Category: News

Looks like one more Android-phone wanted to sneak onto the radar before 2009 was over, though we’re probably not going to hear much more about it until CES next week.

Spotted in the depths of Sprint’s inventory system, there’s only so much to be said about it thus far: it’s made by LG, it’s running Android, and the model number is the oh-so-non-descript LG LS680. Considering that just about every Android device in existent runs behind a touchscreen, that’s probably a safe bet; throw in some wishful thinking that it also has a physical QWERTY keyboard and, as PhoneArena points out, we might just be looking at a CDMA version of the LG GW620, pictured below.

[Source: BGR]

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Sustainable Power Corp. Board of Directors Appoints Michael Garjian as …CNNMoney.com (press release)… glass manufacture and fabrication, plasma physics, high energy electronics, alternative fuels, biofuel production, biofuels in transportation, ……

Cada vez la historia de Saab me recuerda más a la caída del MG-Rover y el renacimiento de la marca en China. Porque poco a poco se van conociendo más datos de la venta de tecnología de Saab a BAIC. Según cuentan desde Autoblog, BAIC creará una nueva fábrica para producir 100.000 unidades anuales de una nueva marca con la que venderá productos con base Saab.

La gama de la nueva marca contará de tres a cinco modelos que utilizarán plataformas suecas, porque recordemos que BAIC tiene tecnología del Saab 9-3 y las patentes completas de la anterior generación del Saab 9-5. Pero lo más curioso de la noticia es que BAIC también contará con los famosos motores sobrealimentados de Saab, sin duda toda una insignia de la marca sueca.

A estas alturas que no tenemos ninguna noticia más por parte de GM que confirme un cambio en la situación de Saab, me temo que es muy posible que acabe vendida a trozos, o incluso que estos modelos de BAIC puedan llegar a Europa porque dispondrían de una buena plataforma y unos buenos motores.

Vía | Autoblog en español

The media coverage spawned by the health-care overhaul has taken many forms, but one of the most popular vehicles — according to our less-than-scientific observation — has been that venerable journalism standby, the Q&A.

Editors love the question-and-answer format for offering up lots of factoids about complex data in bite-size chunks. Deliver it in a conversational, reader-friendly tone and you’ve got a winner, the thinking goes.

So in case you share a hankering for Q&A’s, here a sampling from the many we’ve seen lately on newspaper and other journalism sites. We’ve included the first question in each Q&A to provide a flavor of the topics covered:

LA Times: Why require everyone to buy insurance? Also: Would insurance companies still be able to offer abortion coverage?

Kaiser Health News: What are the biggest disputes [between the House and Senate over their approved bills]?

USA Today: What aspects of the health care legislation would be implemented right away?

Reuters: What does the Senate healthcare bill do?

WSJ: Would the law force me to buy health insurance?

BBC: How is the US healthcare system currently structured?

Image: iStockphoto

Another must-read for Martin Armstrong fans, this time tackling the question of Western Civilization and its future.

Via Nathan’s Economic Edge

Subtitled, “Has Western Society Come to an End?” Armstrong presents some key historical figures who believe that nations/ societies have life cycles. He then goes on to discuss how our country came into being and how “We are now coming up on the cyclical turning point for THE USA. It is either an opportunity to make an advance in civilization, or a collapse into self-interest and war. The choice is ours!”

Most who believe in economic cycles believe that we are destined to make the same types of errors as those who preceded us in history. In fact, much of Armstrong’s own writing counters his last sentence that “The choice is ours!” Everyone likes to believe they have some choice, some control, over events and indeed I believe that we do.

The Decline of the West–Has Western Society Come to an End 12!09

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Martin Armstrong: Wild Inflation Coming, New Highs For Gold And The Dow
• Amazing New Yorker Piece On Martin Armstrong
• Martin Armstrong Explains Why The Gold Standard Is Implausible And Useless

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There isn’t a mass exodus from Facebook over the privacy settings, but it is responding with messages like this sent to users to assuage their fears: “Worried about search engines? Your information is safe. There have been misleading rumors about Facebook indexing all your information on Google. This is not true…”

Several thoughtful Web 2.0 users have blogged about their decision in the last week to leave Facebook and two different “suicide” sites exist.

