Other Side Drive October 31, 2012

Other Side Drive

October 31, 2012

Weird News

Is it cheating if you want to eat your girlfriend and her friends too? 28-year-old NYPD officer, Gilberto Valle, is being accused of wanting to literally eat his girlfriend and was in conspiracy to kidnap and eat 100 other girls…kind of like the classic Silence of the Lambs turned reality.. Why take them out to eat when he could just make them dinner. Before his plan could go through, his call, in which he placed to a co-conspirator was intercepted by law enforcement authorities. Valle in the call said, “I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus. Cook her over a low heat [and] keep her alive as long as possible.” Is there a cannibal cookbook out there? Because I don’t’ know where one gets a recipe like that from. Valle also told his co-conspirator that he’d place the girls in the oven by folding their legs. I’m just wondering what he planned on doing with the chloroform and rope, because when the authorities searched his house they found those items and blueprints on how he was going to kidnap them and cook the women. The FBI found the names of 100 women on his list and interviewed 10 of them; all said that they knew Valle. Officer Valle never went through with the plan but he’s going to court due to charges of the federal kidnapping conspiracy. His wife won’t be too happy about that, oh yea….I forgot to mention that he has a wife too.

An 11-year-old boy in England was attacked with silly string by a gang of teens attempting to steal his pet owl. They should stop bullying harry potter. The unidentified boy was walking with a friend with his bird in hand, until 10 teenagers approached him. One teen said, “Give me your bird.” Then he posed as a boxer and out of nowhere sprayed the boys and bird with silly string. If that’s their way of making friends, imagine their flirting habits…. The boy retaliated by throwing a drink at the group. The group of teens soon punched him twice in the head right before the boys took off with the bird in tow. They were
able to get away from the teenagers but I don’t know if the teenagers will escape to authorities. The police are in search of the suspects. Police chief, Ben Hanley, told the Lancaster Guardian (Local publication) that the victim had sustained swollen cheekbones and may develop a black eye. He added that “The use of the string has clearly caused the owl some distress.” I guess the bird is still wondering whoooo did it.

Some people can leave the toilet with a pungent smell. This Berlin airport toilet got 53 people sick due to toxic fumes, and no, it wasn’t a man-made fume. The janitorial workers had accidently used too much ammonia when cleaning the toilet overnight. A police spokesman told Der Spiegel magazine that “A high level of ammonia was measured.” Even the firefighter got sick when trying to come to the rescue. Just add this to the list of reasons of why not to use public restrooms. Just put it right next to the glory hole, blubbernuggets on the seat cover and the occasional homeless person.

Imagine walking up to a funeral and figuring out that the funeral was for you? Well that’s the case for 41-year-old Brazilian washer, Gilberto Araugo, was mistaken for dead . You know it’s a good costume when you can go as yourself and still scare people half to death. In Brasilia, Brazil, the man’s family mistook him for a murdered man in the morgue. Gilberto hadn’t seen his family in almost four months, so they really thought the murdered man was him since it resembled him and they had the same job. As car washers… not being a dead person. Gilberto showed up to wake after a friend told him of his supposed death when he was spotted on the street. His family had the look on their faces as if they just seen a ghost. According to the O Globo, Gilberto said, “Guys, I’m alive, pinch me.” I guess he didn’t get the reaction he wanted when people fled the scene, and his mother even fainted. There was almost a death at a funeral. His mother of course is happy to see her son alive but she said it was a frightening sight. On first learning of the confusion, Araujo tried to call an acquaintance at the wake to inform them that he was alive, but his call was dismissed as a prank. The other man’s corpse has now been returned, O Globo reports. At least Gilberto has the credentials to play an extra on the walking dead now if he chooses to leave his washing job.

-Chocolate Charlie

Music Review

Menomena, the indie rock band from Portland, Oregon just released their fifth studio album this past September called Moms. The band has been bringing us great music since 2000, and originally started as a side project for lead singer Danny Seim’s solo work “Lackethereof”. However after the success of Menomena the two bands have been of equal importance to Seim.
The first track of the album “Plumage” kicks off the album with energy and powerful vocals. One of Menomena’s strongest points that set them apart is the use of so many instruments and “Plumage” showcases this perfectly for them with strong cymbal, saxophone, and guitar throughout.

