I'm starting this because some links just can't be classified as randomly stupid.  "Interesting" on the other hand is a conveniently ambiguous adjective.

So let me start off...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051130/od_nm/pope_limbo_dc

The Pope giveth and the Pope taketh away.

So where exactly are they going to put all of the babies that are already in limbo?

/loves Catholicism *cough*

Yea Catholicism... wooo.

Question : Where do people go when they die now? Are we not judged until the End, when everyone has already come back and had a chance? That we stand before Jesus on his throne? Revelation puts that event at the end of the 1000 years. So what happens when you die now?

Umm I just want to say that I posted this story first in the stupidity post...for good reason

X
(Gives credit where credit is due)

Yeah.  It definitely qualifies as Random (after nearly 700 years) Stupidity (because... it just is).

I can't believe that Mr. Pope would open his church to this kind of scrutiny.

-b0b
(...talked about this at class tonight.)

Oops, sorry Pat!  I've been behind on my reading...

He he.  No prob.  I just love making fun of the Catholics.

Also answerings Briney's question about where we go when we die right now.

People who've excepted Jesus go to heaven and people who haven't go to hell.  Now, you must remember that heaven exists out of space and time so "waiting" for the End Times probably means nothing.  Now during the end times you are right.  We will stand before the throne of God in the New Jeruselum and find out if we are in the Book or Life and Jesus' Book of Life.  Now, the dead will retain their old original bodies, the people who were Raptured come back down with Christ, and the people Left Behind...they just walk up.  Now if you are found to be in Jesus' Book of Life, you are set.  If you are not, you're name is blotted out of the other Book of Life, containing all those personages who've ever lived.  The people who are in, reign with God on earth for the 1,000 years, stuff takes place that I won't go into, at which time we will enter the New Heaven.  The people who've been in Hell and are sentenced their because of their unbelief will go to join Satan in the Like of Fire for eternity.

I hope I've answered the question well enough and accurately, although I am ALWAYS up for being critqued.

X

The Pope calls a meeting of all the cardinals.  When they have all assembled at the Vatican, he takes them into the meeting hall and states, "I have some really fantastic news and some very terrible news."  Of course, all the cardinals want to hear the good news first, so the Pope tells them, "Jesus Christ has returned to the world.  The time of judgement is at hand, and our faith in his existence is justified."

After the commotion dies down a bit, one of the cardinals speaks up, asking what the terrible news is.  The Pope replies, "He was calling from Salt Lake City."

-b0b
(...snickers.)

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2005/031205Orwell.htm

Although this is ment to be humoristic...it's funny that it would probably work.

X

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/05/051206001323.v7bezwpo.html

OMFG tell me that doesn't look like a dinosaur to you?!  Also how can they tell it's a mammal if it's a mystery animal?

X

Fake.

-b0b
(...said so, so it must be true.)

So I was looking at the picture of this "dino" the wrong way...what I thought was the head is really the tail of some new "cat-like spiecies"...sorry I'm a moron.

X

Good job, guy.

http://www.TWNCommunications.Net/Other/Applause.gif

-b0b
(...applauds.)

http://www.alias.com/eng/etc/fake_or_foto/index.html

Fake or Photo?

I got 10 outta 10, then 4 outta 4 bonus wee!

Can't fool me you sneaky animators.

How is that a news article?   [smiley=Mario.gif]

I scored seven out of ten.  Not bad for someone with the artistic skills of a four year old!

-b0b
(...draws stick figures.)

9 out of 10

Yea I guess that falls more under Random Stupidity. Meh.

http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa011402a.htm?1

Our Ica stones are on here too along with a bunch of other artifacts that prove man was more advanced at one point in time...

Fav line:

"What are we to make of these finds? There are several possibilities:....Our dating methods are completely inaccurate, and that stone, coal and fossils form much more rapidly than we now estimate."

Ha ha ha...Really?  Ya think?!

X

"Science informs us that this is mere fiction and that man is a few million years old, and that civilization just tens of thousands of years old. Could it be, however, that conventional science is just as mistaken as the Bible stories?"

What a bunch of @#$%.  Why even mention the Bible if you aren't going to discuss it?  

Come on, Eric, tell us how you really feel.

-b0b
(...points to the soapbox.)

Heck yeah Eric!  Step up and preach the good word, man.

X
(If you don't someone else will)

Eric! its essay time, baybee!

http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=2791&date=20060103

Woman suffocates under pile of clutter...

http://www.local6.com/news/5917330/detail.html

Stupid question, but where the heck was her husband at over the past fifteen years?  At some point (like, I dunno, before the stuff reached the ceiling) he should've had a freakin' dumpster out front.  Throw that crap out!  Mental disorder or not, if I had to live there, it'd better be clean.

How could someone allow this to happen?  Were they both out of their bloody minds?  Crazy...

-b0b
(...wowzers.)

http://suvalleynews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=248

Not sure how realiable this article is but it's about more proof of a world wide flood 6,000 years ago...or so.


Mwah ha ha ha ha!

X
(Tee hee hee hee)

Quote:

www.mises.org/story/2007 The Bureaucrat in Your Shower by Jeffrey Tucker The Department of Energy may soon be paying a visit to a certain shower-head manufacturer in Arizona. The company is Zoe Industries Manufacturing. It runs Showerbuddy.com, a popular site that sells amazing equipment for bathrooms. Consumers love the company but one man doesn't. He is Al Deitemann, head of conservation for the Seattle Water Board. Al ordered some products and sent them to BR Laboratories in Hungtington, California, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. And sure enough, Bureaucrat Al gained enough data to report Zoe to the feds, accusing Zoe of "blatant violations of environmental protection laws." Now the heat is on. What's the big deal? What critical matter of American public life is at stake? It's all about water flow and gallons per minute. You might have some vague memory from childhood, and perhaps it returns when visiting someone who lives in an old home. You turn on the shower and the water washes over your whole self as if you are standing under a warm-spring waterfall. It is generous and therapeutic. The spray is heavy and hard, enough even to work muscle cramps out of your back, enough to wash the conditioner out of your hair, enough to leave you feeling wholly renewed — enough to get you completely clean. Somehow, these days, it seems nearly impossible to recreate this in your new home. You go to the hardware store to find dozens and dozens of choices of shower heads. They have 3, 5, 7, even 9 settings from spray to massage to rainfall. Some have long necks. Some you can hold in your hand. Some are huge like the lid to a pot and promise buckets of rainfall. The options seem endless. But you buy and buy, and in the end, they disappoint. It's just water, and it never seems like enough. Why? As with most things in life that fall short of their promise, the government is involved. There are local regulations. Here is one example of a government regulation on the matter, from the Santa Cruz City Water Conservation Office: "If you purchased and installed a new showerhead in the last ten years, it will be a 2.5 gpm [gallons-per-minute] model, since all showerheads sold in California were low consumption models beginning in 1992." You mean they regulate how much my shower sprays? Yes indeed they do. Government believes that it has an interest in your shower? Yes it does. And it is not just crazy California. The Federal Energy Policy Act of 1992 mandates that "all faucet fixtures manufactured in the United States restrict maximum water flow at or below 2.5 gallons per minute (gpm) at 80 pounds per square inch (psi) of water pressure or 2.2 gpm at 60 psi." Or as the Department of Energy itself declares to all consumers and manufacturers: "Federal regulations mandate that new showerhead flow rates can't exceed more than 2.5 gallons per minute (gpm) at a water pressure of 80 pounds per square inch (psi)." As with all regulations, the restriction on how much water can pour over at once while standing in a shower is ultimately enforced at the point of a gun. Manufacturers must adhere to these regulations under penalty of law, and to be on the safe side, and adjust for high-water pressure systems, they typically undershoot. If you try your showers right now, you will probably find that they dispense water at 2 gallons per minute or even less. Together with other regulations concerning water pressure, your shower could fall to as low as 1.5 gallons per minute! This creates a rather serious problem for nearly everyone in the country. America is the land of the shower. Popular lore holds that Americans are some of the most showered people in the world, and this stands in contrast to, well, to lands of the less showered. (Not naming any names!) As for Zoe Industries, they set out to address this strange problem that has made our showers less functional than they ought to be. They are not water anarchists; we aren't talking about shower-reg secessionists here. But the company did insightfully observe that the restriction applies on a per-shower-head basis. So Zoe sells full units that have three full heads per shower! What a solution — truly in the spirit of American enterprise in the best sense. These remarkable units are both brilliant and beautiful, and they comply with the letter of the law. The one that annoyed Bureaucrat Al is the "Nautilus II Chrome" — and what a piece of work it is! If it turns out that the feds can't prove him in violation, Congress might have to go back to work. The regs might have to be changed to specify one head per shower space. But then what can the government do about the length of showers? After all, there is no real way to regulate how much water we use (and pay for). Maybe the shower heads have to have timers on them. And maybe the feds need to put up little monitors in our showers to make sure that we have stopped and started them. And what happens to shower offenders? One can see federal S.W.A.T. Teams screeching up to your house, black-clad men pouring out, securing the perimeter, and shouting through a bull horn: "Drop the soap and come out of the shower with your hands up!" Most manufacturers adhere to the regulations. But savvy consumers know how to get around the problem. Warning: The following section is for information purposes only; I am not advocating egregious violations of federal law as some trouble-making rebel might. Do not endanger your status as a law-abiding citizen who takes wimpy showers. Many people now hack their showers — or customize them, if you prefer. You can take your shower head down, pull the washer out with a screwdriver, and remove the offending intrusion that is restricting water flow. It can be a tiny second washer or it can be a hard plastic piece. Just pop it out and replace the washer. Sometimes it is necessary to trim it out using a pen knife. Using such strategies, you can increase your water flow from 2 gallons per minute to 3 and even 4 gallons per minute. You can easily clock this using a stopwatch and a milk carton. Using this method (just as an experiment for the sake of journalism — again, do not try this at home) I was easily able to expand my gallons per minute on each shower in my house to an average of 3.4 gpm, thereby recreating that childhood sense of gushes of water pouring down. Now, that doesn't compare to the amazing 12.7 gallons per minute that BR Labs claims they were able to clock with the Nautilus II (wow wow wow!) but it still exceeds federal regulations. Why would anyone want to do this? According to the head of Zoe Industries, people somehow have the sense that I described above. "Generally, they don't like the water savers," he says, "the flow of water is too weak and they feel as though they haven't gotten a shower." The whole craziness here recalls the similar frenzy about toilet tank size that resulted from the same act of Congress. Eventually manufacturers figured out ways to make the toilets flush but, even today, you never want a plunger to be too far from the toilet. Thus has it spawned an entire industry of designer plungers! You might say that water needs to be conserved. Yes, and so does every other scarce good. The peaceful way to do this is through the price system. But because municipal water systems have created artificial shortages, other means become necessary. One regulation piles on top of another, and the next thing you know, you have shower commissars telling you what you can or cannot do in the most private spaces. Has central planning ever been more ridiculous, intrusive, and self-defeating? If Zoe Industries is bankrupted by federal fines, who will stand up for our rights to take showers our own way and make our own judgments about how much water to use?

-b0b
(...welcome to the People's Republic of America.)

---

http://www.clickpress.com/releases/Detailed/7763005cp.shtml

This article is written for men who measure their masculinity by their penis size....and who woulda thought the French were the biggest d*cks in the world?

X
(Raises hand)

You think that's funny...go to the site it links to...

(I'm not linking here you lazy bastards *evil laugh*)

Oh...you're such a whore!

X

http://nytimes.com/2006/01/13/national/13baby.html?ei=5094&en=965005cbf6337137&hp=&ex=1137214800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

Insteresting article about how America will soon have 300 million people...obviously I could not say citizens seeing that around 12 million or so are probably illegal and thus are not actual citizens

X

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/117/112560.htm

Note to self...get Jamie to drink more coffee

Another note to self.....get more mountain dew....is there anything it CAN'T do?........no

X

http://contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/gay%20rights%20group%20american%20idol%20is%20homophobic_20_01_2006

American Idol is homophobic?

Well that's news to me...I thought American Idol was pretty homo?

Are the gays watching the correct program?

X
(Briney...care to answer?)

I usually don't post things from sites most of us go to...however I believe this needs its own post

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2006/20060120h.jpg

Now read the article, especially the second page, and see a good reporter ask some awesome questions calling out the 360 and its shottiness!

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3147131&did=1

X
(B-E-A-utiful!)

Somehow, I don't think "next-generational" is a word.

-b0b
(...Heil Grammar!)

http://www.townhall.com/blogs/capitolreport/TimChapman/story/2006/01/26/183899.html

If true...I like it.  I know it might be bad for some things but without the line item veto, there's nothing we can do...except this!

X
(Comments?)

http://www.scimag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=030&ACCT=3000000100&ISSUE=0508&RELTYPE=PR&ORIGRELTYPE=FE&PRODCODE=00000000&PRODLETT=I

Cezar is number 0...because he has all 10 of these assimalated into his collective.

X
(All hail Cezar!)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20060126/ts_csm/ochrislam

Reactions anyone?

Mine is that these people are so wishy washy that they're not just sitting on the fence but have made an entirely new fence to sit on.  While I appreciate the good intentions of both religions to try and co-exist we all know that the "road to hell is paved in good intentions".  I just can't see how a person can claim to be both.  Jesus said "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one can come to the Father except through Me."  where as Muhammid also claimed to be the only way (although the Koran teaches it's by works you are saved and not by grace...as in the scales you will be weighed when you are dead).  How could you be both and believe both these things.  Pretty stupid to me...but hey I'm just a narrow minded Christian fundamentalist evangelical...right?!

X
(Right!)

These guys sound like Unitarians.  "Can't we all just get along?"

-b0b
(...no thanks.)

Screw Exxon. 36 billion dollar PROFITS for last year.

While we are payin out the rear for gas, they are rollin in cash. How about some regulations about this sorta thing? Anyone? Congress?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060130/ap_on_bi_ge/earns_exxon_mobil_5

Well it's kinda hard when most of Congress owns stock, profits, or takes bribes from the oil industry.  Anyways, I thought this was America?  Land of capitalism...and profits?  Is there a monopoly involved...cause if not...why should we regulate a company for making money?  Should we regulate IPods so they won't make as much money?

X

I'm not defending the oil industry (far from it!), but the thing to remember is that we really don't know enough about their financial status to take any concrete stance.

Let's say I make widgets.  I can manufacture 100 widgets per year, and they cost me $1,000 to produce.  I charge a simple markup of 10% on my widgets, meaning I market them for $1,100 and pocket $100 as profit.

Well, the raw material for my widgets (let's call it widgetanium) goes through the roof, so I have to charge more for them.  Let's assume I can still only make 100 per year and I'm still selling complete out of stock.  I now have to pay $2,000 to manufacture a widget.  If I keep my 10% markup, I now sell my widgets for $2,200 and get to pocket $200 as profit.  Is that wrong?

I don't think it's unfair of the gasoline producers to keep a static percentage of their wholesale cost of oil as profit.  In other words, if they pay $1.00 to manufacture a gallon of gas, and want 10% profit, they can charge the gas station $1.10 to buy their gas.  Likewise, if they pay $2.00 to manufacture a gallon of gas, I have no problem with them keeping their 10% margin and charging the gas station $2.20 to buy a gallon of their gas.

Likewise, I don't have a problem with the gas station doing the same thing.  If they want an x% margin, all the more power to them.  That's the law of supply and demand, right?

Sure, it sucks to get gouged at the pump, but that's capitalism folks.

-b0b
(...doesn't like paying it either.)

Socialism anyone?

I'm down.

I prefer imperialism.  Let's just take it all.  That should keep the prices down, right?

-b0b
(...nods nods.)

On a lighter note...police beat down another black male!

http://ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=91485

Where's Jonny....oh he's dead?  Uhh well get me Tio Cockrin then!

If the ribs don't fit...you must aquit!

X
(Is shock!...SHOCKED I SAY!)

http://www.herald.ns.ca/AftUpdate/9000538.html

YOU GO GIRL!!!

X
(USA!!!USA!!!USA!!!)

http://gadgets.fosfor.se/the-top-10-weirdest-usb-devices-ever/

Top 10 weirdest USB devices.  These are kinda cool.  And yes, Briney don't worry, you can your friend favorite is number one.

X

Eww.

I want to buy the USB self destruct button. That looks hot!

Self destruct button?  It must be mine!

-b0b
(...needs to figure out how much 4,000 yen is.)

I knew that they made fans, and heaters USB powered, but I would have never thought about some of those.  

I want the grill

Yanno, since they said the George Foreman was fake, I'm almost thinking about buying a cheap George Foreman grill and a USB heater and trying to integrate the two.  It's been far too long since I've wielded a soldering iron, so I might just have to give it a try.

-b0b
(...would probably hurt himself in the process.)

Quote:

Mugabe to ask whites back in land grab U-turn By Peta Thornycroft in Harare 09/02/2006 www.telegraph.co.uk President Robert Mugabe has begun to reverse his "insane" land grab and offer some white farmers the chance to lease back their holdings in Zimbabwe. With the fastest shrinking economy in the world, Mr Mugabe has had to backtrack on six years of chaos and his own determination to rid the country of all white farmers. In an orgy of violence, Mr Mugabe seized the land, homes, equipment and infrastructure of about 4,000 white commercial farmers who produced almost half of Zimbabwe's foreign currency. The U-turn is expected to be announced within days. The ruling Zanu-PF party's politburo has been informed and selected journalists in the state-controlled media have been briefed on how to spin the policy reversal. About 250 whites remaining on small portions of their farms will immediately be offered state leases for the land they used to own. Some will be hoping that their full land holdings will be restored at a later stage. The leases will, farmers hope, give them some legal protection from local warlords continuously trying to evict them or seize their equipment or crops. In a second stage, the leases will be extended to some white farmers who have already been evicted, particularly where there is no activity on that land. Some fled to Britain, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa and are desperately homesick. The government is expected to admit in the next few days that it has only used about 50 per cent of the land it seized. In reality, land economists say the figure of idle land is nearer 80 to 90 per cent. The new policy is understood to have been approved by Mr Mugabe but it is unlikely he will announce it, as the government hopes to play down the U-turn. It will be executed by two of his most trusted lieutenants: the lands minister Didymus Mutasa and the agriculture minister Joseph Made. Neither was available for comment yesterday. In anticipation of this change of policy, the Commercial Farmers Union has advised some members to apply for leases, and some farmers have already filled in lease applications at the agriculture ministry. The union yesterday issued a rare statement calling for a ''moratorium on land and agricultural policies''. All those involved in agriculture should get together and "rebuild the entire industry to return as the principal employer of labour and generator of food and foreign exchange", it said. "We have the energy and capacity to help bring Zimbabwe back once again to be the bread basket of the sub-continent." The statement was signed by the CFU president, Doug Taylor-Freeme, who would not comment on the change of policy. "We need to create some stability on the ground for existing farmers if we want any investment in agriculture. That's the first step. "All land has been acquired by the state for one reason or another but the issue now is who uses that land? We believe it should be farmers. When you look at the state of agriculture and the state of the economy we need to find the right balance." Behind closed doors last week, the International Monetary Fund told Zimbabwe's finance minister Herbert Murerwa - who has helped himself to a white-owned farm - that land seizures should halt immediately and that without increased agricultural production there was no chance of halting Zimbabwe's slide. While this is a reversal of Zanu PF's policy to rid Zimbabwe of all white farmers, some of those who lost their holdings are cynical about any offers from the government. Many will need convincing that the offer is genuine unless it is openly endorsed by Mr Mugabe and, even then, they may still be sceptical about a president who has broken promises in the past. "The government vastly underestimates the damage of its insane policies," said one of Zimbabwe's former top cereal producers. "They probably believe that allowing some of us to return will turn the economy around in a single season. We won't be able to do anything without international finance, and we won't get that until there is political reform," he said. "It's bloody miserable out there. All our friends have gone, our equipment has been broken, irrigation has been vandalised, our homes have been wrecked, the roads are a mess, our workers have gone so why should we return? I am sure there will be some clots who are so damn miserable in other countries or living in towns that they will go back. "We should be campaigning for compensation, not going back to help people who wrecked our country."

http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/05.05.22.FallowedGround-X.gif

-b0b
(...thinks Mugabe needs to be shot.)

