Sports betting is so blasé, this year it all about political betting. A number of websites and established Vegas odds makers are offering political bets which are becoming increasingly popular. Bet on your favorite candidate! Or bet on your least favorite one and if they get elected at least you made a few bucks, right?

Political betting is a strange cottage industry but one that is growing fast. There are a few Vegas based enterprises that cater exclusively to the political gambler. The biggest event is no doubt the presidential race which right now is running -200 Obama to 160 Romney. To clarify that means that if you bet $200 on Obama you would win a profit of $160. Keep in mind that odds will change. It seems that odds are inching in the favor of Republicans though Democrats still hold a big lead.

The election is by no means the only political bet you can make. You can make a political prop bet about anything. The margin of victory in a state race, a Supreme Court decision, and a host of other political outcomes are here for your speculative pleasure. If you think that degree in political science was a waste, you may be wrong.

Is there anything more entertaining than betting?

Prepare for an epic “ring of fire” solar eclipse on Sunday, May 20…if you live in East Asia or the western half of the United States. Not only will this solar eclipse be as awesome as they typically are, but you will get to see a cool ring of fire as the moon blocks out the entire sun, aside from the edges. At its peak, the moon blocks out 94% of the sun’s light.

However, sad news for those on the West Coast: they will only see a partial eclipse and will not see the epic ring of fire effect. That’s better than nothing because here on the East Coast that’s exactly what we’re getting, nothing. The sun will have already set. The eclipse will occur in the late afternoon and early evening on Sunday. For those that didn’t pay attention in science class, a solar eclipse is when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, casting a shadow on our planet. When the moon lines up perfectly with the sun, the result is a total eclipse…but not of the heart.

Like any eclipse, sky watchers must use caution. Never look directly at the sun. You must use solar filters over telescopes and binoculars. Be safe and happy watching!

Get back to your calculators and don’t quit your day job in December. The popular idea that the world is going to end on December 21, 2012 stems from the idea that the Mayan calendar, which has been incredibly accurate until this point, is going to end abruptly on that day.

There have been television shows and large scale specials based on the doomsday theory, and all of them base their findings on the fact that no Mayan calendar extends past that day. Well, I’m sorry to be the one to tell the Doomsday Preppers this news, but there has been a breakthrough. The world is not ending on December 21, 2012. Well, not because of the Mayan calendar anyway.

Recent findings at the archaeological site of Xultún, the last known Mayan megacity in existence, show that there are in fact incredibly accurate Mayan calendars that actually show dates well into the future. Almost 7,000 years in the future to be more precise. Excavations here have uncovered several houses, including one of a scribe and calculator where glyphs have been painted on the walls. These glyphs have been covered in mud for the last 1,200 years but shed light on our future. Mainly that we’re not going to end up like burnt toast in December.

If you want to read more on this great find you can find more photos and information at the National Geographic website here.

So yesterday an image of the latest Time Magazine cover was released on the internet on Thursday.  “So what?”, you may ask.  The thing is, the picture has a 26-year-old woman openly breastfeeding her 3-year-old son.  The really freaky thing about it – besides the fact that it’s a 3-year-old still feeding off of his mother’s breast – is that he’s actually looking straight at the reader.  In my opinion that’s what freaks me out the most.

I feel really bad for the kid.  I really do.  He’s going to be famous and for the wrong reasons.  He going to be remembered as the guy who was still breastfeeding when he was 3-years-old.  This image will forever be ingrained in the minds of million upon millions of people.  And the terrible thing about it is, he had no say in the matter.  The credit – or blame, if you want – can be placed upon the head of the boy’s mother, Jamie Lynn Gurnet.

This Time Magazine cover is part of a piece about the growing trend of attachment parenting.  Well I have to say this is a very extreme – and now public – example of that kind of parenting.  I can’t help but wonder what this kid’s future will be like after this.

The folks at NBC are just not very interested in television. Since their 90′s Must See TV hay-day they have tried to get back into the groove of actually having people watch their shows and have, mostly, been overwhelmingly huge failures.

Of course within that structure of systematic failure they have actually managed to put some high quality programs on the air. Recently they have had a Thursday night comedy lineup that could almost be called inspiring. Shows like 30 Rock and The Office building  stalwart ratings over time alongside shows like Community and Parks & Recreation exploring the limits of the television comedy form. The shows’ ratings were never stellar but they were fairly consistent with periodic dramatic upticks.

Yesterday it was announced that all but The Office of these shows would be renewed for half seasons to tie up their narrative loose ends. When these shows end will we have any reason to turn to NBC. People seem to like Smash, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and I still fly the SNL flag. Frankly though it seems like NBC just doesn’t like TV very much.

Disney recently unveiled this week it’s latest design in touch technology; Touche. Touche would let tech developers  turn just about anything into a touchscreen, or in some cases, nothing at all.  Imagine you could just tap your palm and control your iPod, skipping to the next song. Or you could close a door and set an automatic away sign, just by grasping the door knob in a certain way. That is what Disney is trying to open our world to with Touche. Check out the demo video:

From household use to learning aids, Touche could actually become the next step for technology and society as a whole. To be able to do things out of pure intuition can make tasks not only easier, but more efficient. Beyond that, it can be used as a great learning tool in schools. Take the idea illustrated in the video of Touche being able to teach someone how to use the correct utensil for eating cereal. Apply that to, well, everything. We can teach kids how to properly set the table, toddlers how to dress themselves, students in school which chemicals they should be choosing for their lab experiment. With this sort of easy feedback, interactive learning can grow.

