Martin World News

So today was a complete disaster at work (well, your yesterday), so this is a good time for a MWN because I'm ready to have my revenge on the planet!

ITEM:  Remind me not to go to a Central Michigan University Valentine's Day party... at the College Republican's group party, somehow a Valentine's gift bag with a surprise card was given out- I'm guessing someone wanted "someone special" to get this bag and forgot to "mark it with an X".  So instead, it went to a passing member of the Organization of Women Leaders.  Inside it was, among things that WERE supposed to be in it, a valentine with a picture of your friend and mine Adolph Hitler on one side, and the truly tasteless wish "My love burns for you like 6,000 Jews" on the other.


Amazing what passes for humor amongst our youth.  A friend of the recipient posted it on social media, and the CRs immediately apologized.  Frankly, this is one of those scenes where people SHOULD rise up and suspend the group privileges until the culprit is found and expelled IMHO.  And while they're at it, how has CMU slinked away with no one bashing their "Chippewas" nickname?  I'm surprised we haven't seen a "call them the wood chippers" by now.  To the CRs:  There is a douchebag in your midst, and you make EVERYONE look bad by allowing it.


ITEM: You've all heard of Fake News by now, but what about Fake Propaganda?

 The head of Lithuania's state tourism agency has resigned after admitting her agency promoted the Baltic country in an international social media campaign by using landscape photos taken in other countries, the AP reports. Jurgita Kazlauskiene resigned Friday after local media had blasted the State Tourism Department for its campaign "Real is Beautiful" for using stock images from Nordic and eastern European countries. Kazlauskiene said she stepped down so "people who work here don't become objects of ongoing attacks."

Here's Scrappy sniffing for švilpikas just south of Vilnius, Lithuania

ITEM:  Consider this a public service brought to you.  The next time someone wants to debate you about the "cruelty" of the President wanting to keep out all the delightful refugees, and they don't want to listen about how messed up Europe is because of them, show them this:

This is a map of violent crimes committed by migrants JUST in 2016.  Here's the legend:


Purple balloons: Sexual assaults
Pink balloons: Rape and attempted rape
Red balloons: Robbery and theft
Green balloons: Riots and intimidation
Blue balloons: Criminal assault
Red flames: Arson
Yellow triangle: Terrorist attacks
Black balloons: Homicide and attempted homicide
Green rectangle: Sexual assaults in public swimming pools


You can follow it up with, "You were saying...?"


ITEM:  And if you want to debate them on the integrity of the news media, show them this:

Model Emily Ratajkowski revealed in a tweet Monday that an unidentified New York Times reporter called the first lady a "hooker."

"Sat next to a journalist from the NYT last night who told me 'Melania is a hooker,'" the model tweeted.

The Bernie Sanders supporter added it doesn't matter what your politics are, "it's crucial to call this out for what it is: slut shaming. I don't care about her nudes or sexual history and no one should."

Melania Trump thanked Ratajkowski on Twitter for defending her."Applause to all women around the world who speak up, stand up and support other women." 

"I want to take ownership of a mistake I made," New York Times features writer Jacob Bernstein said on Twitter. "Speaking at a party in what I thought was a personal conversation, I nevertheless made a stupid remark about the first lady."


He continued, "My editors have made it clear my behavior was not in keeping with the standards of the Times, and I agree. My mistake, referring to unfounded rumors, shouldn’t reflect on anyone else and I apologize profusely."

You can apologize, but you can't take it back.  This is precisely the kind of stupidity that robs the left of a chance to air legitimate grievances and reveals an agenda of unreasoned hate.  As you saw on my recent rant, there are those on the left who are willing to discuss ISSUES, and do it rationally,.  And as you saw on a longer ago rant, there are those on the left for whom hatred of the President is everything and all their reasoning capability is subsumed by it.

And that the media gives fan to the flames demeans their profession, to the point where earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal told its reporters they could be objective or "find employment elsewhere."  Bravo, WSJ!  Reporters, either be a journalist and REPORT NEWS, or go write a blog.  Like me.

ITEM:  And now for the sake of flushing the poison and bringing joy, here is Mia the distracted Beagle:


Mia the distracted beagle

ITEM:  Talk about pissing $3 Million away:

Researchers at Harvard on two active studies that received over $3 million last year surveyed nearly 7,000 people to determine if their urine smelled funny after eating the vegetable. The results were published in the BMJ scientific journal, which uses its final edition each year to publish articles that are "quirky, amusing, and creative—but all scientifically sound."

The results concluded a "large proportion of individuals of European-American descent cannot smell ‘asparagus pee'—the unpleasant odor present in urine after people eat asparagus," according to the T.H. Chan School of Public Health.


This would win my newly-minted 20th Century Fox IDGAF video award, but alas, the video clip has been pulled over copyright issues.


The researchers said they have much to learn about the odor of urine.


ITEM:  A while back, I had a story somewhere (that I THOUGHT I shared, but maybe not) about how Iran was going to start licencing camels to better ID them in case of a drunken camel accident.  On that same vein, I had another story not too long ago...

Police tell Namibians:  Don't Drink And Walk

Pedestrians in Namibia's capital are being warned that they'll be breathalysed if they are unlucky enough to be hit by a car, it's reported.
Police in Windhoek will treat those travelling on foot in the same way as drivers if there's a collision - provided the pedestrian survives, the Namibia Press Agency reports. Police spokesman Edmund Khoaseb says when pedestrians are hit it's often on weekend nights after people have had tipple or two.
"Most of the time, the victims will be coming from bars and under the influence of alcohol, which makes it difficult for them to fully concentrate on the road," he tells the agency, adding that motorists could also slow down and be more attentive. It's not clear what the consequences of any elevated breath test readings would be.

According to the BBC article, police will also be teaching classes on how to properly cross the road.

But then today, Iceland got into the act:

Iceland Police Tell Drivers Stop Staring At The Sky

Officers in southern Iceland say that twice last week they had to pull over cars driving erratically, initially on suspicion that the drivers had been drinking. But on both occasions the entirely sober visitors were simply mesmerised by the appearance of the Aurora Borealis in the sky above them, Iceland Magazine reports. The site has dubbed it "driving under the influence of the Aurora".


Of course the article goes on to lay the blame upon tourists, who are causing problems by stopping to take pictures of "sheep, horses, or anything else which captures their attention".  I wonder if shoe-tying is involved as well...