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This guest post was written by Kaliya Hamlin, also known as Identity Woman, who has been working on cultivating open standards for user-centric identity since 2004. She co-founded, co-produces and facilitates the Internet Identity Workshop, the primary venue for collaboration on identity standards amongst large Internet portals, large enterprise IT companies and small innovators.

This thoughtful post written by Nick Barron, who is based in the Washington D.C. area, talks about meeting Facebook in college and falling in love and understanding this new form of communication in social networks would be transformative for people and business. He believed, “at the end of the day, that Facebook was here for you and me. It was our social network, and while technically being a large company, it was a company of people just like us who wanted a more advanced way of building and maintaining relationships.

“I feel there are no good alternatives for me, except going along with whatever scraps of privacy Facebook is graciously willing to hand me from their table… Facebook has me by the balls. They have you, too, and they know it. They know you have too many friends and family, photos and videos, games and other applications on Facebook for you to leave now. And where would you go? Where would I go?… I am not committed to Facebook anymore. I am looking for a way out, while still being able to do my job. Can a social media pro leave Facebook? We may soon find out.”

Others are more blunt:

“Simply put, I don’t trust my information being on Facebook anymore. I have deleted the Facebook app from my iPhone and I will shut down the page in about a week.” I’m Leaving Facebook by Steve Scherer.

“I am not a privacy hawk, nor a fear-monger, nor a neo-luddite; in fact, those of you who know me well know that I am a technology enthusiast and a generally a booster of any technology related solutions that could potentially make our lives easier.

In this instance I’m morally and intellectually opposed to Facebook’s cavalier attitude with what amounts to, for some of us, data that relates to a significant portion of our (online) lives.

See also: Why Facebook Changed Its Privacy Policies

A visit to the privacy settings pages and FAQs reveals a great many soothing platitudes. While these may fulfil their legal obligations it is ultimately disingenuous for Facebook to suggest that anyone actually reads any of these when in reality the vast majority of users likely accept the default “Everyone” setting. ““Why I’m Hitting the “Delete” Key on Facebook” by Narain Jashanmal.

Early adopter and tech journalist Dan Gilmor is among those who have committed “suicide.” He started a new account with his old Facebook URL and checked out the new default privacy settings that he describes as “un-private.” He highlights the conflict as, “What’s in the corporate interest, however, doesn’t necessarily match what’s in my interest, or yours.”

If you want to commit “Facebook suicide” you have two options. One is Seppukoo.com, which likens the act of killing your digital self to:

Discover what’s after your Facebook life. We assist your virtual suicide.

You are more then your virtual identity. Pass away and leave your ID behind.

Seppukwho? Testimonials and Frinds. Discover who has committed seppukoo.

Impress your friends, disconnect yourself. Join the world wide suicidal network.

The site was created by Les Liens Invisibles, which creates playful 2.0-style media artworks. Two people make up this imaginary art group, Clemente Pestelli and Gionatan Quintini. You can see Gionatan’s RIP memorial on the site; it highlights friends that have joined him in the Facebook afterlife along with those still left.

The process works like this: 1) you give the site your login credentials, 2) you create last works and a skin for your customized memorial page, 3) you enjoy your Sepppukoo – the platform will send all your friends your last words and customize your memorial page – and 4) you get a score – every friend you convince to Seuppukoo will increase your score on the site.

This version of Facebook suicide is not permanent – you can just login to Facebook.

Sepppukoo does have a cease and desist from Facebook, although dated Dec. 16. One of the main points is that they “collect Facebook’s users’ content or information using automated means such as scripts or scrapers without Facebook’s permission”

The Web 2.0 Suicide Machine offers “suicide” for Facebook, Myspace and Linkedin. It highlights its time saving nature taking just under one hour vs. over nine hours to go through the process manually with 1,000 Facebook friends.

The tool lets you watch your “virtual suicide” as it happens.

They have 134 people they say have committed suicide using their tools. You can see the list along with their last words and how many friends they lost.

You can see a video by Moddr_ of it in action. “Liberate your newbie friends with a Web2.0 suicide! This machine lets you delete all your energy sucking social-networking profiles, kill your fake virtual friends, and completely do away with your Web 2.0 alterego.” He say in the video, “my interent life is dying and my real life is starting,” and closes with” Get your life back – sign-out forever”

Their FAQs are great.

If I start killing my 2.0-self, can I stop the process? No!

If I start killing my 2.0-self, can YOU stop the process? No!

