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Want a sugar pill to work really well? Charge more for it. At least that is the findings of a new study published on Tuesday that shows the well-known "placebo effect" works even better if the dummy pill costs more. It appears now, that to show the best results during clinical trials, it’s best to offer 2 sugar / placebo pills and the real medicine that is being tested.

The new testing should go as such - One sugar pill would be classified as the generic low cost version of the drug, then you have the other sugar pill classified as the non-generic drug, which is a little more expensive, and then somewhere in the mix you use the real medicine. Now with this, the drug testers can truly say they have tested the drug thoroughly, and chances are, one of the sugar pills will have better results then the actual medicine that is being test, that is the power of the human mind at work.

The results of this new study does not surprise me in the least. The human mind is a mystery, and the more we study it, and with the answers we find out, the more questions that arise. But there is no doubt that the power of the human mind is amazing, just by a simple belief in something or someone, anything is possible, from miracle cures to the demise of the human believing in said thing or person. But I do find it funny that it took scientist this long to figure it out, it’s a wonder they didn’t realize this earlier. All they needed to do is examine peoples spending habits and they would’ve come to the conclusion that people give more weight to something that cost more, usually thinking it’s better then a cheaper alternative, even though this may not be the case.

Read the full article from Reuters

Now there is no arguing with the fact that cows produce A LOT of carbon emissions. Right now one of the biggest problems with cows, is the fact, that they Burp and Fart and release so much methane into the atmosphere. Another issue with cows is that they laterally mow down a country side, or the farmers do to feed them, and this process removes any chances of the worlds natural sponges to survive to soak up carbons. It is true that a boat going out in the water to hunt whales does use less carbons kill a whale, but there is more to this then just a studies finding. Luckily no government officials have followed in this thinking, it would be another big mistake made by not looking at all the facts. Good exampe of this - See the article about Bio-fuels and how people forgot to take in consideration the land use and how it releases more carbons to Clear Land, Grow, Crop it, and then ship the Corn ethanol, then it does to use fossil fuel. Which means we need to look into other sources for energy and not jump the gun and listen to the first study that comes along.

I can see how this group came to this idea, but there is more to it then just saying, "Lets go and kill the whales, and prevent green house gas!!". This idea is just stupid in its own right.

First Off Lets Examine Cows

They are perfectly happy roaming around a grassy range and eating their life away. They provide milk, although hormone laced 90% of the time, and beef  to millions (billions?) of people around the world. Humans have been raising cows for so long we have mastered several techniques for raising them and to many people it’s an art form and a science. So the knowledge of what they do and how they do it, is nothing new.

The bad side of cows -  As I said earlier cows release massive amounts of methane gases into the atmospheres, they also clear several types of grass lands, scrubs, etc, thus getting rid of the natural sponges of the world. The grain mixture that cows usually feed on is just more carbons being added to the atmosphere by tractors, trailers, and trucks to get the feed to them. So as a result the overall care and feeding of a cow adds a lot of carbon / methane.

Now Lets Examine Whales

Whales roam the oceans of the world, unlike cows that roam only a grassy landscape, if the cow is lucky. Whales eat massive amounts of plankton(krill) and various other organisms that are in the water that would most likely go out of balance if nothing was there to eat it. We have seen this with other animals when the predator leaves or is killed off, the other niches go out of whack and things get really messed up, a good example is wolves in Yellow Stone National Park. Whales that hunt for prey, such as the hump back whales, feed on specific predators usually the largest predators in the water are food for hump back whales, such as Giant Squids. Now if nothing was there to take on the giant squids and feed off of them, it makes you wonder what would happen. Sperm whales also eat jellyfish along with sea turtles, and if I am not mistaken, places that have killed many of the whales around them, such as Japan, are suffering from a massive invasion of Jellyfish, and nothing is eating them. Couldn’t be because they got rid of all the predators that eat these. Granted there is also massive changes in the water itself that is causing the release of jellyfish, but this issue is compounded by the fact nothing is there to feed off of them.

Whales are very hard to study and our over all knowledge of them is limited. Unlike cows where we have been studying them for centuries, where we know what they do, why they do what they do, for whales this is not true. For us to immediately say it’s good to kill them is stupid, because we really have no idea what they add, or take away from, the overall picture of the world. For all we know, we would go out and kill them and then find they did something that we never even knew of, or thought of, and it would have massive side effects to the human race.

In conclusion the study was right in saying it takes less carbons to kill and eat whales then cows, but much like other studies, they have neglected to include the other side of the story. Right now they should just leave whales alone and find a less polluting way to raise and care for cows, and fund the research to limit the methane that cows put into the atmosphere. The quick fix is not to kill whales, but to solve the current issues with the knowledge we already have.

Read the article from Reuters

Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei once was one of the wealthiest men in the world. Now he’s worried he may soon be homeless and forced into bankruptcy. Prince Jefri — whose full name is Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Paduka Seri Pengiran Digadong Sahibul Mal Pengiran Muda Haji Jefri Bolkiah.  ( I just wanted to include his name in this article because it amazes me that he can keep it straight…… )

The 53-year-old younger brother of the Sultan of Brunei, Prince Jefri is on the losing end of one of the world’s most colorful family feuds. It started a decade ago, when the prince was stripped of his government roles and later accused by Brunei authorities of misappropriating $14.8 billion of the royal treasury’s money.

Read the full article from The Wallstreet Journal and I highly recommend reading it.

