20 MORE FACTS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE

That panda has never looked cuter, by comparison

1. A Brazilian ad agency proposed the above ad for the World Wildlife Fund that shows a horde of planes diving towards lower Manhattan's skyscrapers. (The WWF rejected the ad, but somehow it leaked.)



2. A White House report suggests that between 30-50 percent of the U.S. population could catch swine flu during the course of this pandemic and that up to 90,000 could kick the bucket from it.



3. Jay-Z has had 10 #1 albums, but has never had one #1 single.



4. Incoming Japanese Prime Minister Yuiko Hatoyama's wife, Miyuki, once wrote about having ridden in a triangular UFO to Venus.



5. You can now purchase an air freshener that purportedly smells like Nelson Mandela.







6. Prison guards in Florida have now zapped at least 43 children with 50,000-volt stun guns as part of Take Your Kids to Work Day festivities.



7. A Pakistani man drowned to his death during the taping of a Survivor-type reality show.



8. Palo Alto just hosted the United States of America's first National Single Cougars Convention.



Photo by Daniel Britt




9. Kazuo Matsui missed the first few weeks of the 2008-2009 baseball season because, according to the Astros' official website, he was suffering from "anal fissure."



10. 90% of the paper currency in the United States contains traces of cocaine.



11. The band a-ha (of "Take On Me" fame) just released its ninth album.



12. These are just some of the late Don Hewitt's (60 Minutes creator) accomplishments: (1) He invented the concept of B-Roll, (2) produced and directed the Nixon-Kennedy debates, which forever transformed presidential politics, (3) invented the concept of cue cards for news anchors, (4) directed and produced Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, and (5) and invented the idea of putting text on the bottom third of the screen.




Divine Miss M Meets G-Unit




13. 50 Cent recently hung out with Bette Midler, who, by the way, once had an affair with Geraldo Rivera.



14. An affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America is training teenage Scouts how to capture illegal immigrants and fight terrorists.



15. Kid (from Kid 'n' Play) is doing local commercials for a suit store in Carson, California.



16. Federal Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske has chosen to abandon the phrase "War on Drugs."



17. Redfoo of LMFAO (of "I'm in Miami, Bitch" fame) is the son of Motown founder Berry Gordy.







18. Ben & Jerry's is renaming its Chubby Hubby ice cream to Hubby Hubby to raise awareness of marriage equality (which is great, except that Chubby Hubby sounds more like a term used in the gay community).



19. Speaking of Jerrys, Jerry O'Connell is a 1L.



20. Finally, both Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny were apparently packing heat:

(with thanks to JT Money)

--Junichi

FIND THE DIFFERENCES

Microsoft ad used in the United States



Microsoft ad used in Poland

Did you spot the differences, kids?

If not, here are the answers:

1. The Asian guy in the U.S. ad is the CEO, whereas the Asian guy in the Polish ad is an exchange student.

2. The middle man in the U.S. ad does not have health insurance.

3. The woman in the Polish ad does not actually care that Michael Vick is playing football again when so many more NFL players have been convicted for crimes that involve the death of human beings and served shorter sentences.

4. The middle man in the Polish ad is playing pocket pool.

5. The U.S. ad does not use the word "firmy."

Also, something looks a bit off about the skin color of the middle guy ...

Credit: AMERICAblog

--Junichi

SOCCER BALLS AND APARTHEID WALLS

Commercial for Israeli cellphone carrier Cellcom

This may not be the equivalent of the Third Reich kicking a soccer ball over a concentration camp wall during the holocaust, but it's still in the same category of foul.

Maybe Sprint can run with the idea and set up a volleyball game outside Guantanamo Bay.

Or Lynndie England can play naked Twister with Abu Ghraib prisoners and ask, "Can you hear me now?"

(Credit: Kathy H.)

--Junichi

A LITTLE SPICY MEXICAN AND AN ANACONDA THAT DON'T WANT NONE UNLESS YOU GOT SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS BUNS, HON

According to Reuters, Burger King has apologized for its "Texican Whopper" campaign and vowed to change it after Mexico's ambassador to Spain said that the commercial (see above video) offends Mexicans.

The ambassador, whose name isn't worth mentioning in any news article, suggested that BK's new commercial -- in depicting a tall Texan cowboy with a short Mexican wrestler -- "improperly used the stereotypical image of Mexicans."

