and 30 Seconds to Mars but I wasn’t very into them. The lead singer of 30 Seconds to Mars, Jared Leto, was just downright annoying.

We watched the first couple songs of Kanye West but didn’t stick around for him, and the last day Red Hot Chili Peppers played but we left before that started. I felt like we should have stuck around anyway just so we could say we saw them and I wouldn’t get any crap from RHCP fans. They have some good songs for sure, but I really didn’t care about seeing them and neither did Mike or Jane so we just left and had dinner.

The highlight for me was seeing Sleater-Kinney. They absolutely rocked. Now that they’re breaking up, I can only hope they’ll do a reunion tour sometime. My other favorite performances were The Subways, Wolfmother, Hot Chip, and Queens of the Stone Age. I’ll definitely try to go again next year.