What they are watching...Episode XVII

Our look at what the teens and tweens of America are watching. We peer into their world through the lens of Youtube. You may have caught some of our earlier episodes, if not, follow this link and [scroll down].

The kids they still love the physical comedy and the slapstick humor. The message is in the action, not some highfalutin reference or irony. Check out the satirization of country singer Kenny Rogers below doing "Jackass", the eighth graders who sent this video our way had no idea who Kenny Rogers was, nor had they ever seen him. They still found this video utterly hilarious.

What are they watching... Episode XVI

Our look at what the teens and tweens of America are watching. You may have caught some of our earlier episodes, if not, follow this link and [scroll down].

The kids they love the Auto-tune, Christina Aguilera's opinion not withstanding. Likely, we are witnessing the first Auto-tune generation, people who do not remember before it was possible to bend pitch to the nearest true tone. Of course, those are not the only fun and games that you can play with Auto-tune, see the witness below for evidence.

Dumas to come to the screen

The works of Alexandre Dumas, particularly the Three Musketeers, have been favorites of the silver screen. Now the renowed French actor, Gerard Depardieu, wants to bring the life of Dumas, himself, to the cinema. Depardieu hopes to develop a joint film project with Azerbaijan. Dumas traveled throughout the Karabakh in the 19th century and stayed with a poet, who was a daughter of the last Khan of Karabakh Natavan.

In the modern era this area has been a flashpoint of tension between Armenians, Azerbaijanis and an imperialistic Russia.

Depardieu will have to work very carefully around the literal and proverbial minefields, if he is to bring Dumas's life to the screen.

Think your office is getting smaller?

It is probably because it is.



The Los Angeles Times reports that in the 1970s, American companies typically believed that they needed 500 to 700 square feet per employee to build an effectively functioning office. Today, the average is barely more than 200 square feet per person, and the space allocated could hit a mere 50 square feet per by the year 2015. The Times cites several long-term trends that are converging to crunch office space. Technologies like laptops over desktop computers, cellphones over landlines and outsourced data back-up over in-house servers are finally beginning to affect the way offices are laid out. Younger employees are more used to working in communal spaces and as part of a team. Part of the reason too is economic, cubicles have shrunk from an average of 64 sq.ft. to 49 sq.ft. in recent years, and companies continue to look for more ways to stretch their real estate dollar.

Imagine what the office will look like when the Facebook generation arrives.

The LA Times predicts a revolution in the commercial real estate market quoting Peter Miscovich, who studies workplace trends as a managing director at brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle, "We're at a very interesting inflection point in real estate history. The next 10 years will be very different than the last 30."

Read the whole article here.

New Wal-Mart coming to Durham

More of Wal-Mart in Durham

Have you have ever wondered why the parking lot for the Lowe's hardware store at Martin Luther King and Fayetteville Road always seemed too big? After all, Durham is filled with ridiculous parking lots with spots jammed in at the most illogical of angles, just to meet code.

Of course, there is a reason. It had long been rumored that there would be a Wal-Mart on that site. Today the Triangle Business Journal is reporting it will indeed happen,

"The retailer will begin construction soon on a new Wal-Mart store on land it purchased in 2006 on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Durham... The new Durham store, which will be at 1010 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, will not carry the supercenter title, but the 109,180-square-foot building will be a full-service store with extended grocery selections, a deli section, a meats department and a pharmacy."

There is probably an interesting debate

Auto-tune is a fascinating ethical conundrum.



But it is hard to argue with Ms. Aguilera's position...

Dogs

Dogs Playing Poker is a classic piece of American Pop Art.



It was originally a series of sixteen oil paintings by C. M. Coolidge.



Commissioned in 1903 to advertise cigars...



It has spawned numerous beguiling imitators. Check out a few here.










These dogs inspired this piece.



They like they just won a poker game...

More Gaian evidence

The Clarion Content is an unabashed support of the Gaia theory. We read several years back about work being done on parasitic worms, the human digestive tract and autoimmune disorders. The basic premise being that when human's used to spend a lot less time and energy sanitizing our food, we were a lot less susceptible to autoimmune disorders.

Naturally, this struck our Gaian heart as a likely candidate for a symbiotic relationship. Research has increasing born this theory out, although it is still highly controversial in the United States. Parasitic worms (likely worms in general) carry connotations far beyond the more common archetypes of natural healing; we are not talking wheat grass shots, yoga or even acupuncture here. We are talking extracting roundworm eggs from the stool of an eleven year-old infected girl, cleaning them and eating them. Or putting hookworm larva on a patient's arm so they burrow through the skin enter the bloodstream and make their way into one's intestines.

