Screen Grabs: Are agents on Fringe flashing their Google Wallet?

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Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com.

We're not sure exactly what the FBI's standard issue kit consists of, but we imagine it has more than a few bits of secret tech. These screen grabs from this week's Fringe, however, would have us believe that the rogue agents like to pick up their tabs with what looks like Google Wallet. We can clearly see a Sprint-branded Galaxy Nexus being used to for a not-so-undercover financial transaction. At least it looks like the agents might have had an upgrade since we last saw them around these parts.

Update: As many of you have pointed out, there was something wrong with our own intel on this case, and it wasn't one of the agents using the service. Perhaps the bureau isn't comfortable with e-wallets just yet.

[Thanks, Te-je]

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Doolittle's Raiders recall daring WW II mission

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Staff Sergeant David Thatcher, center, is saluted as he enters the USS Hornet before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Staff Sergeant David Thatcher, center, is saluted as he enters the USS Hornet before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Lt. Col. Edward Saylor, right, talks with USS Hornet volunteer Roger Felton as they look at an old photograph before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders on the USS Hornet in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Major Thomas Griffin, seated at right, shakes hands with Lt. Col. Chu Chen as he enters the USS Hornet before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Also pictured at left is John Fu. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Staff Sergeant David Thatcher, from left, Major Thomas Griffin, Lt. Col. Edward Saylor, and Jonna Doolittle Hoppes, granddaughter of Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, are shown before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) ? Three of Doolittle's Raiders who helped boost American morale during the early days of World War II recalled the dangers of their bold bombing attack on Japan mainland.

Airman Edward Saylor didn't expect to come back alive when his B-25 set off on the 1942 mission.

"Some of the group thought they'd make it," Saylor said Saturday. "But the odds were so bad."

Saylor and the other 79 Doolittle's Raiders were forced to take off in rainy, windy conditions significantly further from Japan than planned, straining their fuel capacity. None of the 16 planes' pilots had ever taken off from an aircraft carrier before.

Saylor and two other raiders, Maj. Thomas Griffin and Staff Sgt. David Thatcher ? all in their 90s now ? recalled their daring mission and its leader, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, at a commemoration Saturday aboard the USS Hornet in Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco.

Their mission has been credited with boosting American spirits at a critical time, less than five months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and with Japan sweeping through the Pacific. The bombing inflicted only scattered damage, but lifted spirits at home while shaking Japan's confidence.

But it did not come without a price.

Three raiders were killed while trying to land in China. Eight were captured by the Japanese, of which three were executed and a fourth died of disease in prison.

The Japanese also killed Chinese villagers suspected of helping many of the airmen escape.

Griffin recalled ditching his plane when it ran out of fuel after the raid and parachuting to the ground in darkness.

"I got out of my airplane by jumping real fast," he said. "It was a long, strange journey to the land down below."

Griffin landed in a tree and clung to it until daybreak.

Saturday's event was held in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the raiders' April 18, 1942 mission. It also included: Doolittle's granddaughter, Jonna Doolittle Hoppes; two seamen aboard the carrier the raiders left from, the USS Hornet CV-8, Lt. Cmdr. Richard Nowatzki and Lt. j.g. Oral Moore; and a Chinese official who as a teenager helped rescue the raiders, Lt. Col. Chu Chen.

The American airmen remembered Doolittle as a great planner who knew his aircraft and fought alongside them.

Hoppes said her grandfather, who was born in Alameda and died in 1993, was very proud of the men on the mission.

"I grew up with 79 uncles in addition to the ones I really had," she said. "He was just very proud of how they turned out."

