Chris Rock's 'modern' joke

Here is how the New York Times recapped Chris Rock's on-screen appearance at the Oscars:

Chris Rock followed with a racial joke, about black men getting lousy roles even in animated films. It may have been in questionable taste, but it jarred the show closer to modern times

Modern times? His topic was racial inequality. How is that "modern"?

This was Rock's joke:

"I love animation. I love animation because in the world of animation, you can be anything you want to be. If you're a fat woman you can play a skinny princess. If you're a short wimpy guy, you can play a tall gladiator. If you're a white man you can play an Arabian prince. And if you're a black man, you can play a donkey or a zebra. You can't play white, my god! I hate when people go on TV and tell you how hard it is to do animation. 'Oh, Jay, it's such hard work.' No no no, UPS is hard work. I’ve done some animation … It’s the easiest job in the world. I go in a booth and I go, ‘what’s the line?’ And the guy goes, ‘it’s time to go to the store.’ And I go, ‘it’s time to go to the store!’ … And then they give me a million dollars."

More than just Apple

Can we stop framing Foxconn as a story about iPads and iPhones? The company also makes the Xbox, the PlayStation and the Amazon Kindle. Perhaps you've heard of them.

In addition to building electronics for Apple, Foxconn makes products for Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Asus, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Intel, I.B.M., Lenovo, Microsoft, Motorola, Netgear, Nintendo, Nokia and Vizio.

As the largest company, Apple is in position to lead the way in forcing improved conditions for workers. But it need not be the only company that takes on the costs of improving conditions. All of those companies should act together.

As David Pogue says, we shouldn't force Apple to sell its iPhone for $350 while a competitive Android phone costs $200.

What's the rush?

Presidential candidates have key message points they hit as often as possible. For the moderators of presidential debates, it's the same thing. I took these snippets directly from the CNN transcript of last night's presidential debate:

KING: Governor -- Governor, take 30 seconds to respond and then I want to move the conversation on.

ROMNEY: Much longer than 30 seconds.

KING: I hope not.

KING: Let's move the conversation along

KING: Senator, the governor singled you out. Take a few seconds.

KING: Senator Santorum, respond quickly.

KING: Congressman, quickly.

KING: Quickly.

KING: Congressman, quickly, please?

Vote for youth concussions

Mark Tauscher, a former standout for both the Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers, says he supports Wisconsin's youth concussion bill.

According to news reports, the bill's supporters include:

• Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
• State Medical Society
• University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
• National Football League
• Green Bay Packers
• Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association
• Brain Injury Association of Wisconsin.

Despite these endorsements, the bill is stalled in the state Senate. Maybe that's because it's known as the youth concussion bill. Who supports youth concussions?

Shouldn't it be the anti-concussion bill?

(See also: D.C.'s medical malpractice king.)

Romney's budget

Presidential candidates frequently mock the federal budget. If only they were in charge, or so they say, there would be no budget deficit because they would balance their own budget.

However, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in January spent nearly three times the amount of money it raised. Romney for President spent $18.8 million but raised $6.5 million.

Clinton the vegan

Bill Clinton is a vegan.

As president, he famously loved McDonald's hamburgers and Krispy Kreme donuts. But after a quadruple bypass surgery in 2004 and an additional procedure in 2010 to implant two stents, he decided to listen to the advice of Dr. Dean Ornish and become a vegan.

That year, PETA named him person of the year, saying that Clinton's plant-based diet saves the lives of nearly 200 animals per year.

There has never been a sitting president of the United States who is a vegan.

On George Washington's Birthday (observed), cast your vote in the comment area below for which which will happen first: a vegan president or an openly gay NFL, MLB, NBA or NHL player?

Your sadness makes Republicans happy

The front page of today's Politico reads, "Gasoline Prices Up and GOP Smiles."

The first sentence declares that Republicans are "licking their chops" that gasoline prices are high.

If it's bad to have high gasoline prices, shouldn't that make them sad instead of happy?

What's more important, making Americans happy or ensuring that sad Americans blame incumbent Democrats?

Arlington Heights Bears

An upside of shooting a film in Vancouver and not, say, New York City, is that it's cheaper. For one thing, you don't have to pay exorbitant prices to include the Manhattan skyline in your film. You can shoot in Vancouver and pass the background off as a nondescript city.

The downside, of course, is that you can't use the Manhattan skyline.

If you want New York, you have to pay for New York.

Strangely, that's not how it works in the NFL. To the world, the Giants and Jets of East Rutherford, N.J., are known not by their actual home in suburban New Jersey next to an outlet mall but rather by the majesty, style and grandeur of New York.

Why is that?

Why do the Redskins of Landover, Md., get to snub Washington but still use its name to command respect? If the Redskins want to call themselves Washington, then they should have to play games in the District of Columbia or pay the city a naming rights fee.

When Chicago Bears owner George Halas considered moving the team to Arlington Heights, Ill., Chicago Mayor Richard Daley replied thus:

"I think that's fine, George. You're a businessman. Do what you have to do. By the way, our lawyers say you can't take the name Chicago with you out there. We'd have to take you to court. That could take years. I wonder how many people will come out to see The Arlington Heights Bears? I wonder how excited the network people will be about broadcasting The Arlington Heights Bears? You're a fine businessman, George. You make the call."

Modern-day mayors ought to be similarly tough minded as they stand up for their cities.

Deccan Traps

First we didn't know why the dinosaurs died off. Then, as I've said plenty of times before, we figured it out definitively:

An asteroid called Baptistina slammed into our planet and triggered earthquakes larger than 11 on the Richter Scale, giant tsunamis, global wildfires and dust storms. These events, all due to Baptistina, killed half the species on earth, including the dinosaurs.

But now we're back to not being certain. That's because of research published by Princeton University geosciences professor Gerta Keller in the Journal of the Geological Society of India. Keller blames the dinosaur extinction on a massive volcanic eruptions in the Deccan Traps, a volcanic range in western India.

Great, now I don't know what to believe.

Radical feminists

Rick Santorum, quoted in the Washington Post:

“Radical feminists have been making the pitch that justice demands that men and women be given an equal opportunity to make it to the top in the workplace.”

Sounds about right. Those radicals.

FBI research

The FBI has released its 191-page background check that it put together on Steve Jobs in 1991.

Among the detailed research outlined in the report is this nugget:

"Jobs may have experimented with illegal drugs, having come from that generation.”

Bang up research job, FBI.