Uproar over armed firefighters killing chickens by homes
By Christa Jenkins
Herald Writer

HIGH SPRINGS — After seeing High Springs firefighters toting rifles through a neighborhood and shooting at chickens last week, residents said they are infuriated.

The southwest sector of town between Southwest Fourth Avenue and Poe Springs Road has had a chicken problem for years.

Many residents said they were upset not that the chickens were killed but the manner in which the situation was handled last Wednesday, Feb. 1.

Residents said they were not notified that the shooting would happen, that they worried about the safety of their children and pets, and that firefighters ran through private property without permission.

When the shooting was over, residents said they were left to deal with injured chickens and a bloody mess.

City officials, however, said that multiple safety precautions were taken, including having the city’s police chief on the scene with a safety perimeter in place.

The Animal that Defied Classification

Starting about two years ago, the city began to receive complaints from residents living in the southwest area of town between Southwest Fourth Avenue and Poe Springs Road, said City Manager Jim Drumm, himself a previous resident of the area.

At that time, as many as 50 wild chickens that nested in the woods surrounding the area had begun to leave the woods and cause trouble for residents.

Roosters crowed at street lights at all hours of the night. Hens tore up yards and left feces in them for residents to step in. The fowl stood in the streets and upheld traffic.

When the cars in the neighborhood were parked, the chickens flew atop them to roost and left scratches.

Some residents even complained that they were afraid to leave their homes because the roosters were aggressive and chased people.

It was a mess for the growing city, Drumm said.

After receiving numerous complaints, city officials attempted to gain the help of Alachua County Animal Control but were declined because the organization only handles domestic animals and pets.

Since the chickens were wild, Animal Control would not help, Drumm said.

So officials went to the Florida Wildlife Commission instead, but that government agency labels chickens as farm animals and refused to help, Drumm said.

“These animals sometimes fall through the cracks of what anybody can do,” Drumm said.

With complaints still coming in, officials decided to take action themselves.

Code enforcement officials were first enlisted to capture the animals, but the chickens’ speed and ability to fly made attempts nearly impossible.

Officials asked for agile teenagers to volunteer to capture the chickens, and one boy did succeed in capturing a couple, but it was still a limited success.

“They are wild animals, and they are very good at escaping and flying,” Drumm said.

Traps with high quality feed inside them were put out to lure in the chickens, but after a hen was captured, roosters started to guard the traps and keep chickens away from them, Drumm said.

Officials put alcohol in the birds’ food to try to slow them down, but that didn’t work either, Drumm said.

While officials considered the option of using other types of drugs or chemicals in a similar manner, they worried about the possible effects it might have on pets in the area.

Officials tried to get more ideas by speaking with other city officials and police officers who had similar problems.

Residents were asked if they owned the chickens, but no one said they did.

While no one claimed the chickens as their own, residents often take in chickens during the daytime, Drumm said.

Nearly a year after first attempts to solve the problem, officials were running out of options, and residents were getting impatient, Drumm said.

The chickens would have to be shot, Drumm said.

“We actually tried many avenues to capture them,” Drumm said. “It was our last option to consider shooting them.”

The City’s Last Option

It was the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 1 that Janet Lashells, a friend of David Smart, who resides on Southwest 2nd Place, was horrified to see firefighters running through yards and shooting the chickens.

“Those chickens in the neighborhood never bothered us,” she said.

A barn close to the area is home to a group of wild kittens that Lashells and Smart feed, Smart said.

The food inadvertently attracts many chickens to enter the barn, and Smart thinks this would have been a better way to go about catching the chickens, he said.

“I realize that they had to do something, but I think they could have handled it differently,” he said.

According to Smart, there were between 50 and 75 chickens in the area previous to the shooting, and he has seen very few since then.

“It sounded like a war zone over there,” he said. “It was pretty bad.”

Some residents said they were angry that they were not notified beforehand that officials would be shooting guns in the neighborhood.

Jenni Callahan, a resident on Seventh Avenue, said she wishes she was warned about the shooting so she would know to keep pets inside.

She witnessed the events while on her lunch break and later returned home to find two shot and injured chickens taking shelter near her house, she said.

One had been shot in the leg and another in the wing, she said.

“I just don’t feel people should be running around with .22s in a neighborhood,” she said.

Joan Lenne, another resident of Seventh Avenue, said that firefighters ran through her back yard without informing her first or gaining her permission.

Lashells was worried for the safety of pets in the area and any people who happened to be outside, she said.

“Anything that was moving, they were shooting,” she said. “There’s blood all over the place.”

But many safety precautions were taken to ensure an accident-free day, Drumm said.

Safety and Legality Issues

Officials decided to take action on a morning that school was in session, and most children would be at school and away from the area.

They used rifles with a small caliber specially made to not travel far, and firefighters only made clear shots that were low to the ground to avoid ricochet.

Firefighters were chosen over policemen because firefighters were able to assist without being pulled away from active duties, and they were also ready and willing to help, Drumm said.

Those who assisted had backgrounds in hunting and handling firearms, Drumm said.

Additionally, Police Chief Ray Kaminskas was at the site to secure the perimeter from people, pets and everything else not a chicken.

“I understand the concern, but we try to make it as safe out here as possible,” Kaminskas said.

This was also the reason that residents in the area were not notified beforehand that officials would be present to shoot the chickens, Drumm said.

Officials feared that if they announced the event, onlookers would be present and would be put at risk.

“We were hoping not to have anybody in the area,” he said.

According to Drumm, the city employees involved attempted to stay in the streets, which are city-owned property, by herding the chickens into those directions.

Since the streets in the area are often very narrow, it appears that residents’ yards start at the edge of the road, when in fact the legal roadway is 60 feet wide.

Additionally, Drumm said, there were several residents who came out of their homes and tried to assist the firefighters with directing the chickens.

In these cases, the firefighters may have entered residents’ yards with their permission.

City code allows code enforcement actions to be carried out even on private property, so even if the firefighters did have to enter residents’ yards, it was still within the city’s legal right to do so, Drumm said.

It was also legal to discharge the firearms within city limits, Drumm said, because Police Chief Kaminskas had given his authority to do so, and he was there to supervise.

The city code also allows nuisance birds that are within city limits to be destroyed, Drumm said.

Firefighters targeted the roosters, since they seemed to be a greater part of the problem than the hens.

When residents began to come outside and question the firefighters, officials decided to quit for the day so that they wouldn’t endanger those people, Drumm said.

End Results

In the end, about eight chickens were killed, and one chick was captured and donated to the Camp Kulaqua Zoo for their children’s education program.

Additionally, firefighters located several nesting sites.

Although the problem was not completely taken care of, Drumm said, officials can use these nesting sites to capture more chickens in the future.

Also, since many of the roosters were killed, hens will not have many opportunities to create future hatchlings, Drumm said.

“They will live out their life and not move on to additional generations,” he said.

City officials are still seeking more alternatives with how to handle the chicken problem.

After hearing about the events last week, a man from Gilchrist County called officials to tell them that he has a Labrador Retriever rescued after Hurricane Katrina that can catch chickens without injuring them, Kaminskas said.

Officials tested the dog out on Tuesday, Feb. 7, and had positive results, he said.

Anyone else with ideas on how to approach the chicken problem is welcome to call, he said.

“I just want them gone,” he said. “If someone wants to come out here and catch a chicken, they can.”

Problems with wild chickens in cities often begin when people move from the country to the city and attempt to bring their chickens along, Drumm said.

But they are difficult to keep in small yards and often break free.

Other times, problems arise from parents who give their children baby chicks for Easter. The kids then set the chickens free when they get big.

Wherever their origin, the wild chickens that still roam free in the area seem to have evaded defeat once again.

“We’ve been listening to roosters for over a year,” said Joyce LaCagnina, a resident of the area. “And they’re still crowing.”

http://www.thebusinessonline.com/Stories.aspx?Annan%20prepares%20for%20privatisation%20of%20UN&StoryID=523E5488-44AB-4751-8EEB-171844A8CC44&SectionID=F3B76EF0-7991-4389-B72E-D07EB5AA1CEE


Quote:

Rick Grenell, spokesman for the US mission, told The Business the Bush administration had no position on outsourcing. “Our position is that the UN needs to function better,” Grenell said. “We need to look at all ways to make that better. No one is talking about cutting jobs or turning out lights. Talking about outsourcing is way ahead of the game.” But there has been growing pressure from Washington on the UN to cut costs. The US pays 22% of the UN’s general budget. France pays 6.4%, the UK 5.5%, China 1.53% and Russia 1.2%. All five can wield a veto on war-making decisions. Congressman Henry Hyde’s proposed UN Reform Act of 2005 would withhold 50% of US dues unless at least 32 of 39 proposed reforms are adopted – a clear indication of pressure intended to break the deadlock. Some staff fear privatisation would cause a cultural shift at the organisation where international civil servants have been chosen through competitive exams for more than 60 years.

God Bless America!

...roffle.

Quote:

Bush Fails To Prevent East Coast Blizzard Minorities Hit Hardest by Some Lefty Reporter 02/12/06 As President Bush and his staff cowered in the White House, the snow continued to pile up on the many poor and African American victims who could not afford to get out of town or to safety in Florida. Crucial supplies of blankets, hot cocoa, popcorn and dark rum - so essential to surviving the stress of any major snowstorm - lay in stores undelivered. "Where is the government? I need my sidewalk shoveled so I can get out to buy my damn lottery tickets!" said one D.C. resident from his living room. "Why are we wasting money in Iraq when we could be spending it here on me?" Progressive blogs blasted the President for his inaction. "We find the timing terribly suspicious - just as the Domestic Spying hearings kick into high gear, what happens? A major northeast Blizzard. Why now?" wrote a leftist blogger. Hearings into the blizzards' effect on hearings are almost a certainty. Howard Dean wasted no time calling for an investigation, shouting, “I know the President was playing with the Halliburton weather machine in the White House basement! I know it! I demand equal access to the machine for my party!” John Kerry took a break from the sporting activities of the glamorous super-rich in some exotic locale (random choice: Ice Sailing in Finland) to call for new legislation outlawing snowstorms. "The Republican Congress has dropped the ball once again. I have always been a staunch supporter of anti-snow legislation, except for certain locations where I ski. Snow has no business on our roads and the President and Congress knows that." Calls for impeachment over "SnowGate", as some are calling it, already are mounting as deeply as the snow itself, and what will be discovered underneath will prove to have a truly chilling effect on the Republicans, as the inevitable thaw proceeds.

Rumor has it that the operator of the machine was told to set it for 4 feet of snow, but refused. He was subsequently shot by the Vice President.

-b0b
(...thinks it's typical how Bush sends white snow to oppress the working man.)

http://www.spielbergfilms.com/indy4news022006.html

-Spielberg confirms ‘Indiana Jones 4 ’ to follow ‘Munich’
Unless some very powerful fates finally conspire to do Indiana Jones in once and for all (and he’s beat some pretty tough foes in his day), the long-awaited fourth film in the “Indiana Jones” franchise is full speed ahead for production this year (and release next year, according to series creator George Lucas).

While director Steven Spielberg remained largely silent on his work on “Indiana Jones IV” during the busy days on “War of the Worlds” and “Munich,” Spielberg finally broke the silence in a recent interview with Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

“I haven’t given up making entertaining films, but over the last decade I have been making some films that express the respect I have for history,” Spielberg said.

“I am about to make ‘Indiana Jones 4,’ which is, as far as I am concerned, the sweet dessert I give those who had to chow down on the bitter herbs that I’ve used in ‘Munich.’”

Maybe Harrison Ford will come back to play Indy???  or Maybe ol Spiely will use a lot of special effects like his budy Lucas does!  Either way, with too many special effects or no Ford...I'm predicting a stinker.  Not to mention this will be the third movie in a row that has not done very well, War of the Worlds, Munich, then this one.

Also a comment on the horrible movie that will be Posideon....anyone know if the director always puts big waves into his films.  He's directed Perfect Storm (snooze!) and now this....both having to do with giant waves!

X
(Hates Hollywood)

I really hope Indiana Jones 4 isn't bad. that means that the entire movie hasn't been computerized and slaughtered like Star Wars was. If JarJar Binks shows up in this one, I might throw up.




                   Cait
               

I hope Jar Jar shows up, just so Indy can kick his #@%%@#!.

-b0b
(...meesa gonna DIE!)

Spielberg has said before that the effects used will be done in a manner identical to the first movies. He will use effects techniques from that era, and not go cg happy.

Yeah just like Lucas said that he would "never sacrifice plot for special effects"

X

Well lucas said that back in the day and speilberg doesnt want indy 4 to turn into something similiar to the new star wars's's

You mean he does want it hated by fans, a steamy pile of crap that destroys every fiber of our childhood in a matter of a few hours?  Also he doesn't have 3 chances to make it not suck!

http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=1904

A pretty sweet game trailer. However I got a little deja vu while looking at some of the shots. Lo and behold several shots were direct ripoffs of shots from LOTR. My 3d class did not believe me so I made this webpage on the subject.

I'm prolly going to post this somewhere relevent, maybe send it to Weta Digital lol.

http://www.jasonbriney.com/sun/sun.htm

~Briney

(...wasted an hour on this one)

Wow, I smell lawsuit.

That's not just an abuse of creative license, that's outright plagiarism.  As soon as I saw the trailer, I thought "rip off," and your site definitely added to the defense.  I didn't catch the Arwen similarity until I saw your side-by-side comparison.

I'm almost wondering if SUN was originally going to be a LotR title, but the producers lost the licensing rights somehow and had to alter the storyline.  Honestly, I can't see something being that blatant without some kind of reason.

-b0b
(...boggles.)

I've looked into the game and it looks pretty sweet. The intro movie that was made for the game was made seperately by another production house called Visual Promotion. Games usually hire a seperate company to do their cinematics, or have a whole seperate division devoted to just cutscenes.

The game itself doesn't look like it is a ripoff of LotR, but the bloody intro movie sure is. I'm trying to figure out how to get a hold of the game studio, Webzen, because it prolly wouldnt be good for them to have this attached to their game when it is finally released.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0224/p02s01-usju.html

YEEEHAWWW IT'S THE ROOTIN TOOTIN OOOOOOOOL WEST!

I believe some studies have shown that violence was actually down in the days of gun fighters and cowboys...or that could just mean...we've gotten worse and our moral decline IS actually happening.

Comments anyone?....bob?

X

That op-ed piece is just a bunch of unsupported hand-wringing.  Every time a state considers concealed carry or "castle doctrine" legislation, the hippies start screaming about "blood running in the streets" and the "return of the wild west."

It's never happened.

If you want to see what you can expect with the passage of concealed carry legislation and castle doctrine laws, just look at the states that have already done it.  Crime drops steadily as the adoption of those laws by "good guys" increases.

-b0b
(...thinks this is an open and shut case.)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11507919

Wow a PA politician who will stand up to the feds???  Amazing!

X

This one is going to make Briney cry...


Quote:

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060301/ap_on_fe_st/gummed_up_art DETROIT - A 12-year-old visitor to the Detroit Institute of Arts stuck a wad of gum to a $1.5 million painting, leaving a stain the size of a quarter, officials say. The boy was part of a school group from Holly that visited the museum on Friday, officials say. They say he took a piece of Wrigley's Extra Polar Ice gum out of his mouth and stuck it on Helen Frankenthaler's "The Bay," an abstract painting from 1963. The museum acquired the work in 1965 and says it is worth about $1.5 million. The gum stuck to the painting's lower left corner and did not adhere to the fiber of the canvas, officials told the Detroit Free Press. But it left a chemical residue about the size of a quarter, said Becky Hart, assistant curator of contemporary art. The museum's conservation department is researching the chemicals in the gum to decide which solvent to use to clean it. The museum hopes to make the repair in two weeks and will keep "The Bay" on display in the meantime, she said. "Our expectation is that the painting is going to be fine," Hart said. Holly Academy director Julie Kildee said the boy had been suspended from the charter school and says his parents also have disciplined him. "Even though we give very strict guidelines on proper behavior and we hold students to high standards, he is only 12 and I don't think he understood the ramifications of what he did before it happened, but he certainly understands the severity of it now," said Kildee.

-b0b
(...loves how they got so specific about the brand of gum.)

http://cs2.cust.educ.ubc.ca/csed420/ArtsEdNet/Images/P/bay-l.jpeg
http://cs2.cust.educ.ubc.ca/csed420/ArtsEdNet/Images/P/bay.html

I just found the painting in question.  How in the world is that crap worth $1.5 million?

-b0b
(...doesn't get it.)

One word....Hippies!

X

Hippies have way too much money.

-b0b
(...nods nods nods.)

The art world is a bunch of BS. Some moron art dealer prices the dang thing on the value of the artist, his/her concepts and utter bull. These elitist morons look at these splotches and say "ooo, how avante-garde, how groundbreaking. Its so different from the normal classical way of thinking. What an innovator!" Blam, 1.5 million dollar splotches of paint.

I hate everything the art community stands for and believe me im in the thick of it.

So, I guess the real question is this:  Do you prefer Wrigley's or Juicy Fruit on your paintings?

-b0b
(...snickers.)

