Crazy train

United throws... Compassion (out the window)

You might remember (ha ha) a post I made earlier this month about United Airlines throwing guitars and the bang up job they did of remedying the situation.
Here is another story of their stella customer service

Turning White

The Brisbane Times has an interesting article about a man in the US who is turning white.

"I'm a black man turning white on television and people can see it," says Thomas, an anchor and entertainment reporter for the local Fox Broadcasting Company affiliate. "If you've watched me over the years, you've seen my hands completely change from brown to white."

Thomas has vitiligo, a disorder in which pigment-making cells are destroyed. White patches appear on different parts of the body, tissues in the mouth and nose, and the retina.

"There is no cause. There is no cure, and it's very random," Thomas says. "I could turn all the way white or mostly white."

I can't imagine how difficult this would be for a person. As Corey Williams, the authour of the article puts it,

experts say vitiligo robs people of self-confidence, evokes ridicule and unpleasant stares, and pushes some into unforced seclusion

Feel free to check out the rest of the article here

Foul Mouthed Robot

see more Lol Celebs

Pour Some Sugar on Me

Music Royalties for Dummies

Geeks are Sexy has a very interesting article on music copyright laws.
They cover who gets what from where, ranging from record sales to the internet.

Music is a little more complicated than other kinds of art in that there are two completely separate copyrights – the rights to the song and the rights to the sound recording. So when you hear, say, the song “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails, there are two pieces of the pie to carve up: (1) ownership in the song (the composition) by Trent Reznor, because he wrote it; and (2) ownership in the sound recording

Check out the whole story here. It makes for interesting reading.

The Language of Autism

The YouTube clip opens with a woman facing away from the camera, rocking back and forth, flapping her hands awkwardly, and emitting an eerie hum. She then performs strange repetitive behaviors: slapping a piece of paper against a window, running a hand lengthwise over a computer keyboard, twisting the knob of a drawer. She bats a necklace with her hand and nuzzles her face against the pages of a book.

Autism is still something of a mystery to us. The general consensus for a long time has been that autistic people were damaged, unable to interact with the world around them in a meaningful way, and it was even thought by many that the most severely afflicted were not aware of what was happening around them.
Now because of this amazing woman we know that that is not true.
The youtube clip is long, but it is captivating and well worth the time it takes to watch. (if you are really impatient, skip to about 3 mins in, that is where the 'translation' begins)



Don't miss the rest of the story.