Study: Eating Organic Makes You a Self-Righteous Jerk

From the Daily News:

Eating organic might make you a jerk, a new study suggests.

Researchers have found that people exposed to organic foods are more likely to exhibit judgmental attitudes.

“There’s a line of research showing that when people can pat themselves on the back for their moral behavior, they can become self-righteous,” study author Kendall Eskine, assistant professor of the department of psychological sciences at Loyola University in New Orleans, told NBC’s “Today” show.

For the study, published last week in the Journal of Social Psychological & Personality Science, Eskine and his team split 60 people into three groups.

 

World Peace Gets Seven Days

LA Laker Metta World Peace was given a seven day suspension by the NBA for whacking Oklahoma City’s James Harden in the head with his elbow at the Staples Center the other day, nearly decapitating Harden. With only one game of the NBA season left, this means WP will be out for the first six games of the playoffs.

Not just because PJ Media HQ is within spitting distance of the Lakers’ training facility, there are a fair number of Showtime fans in our company (the CEO and the COO – for two). But a rough poll of them today did not reveal a lot of sympathy (though perhaps a little sadness) for the one time Ron Artest. He may have gotten off easy with seven days.

VIDEO: PJTV Remembers the Late Dick Clark

Drinking Kirkland (UPDATED)

When I first started patronizing Costco, lo these many years ago, I stayed away from Kirkland products, figuring they were cheesy. No longer. It’s pretty obvious that many of them are name brands under the Kirkland label. Great deals.

Of course, there are mysteries. Is Kirkland Vodka Grey Goose in disguise at half the price? And now, more importantly what’s the “premium small batch Bourbon” they are flogging for eleven bucks? Knob Creek or, as the whiskey cognoscenti say, “KC” – or some lesser brand? A debate is taking place at Rowley’s Whiskey Forge (check the comments). I’ll crack our bottle in a few hours and let you know what I think.

UPDATE: Cocktail hour in the City of Angels and I toasted the sad end of Whitney Houston in a comparison test of the Kirkland Mystery Bourbon and Maker’s Mark, both over rocks. The Kirkland, at 51.5% alcohol, was definitely stronger and, if pressed, I would have to give my nod to the Maker’s Mark, which has been my bourbon-of-choice for some time. Nevertheless, I liked the Kirkland (probably some variant of Knob’s Creek) and, for the price, it’s not to be sneezed at. In fact, I’m about to pour a second round. Over to you, Steve.

Kodak is Closing Its Camera Business

Is this ever the end of an era? Steve’s Digicams writes:

Despite the company’s financial difficulties, and analyst recommendations to shut off nonessential parts of the business, this is a headline we didn’t think we’d ever be posting. Kodak – a name that’s been synonymous with cameras as far back as we can remember – is closing the doors on its camera business.

Instead of retail products, Kodak will be focusing on business solutions. You’ll still see Kodak photo kiosks and dry lab stations as well as camera accessories, batteries and printers. They’re also keeping film capture and photo paper in the lineup. Still cameras, digital picture frames and video cameras, on the other hand, are on the way out.

How many of us grew up with Kodak cameras in our hands? To the coming generation Instamatic will be nothing more than an iPhone app. Kodak, clueless for too many years, became an also-ran in the digital age. Thanks for the memories….

Djoker!!!

Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who’s the greatest tennis player of all?

Well, it’s a matter of opinion, of course. But speaking as one who has been a tennis fanatic from about the age of seven (fan and player), who has seen most everyone live from Rod Laver and Pancho Gonzales onwards, I would have to say Novak Djokovic.

Living in LA and working normal business hours, and having had a tough week anyway, I went to sleep at about 12:30AM, even though I suspected the forthcoming Nadal-Djokovic final in the Australian Open that was about to start in Melbourne would be epic. Restless, I awakened an hour later, went upstairs to watch the two superstars already pummeling each other at the end of the first set, before falling asleep again after an hour or so.

When I finally awoke at 6:30, it was barely over. The two men men had been playing for five hours and fifty-three minutes, before Nola finally prevailed yet again. (For context, the longest previous major final was nearly an hour shorter.)

Talk about fitness. This is like running a couple of marathons while batting a ball back and forth at a hundred miles per hour.

Tiger Woods once called Roger Federer the greatest athlete in the world. Move over and make room for Novak Djokovic – and Rafa Nadal as well. It’s no surprise when these guys pull their shirts off at the end, they are ripped. People used to think of tennis as a namby-pamby gentlemen’s sport. Forget it. These guys could run rings around just about anybody in the NBA and have energy to spare.

A couple of other things about Djokovic. He seems to be a fabulous guy with a great sense of humor. Besides his unbelievable tennis, his winning persona has allowed him to do something else extraordinary – become the face of Serbia, erasing the evil visage of Slobodan Milosovic.

Doing It Without Jesus

The greatest athlete in America today is not Tebow. It’s oldest person ever to score three forty point games in a row in the history of the NBA. And he’s doing it – right now!

Is divorce the secret to old age?

Happy Hanukkah: Apple to Open R & D Center in Israel

Apple may be building the “coolest office building ever” at its headquarters in Cupertino CA, but for the first time ever it will be doing strategic planning and R & D outside California.

Sources inform “Globes” that Apple Inc. has decided to open a development center in Israel focusing on semiconductors. The decision was taken even before the company entered into talks to acquire Herzliya-based flash storage solutions provider Anobit Ltd..

Apple has hired Aharon Aharon, a veteran player in Israel’s high tech industry, to lead the new development center.
Although Apple is a global innovation leader, the company is a relatively small investor in R&D. The producer of the iPad and iPhone invested $2.4 billion in R&D in 2010, which was only 2% of its revenue, much less proportionately than other high-tech companies.