Associated Press

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Running Man-a-lympics

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Episode 104:
Location: Seoul (various locations).
Guests: Eunhyuk (Super Junior), Eunjung (T-ara), Lee Joon (MBLAQ), Jung Yong Hwa (CN Blue), Siwan (Z:EA), Yoon Doo Joon (BEAST), Nichkhun (2PM).
Introduction (Olympic Park*): Rock-paper-scissors to determine which team has to ride on top of the London-style double-decker bus to the next venue and who gets to ride in the air-conditioned lower level.
Nametag relay race (Seorae island*): Running Man team vs. Idol Team compete in a relay race where passing the baton is replaced with attaching nametags onto the next runner. Relay match-ups: Haha-Nichkhun; Jong Kook-Siwan; Gary-Lee Joon; Ji Hyo-Eunjung; Suk Jin-Yoon Doo Joon; Gwang Soo-Jung Yong Hwa; Jae Suk-Eunhyuk.
Trampoline volleyball (Seongdong-gu station*): Teams compete to 15 points on a specially-made trampoline volleyball court.
Swimming pool hurdle toss: In three rounds, teams compete to hurl one member over a series of 3 "hurdles" in a swimming pool and then take the flag to win. Round match-ups: Ji Hyo-Eunjung; Gwang Soo-Siwan; Jae Suk-Eunhyuk.
Alternating offense-defense Hide and Seek team elimination (Seoul Baekje Museum*): The winning team of the previous three competitions chooses whether to seek or hide first. At 15 minute intervals, teams switch between seeking and hiding. Nametags are torn off by the seeking team to eliminate. Team of the last person standing wins.
Comments: Nichkhun's fifth Running Man appearance, Jung Yong Hwa's sixth appearance. Eunjung's second and Lee Joon's third appearance. Composer Jung Jae Hyung (eps. 88, 89 guest) cameos during the introduction. Episode is kind of a send-off for Korean athletes and an homage to the 2012 London Summer Olympics which opened on July 27. Eunhyuk was 2 years old during the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Nichkhun (in the U.S.) and Lee Joon were mere newborns, and the rest of the idols weren't even born yet.
- This has nothing to do directly with Running Man, but Nichkhun was involved in a drunk driving controversy two days after this episode aired. Since there wasn't an episode aired on July 29 due to Olympic coverage, this was the last Running Man episode before the T-ara controversy exploded on July 30.

'Don't Walk, Date'

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Episode 108:
Guests: Gong Hyo Jin (actress), Lee Joon (MBLAQ); Gary absent.
Location: Greater Seoul (various locations).
Teams (fake 'Don't Walk, Date' drama press conference): Leading role team: Gong Hyo Jin-Gwang Soo; supporting roles teams: Jong Kook-Haha-Suk Jin; Jae Suk-Ji Hyo-Lee Joon.
Yangjaecheon Outdoor Swimming Pool* mission: Teams must together find the balloons in the swimming pool that have questions in them. If they find a balloon with a question, they must answer it correctly together to pass. Two members of the winning team get a hint for the final elimination, one member of the second place team gets the hint.
Zoo cafe mission (Seocho-dong*): Gong Hyo Jin is fitted with a heart rate monitor and teams compete for who can raise her heart rate the most. Two members of the winning team get a hint for the final elimination, one member of the second place team gets a hint.
Leading role team vs. supporting role teams elimination (NS Home Shopping building*): Gwang Soo gets seven (7) nametags and all of them must be torn off for him to be eliminated and only after he is eliminated is Gong Hyo Jin able to be attacked and eliminated (she has complete immunity until Gwang Soo is eliminated). There are clues referencing past popular South Korean dramas hidden throughout the building and the supporting role teams must identify and enact scenes of those dramas before each of Gwang Soo's nametags are torn off. If a supporting role team member who has a clue enabling one of Gwang Soo's nametags to be removed is eliminated before the nametag is removed, that clue is nullified. Two "Goh sisters" scriptwriters can be found by either team and can be forced to write how the "script" for the episode can unfold (eliminate people). Once the script is written, the drama must be played out as written (within certain rules).
Comments: Lee Joon's fourth Running Man appearance. This episode seems to be taking the Running Man production team's obsession with wanting to be a drama in a new direction. Instead of scripting and staging scenarios in furtherance of a contrived drama-like plot, they're actually trying to convince themselves they're filming a drama, filming pretend press conferences and calling the missions "scenes". I think they need psychiatric help or should quit Running Man and go work for a drama if that's what they want so much.
- Suspicious: it is really hard to sneak up on someone in a stairwell (although with all the crew it might just barely be plausible. Barely).
- There's a lot that's suspicious in this episode. Everyone has their own bias and criteria regarding what they think is fake or not. I tend to give the show benefit of doubt, recognizing a lot is in the editing which may give the appearance of being fake when they're just trying to make the episode cohesive and focused, and including just the relevant bits. So my criteria for what's fake or not is plausibility. If it's vaguely plausible, I accept it as real. And that may be overly kind. Also barely, barely plausible is the team that reconstitutes and figures out the clue that had been destroyed. That one was really pushing the envelope of plausibility. It's a shame that there's even an issue amongst fans of whether missions are real or staged. It hurts the integrity of the show, which is supposed to be spontaneous. But it's the production team's fault that it has become an issue by going down that road of staging and scripting missions so obviously that fans noticed.