What shall I do after I’ve killed myself with the Web 2.0 suicide machine? Try calling some friends, talk a walk in a park or buy a bottle of wine and start enjoying your real life again. Some Social Suiciders reported that their life has improved by an approximate average of 25%. Don’t worry, if you feel empty right after you committed suicide. This is a normal reaction which will slowly fade away within the first 24-72 hours.

Why do we think the Web 2.0 suicide machine is not unethical? Everyone should have the right to disconnect. Seamless connectivity and rich social experience offered by web2.0 companies are the very antithesis of human freedom. Users are entraped in a high resolution panoptic prison without walls, accessible from anywhere in the world.

Whatever you think about the bleak humor of a Facebook “suicide, those who’ve left – or are thinking about leaving – are talking about their decision in terms of freedom.

“I made the decision yesterday to ditch Facebook. Their privacy options are too intrusive. Glad twitter isn’t like that.” @ReetaLuthra

“I actually feel more wholesome after leaving Facebook. I didn’t expect that.” @sansian

“I think it’s the feeling of loss of control that I don’t like, that something is set in such a way that I can’t reset it myself, and thus info is getting out/posted online/is otherwise being used in such a way that I don’t want. I’ll have to think about it… I’m just tempted to take what seems to be the path of least resistance and just ditch Facebook entirely. I’ll have to think about it… “Considering Leaving Facebook

We even found a Muslim perspective (translation) on the virtues of leaving the virtual world for the real world.

This recently popped up: Facebook is hiring for its Advertising Privacy Counsel to work on a “cross-section of fascinating legal issues”. I am wondering if maybe they should have done more hiring before they changed privacy policies, which may have broken the law and and has lead the Electronic Privacy Information Center to file a complaint with the FTC.

Face book photo by Massimo Barbieri.

Discuss

IBM CEO Sam Palmisano had some questions of his own in response to a question by a Barron’s writer about Google in the enterprise.

The quote appears in a Barron’s story about IBM’s comeback. The actual story requires a subscription to view. Here is what Palmisano had to say:

“Is Google going to become the computing platform for the enterprise? Is a bank going to run itself on Google? Is an airline going to run itself on Google? Is IBM going to run its supply chain on Google? Is Bharti Wireless going to run themselves on Google? Is the banking system of China that we’ve built going to be on Google? Is the Russian Central Bank that we’re building going to be on Google? No.”

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It’s often perceived that a threat really is a threat when a smaller competitor is acknowledged by a much bigger rival. Is that the case, here? Palmisano does appear to infer that Google is not up to the task of handling the work required of major operations. By making the comment, it opens up questions about how much of a threat IBM sees in Google.

There is no doubt that Google has made noteworthy strides in developing an enterprise suite of products. And why would a company like an airline not consider Google? Of course, Google does not offer the technology to perform core transactional task or much less in-flight software. But day-to-day office tasks can well be handled with Google applications.

Google does not pose any threat to IBM. Google dominance is not at hand. But Palmisano does appear to acknowledge that Google has a place at the table.

Discuss

Filed under: Hybrid, Government/Legal, Technology, Mazda

Are there any among us that wouldn’t prefer a meaningful boost in fuel mileage from our current car or truck, all other things being equal? Sure. And the good news is that there are a couple of easy ways to achieve that laudable goal, starting with adding stop/start technology to the car’s powerplant.

In case you’re not familiar with the fuel-saving tech, we’re basically just talking about automatically shutting off the engine when it’s not needed, which requires little more than some computer controls along with a slightly more powerful battery and starter motor (though some systems are admittedly more complex). Not exactly rocket science, but at an estimated cost of $500 per vehicle, it does cost a rather substantial amount. Either way, it does sound pretty intriguing, right? So, why don’t we see more of these cars in the States?

You can add head Mazda engineer Robert Davis to the list of those who think stop/start should spread throughout the States and according to Automotive News, and he’s got a theory as to why it hasn’t: the Environmental Protection Agency’s fuel economy testing procedures. Naturally, an engine needs a chance to idle for the stop/start-equipped car’s computer to switch it off, and the EPA’s current test cycle only allows that to happen one single time.

We don’t know about you… but our city driving patterns usually include way more than one single stop. By way of comparison, the Japanese city cycle is programmed to allow the engine to idle much more and cars with stop/start technology boast a significant mileage improvement – from seven to nine percent, according to Davis. Besides, most of the start/stop systems we’ve sampled on foreign-market cars include an override button for those who find the technology objectionable.