Yet the results have been compelling. Many of the Man's pigeons pooh-pooh evidence found on blogs. Read then an amazing tale on CNN backing the theories originally popularized by Dr. Joel Weinstock, chief of gastroenterology at Tufts University Medical School.

Humans lived with worms in our intestines for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years. Is it really so odd that our bodies and theirs learned to work together?

The Birds

An amazing unscripted video...

Are these birds counting coup?

Certain cats, you don't mess with them.



Thanks to one of our local Durham readers for sending this video our way.

Picasso Trove surfaces

271 pieces by Pablo Picasso including lithographs, cubist paintings, notebooks and a watercolor from his "Blue Period" have surfaced in the hands of a retired electrician in southern France. Pierre Le Guennec, the electrician, installed burglar alarm systems at Picasso's various houses in France, including his villa in Cannes, during the three years before the artist died in 1973.

Le Guennec says that Picasso gave him the works. Picasso's son claims it is not true, "To give away such a large quantity, that's unheard of. It doesn't add up," he told the French newspaper Liberation. "It was a part of his life."

Police have raided Le Guennec’s home in the Cote d'Azur, seizing him and the art. They have since released him, but the paintings remain secured at the Central Office for the Fight Against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property on the outskirts of Paris. Reportedly Le Guennec had the works stored in a trunk in his garage.

Le Guennec says he came forward now because he did not want possession of the art work to cause problems for his children.

Monty Burns frog

An expedition coordinated by Conservation International looking for possibly extinct species of frog instead discovered three new species, two toads and a poison-secreting rocket frog. The expedition to Colombia failed to find the species it was hoping to rediscover, the Mesopotamia beaked toad.

According to the BBC, it did find a 3-4cm red-eyed toad, which was discovered at an altitude of over 6,000 feet. It also encountered a new toad that is also tiny, less than 2cm long. It has a bird beak-shaped head that Dr. Robin Moore, the scientist who led the rediscovery project, compared to the snout of Montgomery Burns.

Read the whole story here in the BBC.

Computer, run amok

Ever wonder about what your computer might be up to when you leave it alone for a long period of time? They warn you that turning the machine on and off is the most stressful part of its life-cycle, so many of us leave our machines running 24/7.

So what do they get up to during that quiet time? We have found anthropomorphism to be a bankrupt concept, because inanimate objects have a mind of their own.

Here is one animator's insight into computer down time.

Only a French guy

Only a French guy would have the guts to cheat on Eva Longoria. Allegedly, French basketball star, Tony Parker did just that, and with a former teammate's wife, nice.

Longoria announced today that she was filing for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences." She is seeking spousal support from Parker. The couple had a pre-nuptial agreement that was not made public.

Simple advice

Interesting Conversion

The New York Times reports that the rapper Shyne, a Sean P. Diddy Combs protégé, has converted to Orthodox Judaism and moved to Israel. He has legally changed his name from Jamaal Barrow to Moses Levi. He says, "My entire life screams that I have a Jewish neshama...[the Hebrew word for soul]."

Shyne served almost nine years in prison for allegedly opening fire in a New York nightclub in 1999. Shyne was in the club with Combs and his then girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez. Many surmised that Shyne took the fall for the more famous, P. Diddy Combs. Combs is now allegedly worth $350 million dollars. Might be a little debt of gratitude there.

Shyne had a fascinating backstory even before his conversion to Judaism. He grew up in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn with a single mother who cleaned houses for a living. His father is now the Prime Minister of Belize.

Shyne has two new records coming out with Def Jam.

Read the whole story here.

What they are watching...Episode XV

Our look at what the teens and tweens of America are watching. You may have caught some of our earlier episodes, if not, follow this link and [scroll down].

This time we ran into a t-shirt at the mall that said, "Hide your wife. Hide your kids." And we were like, yo, what is that about?

Apparently, it is about this. And that, spawned this...Which is what they are watching. Amazing.

Young maestro

Check out the young maestro grooving to the 4th movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony.



We would like to thank one of our Allentown, Pennsylvania readers for sending this link our way.

Rerun success

The current show we see as mostly likely to become a cult hit in reruns, a much bigger success in its second life than in first run, is "How I met Your Mother." It has been increasingly popular as a CBS network television show. Word of mouth has gradually built over the years, it has momentum. As the sitcom heads into a sixth season, "How I met Your Mother" is poised to enter another echelon of fame moving into syndication.

