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Dolphins Play With Bubbles...

Here is a story from ABCNews about dolphins that play with their own bubbles. And those aren't bubbles created by "windy bottom"...

LOST Is Back...

Man, I am so excited that ABC's LOST is coming back. It's really the only show that has me as a faithful watcher. Unfortunately, my new job has me working during its time slot. Thank goodness that ABC allows its fan to watch the show online for free. The sad thing is we are only going to get 8 episodes due to the Writers' Strike. The demand of 2% of all future profits from DVD sales, internet advisement, and profits from shows airing on iPods, cell phones, and other devices doesn't sound like a huge demand to me.

Here's a story about how the Writers' Strike will impact LOST.
For those who don't follow Lost, then take a look at this site. This is the site that really increased my interest in the show. Check out well written the show is. Plus almost everything you see on the screen is there for a reason. This seems to be the best site for LOST fans; however, there a lot of sites out there that are good.

"Freddy's back. Again."

Reuters reports that "New Line is in talks with horror production company Platinum Dunes to re-launch the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" movie series, the franchise that helped establish the studio.
The first "Nightmare" movie was made by Wes Craven and released in 1984. The runaway success of the film spawned a slew of sequels and created one of the most popular villains in screen history, Freddy Krueger, played by Robert Englund...
A screenwriter will be hired once the Writers Guild of America strike ends. The producers -- Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form -- are hoping to focus part of the new movie on Krueger's backstory..."

Here's the rest of the story.

Is this too racy?...

The BBC reports that "...RyanAir has been told to withdraw an advert featuring a model in schoolgirl-style clothes and a headline "hottest back to school fares".
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the "irresponsible" image appeared to link teenage girls with sexually provocative behaviour.
The advert shows the model with a bare midriff in a short skirt, tie, shirt and knee-high socks in a classroom.
Ryanair refused to withdraw the image, but ASA dismissed this as "PR bluster".
The advert has been removed and it will not run again, an ASA spokesman told BBC News.
Media space owners will not accept the advert again, the spokesman said.
Ryanair, in turn, described the ASA ruling as "censorship".
The advert, which was printed in three newspapers reaching 3.5 million readers - the Herald, Daily Mail and Scottish Daily Mail - prompted 13 complaints to the ASA from readers who found it offensive.
After an investigation, the watchdog ruled the advert breached the advertising code's rules on social responsibility and decency.
"We considered that her appearance and pose, in conjunction with the heading 'Hottest', appeared to link teenage girls with sexually provocative behaviour and was irresponsible and likely to cause serious or widespread offence," the watchdog said.
The ASA told Ryanair to withdraw the advert and ensure its future promotions complied with the advertising code.
However, the airline said the model's clothing reflected what was currently fashionable among young women and that the number of complaints was insignificant compared to the three newspapers' combined readership.
Ryanair also said its advert was considerably less suggestive than some others appearing in the media.
"It is remarkable that a picture of a fully-clothed model is now claimed to cause 'serious or widespread offence', when many of the UK's leading daily newspapers regularly run pictures of topless or partially-dressed females without causing any serious or widespread offence," said Peter Sherrard, head of communications for the airline.
"This isn't advertising regulation, it is simply censorship. This bunch of unelected self-appointed dimwits are clearly incapable of fairly and impartially ruling on advertising."
Mr Sherrard added that Ryanair believed the advert was not irresponsible nor offensive and would therefore "not be withdrawing this ad" and would "not provide the ASA with any of the undertakings they seek".
Ryanair's stance was dismissed by the ASA spokesman as "public posturing".
The Herald, which received a complaint from a reader, said they were not prepared to run it again.
The Daily Mail and Scottish Daily Mail had not received any complaints from readers but said they would not run the promotion again."

Uh... Is that a tongue in my chicken risotto?...

FoxNews reports that a "human tongue has been served up in a hospital canteen's chicken risotto — and bosses reckon it was accidentally dropped into the food by a doctor.
Slovenian officials are investigating after a doctor complained about a strange piece of meat on his plate.
Ananova.com revealed the doctor insisted it was not chicken and after some intense bickering it was sent away for tests — and found to be part of a human tongue.
Inspectors have closed the canteen in Izola, southern Slovenia, to review hygiene standards.
Bosses believe a doctor could have unwittingly dropped the tongue in the food after treating a patient.
A hospital spokesman insisted: "I can say clearly that we have never used patients' parts in any of our dishes."

"...it was accidentally dropped into the food by a doctor." What the?! And how the heck do you "unwittingly" drop a tongue into someone's food. Do you just say "Oops"?

Great Kit Kat Short

Debo Hobo found this great animated short. You may recognize some of these office workers with your co-workers.

'Jerry Springer' Opera Comes to NYC

1st:The MOB Squad... Now the Sushi Squad...

The Times reports that it "may look like sushi, taste like sushi and wriggle like sushi, but for the gourmet in London, Paris or New York, the question remains: just how Japanese is this raw fish?
Officials in Tokyo are offering a worldwide “authenticity screen” for restaurants that purport to be Japanese. The scheme, they say, may lead to an equivalent of the Michelin star system for the world’s 25,000 Japanese restaurants. The kitchens of these establishments will soon be visited by teams of experts, run under the auspices of Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, who will assess the provenance of ingredients and how far they offer a real taste of Japan.
The origins of the wasabi horse-radish (preferably from the Izu peninsula), miso paste (preferably from the Nagano mountains) and pickled ginger (preferably from Tochigi) will all be scrutinised. Rice is expected to be the most frequent area of failure: a true sushi master will insist on Japanese koshihikari rice grown in Japan.
The same variety grown in California might, just, be acceptable. Faux pas may include serving Chinese soy sauce, or miso soup in a porcelain cup.
The organisers, who see the campaign as promoting Japanese food and its health benefits, are anxious not to appear to be unleashing a squadron of international “sushi police”.
When an authenticity screen was mooted last year it was condemned by chefs round the world as “meaning-less”. The popularity today of Japanese food was self-evident without diners being bothered about authenticity, it was argued. Officials at the Japanese Foreign Ministry admitted that the original plan had soon become a “PR catastrophe”.
But organisers of the new scheme emphasised that certification would not be used to denounce as “fakes” those restaurants that did not meet their standards. Instead, establishments that serve genuine Japanese food will receive a seal of authenticity to act as an assurance of high quality.
The seal will be useful for those drawn to the food’s health benefits, which depend on the genuineness of ingredients, particularly the fish and the tofu. The life expectancy of Japanese people has caught the eye of Russia’s billionaires, and miso soup, once just a staple of the ordinary Japanese home, has become a red-hot export market.
The seal’s design, displayed yesterday, resembles a coat of arms, with chopsticks, a Rising Sun background and the petal of a cherry blossom. The award will go to restaurants that meet five criteria of authenticity and can show that they have mastered the classics of Japanese cuisine...The inspectors are already in Bangkok, Shanghai and Taipei. They will arrive this year in London, Amster-dam, Los Angeles and Paris."

