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From CNN.com: BBQ-smoker-turned-‘Robocop’ chases off drug dealers

It’s a barbecue smoker mounted on a three-wheeled scooter, and armed with an infrared camera, spotlight, loudspeaker and aluminum water cannon that shoots a stream of icy water about 20 feet.

“He’s a neighborhood vigilante,” says Meredith, “and when he came up with this — you know, I call it Robocop — I said, ‘Praise God.’ “

Anita Beatty, the director of the shelter, is suspicious of the barbecue-smoker robot. “I just think the whole ‘Robocop’ spraying people is a little freaky.’

Forget about Street Fighter!  I’d love to see this as a movie!

Street Fighter is one of the greatest arcade games of all time.  A truly skill based game, the controls of Street Fighter were so precise that if you learned strategy and perfected the moves, you’d be nearly unbeatable.

As good as the game was, its story was razor thin, so I was surprised when they decided to make a movie of it.   Movies based off of video games are usually pretty bad, and Street Fighter with Jean-Claude Van Damme is no exception.  That’s why it’s doubly surprising to see that they’re going at it again!  2009 will be bringing us Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.  This movie does not bode well for the career trajectory of Smallville actress Kristen Kreuk who plays Chun-li.

From Business Week: Apple Goes Corporate

With shares down 35%, Jobs & Co. have a union between the consumer-friendly iPhone and Corporate America in mind

I think it’s pretty safe to say that current share price is not one of the reasons Apple is trying to work on corporate markets.  Most technology stocks have been hit by the slowing economy and Apple has been affected a little more since it’s tremendous run up last year.

William Markey, president of telecom consultancy RelevantC, is skeptical of Apple’s prospects. “What’s the business case for the iPhone? Being able to listen to music on your [work] cell phone?” he says.

After all this time, this analyst still doesn’t get what the iPhone is about.  Music isn’t the key to the iPhone’s success, it’s accessing the web.  With the iPhone, Apple is transforming the mobile internet like it did the music industry before it.  Before the iPhone there were phones that could access the internet, but not with the ease of use that the iPhone can.  Many of the phones were only capable of showing the most basic of pages designed with mobile phones in mind.

The iPhone was designed with the web in mind.  The large screen space and the software keyboard that pops up only when needed allows for the best web experience.  By removing the keyboard and creating a new gesturing language, Apple has stepped beyond just providing easy access to email like the Blackberry.  This is where the future of the mobile internet lies. 

From Fortune.com: The trouble with Steve Jobs

An interesting read.  Most revealing is that Jobs was skeptical of mainstream surgery for his pancreatic cancer so he employed an alternative treatment for his cancer for 9 months before finally having surgery. 

Vote to have Taipei included in the Monopoly: World Edition.

Right now, Taipei is currently leading the list followed by Gdynia and Szczecin. Gdynia and Szczecin?  You know, if you have a bad case of Gdynia, they give you Szczecin for it.

So you don’t have to look it up in Wikipedia, these are two cities in Poland.  They must be having some kind of national campaign to get these two unknown cities on the map. 

From CNN.com: Bush: We’re in a slowdown

The president also repeated his objection to sitting down with leaders of countries such as Iran and Cuba, nations accused of abusing human rights and stifling democracy.

The move has been an issue between Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

“It is extremely counterproductive, sends chilling messages to our allies. … It would be a mistake,” Bush said. “Having your picture taken with someone like Raul (Castro) lends the status of our country to him.” Castro, brother of Fidel, is the new president of Cuba.

Bush said he intends to meet with China’s president during a trip to Beijing to see the summer Olympic Games, which begin in August.

The Bush administration has accused China, a major U.S. trade partner, of human rights abuses. Bush didn’t elaborate on what issues he might bring up.

Hmmm.  Abusing human rights and stifling democracy.  China? Check and check!  And we’re going to meet the President of China during the Olympics?  I’m not saying that I disagree with Bush about talking to China, that’s how problems get resolved.  Foreign policy should be about dialog- even with people we don’t like.  

As usual, Jim Borgman hits a home run!  

BorgBlog: McCain and Cunningham

From 236.com: Jimmy Kimmel Is F**king Ben Affleck, and Gays Everywhere

Kimmel and his writers, rested from being on strike, show their rejuvenated creativity by hauling out 25-year-old flaming fag stereotypes. They know a couple of certifiably straight stars pretending to be big queens will have them rolling in the aisles. So, they open with Kimmel and Affleck in an open-air bar populated by a shirtless West Hollywood harem. They stand at a bar with a blender and glass of what looks like a strawberry daiquiri, and on the bar sits a large bowl of fruit. Get it? Fruit. Get it? They’re FRUITS. Get it?

Next up, let’s see Jimmy to do a video where he’s f**king a famous negro, running around with chitlins, watermelons and a spear, while tap dancing and singing “Shortnin’ Bread.” Let the hilarity begin! 

I’ll have to admit that I found the video to be funny.  But, I realize that most of the humor is in watching two straight actors pretending to be gay by being stereotypically gay.  Should humor come at the expense of a minority group?  If it was about African Americans as described in the last paragraph, would it be funny?

From NYTimes.com: Never Too Young for That First Pedicure

But today, cosmetic companies and retailers increasingly aim their sophisticated products and service packages squarely at 6- to 9-year-olds, who are being transformed into savvy beauty consumers before they’re out of elementary school.

There’s something seriously wrong with placing such importance in beauty and fashion with 6-9 year olds.  There are more important lessons to be learned in life than this.