It is all about New York (Just ask Bina)

If You have not seen Stephen Colbert's duet with Alicia Keys check out Bina's post from a few days ago. Now it appears everyone is getting in on the game. And while folks from New York will tell you there is only one "real" city, CNN reports there are more than 100 remixes of Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind" online. Most are rewritten for other cities. I'll take their word on the numbers, but just go to You Tube and search "empire state of mind" and any your city. You're likely to find something.
Below is one that made me laugh, an ode to the 6,000-person farm town of New Holland in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
"I thought it would be really cool to make a song about my hometown, which is the exact opposite of New York City," said college student Matthew Besson, who wrote "New Holland State of Mind."

Sesame Street: For Adults Only

Big Bird and gang are turning 40 years old. As the show that changed children's television turns 40, we are learning that some classic Sesame Street episodes are not appropriate for kids.

As CNN reported, the set itself has received a makeover. The street, which was supposed to represent the inner city has been cleaned up.

But, what may surprise you is that even the sketches have been cleaned up.

You can now get the original episodes DVD, and the discs come with this warning "These early 'Sesame Street' episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today's preschool child."

Some of the "questionable" content includes Cookie monster smoking a pipe while hosting "Monster Piece Theater." He then of course eats his pipe thinking it is a cookie. That was before we ever heard the words childhood obesity.

As CBS quotes Sherrie Rollins Westin, executive vice president of Sesame Workshop, "In the very first episode, Gordon takes a little girl's hand who he's just met on the street, befriends her and takes her into his home to give her ice cream... That's something we wouldn't do on the show today."

Even Oscar is no longer as mean as he used to be, and of course the kids were allowed to ride bikes without helmets.

Auction of 'Unabomber's' Posessions

CNN is reporting that Ted Kaczynski, better known as the 'Unabomber,' is trying to stop the sale of his personal possession.

What does he own? More than I realized. The most famous items, the hooded jacket and sunglass (now back in style) and the more than 40,000 pages of Kaczynski's writings.

There are the degrees from Harvard and the University of Michigan, tools, typewriters, knives and a hatchet.
Speaking of burying the hatchet, Kaczynski owes some of his victims $15 million.
The 'Unabomber' is hoping the U.S Supreme Court will hear his case and rule that his items cannot be auctioned off to pay his victims.

On a side note, Ted Kaczynski still refers to himself as 'K.' Wow, what an interesting case study.

By the way, you can find the 'Unabomber's' manifesto here.

President Gets to Keep BlackBerry

Once he got to the White House, President Barack Obama was told he had to give up his BlackBerry, but today the self-confessed BlackBerry addict got the good news. The President will get a super-encrypted version of the smartphone costing $3,350. Apparently the White House is technologically speaking in the dark ages, so Obama will be ecstatic to have a connection to the real world. He had to give up his old e-mail address, but that sounds like a small price to pay.
I am really happy for the President and I am all for transparency in government, but doesn't this information sound like a dare to a hacker?
Wondering if you are (like me) a BlackBerry addict? Don't worry, here is how you self-diagnose yourself. It's the top 10 signs you're addicted to your BlackBerry.