Quote:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13990873.htm Man showing off OnStar attracts cops who find drugs By ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - (AP) -- A man showing off his OnStar system in his Cadillac Escalade found out the system worked too well. Ralph A. Gomez, 38, was being held in the St. Johns County Jail Wednesday on $15,000 bond on charges of possession of an illegal narcotic within 1,000 feet of a church and possession of drug paraphernalia. Gomez was showing off his OnStar system to his girlfriend, but the volume was set so low that he couldn't hear the OnStar operator. OnStar comes on many new General Motors vehicles and allows a customer to contact an OnStar representative in an emergency or to get directions. If there is no response, OnStar contacts police. That's what happened with Gomez on Friday night, Tom Clements, a spokesman for the St. Augustine Police Department, said Wednesday. When police located Gomez' car, they determined there was no problem. But Clements said cocaine was clearly visible on the car's center console. In addition to seizing $1,900 in the case, the Cadillac equipped with the OnStar system was also seized, Clements said. There was no information available from Clements or the jail on whether Gomez has a lawyer.

You've got to love dumb criminals.

-b0b
(...certainly does.)

This might be the saddest thing I've ever read.


Quote:

CHICAGO (AP) — Americans apparently know more about "The Simpsons" than they do about the First Amendment. Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family, according to a survey. The study by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just one in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms. Joe Madeira, director of exhibitions at the museum, said he was surprised by the results. "Part of the survey really shows there are misconceptions, and part of our mission is to clear up these misconceptions," said Madeira, whose museum will be dedicated to helping visitors understand the First Amendment when it opens in April. "It means we have our job cut out for us." The survey found more people could name the three "American Idol" judges than identify three First Amendment rights. They were also more likely to remember popular advertising slogans. It also showed that people misidentified First Amendment rights. About one in five people thought the right to own a pet was protected, and 38 percent said they believed the right against self-incrimination contained in the Fifth Amendment was a First Amendment right, the survey found. The telephone survey of 1,000 adults was conducted Jan. 20-22 by the research firm Synovate and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

-b0b
(...bashes his head against the wall.)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-18-dork-pride_x.htm

"Lo and behold I saw them...riding through the sky.  And I saw the seventh sign on the End.  It was a pale horse, and upon him sat a half man, half Vulcan.  In his right hand was an inhaler, in his left hand was a slide rule.  Then the man spoke in a nazzly voice, "The final sign of the end...when geeks are considered cool!....Glovin!"

Revelations 14:6c...the secret chapter....the jocks got rid of it in 1611.

X

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060306/tc_nf/41948

Quote:

It took a hacker less than 30 minutes to gain root-level access to Mac OS X, according to a report from ZDNet. The hacker who penetrated the system called the Mac "easy pickings."

MediaMaster wrote on Mar 6^th, 2006 at 8:11pm:

Quote: It took a hacker less than 30 minutes to gain root-level access to Mac OS X, according to a report from ZDNet. The hacker who penetrated the system called the Mac "easy pickings."

Nothing unexpected there.  There isn't a widely-used OS on the market that couldn't be pwned in under 30 minutes with all ports open to the Intertron.

Don't rely on your OS to save you.  Put a decent firewall in front of your boxen and restrict ports to what is absolutely necessary.  If you've got more than four or five publicly-accessible ports, you need to distribute your resources better.

-b0b
(...thinks the test was sheer propoganda.)

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/08/D8G7JSU8C.html

WOW SOMEONE FINALLY HAS THE NERVE TO ACTUALLY USE SOMETHING WITHIN THEIR POWER TO STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS!

X
(Think this guy needs a medal or something)

I don't usually follow Google ad links, but I was just too curious about this one:

http://www.worldslastchance.com

Marie wrote on Mar 10^th, 2006 at 11:43am:

I don't usually follow Google ad links, but I was just too curious about this one: http://www.worldslastchance.com

That site is total BS.  It was put together by the Seventh Day Adventists to promote their totally skewed version of the end times.  Here's a sample of their absurdity, gleaned from that site.


Quote:

15. How then can I avoid receiving the mark of the beast? This is the most important question. God, in His infinite love, has warned us not to worship the beast and thereby receive his mark. Those receiving the mark of the beast "shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture [without mercy] into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone...who worship the beast [honor papacy through Sunday observance] and his image [USA enforcing Sunday observance], and whosever receiveth the mark of his name" Rev. 14:10, 11. These are very solemn words from God. His wrath is in proportion to the offense. By honoring, Sunday, originated by Satan through the papacy, you are preparing to receive the mark of the beast. Satan wants to deceive as many as he can into honoring this counterfeit day. To perfect his deception, he chose Sunday, the day of Christ's resurrection knowing that most people would believe that Sunday observance is more appropriate than Saturday, since it honors the resurrection of Christ. But the only way not to receive the mark of the beast is to refuse honoring a day that was not chosen of God. The only day which God has ordained as holy is Saturday Sabbath and by honoring it you will receive the "the seal of the living God" Rev. 7:2.

In other words, they think you're going to Hell if you go to church on Sunday.  What a total crock.

God doesn't care when you assemble, only that you do assemble.  

Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. –Matthew 18:20

If your church assembles at 2:30am on a bleary Tuesday morning, that assembly is just as relevant as one that assembles at 12:00pm on a bright Sunday afternoon, or 7:00pm on a Saturday evening.

I could go on and on about why we assemble on a Sunday, and why the Mark of the Beast is a literal, physical, visible symbol on the forehead and/or hand, but I think I'd be preaching to the choir.  Total BS.

What really upsets me about this is the great lengths the Seventh Day Adventists go to in concealing their identity.  This website, from what I can see, does not mention their name at all.  The doctrine, however, is very distinctly 7DA, just as polygamy is distinctly Mormon.  I got a letter in the mail from the 7DA advertising an "end times conference" (did I show this to you, Stewie?) that sounded really fantastic, until I started researching the speaker.  Total crackpot.  Nowhere on the letter was the name of the church mentioned, outside of the "address" the seminar was being held at.

Why the subterfuge?  What are they afraid of?  Why would you have to hide from the title of your church?

-b0b
(...knows the answer.)

It was my understanding that worship on Sunday originated from Emperor Constantine of the Roman Empire. It had something to do with Sunday being the  Roman day honoring the sun god Apollo.

Preach to the choir bob, I'm listening.

Ditto on what Bob said...do you still happen to have that hilarious pamphlet the SDA gave you about the end times bob?  That was some good stuff...I want to bump my head on a rock and have visions and have poeple follow me.

X
(Not really)

I don't know if I still have it or not.  I got it about the same time I got my free "prayer rug" from those crackas in Illinois.  Weird.

Ellen G. White was truly a messed up woman.  She gets busted in the head with a rock and starts having visions, and people somehow think it's because she was blessed by the Holy Spirit.

Riiiiiight.

-b0b
(...shakes his head in disbelief.)

What in the 7734 is a prayer rug?

Yeah, that site's messed up.

What worries me is that most of the relatives on my mother's side of the family are SDA and that they have grown up with these false truths.

Everyone else is Catholic, which isn't much better.  *sigh*

Dang you got screwed on both sides...that's too bad.

X

I just got back from a baby shower where an aunt of mine explained that she's never been angry at God for things that have happened in life and has never hated anyone (I told her that was pretty admirable because I couldn't name a single person in the Bible to whom those two conditions apply, which made her smile), that she's going to heaven because she's been nice to everyone, was called to be a nun ever since she was 4 but never got the chance to do so, goes to mass three times a day, and that she is Jesus' favorite person because of all of this.

There's more, but it was a very long conversation and I'm tired and have church tomorrow.  There were so many times where she said one thing and then contradicted it minutes later, and when I addressed it she said that it didn't apply to her because Jesus treats her differently.

I also had a family friend a few months back who gave me a brochure pretty much stating that I'm going to hell because I believe in New Testament miracles like healing, prophecy and tongues and have witnessed all of them firsthand.  

Time to read more apologetics stuff!


*hugs*

http://www.rapidnewswire.com/candownload.htm

Blast!  How am I not beating the Canadians just by myself?  I feel like such a failure!  :'(

X

http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060316/en_movies_eo/18577

Proof Number 1,567 that God exists:

Harrison Ford will be playing Indy in IJ4!

X
(Amen!)

Who did you think was going to play it?  William Shatner?

-b0b
(...notes this doesn't necessarily mean he'll have the lead role.)

Well I'll be the first to admit Han...oops I mean Harry...is getting up there in years and in interviewing he's kinda.....slow and uninteresting.  I just don't know if

http://www.cool-merchandise.com/acatalog/indiana-jones-photo.jpg

will equal

http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/warner_brothers/firewall/harrison_ford/firepre4.jpg

X

My guess is the main character will probably be Indy's child and/or protegé.  He'll be in the movie, but as a secondary character.

-b0b
(...wouldn't bet on it, though.)

This is the "Religion of Peace", right?


Quote:

Afghan Christian Could Get Death Sentence By DANIEL COONEY, Associated Press Writer KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan man is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death on a charge of converting from Islam to Christianity, a crime under this country's Islamic laws, a judge said Sunday. The trial is believed to be the first of its kind in Afghanistan and highlights a struggle between religious conservatives and reformists over what shape Islam should take here four years after the ouster of the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime. The defendant, 41-yer-old Abdul Rahman, was arrested last month after his family accused him of becoming a Christian, Judge Ansarullah Mawlavezada told The Associated Press in an interview. Rahman was charged with rejecting Islam and his trial started Thursday. During the one-day hearing, the defendant confessed that he converted from Islam to Christianity 16 years ago while working as a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, Mawlavezada said. "We are not against any particular religion in the world. But in Afghanistan, this sort of thing is against the law," the judge said. "It is an attack on Islam." Mawlavezada said he would rule on the case within two months. Afghanistan's constitution is based on Shariah law, which is interpreted by many Muslims to require that any Muslim who rejects Islam be sentenced to death, said Ahmad Fahim Hakim, deputy chairman of the state-sponsored Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. Repeated attempts to interview Rahman in detention were barred. The prosecutor, Abdul Wasi, said he had offered to drop the charges if Rahman converted back to Islam, but he refused. "He would have been forgiven if he changed back. But he said he was a Christian and would always remain one," Wasi told AP. "We are Muslims and becoming a Christian is against our laws. He must get the death penalty." After being an aid worker for four years in Pakistan, Rahman moved to Germany for nine years, his father, Abdul Manan, said outside his Kabul home. Rahman returned to Afghanistan in 2002 and tried to gain custody of his two daughters, now aged 13 and 14, who had been living with their grandparents their whole lives, the father said. A custody battle ensued and the matter was taken to the police. During questioning, it emerged that Rahman was a Christian and was carrying a Bible. He was immediately arrested and charged, the father said. Afghanistan is a conservative Islamic country. Some 99 percent of its 28 million people are Muslim, and the remainder are mainly Hindu. A Christian aid worker in Kabul, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said there was no reliable figure for the number of Christians, though it was believed to be only in the dozens or low hundreds. He said few admit their faith because of fear of retribution and there are no known Afghan churches. An old house in a war-wrecked suburb of Kabul serves as a Christian place of worship for expatriates. From the muddy street, the building looks like any other. Its guard, Abdul Wahid, said no Afghans go there. The only other churches are believed to be inside foreign embassies or on bases belonging to the U.S.-led coalition or a NATO peacekeeping force. Hakim, the human rights advocate, said the case would attract widespread attention in Afghanistan and could be exploited by Muslim conservatives to rally opposition to reformists who are trying to moderate how the religion is practiced here. "The reformists are trying to bring about positive changes," he said. "This case could be fertile ground for extremists to manipulate things." Muslim clerics still hold considerable power in Afghanistan, especially in rural areas where most women wear all-encompassing burqas and are dominated by men. Hakim said that if Rahman was acquitted, it would be a propaganda win for the Taliban rebels, who have stepped up their insurgency in the past year. In the months before U.S.-led troops ousted the Taliban in 2001, it claimed Western aid groups were trying to convert Afghan Muslims. They arrested eight foreign aid workers for allegedly preaching Christianity, but later released them unharmed.

-b0b
(...fumes.)

I know this isn't really a news article but it's still pretty cool I think.

http://codefromthe70s.org/desktopearth_dl.asp

"Desktop Earth is a wallpaper generator for Windows. It runs whenever you're logged on and updates your wallpaper with an accurate representation of the Earth as it would be seen from space at that precise moment."

X

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8372603330420559198&q=spore

Incredible game that stars as a tiny single cell and ends with galactic conquest.

Watch the whole thing for jaw dropping goodness

http://abcnews.go.com/International/IraqCoverage/story?id=1734490&page=1

Quote:

This document is handwritten and has no official seal. Although contacts between bin Laden and the Iraqis have been reported in the 9/11 Commission report and elsewhere, (e.g. the 9/11 report states "Bin Ladn himself met with a senior Iraqi intelligence officer in Khartoum in late 1994 or early 1995) this document indicates the contacts were approved personally by Saddam Hussein. It also indicates the discussions were substantive, in particular that bin Laden was proposing an operational relationship, and that the Iraqis were, at a minimum, interested in exploring a potential relationship and prepared to show good faith by broadcasting the speeches of al Ouda, the radical cleric who was also a bin Laden mentor.

How very relavent. I'm so glad this surfaced just as dissent regarding the Iraq war grows worse. Thank you oh wise and wonderful government for reminding us that Saddam helped Bin Laden commit the 9-11 attacks. Too bad Bin Laden has been out of the picture since 2001, probrably killed in an Afghani bombing run. If we didn't have that enemy to constantly be in fear of/hate, how could the US go about its emperialistic business? They might as well release a video of "Bin Laden" talking about accepting funds from Saddam... while we are at it let them release a tape talking about how great Iran is, and how Iran is helping Al Queda.

Blah

Poor Jesus...
http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=3353

http://www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=4666005&nav=menu241_2

When will we learn!  Hammers in the hands of young children could lead to them accidently hammering themselves or volunteering for Habitat For Humanity.  Soon they'll be carrying them to school and running amuck with them...OH WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

X

Ban hammers - do it for the children!

-b0b
(...oh, the humanity!)

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2006/3/emw364381.htm

Go New Yorkers...the truth is coming out.  The dam is about the be broken and the deluge will be wraught forth, if the govt global boys don't do something soon.  Like pray to Molec or get Satan on it again.  Maybe we need another "terrorist attack" to get us to stop asking questions, maybe a nuke in LA or smallpoxs in NY or Chicago?

X
(Giving the good ol boys some pointers)

I hadn't heard about the Charlie Sheen thing.  Do you happen to have a video of the CNN coverage?

-b0b
(...would like to see it.)

Basically go to prisonplanet.com and it's all right there, esp. on the righthand side.  There are free showings of the CNN shows or you can download them at my fav torrent site http://torrents.conspiracycentral.net

X

Leave it to our pals at FEMA to screw over the good guys...



Quote:

Supporters rally behind McGee By Rachel Leifer About 150 people gathered in support of Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee on Sunday, outraged at federal charges against him stemming from a dispute over ice trucks in the days following Hurricane Katrina. Most who convened at the McLaurin Community Center added their signatures to a petition, which asserts that McGee acted in the best interests of residents when he seized a pair of 18-wheelers full of ice from Camp Shelby without Federal Emergency Management Agency authorization on Sept. 4. ADVERTISEMENT       "We had diabetic people who hadn't been able to put their insulin on ice for three days," said Lee Behrens, 53, chief of the McLaurin Volunteer Fire Department. "If it was up to FEMA, those trucks would still be at Camp Shelby." McGee, 53, was scheduled to plead guilty Friday to a misdemeanor charge of interfering with, intimidating and impeding a federal officer, but the hearing was delayed indefinitely late Thursday. A new court date has not been scheduled. McGee acknowledged to the Hattiesburg American on Thursday that he acted outside federal guidelines when he asked two ice truck drivers to follow him to distribution centers in the Brooklyn and Sheeplo communities. "I didn't see anything wrong with what I was doing other than it was outside the protocol," he said Thursday. The volunteer firefighters, law enforcement officers, educators and other residents from all over Forrest County who came to the Sunday rally emphatically agreed that the sheriff's actions were justified, considering citizens' desperate need in the aftermath of the Aug. 29 storm. About 1,000 people relied on the McLaurin VFD for ice and water during those sweltering days, said volunteer firefighter Rhonda Hobson. "I can hardly even describe the looks on people's faces when we had to tell them we couldn't give them anything," said Hobson, 37. "(McGee) did it for us, for the reasons we voted him in there - to protect us and take care of us." The 681 houses in the Brooklyn fire district badly needed ice too, said Lynn Breland, chief of the Brooklyn VFD. "We'd been told we would get at least one shipment a day, but for three or four days, we waited," he said. "We didn't have any ice until we got that truck." Several sheriff's deputies attended the event. One cruiser bore a bumper sticker that read, "Billy McGee for Governor - Unafraid to Lead." Capt. Glen Moore explained McGee's absence to the crowd. "The sheriff's attorney advised him not to come," Moore said. "But he did ask to pass along to you all - he did get a bit emotional about it - how much he appreciates what you're doing from the bottom of his heart." The petition in support of McGee had about 100 signatures before the rally began, and copies were set to be distributed among all eight of the county's volunteer fire departments. But some rally attendees wanted more. Debbie Burt, assistant superintendent of the Forrest County School District, suggested launching a letter-writing campaign to U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton, who brought the charges against McGee. And many said they planned to converge at the courthouse whenever the sheriff's hearing is scheduled. "I believe he deserves a medal for helping the people of South Mississippi," Forrest County School District Superintendent Kay Clay told the group, which responded with thunderous applause. Charlie Sims, 47, of McLaurin asked sheriff's deputies to relay a request from the people of South Forrest County. "Would you please ask him to write a handbook for FEMA on how to make a decision?"

-b0b
(...thinks this is absolutely pathetic.)

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/03/30/abuse.payoff.ap/index.html


This article got me going on a rant this afternoon. Hush money and then letting that creep continue on hurting your child?! These are the kind of people that bring down the human race as a whole.





cait
    (....is cruising CNN right now)

Cait wrote on Mar 30^th, 2006 at 10:59pm:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/03/30/abuse.payoff.ap/index.html This article got me going on a rant this afternoon. Hush money and then letting that creep continue on hurting your child?! These are the kind of people that bring down the human race as a whole.

Save the taxpayers some money and give the mother and the neighbor what they deserve: one bullet each, straight to the cranium.  They deserve no less.

-b0b
(...grrs.)

http://www.defense-update.com/products/t/trophy.htm


Quote:

The Trophy active protection system creates something equivalent to a hemispheric "force field" around the protected vehicle. It has three elements providing – Threat Detection and Tracking, Launching and Intercept functions. The Threat Detection and Warning subsystem consists of several sensors, including flat-panel radars, placed at strategic locations around the protected vehicle, to provide full hemispherical coverage. Once an incoming threat is detected identified and verified, the Countermeasure Assembly is opened, the countermeasure device is positioned in the direction where it can effectively intercept the threat. Then, it is launched automatically into a ballistic trajectory to intercept the incoming threat at a relatively long distance.

Its not a forcefield, but it intercepts rockets and rpg's incoming to the tank.

http://www.defense-update.com/images/trophy-seequence.gif


Quote:

Specific details about the composition and mechanism of this explosive interceptor device are vague. From the briefing provided by US sources, Defense Update understands that Trophy is design to form a "beam" of fragments, which will intercept any incoming HEAT threat, including RPG rockets at a range of 10 – 30 meters from the protected platform.