Mr. Bean At The Beach...

Now this takes some talent...

Fire Marshall Bill On A Cruise

Clip comes from Hulu.com.

Water Butts?...

Gordon Keith discovered these water butts. Weird! And they're almost $200. If you're interested, then they do come in three different colors. Here's the site. Here's a description from the site: "The new Butt Butt has been designed for Straight plc by Gerardine & Wayne Hemingway. Keen to develop something new and contemporary the Butt Butt was conceived, which has the unique feature of being in the shape of a human bottom.
The Butt Butt, however, has the advantage of being both a practical rainwater collection container and a fun eye catching feature in any garden.
The Butt Butt is available in three colours and is fitted with a tap. The front of the Butt Butt is flat allowing it to sit neatly against a wall or shed. It can be attached to the downpipe by using its included rain diverter kit.
Capacity: 215 litres"

Here's how a water butt works.

What can your finger length tell you?...

USA Today reports that "...Recently, scientists in North America and Europe have looked to the relative lengths of index and ring fingers for clues about a variety of characteristics, including musical ability, athletic prowess and, in a study just released, osteoarthritis risk.
The researchers believe that the difference between the two fingers' lengths signifies the level of testosterone exposure in the womb. The longer the ring finger compared to the index finger, the thinking goes, the higher the exposure. Scientists express the fingers' relative lengths as a ratio, computed by dividing index finger length by ring finger length. Men tend to have longer ring fingers than index fingers, or ratios less than 1, and women tend to have index and ring fingers of equal length, or ratios of 1.
Don't worry if your finger ratio looks to be more like that of the opposite sex, says Marc Breedlove, professor of neuroscience at Michigan State University. There's less of a sex difference in finger ratios than there is in height, he says.
"I wish it was a better marker … of prenatal testosterone," he says. "It's not a very good correlation. It's easy to find women who have more masculine ratios than some men."
Still, Breedlove says, short of a time machine, he doesn't know of a better tool with which to assess prenatal testosterone exposure.
Giacomo Casanova, the famous womanizer who died in 1798, observed in his memoirs that the ring finger is longer than the index finger.
But it wasn't until 1998 that British psychologist John Manning first linked the index-ring finger ratio to prenatal hormone levels.
"It's been known for about a hundred years that there's this tiny sex difference in the ratio, but it's so small that one wouldn't think it's particularly important," says Manning, who recently retired from the University of Central Lancashire and is now associated with Southampton University.
Manning had been studying whether body asymmetry — in which, say, a finger on one hand is longer than the same finger on the other hand — is linked to such traits as fertility. He noticed that in young boys, but not young girls, ring fingers tended to be longer than index fingers. He speculated that prenatal hormone exposure played a role.
"The sex difference almost certainly arises before birth," Manning says, adding that it can be seen in fetuses at nine weeks' gestation, "and it doesn't change at puberty."
Since 1998, Manning has published studies suggesting that male symphony orchestra musicians have lower finger ratios than less-musical men, that heterosexual men have lower ratios than homosexual men and that people with lower ratios tend to do better on certain tests of spatial ability.
But "the links with sports are the strongest I've found," Manning says. "They're particularly strong with endurance running." He theorizes that prenatal testosterone benefits the cardiovascular system.
"I think the goal is to see whether you can find any evidence that prenatal testosterone makes any difference at all," Breedlove says. "If you do see a relationship between the digit ratios and whatever symptom you're looking at, then you have to wonder."
For example, he says, "how might prenatal testosterone influence how your joints feel when you're 55 years old? Ten years ago, no one would have even asked the question."...Although finger ratio is easily measured, says Michael Peters, a psychology professor at Ontario's University of Guelph, "I don't see it becoming a powerful diagnostic predictor anytime soon."
But, Manning says, one country hopes the tool will help identify future athletes. He is working with Qatar's Aspire Sports Academy, whose vision, according to its website, "is to discover the best young sporting talent … and transform them into world-renowned champions."
Manning's goal: to prove that finger ratio at age 10 predicts athletic ability at age 18."


Here's the story.

Oops... We deleted your e-mails...

FoxNews reports that "Cable Company Mistakenly Empties Customers' E-Mail Accounts

Charter Communications officials believe a software error during routine maintenance caused the company to delete the contents of 14,000 customer e-mail accounts.
There is no way to retrieve the messages, photos and other attachments that were erased from inboxes and archive folders across the country on Monday, said Anita Lamont, a spokeswoman for the suburban St. Louis-based company.
"We really are sincerely sorry for having had this happen and do apologize to all those folks who were affected by the error," Lamont said Thursday when the company announced the gaffe.

Charter, one of the nation's largest cable TV operators, also provides telephone and high-speed Internet service.
It has applied a $50 credit to the bill of each customer whose account was affected by the mistake, Lamont said.
Charter gives each new Internet user a free e-mail account, but some customers opt to use other accounts instead.

