My “NudeStory of the Year” award goes to… Playboy magazine.
Things get serious when Playboy magazine calls their readers’ bluff by announcing plans to no longer publish nude photographs. Commencing next spring their subscribers can prove once and for all that they just buy the magazine for the articles.
My “Morals of This Story” award goes to… Ashley Madison.
The Canadian-based online dating service for persons who are married or in committed relationships, feels betrayed after the personal information of 33 million clients is stolen by hackers. The righteously indignant owner of the website is offering a $500,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of whoever cheated on him/her. The irony and affairly alarming moral of this story is that the company’s official slogan is: “Life is short. Have an affair.”
My “Where’s Waldette” (or “All Aboard the Crazy Train“) award goes to… this random bunch of migrants.
On the one hand, our hearts go out to all of the families fleeing a combat zone, on the other hand, if you try to find the women and children boarding this train in Croatia you might have a couple of fingers left to count something else.
Ref: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34307014
My “Something is Rotten in the State of the Art” award goes to… Baotou, China
It’s hi tech’s dirty little BIG secret. A 10 square kilometre man-made lake of toxic sludge that would make the architects of the Alberta Oil Sands blush continues to grow outside Baotou, the largest industrial city in Inner Mongolia. All those smart phones and other shiny new consumer electronics that we are encouraged to upgrade to new improved models every other payday create more than jobs in China.
Ref: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150402-the-worst-place-on-earth
Related Quote: It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. –ALBERT EINSTEIN
Related Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwOBRH56Ic0
My “Dueling Headlines” (or “Anything You Candu, UScandu Too”) award goes to… Boeing Airlines.
Even as headlines scream, “President Obama to Raise Concerns that Chinese are Hacking US State and Trade Secrets” in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Xi and US Aviation giant Boeing announce a mega billion dollar deal for sales of Boeing Aircraft to China that is predicated on Boeing opening factories in China.
Ref: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/09/23/china-buy-300-boeing-planes/72681578/
My “Blowing Smoke Up Your Ass“ (or Don’t Ask Me, I Just Work Here) award goes to… Volkswegan’s CEO
The CEO of Volkswagen was applauded by the disgraced carmaker’s board of directors when he magnanimously fell on his rubber sword after losing 1/3 ($30B and counting) of the company’s market value. His severance package is estimated to be in the neighbourhood of $69M US plus an annual $1m pension.
Related Quote: “I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group…. I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part.”
— resignation speech of CEO of Volkswagen (one of Europe’s highest-paid executives)
My “Most Moving Story“ award goes to… the Nepal Earthquake
In addition to the human tragedy of more than 8500 lives lost, Chinese authorities have indicated that this 7.8-magnitude quake actually moved Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, three centimeters to the southwest. Later in the year a larger 8.3 magnitude earthquake moved parts of Chile more than 1 meter.
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Earthquakes by Magnitude in 2015 |
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| 8.0–9.9 | 7.0–7.9 | 6.0–6.9 | 5.0–5.9 | 4.0–4.9 | Total |
| 1 | 19 | 123 | 1,304 | 12,497 | 13,944 |
Runner Up: 1,000,000 Migrants Demanding Entry to Europe.