Pretty cool.

here's my newsflash of the day:


I hate college.

Bahaha, they hit Kennedy!


Quote:

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12303763/from/RS.1/ Rep. Kennedy gets stitches after hit by hammer head in business meeting PAWTUCKET, R.I. - Rhode Island U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy took six stitches in his bottom lip after being hit with a hammer during a business meeting. Kennedy — son of Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy — met Wednesday with Wisconsin entrepreneur Matt Kriesel, who is interested in relocating to Rhode Island. Kriesel runs a company that manufactures a shock-absorbing gel used in sports-shoe inserts, tennis rackets and horse saddles. Kriesel was hitting the gel with a hammer to demonstrate how it reduces vibration when the hammer's head flew off and hit Kennedy in the mouth. The accident caused Kennedy to cancel several public appearances Thursday.

Couldn't have happened to a better target!

-b0b
(...wonders if he spilled his scotch?)

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6271


Quote:

By fall 2007, researchers, academics, and even K-12 users of the ultra high-speed Internet2 network will have the ability to conduct even more eye-popping applications for education and research, thanks to an upgrade in the works that reportedly could boost capacity of the network by as much as 80 times its current bandwidth. April 28, 2006—By sending data using different colors of light, operators of the ultra high-speed Internet2 network are hoping to boost the research and education network's capacity by as much as 80-fold--better enabling researchers and academics to connect telescopes around the world and perform other bandwidth-intensive tasks. The new network should be in place by fall 2007, said Douglas Van Houweling, Internet2's chief executive. He announced the plans this week as researchers set a new networking speed record--8.8 gigabits per second (Gbps), nearing the Internet2's current theoretical limit of 10 Gbps, which is thousands of times faster than standard home broadband connections.

Imagine how much pr0n you could download at that speed...

-b0b
(...8.8GBPS?  Scwing!)

Probably all of it in like 2 or 3 days....

"You've reached the end of the Internet.  Turn back now."

-b0b
(...remembers that one well.)

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060501/tutpnis_arc.html

Random.  And Why are we spending money on this?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060504/en_usatoday/starwarsgoesbacktobasics

Okay folks I have some good new and bad news.

Good news - STAR WARS IS BEING RELEASED ON DVD ON SEPT. 12 IN ORIGINAL!!!

Bad news - I'm going to have to spend $70 bucks to get it...again!  And it's going to be sold out by Dec. 31!

Ok people!  I want comments on this post!  NOW!

X

By "original," you mean, original-original?  I thought Lucas promised to never release them again after the last VHS set, of which I'm a proud owner?

-b0b
(...sighs.)

I mean the most original original.  However it will be upgraded to DVD quality but all the mistakes will be in there...no Jaba in ep 4, Han shoots first, etc.

I should've known better than to trust that guy...

-b0b
(...fumes.)

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200605/200605040024.html


Quote:

Korea, China and Japan have agreed to start joint research at government level on introducing an Asian single currency comparable to the euro. Finance Minister Han Duck-soo made the agreement with his Chinese counterpart Jin Renqing and Japan’s Sadakazu Tanigaki on the sidelines of the 39th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank in India.

Lol one world currency!!

Japan and China using the same currency?  They can hardly even tolerate living in the same hemisphere, let alone agree to use the same kizzash.

-b0b
(...doubts it'll ever happen.)

I don't know, half of Europe hates the other half of Europe and they managed to get it done with a LOT more countries than just 3.

I'd say it will probably happen sooner or later (Agreed probably later).  People may hate each other, but everyone loves money.  And look what the Euro has done for the European economy.

Yea, but the Euro has also weakened from what it once was.  It used to be a buck forty to the euro, now its more like a buck twenty.  Atleast it was the last time I checked.

Right now its 1.27 Eu to the dollar, but the value of the dollar is declining on a lot of fronts lately, causing gold to surge to 675 an ounce which is just insane. The USD was usually considered the backbone of world economics; it was a sure thing to invest in. Lately gold is becoming that backbone once again. To give you an idea of the scope, gold was about 220 an ounce in 2000. Now its triple that, somewhere near 675.

Well, on the upside, atleast our economy is better, atleast for today.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/04/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?cnn=yes

"Dow hits fresh 6-year high"

Yea, I know cnn is evil, but their website is easier for me to browse on dialup.

I be to po fo hih sped

Oh yea for sure, the economy is looking awesome, which is definetly good. But still the dollar cannot maintain its lead, because there is an 8.3 trillion dollar debt attached to it. I wouldnt invest in something like that.

yea its a good thing that the economy is doing so well. It only has 300 points to go before breaking records wee!

You have a point there.  Gotta love a Government that can't keep the books.  The other kinda scary part is that I, along with many others, don't trust China and who knows what kind of money we may have to spend to keep them in check.  Not to mention what we have left in spending for the conflict we're in right now.

"BUDAPEST, Hungary - Hungarian builders who drank their way to the bottom of a huge barrel of rum while renovating a house got a nasty surprise when a pickled corpse tumbled out of the empty barrel, a police magazine Web site reported."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12631404/from/RS.1/

http://www.shoutwire.com/viewstory/11177/Piracy_is_Worse_than_Child_Pornography

Piracy worse than child pornography

Society's new perspectives

By Nick Farrell: Wednesday 26 April 2006, 06:44
THE NEW look Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) seems to be giving the world an unusual moral code.

Details of the upgraded act, which has the blessing of the music and film industry and the Bush administration, are now coming to light. It appears that the DMCA will have a maximum sentence of ten years inside for the crime of software and music piracy. It will also give the FBI the powers to wiretap suspected pirates.

Although sentencing varies in the US, the new law does send a very strange message as to what the government considers 'bad' in the 21st century.

For example assaulting a police officer will get you five years, downloading child porn will get you seven years, assaulting without a weapon will get you ten years and aggravated assault six years.

So in other words if you copy a Disney CD and sell it you will be in the same league as a paedophile who is distributing pictures of sexual attacks on children.

If you copy Craig David's CD you get ten years, but if you punch him in the face and pummel him into a seven day coma you will only get six. You are more likely to get the respect of the prison population with your six year sentence as well.

More here - http://www.ipdemocracy.com/archives/001452new_bill_toughens_copyright_penalties_and_police_powers.php



Okay, people...any comments on this?

X

Its kind of like speeding 10 over is more serious than not putting your infant in a safety seat.  I think 10 over was something like $125 or so and not using a safety seat was $75.  Which isn't much more than not wearing a seatbelt either.  

I can see the headlines now "18 year old on trial for life"  {article} 18 year old Bob is on trial for the piracy of 3452 CD's, 20 Games, and 358 Games.....

2nd page news "Jury Reaches Verdict in Child Porn Case" {article} Man was sentenced to 4 years in prison for distributing illegal child porn on the interenet....

Whats this world coming to.

{swears he isn't a post whore}

I recently found out that calling a cop a shithead is a crime.

People can't take jokes these days.

....you didnt.




did you?

{grins} ^^ Thats what I was wondering after his comment about being drunk.  

The_Fat_Man wrote on May 4^th, 2006 at 11:19pm:

I recently found out that calling a cop a shithead is a crime. People can't take jokes these days.

Alright, Wes... Spill it.   There's definitely a story behind that comment, and we demand to hear it!

-b0b
(...needs to go to bed.)

Yea you can't spit on a cop either. Thats assualting an officer and it could net you life!

Ok i dont know about life, but a looongggg time...

Quote:

8 year old Bob is on trial for the piracy of 3452 CD's, 20 Games, and 358 Games

HA!  Rookie!

X

20 games?  What a noob.

-b0b
(...pedestrian!)

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20060505/2006-05-05T102918Z_01_L05500235_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-RUSSIA-USA-DC.html



Quote:

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A speech by Vice President Dick Cheney strongly critical of the Kremlin marks the start of a new Cold War that could drive Moscow away from its new-found Western allies, the Russian press said on Friday. In shocked reaction to the harshest U.S. criticism of Moscow for years, commentators said Washington had created an anti-Russian cordon of Western-aligned states stretching from the Baltic almost to the Caspian Sea.

Quote:

The Russian press agreed, comparing Cheney's words to a 1946 speech by British statesman Winston Churchill in Fulton, Missouri, when he said Europe was divided by an "Iron Curtain." "Enemy at the Gates. Dick Cheney made a Fulton speech in Vilnius," said business daily Kommersant's front page headline. "Vice President Dick Cheney made a keynote speech on relations between the West and Russia in which he practically established the start of the second Cold War ... The Cold War has restarted, only now the front lines have shifted," it said.

Stuff like that just warms my heart.

...thanks Cheney.

I was in a parking lot, drunk.

I was chatting with some people, and drinking, when a cop pulled up.  The cop of course pulled up behind me, and being drunk, I didn't think anything of the sound of a car pulling in behind me.

My friends suddenly get real quiet and someone taps me on the shoulder.

I turn around and say - "What do you want shithead?" - thinking its Ryan.

And walla.....Colorado Springs Police badge right in my face.  He smiled and lectured me about how much trouble I could get in for calling a cop a name and being intoxicated in public.  Then he checked all of our ID's and told us to walk back to our house (Which wasn't very far away).

End of story.

MediaMaster wrote on May 5^th, 2006 at 1:27pm:

...thanks Cheney.

What in the world is he thinking?  What an idiot!

-b0b
(...should run for Vice President.)

Quote:

TAMPA, Florida (AP) -- A 14-year-old boy who died after he was kicked and beaten at a juvenile boot camp was suffocated by the guards who roughed him up, a medical examiner said Friday.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/05/boot.camp.death.ap/index.html

Well, I bet he learned his lesson.

I'm sure we're all deeply saddened by the loss of one of society's finest young men.

-b0b
(...doffs his cap.)

Since when werre 14 year old punks known as young men?  I thought they were just 14 year old little punks.  

I didn't get time to read the whole article to see what happened before I went to work so I'll have to check it out later.

Quote:

06 May 2006 By Dan Buckley, Alan Good and Eoin English THERE’S nothing quite like the roar of waves crashing on the beach to wipe away the cobwebs — unless it happens to be the scream of a US Navy F-14 Tomcat overhead. Whichever was loudest appears to have masked the moment a piece of combat aviation history fell to earth recently and ended up on a beach in west Cork. An investigation was underway last night after what is believed to be a large part of the structure of the US Navy fighter jet was found washed up yesterday by a retired Aer Lingus pilot. The piece, about the size of a family car, is thought to be one of the tail fins from a twin-tail F-14 Tomcat — the jet featured in the movie Top Gun. Retired Aer Lingus captain Charlie Coughlan made the amazing discovery at Long Strand at Owenahincha, near Rosscarbery. “I just couldn’t believe it,” he said. “The paint is still perfect. It appears to have broken off the aircraft. I could see a spar inside — it’s cracked, not cut.” The debris, which measures eight feet by four feet, is military grey and features a flying skeleton, the insignia of VF-101 squadron — also known as the Grim Reapers — who up until recently were the US Navy’s F-14 training squad. “It is quite a substantial piece; you would think it would have sunk but the inside is layered with honeycomb material and that could have made it buoyant,” said Mr Coughlan. “There are no barnacles on it, so I would say it has only been in the water a few months.” He notified the Irish Aviation Authority who in turn contacted the gardaí. They sealed off the scene yesterday and handed the investigation over to the Air Navigation Investigation Unit. A senior garda said there were no reports of any aircraft missing in the area. The US Navy seems equally mystified. A spokesman at the Pentagon said last night that they were not aware of any missing tail fins. “We don’t fly F-14s any more,” said Lieutenant Jim Marks. “They were decommissioned earlier this year.” The F-14 Tomcat, with its distinctive swept wings, twin vertical fins and engines, and state-of-the-art technology, was one of the most formidable fighter jets in US combat aviation history. Designed primarily as a naval air-to-air fighter, the Tomcat also proved adept in ground attack capabilities, tactical reconnaissance and precision strikes. The first prototype flew in 1970 and its first combat deployment began in 1972. Both the Tomcat and its fighter squadrons were finally mothballed in January after more than three decades of combat duty. A sense of that history can be found on the US Navy website. Wannabe Tom Cruises can download a computer video game designed to test the mettle of those intent on a career with the force. Called the US Navy Training Exercise, the website declares it is being “conducted to help us evaluate future recruitment benchmarks”. Naturally, it has a code name: Strike & Retrieve. The Navy says: “NTE: Strike & Retrieve presents a mental challenge that requires both sound reasoning and quick- thinking action on your part. At the navy we know the missions of the future will be determined not by who is the strongest but by who is the smartest.” And, presumably, whoever manages to hang on to their tail-fins. F-14 Tomcat factfile Manufacturer: Grumman. Introduced: Sept 1974. Retired: 2006 (US Navy). Status: still in active service in Iran. Built: 675. Unit cost: $38 million. Top speed: 1,544mph Crew: Two. Weapons: M61 Gatling gun. Air-to-air missiles. Laser-guided bombs.

It must've been one of the sub-launched F-14's deployed for Top Secret missions deep into UK territory.  [smiley=Alien-Beaming.gif]

-b0b
(...knows this stuff.)

From Newish, to ancient....


Quote:

Did Monks Try to Make Gold? By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News May 5, 2006 — A ceramic cone unearthed at a remote British abbey might indicate that Cistercian monks implemented the Benedectine motto "ora et labora" (pray and work) with another rule: "make gold." On display for the first time at Bylands Abbey, which was founded in 1137 by Cistercian monks in North Yorkshire, the cone is what's known as an alembic. The delicate apparatus, 8 inches tall and 6 inches across the base, originally sat on top of a "cucurbit" — a heated gourd-shaped pottery vessel that held a boiling concoction. Vapors given off by the boiling mixture would have passed though a small hole at the cone's apex into a pipe connected to a condenser. The alembic could have been used in medicinal preparations, to distill alcoholic spirits by monks who fancied an illicit tipple, or in pursuit of the alchemist's dream — gold. "Since no chemical traces have been found on the surface, we have no way of being certain of its use. However, we know that certain Cistercians, as with other monks, did experiment in alchemy," Kevin Booth, English Heritage's senior curator in the North, told Discovery News. Born in ancient Egypt, where it flourished in the Hellenistic period, alchemy is considered the forerunner of chemistry. Following the Aristotelian theory of elements, which stated that all things consisted of fire, air, water and earth, the early alchemists believed that gold could be obtained by altering the elements in a base metal. A little shift in one metal's composition would have made a metal of low esteem, such as lead, turn into tin, iron, copper, mercury and finally, gold. Alchemists would have also tried to stimulate transmutation with a specific agent — the legendary philosopher's stone. The Cistercians, known as the White Monks to distinguish themselves from the largest black-robed Benedictine congregation, banned alchemy in 1317. Despite the ban, rumors had it that the monks at Bylands Abbey had long tried to create gold. Indeed, the alembic would support the account of 15th-century scholar Richard Dove of Buckfast, who described how one monk, Richard Archebold, saddled the Order with great debts in an attempt to "pursue the unattainable." In 1470, Archebold wrote the abbot claiming he had managed to convert an amalgam of metals into gold, and asked for a loan in order to continue his experiments. By 1479, Archebold and the Bylands monks had accumulated substantial debts. "This is an interesting story, but we should not run out the more likely uses, such as distilling alcoholic spirits. If the alembic had been found in association with mercury, then I would suspect alchemy. There was an example of this from a monastic site in Stamford, Lincolnshire, which contained other evidence of alchemy," archaeologist Glyn Coppack, author of The White Monks: Cistercians in Britain, told Discovery News. Indeed, the Stamford vessel was found near a urinal: Urine, with quicksilver, was considered an essential ingredient of the alchemist's art. "The line between religion and science was very blurred in those days. These findings do not directly support the claim of monks trying to make gold, but they certainly add to that possibility, Booth said.

That sounds like a huge leap of logic.  "They had an alchemical device, so they must've been trying to make gold!"  That's like saying I'm trying to win the Indianapolis 500 simply because I own a vehicle.

Horrible, horrible journalism!

-b0b
(...wonders if the alembic was Novice, Journeyman, Master, etc?)

Quote:

(...wonders if the alembic was Novice, Journeyman, Master, etc?)

Nerd!!!







...oh and it was an Expert Alembic.

Or possibly the elusive Grand Masters Alembic....

Sadness for the whole Geek race.

i wish i knew what you kids were talking about.





cait  

(...farmer's almanac?)

The_Fat_Man wrote on May 8^th, 2006 at 4:27pm:

Or possibly the elusive Grand Masters Alembic....

What is this Grand Master's Alembic you speak of?  IT MUST BE MINE!

-b0b
(...Googles!)

I'm not sure if its in Oblivion as I'm only level 16 and I don't use Alchemy anyways.

But in Morrowind, there was ONE Grand Masters for each of the alchemy devices, and they were really hard to find.

Alchemy is easy to master and provides a ridiculous cash source once you get it up to higher levels.  I can go to a major city and depopulate the fruit and vegetables from the neighboring farms and make 10-15k in a single sell.

-b0b
(...loves alchemy.)

...i just want to be done with school already.




Cait
   

Final exams are this week.  Sux0r.

-b0b
(...sighs.)

You go pick up fruit and vegetables and mix them together for your money.

I can clear an Oblivion Gate in 20 minutes and make 8-10k.

Potions are for hippies.

Well, they aren't just for profit potential.  I've got more Restore/Fortify potions than I know what to do with.  If I get into a tough battle, I can chug a couple of custom-made potions and become practically invincible.

-b0b
(...called his favorite mix "The Potion of Whoopass.")

b0b wrote on May 8^th, 2006 at 1:09pm:

That sounds like a huge leap of logic.  "They had an alchemical device, so they must've been trying to make gold!"  That's like saying I'm trying to win the Indianapolis 500 simply because I own a vehicle. Horrible, horrible journalism! -b0b (...wonders if the alembic was Novice, Journeyman, Master, etc?)

Did you not read the whole article again b0b?  They pointed that out and said it was most likly used for making alcohol.

texfrost wrote on May 8^th, 2006 at 10:37pm:

Did you not read the whole article again b0b?  They pointed that out and said it was most likly used for making alcohol.

Yes, but what they should've said is, "We most likely don't know what the heck it was used for, so we're just going to make up some stuff based on unsupported conjecture and pointless hearsay."

-b0b
(...!)

Quote:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10381320 Oil tanker explodes off Philippines coastline 11.05.06 2.10pm MANILA - The Philippine coastguard said today an oil tanker had exploded off the coast of Bataan province, west of Manila. George de Jesus, a member of the Philippine coastguard, said rescue operations were underway. Radio reports said two crew members were critically injured. There were no immediate reports of fatalities or the cause of the explosion. The Philippines' largest oil refiner, Petron Corp, has a 180,000 barrels per day oil refinery at Limay on the southern tip of Bataan. No one from the company was immediately available for comment. The Philippine Department of Energy was checking reports of the explosion. - REUTERS

So, what do you think will happen to gas prices over the next few days?