Mac Envy

We loved the Urban Dictionary definition of the day yesterday. The word phrase was "Mac envy." Defined as, "a state of mind in which a PC owner realizes his computer sucks, then is immediately jealous of all his Mac-owning friends."

Brilliant!

Sexpresso, really?

This is what selling coffee looks like in Washington state?!?

What won't they do to sell something to the American public? We came across this item in the Nation's Restaurant News earlier in the week. "Baristas Coffee Company Inc., a small chain of drive-thru espresso stands featuring female employees in skimpy costumes, opened its new flagship store in Kent, WA...BCCI has a total of six company-owned locations in Washington state."

Apparently, they are part of an existing Sexpresso industry in the Pacific Northwest. There is also Cowgirls Espresso of Arlington, WA which offers bikini and theme-costume-wearing female employees at twelve stands operated by Cowgirls Franchising LLCA and another ten by franchisees. There are also three Chicka Latte Beautiful Coffee of Seattle, which partners with a clothing company to sell the lingerie and provocative costumes worn by its staff.

Some of the Sexpresso industry has gotten in trouble. In September 2009, local law enforcement officials in Everett, WA arrested five female baristas from Grab-N-Go Espresso and charged them with prostitution and violations of the city’s adult entertainment ordinance.

This is not to mention the dangerous combination of skimpy clothing and burning hot beverages.

Baby Talk

This is something the intuitive have known for a long time. Baby's brains are ready and open for business from a very young age. Baby talk is the foundation of language. It is how babies practice and imitate the adults around them. Ask a smart parent, they will tell you.

The scientists are catching on, too. M.D. Perri Klass in the New York Times, "Babble is increasingly being understood as an essential precursor to speech, and as a key predictor of both cognitive and social emotional development."

What is more interesting is first-year babies all over the world babble in similar ways, but during their second year, toddlers mold their sounds into the words of their native tongues.

This has implications for linguistics that stretch from the Biblical Tower of Babble story to the co-development of the human species.

For parents this is a reminder to talk to your kids even from the youngest age. Scientists' research indicates that babble has cognition in common with questions. Babies' brains are open for reception when they are babbling along in baby talk. Research also suggests that the television and the computer don't substitute for human interaction when it comes to language learning. Babies are picking up on facial clues and gestures as an essential part of their language skill development.

The New York Times reports that a baby hears much of language and is able to differentiate well before it can reproduce the same range of sounds. The experiments argue that a baby’s vocalizations signal a state of focused attention and a readiness to learn. When parents respond to babble by naming the object at hand babies are more likely to learn words.

This kind of linguistic and neurological digging is a wonderful nexus for people to understand our common humanity. And a great reason to start talking to your kids as early as you can.

OK Cupid Sex Survey

Not sure how many of you, dear readers, are familiar with the on-line dating service called OK Cupid. It is definitely a popular alternative, especially among the younger set, to Match.com and E-Harmony.

One of our newest Durhamanians recently emailed us a link to a fascinating OK Cupid blog piece about gay sexual mores and gay relationships versus straight sexual mores and straight relationships. The data is clearly not scientifically perfect. All data has bias, and this is no exception. What is fascinating about this piece is the huge pool of data OK Cupid had to work with period. 3.2 million users, 4 million match searches and 669 million user answered questions- that is a lot of data.

Read the survey and the accompanying blog piece here at their blog, OK trends.

What are they watching...Episode XIV

Our look at what the teens and tweens of America are watching. You may have caught some of our earlier episodes, if not, follow this link and [scroll down]. This one is a remake of the soon to be classic Miley Cyrus tune, "Party in the USA."

These boys really get into the spirit of things.

Jersey

People wonder why folks from Jersey have an attitude that can sometimes seem a little harsh, maybe even defensively aggressive, accompanied by bouts of lashing out and attacking, necessary or not...

It is because of videos like this. Jay-Z does a New York song, an inspired masterpiece about a New York state of mind. And some goofball parodies it as a way to knock Jersey.

Cool, outer space

Think it is too hard to figure out anything fun to do with you kids? Well you have got to watch this captioned video from the Brooklyn Space Program!!! These young folks and their parents rigged up a weather balloon with an i-phone and a camera, and you will not believe the footage they got. The balloon made it to approximately 100,000 feet before it burst. The camera survived impact and was recovered.

The seven minute video, found here, is breathtaking. The countdown to launch may be the best part!