So, if there’s a problem with the way the technology jibes with the government’s testing methodology, what’s the solution? The EPA is currently accepting public comment and is seeking input on how to modify its fuel mileage testing procedures. Davis is calling for an “industry wide” agreement on a procedure that would help highlight the benefits of stop/start technology. Is that the right direction to go? Feel free to sound off in the comments.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req.]

REPORT: Stop-start tech saves fuel, so why can’t we get it in the States? Blame the EPA originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So-called socially responsible funds may actually be higher risk than their plain vanilla brethren. According to the firm Audit Integrity, if you take two socially responsible funds as an example it appears that their ‘socially responsible’ holdings contain companies who practice some pretty risky companies from an aggressive accounting or corporate governance perspective.

For the Domini Social Equity Fund and the FTSE KLD 400 Social Index, 50% of their holdings have been ranked as ‘Very Aggressive’ by Audit Integrity’s metrics, as shown below.

 

This is a pretty substantial shift in governance risk when compared to Audit Integrity’s entire universe of stocks under coverage, for which only 9% are bad enough to receive ‘Very Aggressive’ ratings. 

Obviously any such accounting or corporate governance ratings system is only as good as the methods employed. Maybe one has to look closer at how Audit Integrity actually scores companies. Yet given the wide divergence between the two charts above, the relationship likely still stands even after accommodating some room for error.

The larger question we feel is why some socially responsible funds might inadvertently be exposing investors to higher governance risk. Perhaps it’s because the socially responsible label makes people less skeptical. Or perhaps socially responsible funds are less diligent in checking companies beyond their standard social criteria. Yet you’d expect that good governance was part of being a socially responsible investment. Thus our message is that socially responsible investing, as a label, might be pretty misleading.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Socially Responsible Fund Outperforming The S&P
• "Better" Corporate Governance Made Banks Riskier
• Good Corporate Governance, Bad Results In Latest Crash

Earlier, I noted that the Federal Reserve’s decision to stop purchasing mortgage-backed securities (MBS) should cause an increase in mortgage rates. But that won’t be the only thing driving up long-term rates: the Treasury’s trouble going forward in selling debt will also contribute to higher mortgage rates, according to a Morgan Stanley economist. Here’s what he says, via Bloomberg:

Yields on benchmark 10-year notes will climb about 40 percent to 5.5 percent, the biggest annual increase since 1999, according to David Greenlaw, chief fixed-income economist at Morgan Stanley in New York. The surge will push interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages to 7.5 percent to 8 percent, almost the highest in a decade, Greenlaw said.

Yikes! Those are some pretty high mortgage rates — and much higher than we’re used to seeing over the past several years. They should cut significantly into the demand for refinancing and even new home purchases. Rates like that could also worsen the foreclosures crisis, as many adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) have benefited from historically low interest rates. Once they adjust to near, or over, double-digits, many more homeowners with ARMs will be force to fold.

The cause of this increase in mortgage rates comes from what this economist believes will be a higher yield demanded for government Treasury securities. Those are generally considered risk-free rates, so any mortgage bearing a similar long-term coupon will consist of its default risk premium added to that risk-free rate.

Bloomberg explains that the government debt will become more expensive because of both supply and demand:

The U.S. will face increased competition from other debt issuers, spurring investors to demand higher yields as the Federal Reserve ends a $1.6 trillion asset-purchase program, according to James Caron, head of U.S. interest-rate strategy in New York at Morgan Stanley. The central bank was the largest purchaser of Treasuries in 2009 through a $300 billion buyback of the securities completed in October.

The Treasury will sell a record $2.55 trillion of notes and bonds in 2010, an increase of about $700 billion, or 38 percent, from this year, Morgan Stanley estimates. Caron says total dollar-denominated debt issuance will rise by $2.2 trillion in the next 12 months as corporate and municipal debt sales climb.

So in addition to the pressure that I mentioned earlier stemming from the Fed’s departure from the MBS market, the broader investment community will likely drive rates higher on long-term debt as well. While bad news for the housing market, this is probably good news for sensible investing.