Absolute Ddak Ji

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Episode 113:
Guests: Yeom Jeong Ah, Jeon Mi Sun (actresses), Yoo Hae Jin (actor).
Location: Seoul (various locations).
Teams (Grand Ambassador Seoul Hotel*): Gary-Ji Hyo-Jae Suk-Yoo Hae Jin; Jong Kook-Yeom Jeong Ah-Haha; Gwang Soo-Jeon Mi Sun-Suk Jin.
Episode race: Complete challenges to create the best ddak ji using given materials to compete in a final ddak ji match to flip the unflippable Absolute Ddak Ji.
Seoul Folk Flea Market* mission: Use a hacky sack to choose an item, then with all members in a cardboard box, find the item in the flea market within the given time. Repeat until successful. In order of completion, choose material and make a ddak ji.
Gwangjang market* wrestling match: The winner of the previous mission gets a first round pass and competes against the winner between the other two teams. In male-female matches, the loser of the match is declared the winner, so the object is to lose (the actual rule is the women can choose that losing is a win). Team of the last person standing wins. In order, choose material and make a ddak ji.
Barbecue challenge: Red and blue teams (Gwangjang market) have to eat barbecued meat off a grill in 30 seconds with their chopstick arms restrained with rubber tubing. Yellow team must resist swallowing their saliva while barbecue is cooked in front of them (it's not explained how long they have to resist to pass, and their succeeding is not shown).
Pancake house challenge (Myeongnyun area*): Teams get to swap or keep their ddak ji based on who won the barbecue challenge, but the rules aren't clear. Coin flipping challenge: each team must consecutively flip a coin in a frying pan five times to pass. In order of winning, choose a material (tape, glue, staples) to make a final upgrade to their ddak ji.
Absolute Ddak Ji (Samcheonggak*): In turns, teams attempt to flip the Absolute Ddak Ji using both of the ddak ji they made. The first team to flip the Absolute Ddak Ji wins.
Comments: Seoul Folk Flea Market was used as a location in ep. 39 (Sunny, Yoona). Gwangjang market was used in ep. 71 (Queens Race). The yellow team's barbecue challenge was used before in ep. 36 (Dae Sung, Jung Yong Hwa). The ending is a bit anti-climatic, but still pretty funny in its honesty.
- This episode was aired on Chuseok, but filmed two Mondays earlier on the 17th. The two week delay was because the previous episode was a part two. The September 24 shoot was reportedly cancelled because of LeeSsang Company's problems with the Super 7 concert and Gary's decision to step down from Running Man, but after Gary and Gil were supported and convinced by . . . just about everyone, really, to not step down, the cast and crew agreed to shoot on what was supposed to be a Chuseok break in order to maintain the broadcast schedule.
Editorializing on recent "scandals" (totally unrelated to Running Man):
I just want to comment on the difference in how LeeSsang Company and the cast of Infinity Challenge handled their failure to deliver the Super 7 concert and how T-ara and their agency handled the bullying scandal (NB: I know I don't know all the facts since I get my information from faulty news/rumor/gossip websites which don't exactly have the highest editorial standards).

When the Super 7 concert was canceled, it seemed like everyone involved was willing to take responsibility and their share of the blame, and everyone apologized for their failure and explained as best as they could what happened and their role in the failure. It seems because of that candor and honesty, the public response was overwhelmingly supportive, and neither Gary nor Gil has to step down from their respective shows. No doubt, there were injured parties in the failure, but it was perhaps poor business decisions and nothing morally distasteful.

In contrast, the K-pop world was shocked when Hwayoung was fired from T-ara and rumors started flying about bullying within the group with public condemnation of the group. Their response, likely ordered by their agency's president, was complete silence. They didn't deny the allegations, they didn't try to explain their position or what happened, and to me it came across as that they didn't give a crap what the public thought or demanded, and after a short break because of the fallout and generic apologies to no one specific, they arrogantly continued with the release and promotion of a new song.

I don't know what the numbers are (sales or the number of fans deserting) or if T-ara's image was damaged by the scandal, apparently there are plenty of hardcore fans that are sticking to their fandom. But in contrast to LeeSsang's response to what may have been perceived public criticism, T-ara's response to actual public criticism was pretty reprehensible and distasteful. It has nothing to do with the veracity of the bullying claims, just the way they handled it and the disdain they showed to the public, who still don't know the truth of what happened.

The panini grill...

