Apparently Newt Gingrich has commissioned a campaign rap?

Richard Roeper:

R.I.P. Hip-hop music, 1977-2012. You had a good run.

Lyrics sample:

Hoot, hoot, hoot
Everybody vote for Newt
Hoot, hoot, hoot
Everybody vote for Newt

N to the E to the WT
Newt Gingrich taking over these streets…
Obama better step out the White House
Gingrich gonna get in the White House…

Celebrating all day like it’s a parade
Yeah we got pro-life all up in this thang…

Hoot, hoot, hoot
Everybody vote for Newt
Hoot, hoot, hoot
Everybody vote for Newt

Sun Times:

Gov. Pat Quinn has a week to decide whether to put the brakes on a bill allowing Chicago to install speed-enforcement cameras — and so far the public feedback he’s received is overwhelmingly opposed to the measure.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has spent months lobbying Quinn to sign the bill authorizing speed cameras near city schools and parks.

It turns out the public has been doing its own lobbying.

The governor has received 224 phone calls, letters or on-line communications on the bill, and more than 91 percent were against the new law, according to Quinn’s office.

There are two things I love about this article:

1. “The public” loves laws that it thinks will only apply to other people. For more on this, check out P.J. O’Rourke’s Parliament of Whores.
2. Note how little it takes to lobby a politician - 204 phone calls, emails and/or “on-line communications” constitutes a public outcry.

Peter Singer for the New York Times:

If continuing brain research does in fact show biochemical differences between the brains of those who help others and the brains of those who do not, could this lead to a “morality pill” — a drug that makes us more likely to help? Given the many other studies linking biochemical conditions to mood and behavior, and the proliferation of drugs to modify them that have followed, the idea is not far-fetched. If so, would people choose to take it? Could criminals be given the option, as an alternative to prison, of a drug-releasing implant that would make them less likely to harm others? Might governments begin screening people to discover those most likely to commit crimes? Those who are at much greater risk of committing a crime might be offered the morality pill; if they refused, they might be required to wear a tracking device that would show where they had been at any given time, so that they would know that if they did commit a crime, they would be detected.

Forbes:

Workers at the Regency Ceramics factory in India raided the home of their boss, and beat him senseless with lead pipes after a wage dispute turned ugly.

This is class warfare.

Huffington Post:

A Republican member of the Indiana General Assembly withdrew his bill to create a pilot program for drug testing welfare applicants Friday after one of his Democratic colleagues amended the measure to require drug testing for lawmakers.

(via wordshappen)

“[Barnes & Noble] have figured out how to use the store to sell e-books. Now, hopefully, we can figure out how to make that go full circle and see how the e-books can sell the print books.”

ὑπαρχο

wrzelewo:

The ancient greek word ὑπαρχο (pronounced hoo-park-oh) has two meanings:

1) I exist
2) I am ready 

Kotaku:

I’d love to see the paperwork at N.C. State public safety after a Nerf-war staging of the popular “Humans vs. Zombies” tag game resulted in an emergency alert of gunmen roaming the campus. “Cause of disturbance: Zombie Apocalypse”?

State (full disclosure: my alma mater) staged an HvZ event sometime this week. During daylight hours Wednesday, pubic safety got two calls regarding a dude, strapped (with a Nerf weapon), walking into Riddick Hall and then also on nearby Current Drive north toward Hillsborough Street. Officers went to both scenes but found no suspects nor any witnesses.

Friday, they finally sounded the all-clear: “Both reports of individuals on campus who might be carrying handguns were related to the Humans vs. Zombies game, and that there was no threat to campus. Both incidents were related to the same individual, who contacted police after hearing the descriptions and locations.” Bet that guy feels weird.

Oops.

How Big-Time Sports Ate College Life

New York Times:

Last month, Ohio State hired Urban Meyer to coach football for $4 million a year plus bonuses (playing in the B.C.S. National Championship game nets him an extra $250,000; a graduation rate over 80 percent would be worth $150,000). He has personal use of a private jet.

[Ohio State physics professor] Gordon Aubrecht says he doesn’t have enough money in his own budget to cover attendance at conferences. “From a business perspective,” he can see why Coach Meyer was hired, but he calls the package just more evidence that the “tail is wagging the dog.”

“An average worker needs to work a mere 11 hours per week to produce as much as one working 40 hours per week in 1950. The conclusion is inescapable: if productivity means anything at all, a worker should be able to earn the same standard of living as a 1950 worker in only 11 hours per week.”