Duke tops $200 million in stimulus grants

Duke University has reached $200 million in grants from the federal stimulus package, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). According to a Duke University press release, through the end of September Duke had won 360 competitive grants for research and construction totaling $202 million from seven federal agencies. Of course, the lion's share of this money has gone to Duke's hospitals, Duke's Schools of Medicine and Nursing account for $166.3 million of the total.

Duke established a team of four grant administrators to help process more than 1,100 ARRA applications rapidly, and set up special websites and a phone hotline to answer faculty questions.

Duke continues to bring money to Durham. The press release quoted James Siedow, Duke's vice provost for research, "The stimulus funds are doing two things. Near-term, it's about creating jobs and economic activity. Longer term, academic R&D is an investment in American competitiveness." For example, one of the grants awarded $718,000 to Duke to set up a new research center and hire two new faculty to study the biology and culture of addiction and how it might be addressed through public policy. The Department of Energy has given David Beratan's work on solar fuels and next-generation photovoltaics one year of support at $210,000. Computer scientist Jeffrey Chase has received four years of support from the National Science Foundation ($627,000) to improve the reliability and trustworthiness of "cloud computing."

Good things are percolating at Duke.

Not using our bathrooms

The Marine Corps Marathon is in Washington D.C. on Sunday, October 31st. John Stewart and his Comedy Central cohorts "Rally to Restore Sanity" will be using the same area of the National Mall in D.C. the same weekend. Reportedly, this has caused the Marines to put their bathrooms on lockdown.

According to the New York Times, Rick Nealis, the race director for the marathon, said that on October 30th he would put metal padlocks on about 100 portable toilets he was setting up around the Mall for the race day. He was quoted in the NY Times, "I understand that they were having problems ordering Porta Potties, that they might have to go as far as Baltimore to get them, but I just didn’t want to share. It will cost me a few extra pennies, but it’s worth it to know that my runners won’t run out of toilet paper."

Stewart and his team will no doubt get much comedic mileage out of the situation, although they may have to go as far Baltimore to get their own Porta Potties, 217 of them in total, which are required by law to obtain the rally's permits.

West Durham development continues apace

According to this report on the blog The Bull City Rising, West Durham's development, especially in the area around Duke Hospital, continues to move forward. BCR reports that the land across the street (Kangaroo Drive) from Durham's 27705 Post Office will be developed into an apartment complex adjacent to the Millenium Hotel and the Sandy Creek Greenway.

What they are watching...Episode XII

Our look at what the teens and tweens of America are watching. You may have caught some of our earlier episodes, if not, follow this link and [scroll down]. This, our latest episode, is more than a little different.

The rumor circulating is that the YouTube hosted video was made by two teens who secretly recorded their friend. Which in light of the recent tragedy at Rutgers University, is a sketchy premise.

In this video, the friend was allegedly tripping on acid and sitting in a closet. His pals recorded his ramblings and wrote some animation to go with the spew. Intriguing and hard to characterize. Edgy. One has to wonder about the consent (even subsequent) of the party involved. Or whether it could have been staged.

Safe for work save for a couple of f-bombs.

Duke F*ckbook follow-up

Just a brief follow-up about the PowerPoint sexual conquest list published (allegedly accidentally) by a graduating Duke Senior. As we noted in our original piece, several days before the national media descended on Duke and Durham to write their version, the story is so much bigger because the Duke F*ckbook was written by a woman.

There is a double standard for male and female sexual conquest. American society has yet to stop placing women on a pedestal that somehow demands different and more chaste behavior. One might hope in this day and age that we had come further than that. A New York Times piece today recalls a similar scandal that took place at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1970's. In this case two women at MIT published a similar rating of the sexual methods and prowess of thirty-six male undergraduates. The report appeared in an alternative campus newspaper as a, "Consumer Guide to M.I.T. Men." The idea was to "turn the tables" and show men how it feels for women to be objectified. The double standard in the guise of the university reared its ugly head and the two women were put on academic probation for 10 months.

Will Duke sanction Karen Owens? We sincerely hope not.

Some things should not be changed

While staring, befuddled at the new ribbed shape of the Mountain Dew 20 oz. plastic soda bottle today, it occurred to the Clarion Content that some things should not be changed. This is especially true if they worked wonderfully in their status quo format.

The goofy Mountain Dew bottle reminded us of this axiom. But the case in point also comes from the convenience store, it is the king size Snickers bar. Now in two pieces?

What???

Some company executive decided that you should pre-break our candy bars in two for us? Hey genius, people return broken candy bars as defective. What are you doing trying to preempt Super Size Me style class action lawsuits? "Oh no, your honor, our candy bar isn't designed to be eaten all in one session. It is two pieces."

