Tuesday Miscellany

Is the new entertainment technology making us smarter, as this guy alleges? Or dumber, as this guy alleges? I'm guessing the latter, but I'm open to argument. Excerpt from a review of The Dumbest Generation:

The natural (and anticipated) response would indeed be to dismiss him as your archetypal cranky old professor who just can't understand why "kids these days" don't find Shakespeare as timeless as he always has. Such alarmism ignores the context and history he accuses the youth of lacking -- the fact that mass ignorance and apathy have always been widespread in anti-intellectual America, especially among the youth. Maybe something is different this time. But, of course. Something is different every time.

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Twenty-year-old virgin in extremis: Man has never been kissed before. He takes out an ad on Craigslist, looking for someone to teach him. So far, no takers, but the ad is eagerly circulating at the local penitentiary.
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That's why lawyers bill in six-minute increments: A desperate housewife called police in Germany after a friend chatted to her for 30 hours - non-stop. . . . A spokesman for police in Speyer said: "After an incredible 30 hours of listening non-stop to her friend and several unsuccessful attempts to get her to leave, the woman saw no other solution than to call us." Reminds me of those scenes on Airplane where people killed themselves instead of listening any longer to the long-winded guy next to them.
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While searching for Airplane scenes, I ran across this one. I suppose it's not politically funny anymore, but I'll run it anyway:

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Sorry if that offended anybody, but it's no more racist than most toddlers: Toddlers who say "yuck" when given flavorful foreign food may be exhibiting racist behavior, a British government-sponsored organization says.
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But media really (really, really) doesn't have an impact on us: A 20-year-old woman who said she "wanted to learn how to fight" hit several people at a Saturday night party in Bremerton where the group was watching "Ultimate Fighting Championships" on television, according to the Bremerton Police Department. An officer responded to a report of an assault at Park Avenue and Sixth Street just after midnight on Sunday.