So every three months the company deletes inactive accounts, Lamont said.
"During this maintenance we erroneously deleted active accounts along with the others," Lamont said. "It's never happened before. They are taking steps to make sure it never happens again."
Charter provides service in 29 states, and Lamont said the affected customers were scattered around the country.
All told, the company has about 2.6 million high-speed Internet subscribers.
Computer experts advise backing up all important e-mail."

Eat Your Veggies...

The BBC reports that "Eating broccoli may protect against heart disease, US research suggests.
Rats were fed an extract of the vegetable for a month, and the effect on their heart muscle was measured.
Compared with animals whose diet did not change, the hearts of the broccoli rats functioned better and displayed less damage when deprived of oxygen.
The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry study suggests broccoli may trigger production of proteins which protect against heart damage.
The health benefits of broccoli have been widely touted, particularly in regard to its potentially protective qualities against cancer.
But working out both if and how this may be the case has proved a challenge.
Now researchers at the cardiovascular research centre at the University of Connecticut believe they have at least shown how the benefits may work in animal hearts.
The broccoli diet appears to persuade the body to produce a protein called thioredoxin, which protects against cell damage in the heart.
Broccoli contains sulforaphane, which is seen as particularly effective in triggering this process.
However, the lightly steamed version of the vegetable may be more powerful than the one which has been left to boil.
"If broccoli is over-cooked it loses a lot of its protective effect," said Professor Dipak Das, who led the research team.
The researchers are now looking into whether the vegetable and others of its family - including cabbage and Brussels sprouts - may also help fight other diseases.
"There is strong evidence to suggest that eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day can help to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease," said June Davison of the British Heart Foundation.
"Broccoli can count as one of these portions. However different fruit and vegetables have different combinations of vitamins and minerals, so aim to eat a variety to get the most benefit.""

Good News... Bad News...

The BBC reports that "a man has been accidentally shot by a rescuer who was trying to free him from the jaws of a crocodile in northern Australia.
The victim, in his late 20s, was attacked by the reptile near a popular tourist spot on the Mary River south-east of Darwin.
He was flown to hospital by helicopter for emergency surgery for bite and bullet wounds.
He is currently in a stable condition in hospital.

Crocodile attacks and shootings are rare in Australia.
To suffer both at once is - to say the least - unfortunate.
Jason Grant was collecting crocodile eggs at a remote reptile farm when he found himself locked inside a giant set of jaws.
For a few terrifying moments the animal wildly shook its victim before the intervention of a fellow worker.
He fired two shots at the saltwater crocodile. One hit the target, while the other struck the arm of his stricken colleague.
It was enough though to bring the drama to an end.
The injured man was flown to hospital in Darwin, where he is recovering."

World's Largest Swimming Pool

The Daily Mail reports that "If you like doing laps in the swimming pool, you might want to stock up on the energy drinks before diving in to this one.
It is more than 1,000 yards long, covers 20 acres, had a 115ft deep end and holds 66 million gallons of water.
Yesterday the Guinness Book of Records named the vast pool beside the sea in Chile as the biggest in the world.
But if you fancy splashing out on one of your own – and you have the space to accommodate it – then beware: This one took five years to build, cost nearly £1billion and the annual maintenance bill will be £2million.
The man-made saltwater lagoon has been attracting huge crowds to the San Alfonso del Mar resort at Algarrobo, on Chile's southern coast, since it opened last month.
Its turquoise waters are so crystal clear that you can see the bottom even in the deep end.
It dwarfs the world's second biggest pool, the Orthlieb – nicknamed the Big Splash – in Morocco, which is a mere 150 yards long and 100 yards wide. An Olympicsize pool measures some 50 yards by 25 yards.

Chile's monster pool uses a computer- controlled suction and filtration system to keep fresh seawater in permanent circulation, drawing it in from the ocean at one end and pumping it out at the other.
The sun warms the water to 26c, nine degrees warmer than the adjoining sea.
Chilean biochemist Fernando Fischmann, whose Crystal Lagoons Corporation designed the pool, said advanced engineering meant his company could build "an impressive artificial paradise" even in inhospitable areas.
"As long as we have access to unlimited seawater, we can make it work, and it causes no damage to the ocean.""

Lost Season Four - Now With Magnum P.I.

Cow Cam

The BBC reports that a "Somerset farmer has set up a 24-hour webcam on his herd of Jersey cows so people can log on to watch them graze and chew the cud.
Set up to mimic the television reality show Big Brother, Big Udder offers the chance to watch as life slowly unfolds for the herd.
The site will have a weekly catch-up on activities with dairyman Terry in The Dairy Room.
Viewers are being asked to nominate their favourite herd member each month.
Big Udder's four live cameras will operate for a year, allowing people to watch the comings and goings of life on a real dairy farm, from producing milk for butter and cream to giving cows udder checks and the occasional pedicure.
There is also information on how technology plays a role in raising cattle and the promise of being able to watch calving live.
The man behind the website, farmer Dom Lane, said: "The cameras are on various aspects of the farm so you can watch the girls out in the fields or in the barn munching grass and hay and being milked.
"Jersey cows are very relaxed, happy cows with a sweet temperament so we're not expecting any bitching, although there may be some rivalry when the bulls visit."
Hosting the site is Davina McCow with Dermot O'Creamy promising to bring all the gossip from the cowsheds in Big Udder's Little Udder.
There are currently 110 herdmates on the Big Udder farm, all pedigree Jerseys."

Here's a link to the site.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Should she loose her job?...

The Sun reports that a "blonde teacher is in hot water over a raunchy video that appears on YouTube.
Pupils at Stockport Grammar, a £7,000 a year private school say they found the sexy Scruffs workwear ad on the video-sharing website.
Now, English teacher Sarah Green is being investigated by school officials.
The raunchy clip shows a woman - said to be Sarah before she became teacher - simulating sex with a builder on a desk.
Children claiming to be pupils at the school have left messages on the YouTube site...

