October 31, 2002

MARK OF THE BEAST UPDATE

Applied Digital Solutions, makers of the VeriChip, have won the latest round in their ongoing effort to implant us all with their freaky little microchip, after the FDA stated that they would not regulate the chip or carry out any testing on the chip as long as it was used only for "security, financial and personal identification or safety applications," and not for medical purposes. The company acted quickly on this news, launching a national "Get Chipped" promotion which offers the first 100,000 suckers a $50 introductory savings on having the chip implanted under their skin (regular price is about US$200, plus around 10 bucks a month for monitoring). Applied Digital Solutions now has seven VeriChip centers in the U.S., plus a ChipMobile which drives around the country chipping the poor sods who accept this device. "We'll now go into high gear with our sales, marketing and distribution plans in the U.S.," warned ADS president Scott Silverman. (www.adsx.com)

SORE LOSERS

A Bulgarian rugby board has banned a team out of Bucharest from international competition for two years after the club was defeated 151-0 by an English team in the first round of the European Challenge Cup. The coach of the team was also fined about US$150 for the sad display, and each of the players on the team were fined $85. (Reuters)

 


IT'S A BEAUTIFUL WORD
Some ugly numbers were released by the World
Health Organization last week, which released its most exhaustive
international study ever of deaths by violence, abuse, suicide and
war. The study covered research from 160 experts in 170 countries,
and found that 1.6 million people suffered "premature or ugly"
deaths in 2000. Among the lowlights of the report: one person
commits suicide every 40 seconds; one person is murdered every 60
seconds; one person dies in armed conflict every 100 seconds;
57,000 young children died from abuse (usually head injuries or
suffocation); millions of children were the victims of beatings;
and 20 per cent of women were sexually abused as children. 
 (AP)
 


BIG ASS EMBARRASSMENT
Journalism students at Washington State
University are trying to live down a huge mistake after a story
blatantly plagiarized off the web contained obviously satirical
"facts." The article, written for Filipino-American History Month,
and appearing on the front page of the student newspaper, claimed
that the name of the boat on which Filipinos first arrived in
California was called "The Big Ass Spanish Boat." The correct
translation of the boat's name was "Our Lady of Good Hope." Despite
the story being proofread by two editors, and although they thought
the name was strange, the students ran the story as is because the
website which carried the fact seemed legitimate. The website in
question has since admitted that the article was meant to be
satirical, and stated "some people really need to learn that just
because something is on the internet doesn't mean that it is true."
Amen! 

 (Seattle Times)
 


IT'S NOT PORN, IT'S ART
The citizens of Mechelen, Belgium, are
being asked to film their own porn for the upcoming pornography
arts festival next month. The festival will feature porn workships,
live acts, exhibitions and talks about porn, and two weeks of
screenings of home-made porn. "We want to encourage citizens to be
very creative with porn," said organiser Ann Verschueren, "we like
shots from people making love to each other but a movie of a woman
doing the laundry in an erotic way would be fine as well."

   
(Ananova) 
   
  
 


WHEN THEY WANT YOUR OPINION, THEY'LL GIVE IT TO YOU
Media
concentration has gotten so extreme that now only five mega
corporations in North America control everything you see, read, and
hear in the mass media.   The top five are General Electric,
Time-Warner, The Walt Disney Company, Viacom, and Rupert Murdoch's
News Corporation. Check out the hundreds of media outlets which the
big five now own at  
  
www.nowfoundation.org.
 



"I READ IT ON THE INTERNET SO IT MUST BE TRUE" FACT OF THE WEEK
According to a survey by the National Confectioners Association,
nine out of 10 parents admit to stealing their children's Halloween
candy.
 

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