-b0b
(...wonders if it will have a big impact?)

It's kinda funny actually.  Pice of oil dropped 1 cent today.  Another thing, oil companies make money when the price of oil drops.  Think of it this way...gas is let's say $3.50 a gallon.  People who don't have to drive say "Yikes too high for me...I won't get any now."  A week later the price drops to $2.85, those conservation people say "Ha Ha suckers...all I had to do was wait a while."  When in fact, gas was originally lower than that a week before.  Gas goes up again for a few weeks until those same people run out of gas again...small drop but still higher than before.  Not to mention you get the people who daily commute.  Bing, Band Boom...you're now the proud owner of a $34,000 shower curtain and a $74,000 umbrella stand.

X

How much oil do we get from them?  But then again...

I wish they would just stop bidding for oil for a couple days.  Price Per Barrel would drop...

I'd like to see pictures.

{Hey bob...next time you get fuel...Check both Shell Stations...sometimes one can be $0.10 cheaper than the other...)

You guys see the article about gas prices in Venezuela?

It's cheaper to get a gallon of gas than it is to get mineral water.

You can fill up an SUV for $2.30 there.

Fucking people.

good thing I don't drink mineral water.

Something makes me think the economy of Venezuela is such that citizens pay for their fuel in other ways.

-b0b
(...knows there is a lot of government collusion in the oil industry there.)

yea you cant beat 12 cents per gallon!

Lets move down there!

i was going to say "lets not!"



and then I realized that my spanish speaking skills are awesome.





cait
(...totally thinking about venezuela now)

May I suggest being proficient in using one of these as well?  
http://www.ak-47.net/ak47/magyar.gif

...has anyone told him my stance on guns?

Why bother, when you can have one of these?

http://www.TWNCommunications.Net/Other/RooneyAR.jpg

-b0b
(...snickers.)

wtf is that?



Cait
   (...too tired to give stance on guns)

{laughs}  I should have known that was coming...  "Hey bob! Grab your gun! We gotta blind some assholes tonight!"

what is it with men and guns?

{grins} Whats with women and thier makeup?

What is it with aliens and anal rape?

X
(Just throwin it out there)

Theres that puny, but rediculously cool looking scopes / gun

or theres this one!

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f368/Jasonbriney/gun.jpg

"I said to shoot across her nose, not up it!" -Dark Helmet

-b0b
(...quotes one of the best movies EVAR!!!!1111one)

^^ I laughed at that more than anything else on here before.

(late post. Was ment for Pat)

i'm a woman. i dont wear make up. if i am wearing it, its either because : 1:I'm very bored or 2: its a special event. like hell freezing over.




i dont know what it is with aliens and anal rape, X...




cait
  (...refrains from being mean)

SPACE BALLLLLLSSS!

http://www.warbirdpictures.com/ATC/ATC-16InchGun-2.jpg

Bah.  Briney, that's got nothin' on the Atomic Cannon!

-b0b
(...and it's mobile, too!)

Cait wrote on May 11^th, 2006 at 12:25am:

BALLLLLLSSS!

-b0b
(...snickers like a sixth grader.)

{laughs} Ha, you said balls...hahaha...she said balls...{points at cait}...she said balls...

how dare you misquote me.




Cait
 

Misquote?  The only thing I did was place emphasis on a select portion of your comment.

-b0b
(...only kinda-sorta took it out of context.)

Eh, who needs context neways.

balls.


(now its fair)

Context is for hippies.  You're not a hippy, right Caitlin?

-b0b
(...rocks on for psychology.)

no, i am not a hippy, b0b.

......

ummm yeah....

X

Good.  Then context doesn't matter!

(...thinks it's a moot point anyway.)

Thread Hijacks all over the place!

....i'm so tired.



Cait
 (...)

I dont know....I think Cait does put off a wavering hippie vibe....

yeah, right.

Yeah.  She's more of a pseudo-hippy.  A hippy in disguise, if you will.

-b0b
(...kinda like Stick.)

I don't think Cait much cares for me anymore.

I think I crushed her very soul last night in that chat thing.

you give yourself way too much credit, wes.



Cait
 (...doesnt get crushed easily)

Given the proper motivation, Wes can crush anything.  ANYTHING.

-b0b
(...snickers.)

....honestly, please dont do anything too terribly mean.



i'm a weak little girl.  ;)




Cait
 (..."honestly officer, I had no idea that jaywalking was illegal in Pennsylvania!")

b0b wrote on May 12^th, 2006 at 12:30am:

Given the proper motivation, Wes can crush anything.  ANYTHING. -b0b (...snickers.)

Think he could take out the transformer at school for me?

yes, some great miracle...*cough*

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/11/wheelchair.runner.reut/index.html


Cait
   (... ;D)

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/12/hummer.ap/index.html


Quote:

DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- The 2006 model year will be the last for the Hummer H1, the hulking, gas-guzzling status symbol that has attracted celebrities and off-road enthusiasts but has drawn the ire of environmentalists.

:'(

Goodbye Hummer, you will be missed.

yay!


ding dong the hummer's dead, ding dong the wicked hummer's dead!!!!!



*celebrates the death of a truly ugly vehicle*




Cait
 

Whats ugly about a vehicle that can hit a rock going 45 and just bounce off? ;)

The saddest thing is that the real Hummer is dying, but the H2/H3 are still around.  Pathetic.

-b0b
(...rolls his eyes.)

I'll agree with that b0b.  Theres a reason I left posted the pic of that hummer H2 that got screwed up so badly in an accident...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/11/wind.farm.ap/index.html

Can we not make up our minds?  Lets complain about using Fossil Fuels for NRG, then lets come up with a new source of NRG, then lets complain that that new source will kill animals that most of us don't know about....

BBC Interview Wrong Person

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=386136&in_page_id=1770&in_page_id=1770

Instead of interviewing a guy with knowledge about iTunes, the BBC grabbed the guy's cabbie instead.  Video at the link.

-b0b
(...found it highly amusing.)

Ugh.   Dialup sucks again.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10704027/

Oi.

Ok?

How is this an interesting news article?  And How does this story only allisit the word Oi?  Why does this story matter?

X
(We're not CNN here posting stories just for the heck of it)

Full of sunshine and warmth today, are we?

-b0b
(...posits.)

I found it kinda interesting personally.  Being that the title of the thread is "Interesting News Article Thread" I figured it'd fit in here.  And "Oi" is my word for "wow" "goo" "wow" and so on.  I apologize for the possibility that whats interesting to me isn't interesting to you....wait...no I don't...cause I didn't do anything wrong...

none here. went to bed at 4:30 this morning. hecka tired and its gross outside.






Cait
  (....now says "meh")

Well I was just wondering why it was interesting.  If you post an article, I thought maybe you'd like to say why it's interesting to you.  I can see that if you were from Brazil and they were fighting over the proper way to say "ketshup" or "catshup".  But I was just wondering why you, I wasn't trying to insult your choice of article just that there was no discussion on it.

X

SpaceBalls meets reality...



Quote:

TOKYO (Reuters) - Exhausted Japanese workers in need of a pick-me-up will soon be able to get a hit of canned oxygen at their local convenience store. Seven-Eleven Japan will start marketing the new product, "O2 Supli," at select stores in the Tokyo area later this month and expand sales nationwide in June. "People are under a lot of stress and can't get much exercise, so they aren't getting enough oxygen," said Minoru Matsumoto, a spokesman for Seven & I Holdings Co Ltd, Seven-Eleven's parent company. "This is especially true of people who do long hours of desk work in front of a computer. They don't breathe that deeply." The oxygen will be sold for 600 yen ($5.50) in 3.2-liter spray cans of 95 percent pure oxygen, each of which comes with a small plastic mask attached to the top. Users place the mask over their mouth and nose, then push a nozzle, which dispenses the oxygen for two to three seconds. Each can contains enough oxygen for about 35 doses, in either a grapefruit or peppermint fragrance. "The peppermint should be really good for mornings when you're tired, or when you're driving, or when you really have to concentrate," Matsumoto said. "The grapefruit should be good before you do sports or while you're working really late." People involved in product testing gave favorable reports, Matsumoto said, noting that he had tried it himself. "Everyone found it extremely refreshing," he added.

$5.50 for 35 breaths?  Wow.  A sign of the times, indeed!

-b0b
(...sees that your schwartz is as big as his.)

I heard about that this morning on the radio but I wasn't sure how true it was.  Guess now I know the answer.  And they say American's are lazy and that we don't get out much.  How is it that they have canned O2 and stay skinny while we go outside and get fat?

texfrost wrote on May 16^th, 2006 at 5:12pm:

How is it that they have canned O2 and stay skinny while we go outside and get fat?

It might have something with them being the most industrious nation on the face of the planet, per capita.

-b0b
(...bets that's it.)

b0b wrote on May 16^th, 2006 at 5:38pm:

texfrost wrote on May 16th, 2006 at 5:12pm: How is it that they have canned O2 and stay skinny while we go outside and get fat? It might have something with them being the most industrious rediculous nation on the face of the planet, per capita. -b0b (...bets that's it.)

Fixed it.

texfrost wrote on May 16^th, 2006 at 5:44pm:

b0b wrote on May 16th, 2006 at 5:38pm: texfrost wrote on May 16th, 2006 at 5:12pm: How is it that they have canned O2 and stay skinny while we go outside and get fat? It might have something with them being the most industrious rediculous ridiculous nation on the face of the planet, per capita. -b0b (...bets that's it.) Fixed it.

Fixed it.

-b0b
(...smirks.)

I knew that was coming but I was to bored/lazy to look up how to spell it.

S3RIOUSLY THOUGH BOB ALWAYS FELS LIEK H3 NEDS 2 FIX EVERYON3S S3NTANCES!!!1111! OMG WTF LOL TAHT JUST MAEKS M3 SO MAD!!!111! SOMEDAY I HOPA TAHT BOB WIL R3SIST TEH URG3 2 CHANGE 3V3RYONES SPELNG11!1! WTF LOL

Wow Briney that must took a long time to type up that insult...good job!

X
(Really means it!)

Bravo, Briney, most impressive!

-b0b
(...gives a standing ovation.)

*golf clap*



Cait
   (...could go for some canned air this morning)

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12804643/



Quote:

By Jeannette Walls MSNBC Updated: 2:43 a.m. ET May 17, 2006 You know your hubby lacks class if even Janice Dickinson thinks he’s trashy. Britney Spears, whose public image has taken a pounding lately, was critiqued by the likes of seventies supermodel Janice Dickinson — who thinks Spears needs an image overhaul and should dump husband Kevin Federline. “I never found him hot at all. But she’s a hick anyway. She needs to get hot again. Stop clomping around in those Malibu flip-flops,” Dickinson told The Book Standard. Dickinson, whose book “Check Please: Mating, Dating, and Extricating” comes out next month, said she’d like to give Spears a makeover. “I would tar and feather her first of all, tell her to dump that [bleeping] hick husband of hers. She needs solid advice, and not from Hicksville.”

them was fightin' words.




Cait
  (....slow news day)

Best high school prank EVAR!!!!111


Quote:

http://www.nbc5i.com/news/9226840/detail.html Muffins Send Teachers, School Staff To Hospital Police: Muffins Apparently Laced With Harmful Ingredients DALLAS -- A muffin mystery is surfacing at a North Texas school after a group of teachers who ate muffins possibly laced with dangerous ingredients were taken to a hospital Tuesday. Three teachers and 15 support personnel at Lake Highlands High School were complaining of nausea and lightheadedness after eating the muffins at a staff lounge in what appears to be a deliberate incident. "In talking to the staff members who were not feeling well, the common thread has been, they believe, traced to some muffins from the staff lounge," said school spokesman Tim Clark. School surveillance video captured images of a man in his late teens or early 20s bringing the muffins to the school at about 8:15 a.m., NBC 5 News reported. The FBI came to the school to test for a possible chemical or biological attack. The daughter of an 86-year-old receptionist taken to Presbyterian Hospital said her mother tested positive for Benadryl and marijuana, and said her mother had not been using either, but had eaten a muffin at the school. Only one of the victims, the receptionist, was admitted to the hospital. The health department said tests should reveal what was in the muffins as early as Wednesday morning.

-b0b
(...laughed for at least five seconds.)

I wished I would have come up with that one first.

>> Atteberry

Unless you want a felony on your record, more civil actions than you can shake a stick at, and a GED for a diploma, no... you don't. ;-)

-b0b
(...roffles.)

I wasen't literally going to do it, Bob.

Can you imagine me at home trying to bake muffins with marijuana laced in them.  Try explaining that to my father.

>> Atteberry

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060519/tc_nm/intel_stocks_dc


Quote:

BOSTON (Reuters) - Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news) shares fell on Friday to a three-year low, after No. 1 personal computer maker Dell Inc. (Nasdaq:DELL - news) said it would begin using chips from smaller Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD - news). ADVERTISEMENT Dell said that for the first time in more than two decades Intel will no longer be its sole provider of computer microprocessors, or the brains that run computers.

Cool, good for AMD. I loved that last little line too, hehe.

It's about frickin' time that Dell started using AMD.  I wonder what finally made them fall over?

-b0b
(...was wondering if it'd ever happen.)

Why do you care Bob?  When was the last time you went out and bought a Dell?

The only Dell that I would get is the XPS laptop.

Yea but its good for AMD, which is good for me, cause thats the only processor ill ever use.

I recommend Dell almost exclusively for business use.  There's more to computers than gaming systems, Attebizzle.

-b0b
(...points and laughs.)

http://www.baldwinent.com/home.html

Dude.  Atlas Shrugged is going to be turned into a major motion picture.

By Hollywood.

Ugh.

-b0b
(...curls up in a corner.)

I like that book....my favorite Ayn Rand book though is The Fountainhead...good stuff.  I don't buy her philosphy but it was still a good book.

X

"Are we to understand," asked the judge, "that you hold your own interests above the interests of the public?" "I hold that such a question can never arise except in a society of cannibals." -- Ayn Rand

-b0b
(...headbangs.)

And you thought Wes had a drinking problem...


Quote:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=268346 70,000 Beer Cans Found in Ogden Townhouse May 17th, 2006 @ 9:38pm John Hollenhorst reporting A seemingly unbelievable mess discovered last year in an Ogden townhouse has suddenly become an Internet legend. It's all TRUE! You know how some people, after they use something, just can't bear to throw it away. That might make sense if it's magazines or clothes. But what if it's empty beer cans? In astounding numbers? When property manager Ryan Froerer got a call from a realtor last year to check on a townhouse, he knew something was up. Ryan Froerer, Century 21: "Said it was the sickest thing he's ever seen. Just unimaginable that someone could live in that." He couldn't even open the front door. It was blocked from inside. Ryan Froerer, Century 21: "There was beer cans I would say probably this high up on the door." The realtor had forewarned him about the smell. Ryan Froerer, Century 21: "He poked his head in, the smell was so awful he couldn't go in. " At the back door, Froerer was astounded by what he saw in the kitchen. Ryan Froerer, Century 21: "As we approached the door, there were beer boxes, all the way up to the ceiling." Inside, he took just a few snapshots to document the scene. Beer cans by the tens of thousands. Mountains of cans burying the furniture. The water and heat were shut off, apparently on purpose by the tenant, who evidently drank Coors Light beer exclusively for the eight years he lived there. Ryan Froerer, Century 21: "It's just unbelievable that a human being could live like that. " To all outward appearances, the person who lived in the townhouse was the perfect tenant. He always paid on time and he never complained. He kept a low profile in the neighborhood. Kirk Martin, Letter Carrier: : "Yeah I never delivered any mail there at all. I thought the apartment was vacant." The cans were recycled for 800 dollars, an estimated 70,000 cans: 24 beers a day for 8 years. Froerer e-mailed his photos to a couple of friends, who sent them to friends. Now he's getting calls from faraway places Ryan Froerer, Century 21: "It's amazing how the internet can have the effect and get around. I'm sure it's been around the world. " The townhouse was cleaned up last year and it's just fine today. The man who lived there seems to be back on his feet. We spoke to him today and he says he's completely stopped drinking. He was welcomed back to his old job a few months ago, and his co-workers speak highly of him.

http://media.bonnint.net/slc/6/670/67068.jpg
http://media.bonnint.net/slc/6/670/67072.jpg
http://media.bonnint.net/slc/6/670/67071.jpg

-b0b
(...boggles.)

Hmm, let's think about some math...

70,000 Coors Light (12 oz cans) = 2,333 30-packs (cases)
2,333 cases @ $18/case = $42,000
$42,000 in 8 year time span = $5,250 per year
$5,250 per year = $437.50 per month
$437.50 per month = $109.38 each week
$109.38 each week  = $15.63 per DAY

That's about 26 beers a day.  Wow.

-b0b
(...made some guesstimations.)

Although it's $700,000 in returns in MI and $350,000 else where.  Right?

X

It'd be $7,000 in returns (70,000 x $0.10).  That particular state doesn't have a can deposit, so they were just recycled for material value (i.e. scrap aluminum).

-b0b
(...just the facts, ma'am.)

Wow I so can't do math any more.  I must have been all geeked out from meeting this guy:

---

He's an imposter.

-b0b
(...drools.)

So, good guy eh?

Oh he was awesome.  Was cool...funny, engaging, willing to talk and listen.  Good guy all around.

X

Spill the details, Stewie.  Where did you meet him?  What'd he talk about?

-b0b
(...thinks this proves Picard is better.)

Quote:

www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0519foodfight0519-ON.html Student nabbed in alleged food-fight plot Brent Whiting The Arizona Republic May. 19, 2006 02:20 PM A student at Mountain Ridge High School was arrested Friday by Glendale police for allegedly plotting to stage a food fight in the school cafeteria. The boy, a 17-year-old junior, was taken into custody at the Glendale school then placed in a juvenile detention center on a charge of disrupting an educational facility, police said. Jeff Payne, the student's father, said the food fight never happened, so he can't understand why his son was arrested. "Shame on him for planning a food fight," Payne said. "But there was no food fight and he's in jail right now." School officials have taken further action by slapping the student with a suspension, said Sandi Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Deer Valley Unified School District. The food fight, which had been planned on an Internet Web site, was supposed to occur Thursday, but school officials got wind of the plot, Hicks said. Extra teachers and security were posted in the school cafeteria and nothing happened, Hicks said. Officials were back on guard Friday and again foiled a possible outbreak of tossed food, she said. Officer Mike Peña, a Glendale police spokesman, said the student was confronted with Web postings in which investigators believe he planned the food fight. School administrators were specifically singled out as food-fight targets, Peña said. The boy was taken into custody after he became very uncooperative, he said.

Don't you all feel so much safer now that this nefarious criminal has been removed from our society?

-b0b
(...thinks John Belushi is rolling over in his grave right now.)

You got to meet Brent Spiner? I fucking hate you.  Did you at least let him know I'd bear his children for him?