Headteacher Andrew Chicken said: “The school is investigating the origin and circulation of the film clip on the internet which allegedly contains images of a member of the teaching staff.”
“This investigation centres on allegations which relate to her employment before she joined the school in September 2006.”
Chris Dollman, marketing manager of Scruffs Workwear, who made the advert, said: “We used her services to promote our product - it was a tongue-in-cheek thing.
“She did something for us - it was her job - she was an actress and a model at the time.
“Now it has come back to haunt her, and it’s very unfortunate"..."

Here's the news story.

Here's the advertisement that could get the teacher fired.

So do you think she should get canned from her job?...

Pet Rabbit Adopts Kittens

The BBC reports that "six abandoned kittens have found an unexpected new mother figure - a pet rabbit.
Veterinary nurse Melanie Humble took the three-week-old kittens to her Aberdeen home.
The kittens seemed to think Summer the rabbit was their mother and began to climb all over her and try to feed from her.
Efforts will be made to find the four males and two females permanent homes in the coming weeks.
Melanie, 29, told the BBC Scotland news website: "The abandoned kittens were handed in when they were about three weeks old and I took them home.
"Summer the rabbit was taken inside on Bonfire Night because of the fireworks and the kittens seemed to really like her and thought she was their mother."

She added: "They were trying to get milk from her and climbing over her. And Summer was not bothered by them at all.
"Summer is five months old and she's gigantic. It is lovely to see them all together.
"They are all doing well and Cats Protection will re-home them." "

Here is the news story video. I can hear the "ah"s already...

Don't Piss Off The Clowns...

Reuters reports that "Clowns say kids do NOT find them scary.
Unhappy clowns from around the world say a study that reported that children didn't like them has wiped the big smile from their faces, and have been falling over their large shoes to put their case.
A poll by researchers looking at what decor to put in hospital children's wards found that youngsters do not like clowns on the walls and even older ones think they are scary.
"We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable," said Penny Curtis, senior researcher at the University of Sheffield which questioned 250 children aged between four and 16.
But their findings, published in a nursing magazine on Wednesday, has put the red noses of the clowning community out of joint.
In a deluge of emails to Reuters, they say they misrepresent just how popular they really are.
"The 'universe' of 250 children used for the Sheffield University study was miniscule compared to the 250,000 one-to-one bedside visits made by Clown Care to hospitalized children annually," said Joel Dein, director of communications at the Big Apple Circus in New York.
The Clown Care programme has involved two million hospital bedside visits since it began 21 years ago, employs more than 93 professional "Clown Doctors" and has been copied across the world in countries such as Italy and Brazil, Dein said.
Other individual clowns pointed out how much children, especially those who are ill, are cheered by them.
"I have clowned in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, day care, corporate events ,telethons and am a part of many charity events," said Elaine "Daisy D.Dots" Vercellone, who has been clowning for 21 years around New York.
"It gives people, kids and adults a reason to be silly, to imagine and gives their minds a vacation if only for a moment."
Heather Myers, aka PipSqueakTheClown, said while many of those in hospitals and nursing homes appreciate their fun antics, there are of course those who are scared.
"There are those who are afraid of clowns, this is unavoidable, the same way that there are those afraid of dogs and spiders," she said.
"It is the responsibility of the clown to know his environment, and take the necessary steps when confronted with a phobia.""

Balls! Balls! And More Balls!

The BBC reports that the "historic centre of Rome has been brought to a standstill by a protest with a difference.
Authorities took several hours to clean it up - but the stunt has brought huge publicity to the man who staged it.
Visitors to the Spanish Steps on Wednesday were greeted by a rather peculiar sight.
For most of the morning street cleaners and smartly uniformed policemen were chasing little brightly coloured balls, armed with dustpans and brushes.

To everyone's amazement half a million of these balls were suddenly bouncing down the steps.
Within minutes, the famed Piazza de Spagna resembled a children's playground.
The joke was largely on the policemen.

It was another colourful stand from Graziano Cecchini, a man who protests against government incompetence in the most unusual ways.
Last year he poured a dye into the Trevi Fountain, turning it red.
This latest stunt cost him £15,000 (20,000 euros) - and probably a rather large fine.
Tourists grabbed the balls as mementoes at the base of the steps.
When Mr Cecchini finally appeared, walking down the steps with balls bouncing around him, he said he had done it to raise the profile of Burma and the Karen people.
The Karen are a minority who have fought for an independent state since 1949, and accuse the military junta of ethnic cleansing.
The city's head of security, Jean Leonard Touadi, said it was all quite unacceptable.
To err is human, he said, but to persevere is diabolical. And to get publicity at the city's cost was just not funny.

He is probably right - but then it does seem to work."

Here's the cool news video.

Unnecessary Censorship

Well, the late night talk shows are back in the US even with the Writers' Strike continuing. Here's Jimmy Kimmel's weekly installment of Unnecessary Censorship.

Hello Griswold Family!...

