ORly Radio Show 73 - Google Alphabet, Ice Bucket Challenge, Flamethrowers, & Rape Babies.

Welcome to ORly Radio Show 73 for Friday August 14th, 2015 - where we dismantle the current events for your edutainment through mostly rational conversations that make you go ‘Oh Really’! I’m your host Andy Cowen with my usual suspects, Michael Robinson!

Errata From Last Week: We make mistakes. Please, if you find one, pause the podcast, and send us a note. orlyradiopodcast@gmail.com or phone it in 470-222-6759  

Trump, even though he was misogynistic, unapologetic and combative to the other GOP hopefuls, continues to strike a disturbing chord among the voters and had a surge in the polls after the debates. I'm disappointed in you America. You should feel bad.

RANT Segments & Headlines:

• Republican Presidential Hopeful Carly Fiorina went full on on the record at a town hall event in Alden, Iowa favoring the religious liberty excuse to not vaccinate your children, stating, “When you have highly communicable diseases where you have a vaccine that’s proven, like measles or mumps, then I think a parent can make that choice," and continued with a rational statement "—but then I think a school district is well within their rights to say: 'I'm sorry, your child cannot then attend public school.' and continued to dig the hole judging that she doesn't think public schools should be able to make such judgment calls when it comes to "more esoteric immunizations." Like HPV. http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2015/08/13/carly_fiorina_and_vaccinations_pro_parental_choice_pro_measles.html

• Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush, on Thursday, declined to rule out resuming the use of torture under some circumstances by the U.S. government. "I don't want to make a definitive, blanket kind of statement," Bush told an audience of Iowa Republicans, when asked whether he would keep in place or repeal President Barack Obama's executive order banning so-called enhanced interrogation techniques by the CIA. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/c6b2d8e1fc9548c68a9778bba20d3bf8/jeb-bush-leaves-door-open-use-torture

• Texas Is Now The ONLY State With Uninsured Rate Above 20% http://www.occupydemocrats.com/obamacare-wins-texas-is-now-the-only-state-with-uninsured-rate-above-20/

• Republican Presidential Hopeful  Rick Perry still think s Texas will win him an election.

• HAVANA (AP) — Jubilant crowds waved American flags and chanted "Long live the United States!" as the Stars and Stripes rose over the newly reopened U.S. Embassy in Cuba on Friday after a half-century of often-hostile relations. Secretary of State John Kerry celebrated the day but also made an extraordinary, nationally broadcast call for democratic change on the island. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/cb2598db6f0f4bbf910bda0308b05ef8/top-us-diplomat-flies-cuba-new-policy-victory-lap

• BRUSSELS (AP) — Finance ministers of the 19-nation euro single currency group on Friday approved the first 26 billion euros ($29 billion) of a vast new bailout package to help rebuild Greece's shattered economy. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/a1bb0929859a4862b0fc37be4a0eaa64/greece-all-night-debate-new-bailout

• NASA reports this was the hottest July on record. So we are now in “bet the mortgage” territory that 2015 will be the hottest year in NASA’s 125-year temperature record. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/08/14/3691940/hottest-july-hottest-year-record/

• The War on Christmas has already had shots fired after last years ceasefire on December 25th when no one cared. Now a concerned citizen in Belen New Mexico has asked the Freedom From Religion Foundation to ask the city to move the nativity scene off of government land. Fox and Friends and the Mayor of the city went berzerk. More to follow as we head towards the silly season. http://www.salon.com/2015/08/14/fox_news_has_completely_lost_its_mind_its_august_14_and_elizabeth_hasselbeck_is_freaking_out_about_the_war_on_christmas/