Why is it always us guys that come with the really….. dumb ideas. Granted I have tried all sorts of ways to get a few days off, not going to mention them here, but they were not as stupid as this one. At least if the guy was that desperate for a few days off he should have kept it to himself and not told anyone.  Now his friend and him will both get some jail time and a fine. His friend at least should have known better though, but it goes to show you that the old saying is still going strong, Blind leading the blind, or better yet Dumb leading the Dumb. It’s a good thing his friend didn’t shot himself to, then it would’ve been the lemming effect, or as therapist call it, "Peer Pressure".

Lemming Effect Explanation -

Lemmings are small rodents who have been known to follow each other as they charge to their deaths into raging rivers or off of cliffs. Lemminghood is an innate psychological phenomenon, present in most mammals and observable in common people as well the most sophisticated and educated elites. Lemminghood is not an intellectual phenomenon - it is psychological. As such, no socio-economic class is immune to its strangulating effect. A grant-seeking university scientist can be a lemming just as much as a fashion obsessed teen-age girl. One blindly follows the latest trendy theory while the other blindly follows the latest trendy clothing style. What’s the difference? Neither can resist the force of nature.

The power to fit in with one’s social peers can be irresistible. To a human lemming, the logic behind an opinion doesn’t count as much as the power and popularity behind an opinion. Man, like lemming, behaves collectively. And it could be no other way. Naturally, the individual must be equipped with this trait. Otherwise, the smallest steps toward civilization could never have been made. Lemminghood is a survival trait, an inborn instinct in the majority of people. It is this lemming effect which enables entire segments of a society to lose their sense of judgment all at the same time. 

Explanation searched in Google, Found on website Planetquo.com (Warning - Very Slow Loading Page )

News Story from Yahoo AP

Well anyways, it’s a good thing the police found this W-2 form and not someone else, poor guy would have to worry about Identity theft then. On a typical W-2 there is everything listed on it from your Social Security number, Address, Full Name, How much you made last year, and where you work, it’s a wonder the police didn’t meet him at his house, oh well they will get him tomorrow when he goes to work.

Read the actual news story from yahoo

This is older news from last year, but it is something that many people never knew or heard of. This idea was cooked up by the China government and it has left many people speculating the reason as to "WHY??" they would do this.The Chinese government spent a little over 470,000 yuan ( Which is a little over 60,000 US dollars), in an effort to paint the Laoshou Mountain green.

Some people believe that they did this in effort to improve the "Feng Shui" of the area, others are speculating they did this to make China appear to have a lush landscape in the drier areas. Now the locals of the area have mentioned the obvious choice should have been to buy trees and other scrubs and planted them to increase the "Greenness" of the area. But as China goes, they always have to do things in the most unique / weirdest way possible. Other examples of China nonsense - Great Firewall of China, Banning people from watching scary movies, and painting little chicks different colors such as pink, blue, purple, etc. Thus shortening the lifespan of a baby chick to around 2 weeks if it’s lucky, yes I am referring to baby chickens). I guess the problem of yellow colored chicks were just to much of an issue and needed to be resolved. Actually come to think of it, I believe it’s Japan that does this.

Here is article on the China D-I-Y approach on painting a mountain green.

We don’t mean to influence the "Worst Company In America" voting, but check this out: if you call Comcast and ask them to stop sending you anything other than your bill, they’ll agree but quietly slap you with a $1.99 "change of service" fee. Like most made-up, totally indefensible fees from cable and cell phone companies, Ian found that a chat with a customer service agent can get the fee removed.

 

Read the article from The Consumerists

Google is partnering up with San Francisco to give all the homeless people a lifelong phone number and voicemail, if they choose to accept it. Google is using the GrandCentral service to allow homeless people to keep connected with the world, but more importantly to be able to have a number they can use to hopefully get a job, it would allow clinics to share test results, and keep family members in touch.

It is a good idea, what Google is doing, but there is more to how the GrandCentral Service works. Yes, people are able to check voicemail by dialing their GrandCentral number from another phone. But in order to make a call, using your phone number, you need to be near a computer or have a Internet browsing phone. So the homeless people most likely will not have access to this feature. Chances are, homeless people will have to use a pay phone to check their messages, seeing as money can be and is a precious commodity , they will most likely not check it. I know if I was a homeless person, I would be upset if I spent money to check my voicemail and there was no messages.

Well I give props to Google for taking steps to help out homeless people and to get them back on track in their life. I just hope that this idea by Google, isn’t just a marketing ploy to build up hype for GrandCentral.

Read the full article from Msnbc

They take our money put it in a big account and then proceed to earn interest off this money. Some banks go as far as to take your money, and trade it in the stock market and other investments. Now this Concept is nothing new in the field of banking. Yes it sucks that they do this, and yet they only offer us a low 2% to 4% interest in saving accounts, and then 6% to 10% interest on CD’s, higher if you are lucky. But the really sad part of it, is that most banks can make in the upwards of 15 to 20% or higher on this money via their investments.

Now the really cool part, or as I should Say Disturbing part about this, is how Paypal has been able to avoid being classified as a Bank. They have done this feat with amazing tactics, planning, and persistence. Because of this they are able to use our money without the FDIC breathing down their backs, and it gives them a greater leeway and freedom that banks don’t have. For instance they don’t have to keep a set amount of money on hand in case of with drawls from their account. Normal Banks are required to keep a fairly large amount (I don’t know the amount off the top of my head), to cover the daily transactions and insure there isn’t a total bank failure like there was in the depression when the banks had no cash on hand, which was a result of the bottoming out of the stockmarket(because the banks had peoples money in it).

This article from CNN mainly talks about the in’s and the out’s of Paypal, and how it has little affect, supposedly, on Paypals profits.

Read The Article From CNN Money