Dear major record labels: when we suggested you learn how to embrace “free” in your marketing and promotions, this isn’t quite what we meant. Consumerist points out that Interscope (part of Universal Music) has put together a promotion with Best Buy, whereby if you buy a CD from certain Interscope artists, you get a free copy of the software Tweetdeck. Well, that’s nice… other than the fact that Tweetdeck is already free. Great deal! Now, to be fair, the copy of Tweetdeck you get is a special “customized” version that automatically has you following 16 Interscope artists (even if you only bought a CD from one of them). Of course, you could also just follow any of those artists yourself (again, for free), so it’s not quite clear what the promotion is. But, they sure seem to suggest it’s a big deal in the Best Buy newspaper ad:

Now, I guess, to some extent, we should note that it’s a good thing that a major record label is admitting publicly that “free” can act as a good promotion — so kudos to Interscope for taking that big step. It’s also nice to see Interscope recognize that an infinite good (software) can potentially help sell more scarce goods (CDs). But, on the whole, it definitely seems like this promotion could have been handled a lot better. Pumping up the “free” aspect of something that’s already free just doesn’t seem that compelling.

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It has definitely been a year full of scandals, splits, sudden celebrity deaths and scintillating news stories. Parade.com polled the American public on what they felt were the top headlines of 2009.

George Clooney beat out his buddy Brad Pitt by a wide margin (56 percent to 16 percent) in the category of what celebrity would you choose to kiss under the mistletoe. Jennifer Aniston defeated her ex-husband’s current lover, Angelina Jolie (50 percent to 24 percent). Other celebs voters wanted to kiss include Bradley Cooper (10 percent) and Robert Pattinson (8 percent); Beyoncé (13 percent) and Rihanna (7 percent).

For a complete list of winners, visit Parade.com.

Filed under: Technology, Videos, Toys/Games

Are you starting to wonder if Gran Turismo 5 is ever going to see the light of day? We are, but at the very least we understand why it is taking Polyphony Digital over five years to release the latest edition of its standard-setting racing series. Every video we see shows more detail, more tracks and greater diversity of motoring types. The newest video comes courtesy of the Asia Gaming Expo 2009 show, and it provides a glimpse at some of the many race tracks coming our way when GT5 finally graces us with its presence.

Hit the jump to watch some pretty amazing footage that was unfortunately shot by a consumer grade-camera capturing images via projection. Most of the 1:45 video isn’t in-game footage, but it does show some pretty amazing new courses and some breathtaking rally shots. There is footage from Madrid, Rome, Indianapolis and Tsukuba, plus NASCAR, Super GT and more. Among the shots that make this video worth the watch is footage of a race at the airport that features a large passenger jet following close behind a pair of LeMans racers. Wow. The video is bad and the audio cuts off after about 30 seconds, but if you’re dying to get your hands on GT 5 we’re sure you’ll click through to watch the video. Thanks for the tips, everyone!

[Source: YouTube]

Continue reading VIDEO: New Gran Turismo 5 trailer confirms new courses, general awesomeness

VIDEO: New Gran Turismo 5 trailer confirms new courses, general awesomeness originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Chevrolet, Ford, GM, Honda, Nissan, Toyota

The most tumultuous year in the history of the auto industry draws to a close this week with two-of-three U.S.-based automakers having gone through bankruptcy, all all three have been battered by a down market. Through the first half of the year, annualized sales hovered at around the 9 million level, the lowest in more than two decades. That’s a tough threshold for any company to make money at, and almost no one did – including the mighty Toyota.

Heading into the second half of the year, the prospect of a government funded “Cash for Clunkers” program helped spur auto sales, although the benefits were certainly not spread evenly among all segments. The final numbers for the year are expected to hit somewhere in the 10.5-million region, but the 16 million sales mark of just a few years ago isn’t likely to return for several more years, if ever.

The top 10 best-selling vehicles for 2009 contain mostly familiar nameplates, although a few positions have been juggled. Click here for the full list.

Charting the Top 10 Best-Selling Cars and Trucks of 2009 originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As the day draws near for an expected but rumored Apple tablet announcement, more details regarding this mythical beast are surfacing. This time it’s news of Innolux, a subsidiary of Foxconn (whom we all know produces the iPhone for Apple), making the touch screen panels for the upcoming tablet — rumored to be the iSlate. According to Digitimes, another Foxconn subsidiary, G-Tech Optoelectronics, will be in charge of strengthening the glass for the device and Taiwan-based Wah Hong Industrial will be providing other components. And of course, we can expect Foxconn to get these tablets into production soon and into our eager hands!

