[nypost image via theBusyBrain]

the loss of the spaghetios guy and the loss of the gloved one just a year ago may have given some of us the feeling that bit by bit, our childhood was fading away.  here’s a little more sand through the hourglass–the founder of swatch watches nicolas hayek died of heart failure at the age of 82.  hayek was known as a great manager and is credited with saving the then failing swiss watch industry back in the 80s–back then he asserted that a cheap watch could tell time as well as an expensive watch and used lower-end materials like plastic and quartz movement along with mass-production to keep prices low.

ok, but what’s this got to do with a smart car?

hayek invented  the smart car and said city cars only need “room for two big adults and a crate of beer.”

i’m going to play my pretty in pink soundtrack now.

[msnbc]

• three x-rays of marilyn monroe’s chest from a 1954 hospital stay netted $45,000
• earrings worn by kate winslet in the blockbuster titanic movie sold for $25,000
• one of michael jackson’s infamous crystal-studded gloves bought in $190,000
• a lock of elvis presley’s hair went for $20,000
• prince’s purple rain lyrics, handwritten, at $55,000

to be fair, the auctions took place at planet hollywood in las vegas where one good turn at the tables can buy you madonna’s bra ($10,000).

[bbc news]

142 years ago this week pennsylvania native christopher sholes had his patent approved for the first  typewriter. his wasn’t the first, others can be traced back another 100 years, but it was the first commercially successful one adopted by many. to create the tool, sholes followed some key design principles to improve his product.  he selected a target audience (stenographers) and made incremental improvements of the prototype until it met their needs. of his last improvements to the tool was the qwerty keyboard that we all still use today.

[photo courtesy of valeriana solaris, wikipedia]

this isn’t the first time a french guy took some action after the word whore was used to describe a family member.  you may remember that famous star zinedine zidane was ousted from the last world cup after he head butted an italian player who  called zidane’s sister a whore.

i recommend that the gentleman get their mommy issues and play soccer–if they haven’t noticed, the whole world is watching (except 90% of the  300 or so million in the u.s.a.)

[telegraph, le merde reference explained, zidane]

what is it?

a tournament of 32 country teams that takes place over a month.  leading up to the event, there are 3 years of qualifying matches to get the tournament to 32. the tourney has been held every fours years since 1930 except for 1942 and 1946 when world war ii was happening.

where is it?

this year it takes place in south africa.

why should i care?

it’s the largest sporting event in the entire world.  more than 700M people watched the final match of the 2006 world cup where italy beat france.  the  rest of world is asking  you, ‘why don’t you care’?

who are the big players?

the world cup has been awarded 18 times.  of those 18, brazil has won 5, italy 4, germany and argentina 3 each, uruguay 2, france and england 1 each.

what are the games like?

it won’t be like watching saturday afternoon game with the the 3rd graders in your town.  soccer players make me question the use of the term ‘athlete’ to describe baseball players. but anyway, be prepared to hear ’striker’, ’sent off’, ‘yellow card’, ‘red card’ and a few other terms.  take a look at the ’soccer for americans’ tips i found here.

where should i watch it?

you can watch the games on ABC but why not go out and find a bar where you can watch it with football fans?  find out where all the expats live, saddle up to the bar, and enjoy.  it’s really really awesome.

[david beckham wiki fifa world cup wiki, soccer for americans, fifa world cup schedule, fifa world cup website]

during the testimony, costner called out regulators and oil industry peeps for being bureacrats and eejits.* he said the regulators were caught int he never ending circular cycle that forbids untested machines at oil spill sites he reminded regulators that machines meant to clean up oils spills need to be tested at….oil spills.  and he called out oil industry peeps because they were too clueless to even imagine that a spill could happen so they wouldn’t therefore invest in the tool.

costner was pretty honest that he was shilling his own product but it’s interesting to consider his motives.  maybe he saw the urgency of saving the earth after the recent birth of his daughter grace on june 3. maybe he wanted everyone to remember that cameron (a.k.a. mr. titanic/ monsieur avatar) isn’t the only academy award winning director with an idea. maybe he thought that saving the oceans would make people forget that stinker waterworld.

* a shout out to  friends in ireland who use this word so well

[nytimes, huffington post]

food giant mcdonald’s has recalled about 12M commemorative shrek forever plastic cups because they expose consumers to cadmium and long term exposure to cadmium can cause health risks.  the joint doesn’t want a pesky health scare like this to ruin their healthy reputation, right? follow the link at the bottom of this article for recall information.

[u.s. consumer product safety division]

[huffington post]