And how much exactly does that say Wes?

heavens no! anything but a food fight!


*runs away crying*



Cait
 (...had a guy friend in high school who was suspended for throwing a raisin at one of our other friends (one single measley raisin)).


  (..tried to get a mental image of Wes pregnant...but all I could see was....Wes) *ducks*

Quote:

Spill the details, Stewie.  Where did you meet him?  What'd he talk about?

I went to a comic book convention in Novi, MI.  It was awesome, thousands of geeks all in one place.  It reminded me of Celebration II a bit.  The following is basically our convo:

X: Hello, Mr. Spiner, a pleasure to meet you (shakes hands).
Spiner:  Hey thanks for coming out.  What's your name?
X: Patrick.
S: *weird voice* Patrick.
X: Ya know I love Data but my favorite character of yours was Dr. Okum (from Independence Day).
S: Oh really? Ha ha.  I liked him too.
X:  It's someone I could relate too.  Ha Ha.
S: Ha. Ha.  Yeah I still have faith that he could come back.
X:  Yeah he was great.  He kinda did in the second book.
S: Yeah but it was a prequil.
X:  Right Right but still awesome.
S:  Well I liked him and wouldn't mind playing him again.  Here ya go *hands me a signed picture*
X:  Do you think I could impose to get a picture.
S:  *Cheerfully* Oh sure sure!
*Take picture...see above*
S:  A pleasure to meet you Patrick.
X: No no Mr. Spiner the pleasure was all mine.
Fin.


Quote:

Did you at least let him know I'd bear his children for him?

Ya know...somehow that subject never came up.

X

Boondock Saints, one of the best movies of all time, is going to be back in theatres tonight only as a marketing pitch for the new "special edition" DVD.

http://www.boondocksaints.com/

-b0b
(...can't drive to Fort Wayne to see it, though.)

...i still havent watched that whole movie. i only caught like, the first bit of it and then had to go do something.



grrrr....


    Cait
      (...feck! ass!)

You must watch it, it's one of the best movies to ever be graced by my attendance.  It quite possibly has the best ending of any movie ever.

-b0b
(...wonders if this is an early indicator of a sequel?)

Its playing in Livonia, 15 mins from my house, if you leave now, you can make it.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/05/25/invisibility.cloak.ap/index.html


Quote:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Imagine an invisibility cloak that works just like the one Harry Potter inherited from his father. Researchers in England and the United States think they know how to do that. They are laying out the blueprint and calling for help in developing the exotic materials needed to build a cloak. The keys are special manmade materials, unlike any in nature or the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. These materials are intended to steer light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation around an object, rendering it as invisible as something tucked into a hole in space.

Ya know I think the scariest thing about that article is the headline.  They actually knew the HP inherited the cloak from his pop.  Good grief...now when is Bragelina's baby coming...oh who cares about Genocide in Darfor.

X

My brain hurts.

-b0b
(...thinks it might've been the steel wool.)

note:
  -Brangelina had their baby yesterday or saturday, I do believe. a girl named Shiloh Jolie-Pitt.





                  :) Cait
                          (...resident pop-culture whore)

Did you just call yourself a whore?  ;D

what, did I stutter?

I guess not, whore.

MediaMaster wrote on May 30^th, 2006 at 1:15am:

I guess not, whore.

Baaaahahahahaha!

-b0b
(...suffocates from laughing too hard.)

Damn you just got burned by Briney Cait.  That's like...200 times worse than a normal burn.

You'll have emotional scars someday.

Dude, somebody hurry up and Print Screen that before Briney denies it's existence!

-b0b
(...rofflecopters.)

i dont really care. i've been called "whore" before.



if thats briney's best burn, he totally let me down.



it really wasnt that funny.



Cait
   

It wasn't really a burn, but then again, I am not known for burning. I pretty much sit back and take it. <- quote

All.

Night.

Long.


-b0b
(...laughs at the double entendré.)

Big words there b0b...

Quote:

Originally Posted By Dance: hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NC_RACE_RIOTS?SITE=PAPOT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-06-01-09-51-08 Panel: N.C. Should Pay for 1898 Race Riot By MIKE BAKER Associated Press Writer RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A state-appointed commission is urging North Carolina to provide reparations for the 1898 racial violence that sparked an exodus of more than 2,000 black residents from Wilmington. The 500-page report that was produced after six years of study also said the violence, which killed as many as 60 people, was not a spontaneous riot but rather the nation's only recorded coup d'etat. "There is no amount of money that can repair what happened years ago and compensate for the loss of lives and the loss of property," said vice chairman Irving Joyner, a professor at N.C. Central School of Law. The commission did not provide any cost estimates, although compensation advocate Larry Thomas of Chapel Hill estimated that the economic losses calculated today are "probably in the billions of dollars."   Along with compensation to victims' descendants, the commission also recommended incentives for minority small businesses and help for minority home ownership. It also recommended that the history of the incident be taught in public schools. State Rep. Thomas Wright, a Democrat who helped establish and chair the panel, said the next step is to file a bill in the Legislature with the recommendations. That won't happen before 2007 because the filing deadline for this session has passed. The 1898 violence began when white vigilantes, resentful after years of black and Republican political rule during Reconstruction, burned the printing press of a black newspaper publisher, Alexander Manly. Violence spread, resulting in an exodus of 2,100 blacks, the commission concluded. Then the largest city in the state, Wilmington flipped from a black majority to a white majority in the months that followed. Before the violence, which led to a Democratic takeover from Republicans and Populists, black men in North Carolina had been able to vote for about three decades. But Democrats quickly passed voter literacy tests and a grandfather clause, which disenfranchised black voters until the civil rights movement of the 1960s. "The growth of Wilmington was stunted as a result of what happened in 1898," Joyner said. "Wilmington has never recovered economically, socially or politically." Wilmington likely became a "catalyst" for the violent white supremacist movement around the country, with other states taking note, said Lerae Umfleet, the state's lead researcher. "Jim Crow had passed in a few other states," Umfleet said. "But the whole white supremacy campaign in North Carolina was watched around the country. People built on what happened in Wilmington." Some previous historical accounts had portrayed the incident as spontaneous, although more recently, historians have described it as a coup d'etat. "This sets the record straight," Wright said. "Now there is an official document confirming this part of North Carolina's - and America's - history. Nowhere in the United States has a legitimate government ever been overthrown."

While we're at it, why don't we pay reparations for slavery, too?

-b0b
(...boggles.)

When I read this story I thought only one thing...


Quote:

Teen Arrested For Allegedly Spiking Rival's Drink With Bleach Police Say Teen Wanted Lead Role In Play POSTED: 12:53 pm EDT June 1, 2006 UPDATED: 1:13 pm EDT June 1, 2006 Email This Story | Print This Story HURST, Texas -- A North Texas teenager has been arrested for allegedly putting beach into another student's soda. Katherine Smith, 18, turned herself in to the Tarrant County Jail. She faces a felony charge of tampering with a consumer product. "(The alleged victim) noticed that the seal was already broken and then she went ahead and opened it and smelled it and thought it smelled unusual and she was suspicious of the contents," said Judy Ramos, a spokeswoman for the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District. The 16-year-old alleged victim, who was the star in the school play, did not take a drink of the Mountain Dew, but instead went to the principal's office. Police said Smith was the understudy and wanted the lead role, and they believe she tainted the soda with bleach. Investigators said lab tests came back positive for byproducts of bleach. Detectives issued an arrest warrant a week ago. Smith is free on $2,500 bond. If convicted, Smith could face 20 years in prison. School officials said Smith was placed in an alternative school and was barred from the senior prom and graduation ceremony.

...how DARE he ruin the drink of the Dew of the Mountain!  I hope he gets the max!

X

You mean she?

-b0b
(...wants a Dew of the Mountain-flavored water from Bell of Taco.)

Yeah sorry about that...I hope she gets the max!

X

I'm sure she's just a poor, innocent, misguided youth, forced into the situation by the pressures of society.

-b0b
(...is lying, of course.)

I blame violent video games.

I blame Canada.

-b0b
(...especially the Frenchies.)

i blame politics.


and science.



and Barney.




      Cait
          (...never trust a purple dinosaur. or the Burger King.)

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2006-06-12T180233Z_01_N07428289_RTRUKOC_0_US-BIZFEATURE-NEWSPAPERS-EPAPER.xml



Quote:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The newspapers of the future - cheap digital screens that can be rolled up and stuffed into a back pocket - have been just around the corner for the last three decades. But as early as this year, the future may finally arrive. Some of the world's top newspapers publishers are planning to introduce a form of electronic newspaper that will allow users to download entire editions from the Web on to reflective digital screens said to be easier on the eyes than light-emitting laptop or cellphone displays. Flexible versions of these readers nay be available as early as 2007.

I DON'T CARE!!! I WANT MY FLYING CAR!!!

X

Quote:

One man's memorial to Hitler Despite potential controversy, a former SS officer set to open a memorial near Millard By Donna Lenz Wright/The Week (Walworth County, Wisconsin) June 9, 2006 "Hitler did nothing. "When the war happened, he tried everything diplomatic--everything. "The soldiers of the Third Reich never stole anything. I fought next to them. They were good men. Never times were they bad. "Not one person was gassed to death in the Third Reich." This is what Ted Junker of Millard believes. Junker says he was born in 1919 in Germany and fought as a German Waffen-Schutzstaffel (SS) officer during World War II. For 60 years he has mulled over what he remembers happening during those years. And in the years since he has come to see those events as totally opposite from how they are commonly told. "When I was laying in bed at night, I would ask, 'How is it possible that people get so misinformed?'" he says through a strong German accent. So Junker figured he'd do something big to tell his side of the story. He built a large hall and monument honoring the legacy of Adolf Hitler and the German Allied forces. Junker will hold a grand opening Sunday, June 25 beginning at 11 a.m. Down a mile-long winding dirt drive, past pastures, fields, a gravel pit and around a pond, lies Yunker's quaint, inviting farmstead. Around the last bend a building comes into view on the left that doesn't go with the rest of the spread. On its side, large black-on-white letters greet visitors that stand out so strongly that they're impossible to ignore: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." It's our own First Amendment. "I put that there so people shouldn't be afraid," Junker said. "But they are afraid. But I thought when they see the First Amendment maybe they not so much be afraid." Atop the Honorary Hall, which is built into a hillside, is a gigantic black marble monument, "dedicated to those German and other European heroes who fell in World War II, as well as to all victims of (German) Allied persecution and genocide. May God ever be with them," as it's engraved in the center. On its left side, the Waffen-SS soldiers' countries are listed. On its right side, SS death totals are broken down: 4.25 million. Total war related deaths among Germany's allies "for freedom in Europe:" 15 million. Under the dedication in the center, those who died after Germany's defeat are honored: 10 million. Germans driven from their homes after the war: 17 million. "After the war we lost our home too," Junker lamented. "After the war I had one pair of shoes and those were for Sunday, so I went barefoot. We lost everything." Descending the hill to the front of the hall, two doors on each corner frame a curtain "so nobody gets a heart attack," Junker joked. As he retracts the curtain, the message-again large black-on-white letters-reveals the purpose of the building: Honorary Hall for Adolf Hitler Before you pass judgment, Give careful and equal Consideration to both sides. Have courage To stand for the truth. The truth shall set you free. Through the doors is a large, mostly empty hall. The walls are white and the carpet is an unassuming brown tone. A long wooden conference table is in the foreground of the hall. On each side are wooden shelves of books. And across the back wall is a huge red velvet curtain. As Junker opens the curtain, the display slowly emerges. Hitler's face stares back from two large photos. One sits atop a pedestal that will soon hold a bust of Hitler, Junker said. It's a dashing young Hitler in his SS uniform, swastika on his left arm sleeve. The other, much larger portrait is a close-up face shot. It sits in front of the pedestal on a large black box. On the wall behind the photos is a huge Nazi flag on the right, and an equally-sized American flag on the left. On each side of the flags are more messages important to Junker. Among the messages are, "Hitler did not start World War II," "Hitler advocated for Aryans but respected all races" and "Hitler united the German people and had a goal to unite Europe." In the center, above the photos and between the flags the message says: Naturgesetze Erkennen Und danach handeln Translated into English is: Get to know the laws of nature And live by them But why would Junker feel the need to build such a large and obviously expensive monument of this nature so long after the war? "The winner of the war writes the history, you see," Junker said. "Most people don't know what was really going on." Junker says that for all of these years he lay awake nights thinking over what he perceives is a horrible wrong. He says Hitler's messages have been completely misconstrued and that the Nazi Party has been unjustifiably damned. "Hitler gave dignity back to his people," Junker asserts. "Hitler united German people. His book, "Mein Kampf," provided direction for the future. He brought jobs, food and dignity back to the German people." Junker says he remembers life before and after Hitler was elected Germany's chancellor in 1933, and the years after were far better than the those before. "They even talk that Hitler was against the church," he said. "That's the biggest lie because he especially made laws to save the church. "How the can people judge when for 60 years they just listen to one side?" he asks. "Not even the best judge can rule when he doesn't listen to the other side. People have only heard one side." Becoming an SS officer Junker spent his teen years in Romania. As Hitler was becoming more powerful, the Germans in his village were persecuted by the officials and the locals, he says. They weren't given the educational and occupational opportunities that the others were given. "Romania was with their heart and soul French," he remembers. "(The persecution) was natural because France and England want war with Germany." Junker and his friends would gather and sing German songs, he said. "In Romania you had to be quiet about Hitler. But we were German and we were singing German songs, but they said we were singing Hitler songs so they put me in jail. "When we go evening out, the police came, they hit us, pushed us. I was four times in jail for nothing." While he was in jail, pro-Hitler movements were gaining strength in Germany. Once he got out, he decided to go to Germany. "Romanian jail is not like the United States," he said. "They were bad. They cut all your hair. There were bugs. They give you no food. It was real bad. So I decided to go to Germany and become an SS soldier." So he set off on foot to see if he could enlist. He walked all the way to Germany and found a recruiting camp. "That was in the Wiermacht Camp. There was over 40 young boys, they all wanted to go to the SS. The SS was very strict. You have to be naked and look how your bodies, your eyes, your teeth. From these 40 boys they picked just four, and I was one," he said proudly. This is another major point of contention with Junker, that young men were forced to become SS soldiers. "Today if somebody says he was pressed (in)to the SS, that's the biggest lie. They never took a single one who wasn't free." In all, Junker says was wounded six times during the war and was in more than one prison camp. He waited five years to be able to come to the United States, and as soon as he could, he moved to the Chicago area. And his pride in being an SS officer is as strong today as it was then. His comrades were honest and dutiful, he said. "In the Third Reich the youth groups were so well educated and controlled in this manner. They wasn't allowed dope-it never existed in the Third Reich. You would never see smoking, never. We were healthy men." On racism Contrary to how Hitler has been portrayed, his being a racist was one of the largest fallacies, Junker believes. "They said he was a racist. It's a lie. He advocated for, he was in favor of these people. He respected other races." But things did change in regard to German feelings about Jews in 1933, he says. Two months after Hitler was elected the World Jewish Organization declared war on Germany. Junker says that only then did Germans begin distrusting the Jews In fact, Junker believes that Hitler himself did more to help the Jews than any other person or government of the time. On concentration camps While Junker wholeheartedly disbelieves the stories of mass executions in concentration camps, he doesn't deny that people were moved into the camps and in some cases deported. "Why did they put them in them in the concentration camp? Why did United States put the Germans, Italians and the Japanese into camps?" he asked rhetorically. "Hitler did nothing against the law." As for the film and photo footage of the concentration camps shown over and over through the years, Junker insists it's fabricated. "It's Hollywood," he said. "It's proven already 30 years that experts from the United States, Austria and Germany. They didn't find in the walls residue from the gas like they say. Nothing is there. They didn't find corpses. They didn't find ashes." The Institute for Historical Review (IHR), the experts Junker cites, does claim to have done extensive research at the camp sites. According to their Web site they don't dispute the fact that large numbers of Jews were deported to the camp, or that many died there, particularly of typhus and other diseases. But the evidence they present shows that Auschwitz was not an extermination center and that the story of mass killings in 'gas chambers' is a myth. Confessions by Nazis were coerced and obtained through torture, they claim. The group also cites that upon firsthand inspection, the facilities were not equipped to be used as gas chambers or mass crematories. "They want to have an open debate already for over 25 years," Junker says. "But nobody will debate them. You see, in history people lie." How does an SS officer end up in Wisconsin? Junker and his late wife moved to Walworth County in 1963 and raised their family. He loves the United States, he said, and would never want to live anywhere else. "We couldn't come here the first five years after the war, so I came after that." He isn't concerned about people disapproving of his Honorary Hall to Hitler, as it is what makes the United States so wonderful-the freedom of speech, he says. His children have voiced their concerns and tried to persuade him to write a book instead, but he would not be deterred. "I didn't build this so nobody knows it," he said. "I've been a peaceful man since I've been in the United States. "That's why I made it here, in the middle of the country. Not in Milwaukee or big city. So if people don't want to see it, they don't. But if they do, it's here." Even in Germany people can't speak freely about Hitler, the war or any of the associated stories, he said. "I'm so glad I'm alive in this world. In Germany you no can do this, they'll put you in jail." But on the chance that he does get into some sort of trouble for his monument, Junker has taken steps to save his farm. "I changed my will. I don't want (my family) to spend any money when they put me in jail," he said. But the importance of his message pulled him so strongly, he felt he needed to speak his truth about what happened as he saw it in the 1930s, 1940s and the years since. "I thought if I could do something for the world, or the United States, I would do this in my last days. "When you know Hitler, he is the greatest guy ever existed. But I don't can change the minds of the people. But what he did-he was the greatest leader ever." The grand opening Junker is holding a grand opening for his monument and honorary hall on June 25 at 11 a.m. He will welcome anyone interested in visiting and talking on that day or by appointment. The monument is located at 6360 County Road A, Elkhorn.

There are pictures at the link.

www.theweekextra.com/news/hitler061106/index.html

In America, everyone has a constitutional right to be an idiot.  This man has chosen to exercise that right.

-b0b
(...shrugs.)

I just saw and advance screening of "Who Killed the Electric Car" amd it was a very good flick. I recommend it to all of you. It describes the creation of a car fully independant of gas, oil, and all that engine maintenance, and its destruction by its own maker, GM. Oil companies lobbied the government, and sued California's Clean air bill, and basically made it impossible to get one of these cars. Now the government pushes hydrogen fuel, an extremely experimental and expensive (1 mill per car) technology when weve had a relatively cheaper and gas free vehicle for a long time.

Good flick.

~Briney

It's about time someone publicized the issue.

-b0b
(...wants a flying car, too.)

Sweet sassy mallassy!!!


