Category Archive: Wreckollection

Jan 01

Statistic of the Year 2010

In 2009, when millionaires were lining up at the welfare office (oops) Capitol Hill begging other millionaires for bailout packages (at the expense of their struggling taxpayers), the number of millionaires in the United States actually grew by 16%.  But wait, there’s more! The total worth of the members of the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans rose to an estimated $1.37 trillion in 2010, up 8% from 2009.

 

Runners up:

In 2010 people watched more than 700 billion “YouTube” videos. Over 35 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

In 2009, health spending hit an all-time high of 11.9% of Canada’s gross domestic product. That’s $183.1 billion, $9.5 billion more than in 2008, or $5,452 per person.   Two-thirds of Canadians over 65 have five or more prescriptions.

Jan 01

Movie of the Year 2010

Avatar a genre defining 3-D sci-fi of epic proportion.

 

Runners Up:  Zombieland, a survival guide for the apocalypse (and the  flood of other zombie movies and video-games that were destined to eat our brains over the past year).  RED (Retired & Extremely Dangerous) and From Paris with Love also provided fun for the whole family.

From the archive: Memento, a surprise thriller from some years ago that was perhaps the best (defined as most unique) movie I saw last  year.

Jan 01

Creepiest (& Most Ominous) Commercial of the Year 2010

… goes to Sony PlayStation 3 for their invasive to hell with subliminal seduction, let me get right in your face rendering of a Sony executive moving (or barging) in with a typical family to make fun of how hopelessly engrossed they have become in mindless video games at the expense of traditional family norms.  This is one part arrogance, one part a natural progression from reality television to reality television commercials; and all parts WRONG!!

Jan 01

Song of the Year 2010

“Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum

 

Honorable Mention:  “Love the Way You Lie” by Eminem with Rihanna

Jan 01

Book (and longest title) of the Year 2010

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanche, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by Dale L. Walker

 

The story of a white boy captured and raised by the Comanche to become their most famous and feared war chief (and the last to surrender).  He would then become one of the most successful cattle ranchers in Texas.

Jan 01

Unsolicited E-mail Message of the Year 2010

“Did You Know?”

An interesting wake-up call for the complacent student and champions of the Western superiority complex.

See the message here

 

Jan 01

Quote of the Year 2010

I have the lowest tax rate of anybody in my office, even though I don’t have a tax shelter. I think that is very wrong.— Warren Buffet, 2nd richest person in the US.

 

Runner up:  “Due to the recession, to save on energy costs, the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off. ”   — God

Jan 01

Joke of the Year 2010

A lady who craves sleep is seated next to a lawyer on a long flight, but he keeps waking her up. “Let’s play a trivia game,” he suggests. “If I answer wrong, I’ll pay you $50. If you answer wrong, you owe me $5.” The lady agrees, and the lawyer goes first. “What’s the distance between the earth and the moon?” The lady hands the lawyer $5. Now it’s her turn. “What goes up a mountain on three legs and comes down on four?”  The lawyer is dumbstruck. He scans the Internet, flips through his pocket encyclopedia, and texts every scientist he can find. No dice. Hours later, he wakes up the lady, hands her $50, and asks, “So what’s the answer?” Without a word, she hands him $5 and goes back to sleep.

Jan 01

My “Government for the People” award goes to… Chile

From an area not always noted for its touchy feely people politics, the police chief of Concepciòn orders his officers to refrain from arresting post earthquake looters caught stealing essential supplies.  According to him, “If they have basic foods, milk, flour, water, diapers for babies, the order is to not arrest them;  but if they have a television, they’ll arrest them.”  The Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet, orders supermarkets to give away basic supplies in an effort to help desperate victims of the devastating earthquake and to control looting that has broken out in some cities.   She added that the government will also, “prosecute anyone responsible for price speculation in the disaster area.”

 

Related Statistic: The magnitude 8.8 quake that struck on Feb. 27 near Maule, Chile moved the entire city of Concepción 10 feet to the west.

Jan 01

My “Boo[b] Boo Gone Wild” (or Myth Buster) award goes to… Hojatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi

In April this Iranian cleric advised his followers in Tehran that “Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes” and Iranians should “adapt their lives to Islam’s moral codes” to avoid being “buried under the rubble.”   On April 26, an estimated 200,000 university coeds on campuses across North America let it all hang out in a mass demonstration of defiance and skepticism that was dubbed “Boobquake.”  The mean seismic average magnitude of all earthquakes reported on April 26 was actually slightly below average.

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