Keep it real. First of all, it is designed to be eaten in one sitting whether you break it in half our not. You just make your loyal clientele feel worse about it by breaking it into two pieces. Plus, it creates an underlying sense of being defrauded. Is that two piece candy bar really the same size as the old king size Snickers? You can tell us it is all day, but it sure does not look or feel like it.

Mr.Mars Executive, quit trying to sell us broken candy bars! Fix the Snickers king size. Things which work really well, should not be changed.

Duke F*ckbook

This is a surprise. It is emblematic of the multiplier effect of the internet. A Duke student, class of 2010, named Karen Owens created a Power Point presentation detailing graphically the guys she hooked up with in college. She says that she never intended for it to go public. She only forwarded it to three friends. But it has gone viral!

It is all over the internet.

The Clarion Content is headquartered here in Durham, NC. We know from Shooters.

It is our belief that people have collated lists of folks they have had carnal relations with since the beginning of time. Ms. Owens' list is such a salacious scandal because of the prestigious Duke University name attached. (Note: she did not get with any of Coach K's ballplayers.) Duke lacrosse's slimy history and well-deserved reputation also made this story bigger. (Several of her conquests were lacrosse players.)

What should not make the story bigger or more scandalous is the fact that it was conceived of and carried out by a woman. The double standard of women are sluts and men are studs should crumble in the face of this kind of brazen attitude. Women talk about sex, too, her Carrie Bradshaw like manner and voice was the best part of the story.

See the whole Power Point (names redacted) here.

Science fiction predictions...

that came true. There is a lot of debate about whether or not the majority of science fiction predictions come true. Of course, the easy answer is no. Hundreds, even thousands, of science fiction books are published every year. Most sink like silent stones in the vast cultural pond.

The Clarion Content's editor attended a lecture this week at Duke University, by the great science fiction writer, William Gibson. Gibson made this very point, most science fiction predictions do not come true. He further noted that despite being visions of the future, years on, science fiction books are viewed as a commentary on their times. So while he wrote Neuromancer about the year 2025, it will be viewed by history as a book about 1984 which is when it was published.

It was interesting then, only days after this lecture and absorbing this point, to see a list of eleven science fiction predictions that according to Sarah Kessler of Mashable came true.

Check it out here, from the tank to the i-pod, from the cubicle to the escalator. Kessler includes the excerpts from the texts of the original authors to make her point. It is a fun read.

World Beer Festival

Although we are not certain that the editorial staff of the Clarion Content will be able to attend this year, we highly recommend that you make it out to the World Beer Festival, Saturday October 9th. We try to attend every year, and surely at least some of the staff will be there this year. [The editor has the wedding of a dear friend.]

The event has two sessions, one afternoon and one evening. It has gotten a little pricier recently, up from $25 to $35 to $45 over the last six years, but it is still worth every penny. Featuring the beers of over 180 breweries from all over the United States and the globe, it is a rollicking good time. Our advices is as follows. Pick one session or the other, even the strongest livers should not be asked to handle both. Go slow, there is plenty of beer for everyone. Make sure you ask if the beer is high alcohol content, ever since the Pop the Cap initiative succeeded in North Carolina, quite a few of them are, sip gently these beers will rock you. Eat some of the food, there are plenty of delicious options. This year's beer festival will feature the music of Big Daddy Love and Children of the Horn for the afternoon session; Brushfire Stankgrass and Big Something are playing at the evening portion.

Tickets are available at their website here. And at the Carolina Ale House locations in the Raleigh Durham area.

Hottest day ever

No joke. The city of Los Angeles California recorded the hottest temperatures in the history of its record keeping yesterday when the mercury hit 113 degrees. Wow. In late September, no less? Insert global warming joke here?

Read how locals reacted in the Los Angeles Times.

Katy Perry and Elmo

Not sure if you have been following the Katy Perry-Elmo saga, dear readers. The lovely and talented Katy was supposed to have a playdate with the Sesame Street star, furry, red Elmo. However, at the last minute under fire from the patron saints of Political Correctness, Sesame Street decided not to air Katy's pre-taped appearance. She and Elmo sing a version of Perry's hit Hot and Cold together. Apparently, there was too much cleavage for some folks, even though Perry was wearing a flesh-colored body stocking. Both Katy and Elmo have since appeared to talk about the non-event.

Elmo here on Good Morning America.

Katy here on Saturday Night Live.