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got a workout tonight making veggie burgers!  Fresh lettuce and tomato, fresh sourdough rolls from Publix, a slice of American cheese and a grilled veggie burger.  Aggie even liked it!  I wasn't sure she would - it's been a while since I've had one - but I think she was just relieved that it wasn't pasta for dinner again.  I'll admit I love a bargain and the Morningstar Farms veggie burgers were on sale - so we also have tomato and basil burgers for next week.  Peach ice cream for dessert  - and another episode of Midsomer Murders.  I am happy with the little things in life.

Good Lord, it's hot!

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I just got home from my weekly sauna sojourn at the tortilleria.  Thank goodness Ariela had time to pick me and drop me off at home on her way to work this afternoon.  I am not joking when I say that it is cooler outdoors in the ninety-degree summer heat than it is inside the bakery.  And all I'm doing in there is sitting at a table writing payroll checks and organizing the mound of paperwork that accumulates in a week's time.  Can you even imagine how hot it must be back where they are making the tortillas?  No wonder those women are a bit crabby and difficult to deal with.  I usually keep my cool amid all of the confusion and disorganization but I nearly lost it today when the alleged manager girl asked me to analyze how a Money-to-Mexico company arrives at the amount of commission they pay to my client every month.  She gave me this stack of papers (and I use that term loosely) that were going every which way.  This is the first time I've seen this stuff and when I started going through it, I realized that she had not matched up the daily transactions to the daily invoice from this company since implementing their system back in April and was just depositing the amount on the daily bill to the money transfer account.  There was no rhyme or reason to the mess she handed me and when I dared ask her about it, her response to my client - not me - was that the rep from this company hadn't told her to do that.  She refuses to speak English - or learn to, for that matter - and the more I tried to explain the potential problems with her lack of bookkeeping method, the angrier more upset she got.  I finally just stopped talking, crammed all the papers back into the envelope and stuck them in my tote bag to take home with me.  I decided to figure it all out later - I'll have to download the Wells Fargo bank statements for that account anyway.  And then there was the ham.  Or jamon, if you will.  My client had been out to eat somewhere and ordered a croquette that he enjoyed and decided to duplicate for sale at the tortilleria.  He sent two ladies to the store for potatoes, cheap boiled ham and bread crumbs.  About forty-five minutes later they came back, after having been to two Spanish-speaking grocery stores, and announced that there was no boiled ham to be had.  Both he and I found that really hard to believe and he said, "Did you ask for HAM?"  No, they both replied, we asked for jamon.  Their rationale was that they don't eat HAM in their country, so they asked for jamon, which in some places means bacon.  At that point, my client blew his top and I have never heard such yelling, in Spanish or English.  In the meantime, I called the Bravo Supermarket right down the street, which is heavy on the Latin clientele (since these ladies will only go to a Spanish-speaking grocery) and inquired about boiled ham.  "Yes," the lady replied, "in the meat department."  My client sent one of the ladies back out and for some unknown reason she went to Sweetbay and got ham sliced in the deli for $5 a pound.  More yelling ensued.  Not at all what my client had in mind - but at least it allowed them to get to work on the prototype.  I also discovered that you can buy mass quantities of cheap, boiled ham at Sam's Club for less than $3 a pound, but I digress.  I found a recipe for Cuban croquetas online, but the ladies weren't interested because it wasn't in Spanish - besides, they assured my client that they knew how to make croquetas.  I went back to writing payroll checks and for the next hour or so, one or another of the ladies came in to show my client each stage of the new recipe: mashed up potatoes, chopped ham - you get the picture.  A little while later, all four ladies came in with their version of a ham croquette.  I wasn't sure who was minding the store, but I was afraid to ask.  We were asked to sample the prototype while the cooks waited expectantly.  My client spoke first.  "Needs salt."  He took another bite and looked at me.  "What do you think?" he asked.  What I thought was, needs flavor - but I said politely, "Yes, a little salt.  And maybe a little, como se dice en espanol " it came to me: "ajo (garlic)."  I started to suggest cebollas (onions), but I kept my mouth shut.  Then there was some discussion as to the desired shape of the croquettes.  One of the ladies thought they should be served con ensalada - but who wants hot take-out food served on a bed of salad?  I finally suggested making them smaller and flatter like an empanada - which is more conducive to eating with one's hands.  That was apparently what my client had in mind as well and the cooks were dispatched back to the kitchen.  He shook his head.  "See what it's like?  All I get is an argument or a discussion about everything!"  I reminded him that his business is not a democracy and it's perfectly all right for him to be a dictator; he is, after all, the boss.  But that's just not his nature and things will most likely continue just as they are, whether my client is happy about it or not.  You know what they say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."  I have a feeling my client will just keep muddling on through...