Terri Schiavo died today, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed by court order.

Schiavo dies amid legal, ethical battle:

Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman at the center of a family battle fought on a national stage, died Thursday morning, nearly two weeks after doctors removed her life-sustaining feeding tube. […]

Brother Paul O’Donnell, a spokesman for the Schindlers, said police denied their request to be with Schiavo, 41, when she died, but that her parents had access to their daughter’s body after her death and prayed.

Michael Schiavo, Terri’s husband and guardian, controlled who could visit her and when.

We haven’t heard the last of this situation, nor of Terri Schiavo. Right now, for instance, the media is mentioning the next conflict — Michael Schiavo wants Terri’s body cremated, while her family wants her to be buried…

How did I miss this story? Looks like Britney Spears and husband Kevin Federline have been collaborating on something since getting married — creating a child! Britney is apparently three months pregnant.

And I had money on pop rival Christina Aguilera winning the baby contest. Too bad.

Britney Spears: Pregnant!:

The 23-year-old singer is three-months pregnant, according to sources close to the couple, and an official announcement confirming the happy news is expected to be released this weekend.

Sources say Britney has canceled all her future work engagements and is busy preparing for her new job - motherhood - when the baby arrives this fall.

Well, congratulations are in order …that’s two celebrity baby mommas on Federline’s resume. Nice job, dawg.

UPDATE: Apparently, this was just a rumor, according to Britney. On her website she lambasted the tabloids in a weird rant about tabloids hiring truthful employees. Too bad, this would have been a good April Fools’ Day story, too.

DOUBLE UPDATE (4/12): Turns out the stories were right. Britney is a liar (and pregnant).

Sony is appealing a court ruling that ordered it to stop selling PlayStations and pay $90 million in damages to Immersion Corp.

Sony Ordered to Halt PlayStation Sales:

Sony Corp. said on Monday it was ordered by a U.S. court to halt sales of its blockbuster PlayStation consoles in the United States and pay $90 million in damages to a California tech company, Immersion Corp. , whose shares jumped more then 5 percent. […]

For the time being, Sony will keep selling PlayStations as the order — which covers the PlayStation and PlayStation 2, two game controllers and 47 software titles — will not go into effect before the appeal, an SCE spokeswoman said. Sony will be paying compulsory license fees to Immersion, she added.

This is a major court ruling. Its hard to think of a similar situation where a gaming company has been court ordered to stop selling their game consoles. Not to mention the 47 video game titles, which are included in the order.

It seems that the issue will likely be settled with millions of dollars in compensation being paid out by Sony, all because of the vibrating controller feature. This is interesting because Nintendo’s Gamecube controllers have a similar feature. Maybe they operate differently or something.

It isn’t likely any information on how exactly this vibrating technology was allegedly copied in the first place from Immersion Corp., since they will get paid if the court ruling is upheld and will likely agree not to discuss the issue any further.

Happy Easter everybody!

I hope everyone is spending the holiday with people they love (or at least can tolerate).

I’ll be going out to dinner with the family for Easter. I’ll be sure to report what delicious Easter-themed food was there to consume when I get back. Enjoy the holiday!

In unrelated news, I got two goldfish. Well, four originally, but a day later, we’re down to two. I have high hopes for Finn and Spike.

As I’ve been following Congress’ investigation into steroid use in Major League Baseball, I’ve thought up a few questions:

Does anyone think this will turn out well? How much money will Jose Canseco make from selling his tell-all steroids book? How many more baseball stars I’ve admired growing up will be added to my list of disappointments? Will MLB take away Mark McGwire’s homerun record?

And I thought the baseball strike in 1994 was bad for the game. Yikes!

Anyway, today baseball players and owners decided to drop fines for steroid use, opting for a suspension only policy — AP: Baseball Agrees to Drop Steroid Fines:

Members of Congress repeatedly pummeled baseball officials for the fine possibility during Thursday’s hearing before the House Government Reform Committee. Management told the committee it was willing to eliminate the fine provision, held over from baseball’s first drug-testing agreement in 2002, but union head Donald Fehr said he would have to consult with players.

