Everybody has a story

I found this on a magazine blog called Mental Floss...it's a post about the true people posing on album covers of the past.  I can't help but think this could be the basis for an interesting movie.  

Reborn – Orion

Once upon a time, Georgia-based writer Gail Brewer-Giorgio concocted a story about a popular Southern rock and roll singer named Orion Eckley Darnell. Orion became so famous that his fans referred to him as “The King.” Sadly, Orion eventually felt trapped by his success and staged his own death, complete with a wax figure in his likeness and an elaborate funeral. Elvis Presley died in August 1977 and shortly afterward Brewer-Giorgio’s story was published. It didn’t take fans and conspiracy theorists very long to decide that she was telling the true story of the King, and that the real Elvis was alive somewhere. A producer named Shelby Singleton sensed the opportunity and found a singer named Jimmy Ellis whose voice and style were nearly identical to Presley. Singleton dyed Ellis’ hair black and had him grow some sideburns, but there was no hiding the fact that his face didn’t look anything like Elvis’. Shelby had a brainstorm – have Ellis perform while wearing a mask. Not only that, but have him perform under the name “Orion,” just like the guy in that book.

Ellis wasn’t wild about having to perform incognito, but he went along with it and achieved an amazing level of success, considering his whole career was based on keeping fans guessing as to whether or not he was really Elvis Presley. His voice was so similar to Presley’s that RCA almost sued Singleton; they thought he’d unearthed some pirated unreleased Elvis tracks. Orion recorded nine albums in three years and played to sold-out crowds in medium-sized venues. His ccareer ended just that quickly, though, when he ripped off his mask onstage in a fit of anger during a performance in 1981.

A tragic postscript to the Orion story: Jimmy Ellis and his wife were shot to death in 1998 when the pawn shop they owned was robbed by armed bandits.

Read the full text here: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/103165#ixzz1gO38QJkQ
--brought to you by mental_floss! 

Republican Candidates

Left to right...Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Michelle Bachman

My first thought is that this is a joke, right?  I don't agree with the governing ideas of any of these candidates so I'm not going to vote for them.  I'm a bystander in this battle.  
But, a combination of performance and/or policies make this seem like an extraordinarily goofy slate of candidates.
Rick Santorum - too socially conservative to be a viable general election candidate.
Rick Perry - Bumbling, not very smart, doesn't know what's going on.
Mitt Romney - he doesn't mind winning by default.  That's what I want - a president who wanted to be president so bad he doesn't even care that no one has a good reason to vote for him.
Newt Gingrich - he's a hothead.
Ron Paul - he wants to be in charge of a government that doesn't do anything.  That's crazy.
Michelle Bachman - Same as Santorum; she's too socially conservative to be a viable general election candidate.

This would be even more of a joke if Herman Cain hadn't suspended his campaign last week.

It's all very surreal because I'd like to believe the President will represent the American values of a diverse religious and cultural citizenry where everyone gets a fair shake.
I don't think these candidates will.

Bob Schieffer Commentary

I enjoy Bob Schieffer's commentaries on "Face The Nation".

Here is this morning's commentary:

(CBS News)  

As another mean campaign unfolds, I get this question a lot: "Why would anyone put themselves through the abuse that comes with running for or serving in office?"

Well, for some anyway, I'd say, "It's the money, stupid."Running for office has become a great way to make a fortune.You no longer even have to leave office to cash in. A "60 Minutes" expose revealed that Congress has carved out a provision which allows its members to use insider information gathered in their official capacities to buy and sell their own stocks and bonds. Democrats AND Republicans are doing it.Reforms are promised, but not yet passed.For other Congress members the answer to the old question "When does life begin?" comes when they DO leave office. Even those driven from office under a cloud can wind up making millions as lobbyists.Sarah Palin didn't even get to Washington, and became a multi-million dollar industry.There is no end to the ways money can be made just campaigning. Candidates sometimes pay themselves salaries out of campaign funds. The Washington Post reports that Newt Gingrich charged his own campaign $42,000 to use his personal Rolodex of potential donors.Critics said Herman Cain wasn't really running for president, just selling books and campaigning for a job on cable TV. Well, his campaign crashed, but it may have been a sound business plan. The New York Times reports that Fox may be interested in hiring him, and quotes a Fox official as saying, "He's interesting."Well, aren't they all?

The Cost of Saving Money

The Cost of Saving Money - Its fine to save money, but there is a cost to it.  In today's Seattle Times the cover story is about using Methadone as a reliever of chronic pain.  Apparently, methadone is effective in relieving pain, but it stays in the body for much longer than other drugs in the same class (OxyContin, fentanyl, and morphine) so there is a higher risk of death from accidental overdose using methadone.
In addition, methadone is less expensive than the other options so patients on Medicaid are more likely to be prescribed methadone.
"As a result, while Medicaid recipients make up about 8 percent of Washington's adult population, they account for 48 percent of the methadone deaths."

In the interest of saving money, poor people pay a higher price.

Guns were designed to kill more, better, faster...

Image from photographer Francois Robert

See also...the artist's website, and The Bones of Francois Robert by Michael Beirut

It's either to kill people in battle or to kill animals for food that inspired the invention of and innovations for firearms.
Killing more, killing better, killing faster.
I don't think those are noble reasons to innovate.
I will accept that people think it's a necessity, but I don't think it should be glorified.
This photo is a good representation of the truth behind guns.

Patents and Patent Trolls and Extortion

This American Life "When Patent Attacks" (from July 2011)
The United States Patent and Trademark Office   (for general information)
Apple makes a deal with the devil - or worse, a patent troll (for an example from today's news)

Patent Trolls are the new shakedown bullies on Main Street.
They are essentially 'shell' companies that buy up technology patents and then sue other people for infringing on the patents.

First, as I understand, the patent office is having trouble administering all the patents; there are duplicates, and some patents don't have enough specificity to be unique.
That's a problem right there.

It all starts with a person who invents something that is revolutionary and unique.
Then a big company gets wind of it and essentially steals the invention out from under the person.
(Read this New Yorker article by John Seabrook about Robert Kearns and intermittent windshield wipers, or watch the movie "Flash of Genius" starring Greg Kinnear)

We need a system of laws to protect individual entrepreneurs and inventors from being bullied by large companies with unlimited resources.

Fine and dandy.

Now, consider the pace of technological advancement today.  Fast.

The patent office is creating new patents for items that are essentially the same, but with minor differences.  Item A uses 97% compound X and is patent number 423
Item B uses 98% compound X and is patent number 424.
It's a bureaucratic nightmare.

In come the sharks...rich people use the very mechanism put into place to protect the 'little guy' to shakedown every Tom, Dick, and Harry who breathes on a patent they own.
They buy up all the patents they can and make their money suing other companies - big and small - for the least little appearance of patent infringement.

Not only that, but part of the practice is to threaten companies with years of court battles and encourage them to pay money to avoid a lawsuit.

Isn't that strikingly like the protection rackets we used to hear about (and maybe are still in practice)?
Gangs in a territory would sell 'protection' to the retailers, but if they don't buy the 'protection' then suddenly their store is robbed or vandalized.

Listen to the This American Life story linked above.  It's crazy what's going on.

Can the Cans

This is a link to an article on Slate by Matthew Yglesias about why canned food drives are less helpful than they appear.
It's better to donate cash
Summary:
1.  The charity can usually buy in bulk and get better prices than we get for our donated items.
2.  Sorting through the food can be time consuming and logistically difficult for the charity.

Read the article for more.

Bottom Line:  This article convinced me - I'm not donating food to food drives anymore; I'll give cash.