Gotta like the self-deprecating sense of humor that Perry shows...

Brilliant mash-up

Thanks to the MEP report, which is where we found this terrific mash-up.

Clear Airplanes?!?

You read that correctly, dear readers. Airbus engineers have come up with a design for a passenger plane that could be made completely see-through. In theory it would work like this: in flight, the plane's captain would give a warning and then push a button that would send electrical currents through the plane's futuristic high-tech ceramic skin. The skin would peel back to reveal glass all the way around.

Straight out of science fiction! We think they would need a lot of doctors and defibrillators to deal with the heart attacks. Unfortunately for those who think they could hang, the date for the concept plane to hit the runways is 2050. Read more here.

Dancing with the Stars, epic

The season premier of Dancing with Stars this week was EPIC! Check out some of the highlights here... Bristol Palin and the Situation kept it as real as it is possible for people who came to prominence via faux achievement. Jennifer Grey, the favorite, had an emotional performance.

Wild Kingdom, in the yard

A beautiful butterfly meets a spider, witness, even in suburbia we live amongst the wild. We just notice it less.








This butterfly was at least triple the spider's size. It took the spider five minutes to drag it across the web. Another ten to fifteen minutes to swathe it, and it was gone from the web by morning.

Driving hazard

Ladies, just a warning, but...many men maybe just as shallow as you suspect¹. Or so say British roadway authorities who are expressing concern over the driving hazards posed by a racy new Reebok billboard featuring actress Kelly Brook in her birthday suit. Britain's Institute of Advanced Motorists warns that it is a "deadly distraction" for drivers. Reebok has Brook naked in the sexy 40-foot billboard, lying on her stomach and wearing just a pair of Reebok EasyTone sneakers.

Institute of Advanced Motorists official Peter Rodger told the Daily Mail that studies showed that dozens of road accidents were linked to the famous Eva Herzigova Wonderbra ad. (Pictured above.)

Ahhh, Reebok. Asked for their response, they said that most drivers were "cautious enough" to keep their eyes on the wheel.

¹Men are visually stimulated.

New textual punctuation

Never before seen grammar^*...Have you noted, dear readers, one of the new textual punctuation techniques that the kids of today are using?

It is to place a period after each word in a given sentence. This full stop functions as a hammer to bang home the seriousness, gravitas, power of the utterance.

Check out this example from the infamous website, Texts from Last night...

"Best. Roommate. Ever."

Which in modern textual grammar is bigger ups than "Best roommate ever!!!"

^*Save for possibly in a telegrams.

Shrooms help cancer patients cope

A new study reports a controlled dose of the main ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms, psilocybin, appears to help reduce anxiety and lift spirits in people battling advanced cancer. The study, by Dr. Charles Grob, will be published in the January 2011 print issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

The government, suffering from bad vibes dating back to the 60's, when its foundations actually shook, is still incredibly reluctant to fund this kind of research. Health Day reports that it took four years to get the funding and necessary approvals for this trial, even though it only involved a dozen patients (all with advanced cancer). It has been over thirty years since a similar study was conducted.

In the study, patients reported feeling calmer and happier, and that they felt closer connections to friends and family. They were better able to address end-of-life issues. This is very important according to Dr. Amy Abernethy, director of the Duke University Cancer Care Research Program in Durham, N.C. She told Health Day, "We know that with some people with advanced life-threatening illness, there is very truly a substantial existential component and importance and need for meaning-making in life, and that until people start making that transition they can be very, very distressed. It can be hard to get back to the business-of-life closures and other things you need to do at the end of life. This kind of intervention [may] allow people time and space and extended cognitive ability to reflect on life and see it in a different way, make that transition and then get back into a more relaxed space and get back to the business of living.

"Being in the business of living is about doing what is important and meaningful to you every day even if you don't have many days left, focusing on things like saying goodbye to loved ones, which can be hard to do if you're distressed."

Read the whole story here.

Film a bedroom scene with Pam Anderson

That sounds almost too good to be true... And you know what they say about things that sound too good to be true, they probably are.

In this case Nokia is sponsoring a contest, in which the winner will film a 'bedroom scene' with former Kid Rock and Tommy Lee squeeze, Pam Anderson. The film will be shot entirely on the Nokia N8 handset, to show off the upcoming phone's HD video capabilities. No guarantees that just because it is in the bedroom, that the winner will actually get to use the boudoir with Pam. Will she be the maid? The consort? The telephone operator? Nokia is keeping mum.

