Its no secret that time marches on, every day we are reminded about how things change.  Some days these changes are small, while others have magnitude that may cause you to question the very foundation of your day to day beliefs.  Sue time works out well for most of our everyday common place experiences, but have you ever stopped to wonder why time is…or more precisely, why time is a one way street?  Physicists do, because in spite of all the equations and theories, nothing seems to explain why why it is that a fire can consume a piece of paper, but it never happens in the reverse.

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Also this week, is your next HDTV going to cost a lot more because of a shortage of parts?  Reports are coming in that this is indeed the case, but its not just your high definition television, but also your computer monitors and to a lesser extent, your cell phone.  I also take a look at the poisoning of America…and I’m not talking figuratively, I am speaking about a delibrate and calculated move by the federal government to take an active role in poisoning thousands of Americans, sure if was 90 years ago, but still.

All that and more, on this weeks Mike Thinks News

So this week it comes to light that Iran would like to be its own email client…seems they realized just how much information Google is able to glean by reading all your emails (you do know they do that right?)  Anyway, so now if you live in Iran you get the privileged of using the state sponsored web based monitor…I mean email program.  Sounds fun.

We also take a look at this week in history and find out that hockey is not always a low scoring game and other fun facts from yesteryear.

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Another story for this week is the idea of boredom being bad for you.  Now theres bad for you and then theres HOLY CRAP bad for you, and you are not going to believe just how bad being bored is for you!  Right now Im thinking of all those times as a kid my parents let me get bored and wondering if I should be compensated for all that furniture shopping…hmmmm

When reading a news story, it is very important to consider the source.  Many times in our busy online lives, we start to take a site for granted, and believe that the content put forth is done so in good faith and with the readers best interest and the truth all rolled up into one concise package.  Sometimes however, this faith is misplaced, and once lost, it is hard if not near impossible to regain.  Such a loss of faith happened to me this week when I read a story on Tech Dirt, by a Mike Masnick.  I can’t be sure if the slanting of the facts was just a case of sloppy journalism, deliberate deception, or the worlds worst effort to make a punchy headline and then having the headline leak its sensationalistic tone through the entire posts.  I can however assure you that the headline ‘Booksellers Claiming That Competition and Lower Prices are Bad for Consumers‘  is not only a complete distortion of the facts, it also is in direct and complete opposition to the actual story, which is one about how booksellers don’t want a few large companies to monopolize the market, limiting customer choice, and very likely, resulting in higher prices from less competition.

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We also take a look at why some contracts have some very strange, and far reaching language…nearly to infinity…and beyond

So you can’t teach an old dog new tricks…at least not very easily, but according to a new report, you can teach new robots some darn scary tricks.  Now a few months ago, the news came out of a robot powered by organic waste.  You know, was like old vegetation…incapacitated people, those kinds of things.  Combine that with the new discovery that given some basic programing to keep themselves alive and powered up, robots learn, in a startlenginly short period of time, how to Lie, cheat and steal to live.  And here you all though it was a human trait to be a total butthead.

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Also this week

AT&T, your network, UNSECURED

Rodent eating plants

LED…now with carbon

Plug it in, plug it in

Paintball enforcement

It happens…not very often when you consider there are hundreds of millions of them out there, but it is a real fact that lithium batteries can go bad.  I don’t mean they start pushing over cows, robbing liquor stores and writing bad checks, but they can go bad, and especially if damages (lets say by a small fall), have a cascading reation and fail in dramatic fashon.  How dramatic you ask?  Lets just say that the picture above while it is an artistic rendering of potential…its not so far from the truth.

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Sponsor: Try GotoMeeting free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.gotomeeting.com/podcast

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Also this week

iPhone exclusive

Arachnophobia circa 300million bc

Keep on making those mistakes

Solar pay to play

Glasses that look stupid and cost too much

AP shake down

XKCD book