Hit & Run 5

Sanjaya who?

It appears that poor University of Washington is at a loss for a decent commencement speaker this year. As Bill Gates & Bill Clinton (the latter, fine -- the former?) are booked elsewhere, UW has turned to some momentary pop icon from a show few readers can stand for more than a minute, American Idol, named Sanjaya.

So, you get a flash singer to give a speech. She's a singer, & you decide she can manage to motivate students to study hard. Interesting.

USYT

Ignore that the US military is running videos on YouTube -- no doubt it's more for recruiting, than anything else. What interests me is the quote from Brent Walker, one of two mentioned in the article in the Seattle Times from Thursday, a US military Web master & former marine:

"I think these clips humanize the war for a lot of people who only see statistics."

Really? Do people think humans aren't involved in war unless they see it on TV or YouTube?

OK.

Kiddie porn

This is just too stupid: 

"Children in Middletown NJ got more than they bargained for when they tuned into "Handy Manny" on the Disney Channel this week: Hardcore pornography. Cable giant Comcast is investigating how the porn was broadcast during the popular cartoon, which is about a bilingual handyman, Manny Garcia, and his talking tools

Comcast spokesman Fred DeAndrea described it as an "isolated issue in a local New Jersey facility." 

Well, that explains everything satisfactorily. But I'm confused what Manny's "tools" have to say, & how realistic it is that he has more than one tool...?

No toilet paper for you

Get this:

"Walkersville Md is advising visitors to its four parks to bring their own toilet paper. All paper products were removed from the park restrooms after vandals set paper on fire in a men's bathroom, Town Manager Gloria Long Rollins said Monday. Hand dryers will be installed, but visitors will have to bring their own toilet paper, she said.

Rollins hopes the changes will help combat vandalism, graffiti and drug use in the parks. 

It's a well known fact that vandals, graffiti artists & drug users never go anywhere they can's wipe their asses on the city's dime. I'm sure many tax dollars were wasted on numerous studies proving this to be the case.

Suicidal tendencies

"Experts" again prove themselves worthless:

The Food and Drug Administration Wednesday approved at the strongest possible warning for antidepressants to alert doctors and patients that the drugs could increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in adults 18 to 24. 

-from an article by Denise Gellene, LA Times 

Who'da thought that antidepressants could possibly depress anyone?

Leaded bibs?!

Huh? I thought we'd addressed this issue of lead years ago. But now:

LITTLE ROCK, ark -- Wal-Mart pulled sets of baby bibs Wednesday from its stores nation-wide after the bibs tested positive for high levels of lead, a store official said. 

-from an article by Jon Gambrell, AP 

Why-why-why would lead be in baby bibs...?