• obvious In case you haven’t heard, there’s been a lot of activity around airline security lately. Everyone is on their Ps & Qs. Security is on the up.
• idiotic You’re a random guy, and you start shouting on a plane that you’re Palestinian and you “want to kill all the Jews.” It’s taser time! source

• We wonder what the mice talked about on their miniature cell phones. In one of the odder scientific studies to come out of the woodwork of late, scientists say that they found that exposing mice to electromagnetic radiation similar to cell phones reversed the effects of an animal version of Alzheimer’s disease. Did we accidentally solve the Alzheimer’s disease puzzle by talking on our iPhones? Whoa. That’s weird. source

• I’m self-publishing this story because it had no other home. I wanted it to live in the world, not die in my notebook.
• Journalist Paige Williams • On her decision to create a long-form piece of journalism and, rather than let her story idea die without a magazine to publish her work, put it online herself. The story, “Finding Dolly Freed,” centers on the author of “Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job and with (Almost) No Money,” a well-known survivalism book from the 1970s (who, by the way, isn’t named Dolly Freed). Since she couldn’t get anyone interested in publishing it, she spent a lot of her own money trying to tell the story the way it should be told. How does she expect to pay for it? Using “Radiohead” journalism – that’s right, kids. Pay your own price. This is exciting. source

• 1.2 million people are getting hired to count heads source

• wha? In a classic case of timing gone bad, U.S. border officials planned to question the underwear bomber AFTER he landed in Detroit.
• why? While Umar Abdulmutallab was up in the air, the officials caught his ties to Yemen. They missed the explosives in his undies. source

• 40% of people identify themselves as conservative
• 36% call themselves moderates and other bad words
• 21% say they’re really freaking liberal and don’t think it’s a bad word source

• He claims he pleaded guilty so his wife wasn’t deported. Oh Larry, we knew you wouldn’t let us down! In an interview to run on CNN Friday, the Balloon Boy’s father, Richard Heene, explains that he isn’t guilty but in fact was trying to protect his wife. Because he’s a douchebag. “Quite honestly,” said Larimer County, Colorado, Sheriff Jim Alderden, “I’m shocked that he would make such statements.” So are we. But he’s a reality TV wannabe. This is how he survives. source

• It’s not often that a single photo kills an entire career. But in the case of Gilbert Arenas, this photo of him joking around about the gun incident last month – after he was already on thin ice with both the NBA and the law for the incident in the first place – led to an epic indefinite suspension and created controversy around the photo itself. That’s a good photo.

How it screws up Gilbert’s career

• Wizards’ magic trick Arenas has been the franchise star of the Wizards for years, and he’s been something of a train wreck for most of them, partly due to his antics and history as a “jokester,” partly because he’s been injured for most of the last few years. Plus, they suck this season. He’s probably gone.
• Promises of pain NBA commissioner David Stern is a guy who doesn’t screw around and will bring pain onto stars he thinks deserve it (just ask Ron Artest). And when he suggests “or worse” in reference to an indefinite suspension, you know he’s freaking screwed. Don’t screw with David Stern.
• Career-ender?It’s too soon to tell whether the incident will completely screw up what had going with the NBA, but with promises of a trial and the fact that he had guns in Washington, D.C. (which has some of the strictest drug laws in the country), it might be. Or he might be Michael Vick. source

The situation with the photo

• snapped The photo was taken last night before a game. He was joking around with his teammates, making gun symbols with his fingers.
• snatched The next day, the NBA had Getty Images remove the photo from the wire for most of the day. The Washington Post nailed them. source

Gil’s tweets

• I know everybody seen the pre game pics..my teammate thought to break the tention we should do that..but this is gettn way to much
• Gilbert Arenas • Regarding the fate of his fingers, and the incredibly stupid reasoning behind them. Whichever teammate suggested that should be slapped, because he just cost Arenas a career. On a side note, does this guy know when not to tweet? Like, say, when you’re being investigated? source

• We feel this is a clear infringement of our intellectual-property rights. … Our legal team is dealing head-on with this.
• Isa Dick Hackett • Daughter of Phillip K. Dick, on Google’s usage of the name “Nexus One” for their phone. The author used “Nexus-6” androids in his book 1968 “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,” which was the basis of 1982’s Harrison Ford cult film “Blade Runner.” Did they reference it? Probably. Does the Dick family have a case? No. And that’s why Joss Whedon isn’t suing Google over “Google Wave,” even though they clearly took inspiration from “Firefly.” Enjoy the exposure, Dicks. source

• Bad advertising idea No. 1: “Stuck in a situation where you’re surrounded by black/West Indian people? Just offer them chicken and everything will be OK!” KFC, as you might guess, is getting a firestorm of controversy for this Australian ad. Ouch. source