Quote:

If you read way down to the bottom of a Wall Street Journal interview with Bill Gates that ran yesterday, you'll discover that the Microsoft executive admitted to watching pirated movies on the Internet. The confession came as he was talking about content he had viewed on YouTube. Here's part of the exchange:    WSJ: You watch physics lectures and Harlem Globetrotters [on YouTube]?    Gates: This social-networking thing takes you to crazy places.    WSJ: But those were stolen, correct?    Gates: Stolen's a strong word. It's copyrighted content that the owner wasn't paid for. So yes. The Internet's biggest social failure has been that it has served as enabling technology for rampant cheating and theft - and the rationalization of it. The Internet makes stealing so easy that most people don't even think about it. Bill Gates' comments would appear to be a case in point. You can hear the wheels turning as Gates thinks through the reality of his actions before finally admitting that he has indeed downloaded and consumed copyrighted content. If you have a WSJ subscription you can view the story, Bill Gates on ...the Competition here.

Me: Your honor...I would like to refer you to "Bill Gates does it!!!"
Judge:  Case dismissed!
Everyone: Hazaaaaaa!

X

http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060623/en_tv_eo/19344

FUTURAMA IS COMING BACK!!!!

http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/eo/20060626/115135800000.html

Ya know I never really like Iron Man all that much (not Eric...I love him..he's soooo dreamy) because I just viewed him as someone who uses tech as a "super power".  Unlike Batman, who I wouldn't call a superhero, I don't think Ironman was that much of a person to look towards.  He might be crippled (the first Iron Man was however other versions have him just normal) but he was too rich.  He wasn't at all like a Bruce Wayne type character with a dark background and something to fight for.

Anyone else?

X

Superman = not my idea of a superhero, just some dude with natural abilities, yadda yadda...

normal people that overcome difficulties and invent/use tools that elevate them to something greater = superhero.

then again thats just me, I still love superman and Xmen and all that jazz... but batman is the best.

I agree.  Batman could beat Superman like a red-headed stepchild with sheer ingenuity.

-b0b
(...gives a huge thumbs up.)

and the X-Men could take both of those tight-wearing pussies down.

While I have conflicts with both, as with any good hero/heroine, Superman could easily win.  Heat vision...boom! batman dead.  Batman would have to come prepared.  Like a suit made out of kryponite, a gun with kryponite bullets, get the first shot before superspeed.

One of the things I don't like about the new Supermans is that unlike the original he's just too powerful.  If you look back at the older comics Superman stood on the line between bad and good.  Oh sure he never stole or killed anyone.  But his temper and inner sadness of being alone was shown to be a more vulnerability then the big K.  However people started to look at him in the "boy scout" kinda way and he always kept a good and calm head.  This is the reason why I like superheros/heros.  You have vulnerabilities sure...but the mental and psychological ones showed that even with great power they were still human/humanlike with character flaws that you could relate to.  Wolverine had his temper that he had to get under control but could never quite get over the pain, Strom was clastraphobic, Spiderman had to deal with the seperate personality of Peter Parker and being torn between doing the best for the greater amount of people or helping his loved ones and himself.  Batman had the demons that plagued him from his parent's death and his travels.  The Shadow had a tempter and the ability to do evil.  The Hulk was the flaw for Bruce Banner.  These were the things that made the story lines not so linear.  Superman sees evil...superman confronts evil...superman quickly defeat evil...superman flys away.

X

Sauron could beat all of them to a bloody pulp.

-b0b
(...so there.)

sauron? who the eff is that? a dinosaur?


ok, b0b. learn a lesson: if I dont know who the heck that is---then they sure as hell could not take down the x-men, OR even those two yuppies in tights.



for rizzle.


-Cait
    (will only agree to the arguement that Chuck Norris could take them all down with one round house kick to the face!)

You don't know who Sauron is?  Do you live in a bubble?

-b0b
(...sighs.)

thats the most ass-backwards question any one has ever asked me.




think about it.




Cait
   (...in the mood to fight!)

You'll lose.

-b0b
(...is just stating a fact.)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060627/ts_nm/mideast_dc_52;_ylt=AgGV6L4NSCfRFwR5F_veaSwUvioA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl


Quote:

NIZMIT HILL, Israel (Reuters) - Israeli tanks and troops massed near Gaza on Tuesday for a threatened offensive against Palestinian militants as the Israeli government said it would target Hamas leaders if an abducted soldier was not freed. In northern Gaza, Palestinians blocked roads with dirt and barbed wire. Militants wielding automatic rifles and anti-tank rockets rigged explosive devices along a road as tensions hit their highest since Israel quit Gaza nearly a year ago.

http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/afp/20060627/capt.sge.kwz26.270606105510.photo02.photo.default-512x352.jpg?x=380&y=261&sig=d0dbxUCmkPE6xKKIVKVhKg--

http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/ap/20060627/capt.323d1e4ac8894da498a590f66e3d7c48.mideast_israel_palestinians_jrl104.jpg?x=380&y=255&sig=XE3POI2bBljbGKIa87nxLg--

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Israel has 100 tanks and a crap ton of soldiers waiting at the border for the Go order.

This is going to get ugly fast.

I've been following this for a couple of days now.  It looks like Israel is also preparing for some sort of aerial assault on "Palestine." *cough*

Screw Hamas.  You've got to give it up for Israel, though - they've got some massive, massive balls.

-b0b
(...hunkers down.)

Well shoot...if I had God's help in maintaining my homeland...I'd be confident too!

X

True.dat

-b0b
(...is old skewl.)

i wont lose.

Oh, but you already have...

-b0b
(...didn't anyone tell you?)

what exactly is it that i've lost?

Everything.

-b0b
(...GWAR!)

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7757D8BA-CF11-4401-9BD7-593AD3D9C0EB.htm


Israeli warplanes fired at least nine missiles at Gaza's only power station, cutting electricity to 65% of the Gaza Strip, engineers at the station said.

The station's three functioning turbines and a petrol reservoir were engulfed in flames. The airstrike will also affect water supplies to the Palestinians because pumps in Gaza are powered by electricity.



I don't like Israel's warmongering. They are just as bad or worse than the US. They were just waiting and/or orchestrated the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier so they could go into Gaza again. They blew up all of Gaza's main bridges "cutting Gaza in two" as it was said. And then took out most of their power. Thats just rediculous. I thought they were doing a search and rescue, not pacification.

I call bull.  If Israel wanted "warmongering" in Gaza, they never would've pulled out in the first place (something Wes's Mom should've tried *zing*).

Hamas made it quite clear they were responsible for the kidnapping, so the conspiracy theory is totally unfounded.  Israel = fire.  You play with fire, you get burned.

-b0b
(...that is all.)

theres a ton of palestinians in israeli jails. I call kidnapping on israel, lets go bomb them. I call bull on you. None of those actions are justified.

Oh come on, you didn't even laugh at the joke...

-b0b
(...put a lot of effort into that one.)

hehe i see it now.  ;D that was pretty good

I hope he won't sit on me next weekend.

-b0b
(...hides.)

A guy that feels sorta like I do about Israel's actions today:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/28/154837/147

Let's take a stab at that misguided liberal tripe article...


Quote:

Let's ignore for a second that the Israeli response to a single kidnapped soldier was to blow up the only power plant in Gaza and invade the territory with enough troops and tanks to take a small country.  That in itself crossed the line of necessity.

How many kidnapped soldiers are too many, Briney?  If one isn't enough, how about two?  Ten?  A hundred?

In your mind, where does Israel draw the line and shove their collective boots up the Palestinian Authority's rear end?

If that soldier was your brother, father, son, uncle, or even yourself, would you be so non-chalant about allowing the action to go uncorrected?

If I were the Prime Minister of Israel, I would do everything in my power to bring that kid home safely.  Most military units live, breathe, and die by the motto "nobody gets left behind."  Knowing what Islamic extremists do to captured soldiers (and civilians, for that matter), the Israeli government has an obligation to use whatever force is necessary to bring their soldier back home.

If only the US had the cajones to treat kidnappings of their own citizens and soldiers with the same contempt...

-b0b
(...would've blown the power plant up, too.)

The ante has just been upped, and quite significantly at that...


Quote:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060629/ts_nm/mideast_rocket_dc_1 GAZA (Reuters) - A spokesman for gunmen in the Gaza Strip said they had fired a rocket tipped with a chemical warhead at Israel early on Thursday. The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the claim by the spokesman from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement. The group had recently claimed to possess about 20 biological warheads for the makeshift rockets commonly fired from Gaza at Israeli towns. This was the first time the group had claimed firing such a rocket. "The al-Aqsa Brigades have fired one rocket with a chemical warhead" at southern Israel, Abu Qusai, a spokesman for the group, said in Gaza. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army had not detected that any such rocket was fired, nor was there any report of such a weapon hitting Israel.

The Palestinian Authority might possible be the dumbest bunch of idiots on the face of the planet.  They're just begging for the Gaza Strip to be turned into the biggest piece of glass on earth.  Seriously, regardless of whether you think they're right or wrong, you have to admit that they're freakin' retarded.

-b0b
(...thinks Abbas needs to resign yesterday.)

Look Bob, I know that kidnapping is wrong, but what the hell, the Israelis have been doing that for years. If you so much as look the wrong way at them, the will hold you for questioning, indefinatly. Its rediculous! Dont lecture me on whether or not if this man was my brother or father... Plenty of honest "brothers and fathers" have been killed by Israeli soldiers. The crimes go both ways here. Thats all im trying to say. Israel is not some all-righteous country immune of all blame and ill doings. They have been shelling random Palestinian towns for weeks here, not caring who they hit. Many Israeli columnists refer to the Palestinians as less than human, as monsters who dont deserve to live.

Its that kind of thinking that starts genocide. And I am not taking sides here Im just pissed off that an obviously over aggressive action is seen as justified.

I don't think anyone has the first clue what Israel and the Palestinian Authority have been doing in the past, so I'm focusing solely on the present.

Agents of the Palestinian Authority violated Israel's border and kidnapped one of their soldiers.  Those are facts, and - to the best of my knowledge - are not under dispute.

Kidnapping is a hostile action, and hostile actions committed by one sovereign power upon another through use of force is considered an act of war.

If Canada sent a platoon of Royal Marines into the United States to forcibly kidnap a random soldier from Fort Hood, I can pretty much guarantee you it'd be an international incident.  Why is it any different when the Palestinian Authority does the same thing to Israel?  Overreaction my butt.  If I was the Prime Minister I would shove my foot straight down Abbas's throat until he returned my soldier unharmed.  It is patently ridiculous to assert that Israel is "overreacting" by responding to the continuous assaults on their border towns and the kidnapping of the soldier and citizen.

Unless you want to get stomped on, you don't kidnap soldiers from neighboring countries without provocation, and you sure as heck don't fire rockets at their border towns.  Has Israel made mistakes in the past?  Absolutely.  So has the Palestinian Authority.  The PA wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for Israel giving them the Gaza Strip.  Within days of moving into the Strip, the Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade fired Qassam rockets across the border into Israeli towns.  If that's not a crappy way to say "thanks," I don't know what is.  The Palestinian Authority knew Israel was going to retaliate, even if they underestimated the degree to which Israel would respond.  

The point is this: Don't mess with Israel and you won't get your crap blown up.  Period.  End of story.  There's nothing more to see here, folks.

-b0b
(...dot dot dot.)

Panoramic view of the bridge the Israeli's destroyed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/panorama/2006/06/28/PA2006062800723.html

-b0b
(...ouch.)

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us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/ap/20060629/capt.5406bff0f7664dfcb19d2ccd0a82e33f.mideast_israel_palestinians_jrl108.jpg?x=380&y=259&sig=Mtok4f5LZGmODQU2mqfivQ--

An acquaintance told me she read that Russia is sending (probably selling) advanced anti-aircraft missles to Syria in response to the Israeli overflights according to a Hebrew website. If true, this could get messy fast.

That's all the more reason to get ready for WWIII to break out in the Middle East any time now. There's too many catalysts at work that could spark it.  And with oil in such great demand right now worldwide, once things break lose, all the world powers are gonna get pulled in one way or another, including the US, Russia and probably China too, as qwell as all the local players.  And if this situation doesn't escalate to that level, we don't know what the Iran situation is going to lead to, so we best be ready for nearly anything right now.  We are living in dangerous days.

-b0b
(...wonders if he should segregate this into a separate thread?)

An update on the missile thing.  


Quote:

According to the Russian language website isra.com, Russia has given advanced "Strela" missles to Syria so the president will "feel safe."

The escalation continues.  I think "Strela" refers to the SA-18 GROUSE advanced shoulder-fired heat-seeking missile.  This could very well end up being a much bigger fight than Israel and the Palestinians.  Israel wants the Hamas ringleader Syria is protecting because he calls the shots for Hamas from afar.  That's the #1 dog they're after, and if Syria continues to protect him, they're risking their entire country for one guy.  I'd say Damascus has some problems coming up.

According to Al Jazeera...


Quote:

Israel arrests Hamas leadership Thursday 29 June 2006, 5:01 Makka Time, 2:01 GMT Hamas officials said more than 30 lawmakers have been arrested in the West Bank.

Other reports peg the number closer to 64 arrest, including approximately one-third of the President's cabinet.  Also, from the Jerusalem Post...


Quote:

Defense Minister Amir Peretz revealed on Thursday that a "surprising diplomatic breakthrough" was possible in the attempts to release kidnapped Cpl. Gilad Shalit, but did not elaborate on the development.

We'll see.

-b0b
(...has no clue which way this thing is going.)

The second person that was kidnapped this week has been executed.  Savages...



Quote:

Palestinian Group Says Israeli Executed Jun 28 8:37 PM US/Eastern GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip A Palestinian militant group said early Thursday it executed an 18- year-old Israeli settler kidnapped earlier in the West Bank. The statement from the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza said the settler, Eliahu Asheri, had been executed. The group, which has links to the ruling Hamas, had threatened to execute the Israeli if Israel did not halt its invasion of Gaza. Palestinian security officials in the West Bank city of Ramallah said they believed a body had been found. Israeli forces arrested the deputy prime minister of the Hamas government, two other Cabinet ministers and four lawmakers in a raid on a complex of buildings in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian security officials said. Israeli forces also arrested Labor Minister Mohammed Barghouti. All those arrested were from Hamas. Earlier Wednesday, Air strikes and sonic booms shook Gaza as Israeli troops backed by tanks penetrated the impoverished coastal strip in a massive show of might designed to force Islamic militants to free a soldier whose fate has jolted Mideast politics. In a bold warning to the country that shelters the political leader of the Islamic Hamas group, Israeli warplanes buzzed the home of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Palestinians filled up on basic supplies after war planes knocked out electricity, raising the specter of a humanitarian crisis. The Hamas- led government's information ministry warned of "epidemics and health disasters" because of damaged water pipes feeding central Gaza. Witnesses reported heavy shelling around Gaza's long-closed airport, and Israeli missiles hit two empty Hamas training camps and a rocket- building factory. Warplanes flew low over the strip, rocking it with sonic booms and shattering windows. Troops in Israel backed up the assault with artillery fire. No casualties were reported in the incursion, launched in southern Gaza. The area's normally bustling streets were eerily deserted, with people taking refuge inside their homes. Dozens of people living near the airport, which Israeli troops took over, fled to nearby Rafah.

-b0b
(...is glad Israel doesn't retaliate in kind.)

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885868104&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Quote:

"Palestinian sources Thursday morning warned against the move, saying that terror cells in northern Gaza had laid roadside bombs, readied suicide bombers, and had strapped explosives to donkeys  to thwart the IDF ground assault. "

In any other context, that would be funny.  Poor donkeys...

-b0b
(...thinks PETA will have a field day with this one.)

Reminds me of when my old cousins would catch frogs, impale them with bottle rockets, and set them off sailing across Klinger Lake.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17312714&method=full&siteid=66633&headline=uk-planned-nuke-attack-on-china-name_page.html


Quote:

BRITAIN discussed a nuclear strike on China in 1961 to defend Hong Kong, secret Government documents have revealed. Letters circulated to PM Harold Macmillan recommended nuclear force as the only real alternative to abandoning the colony if the Chinese attacked. British officials discussed the task of ensuring the Chinese understood that, if they did attack, retaliation would involve the US dropping nuclear bombs on them. The plan emerged from the records of the Prime Minister's office between 1957-61, made public yesterday by the National Archives at Kew, London.

http://overdrawn.net/mario/

Make your windows desktop...into a Super Mario Level!

X

Thats one way to change the mood....

Awesome!

-b0b
(...cheers for evil.)

Kenneth Lay is dead.

-b0b
(...just saw it on Faux.)

Here's an article on Kenneth Lay.  Massive heart failure, apparently.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/05/D8ILTJL00.html

-b0b
(...bon voyage.)

I guess he realized how much he paid for that shower curtain rod and that umbrella stand!

Yeah, it couldn't have happened to a better man.  *cough*

-b0b
(...is lying.)

http://www.countingdown.com/movies/15663/news?item_id=3882695

I dont remember if anyone said anything yet but here ya go:


Quote:

June 23, 2006 — Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment will kick off the 2008 summer movie-going season on May 2nd with Iron Man, the first motion picture to be produced by Marvel under its alliance with Paramount

http://www.comicartcommunity.com/gallery/data/media/215/Valz_marvel_subm05.jpg

Briney remember...the whole arguement started into a poll last week or the week before?

X

Like I said... I cant remember yesterday, let alone last week. Patrick, did you hear I went to Chicago the other day? I saw some interesting quotes about evolution, you shoulda been there...

Check this letter out.  She's replying to this Ron Paul piece.

-b0b
(...agrees almost entirely.)