The Oregonian reports that "Grandmother's last family trip ends in Hillsboro, OR, after her death in Wyoming.
An Arkansas family trying to fulfill an ailing grandmother's last request, arrived in Hillsboro early Sunday with the grandmother's body in the back of their recreational vehicle, police said.
The woman apparently died in Wyoming, and her family completed the trip.
The 79-year-old woman, who lived in Oroville, Calif., suffered from advanced kidney disease and wished to see her family before she died, Hillsboro Police Lt. Michael Rouches said.
Rouches said the woman's family picked her up in Oroville, drove her to visit family in Arkansas and were on their way to see other family in Hillsboro when she died.
The woman was last seen alive by the family about 3 a.m. Saturday near Laramie, Wyo., he said.
"We believe they were about 1,100 miles from Hillsboro when she passed away," Rouches said. "We believe they were in Wyoming. That's based on gas receipts."
Rouches said the woman's doctors told family members the frail grandmother might not survive the trip.
Hillsboro Police were called at about 9 a.m. Sunday.
Rouches stressed that the death was not a police matter, despite its seemingly unusual nature, because no law had been broken. Because it was not a police matter, Rouches did not release the woman's name.
"People die every day," Rouches said. This could happen more frequently than we know." He said Hillsboro police were called by family members who drove her to Oregon because they wanted to report the death to authorities.
"We're a first responder," he said. "If you have a problem you call the police, the fire department or an ambulance. They could have called an ambulance, but what's the point? The person was already deceased. Calling the cops is the default position."
Rouches said the situation is being examined by detectives, but added that he didn't expect any action to be taken. He said the family routinely traveled together and there is no reason to suspect foul play.
"I've looked through all the Oregon statutes," he said. "This is not a crime.""

Ban On Replica Testicles On Trailer Hitches...

FoxNews reports that "It's one thing to dangle fuzzy dice from a rear view mirror, but decorating a trailer hitch with a large pair of rubber testicles might be a bit much in Virginia.
State Del. Lionel Spruill introduced a bill Tuesday to ban displaying replicas of human genitalia on vehicles, calling it a safety issue because it could distract other drivers.
Under his measure, displaying the ornamentation on a motor vehicle would be a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum fine of $250.
He said the idea came from a constituent whose young daughter spotted an example of the trail hitch adornment and asked her father to explain it.
"'I didn't know what to tell her,"' Spruill said the constituent told him before Spruill vowed to stop such displays.
"I said, 'Sir, I'm going to be a laughingstock, but I'm going to do it,"' he said.
The Virginia General Assembly has some experience with offbeat bills. Three years ago, it drew widespread attention with an unsuccessful effort to outlaw baggy pants worn so low they expose underwear.
Spruill, 61, said the indignity of the "droopy drawers" debate wouldn't deter him. He said he won't hesitate to bring a set of $24.95 trailer testicles with him for a legislative show-and-tell.
"I'm going to do it," Spruill told a handful of reporters after Tuesday's House session adjourned. "I'm going to bring them out here and show them to you till they tell me to stop."

Now I don't care to see these dangling from a truck. However, why aren't the politicians focused on correcting more important issues. The time spent on this could have been easily spent on making the education system in Virginia better. Or how about spending that time to crack down on fathers who are refusing to pay child support?....

Paging Art Bell...

Paging Art Bell: "Residents of Rural Texas Town Abuzz Over Dozens of Reported UFO Sightings"

FoxNews reports that "in this farming community [Stephenville, TX] where nightfall usually brings clear, starry skies, residents are abuzz over reported sightings of what many believe is a UFO.

Several dozen people — including a pilot, county constable and business owners — insist they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.
"People wonder what in the world it is because this is the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it's the end of times," said Steve Allen, a freight company owner and pilot who said the object he saw last week was a mile long and half a mile wide. "It was positively, absolutely nothing from these parts."

While federal officials insist there's a logical explanation, locals swear that it was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane. They also said the object's lights changed configuration, unlike those of a plane. People in several towns who reported seeing it over several weeks have offered similar descriptions of the object.
Machinist Ricky Sorrells said friends made fun of him when he told them he saw a flat, metallic object hovering about 300 feet over a pasture behind his Dublin home. But he decided to come forward after reading similar accounts in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune.

"You hear about big bass or big buck in the area, but this is a different deal," Sorrells said. "It feels good to hear that other people saw something, because that means I'm not crazy."
Sorrells said he has seen the object several times. He said he watched it through his rifle's telescopic lens and described it as very large and without seams, nuts or bolts.
Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth, said no F-16s or other aircraft from his base were in the area the night of Jan. 8, when most people reported the sighting.
Lewis said the object may have been an illusion caused by two commercial airplanes. Lights from the aircraft would seem unusually bright and may appear orange from the setting sun.
"I'm 90 percent sure this was an airliner," Lewis said. "With the sun's angle, it can play tricks on you."
Officials at the region's two Air Force bases — Dyess in Abilene and Sheppard in Wichita Falls — also said none of their aircraft were in the area last week. The Air Force no longer investigates UFOs.

About 200 UFO sightings are reported each month, mostly in California, Colorado and Texas, according to the Mutual UFO Network, which plans to go to the 17,000-resident town of Stephenville to investigate.
Fourteen percent of Americans polled last year by The Associated Press and Ipsos say they have seen a UFO.
Erath County Constable Lee Roy Gaitan said that he first saw red glowing lights and then white flashing lights moving fast, but that even with binoculars could not see the object to which the lights were attached.
"I didn't see a flying saucer and I don't know what it was, but it wasn't an airplane, and I've never seen anything like it," Gaitan said. "I think it must be some kind of military craft — at least I hope it was."

I live near this town; however, I saw nothing. Then again, I wasn't looking for anything either.

Here is a link for the National UFO Reporting Center.

$18,000 Party Bill

The BBC reports that "five hundred drunken teenagers have attacked police during a wild party in the Australian city of Melbourne.
Officers answering a complaint about noise were forced to retreat and await reinforcements after they were attacked with rocks and bottles.
The teenager who threw the party while his parents were away could now face a bill for thousands of dollars to pay for the damage done in the rampage.
Police blamed lack of adult supervision for the under-age drinking spree.
The trouble started after what appeared to be a routine complaint about a noisy party in a suburban neighbourhood. The officers backed away when confronted by a large crowd of drunken 16 and 17-year-olds.
Glass bottles and other missiles were thrown at police cars and nearby houses and gardens were vandalised before at least 30 officers, a helicopter and the police dog squad arrived to try to restore calm.
An estimated A$20,000 ($18,000; £9,200) worth of damage was done but no arrests were made.
Victoria state Police Commissioner Christine Nixon said the teenager who threw the party, 16-year-old Corey Delaney, may hold ultimate responsibility.
"He needs to learn a lesson, and one way or another we will be making sure that happens," she told a news conference.
The BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney says the teenage host said he hoped his mum and dad would not find out what had happened.
But they have. His mother Jo, on her way home from Queensland, told the Seven Network: "We're a good family. I'm just devastated and horrified that this has actually occurred.
"Obviously he's very scared of the consequences that we're going to bring upon him."
Corey Delaney is reported to have advertised his party on the internet and by text messages and it attracted a number of strangers. He told local media his invited guests had no part in the melee.
But when asked what advice he had for other teenagers planning a home alone party, he appeared unrepentant and told the Nine Network: "Get me to do it for you.
"Best party ever, that's what everyone's saying.""