Let's put aside the issue of whether Burger King is seriously suggesting that the diminutive swimming wrestler is a typical image of a Mexican person.

And let's ignore the fact that the Mexican ambassador has a hundred more important things to demand international attention to, starting with, oh, the horrendous environmental and labor conditions in today's Mexican maquiladoras and ending with, shall we say, the failure of the United States to honor the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Here's my question: Is it really a "stereotypical image of Mexicans" to portray them as short?

As an East Asian, perhaps I'm territorial about all the vertically-challenged stereotypes. (In Lost in Translation, look at Bill Murray towering over all the Japanese men in the elevator. Ha ha ha!)

This makes me wonder ... when Emmanuel "Webster" Lewis did all those Burger King commercials in the '80s, did anybody accuse the BK Lounge of promoting a stereotype that all black people are short?

If anything, the Mexican ambassador should be offended about Burger King's other current advertising campaign ...



Granted, the above commercial has nothing to do with Mexicans.

But it should be offensive to people of all nationalities because it somehow combines a children's cartoon about a fry cook in the Krusty Krab restaurant with a hip hop song about knock-kneeded bimbos walkin' like hoes into a commercial for burgers that are real thick and juicy.

At this rate, Burger King is going to hire Elmo to start spitting about how he "once got busy in a Burger King bathroom" and the Mexican ambassador will attempt to overthrow the king.

--Junichi

LET CALIFORNIA RING VIDEO

I'm absolutely in favor of protecting the rights of gay marriage in California but I can't say I find this video very compelling in order to get the message across. For one, the soft-focus and sepia-tone convey a tone that's less "civil rights" and more "personal hygiene". Second, the "barriers" presented to the bride-to-be seem largely comical rather than serious; it's not until the last frame or two that anything more somber sets in. Third, I'm not sure who the target demographic for this ad is meant to be but everything about the wedding bespeaks an upper middle class sensibility that may limit its ability to craft empathy. Fourth, the commercial suggests that it's random forces - a broken door knob, poorly parked cars, a clumsy aunt - who are standing in the way of people getting married. That's not the situation facing gay/lesbian couples - they have real people, real organized movements, real politicians, media figures, religious leaders, etc. standing in the way. It's not by accident; the opposition is deliberate, well-funded, and highly motivated.

That opposition has no qualms in playing dirty. So why is Let California Ring playing things so...tame?

--O.W.

SIZE IN AMERICA

Not the ideal Amazon woman

The images above and below are ads in Brazil for Fit-light Yogurt with a tagline that roughly translates to: "Forget about it. Mens' preferences will never change."

Each ad is obviously a remake of a classic movie scene with a larger woman.

Is it me or would these ads never work in the United States?

The women above look sexy, confident, and clearly appeal to a lot of different men (and women) I know who like a little fruit at the bottom.

Undoubtedly, these plus-size models would have no difficulty collecting digits in any corner of this country.

I've never been to Brazil. Do they worship emaciated stick-figure women?

*


I wish I was a little bit taller

In other size-related news, a joint study by Princeton and the University of Munich concludes that the United States now has the shortest population in the industrialized world.

The shortest!

(Click here to read the actual paper published in the Annals of Human Biology.)

Strangely, the paper makes no mention of any non-European country. Isn't Japan an industrialized country?

Regardless, Americans no longer tower over everyone else, as we did in the mid-20th century.

The Dutch now stand tallest at #1. And here I thought that marijuana and clogs stunted growth.

Interestingly, the study doesn't include Chicano/Latinos or Asian Americans in its calculation of the average American height. (Not that these groups would have raised the average height.)

But even if the results had included Asian Americans in the calculation of average American height, you couldn't put much blame, if any, on Asian Americans for our overall shortage. The average Asian American high school student today is probably close to the national average. In any event, I am grateful for those that have effectively diminished the short-Asian stereotype, Yao Ming?

One could simply dismiss this news with the oft-repeated/rarely-true mantra that size doesn't matter.

But this shawty ain't snappin' because Americans are shrinking, relative to other industrialized nations, because of our country's poor nutrition and health care.

I don't know about the veracity of any of these claims, but I do know that I am typing this with one hand while using my other hand to shove a second Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme into my mouth.

Hey Hans, can you grab me a napkin and some Robitussin from the top shelf?

--Junichi