It is to be written and directed by the British directors, the McHenry Brothers. For those less inclined towards Pam's charms, Nokia is also offering a parallel competition to star with Gossip Girl heartthrob Ed Westwick. This scene, for the even more adventurous, takes place in an elevator.

What they are watching...Episode XI

Our look at what the teens and tweens of America are watching. You may have caught some of our earlier episodes, if not follow this link and [scroll down].

In this case what they are watching is Shinee, which according to their Wikipedia entry is pronounced like shiny. They are, if this conglomeration of phrases can hold any collective meaning, a contemporary R&B South Korean boy band. Now you have got them pegged, right? Here is their latest single, "Lucifer."



One thing is for sure, they can dance.

Durham Squirt Gun fight 2010

The first annual Durham Squirt Gun and Water Balloon fight and free-for-all was a huge success. The Splash Mob event was organized by Flywheel design and publicized by word of mouth (and Facebook). It was a smash hit. No pun intended. More than 100 folks of all ages turned out. The Clarion Content's fearless correspondent took these pictures at risk of life, limb and digital camera.


Mayhem, early on...


It was held at the Durham Farmer's Market site, across from Durham Central Park.


Admittedly we were ducking during this photo, but please note the guy in the distance hurling a balloon at various dry (at that moment) photogs.


The action got more intense from here, but we had to put the camera in a safe dry place and take up a vigorous defense.

It is our observation that water ballooners under the age of five are the most dangerous opponent. Too young to have a conscience, they are vicious. More than once our correspondent helped fill and tie a water balloon for an anonymous youngster, only to have the balloon immediately hurled back at us. Fortunately, there were huge buckets under the filling station taps which could be emptied on the offending children's heads.

Special thanks to friend of the Clarion Content, April, for loaning us her extra fully automatic squirt gun. This young lady packs the heat!

Help a documentary filmmaker

The producers of a documentary film about legendary Duke Track Coach Al Buehler are looking for photographs, audio, video, testimonials and other archival materials of track meets at Duke between 1971 and 2000. Buehler's Duke cross-country teams captured six ACC titles and finished second on ten other occasions. He was part of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field program at 1972, 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games.

The filmmakers project entitled, "Starting at the Finish Line: The Coach Al Buehler Story" hopefully will be screened at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival next year. If you have any material or information that might help these folks you can contact Amy Unell at coachbuehler@gmail.com. Check out the film's website here.

Special thanks to our friends at the Community Sports News for alerting us to this story.

An Ecological Believe it or not

We ran across an ecological believe it or not out of Oregon this week for our truth trumps fiction every time files. The Associated Press is reporting that residents of Newport, Oregon and surrounding areas have discovered that shrimp bought from some local stores glows in the dark. Yep, you read that right, it glows in the dark.

Local marine biologists at Oregon State University's Sea Grant Extension say say it's due to marine bacteria that are not harmful. It can, however, apparently cause shrimp and other seafood to appear luminescent. Reportedly, the bacteria can grow at refrigerator temperatures, especially on seafood products where salt was added during processing.

Brilliant?

A Profusion of Dragonflies

Anecdotally, the Clarion Content has seen a massive increase in the amount of dragonflies in the Durham County area this Summer. Always, with one eye open for the decline of the keystone species, either in Gaia, or in micro-local ecosystems, this has stood out. Dragonflies are everywhere. They are born and bred in standing water and we had a rainy Winter, but this seems exceptional. It is unclear what their natural predator in our area might be.

Has anyone else noticed this?

We recall reading just a few short years ago about the year of the missing acorns in Northern Virginia which quite literally drove local squirrels stark raving mad.

On-line gaming

Social City is one of Playdom's leading games...

How big has on-line gaming become? Walt Disney bought social networking games developer Playdom for $563.2 million. Playdom is a leader in games designed for and played on the social networking platforms Facebook and MySpace. Playdom was a start-up founded by a couple of UC Berkeley grads just a few short years ago.

Disney is positioning itself not only to grab a large chunk of the on-line gaming market, but grabbing new intellectual property for perspective future character vehicles: movies, cartoons, toys, etc. According to Disney CEO Robert Iger, "This acquisition furthers our strategy of allocating capital to high-growth businesses that can benefit from our many characters, stories and brands, delivering them in a creatively compelling way to a new generation of fans on the platforms they prefer."

Thanks for the heads up goes to the DailyFinance.

What they are watching...Episode X

Our look at what the teens and tweens of America are watching. You may have caught some of our earlier episodes, if not follow this link and [scroll down].

