While riding the subway yesterday I watch four young teenagers “play fight.” They were obnoxious, disruptive, and used lots of racial profanity. At one point one of the boys, who seemed to be the ring leader of his crew (he was cute, thin, tall, and the loudest) had the boy who seemed to be the least popular (he was short, chubby, and did alot of whining) in a headlock. The ring leader was laughing. The unpopular boy was screaming. And nobody did a thing. Sure, plenty of folks turned to stare. A few older men even laughed reminiscing their own youthful “play fights.” No one tried to help the little chubby boy yelling “no for real, get off me!” No one, not even me.

How could anyone help? They aren’t going to listen to a stranger. Or would they? Besides I didn’t know what to say because they did a good job masking the bullying as a good, “boys will be boys” fun. After every round of wrestling they’d all laugh and high-five, including the unpopular boy. But I could tell he was sad. He was clearly the brunt of the joke. I got off the train feeling angry, sad, and disappointed. Angry that this is how boys are allowed to behave. Sad that this poor kid has to deal with such mean friends. And disappointed that I couldn’t stop it.

I also used to feel bad for the bully. I assumed bullies came from troubled pasts and that they hurt others because deep down in their troubled souls they are hurting as well. But it turns out, bullies get a kick out of seeing pain.

The Journal of Biological Psychology recently published a study in which they used fMRI scans to compare brain activity in eight unusually aggressive 16- to 18-year-old males to those of eight normal adolescent males as they watched videos of people getting hurt. The results showed both groups had activity in the brain’s pain centers, but the brains of aggressive males, those with conduct disorder, also showed activity in the brain’s pleasure centers, indicating that they may have been enjoying what they were seeing. Normal males showed no such activity.

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Many drivers in Tallahassee Florida will sadly have to say goodbye to their testicles. Their fake bull testicles that dangle from their truck and car trailer hitches.

Republican Sen. Cary Baker, a gun shop owner from Eustis, Florida, called the adornments offensive and proposed the ban. Motorists would be fined $60 for displaying the novelty items, which are known by brand names like “Truck Nutz” and resemble the south end of a bull moving north.

The Florida Senate voted last week to add the measure to a broader transportation bill, but it is not included in the House version.In a spirited debate laced with double entendre, Senate lawmakers questioned whether the state should curtail freedom of expression in vehicle accessories. [Reuters]

Truck Nutz (which may just be my new favorite word) are described on their site as “a high-quality, novelty, automotive accessory that hang from any bumper and let folks show the world their Nutz”.

Personally I think there are things that are far more offensive like, oh I dunno, selling guns?

Is it not ones constitutional right to express themselves through plastic balls? Is it censorship to take a persons nutz away? Want to know more abut protecting free speech? and check out change.org .

On Monday Deepak Nayar, behind such films as “Buena Vista Social Club” and “Bend it Like Beckham,” and Sandy Grushow, the former chairman of Fox Television Entertainment Group will launch Filmaka.com .

The site solicits short video clips for a competition judged by some of the industry’s biggest names — directors Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, Paul Schrader — as well as an audience of regular Web users.

Next week the site will announce a winner of its film contest, who will direct a feature film produced by Los Angeles-based Filmaka.

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Reuters reports that a

parcel of mountaintop land behind the famed Hollywood sign has been put up for sale, provoking outrage from Los Angeles city officials and residents worried that building there would spoil one of the most famous postcard views in the world.A Chicago investment group said on Wednesday it was asking $22 million for a 138-acre (55-hectare) tract of land just west of the white Hollywood sign on Cahuenga Peak because the Los Angeles city council had failed to come up with cash to preserve its rugged wilderness state.

But the sale won’t go down without a fight. Councilman Tom LaBonge told the Los Angeles Times

“that mountain should not be cluttered. It’s good for the psyche of Los Angeles. The city should acquire this land. Everyone was shocked to find out it was privately owned.”