Quote:

I Am Angry by Susan Fassanella Dear Lew, the Honorable Ron Paul’s piece on why Americans are angry really stirred me to respond. Mr. Paul’s piece speaks about many issues facing Americans today. I am a 51-year-old woman. I have been married to the same man since 1976. I am the secretary/office manager for a small legal firm in the D.C. suburbs. My husband manages a wine and spirits store. I have two sons, aged 26 and 22. After realizing it wasn’t possible to support themselves and the government at the same time, both returned to the nuclear nest. Along with most people in my economic situation, I believe I am living what is supposed to be the American dream. I know why I am an angry American. I am frightened because America isn’t the same country it was when I was my children’s age. Allow me to share with you some of the reasons why I am an angry American. I am angry because my government has been taken over by liars, thieves, thugs, deviants, and micromanagers. The propaganda it produces rivals that of the most fascist dictatorship. I am angry that my government perceives my intelligence to be that of a jar of pickles incapable of making the smallest decision. I am angry that my government takes it upon itself to shove its clucking nose into my pantry, medicine chest, bedroom, family room, doctor’s office, workplace, and everywhere else it thinks I need guidance to keep me safe from myself. I am angry that the will of the American people is ignored on every issue imaginable. If voting really mattered, it would have been outlawed long ago. I am angry that I am called a conspiracy theorist because I dare to think on my own and question authority and its lies. I am angry that the more I read about 9-11 the more it looks like an inside job that was allowed to happen, enabling the Patriot Act to be conveniently enacted into law with the ensuing "war on terrah" following closely on its heels. I am angry that the evil puppets in power think laws are created for the peon masses and it is their right to ignore the ones that get in the way of their agenda. I am angry that the media has sold its soul to the evil forces running the world. I am angry that my "leaders" have taken to calling my country the "homeland." It reeks of socialism. I am angry that my government has invaded yet another sovereign nation and caused untold death and destruction based on a flimsy lie. I am expected to believe that weapons of mass destruction threatened my freedom and then I am told several years and billions of squandered dollars later that a massive intelligence network got the wrong information. A select group of businesses profit enormously from war. When Bush announced his intention to save Iraq from itself and that its oil would pay for the overthrow of Hussein, I laughed so hard I nearly choked. I remember the instability in the Middle East during the 1970s and the gas "shortages" that followed. I knew which direction gas prices would go. How stupid does Mr. Bush and his cronies think I am? I am angry that the world stands silently by while my government bombs foreign lands with weapons containing depleted uranium and the news magazines wonder on their front covers why lung cancer has increased six-fold in the last year. I am angry that Americans accept as gospel the propaganda that is routinely cranked out of the Washington lie machine. The lies become more transparent and brazen with each passing year, yet the only thing that seems to matter in living rooms across America is who will be the next American Idol. I am angry that I am punished with high energy and gas prices and the resulting inflation because tree-hugging terrorists masquerading as environmentalists have handcuffed my country’s ability to produce its own energy. It would be easy to tell the Middle East what to do with their oil if restrictions on exploration and production were lifted in our own backyard. I am angry that I am constantly admonished by minimalists for being a greedy consumer because I live where I choose, drive the vehicle of my choice, eat meat, and use tin foil to cover my leftovers. I am angry that my life doesn’t belong to me anymore. I am angry that I am required to obtain permission, fill out mandated paperwork in quadruplicate, and obtain the correct license or permit for just about everything imaginable. The tentacles of government are strangling my freedom, choice, and privacy at an alarming rate. The wrath of the machine is a constant threat should I dare do anything without leaving a neon paper trail and of course ignorance of the law is never an excuse. I am angry that property rights are a thing of the past thanks to court-approved eminent domain theft. I am angry that the Constitution is routinely declared irrelevant making it easier for a fascist police state and new world order to take over. I am angry that legislation is in the works that will require me to carry "papers" to "prove" who I am. Another coming law I will ignore. I am angry that my right to own and carry a firearm is drastically regulated and restricted. I am angry every time I see a young person detained on the side of the road while cops paw through their possessions looking for anything that could enable them to be arrested and dragged through the criminal justice system. This has become so commonplace it is now the accepted norm. I am angry that roadblocks are set up under the guise of keeping roads free of drunk drivers. What has happened to my right to travel freely? Why am I presumed guilty without probable cause? I am afraid to have a few drinks when I go out to dinner for fear I will be pulled over and end up in court-ordered drug rehabilitation. I am angry when I read stories of Americans terrorized in airports and treated like common criminals by government minions after they have paid for the right to travel within a private system, yet pilots are blocked from carrying firearms. I am angry that America has become a nation of busybodies. We are constantly bombarded with messages to be on the lookout for terrorists around every corner, report "suspicious activity," and rat on our neighbor whenever the opportunity presents itself. Is this not how the Nazis gained control of Germany and then most of Europe? I am angry that the government requires me to sign a form every time I purchase a prescription. Whose business is it that I choose to take a thyroid medication, an antibiotic, a painkiller, an appetite suppressant, or any other substance? Am I dying of cancer? Am I facing debilitating chronic pain? Do I simply want to get HIGH? Heaven forbid someone out there might get their hands on something that might make them FEEL GOOD! No substance should be illegal or unobtainable. If a person wishes to self-medicate, that is their right. The government should not be in the business of criminalizing personal choices of any kind as long as those choices don’t infringe on another’s rights. I am angry that my government meddles in the lives of people all over the world but looks the other way on the catastrophic issue of what to do about the millions of illegals who have crashed the gates of this nation. My country’s laws are ignored and mocked, yet I am told I must accept with open arms those who are here illegally. My taxes are used to educate their children in their native language. Hospitals are overrun with indigent people seeking medical care. Untaxed dollars earned in the underground economy are sent to the family back home while social services here are stretched to the limit. I read job want ads stating if you aren’t bilingual don’t bother to apply. What would happen to me if I placed an ad that said don’t bother to apply if your English isn’t understandable? Marches are conducted in my cities’ streets waving their countries’ flags as they shamelessly demand their "rights." I am told they deserve the same opportunities that brought my forefathers here. I am scolded that it is un-American to ask why they are not sent home. I am told that the term "illegal alien" offends them and that they prefer to be called "undocumented workers" and that my economy would die without them. I will happily pay more for fruits and vegetables if it means enforcing sensible immigration laws. But immigration isn’t about the cost of lettuce. It is another facet of an agenda that is bent on changing the face of America. When America is no longer a wealthy country of white European descent, it will be a place worse than anything Orwell could have imagined. I am angry that my country is the only nation on earth who declares that a baby born on its soil is automatically an American citizen. I am angry that the thugs that run my country don’t have the guts to declare English my nation’s official language. I am angry that I have to search a package for English and push a button on every telephone system and ATM machine to continue in English. I am angry that Washington, D.C.’s Metro is now being pressured to replace every station sign with bilingual verbiage to the tune of millions of dollars. Are bilingual road signs going to be the next mandated law of the land? I am currently forced to pay for voting ballots printed in 15 different languages and my tax dollars pay for interpreter services for people who are summoned to court for breaking laws. If English is the international language of the world, why isn’t it good enough to be the official language of the United States? I am angry when I am told I am a bigot when I thumb my nose at political correctness. I am angry when I wonder whether an expressed belief or opinion could land me in litigation if someone doesn’t like what I said and wants to silence my voice. I am angry that diversity and sensitivity training is being forced on people whose only crime is to dare to speak freely. I am angry that the symbols, customs, and roots of my Judeo-Christian country are being systematically outlawed because my culture offends newcomers. When we freely choose to go somewhere, are we not accepting the customs and cultures of that place? I am weary of being made to feel guilty for being an American. And finally, I am angry that after working my entire adult life, I don’t see retirement in my life’s picture. My husband and I earn over a hundred thousand dollars a year, but by the time we pay federal taxes, state taxes, social security taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, excise taxes, energy taxes, telecommunication taxes, savings taxes, fees, permits, etc., there isn’t much left. But please don’t think that I mind supporting every deadbeat and down-and-outer with his hand out for a piece of my pie that I worked so hard for. I love supporting the world. After all, it’s the American way, isn’t it? July 5, 2006 Susan Fassanella was born in Washington, D.C. and resides in Frederick County, Maryland with her husband and two sons. Copyright © 2006 LewRockwell.com

I'm telling you Ron Paul is one of the only few people in power still on our side and a good guy.

X

I didn't like how she mixes things like national english langauage, immigration, drug legalization in with the same righteous attitude as things like political corruption, political lies, and an unprecedented invasion.  She should have separated her opinions on how the country's laws should be set up from things that are fundamentally wrong.

Wow...amen Ironman..amen

X

Ironman wrote on Jul 6^th, 2006 at 2:39pm:

I didn't like how she mixes things like national english langauage, immigration, drug legalization in with the same righteous attitude as things like political corruption, political lies, and an unprecedented invasion.  She should have separated her opinions on how the country's laws should be set up from things that are fundamentally wrong.

The article was an opinion-editorial piece on what she saw as problematic.  Honestly, if she thought Furbies were problematic to America as a whole, she had every right to throw that in her article.

If it was a straight news piece, it would be a different story, but alas...

-b0b
(...shrugs.)

Quote:

1 Dead, Many Sick As Carbon Monoxide Leaks By SUE LINDSEY The Associated Press Friday, July 14, 2006; 10:36 PM SALEM, Va. -- Carbon monoxide leaked into a Roanoke College dormitory early Friday, sickening more than 100 teens and adults attending summer programs. One man was found dead. People staying in the dorm contacted campus police, and one woman later described the scene inside as chaotic.   "One woman fell on the floor in the bathroom," said Annabelle Minter, 80, of Richmond. Minter said she also felt "on the dizzy side" and was taken to a hospital, but her roommate was even sicker. Walter J. Vierling, 91, a retired pastor from Pearisburg, was found dead in a dormitory room, said college spokeswoman Teresa Gereaux. The medical examiner had not determined the cause of death. Fire officials were trying to determine the source of the leak, and said they were focusing on a gas hot water system as a possible cause. Of the 62 people taken to one of the hospitals, five were admitted and all were listed in stable condition Friday night, the school said. Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital had treated and released 49 people, spokesman Steve Munsey said. The patients, whose ages ranged from 15 to 82, were checked for carbon monoxide in their blood and given oxygen through face masks. About 100 of the dormitory guests had traveled from across Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania to attend Power in the Spirit, a three-day Lutheran conference. There were also 37 teenage girls from southwest Virginia staying there as part of the Upward Bound program, Gereaux said. Those in the church group appeared to have been more severely affected because of where they were located in the dormitory, Dr. Robert Dowling said. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas that can cause sickness or death. Leaks in buildings typically come from furnaces, heaters and other gasoline-powered equipment. Carbon monoxide poisoning is "essentially like drowning on the air," Dowling said.

...and the PR office of this school just went "awww....crap."


               Cait
                 (...really, really tired---but in need of something interesting to read)

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:sg943dZa17EJ:www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp%3FarticleID%3D11506+Iraq:+Understanding+Why+They+Raped&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1

had to post the google cache of the article cause they pulled it after getting some attention. The guy is basically defending the rape and murder of a 14 year old Iraqi girl.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/18/iraq.main/index.html


Quote:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- More than 14,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq in the first half of this year, an ominous figure reflecting the fact that "killings, kidnappings and torture remain widespread" in the war-torn country, a United Nations report says. Killings of civilians are on "an upward trend," with more than 5,800 deaths and more than 5,700 injuries reported in May and June alone, it says.

....

Oh who cares Briney...it's just a bunch of non-white people all the way over there.  They all live in mud huts or caves and don't have electricity or water.  They aren't really even people.

X

Another badge of honor for "Snakes On A Planes"


Quote:

"Snakes" Deplanes Critics By Joal Ryan 1 hour, 29 minutes ago Once you have snakes on a plane, do you really need movie reviews, too? ADVERTISEMENT New Line Cinema has answered that very question with a decisive no. The studio announced this week it would not host advance screenings of its geek-championed horror flick, the one, the only, the actually titled Snakes on a Plane. Conventional wisdom says such a move--hiding a film from Roger Ebert's judgmental thumb--is a red flag, signaling the arrival of an all-new Glitter. But conventional wisdom has very little do with Snakes on a Plane, opening Aug. 18, with some late-night screenings on Aug. 17. Not showing the movie to critics is "another badge of honor" for star Samuel L. Jackson and crew, says David Waldon, author of an upcoming book on the birth of the buzz, Snakes on a Plane: The Guide to the Internet Ssssssensation (Thunder's Mouth Press). Agrees Nick Nunziata of the genre fan site CHUD.com: "It adds to the fun of it." Business-wise, Gitesh Pandya of the number-crunching movie site BoxOfficeGuru.com thinks New Line's decision will actually boost Snakes' bottom line. "These kind of movies are marketing-driven, not critic-driven," Pandya said. "So the only thing the critics could do is hurt it. And even if the reviews are good, they wouldn't mean much." The position of New Line, which will screen Snakes clips Friday at San Diego's fanboy orgy, Comic-Con International, is that it's performing a public service of sorts--sidestepping critics in order to preserve the movie-going experience for the fans. "Understanding that they would be the driving force behind the film, we decided early on they should be the first to see it," the studio said in a statement to Variety, which first reported the announcement. To Waldon, New Line's strategy is nothing less than "brilliant." "The movie could very well suck, but they're putting a very creative spin as to why they're not showing it," Waldon said. "And even if the movie does suck, it goes along with the whole thing." The whole thing is the Snakes on a Plane oeuvre: The title; the star; the star conjugating the title ("Get these motherf--kin' snakes off the motherf--kin' plane!"); the star complaining that any other title (i.e., Pacific Flight 121) would be unacceptable, not to mention un-conjugatable; the acronym ("SoaP"); the fan-made posters; the fan-penned fiction; the fan-nudged reshoots; and the blogs upon blogs upon blogs. And so it's been for almost a solid year now. And if fans have been paying attention, Nunziata argued, they should be fully prepared for the Snakes on a Plane experience, advance reviews or no. "I don't think anybody who works in our little world here expect[s] the film to be wonderful," said the Webmaster, who, in the larger world, has a movie in development at New Line. "Anybody who gets blindsided by Snakes on a Plane probably needed that reality pill, probably needed that slap." This is not to suggest that Nunziata is dreading the arrival of an all-new Glitter--or, worse, an all-new Superman IV. Far from it. "I'm excited as hell about the movie because it's the kind of B-movie that our site was born out of," he said. Likewise, Waldon said the target audience (read: young males) seems eager for a "god-awful" good time. "A lot of the people I interviewed for the book wanted the movie to be crap--they're looking forward to it being crap," Waldon said. The worst-case scenario for Snakes on the Plane, Waldon said, is that the movie turns out to be mediocre or--horrors!--boring. (A recent review from a mole on Ain't It Cool News presented the presumed best-case scenario: "Finally here's a movie that hunkers down to give the audience a shameless good time.") In the end, Pandya predicted, Snakes on a Plane will do big business relative to its modest budget (estimated at $35 million). "I don't think it's going to move much beyond the core audience," he said. "[But] I think the core audience is large enough to begin with." If Snakes slinks to the top of the box office in its first weekend--and Pandya expects it will--it'll join the likes of When a Stranger Calls, Madea's Family Reunion and Underworld: Evolution, all 2006 films that claimed number one status without the benefit and/or distraction of critics' screenings. "As it becomes more common to open films without press screenings, it becomes less of an issue," Pandya said. Besides, in the case of Snakes on a Plane, Ebert's thumb might be entirely unneeded. Said Nunziata: "The review is four words--it's the title."

X

Quote:

Ethiopia prepared to invade Somalia By LES NEUHAUS, Associated Press Writer NAIROBI, Kenya - Ethiopia is prepared to invade neighboring Somalia to defend its U.N.-backed government against what appeared to be an imminent attack by Islamic militiamen, a government spokesman said Wednesday. The militiamen, who hold most of southern Somalia, deployed hundreds of fighters outside the town where the largely powerless government is based and said they planned to seize it. "We have the responsibility to defend the border and the Somali government. We will crush them," Ethiopia's Minister of Information, Berhan Hailu, told The Associated Press. Seizing the town of Baidoa would give the Islamic militia — which the United States has linked to al-Qaida — the uncontested authority over most of Somalia. Somali transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed is allied with Ethiopia, and has asked for its support. Ethiopia has intervened militarily in Somalia in the past, and hundreds of Ethiopian troops have been spotted along the countries' border in recent weeks. The Somali Islamist militants are allied with Muslim separatists in the Oromo region of Ethiopia. Link

"...and there will be wars and rumors of war."

-b0b
(...points out that Ethiopia is a predominately Christian nation with a huge Jewish population.)

SUCCESS!


Quote:

Granholm signs self-defense bills 7/20/2006, 1:43 p.m. ET The Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed legislation Thursday that supporters say is aimed at strengthening and clarifying self-defense rights in Michigan. People now will be allowed to use deadly force, with no duty to retreat, if they reasonably think they face imminent death, great bodily harm or sexual assault. They can use deadly force on their property or anywhere they have a legal right to be. The legislation also protects people from civil lawsuits if they have used force in self-defense. "Law-abiding citizens will have the right to defend themselves against brutal violence without having to worry about being treated like a criminal," state Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, said in a statement. Some Democratic lawmakers have said the legislation is not only dangerous but also unnecessary because prosecutors already don't charge people who have justifiably used deadly force to protect themselves. They predicted it could spark a shoot-first, ask-questions-later mentality that ends with innocent people getting shot. But supporters said the law is needed to protect people from getting sued and partly because Michigan law previously required people to first retreat, putting them at a disadvantage. The law also creates a "rebuttable presumption" — a legal advantage that assumes, unless there's strong proof to the contrary, that people honestly and reasonably believe they face death, rape or great bodily harm when someone breaks into their home. The presumption won't apply in domestic violence situations, disputes involving the police and if people using the force are breaking the law. ___ The self-defense bills are House Bills 5142-43, 5153 and 5548, and Senate Bills 1046 and 1185. http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-36/1153418075312730.xml&storylist=newsmichigan

-b0b
(...will still vote for DeVos, though.)

looks like a real-life mimic of all the fairy tale evil stepmothers.....



Quote:

2 girls found starving; have well-fed siblings Stepmother allegedly kept 6-year-old, 7-year-old in basement Associated Press, Updated: 6:19 p.m. ET July 22, 2006 WICHITA, Kan. - Two emaciated girls who told police they ate only when their father wasn’t traveling on business were hospitalized after police found them in an advanced state of starvation. “It’s the worst case of malnutrition I’ve ever seen,” said police Lt. E.J. Bastian. The 6- and 7-year-old girls were found Friday in a home’s basement, were they were kept. The girls’ stepmother, whose biological children were found healthy and well-fed upstairs, was taken in for questioning. Their father, traveling on business, was to be questioned when he returned, police said. State social workers discovered the girls after receiving a tip and checking on their welfare. They then called police. The two girls told police they ate whenever their father was home, which wasn’t a lot. With the father gone this week and next week, “they were really hoping they could eat this weekend,” Bastian said. Healthy stepsiblingsThe house had plenty of food, and the stepsiblings, a 4-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy, were well cared for, Bastian said. They have been placed in protective custody, where the emaciated girls also will go once they leave the hospital. A doctor told police it didn’t appear the girls had eaten in six days or had anything to drink in three days, despite recent temperatures above 100 degrees. But it was obvious the girls had been starved for much longer than that, he said. “This isn’t a six-day starvation,” Bastian quoted a doctor as telling a police officer. “Obviously, these kids have been starved for quite a while.”

hopes the girls have a fairytale ending.

If by "fairytale ending" you mean the government looes them in the system and screws their lives up even more probably paving the way for them to be child molesters or force fed antipsycholtic drugs....sure

X

by fairytale ending i mean the father dumps the shit stepmother and stays with the girls to make them okay.


or---the girls get adopted by a loving, caring family.




X, you're either a cynic to the core or have watched too many episodes of Law & Order: SVU



Cait
 

Cait wrote on Jul 23^rd, 2006 at 12:17pm:

by fairytale ending i mean the father dumps the shit stepmother and stays with the girls to make them okay.

If that pathetic excuse for a "father" get his children back, it's anything but a fairytale ending.  Both of those parents should be taken out back and shot.  Do not pass go, do not collection $200.

-b0b
(...grrr!)