U2 3D

Sweet!

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Sliding down an escalator rail...

FoxNews reports that "heavy drinking may have lead to a man's death at a shopping mall in Hollywood last night.
Authorities say the man was trying to slide down the banister of an escalator when he lost his balance and plunged several stories onto another escalator below.
He was declared dead at a hospital from a head injury.
Police quote his friends as saying the man "had been drinking quite a bit."
Police haven't released his name.
The mall is in the same complex that holds the Kodak Theatre, where the Academy Awards are held."

One sad story... When you have drunk friends, please don't let them do stupid things of you can.

Panties for men?...

I ran across this story while I was visiting Gordon Keith's web site. It's just one weird story...

"Panties for men are the perfect option for guys who are no longer content to walk around in plain cotton briefs. After all, why should women be the only ones with a drawer full of pretty lingerie?

Men who wear women’s lingerie are more common than you might think. In fact, the Web is full of guys [that wouldn't be me] who admit to preferring their girlfriend’s or wife’s panties. Some will even confess to swiping pairs from their sisters or female friends.
However, wearing women’s lingerie does have its drawbacks for men. Panties for women are simply not cut to fit a man’s body properly. Despite their attractive prints and silky fabrics, they can be quite uncomfortable for larger and more muscular men.

To remedy these problems, manufacturers have created lingerie just for men. Men’s panties are typically cut similar to traditional cotton briefs, although some styles lack the upside down "Y" slot used for convenient access. Panties for men are often made from satin, silk or microfiber, and accented with ribbons or lace. Men’s panties come in black, pink, and red, as well as many colors and designs you’d expect to find in women’s lingerie.
Men’s panties are often referred to as “manties”—a slang term which is thought to have come from an episode of the hit sitcom, Seinfeld. Today, panties for men are often purchased as gifts for anniversaries, birthdays, and bachelor parties. They are equally popular among straight, gay, bisexual, single, and married men. Panties for men are comfortable, yet sexy--two qualities universally loved in the lingerie world..."

If you're interested in finding out how you can buy panties for a guy...

And there are even communities for men who wear panties...

Good grief!...

Chewing gum weight loss warning

Our friends at the BBC report that [too] "much "sugar-free" chewing gum can lead to severe weight loss and diarrhoea, doctors warn.
The cause is sorbitol, a widely used sweetener in chewing gum and sweets, which acts as a laxative.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, experts gave the example of two patients who had become ill after chewing around 20 sticks of gum a day.
Industry representatives said sorbitol was a safe product and packs carried warnings about excessive consumption.
Sorbitol is widely used in "sugar-free" foods, including products for people with diabetes.

It is also used as a laxative but despite warnings on packets of chewing-gum and other products containing sorbitol, many people do not realise that large amounts will cause stomach problems, the German researchers said.
One 21-year old woman had suffered with diarrhoea and stomach pain for eight months and had undergone a raft of tests before doctors realised her chewing gum habit was to blame.
She lost one and a half stone (11kg) in that time and was underweight.
In a second case a man was admitted to hospital after losing over three stone (22kg) over a year and suffering diarrhoea.

They were found to consume between 20 and 30g of sorbitol per day.
Each stick of chewing gum has around 1.25g of the sweetener.
Dr Juergen Bauditz, from the Department of Gastroenterology at Charite University Hospital in Berlin, said 5-20g of sorbitol would be enough to cause minor stomach problems such as bloating and cramps but more than 20g could cause diarrhoea and, as these cases showed, severe weight loss.
When he questioned the patients he found they had replaced the gum sticks frequently, accounting for the high doses of sorbitol which were getting into their system.

Once the patients cut out sorbitol from their diet, their symptoms disappeared and they put on the weight they had lost..." Here's the rest of the story.

Man Sees 'Mark of the Beast'; Cuts Off, Microwaves Hand

What the?!
FoxNews reports in Hayden, Idaho, that a "man who believed he bore the "mark of the beast" used a circular saw to cut off one hand, then he cooked it in the microwave and called 911, authorities said.
The man, in his mid-20s, was calm when Kootenai County sheriff's deputies arrived Saturday in this northern Idaho town. He was in protective custody in the mental health unit of Kootenai Medical Center.
"It had been somewhat cooked by the time the deputy arrived," sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said. "He put a tourniquet on his arm before, so he didn't bleed to death. That kind of mental illness is just sad."
It was not immediately clear whether the man has a history of mental illness. Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Johnson would not say whether an attempt was made to reattach the hand, citing patient confidentiality....Wolfinger said he didn't know which hand was amputated."

"What are you doing here?": man asks wife at brothel

Reuters reports that in Warsaw, Poland, a "Polish man got the shock of his life when he visited a brothel and spotted his wife among the establishment's employees.
Polish tabloid Super Express said the woman had been making some extra money on the side while telling her husband she worked at a store in a nearby town.
"I was dumfounded[sic]. I thought I was dreaming," the husband told the newspaper on Wednesday.
The couple, married for 14 years, are now divorcing, the newspaper reported."

So what was the married guy doing at the brothel?... Don't you think his wife was surprised to see him too?