The Hollywood sign spells out the name of the area in 45-ft (13.7-meter) high white letters. It originally read Hollywoodland and was created as an advertisement for a housing development in 1923. The last few letters deteriorated in the late 1940s and the part that remained was restored in 1978.

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“Dear Reuters reporter Patrick Markey and editor by Xavier Briand: your article Colombia Protests Over Nicaragua’s FARC Remarks is confusing, at best, and misleading, dishonest, ideological, at worst, and if I were a Reuters editor, I’d fire. But, to be charitable, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and some tips on reporting. OK, take out a pencil. And some coffee, because it’s going to be a long night. Where to start? OK, here we go. You wrote that the Colombian Government is angry at Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega because

Ortega…. and ex Marxist guerrilla…. and…. a former Cold War enemy of Washington, called FARC chief Manuel Marulanda a “dear brother” during a speech this week in which he also backed international efforts to free captives held by the leftist rebels.

1) LANGUAGE: as reporters, you’re supposed to PRETEND to be objective. Framing Ortega as a Cold War enemy is a little charged, not to mention passe. So try to keep your Cold War feelings to yourself. (Also, if you want to go all Cold War, why not give props to Reagan for training the Contras in Nicaragua to take care of the Sandinistas, of which Ortega was part. I guess then you’d have to bring up the whole selling arms to Iran to support the Contras habit thing, which is a little awkward. )

2) TRUTHINESS Your phrasing suggests that the Leftist Ortega sucked up to the leader of the Colombian Guerrilla group FARC and called him a brother, while, on another note, and coincidentally, he also asked some random leftist rebels to free their captives. This is truthy, but not true. The truth is Ortega was explicitly invited by French President Sarkozy (you guys would like him, because he’s not Washington’s enemy) to pressure the FARC to free their captives, one of whom is the French-Colombian citizen Ingrid Betancourt. Rather than calling the FARC leader a brother and also trying to free some prisoners, Ortega specifically implored his “dear brother” the FARC leader, to release the captives FARC under his leadership, is holding.

3. OMISSION AND TAKING WORDS OUT OF CONTEXT. Again, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt. I could draw the conclusion that you purposefully omitted the context of Ortega’s comments in order to make him look like a crazy wing bat instead of a tactful, diplomatic, head of state attempting to ensure the release of prisoners. But, I, at least, am a woman of my word, so I will assume you are lazy, or don’t speak Spanish or don’t have a translator. (Although I can’t help noticing that your Ortega quotes were limited to two words “my brother” you were much more thorough when it came to translating Colombian government’s response: “The government … is obliged to reject phrases expressing brotherhood with terrorists…. Colombia awaits clarification of the statement to ensure such actions do not affect relations.”) So, I thought I would do some investigating for you. Here is what Ortega said: “Quiero aprovechar para hacer un llamado a mi querido hermano, el comandante, Manuel Marulanda Vélez… en nombre de los revolucionarios latinoamericanos… que como una señal de trabajar por la paz… yo le pido que ponga en libertad a Ingrid Betancourt.” Don’t worry boys. I know you too well to expect you to try to translate this, so I’ve done that for you. Ortega said, “I want to make a plea to my dear brother, commander, Manuel Marulanda Velez… en the name of Latin American revolutionaries… as a symbol of working for peace… I ask you to free Ingrid Betancourt.”

4. REWRITE Again, aware of your less than protestante work ethic, I have taken the liberty of rewriting your truthy sentence into a truthful sentence. Try replacing, Ortega “called FARC chief Manuel Marulanda a “dear brother” during a speech this week in which he also backed international efforts to free captives held by the leftist rebels” with Ortega “who was invited by French President Sarkozy to help negotiate the release of FARC’s captives, appealed to the FARC chief Manuel Marulanda, saying “I want to make a plea to my dear brother, commander, Manuel Marulanda Velez… in the name of Latin American revolutionaries… as a symbol of working for peace… I ask you to free Ingrid Betancourt.” Now, doesn’t that sound better? And doesn’t writing something more true and less truthy feel better?