crankypot.com » News and Media http://www.crankypot.com Wed, 07 Jul 2010 01:24:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Christopher Hitchens Gets Waterboarded http://www.crankypot.com/2008/07/02/christopher-hitchens-gets-waterboarded/ http://www.crankypot.com/2008/07/02/christopher-hitchens-gets-waterboarded/#comments Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:36:57 +0000 moody http://www.crankypot.com/?p=185 Christopher Hitchens used to say that water boarding was just extreme interrogation. Does he still thinks that after he got water boarded? Find out below.

Read the full article from NYTimes first and then go to full video of Hitchens gets actually water boarded. Awesome!!!
Everyone needs to see this.

NYTimes Article

Video

]]> http://www.crankypot.com/2008/07/02/christopher-hitchens-gets-waterboarded/feed/ 0 George Carlin quotes http://www.crankypot.com/2007/10/17/george-carlin-quotes/ http://www.crankypot.com/2007/10/17/george-carlin-quotes/#comments Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:12:12 +0000 moody http://www.crankypot.com/?p=59 laughstore_1957_48519086.jpg  Just thought I’d pay tribute to the God (no pun intended) himself since he turned 70 this year.
Here are some of the hand picked quotes from Carlin in no particular order.

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”

“Swimming is not a sport. Swimming is a way to keep from drowning. That’s just common sense!”

“I wanna live. I don’t wanna die. That’s the whole meaning of life: Not dying! I figured that shit out by myself in the third grade.”

“If it’s true that our species is alone in the universe, then I’d have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little.”

“You know the good part about all those executions in Texas? Fewer Texans.”

“Ever notice that anyone going slower than you is an idiot, but anyone going faster is a maniac?”

“Isn’t it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do practice?”

“Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.”

“I don’t have a fear of heights. I do, however, have a fear of falling from heights.”

“I have as much authority as the Pope. I just don’t have as many people who believe it.”

“I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.”

“If God had intended us not to masturbate he would’ve made our arms shorter”

“”I am” is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that “I do” is the longest sentence?”

]]> http://www.crankypot.com/2007/10/17/george-carlin-quotes/feed/ 0 Real news are myth http://www.crankypot.com/2006/08/03/real-news-are-myth/ http://www.crankypot.com/2006/08/03/real-news-are-myth/#comments Fri, 04 Aug 2006 00:21:34 +0000 moody http://www.crankypot.com/?p=41 world I just wanted to post my thoughts about news and media role in todays events.
Let me tell you one thing.
I am originally from Balkans (living in US now) and I lived through the horror of war and I know what media can do to the nation.
I can see how most Americans are pro-Israel. It is hard not to be when every news channel is pro-Israel. No exceptions. It is almost like brain washing. It is the same in Middle East with Arab stations.
The only real news are the ones you get first hand on the battle ground, and most of us will never have privilege to do that, so i suggest doing what I do.
I go and search for news from 3-4 different parts of globe and draw conclusion for myself. I do know one thing: US media just like any other media is biased no matter what you (American born citizen) think of it. They have to be , otherwise they will have no news to report. Most major developments are leaked to news stations from the white house or various government officials. Imagine if you are CNN and you start bashing White House after they gave you a really good piece of information.
You think White House will give you the story next time? I think not. They will go with the WH friendly news, or more commonly called FOX news.
So all news stations have to be friendly with government. Of course some of the stations will throw in little calculated arguments (not the FOX news of course), but that’s about it.
Conclusion: No matter what you think of the news station, no matter what country you are from, know that you are not getting the right info. I thought our Balkan news is the most truthful news on the planet. Boy, I was wrong. I’ve learned my lesson, so this is what I do:
I watch/read BBC, CNN, FOX (just for laughs), some Arabic stations, and various online news sites and draw conclusion for myself. I would rate BBC the highest and FOX news the lowest, as far as the non biased news reports and reporters courage to chalenge in interviews.
I’ve yet to see completley non biased news channel or a station.

My $0.02

]]> http://www.crankypot.com/2006/08/03/real-news-are-myth/feed/ 2 Mighty Zidane http://www.crankypot.com/2006/07/14/35/ http://www.crankypot.com/2006/07/14/35/#comments Sat, 15 Jul 2006 02:41:24 +0000 moody
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http://www.crankypot.com/?p=35 zidane.jpg I thought I’d post couple of links to Zinadine Zidane headbutt from the world cup. Feel free to post yours.