“We do have an agreement with Don that the language after the disjunctive in the various disciplinary levels is going to be eliminated,” Rob Manfred, baseball’s executive vice president for labor relations, said Sunday. “It will be just the straight suspension, which everybody knew was going to happen anyway. To the degree there was any doubt, I think this change should put to rest any concerns in that regard.” […]

Commissioner Bud Selig repeatedly said during the hearing that his intent was to suspend players for all positive tests.

Okay, so removing the possibilities of fines is helping baseball’s image? I don’t get it. Wouldn’t that show a weaker front against steroid use than fines plus suspensions?

And why did Congress pressure baseball to drop the fines? Were they worried that suspensions would be considered optional?

In case you’re confused, get ready to get no clarification whatsoever from Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, who just adds more confusion to the process:

Commissioner Bud Selig repeatedly said during the hearing that his intent was to suspend players for all positive tests. Baseball officials also referred to the provision as a drafting error; they said Sunday that the language would be eliminated.

“That’s backpedaling. I think they came before the committee and did not tell us the truth,” Shays said in a telephone interview. “They are certainly conflicted about what they are saying to us. They said fines are not part of the agreement; now they say they’re going to take out the fines.”

Thanks so much for clarifying that, Congressman Shays. Geez. So, okay, at least we know Congress wanted to make sure baseball automatically suspended players who test positive for steroids.

Instead of investigating possible past steroid use, why doesn’t baseball just ensure regular drug testing and suspend players who test positive for steroids? Sometimes the simple solution is the right one.

RELATED: Bonds may miss entire baseball season

Now there are many fine products from China that I enjoy — General Tso’s Chicken and fireworks included — but sometimes Chinese products lose something in the translation.

Take for instance, this product called “Ondomusic Chocolate” — only $4.80 — at a Chinese online retailer called The Sampson Store.

The photo of the product appears to be a CD, and it also says, “How to use: Insert it in a CD player,” which seems a bit obvious to me.

Here’s the part that’s lost in translation, from the next part of the description:

Warning:

1. This is an audio product, not for contraception.
2. Not for a person under 18.
3. Some part of the music is very exciting, stop playing it in case of any physical disorder.
4. This audio product is not suitable for people suffering a heart disease.
5. You can reuse a music condom but not others.

Uhhh, okay, what just happened? Looking around the site a bit more it looks like The Sampson Store is a Chinese online condom store. But still, if people are trying to use a CD for contraception, this world has a lot more problems than I’m aware of!

Luckily, warning #5 is there to set people straight. Of course, if some guy is trying to use the CD for contraception, and misses warning #1, then he’s going to find himself in even worse shape than trying on a CD for contraceptive purposes.

Anyway, if you’re feeling daring, you might click around to check out some of the other offerings that actually are contraceptives, but be ready for similar roughly translated blurbs:

The music can fill your room with exotic air particles.

Now your love life is not the old one before!

With 4 times the ordinary amount of jelly, it is definitely your choice of condom.

One of their best sellers has got to be these condoms with cartoon monkeys on them [check out the photo above and via the link]. Now that’s lost in translation!

[via Misohoni]

AOL quietly changed their AOL Instant Messager Terms of Service recently to usurp all reasonable expectations of privacy, but the blogosphere spilled the beans!

It all started when blogger Ben Stanfield posted about AOL’s secret plan to eavesdrop on your IM conversations, and quite possibly broadcast them to the world.

Here’s part of the anti-privacy statement AOL added to their AIM TOS:

In addition, by posting Content on an AIM Product, you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium. You waive any right to privacy. You waive any right to inspect or approve uses of the Content or to be compensated for any such uses.

Word spread around the blogosphere, prompting AOL to send a spokesman to the media to do damage control for the company.