Sure, some may argue that in some cases it’ll make us lazier. Instead, I like to think it’ll make us smarter and free up time to do other, more important things. Also, think about how awesome it would be to have a “smart home”? It’s something  we’ve  seen in sci-fi movies for years, but this technology can make it actually happen.

Though let’s be honest, it puts us one step closer to houses with A.I. and you know what that means… robot-pocalypse. It’s the new zombie.

Barack Obama brought America that much closer to marriage equality today by publicly endorsing full marriage rights for all Americans. The other side of the rainbow is in sight! Despite predictions from GOP and religious leaders civilization did not collapse, go figure?

Obama announced his personal support for gay marriage but seemed to also say he would continue to allow it to be fought out on a state level and has no plans to pass a national marriage amendment. Still this is big news and as Mayor Bloomberg pointed out the nation has ultimately adopted every civil right expansion called for by a President.

While conservatives will be barricading themselves in their basements with guns and bibles the rest of us will be hitting the gay bars and celebrating. Granted, there is a lot of work still to be done on the marriage equality front many people would consider this the biggest achievement of the gay rights movement to date.

How it will play out in the election is anyone’s guess. Some say it will help Obama by energize the base and mobilize young and independent voters while other say it may cost him support among religious communities of color who overwhelmingly disapprove of marriage equality.

ABC News will be airing the Obama endorsement interview  tonight.

Oh John Travolta. You’re an A list celebrity who could easily get jiggy with a lot of people and you chose to assault your masseuse? Maybe you should have asked if there was going to be a happy ending before you made the advance. Believe it or not, not every masseuse is into that.

Travolta is being sued for both assault and sexual battery by a male masseur claiming the actor tried to have sex with him after hiring him for the afternoon. Allegedly the actor stripped down naked in front of him and then touched the masseur’s genitals. Afterward he apologized and then suggested the two have sex with a “Hollywood starlet in the building that wanted to have three-way sex.” The plaintiff also alleges the 58-year-old actor told him he “got where he is now due to sexual favors he had performed.”

The man was asked to be dropped off and was given $800, double his fee. Now he is asking for $2 million in damages. Travolta’s reps are naturally denying the entire incident, saying it is 100% made-up. They even went as far to say the actor was on the East coast and not even in California. When it comes to celebrities, nothing is shocking. The prospect of a massage would make anyone frisky. Do you think it’s all fabrication?

How annoying are hiccups? They sound funny and they really don’t feel great. The funny thing about hiccups is that everyone has their own cure. Would you try over 100 folk remedies to find a cure for the hiccups? One girl did, and she’s only 13!

This story is a feel good, compelling story that is a good break from the news of last night’s sports upset or the scandals going on in the government and Hollywood.

After trying over 100 remedies for hiccup cures, Mallory Kievman invented the Hiccupop in 2010. She took it to a competition where she won some fantastic awards for inventors and the ball kept rolling. Now, the 13-year old, billed as the CEO and head of research and development, has a team behind her including her dad (listed as “Parental Help”), a team of MBA students from Connecticut University, and several financiers willing to back her company.

Mallory says the lollipops work because, “It triggers a set of nerves in your throat and mouth that are responsible for the hiccup reflex. It basically over-stimulates those nerves and cancels out the message to hiccup.” This is pretty smart coming from a 13-year old. Mallory spends a lot of time in her kitchen tweaking the recipe which includes apple cider vinegar and sugar to make it tastier for those poor afflicted hiccupers.

The reason that Mallory is getting so much attention is that this is a real, marketable, and practical idea that can be implemented for actual medicinal use. Hiccups are a known side effect of chemotherapy and this young entrepreneur’s invention may relieve some of the symptoms of these patients.

You can look for Hiccupops coming this summer! Keep updated by following Mallory’s website!

Some time on Thursday night the latest trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man came out and I AM PUMPED!  As much as I am a Marvel fun I just was not into Spider-Man.  Do not get me wrong, I loved the Saturday morning Spider-Man cartoon that came out during the 90′s and the first two movies but there was not really anything about Peter Parker or Spider-Man that really resonated with me.  That said however, I am still genuinely interested in this new reboot of the Spider-Man movie franchise.

The trailer showed off a lot of action and major story points that we can expect to see when the movie comes out.  It looks like we will get to see – or at least, take a peek – at the background behind the disappearance of Parker’s parents.  The trailer also showed off a bunch of awesome action set pieces and fighting between Spidey and the main villain Dr. Curt Connors, a.k.a. The Lizard (played by Rhys Ifans).  And of course, we get to see Emma Stone portraying the all-so-important Gwen Stacy.

This is one of those action movie summer blockbusters I am very much looking forward to much like The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises.  Now without much further ado, here is the new trailer.