'Meanest Mom on Planet' Sells Teen Son's Car After Finding Booze Under Seat

FoxNews reports in Des Moines, Iowa, that "Jane Hambleton has dubbed herself the "meanest mom on the planet."
After finding alcohol in her son's car, she decided to sell the car and share her 19-year-old's misdeed with everyone — by placing an ad in the local newspaper. The ad reads: "OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet."
Hambleton has heard from people besides interested buyers since recently placing the ad in The Des Moines Register.
The 48-year-old from Fort Dodge says she has fielded more than 70 telephone calls from emergency room technicians, nurses, school counselors and even a Georgia man who wanted to congratulate her.
"The ad cost a fortune, but you know what? I'm telling people what happened here," Hambleton says. "I'm not just gonna put the car for resale when there's nothing wrong with it, except the driver made a dumb decision.

"It's overwhelming the number of calls I've gotten from people saying 'Thank you, it's nice to see a responsible parent.' So far there are no calls from anyone saying, 'You're really strict. You're real overboard, lady."'
The only critic is her son, who Hambleton says is "very, very unhappy" with the ad and claims the alcohol was left by a passenger.
Hambleton believes her son but has decided mercy isn't the best policy in this case. She says she set two rules when she bought the car at Thanksgiving: No booze, and always keep it locked.
The car has been sold, but Hambleton says she will continue the ad for another week — just for the feedback."

Trouble still brewing at Countrywide

In a previous post, I blogged about the recent troubles of Countrywide. Well, the company made the news again for the wrong reasons.
CNN reports that [shares] "of Countrywide Financial Corp. plummeted Tuesday after a New York Times report said the mortgage lender fabricated bankruptcy documents and a Lehman Brothers analyst said the company is unlikely to return to prior profitability levels.
Shares of Countrywide fell $1.47, or 19.2 percent, to $6.17 in afternoon trading. Earlier in the session, shares bottomed out at $5.76 - their lowest since early 2000 - after speculation the company was planning to file for bankruptcy itself. Countrywide later denied the rumors.
Countrywide shares have already lost about 26 percent of their value since the beginning of the year. Since the beginning of 2007, shares of Countrywide have plummeted about 84 percent.
According to the New York Times article, Countrywide "recreated" letters claiming a borrower owed the company $4,700, even though the borrower was under bankruptcy protection.
"It is not Countrywide's policy to create or 'fabricate' any documents as evidence that they were sent if they had not been," Countrywide said in a statement sent to the Times prior to the story's publication that was e-mailed to CNNMoney.com.
Instead, Countrywide said the letters were printed with dates that listed when payment adjustments were made to the borrower's escrow account
The case is one of 300 bankruptcy cases in western Pennsylvania where Countrywide's practices are being scrutinized.
The nation's largest mortgage lender has been trying to cope with a worsening housing market and rising delinquencies and defaults, especially among subprime mortgages given to customers with poor credit history.
Countrywide posted $1.2 billion in losses in the third quarter of 2007 because of the weakening mortgage market. Countrywide set aside $934 million during that quarter to cover rising defaults among loans.
The company denied earlier speculation that it was planning to file for bankruptcy protection...
Lehman Brothers analyst Bruce Harting cut his fourth-quarter earnings estimate for Countrywide to 20 cents per share from 36 cents per share.
"While Countrywide's transition to originating mostly GSE conforming mortgages has reduced balance sheet risk caused by its non-conforming originations, the dramatic decline in Countrywide's earnings power this transition has caused has kept Countrywide's creditors nervous about the company's liquidity," Harting wrote in a research note.
Harting said Countrywide will face additional pressure because the weakness in the overall housing market has depressed total volume as well."

So how strong is Countrywide's foundation? There's an ill wind blowing from this company...

"Weekend At Bernie's"?...

The Associated Press reports that in New York [2] "men wheeled a dead man through the streets in an office chair to a check-cashing store and tried to cash his Social Security check before being arrested on fraud charges, police said.
David J. Dalaia and James O'Hare pushed Virgilio Cintron's body from the Manhattan apartment that O'Hare and Cintron shared to Pay-O-Matic, about a block away, spokesman Paul Browne said witnesses told police.
"The witnesses saw the two pushing the chair with Cintron flopping from side to side and the two individuals propping him up and keeping him from flopping from side to side," Browne said.
The men left Cintron's body outside the store, went inside and tried to cash his $355 check, Browne said. The store's clerk, who knew Cintron, asked the men where he was, and O'Hare told the clerk they would go and get him, Browne said.
A police detective who was having lunch at a restaurant next to the check-cashing store noticed a crowd forming around Cintron's body, and "it's immediately apparent to him that Cintron is dead," Browne said.
The detective called uniformed New York Police Department officers at a nearby precinct. Emergency medical technicians arrived as O'Hare and Dalaia were preparing to wheel Cintron's body into the check-cashing store, Browne said. Police arrested Dalaia and O'Hare there, he said.
Cintron's body was taken to a hospital morgue. The medical examiner's office told police it appeared Cintron, 66, had died of natural causes within the previous 24 hours, Browne said.
"He was deceased in the apartment when he was removed by these two," Browne said.
Dalaia and O'Hare, both 65, were being held by police and faced check fraud charges, Browne said.
A call to a telephone number listed for Cintron at the apartment he shared with O'Hare went unanswered Tuesday evening. Police said they didn't have an address for Dalaia or attorney information for him or O'Hare."

These two aren't named Moron; but, they fit the descriptions of a couple of morons...

"Moron Arrested After Driving Truck Into House"

FoxNews reports that "Bryan Scott Moron, 20, of Burleson, Texas, was arrested Friday after he lost control of his truck and struck a mailbox, then a house, MyFOXDFW.com reports.
Living up to his surname, Moron failed sobriety tests, the station said. The arrest report showed his blood alcohol level to be more than twice the legal limit.
Moron, a restaurant server, was also driving at an excessive speed, according to the report.

Note to Mr. Moron: Don't act like one."

