Chad's News

Church tax? Politicians specifying who can attend mass? Thank God for the Bill of Rights.

Link: http://www.reuters.com/…

Here’s a way to get a two-for-one deal on airline seats. It appears that Canada officially considers obesity to be a disability.

Thanks to Josh for this topic.

Link: http://www.reuters.com/…

Microsoft has implemented a benign form of nagware for pirated versions of Windows. What I find ridiculous, however, is that the people using illegal copies are upset about this. They should just be glad Microsoft isn’t wiping their hard drives instead.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

This woman waited in a hospital emergency room, with a broken leg, for 19 hours before giving up and going home. But while the hospital couldn’t tend to her leg, their billing system was working perfectly.

Link: http://www.chron.com/…
(via digg)

The 2008 Ig Nobel awards have been announced.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

A Japanese couple went to India and hired a surrogate mother to carry their test-tube baby. But they got divorced before the baby was born. Now neither the surrogate nor the biological mother wants the baby, and the father cannot legally adopt his daughter.

Link: http://www.newscientist.com/…

Apple has a store that sells applications for the iPhone. Anyone can submit an app, and once it’s officially approved, the app is posted to the store and can be purchased. A German man named Armin Heinrich created an app that displays a red gem [video]. He called it “I Am Rich” and put a $999.99 price tag on it. The description was very clear that this app essentially did nothing. Surprisingly, eight people purchased it, although two of them later asked for refunds. Apple has since pulled the app from the store.

Link: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/…
(via digg)

Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its animals for mad cow disease, in an effort to pacify its overseas customers. According to Creekstone, they’ve been losing business due to a fear of mad cow disease, and Creekstone simply wants to test every animal as a way of boosting confidence. This sounds like a good idea to me, but the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is fighting the effort, claiming that they have regulatory control over the test kits, and they have decided to not allow Creekstone to test every animal. Say what? This appears to be a basic food safety issue, and I really don’t understand what the USDA is thinking.

This story, having caused my jaw to drop in disbelief and my head to shake back and forth, all the while mumbling “That’s absurd,” officially wins the coveted Chad’s News Stamp of Absurdity. Other such items can be found in the “absurd” category

Link: http://www.cnn.com/…
(via The Consumerist)

Update: Slashdot has more information—the appeals court found that the USDA does have the right to restrict the use of mad cow disease testing kits. The case, however, was remanded to the U.S. District Court to determine whether or not the USDA’s refusal is arbitrary or capricious.

I don’t know if this photo is for real, but it’s obviously intended to be someone protesting the fact that China will be hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics. For those who don’t understand why the picture is so funny, I suggest the following Google search.

Link: http://lachschon.pcgames.de/…
(via digg)

I thought this was a joke when I first saw the headline, but I guess it’s for real. The New York Yankees are building a new stadium, and in an effort to curse the team, a construction worker dropped a Red Sox jersey into the concrete while they were pouring. The Yankees found out about it, were able to get an approximate location, and dug up the concrete with jackhammers until they found the shirt—which they promptly removed. Apparently they were quite upset.

Link: http://sports.espn.go.com/…
(via digg)

The city of Dallas, TX installed traffic cameras at major intersections, to catch people running red lights. The cameras have been so successful at reducing infractions that they’re no longer generating enough revenue to cover their operational costs. So now Dallas is considering shutting down the cameras. This is a common governmental misconception, viewing tickets as a source of revenue rather than a punishment. It reminds me of municipal water boards that had to increase their prices, because their conservation campaigns reduced water usage to the point where they were losing money.

Link: http://www.dallasnews.com/…
(via Engadget)

Over a year ago, Walmart released a t-shirt displaying an exact duplicate of the Nazi 3rd SS Division Totenkopf. (Seriously, this is such a perfect copy that the SS, if they still existed, could sue for copyright infringement.) Once this fact was communicated to corporate headquarters, Walmart said it would remove all of the shirts immediately. The reality was much slower than “immediate,” but here it is, 62 weeks after the pledge to remove, and the shirts are still on sale in at least one store. The linked article raises the concern that if Walmart is this bad with Nazi paraphernalia, then how well does it handle product recalls?

Link: http://consumerist.com/…