In this case "What they are watching" is a young, North Hollywood dance sensation, who appears poised to leap into stardom...Kyle Hanagami. He is beautiful and a bad ass dancer. His videos have garnered hundreds of thousands of views.

How to...

How to? Ask Google, of course.

We always love a fascinating sociological query here at the Clarion Content's editorial desk. We thought we might clue you into one we check on, for shits and grins, fairly regularly. As you probably already know the Google search box autoprompts responses to what you are typing in, that is to say, it makes suggestions. So if you type, "Harry Pott" Google is already guessing ahead to "Harry Potter" and "Harry Potter and the deathly hallows," as things you might be searching for.

One of our favorite little sociological games is to type the phrase "How to" into the Google search box and check out the autoprompts for what kind of stuff folks are trying to figure out how to do. We gave it a whirl today and as always the answers were amusing, if not particularly illuminating.

From Google, the top ten "How to" autoprompts...

1. How to tie a tie
2. How to train a dragon
3. How to
4. How to kiss
5. How to remove a tick
6. How to destroy angels
7. How to lose weight fast
8. How to get a passport
9. How to grill corn
10. How to draw

Almost as amusing from Google, the top ten "How do" autoprompts...

1. How do magnets work
2. How do I love thee
3. How do I get a passport
4. How do websites use cookies
5. How do I find my IP address
6. How do clouds form
7. How do you get pregnant
8. How do pirates dress
9. How do you get pink eye
10. How do you like me now

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Bad Ass Merle Haggard pic

This bad ass picture of Merle Haggard came from here...

Durham City Council rejects billboards

Billboards avoided...

The Durham City Council rejected a two year campaign by Fairway Outdoor Advertising to relocate some of its billboards, upgrade some others and convert still other billboards to digital operation. The council was unanimous in its vote, 7-0 against. The Raleigh News & Observer quoted Councilman Mike Woodard, who reported receiving more than 1,000 e-mails in opposition to Fairway's request and seven in favor of it, "This issue has united Durham like none other." The City/County Planning Department also recommended against the change, "No substantial positive effect has been identified for Durham's economic development," by changing the ordinance.

What they are watching... Episode IX

Our look at what the teens and tweens of America are watching. You may have caught some of our earlier episodes, if not follow this link and [scroll down].

This was the theme song to the popular 1990's Nickledeon variety show, All That. It is now part of the on-going revival of 1990's culture among today's youth. The song is performed by TLC, Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas.

Things that need to invented, part V

We are reviving our long dormant and long overdue, "Things that need to be invented" column, hopefully heretoforth to once again be published monthly. Your brilliant suggestions are encouraged, read the other folks sweet invention ideas here [scroll down below this post]. We are so confident about the volume of your forthcoming submissions that we are kicking things back off with a triple shot of invent this.

The first thing in this month's column that needs to be invented is a cheaper electric riding lawnmower. Gas powered lawnmowers are so bad for the environment. On top of their deleterious effect on air quality and the noise pollution, they are woefully inefficient and resource wasting. We are going whole hog with the electric and hybrid cars things, why can't somebody get on it for the lawnmower market? They are quieter, way less polluting and way more fuel efficient. We could not find one cheaper than two grand. Surely they can beat that with a little more mass production. Maybe we can get a government tax credit for buying an electric lawnmower?

The next thing we would like to see invented is for Major League baseball to put its entire back catalog of game telecasts on-line. Let us, the fans, be able to look up any game, any time and stream it on-line. We would pay for this. And we are not just talking this year's game, but the historical back catalog. Think how many games diehards would watch? And if this project sounds fanciful, try to remember that just a few short years ago the idea of digitizing your entire music library to something the size of laptop, let alone i-pod, was the stuff of dreams. What an argument resolver! Want to know who was pitching in the pine tire game? Or where the use of middle relievers really started? Stream one Yankees-Royal game, stream an entire A's or White Sox season. MLB you can be America's game again, start here.

And finally in the sub-category of needs to be invented known as their needs to be an app for that... (And nobody on the Clarion Content's staff has an i-phone so please alert us if their already is an app for this...) The Craigslist Missed Connection application! Just walked by that beautiful girl or that cute guy in the coffee shop or bookstore without saying anything and regretting it already? Voilà, an instant Craiglist Missed Connection post. In era where texting and IMing are ubiquitous and conversation subsuming, what could be better than instantaneously being able to anonymously record on-line that you wish you would have talked to thus and such hottie?

Thank you and good night. We will return same time, same place next month. Send us your feedback and your brilliant invention suggestions.