Apple’s deployment of R&D activities is in line with this policy and the company has only one technology development center, which is at company headquarters in Cupertino, California. All activities outside of company headquarters revolve around marketing, sales and support. Strategic development is carried out at home. The planned Israel center will therefore be the company’s first such center outside of its California headquarters.

But will they be working on the first flying automobile – the anxiously-awaited iCar?

Kobe is Back… for Hanukkah!

Adding to rumors that Chris Paul and/or Dwight Howard may be joining the Lakers this season, Kobe has been getting ready for his possible new superstar partners…. at the Irvine Jewish Community Center.

Ferrari Graveyard: Video of 14-Luxury Car Crack-Up in Japan

Happened Sunday: An outing of luxury sports car enthusiasts in Japan ended in an expensive freeway pileup – smashing a stunning eight Ferraris, a Lamborghini and two Mercedes.

Litterbugs of the Academy Awards

In the umpteen years I have been a member of the Motion Picture Academy, the rules have changed regarding what studios are allowed to send voters during Oscar season. Way back when we would get glossy brochures hyping a movie, resembling a cross between the Christmas issue of Vogue and a surprise box from Bonwit Tellers. Bribes, basically. Now we are supposed to get virtually nothing but a DVD of the film itself.

But studios cheat. Today I received a plain manila envelope hiding a fancy package of glossy stills from The Tree of Life, a film that didn’t thrill me. But its studio (20th) is pushing it like crazy, in part because it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.

This kind of mailing is no more than litter – and from filmmakers with supposedly “green” credentials. Go figure. I can’t imagine it sways a vote. And yet two of these babies arrived in our house because my wife is a member of the WGA. Four (!) DVDs of the movie had arrived previously. Anyone need any coasters? We’re recycling.

Eyeglass Wars: Lenscrafters vs. Costco

Unlike the Coffee Wars below, where taste is clearly an issue and ultimately you have to decide for yourself between Nespresso, Keurig, Peet’s, or (gasp) Starbuck’s. Degustibus, after all.

But eyewear, at least by me, is a no-brainer. Here’s my story: Last March I bought an expensive pair of prescription (progressive lens) Ray-ban glasses at Lenscrafters. I didn’t pay too much attention to price because my generous WGA insurance pays $500/yr for what they call “vision care.” The glasses, however, were semi-defective and one of the lenses fell out intermittently. I kept putting it back in myself until, last week, I couldn’t do it anymore. I headed down to Lenscrafters, assuming they could repair. Nope. Their technician said the groove in the lens had worn out. Since it was only seven months, I then assumed they would give me a replacement. No such luck. Their glasses, evidently, are only guaranteed for the first three months, but they would give me a “discount” on new lenses. I waited patiently as they took an inordinate amount of time to compute the price on their computer. Result: $752!

Outrageous,I thought, and decamped immediately for Costco where the polite technician offered to replace my complicated progressive lenses, with UV and, for $25 extra, that tinting that varies with the sunlight (I didn’t have this from Lenscrafters) for a grand total of $178.

Never will I darken the halls of Lenscrafters again. A quick Yelp search indicates that I am not alone. (Yes, this is the same branch I went to. BTW, someone from that store left voicemail on my cell that night asking if I was now ready to order the lenses… sheesh.)

Coffee Wars: Nespresso vs. Keurig

A post on Instapundit revealed that Glenn Reynolds is a Keurig drinker. In the battle over lazy man’s (busy man’s?) coffee, I would like to strike a blow for Nespresso. We have been using their espresso capsules and machines in our house for several years now with great satisfaction. Great capuccino. Also, their accoutrements are aesthetically pleasing – sort of the Apple of coffee. Refill capsules arrive at Amazon speed too.

Of course, the big edge for Nespresso and Keurig vs. a full on espresso machine is… no cleanup!

Halloween of the Future Already Here

All you need is two iPads and you are the Ghoul-of-the-Month:

IPhone 4S: Siri Answers Your Questions

Who’s your daddy?
You are. Can we get back to work now?

Do you know HAL 9000?
I’d rather not discuss what happened to HAL. But if you must: (displays button to perform a Web search for “HAL 9000″).

Where are you from?
Like it says on the box. … I was designed by Apple in California.

Can you sing?
Daisy, daisy, give me your answer do.

More at the NYT’s Gadgetwise blog.

The NBA No Longer Fan-tastic

The LAT’s Bill Plaschke has it right today regarding the stalled NBA player-owner negotiations:

If the players are bigger than the league, then how come Kobe Bryant has to go all the way to Italy to find a place that can pay him to play basketball during the lockout? Why can’t he make $3 million playing pickup games on a court somewhere in Newport Beach?

As a journalist who hangs out in all sorts of locker rooms and clubhouses, I enjoy dealing with NBA players more than any other athletes. They are often accommodating, sophisticated and surprisingly unaffected for being some of the richest folks on the planet.

However, in this case, they are wrong. For all their high-flying brilliance, the NBA players need to come back to earth and get back to work.

Indeed. In a country with a huge number of its citizens suffering severe economic pain, NBA players seem like greedheads in sneakers. Get back to work, guys, It’s showtime!

L’Shana Tova

Will Apple Dominate Architecture Too?

We may have no jobs, but Steve Jobs is taking over our lives. Not only is Apple (depending on the day) the world’s richest company with more cash than the US government (even though, so far, it isn’t printing any – Apple Money, anyone?), the company soon may be setting more architectural trends than any group since the Medici. Up for approval from the Cupertino city council is the new Apple HQ that puts Spielberg and Kubrick to shame as a space vehicle…

And now come the plans for the Apple Store on Santa Monica’s quasi-trendy Third Street with a curved glass ceiling:

Oh, and there’s the retrofitting on that flagship store on Fifth Avenue with yet more glass:

Build, baby, build!