• Google will now be under a parent company called Alphabet in a restructuring of the tech giant's business operations.  The Google moniker and web experience will remain the same, but some ventures that were under the Google umbrella will be placed under Alphabet instead with a CEO running each business unit.
  Larry Page will serve as CEO of Alphabet, with fellow Google co-founder Sergey Brin as president. In a blog post announcing the change, Page said that Google is "operating well today, but we think we can make it cleaner and more accountable."
  Sundar Pichai, who has effectively been leading Google's day-to-day operations, will step into the CEO role.
  Google's move under the Alphabet umbrella won't affect traders. Google shares will convert into Alphabet shares, though they will continue to trade on NASDAQ as GOOGL and GOOG. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/google-now-umbrella-company-called-alphabet/story?id=32998419

• Alphabet’s website is abc.xyz because Alphabet.com is owned by Alphabet, a BMW-owned fleet management service. Even though only a few people had ever heard of BMW’s Alphabet before, the company clearly isn’t going to let all of this free publicity just sit there unconverted.
  BMW’s Alphabet had a little bit of fun with Google and posted its own version of the Google alphabet. The tagline: Because Alphabet is more than a name to us. Follow the link to see the A-Z of BMW’s Alphabet. http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/12/bmw-alphabet-is-more-than-a-name-to-us/#.jecrph:nxCv

-BREAK- GSoW - PSA

The Good:

1. You remember the ALS Ice Bucket challenge, don’t you? it was a crazy social media campaign to bring awareness and fundraising for medical research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or, as it’s more commonly known, Lou Gherig’s Disease.  In a paper recently published by a team from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, researchers believe they have made a significant leap forward in understanding one of the major mysteries of ALS (in brief, the team has identified the role of the TDP-43 protein, and how it manifests in both healthy and diseased cells.) In and of itself, the research is too technical to have likely made waves outside the medical research field. However, as Johns Hopkins graduate student and paper co-author Jonathan Ling explained in a recent Reddit AMA, this breakthrough can be directly traced back to the outpouring of interest, and money, from the ice bucket challenge… ...Much of the money raised by the ice bucket challenge is only now beginning to be felt in the research community, as the ALS Association has spent a large part of the past year working to properly allocate the $100 million that they received during the past summer (as compared to the $3 million that they received in the summer prior.)  http://magazine.good.is/articles/als-ice-bucket-challenge-results

-BREAK- Fallacy https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/genetic

The Bad:

1. Flamethrowers, given up by military, are now being sold to the public by a Cleveland startup called Throwflame for about $1,600 The flamethrowers are marketed not as weapons, but as fun devices. "We always have the people who just want it for fun. Impress the neighbors at the BBQ," said Throwflame founder Quinn Whitehead. http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/13/smallbusiness/flamethrowers-public-sale/index.html

2. In related news, The number of registered silencers surged 38% from last year to 792,282 in February 2015, according to the most recent figures from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. There were 571,750 licenses in March 2014.  "It's getting to be more mainstream," said Josh Waldron, CEO of SilencerCo, which makes and sells silencers. http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/30/news/companies/gun-silencer-sales-up/index.html

3. And in the wayback machine, February 18, 2013: Fargo, ND – Local resident Todd Fox has been detained for “reckless endangerment” and “illegal use of high-powered fire-breathing weaponry” for attacking snow with his flamethrower. Fox reportedly became so fed up with the week-long blowing snow epidemic in his area that he decided to KILL IT WITH FIRE. http://neighborshame.com/fargo-man-arrested-clearing-snow-flamethrower/

-BREAK- Voicemail

The Ugly:

1. Denied Abortion, 11-year-old Rape Victim Gives Birth - Three other girls, all aged 12, are due to give birth in coming weeks. http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/denied-abortion-11-year-old-rape-victim-gives-birth

Entertainment/Reviews/(Nit)Picks
Andy’s: OneNote for all platforms http://www.onenote.com/
Michael’s: Fallout Shelter https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bethsoft.falloutshelter&hl=en

Acknowledgements:
Music: "Rocket and Pamgaea” by Kevin MacLeod (www.incompetech.com)
PSA: Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia - GSoW https://www.facebook.com/GSoWproject