Daily Dose of Common Sense

I’m a big fan of going to baseball games. There’s nothing quite like sitting in the warm summer air with a hot dog and some Cracker Jack. Oh, and watching the game, of course. Imagine a dad’s horror when, during a family outing with his daughters to a Philly’s game this week, they were purposely barfed on.

Yes, barfed on. An unruly fan, Matthew Clemmens of South Jersey, put his fingers down his throat and threw up all over the man’s daughter. This was after Clemmens and his friend had been spitting at the girls.

The revolting display followed several innings’ worth of slurred curses, spilled beer and spit that Clemmens and another man directed at Vangelo, his two daughters and one of their friends, said Philadelphia police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore.

Is this what our country has become? Where we’re spitting and vomiting on each other for laughs?

Then, the barfer had the nerve to physically attack the dad, who is a cop. Unbelievably, the dad didn’t fight back because he didn’t want to get arrested or detained anywhere away from his kids. This, of course, is the right, responsible thing to do, but I can’t say I would have been able to restrain myself. If anyone deserves a serious beat-down, it’s someone who spits and barfs on other people.

[Via the fine folks at Pat's Papers]

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If you’ve sat through a 3-hour plus movie recently, you probably took a bathroom break at some point during that time. Then, you came back to your seat and whispered to your friend/date/spouse/creepy neighbor, “What did I miss?” Oh, movie intermission, how we wish you were still around.

The 1982 film Ghandi was the last major release to have an intermission. But, don’t blame the theaters. The movie studios are responsible the damage to your bladder:

With a greater number of popular movies approaching and sometimes exceeding three hours in length (even the lightweight “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” lasted 2 1/2 hours) bringing the intermission back seems logical. Contrary to popular belief, the theater owners I’ve spoken to say they would like to have the option –they could sell more concessions, where they make the real money –but their contracts with the studios prohibit intermissions.

Give us a pee break, studios! Between our bladders, the high ticket prices, loud moviegoers on their cellphones, and outrageous concession prices…is it any wonder why people would rather watch movies at home instead of the theater?

[Via Pat's Papers]

Truth in politics. Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Between scandals, broken promises, spin control, and general sliminess, politicians aren’t known for being trustworthy. And, mainstream news shows just seem to let them get away with it. For example, remember this:

…“Good Morning America,” endured criticism in January when Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, said without being challenged that “we had no domestic attacks under Bush, we’ve had one under Obama.” Mr. Giuliani omitted the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The interviewer, George Stephanopoulos, admitted online later that he had made a mistake in not following up.

It seems like shows like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report are generally the only places you can hear politicians being called out on their BS.

One web site is trying to make a difference. The St. Petersburg Times has started a site called PolitiFact, where, “Reporters and editors from the Times fact-check statements by members of Congress, the White House, lobbyists and interest groups and rate them on our Truth-O-Meter.”

The Truth-O-Meter ranges from “True” to “False,” to my personal favorite, “Pants on Fire.”

The site won a 2009 Pulitzer Prize, just in case you’re taking notes. And, ABC’s Sunday morning political show “This Week,” is joining up with PolitiFact to check up on the rhetoric of the lawmakers interviewed. You would think more news shows and journalists would do this on their own (it’s common sense, right?), but they just don’t. David Gregory, who hosts NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said, “…people can fact check the program on their own online.” OK, thanks. Put the burden of truth on the viewer.

It’s good to see that at least some people care about the truth.

In the land of the free, it’s always surprising to me that any book would be banned. But, we’ve all heard stories about towns and schools that refuse to lend such books as Huck Finn or “Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret.” (We wouldn’t want young people reading tamer language than they hear on the street every day, or learning about those pesky women’s issues.) There are other books, however, than have been banned at one time or another that may surprise you.

Oh, like, THE DICTIONARY. Various schools have banned it over the years because of definitions that were deemed inappropriate for kids.

But, my favorite banned book story, by far, is of “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” by Bill Martin, Jr. If you don’t have kids, you may not know this simple children’s book that emphasizes color and animals. According to the Huffington Post:

This beloved children’s book was banned in January 2010 by the Texas Board of Education because the author has the same name as an obscure Marxist theorist, and no one bothered to check if they were actually the same person.

Really, Texas? First, how much of a threat are obscure Marxist theories? I’m guessing not much. Second, no one bothered to look at the book titles that were being banned? Way to go that extra mile for your school children!

NO book should ever be banned. Let them be read, I say! You can’t shield people from ideas, language, and images just because you don’t like them. That’s censorship, and it’s just plain wrong. Not to mention illegal in some circumstances.