What a name...

Thank goodness she had a gun...

WFAA-TV reports that "[an] attempted break-in early Sunday morning led to a terrifying and unexpected wake up call for a woman in Glenn Heights, [Texas].
While four men failed to break into Carrie Shannon's home on Brentwood Street, their attempt was captured on surveillance video.
Shannon was home alone when the men tried to kick in her door around 4:35 a.m.
"I immediately jumped up," she said of when she heard the loud kicking.
After hearing the men, Shannon said she got out of bed and called police on her cell phone.
"I grabbed my handgun and I proceeded right to the back, because as soon as I saw a shadow, I was going to go ahead and start shooting," she said.
After several kicks, the men gave up and took off.
"I just want to be safe here in my own home," Shannon said. "That's it. That's all I want."

Signs of the attempted home invasion were everywhere in the form of broken glass, damage to the door and a broken lock.
Shannon's home security camera didn't miss a beat either. It even caught one of the men cutting the phone line. The video was turned over to police..."

Thank goodness she woke up when she heard the noise and she had a gun in case the thugs got to her or her son. She was fortunate that she didn't have to use her gun.

Here is the full story.

Here is the news video.

I don't want to go to school...

The Associated Press reports that a "10-year-old Mexican boy dreaded returning to school after Christmas break so much that he glued his hand to his bed. Sandra Palacios spent nearly two hours Monday morning trying to free her son Diego's hand with water, oil and nail polish remover before calling authorities, police chief Jorge Camacho told The Associated Press from outside the northern city of Monterrey.
"I didn't want to go to school because vacation was so much fun," Reforma newspaper quoted the boy as saying.
Palacios said Diego sneaked into the kitchen in the early morning to get the industrial glue, which he then slathered on his right hand. She didn't hear him get up, but later awoke and found him watching TV with his hand stuck to the bed, she told Mexican newspaper El Universal.
"I don't know why he did it," she told Reforma. "He's a good boy, but mischievous like all kids."
Diego's hand was fine, and paramedics managed to unstick him in time for class."

He should have thought about heating up a thermometer to make it look like he had a fever...

Is the new generation DVD contest over already?...

Coin Slot Cream?...

Clip comes from Hulu.com.

XL underwear smothers fire

According to CNN and the Associated Press, (dateline: London) "From baggy briefs to the ultimate hotpants: A British woman's underwear saved the day by doubling as an emergency fire blanket when her kitchen caught fire.
John Marsey and his cousin Darren Lines were frying bread in Jenny Marsey's kitchen in Hartlepool, northeast England, on Sunday when their meal caught fire.
Lines grabbed the nearest thing from a pile of laundry to put it out: his aunt's billowing, powder blue, size XL underpants.
He ran them under the faucet and tossed them onto the flames, successfully smothering the fire, a spokesman for the Cleveland Fire Brigade said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.
Lines' swift thinking saved the kitchen -- but left his aunt's underwear slightly scorched.
"It could have been a lot worse," she said. "My family could have been in hospital but the knickers saved the day. I'm just grateful to the boys."
The fire official said the general principle of using a large, wet cloth to cover a grease fire was a sound one.
As for using underwear: "Clearly it depends on what size you are -- but I don't want to go there.""

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Back for 2008?...

The Sun reports that U2 has "been writing and recording in France and Morocco. With Joshua Tree pair Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois back in tow, the follow-up to 2004’s How To Dismantle An Atom Bomb might be a U2 masterpiece."

Yet another piece of human debris...

In a couple of previous posts, I explained what I considered was a piece of human debris. Well folks, we have another "winner."

His name is Yaser Abdel Said. Here is the lowdown on this worthless Sack of Sh#$. The Dallas Morning News reports that "The search continued Wednesday for a man accused of murdering his two teenage daughters and leaving their bodies in his taxi cab.
The Denton County Sheriff's SWAT team had surrounded a Lewisville home for hours Wednesday in search of Yaser Abdel Said, a 50-year-old cab driver, police said. Authorities entered the house about 4 p.m. to find it empty.
The bodies of Sarah Yaser Said, 17, and her sister Amina Yaser Said, 18, were found Tuesday evening in Irving inside a Jet Taxi vehicle that Mr. Said drove, Irving police spokesman David Tull said.

About 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Irving police received a 911 call from a woman whose only statement was that she "was dying," according to a police report. The line remained open and sounds could be heard, but investigators were unable to pinpoint a location from the caller.
Lewisville police said the call originated near O’Connor Road and Riverside Drive, and officers sent to the location were unable to find the victim. A police report said officers were also sent to the caller's home.
About an hour later, at the Omni Mandalay Hotel at Las Colinas, a taxi driver notified hotel staff about a suspicious vehicle in the taxi stand. Hotel staff checked out the vehicle and notified police, said Michael Vance, the hotel's general manager.
Police arrived at the taxi stand in the 200 block of Las Colinas Boulevard and found the bodies of the two Lewisville teens inside the vehicle. The sisters had been shot. It was unclear which sister made the 911 call.

The teens' mother provided information to police who then named Mr. Said as a suspect, the police report said. It was unclear what specific information the mother had provided.
Authorities have issued a capital murder arrest warrant for Mr. Said.
Mr. Said is described as about 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs about 180 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a black turtleneck shirt, a brown coat and tan pants. He is believed to have a handgun...Anyone with information should call Irving police at 972-721-2518."

This sickens me. The poor girls just lived north of me so I am getting a good amount of news on this. They are saying that the so-called man was carrying out either an Honor or Mercy Killing because he was embarrassed over his American daughters' actions. Well if he was so embarrassed and couldn't bear it, then he should have put a bullet to his own head and left these girls alone. If you run into this twerp trying to leave the country (ie. Mexican border or some port), then please contact the authorities to have his sorry self put in a cell with Bubba.

Here's more on the two young girls.

Slain Lewisville girls' brother calls on father to surrender.