Eideard

From whale sperm to colon cleansers to the shape of a woman’s foot when she has an orgasm, celebrities did not disappoint during 2011 with their penchant for peddling suspect science in the world’s media.

In its annual list of what it considers the year’s worst abuses against science, the Sense About Science (SAS) campaign named reality TV star Nicole Polizzi, Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann and American singer-songwriter Suzi Quatro as top offenders, with their dubious views on why the sea is salty, the risks of cervical cancer vaccines and the colon.

“I used to get a lot of sore throats and then one of my sisters told me that all illnesses start in the colon. I started taking a daily colon cleanser powder mixed with fresh juice every morning and it made an enormous difference,” Quatro told the Daily Mail newspaper.

But SAS was keen to dispel such myths. It asked qualified scientists from various disciplines to comment on some of the worst celebrity science offences…

While the review is partly about entertainment, the campaign group stresses it also has a serious aim – to make sure pseudo-science is not allowed to become accepted as true.

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Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

If Fox News viewers want to be informed about current events, they might as well turn off the TV.

A poll released by Fairleigh Dickinson University on Monday found that people who get their news from Fox News know significantly less about news both in the U.S. and the world than people who watch no news at all.

In a survey of 612 New Jersey natives, Fox News fans flunked questions about Egypt and Syria when compared with people who don’t watch the news. Fox viewers were 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians toppled their government and 6 points less likely to be aware that Syrians have not yet overthrown theirs.

“Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News,” Dan Cassino, a Fairleigh Dickinson professor who served as an analyst for the poll, said in the report. “Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all…”

The most informative outlets were found to be the Sunday morning news shows as well as outlets like the New York Times, USA today and NPR.

Har.

Police in Maryland arrested a man after finding his cell phone charging at the scene of a burglary. Now Montgomery County police say 25-year-old Cody Wilkins has been charged in other burglaries.

It began when a homeowner’s son arrived as a burglar was going through rooms in the home Friday. Startled, the burglar jumped out a window and fled.

The son called police, who searched the home and found a cell phone charging in an electric socket. The phone led police to Wilkins.

Police say Wilkins’ home was among those in the area that lost power last week when a snowstorm moved through. Arrest records say he’s been linked to other break-ins.

Wilkins was brought to a Montgomery County jail on $1 million bond.

Dummy. Come to think of it. that’s why no one’s written a book on Burglary for Dummies. Anyone heading into a life of petty crime probably doesn’t read.

Police want your help finding a man they said apparently stole a hat and wore it, stole some snacks and ate them, then paused briefly for a photo before disappearing.

According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, two homeowners were burglarized around 11 a.m. Tuesday in the Summer Trees neighborhood in the Sandalwood area near the high school.

Chuck Lucas saw a man coming from his neighbor’s yard on Wattle Tree Drive who he thought didn’t belong, according to a police statement. He called police, then took a picture of the man with his camera phone. The man actually posed for Lucas.

The suspect was eating Cheez-Its and wearing a ball cap. As Lucas was talking to police, Ricki Bower came up and said her home had been broken into on Fern Tree Drive.

Lucas showed her the picture and Bower said “those are my Cheez-Its and that is my husband’s ball cap…”

Bower also reported small electronics and jewelry stolen, in addition to the Cheez-Its and ballcap.

“The jewelry was my mother’s. She is deceased, and I would love to get that back because it is irreplaceable. He can have the Cheez-Its.”

Har! I hope they catch this idiot sooner rather than later. Throw away the key.

Two armed robbers, one of whom left a T-shirt bearing his photo and name at the scene of the crime, and their female accomplice were captured early Sunday morning just minutes after firing multiple rounds during a robbery at a Rutherford County bar, police said.

Twenty-two-year-old Kendell M. Swader…his 20-year-old girlfriend, Whitney Elliott…and accomplice Antonyo O. Roper, 18, all of Murfreesboro, have all made bond…

The victims told police that two males and a female were hanging around The Spot…from about 1 a.m. Sunday until it closed two hours later…

During that time, the men came in to buy drinks and one of them removed a T-shirt bearing his photo and family name and tattoos. He left his T-shirt lying in the bar.

When the bar closed, the three were waiting in the parking lot and reportedly re-entered the bar armed with a .40-caliber pistol and took both the cash drawer from the register and a bank money bag full of cash.

Despite getting the money, one of the two men said “shoot them” as they were leaving. The victims ducked and heard four shots. More shots were fired into a truck driven by a woman who pulled up attempting to get a tag number off the suspects’ four-door brown car. That victim had already called 911 and saw the suspects flee outbound on Woodbury Pike.

A regional “be on look out” was immediately broadcast by RCSO Communications. A Woodbury police officer spotted the vehicle and began chase, asking for assistance from Cannon County deputies.

The car was stopped, and a .40-caliber Glock was recovered along with cash and other evidence linking them to the bar robbery.

