From Wired come some other takes on the recent media scandal over Iran releasing an image of a missile launch that had clearly been photoshopped.

Sometimes I can understand why some people don’t read or watch the news because it’s too depressing. It really can build up at times and make you wonder what the hell is wrong with the world. Mostly it just makes me wonder if it was really that slow of a news day. The following two stories just make my brain hurt:

Off-Duty Police Sgt., Son Beat Up Man, Mistaken for Gay — The off-duty sergeant joins in on a brawl started by his son, because the son mistakenly thought that a (straight) guy was hitting on him. Some articles state that the man has a lazy eye, while others omit that fact.

Gay man sues publishers over Bible verses — The gay man bringing the lawsuit says that the publisher’s bibles have made him an outcast from his family and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of “demoralization, chaos and bewilderment.” Because the bibles contain passages referring to homosexuality as a sin.

Both of those stories make me say, “Wait… wha?” Has anyone seen any good news stories lately?

Wow, how did I miss this? Pray at the Pump holds prayer groups at gas stations in an effort to appeal to God to bring gas prices down.

“This whole thing is a wake-up call from God to Americans, because we idolize men so much,” said Twyman, 59, a public relations consultant and Seventh-day Adventist who believes that high gas prices are a sign of the apocalypse drawing nigh. “I think through this crisis, God is trying to call us back to depend on Him more.”

–WP: Activists Keep the Faith, if Not Their Money

To quote a well known nay-sayer, “What is it? Some sort of a cosmic cash machine?”

Ok people, this is why you have got to stop watching these dumb-ass shows and making these people “celebrities”. I think the following statement is both hilarious and tragic:

“It is because of me — I definitely think [my show] has helped the movement,” she told Usmagazine.com on Wednesday.

“Before it came out, everyone was still a little apprehensive about [same sex relationships],” she said. “Then they realized, ‘Wow, everyone is really into this stuff, and it is fine.’ The next thing you know, [gay marriage] is legal.”

– Us Magazine: MTV’s Tila Tequila: Gays Can Get Married “Because of Me”

As this story shows, people weren’t watching your show to have their eyes opened about queer lovin’. It should be noted that the original title for that article was “H’wood’s Bisexual Double Standard: Hot for Girls, Gross for Guys”.

Professor Harvey Dillon, from Hearing Australia on a recent report that young people (18 to 34) risk developing permanent hearing problems if they go to noisy bars and listen to loud music through headphones:

Our rule of thumb is if people have to raise their voice or actually shout at you to make themselves understood while you are listening to music in your ears, then that is loud enough to be potentially damaging.

This is gonna make me an old fogey, but if you’re wearing headphones (with music on) while actually trying to listen to someone speak to you, you need to have them snatched off your head like a bad weave. Rude!

On the way back from lunch yesterday, Betsy and I were seated on the metro in front of a woman whose music was so loud, I assumed she was just disregarding the rules and playing it through small speakers or her phone. Nope, she had headphones on. I don’t see how she’s going to retain good hearing if it’s so loud from her headphones that Betsy and I had to speak up to talk to each other.

Points to anyone that gets the reference in the title.