Of course, he spoke in stark contradiction to the Terms of Service. Stansfield took the spokesman, a Andrew Weinstein, to task for his misleading statements to the press.

I am happy to report that as of tonight, according to a CNET article, AOL clarifies IM privacy guarantee, Ben and the blogosphere has prevailed:

America Online said late Monday that it plans to revise its user agreement in response to concerns that instant messages sent through the company’s service could be monitored.

The new policy for AOL Instant Messenger, or AIM, will stress that the company does not eavesdrop on customer’s conversations except in unusual circumstances such as a court order, an AOL spokesman said.

Of course, the AOL spokesman chalks it all up to a mistake, but if Ben hadn’t noticed the waiver of all privacy in the TOS, then it is likely AOL would have retained the right to full reign over AIM conversations.

The Blogosphere strikes again!

[And in case you’re keeping score, this is the first time I’ve employed the usage of the word blogosphere on my blog. Not the first time I discovered it, just the first time I cared to use it. Go team!]

The MTA failed to pass it’s proposed Subway photo ban. They may be able to pass fare increases, but the public outcry curbing Subway photography seemingly made them think twice about the restrictions.

MTA fails to pass subway photo ban:

MTA officials have defended the photo ban as a way to ward off would-be terrorists from canvasing targets. But the Police Department and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have disputed the need for so broad a ban, and they asked instead for it to be made illegal to photograph sensitive transit equipment.

Also lined up against the ban are riders groups and professional photographers, who would have to obtain a permit before taking a picture.

“Subway cars function as people’s living room, so you see things that are very private that appear right in front of your eyes,” said Camilo José Vergara, whose photographs were published last year in the book “Subway Memories” (Monacelli Press). “If you are a photographer, that’s what you do.”

I think the MTA was just scared they would have had to face more photographer flash mob protests.

While you may have spent a few minutes today checking out the new trailer for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, many people in Spain were remembering what happened a year ago March 11th — a massive terrorist attack on their commuter railways, killing 191 people.

Of course, I may be ultra-sensitive to such things, having experienced the surrealness of seeing a plane fly into the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the two towers collapsing from my NYU dorm room on 9/11, but it really bothers me when people don’t stop for a few minutes to remember the innocent people who died that day. Especially since the attacks in Spain happened only one year ago.

I’ve experienced a similar sensation each September 11th since 2001, as I’ve noticed a progressive “forgetfulness” of sorts setting in as far as the collective consciousness goes.

So that I don’t go on any further about this right now, life must go on, I get that. But just because it goes on doesn’t mean it’s okay to forget.

If you were offended when you heard about that Bonsai Kitty website, then you’ll probably be upset when you check out the Save Toby website:

Toby is the cutest little bunny on the planet. Unfortunately, he will DIE on June 30th, 2005 if you don’t help. I rescued him several months ago. I found him under my porch, soaking wet, injured from what appeared to be an attack from an alley cat. I took him in, thinking he had no chance to live from his injuries, but miraculously, he recovered. I have since spent several months nursing him to health. Toby is a fighter, that’s for sure.

Unfortunately, on June 30th, 2005, Toby will die. I am going to eat him. I am going to take Toby to a butcher to have him slaughter this cute bunny. I will then prepare Toby for a midsummer feast. I have several recipes under consideration, which can be seen, with some pretty graphic images, under the recipe section.

The main gist of the site is that the guy wants $50,000 or he will eat his pet rabbit:

I don’t want to eat Toby, he is my friend, and he has always been the most loving, adorable pet. However, God as my witness, I will devour this little guy unless I receive 50,000$ USD into my account from donations or purchase of merchandise.

According to the site, people have sent in over $18,000 so far. All to a guy exploiting his pet rabbit.

Reminds me of that scene from Michael Moore’s excellent movie Roger and Me, with the crazy rabbit lady who kills rabbits for food [WARNING: GRAPHIC FOOTAGE].

No word from PETA condemning the site yet.