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DJ Earworm decided to put together a mash-up of all the Top 25 Billboard hits of the year. Of course the mix features Beyonce’s huge hits Halo and Single Ladies.

SolarReserve, a developer of utility-scale solar thermal power projects based in Santa Monica, Calif., is planning to tap public and private money to finance the development of two new projects, each backed by recently signed long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).

Last week,  SolarReserve announced that it had inked two separate PPAs (… and see here ): One for a 100-megawatt project to be developed in Nevada, and another for a 150-megawatt facility in California.

SolarReserve CEO Kevin Smith tells GER that the two power plants are each expected to cost about $500 million to develop.  One financing option being considered by the developer is to back the debt required to develop each project with Department of Energy loan guarantees. The government program could cover as much as 80 percent of the project costs, Smith told us in a phone interview. The balance of the cost would come from company equity.

The DOE loan guarantees were enacted as part of the 2005 Energy Policy Act. From the start, the funding stream was hampered by rigid regulations that, among other things, gave the DOE first priority lien on the collateral of a failed project. That made it nearly impossible for clean energy projects to structure a financing package that included private backers since they were pushed down the food chain if the project went bust.

Under the new rules released earlier this month, the DOE said it will decide on a project basis whether its loan guarantees will have first priority or whether to back a project on an equal-basis lending.

If SolarReserve qualifies its two projects for loan guarantees, one obvious advantage is that the government will step in to repay creditors if the project were to fail. Smith says it plans to engage in serious discussion with project finance banks early this summer.

The two projects will use solar power tower technology, which uses a large field of flat mirrors called heliostats to focus solar energy on a receiver that sits at the top of a tall tower in the middle of the field– see drawing below. Heat transfer fluid passes through the receiver, absorbing the solar heat and reaching temperatures of over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. The system can either direct the hot fluid to a steam turbine for electricity generation, or to a storage tank for use later, making it possible to meet electric demand even after the sun sets.

Each SolarReserve system consists of an approximately two-square mile solar field and 600-foot tall tower. The systems use solar salt for the heat transfer fluid, which both has good energy storage properties, and is more environmentally friendly than the fossil-based fluids used in some other solar thermal technologies. The salt does pose design challenges to minimize corrosion of metal components throughout the system.

SolarReserve’s 100-megawatt Tonopah project is backed by a 25-year PPA with Nevada power utility NV Energy. The Rice project will be developed in Riverside, California, with Pacific Gas and Electric agreeing to purchase the output of the 150-megawatt plant. The projects’ storage systems will use energy storage technology initially developed by United Technologies.

Both PPAs have to be approved by Nevada and California regulators. In the meantime, Smith says, development on the projects will continue. Tonopah is expected to begin operating in 2012 and the Rice facility in California sometime in 2013.

SolarReserve raised $140 million in a second round of funding a little more than a year ago. Does it plan to return for a Series C? Smith tells GER that, funding-wise, the company is in good shape, having invested less that half of the capital so far. “The Series B takes us well into 2011,” he explains. The company does plan to raise more capital, but it would be to on a project basis and would not be done at the corporate level.

Company investors include Argonaut Private Equity, Citi, Credit Suisse, Good Energies, Nimes Capital, PCG Clean Energy & Technology Fund, and US Renewables Group.

Picture Credit: Mike Johnson, Las Vegas Review-Journal;
                The Breakthrough Institute

Quick! Someone call Ray Comfort!

Yup. It’s Jesus in a banana peel. The article has all the usual nonsense, so I’ll spare you the details. But my favorite part is where the banana owner says, “It definitely wasn’t that way when I bought it from [the store]…. “.

<sarcasm>Yes, because once you buy a banana and bring it home, it stays exactly the same forever.</sarcasm>

Sigh. I’ve had bananas go bad on the way home from the store. Bananas are the least stable fruit ever. I bet ten minutes after that picture was taken it looked more like the pareidolia in the kitchen sink.

I suppose there will never come a day when the mainstream media will have an article with a picture like this with the headline, “Random pattern in object appears to look vaguely face-like; owner makes no claim of divinity”. That would certainly be news to me!

Tip o’ the polyphenoloxidase to Mauro Mello, Jr.