The law requires that if a book is to be removed, an inquiry must be made as to the motivation and intention of the party calling for its removal. If the party’s intention is to deny students access to ideas with which the party disagrees, it is a violation of the First Amendment.

Hey school boards and libraries: Let parents, teachers, and students decide what books are appropriate for reading. Restricting access to a book only brings more attention to it anyway. And, if you think the kids aren’t sneaking and passing banned books around behind your back, you’re wrong. Instead of banning it, you’d be better off having a dialogue with your kids after they have read the book about why you disagree with the author.

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Remember how we were just complaining about the misuse of “less” and “fewer”? Well, Weird Al Yankovic also cares about grammar. Check out how he helps a grocery store with its signage:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGWiTvYZR_w&feature=player_embedded

Another reason to love Weird Al!

[Via the fine folks at The Consumerist and Absurd Intellectual.]

Not all claims of environmental friendliness are created equal. In fact, some are outright lies. That’s where Greenwash comes in. Greenwash is a blog in The Guardian that seeks to expose, “the exaggeration, absurd claims or downright lies that big business makes about its green credentials.”

For a sample of what the author, Fred Pearce, takes on, here’s a bit from a post, Green advertising rules are made to be broken:

Big companies can always drive a coach and horses through the rules, greening their corporate image by mixing a couple of heavily marketed green products into a range of many more thoroughly un-green products.

Again, oil companies are notorious. This column has returned several times to the greenwash strategies of BP and Shell, plastering the country with posters and double-page adverts extolling their involvement in green energy, which in truth makes up a tiny (and recently diminishing) part of their investment.

Yea! We love it when anyone exposes lies and untruths, whether it’s big business, small business, or no one’s business. A lot of Greenwash’s content relates more to Europe, but the environment is a huge topic worldwide right now. It’s great that someone is sifting through the green spin to find the truth.

The Consumerist has a funny tale of someone who tested an iPad at Best Buy, checked his email, and walked away while still logged in to his mail account. Lucky for him, the next person was a good samaritan and, instead of causing havoc, just logged out for the unknown person.

The good samaritan sent a pretty funny email to the person, and cc:d The Consumerist:

You decided to try out an iPad at your local best buy. But guess what? You logged into the mail app on a publicly used test product and didn’t log out?!?!?!?

This time a good citizen has decided to alert you of your mistake. I will also be kind and log you out Be aware and use some common sense the next time.

If you have the opportunity to test a wireless device in a store, go ahead and check your email. Just remember to LOG OUT when you’re done. That is, unless, for some reason, you want strangers reading your email, having access to your personal information and contacts.

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While we wish we lived in a world where naked, drunken photos wouldn’t affect our job prospects, that’s not the reality for most people. What you say and do online that’s public is…well…public. And, if your online information is deemed inappropriate by a potential employer, you could be eliminated from the running. In fact, a recent survey found that 70% of recruiters and hiring managers have rejected a job candidate because of information found online.

So, what sort of information might be problematic?

“Inappropriate” comments by the candidate; “unsuitable” photos and videos; criticisms of previous employers, co-workers, or clients; and even inappropriate comments by friends and relatives, according to the survey report, titled “Online Reputation in a Connected World.”

Some job recruits are even going as far as to change their profile names. But, this should be unnecessary. On Facebook, you should be able to hide your information from public view. If you don’t know how to adjust your privacy settings, this is a good place to start. And, Mashable’s HOW TO: Clean Up Your Facebook Profile is another great read.

Then, your secrets should be safe.

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There’s an iPhone app for everything. Case in point is Bedometer. It’s an iPhone app that measures the calories you burn while having sex.

How does it work? Well, you put your phone on the bed while getting busy, and the application measures the calories burned by the vibrations.

I’m all for trying to stay fit, but if you’re worried about how many calories you’re burning during sex then you’re worrying too much. Relax and enjoy the moment with your significant other. Tracking the fifty or one hundred calories you’re burning during the horizontal mambo is not really that important, especially when your attention should be elsewhere.

[Via MomLogic]

You know how you can’t even sneak a bottle of water through airport security? Well, two British women thought they could get a dead guy past security. Sounds like something straight out of Weekend at Bernie’s, but it’s true.

The BBC and other British media reported that the women placed the man, a relative of theirs, into a wheelchair and covered his face with sunglasses in a bid to get him aboard a flight to Berlin.

Boy, those two women are ballsy. Either that, or they are secretly filming a British sitcom with plenty of high-jinx and hilarity.

These days, airport security is an invasive process: No shoes, no metals, no liquids, no coats, etc. And it’s only getting worse. Attempting to sneak a dead person through is a really, really, bad idea. (Especially when you can just take a train instead.)