The Pentagon reassures citizens after accidentally shipping nuclear fuses to Taiwan, hell no, ranchers in Argentina won’t farm and a big chunk of ice collapses in Antarctica. Marta Costello hosts the gnooze (the g is silent) - today’s top stories in about 3 minutes. Wanna order a gnooze T-Shirt? They’re shipping now! And I can always use some more survey responses if you don’t mind. Thanks!
Music by Pistol Youth, and Special Thanks to Lettuce for the t-shirt/logo design!
Therefore I submit that I am well deseased, except for them facespace, blowbo, mybook things.
Dirty internet, bad internet
I love it Marta you are good I like the T-shirt toooo
Mike……
Hey Marta, great job on the gnooze and thank you so much for it.
But… As a Taiwanese/Chinese I thought today’s headline “Nuclear Fuses Sent to China” was a-tad “off”. Mostly because the history behind the story are so very Mess-O-Potamia-esque, yet way you deliver it are so…what-da?
Here is the thing. If walk up to a Taiwanese and ask him/her about China 7 out of 10 he/she is gonna be like.
“Taiwan is not a part of China, they are freakin’ Nazi-commies for god sake! We elect our own crappy president and we will defend our freedom, our capitalist government and our democracy”
Then you ask. But don’t you speak Chinese, write Chinese, study Chinese history, follow Chinese philosophy and eat Chinese food?
“Yeah…..emmm. I think left my gas on, bye-bye”
–
Now if you walk up to a China Chinese and ask him/her about Taiwan he/she is gonna be like.
“Taiwan is a part of China, we pretty much use the same history book for god sake! We are one culture, one nation, one people. And we are willing to go to war if they declare independence”
Then you ask. But don’t they have right for their own destiny or the government of their own choosing?
“But we are the right one! The history book and the world said so!”
–
Now if you ask every other politician in the western world about Taiwan and China, they will be like.
“Technically speaking Taiwan is not a country, it is a province of China. But we fully support Taiwanese’s democracy and freedom. Because if we hedge our bet right we will be able to screw with both of them. And make tons of money out of both of them”
–
That is why the missile story is so wtf? It would be like America gave Palestinian missile technology. Israelis would freak out to no end and who knows what will happen.
Sorry for the long post. and love the t-shirt
Hi Chen! No apologies for your comment! On the contrary, thank you for the insight.
It’s funny: I learn more doing this unpaid internet show than I ever knew when I was a “real” reporter. Because of your comment (and others pointing out my misstep), I’ve done more research and feel I have a better handle on the complicated history.
One thing I’ve been percolating on is how many places have complicated, sensitive histories… it makes this idealist sad.
On the bright side, I now know that some people are of the opinion that Taiwan bears a resemblance to a sweet potato.
i have a question and maybe you can answer it. how come sometimes news stories will be put up, and then a week later it becomes a main story? i read about the antarctica story last week on yahoo, but now it is on the front page of yahoo.
got my shirt in the mail today and put it on immediately. i love it! thanks!
Glad you like the shirt!
As far as old news making headlines late, it most likely happens when producers (TV) or editors (print) run out of news… if it’s a slow news day, they’ll start reporting a story that they didn’t have time for the previous go-round. And since news is a game of one-upping, station A sees station B reporting it and follows suit. And voila, a media feeding frenzy over a story you already saw on the internet.
As for me, my excuse this time is that I was out of the loop while on hiatus.
Internet access: $60/mo
Computer: $2500
Ice shelf in a lock box: Priceless!
But your internet is expensive, no?
What’s the big deal about nuclear fuses? You probably have dozens of them around your house. Another name for them is Light Emitting Diodes or LEDs. They are used in nuclear bombs because when you run a lot of current through them they explode in less than a microsecond, which then sets off the shaped charges that force the nuclear material together. Using LEDs allows for precise timing of the shaped charge explosions.
This reminds me of the panicked headlines saying that Dihydrogen Monoxide had been found contaminating the San Diego water supply.
Egads! DHMO! We’ve got to ban that stuff!
I think people were most up in arms at the fact that the mix-up happened at all. It’s pretty sloppy - they didn’t even know about it until it was brought to their attention.
Well, that’s what has me confused. “Nuclear fuses” are not as big of a deal as they sound; they are not a restricted trade item by any means, and only cost a few cents each. It sounds to me like someone was trying to embarass the US Government and panic the average person, who likely wouldn’t know that simple LEDs, such as your hard drive indicator light, are what is used to trigger nuclear bombs.
It looks like you barely kept it together for the lockbox bit. Great show!
Indeed. Just by a thread… glad you liked it!
Wearing my shirt -
Looking like a gazillion bucks.
Now I can finance the war in iraq for like 7 minutes!
G
This made me laugh. Very clever and I’m glad you like your shirt.
Loved your take on the penguins!! LOL! made my day…and week for that matter! keep up the funny stuff, your awesome.
Hey thanks! I’m happy you liked the penguin!
Indeed, the penguin falling off the ice shelf was an unexpected bonus. Its that kind of creativity which comes off as totally spontaneous which will keep peoples’ attention for the long haul. Three thumbs up! (I have a spare thumb in the glove box, mainly for hitchhiking emergencies.)
Spare thumb! That’s funny!
I had a friend kicked out of medical school for keeping a spare thumb after anatomy. He was using it to impress the ladies. Ohhhh yeah…
I must give credit where credit’s due. The penguin was my producer’s idea. Teamwork! Glad you liked it.