Tuesday morning has all the best news. Filled from good TV show overload with 24 and Heroes, apparently I missed that FX will attempt to tackle the field of superheros.  I wonder if and when they will be casting roles for this series? Here is a little taste from MTV News (this reminds me when their news was actually worth something ala Kurt Loder):

MTV News sat down with Brian Michael Bendis, one of the primary architects of the Marvel Comics universe, to get an update on the upcoming television adaptation of “Powers,” his comic book series with Michael Avon Oeming that explores a superhero-populated world via the conventions of police procedural drama.

Now onto the stories, hand picked for your reading pleasure.

Story 1: She’s only 8 and already married!

Its a sad world when a Saudi judge recently refused to annul a marriage between an 8 year old girl and a 47 year old man. The girl’s father arranged the marriage to pay off his debts. This last Saturday the judge, Sheikh Habib Abdallah al-Habib, dismissed the petition that the mother of the child submitted, because the parents are separated and the mother “is not the legal guardian of the girl,” the woman’s lawyer Abdullah al-Jutaili said.
I just don’t see how the judge can let this “Father” just give his child away as a debt payment. It should be like an automatic forfeiture of guardianship, thats just my opinion.

Story 2: Subway closes doors on Michael Phelps.

As the backlash of sponsors back out of deals with Michael Phelps, because of the recent “scandalous” picture. There is a sponsor that is making the decision obviously clear without saying anything. Subway hasn’t officially announced a back out of their deal, but they officially de-linked him off their web page.  The question will how quickly they go from unofficially canceling the deal to where they ask for their “investment” money refunded.

Story 3: Seriously Switch to Vista and Give Us Money.

The CEO of Microsoft is recommending that business switch over from Windows XP to Windows Vista as quickly as possible. I wonder if the recent push in switching from XP to Vista is due to the lack of support XP will be able to receive in the future? Maybe its a smart way for Microsoft to get some more money out of people. I just picture the nerdy kid finally getting a chance to be a bully. Yes, it is a tragic FAIL in the making…

Nerdy Kid:  There are ghosts in your OS!
Bully:          What?! What can I do? You have to help me…
Nerdy Kid:  RAWR (grabs Bully by shirt)!!! Give me monies or I give your computer AIDS
Bully:          (throws wallet at Nerdy kid) I’m telling your mom! *Sniff* (runs off)….

Links to all the stories

Dark Heroes?
She’s only 8
Smoke in, Money Out
Switch immediately, don’t ask…just do it

Popularity: unranked

Today is January 20th and I wanted to start my blog on a historic day. We will have a history making new President, but he will come into the White House with the National Debt at an all time high. The National Debt Clock shows our debt well over $10,600,000,000,000. This amount is so high that the estimated share of this debt is $34,837.40 per person. I wanted to write something snarky and eye catching, but I figured that will happen over time.

Yesterday was a great day and win for illegal downloaders. The honorable James P. Jones ruled that each illegal download doesn’t mean a loss of sale and companies can’t make their restitution claims based on this assumption. Judge Jones stated, “Those who download movies and music for free would not necessarily purchase those movies and music at the full purchase price.” What this means is the dollar amount the MPAA and RIAA sue for will be more realistic and not some egregious number that they estimate using some random calculation. With everything switching to the On Demand service, there has been a 24% decrease in illegal downloading over the last 4 years.

Links for the stories:

National Debt Clock:

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

RIAA and Judge Jones:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090119-judge-17000-illegal-downloads-dont-equal-17000-lost-sales.html

Popularity: 20%