The album Moms was to deal directly with the topic of mothers; Seim and Harris the two permanent band members have two completely different upbringings. Seim’s mother died when he was young, and Harris was raised completely by his
single mother; the two felt there could not possibly be a better thing to write about collaboratively. The contrast of the two shows in the music as well. With one of the later tunes “Giftshoppe” it shows a much more melodic, peaceful side to their music. The calm and soothing sound is a great twist for the listener.

The third track “Pique” melodically is a mix of the being intense but still much more low key that the opening track “Plumage”. The lyrics are what impact the listener most in “Pique”, they talk about how Harris’ lack of a father figure is the reason for any negatives in his life. This album truly is made as a tribute to all mothers. Menomena has yet again brought fans a strong album lyrically and if that wasn’t enough accompanied them with fabulous musicianship. The album Moms was a delight to listen to and undoubtedly will not be the last we hear from Menomena.

More information at menomena.com.

-Melissa Bond

Tech Talk

If you’ve seen the new Macs you might feel they are missing something. Apple has slashed Disc drives completely. In a statement Apple says discs are “holding us back…they’re mechanical and sometimes break, they use power and are large.” Many pose the question, doesn’t that limit the power of a mac? shouldn’t a product that costs so much offer everything possible? One can agree with Apple that discs are not the future, but many of us still use discs to load software and watch movies. Sure we can download software, but what happens if we need to reinstall that software later? what happens if our computer crashes or our hard drive fails, we would have no hard copy. Surely no one would want to have to purchase it again… Still apple believes that discs are anchors on where we want to go.” That may be true but a lot of people will have to resort to buying an external disc drive for old software, and movie collections. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of buying a mac? Another likely reason for Apple’s decision to remove the disc drive is the opportunity to increase sales. For example, if people are no longer able to watch their dvd’s they may be more likely to download movies from itunes rather than continue to buy Blu-Ray. Since Apple owns itunes Apple gets a cut and Blu-Ray takes a hit. I can easily imagine a world in which all your information is downloaded and saved to your cloud, there is no need for dvds in that world because everything, phone, computer, tablet, tv, all can connect to the cloud. However, not all of us are in that world yet. Wouldn’t it make an easy transition to keep the disc drive for a while? I think so.

If you play games and you’re a Linux user you could be happy to hear Steam has confirmed plans to create a linux version platform. The Company has announced plans for its first beta and is allowing 1,000 Linux users to apply for a space on the list of beta testers. However, in a blog post Valve Steam mentioned that they are quote “primarily interested in experienced Linux users.” So far the the beta is expected to contain a single game and be available to users of Ubuntu 12.04 and above.

The Nexus 4, a product of Google which has not yet been released went missing over the weekend and the Google police went crazy. An employee of google was given a Nexus 4 phone to test in the field. Unfortunately for Google, that field became a bar, and after one too many drinks the employee accidently left the Nexus 4. For a moment we can set aside how irresponsible the employee is to focus on what Google’s next moves were. When Google found out about the lost Nexus 4 they went crazy sending out the Google police and even resorting to threats. what happened was the phone was found by a bartender who at first didn’t notice what it was. While attempting to find its owner it was discovered that the phone was something called a Nexus 4 which didn’t exist. The bartender then decided to call Google to allow them to get there phone back. What did Google do? They threatened to sue everyone involved and sent out a security team to retrieve the device. When the team arrived they refused to confirm that they worked for Google which made the bartender withhold the device. In the end no one was sued and Google got their phone back, they even offered the bartender a new phone if he would keep quiet about what had happened, which he obviously turned down. Was Google justified in their course of action? or was their attempt to get the Nexus 4 phone back rude and excessive?

You’ve heard of the clap on clap off lights, but what about iphone powered? Apple and Philips have recently teamed up to create Hue. The hue light bulbs are pretty interesting, with the iphone app you can control the color, and brightness of the lights from anywhere. In the test videos Hue had the ability to change color based on images from pictures. I call to question the durability of such a light, but knowing it comes from apple and phillips I can imagine that the quality will not be lacking. Hopefully this would not be like the recent disappointment in the iOS 6 or Apple maps. However reports say that Hue lights can last up to 15 years and consume one fifth the power that standard bulbs consume. Is Apple attempting to enter into the home automation business? I think so. It seems as technology continues to grow, things that once were considered luxury become more accessible. The ability to turn on and off lights from anywhere in the world goes right along with having smart thermostats, home security with video feeds, and onstar in your car. I declare this a smart move for Apple, and an exciting one for the consumer.

-Colton