Day: June 14, 2013

Today is Flag Day. It’s also the U.S. Army’s birthday, so one can imagine there’s quite the office party going on in the Pentagon right now. In fact, it’s probably just the soldiers who are celebrating. The Navy, Marines and Air Force guys are probably on the outside looking in. If you were busy making a kid cry because you’re not Iron Man this week, odds are you missed it.

He hacked her voicemail to find out
This week, it was announced that media mogul Rupert Murdoch has filed for divorce from his wife, Wendy Deng. All parties involved have remained pretty tight-lipped about the whole thing, but News Corp. spokespeople say the pair have irreconcilable differences. There are persistent rumors that Deng has been having an affair with former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair. If it’s true, it’s good to hear that Blair has finally found love again after the rough breakup with George W. Bush.

Worst. Congress. Ever.
It was 236 years ago today that the 2nd Continental Congress formally adopted the U.S. flag. Today, the 113th Congress has done something possibly as historic: they have reached the lowest confidence rating in American history. Just 10% of those surveyed in a recent Gallup poll expressed confidence in the legislative branch, down from 13% last year. This begs the question, who the hell are the 10% that like our lawmakers?

Fin
Stephen Spielberg predicted that the film industry will suffer an “implosion” eventually, because of huge changes that are going on. He said a half dozen huge-budget films need to flop in a row for it to finally happen. He sounds about as apocalyptic as the movies that keep bombing lately.

If the plaintiff in a lawsuit against Warner/Chappel Music Inc. gets their way, you may finally enjoy a royalties-free happy birthday. Good Morning To You Productions Corp. feels that they should not have needed to pay $1500 to use the song “Happy Birthday to You” in their new documentary about it. However, if they hadn’t, they could be sued by Warner/Chappel, which has owned the rights to the song since 1998.

But, through their research for the documentary, the production company found no evidence that Warner/Chappel or the previous owners, Birch Tree Ltd. and Clayton Summy, ever actually owned the song. Sure, they’ve all at one point owned a song called “Good Morning To You” since 1893. But, there’s no copyright on that song with the lyrics to “Happy Birthday To You” because the public made that s**t up.

Let’s not get too excited, though. Even if Good Morning To You Productions wins their case, we’re pretty sure that there will be a counter-suit by the people who wrote the “When I Say ‘Happy,’ You Say ‘Birthday'” song to keep their own royalties pouring in from Applebees.

Science can make anyone sexy.

We’ve been buying and selling that promise for years, but ask any dead person, assuming you’re a medium, it doesn’t work out so well. But now, whether young or old, ugly or not as hot as the person sitting next to you, you can get anyone you want. All you need to do is control their brain.

All you need to do is attach two electrodes to your would-be lover’s scalp, and have then look at you, according to a recent study. Scientists found that people who got a certain amount of electrical current fed to their brain as they looked at pictures of people were more likely to find those people attractive.

No ether required.