The only thing these dummies didn’t do was leave behind a note with their home address. Presuming they can write.

Is Google responsible for giving out bad directions through its Google Maps service? We’re about to find out. After Googling walking directions for a trip in Park City, Utah, Lauren Rosenberg claims she was led onto a busy highway, where she was struck by a vehicle. She’s now suing Google for damages.

The case, Rosenberg v. Harwood, was filed in Utah, in the US District Court’s Central Division (Gary Price of ResourceShelf tipped us to it today). Harwood is Patrick Harwood, the person who actually hit Rosenberg, according to the suit. Both Harwood and Google are being sued in the same case, for damages “in excess of $100,000.”

Rosenberg used Google Maps on January 19, 2009, via her Blackberry, to get directions between 96 Daly Street, Park City, Utah and 1710 Prospector Avenue, Park City, Utah. Google provided these, telling her as part of the route to walk for about 1/2 mile along the calm-sounding “Deer Valley Drive.”

That’s an alternative name for that section of Utah State Route 224, a highway that lacks sidewalks, the case says. Rosenberg wasn’t warned about this, putting Google directly at fault in the accident, the case claims.

I wonder if Google had suggested to this dimwit that she jump 100 feet off a cliff to continue her trek – would she have done so?

How long can you hold your breath – and why?

Four teenagers were injured after a driver fainted while holding his breath as part of a game being played in a moving car, Wheatland, N.Y., police said.

The teenagers were treated for minor injuries after the car hit a tree and a boulder, the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle reported Wednesday.

The driver of the car, Bryan Parslow, 19, a paraplegic, and a passenger, Sean Parslow, 16, had to be freed from the vehicle Monday night by firefighters, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said. The other passengers were David Fox, 19, and Brian Sinclair, 19.

The driver and passengers allegedly told police they were holding their breath through the town of Garbutt when Bryan Parslow blacked out and lost control of the car.

Alcohol was not a factor in the accident, authorities said.

They didn’t say anything [publicly] about stupidity.

A slippery character

Seventy-five bottles of body lotion stuffed down his pants did not help Chamil Guadarrama make a slick getaway.

Guadarrama, 30, of Framingham, was arrested Wednesday night on a charge of shoplifting more than $250 from Bath & Body Works in the Eastfield Mall, said Sgt. John M. Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet.

When he was apprehended by mall security officers Jane Colon and Jeff Lawlor and held for police after a brief foot chase, Guadarrama was found with 75 8-ounce glass bottles of lotion stuffed into his pants, Delaney said.

“They could not fit Mr. Guadarrama into the cruiser because his pants were bursting at the seams and he could not bend over,” Delaney said.

He said Guadarrama was wearing ordinary trousers but had string tied around each ankle to keep the bottles from slipping out…

A clerk at the store spotted Guadarrama slipping bottles of lotion through his zipper, and alerted security, Delaney said. Colon asked him to stop, but Guadarrama tried to run, he said.

Given the sheer volume of merchandise down his pants – the equivalent of nearly 5 gallons – the 5-foot, 10-inch, 210-pound Guadarrama did not exactly tear through the mall with a sprinter’s speed…

Guadarrama pleaded innocent at his district court arraignment Thursday. He was released on his own recognizance and ordered to return to court on March 19.

I’m getting tired of the automatic “Not Guilty” pleas. Can’t we institute a system where crooks like this ditz can plead guilty and get better TV in their cells or something – for not wasting taxpayer money and court time?

A U.S. data security firm said a study of passwords from the Rockyou.com breach found “123456″ was the most commonly used password among users.

The Imperva security firm said in a release Thursday a study of the 32 million passwords exposed during a December breach of a RockYou database indicates numerical passwords were popular among users.

While “123456″ topped the list, the study found “12345″ was the second most commonly used password among Rockyou.com users. The password “123456789″ was third overall…

Imperva Chief Technical Officer Amichai Shulman said the list, which was rounded off with “abc123″ in 10th, shows the vulnerability of certain passwords.

“Vulnerability of certain passwords”? How about the vulnerability of people who are too stupid to come up with a useful password?

Cripes!

Dumb Crook of the Day?

Another video game-loving thief was caught online! Police nabbed a careless electronics thief who used a stolen Xbox for online play — allowing investigators to uncover a stockpile of pilfered goods he had allegedly stowed away in his grandmother’s house.

On the day of the burglary, the victim used another Xbox to go online and spotted his videogame console in use, according to the Post. Investigators then tracked the IP address to a Pelham home where 22-year-old Jeremiah Gilliam is accused of hiding the goods he stole from as many as 200 car break-ins and burglaries in Westchester County.

The suspect purportedly used his grandma’s residence as a stash house for dozens of video games, laptops, GPS devices, Xboxes, PlayStations and credit cards.

Guess his grandma thought he had lots of gift-giving friends, eh?