Random

I hear wailing.

I think it's coming from all those who believed, in some sweet corner of their minds, that they were changing the world. You know, for the better.

The generation that believed technology was heralding a new togetherness, a new openness, a new freedom, a new transparency is suddenly confronted by the idea that its idols might be something terrible -- yes, pragmatic.

Suddenly, they hear that Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and all the other immature brand names might have been offering information to the government when the government asked nicely -- which hardly seems something new, given … Read more

In order to get a conviction, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Except if what you gotta do is something that your boss in the County Prosecutor's Office thinks you don't gotta do at all.

This seems to be the lesson in the case of the Ohio County Prosecutor who felt that Facebook was the perfect place to get alibi witnesses in a murder trial to admit that, perhaps, their recollections might have been hazy.

As the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports, County Prosecutor Aaron Brockler plainly thought he was doing the right thing by posing as an … Read more

If a man in the street offers to sell you a Rolex, it is likely a worthless piece of metal.

Similarly, if a man in the street offers to sell you an iPad, it is unlikely to be anything other than a piece of wood or a box of apples.

Or, in this case, potatoes. … Read more

You may not have slept lately for worrying what Sean Parker has done for our environment.

Yes, in being one of the originals at Facebook, he helped create a world in which our noses permanently point downward, our friends are permanently virtual and our eyes must watch carefully over every word written by the company in small letters.

But I wasn't thinking about that.

I was thinking about the mounds of kerfuffle created after details were revealed about his wedding.

It was bad enough that he was said to be spending vast numbers on his nuptials. But then the Atlantic suggested … Read more

Should you have spent recent weeks obsessing over a strange clicking noise on your Verizon phone, you might not know that Justin Bieber has not been having the most stellar of times.

There's his allegedly on-off-on-maybe-who-knows relationship with Selena Gomez. There was the lassitude in appearing on stage for concerts.

And then he even allegedly fainted backstage.

Now is the time to offer some good news to beleaguered Beliebers. For Justin is to be sent into space.… Read more

It can't be easy being a handsome state senator's wife.

You've seen what happens to those who reach even higher office and you count the number of wives some of them have had.

The mathematical odds don't look so good.

So please offer an ululation of support for Heather McGill, wife of Alabama state Sen. Shadrack McGill, who has decided to get her retaliation in first.

Tired of predatory women's carnal desires directed at her husband, she has taken to Facebook to tell them that she's ready to shame them into oblivion.

As if … Read more

When you keep getting mail addressed to someone you don't know, you might feel annoyed, inquisitive, or even suspicious.

Or you might e-mail the company sending it and wonder whether it's intended for some future resident of your home.

Andrew Gardner took the latter route with quite beautiful results.

The Toronto resident e-mailed Shoppers Drug Mart and asked to be removed from its mailing list because, well, he clearly isn't "Matthew."

As the Globe and Mail reports, Gardner wondered whether "Matthew is a future resident of this address, and seemingly against the laws of … Read more

This is perhaps an even greater philosophical question than: "Why do some people consider cheerleading a sport?"

For today we must consider how to hold a baby and watch the NBA Finals at the same time.

Should we turn on our televisions and hold the baby with both arms? Or does modern man hold his large-screened cell phone in one hand, while cradling baby in the other?

Samsung has a position on this. For its new Galaxy S4 ad insists on the latter pose as the ideal for both man and baby.

This ad, a follow-up to one released on Monday … Read more

Let's role play.

You're a school bus driver at Haralson County Middle School in Georgia. A 6th-grader gets on your bus and complains he's hungry.

You ask him why he's hungry. The kid says he was 40 cents short on his lunch card, so he was denied food.

When this scenario played out for bus driver Johnny Cook, he took to his Facebook page to express his shock and offer to help any child who is short of lunch money.

However, as CBS Atlanta reports, the school wasn't too pleased with this expression of concern. … Read more