Searching For Alien to Cost School System $1 Million

How clueless are bureaucrats of our nation’s school system? They fired an IT worker for installing the popular freeware SETI@Home on school computers, claiming that it’ll take more than $1 million to uninstall it!

The program, known as SETI @ home, uses Internet-connected computers worldwide to analyze radio telescope data in an experiment to find extraterrestrial intelligence. But Superintendent Denise Birdwell told the East Valley Tribune that the program also bogged down the district’s system and interfered with technology use in classrooms. Birdwell said it will take more than $1 million to fix the problem, including removal of the SETI software. She says police are conducting a broader investigation. Read more at www.neatorama.com

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I enjoy a national shanking of Bill Belichick as much as anyone, but I'm with Neon here: Belichick, who has won three Super Bowls treating football the way an actuary treats a term life policy, made the smart call yesterday.

It had nothing to do with guts or swagger or whatever Deion Sanders was talking about. This wasn't Pickett making for Cemetery Ridge. Nor was it "I'm-smarter-than-they-are hubris," as Peter King has it. This was a fourth-and-2 with a 60 percent shot at success and whose subsequent failure still left the Pats with roughly a coin flip's chance of winning. I'll let the smart people at Advanced NFL Stats explain:

Belichick's 4th Down Decision vs the Colts [Advanced NFL Stats] Read more at deadspin.com

While we doubt it will get you into any beer commercials, pledging a few bucks towards the purchase of the Pabst Brewing Co. will do doubt make your day better. This crowdsourcing effort asks each potential "owner" to make a pledge of $5, $25, $100, or $250,000 towards the $300 million asking price for this well-known Milwaukee brewery. A certificate of ownership, and a lifetime's supply of PBR, awaits. Thanks to Flickr user compujeramey for the choice photo. Read more at www.uncrate.com

Calorie Postings Don't Change Habits, Study Finds [NYT]

The implication is supposed to be that posting calories doesn't work. Now, this is just speculation, but if you're a person who is walking into a fast food place and you don't have much money, maybe you're going to go for whatever fills you up for cheapest, the one with more bounce to the ounce, as it were?

Calorie posting is supposed to help people make healthier eating choices, but study of fast food joints in poor New York neighborhoods saw customers eating more calories after the calories went up on the sign. Read more at consumerist.com