Pre-caffeine tech: This monkey's gone to heaven

Apple's expected to announce big upgrades today for Macbook Air and iLife.

Whatever else Apple announces, they best get to revealing a Verizon iPhone sometime soon.

And despite what Steve Jobs rants, there may have been a 7-inch iPad somewhere at some point.

Also expected today, a new Nook e-reader. 

Speaking of rants, Facebook developer Joe Hewitt ripped into what Android' calls "Open."

Photo - Hey! Remember when this came out? Yeah, you're officially old.

And the Pixies are celebrating the 20th anniversary of Doolittle (THAT'S TWENTY YEARS! DANG!) by letting you download the LP pretty much for free! (You just have to get on the the Pixies mailing list.) GO! GO NOW!

17,000 doctors cash in drug company money, report finds

Payments are legal but reveal pharmaceutical marketing tactics

“More than 17,000 doctors and other health care providers have taken money from seven major drug companies to talk to other doctors about their products, a joint investigation by news organizations and non-profit groups found.”

AND

"Tens of thousands of U.S. physicians are paid to spread the word about pharma's favored pills and to advise the companies about research and marketing," the group says in its report, available at http://www.propublica.org/topic/dollars-for-doctors.

The groups used information from seven drugmakers -- AstraZeneca, Cephalon, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Merck and Pfizer.”

Haute dog! World’s most expensive frank costs $69

Foot-long garnished with truffle oil, foie gras sets record

“Restaurateur Stephen Bruce has already gotten folks to pony up $1,000 for an ice-cream sundae. So what’s a measly $69 for a hot dog?

Make that an “haute dog.” Bruce’s famous Serendipity 3 restaurant in New York City celebrated National Hot Dog Day June 23 by marrying a foot-long tube of meat with such decidedly nontraditional accoutrements as black truffles and foie gras, served on a pretzel roll grilled in white truffle butter.”

RIP - 'Happy Days' star Tom Bosley dead

Tom Bosley, the patient, understanding father on television's long-running "Happy Days," has died. He was 83.

Bosley died of heart failure early Tuesday at a hospital near his Palm Springs home. Bosley's agent, Sheryl Abrams, said he was also battling lung cancer.

TV Guide ranked Bosley's Happy Days character No. 9 on its list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" in 2004.

The show debuted in 1974 and ran for 11 seasons.

Former U.S. Surgeon General Calls for End to Marijuana Prohibition

Former U.S. Surgeon General — and MPP VIP Advisory Board member — Joycelyn Elders appeared on CNN recently to argue against the criminalization of marijuana users.

“Marijuana has never caused anybody directly to die,” she said. “It’s not a toxic substance … We can use our resources so much better. I think we need to legalize marijuana for adults, and tax it so we can use the money for much better things.”

Report: Ancient ruins worldwide 'on verge of vanishing'

“Twelve historic sites around the world are "on the verge of vanishing" because of mismanagement and neglect, according to a new report.

The report, by San Francisco-based Global Heritage Fund (GHF), identifies nearly 200 heritage sites in developing nations as being at risk, highlighting 12 as being on the verge of irreparable loss and destruction.

Three sites in the Middle East, Iraq's Nineveh, Palestine's Hisham's Palace, and Turkey's Ani, are among those most in danger.”

Photo – Palestine’s Hisham’s Palace.

Cannabis Tales: new pot growers and America’s last pioneer movement under assault

FROM the LA TIMES:

They're indoors, upscale and have values their hippie parents shunned.

Tony Sasso’s story profiled.

Quote:

“In the Triangle, he said, "indoor allowed the kids of hippies and rednecks to get rich."

AND.. “All this would have been unthinkable 40 years ago when hippies, runaways and Vietnam veterans headed to the Northern California outback in one of America's last pioneer movements, called Back to the Land.” assault

U.S. Senate candidate’s private security guards handcuff editor/irrational liberal blogger for asking questions

Hmmmmmm…

The editor of the Alaska Dispatch website was arrested by U.S. Senate candidate, Joe Miller's, private security guards Sunday as the editor attempted to interview Miller at the end of a public event in an Anchorage school.

The Miller campaign released a written one-paragraph statement from Fuller, then followed with a statement titled, "Liberal Blogger 'Loses It' at Town Hall Meeting." In that statement, Miller accused Hopfinger of assaulting someone and of taking advantage of the meeting to "create a publicity stunt."

He said his personal security detail had to take action to detain "the irrational blogger."

Crystal Cathedral Ministries: a ‘Disneyland-like’ megachurch files for bankruptcy

How about this? Now they won’t have to pay their taxes or their debts?

What a racket.

Anyone foolish enough to be associated with these Mega Churches and their false prophets, deserves to get financially fleeced and become morally bankrupt.

“Crystal Cathedral Ministries, an Orange County landmark and megachurch founded by television evangelist Robert H. Schuller, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday morning.”

Look at those two grinning clowns. You’d be smiling too if you got rich doing nothing but babbling about your interpretation of the Bible while passing the plate around. 

PHOTO - Robert A. Schuller, left, poses for a photo with his father, Robert H. Schuller, outside the Crystal Cathedral on Feb. 9, 2006, in Orange, Calif. On Monday, the megachurch filed for bankruptcy.

It’s time to ask questions: An Open Letter to the Tea Party

You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.

You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.

You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.

You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said illegal war.

You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.

You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.

You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.

You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.

You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.

You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.

You didn't get mad when we gave a 900 billion tax break to the rich.

You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.

You finally got mad when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick.

Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all okay with you, but helping other Americans. . .oh hell no!

Thought for the day: change is almost inevitable in mid-term elections

A short History lesson: A president's party almost always loses House and Senate seats in a midterm season…

Some political pundits say this is NOT an average midterm correction. Are we headed for a third-straight change election? If so, this is truly historic, something most of us have never experienced.

Will the Tea Party candidates fracture the GOP? Or give it a lift?

On the heels of his event last night in Ohio, which was attended by an estimated 35,000, Obama embarks on another busy campaign week. He’s going to be all over the map encouraging Democrats to vote for their party.

The AFL-CIO has released a memo to reporters that puts its influence squarely on the line in its efforts to mobilize union voters.

Here's a potential problem for Colorado Senate candidate Ken Buck (R), who has been leading Sen. Michael Bennet (D) in most polls. The Denver Post: "Buck suddenly elevated the culture wars from minor player to center stage in the Senate race … when he compared homosexuality to alcoholism in a nationally televised debate.

Questions of decency and Aqua Buddha: And it's getting personal in Kentucky. "A debate filled with unabashed personal attacks concluded Sunday night with Republican Rand Paul briskly brushing past Democrat Jack Conway, refusing to shake the hand of an opponent who raised questions about his religious beliefs," the Lexington Herald-Leader notes. "'Jack, have you no decency? Have you no shame?

In New York, a New York Times poll has Andrew Cuomo (D) leading Carl Paladino by 35 points among likely voters (59%-24%).