Zidane 1

Zidane 2

Zidane BBC Story 1

Zidane BBC Story 2

I still like the guy and I do think he deserved “best player” award. We all had our moments when consequences really didn’t matter. Everyone has a boiling point. For a player of that caliber and age to explode like that, Materazzi must’ve said something really serious, and it had to be through out the whole game. I am on Zidane’s side as of now.

]]> http://www.crankypot.com/2006/07/14/35/feed/ 0 God will save me, if he exists http://www.crankypot.com/2006/06/06/god-will-save-me-if-he-exists/ http://www.crankypot.com/2006/06/06/god-will-save-me-if-he-exists/#comments Tue, 06 Jun 2006 23:58:52 +0000 moody http://crankypot.com/?p=33 Lion KIEV (Reuters) – A man shouting that God would keep him safe was mauled to death by a lioness in Kiev zoo after he crept into the animal’s enclosure, a zoo official said on Monday.

“The man shouted ‘God will save me, if he exists’, lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions,” the official said.

“A lioness went straight for him, knocked him down and severed his carotid artery.”

I have to quote it again: ” God will save me, if he exists”
You mean to tell me that he went in there without making sure that God does exists? And I though suicide bombers were idiots. People do strange things for religious reasons but I am kind of confused here. Did this guy believe in God or not?

]]> http://www.crankypot.com/2006/06/06/god-will-save-me-if-he-exists/feed/ 1 Bosnian Pyramid of Sun http://www.crankypot.com/2006/05/14/bosnian-pyramid-of-sun/ http://www.crankypot.com/2006/05/14/bosnian-pyramid-of-sun/#comments Sun, 14 May 2006 20:55:08 +0000 moody
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http://crankypot.com/?p=29 PyramidFriend of mine just went to Sarajevo, Bosnia and he stopped by Visoko where they found now already famous Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun. He took some realy amazing photos of the Pyramid that you will not find anywhere else. I placed all photos and some videos on my other site (www.vanjaburic.com). You can access it by clicking the link below.

Bosnian Pyramid of Sun

]]> http://www.crankypot.com/2006/05/14/bosnian-pyramid-of-sun/feed/ 3 Morbid news or morbid public? http://www.crankypot.com/2006/02/19/morbid-news-or-morbid-public/ http://www.crankypot.com/2006/02/19/morbid-news-or-morbid-public/#comments Sun, 19 Feb 2006 21:54:42 +0000 moody
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http://crankypot.com/?p=16 Wanted to share some of my thoughts on today’s media and news broadcasting.
Here are few today’s headlines:

crankyface.jpg

-Muslims Assault U.S. Embassy in Indonesia
-Scientist say California quake could cause Katrina II
-Tens of Thousands Lack Power in Northeast
-Filipino Victims Buried in Mass Grave

Is it just me or all of the stations and news providers are bringing ONLY bad news?
I don’t really blame them since they are doing it for ratings. News stations will go where the money and ratings is. No question about it, but what I do resent is that public curiosity became so morbid and dark that anything related to mass deaths or chopping the heads off will bring them to the computer screen or make them read it. A decade ago we had only a small percentage of people surfing the net for news like that, and you could find it only on certain sites which are gaining in popularity these days. Right now everyone is doing it. Yahoo, MSN, etc. Every time I go to yahoo to read the news I am left out with emptiness and feeling depressed and I just want to blow my fricking brains out, since the world is coming to an end (at least according to the news)

Then I realized that the truth is: world is not coming to an end and it’s a beautiful place. It’s just not in the news papers. Some people might say that I am dreaming and that I lost a touch with reality. Well, I think that person creates world around him with the way he thinks. Problem is that public will absorb only “bad headlines” (not that there is any other choice in the mainstream media) and create a picture of a world that is going to hell in a basket. So what’s the answer? How to keep up with current events and not turn into death hungry psychopath? I think there are only two choices:
1. Watch the news and become seriously disturbed and insecure individual
2. Don’t watch it at all and the only way of knowing if Iran is built WMD is if you see a mushroom cloud through your window.If there is another choice, please let me know.

This led me to question:is public driving the media to a morbid direction or is it the other way around?

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