Flipping Burgers At McDonald's is Not a Manufacturing Job! Sybil's Weblog Since the NY Times charges for articles more than two weeks old, we'll cite Sybil's Weblog which carries an article from almost three weeks ago that examines how Republicans plan to stack the stats.
Cherry's claims on visors do add up CBC Frequent Commenter Bren sends in the news that Grapes was right: Euros and French Guys do wear the visor more than the rest. So, explain to me how it was bigotry.
Tuesday 10 February
Report: Atkins Had Heart Disease History AP {via Yahoo} Uh oh, I smell a dodge: "Atkins' weight was due to bloating associated with his condition and the time he spent in a coma after his head injury, and he had been much slimmer during most of his life". Meanwhile, here's Mrs Atkins's response. and I have a problem with her opening that "I have always assumed that my husband’s personal medical history is private and of no concern or relevance to the media or general public." Mrs. Atkins, your late husband made his fortune from pushing a product that promotes a change in image. He did it publicly. He and you are therefore fair game when it comes to his medical history. You don't wanna play the game, then get out of the business.
Pilot's crazy rant New York Daily News Everyone around here makes fun of my fear of flying, and as I type this my Darling Wife is somewhere over Nebraska....but let me tell you, if I were on a plane and the captain said
"Raise your hand if you are Christian" I would have had a total nervous breakdown.
Thursday 05 January
Why your Movable Type blog must die kuro5hin.org We pause before we open our fifth year to examine this impassioned attack on blogs. When there are literally millions of these things floating around, why do it?
Before we start, let's get the definition of a blog out of the way: "A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in cronological order with the most recent additions featured most prominantly."
So, I think we qualify. There are blogs about just everything under the sun: baseball, religion, politics, sex, weblogs that are no longer updated,weblogs i read all the time, weblogs by famous people, weblogs by people I know, weblogs that suck and on and on.
Next, to get the technical stuff out of the way, I've considered and have been urged to switch to Movable Type but ultimately decided to keep the page as it is, manually keyed into html. It's cumbersome, but somehow feels more "real" and, as it turns out, it gums up the net less this way.
The article addresses the need to keep content fresh, coherent and consistent, which can be tough at 11:30 p.m.. For that reason I always welcome readers' submissions. If you spot something, send it via email and I'll stick it up.
Finally, I was asked a few months ago, "Why do you do this? What is your motivation?" I ultimately pointed at our commenters as the reason this page continues. If it hadn't grown from "me" into "we," it would have died months ago.
Wednesday 04 January
We pause to mark our fourth anniversary today with a deeper look at net.Headlines/a piece of my mind. And, as always, many thanks to our readers/commenters. You make the page what it is.
--Total number of hits since the counter was inserted on 1 Sept 2001: 65992 --Most hits on one day: 185 {4/18/2003}
--Number of hits yesterday: 113.
--Percentage first time users over the past month: 55% --Weekday with the highest percentage traffic: Tuesdays --Daily hour with most percentage traffic:11 p.m. EST --Leading three referrers: Google, Yahoo, MSN
--Oddest actual search request result that pointed to net.Headlines: "Actress filming you stupid man in toronto" --Top three countries of readers' origins: US 76%, Canada 8.6%; Netherlands 2.5%
--Number of hits from the Oceanic Island of Niue: 2 --Number of hits from Laos, Zambia, Peru, Jordan, Venezuela, Bhutan, Taiwan, Bahamas, Uruguay,
and Syria: 1 each --Most popular operating system: Windows 98 {32.2%}
--Percentage of Mac usage: 4.7% --First link: In Kentucky, clerks ask couples to wed: "Are you related?" 2/04/2000
{a link from Jim Romenesko's Obscure Sore that is no longer active.}
--First link listed that is still active: Supervolcanoes could trigger global freeze
{BBC}
--First personal comment: March 01, 2000: "Microsoft buys Ten Commandments." --Date readers' comments were added: Sunday, May 19, 2002 --Number of irate emails: 2 {from the same angry feminist who demanded both times that I either pay her or remove her name from the
link, which linked to an article she wrote. I, of course, refused.}
--Most comments for one link: 44 May 31, 2003.
--Different faces of net.Headlines: The Blue PhaseThe Green Phasethe Early Phase --One that never made it: the 'OMG, What was I Thinking?' Edition.
Monday 19 January
U.S. jet accidentally bombs Yorkshire Reuters {via Yahoo} Hyperbole Alert: The accidental dropping of a 25 lb. practice bomb unto a sparely-populated area hardly constitutes a bombing.
If there's one holiday that can be thought of as "American," even more so that the Fourth of July, it's Thanksgiving. We all know the story of how the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock back in 1620 then lost 40% of their original 102 that winter, and how 91 "Indians" helped celebrate the Pilgrims' harvest, that becoming our first Thanksgiving. I write "our first Thanksgiving" because there is reason to believe that a similar meal of thanks was celebrated in Newfoundland in 1578. But, it doesn't really matter who had the first Thanksgiving or whether it's celebrated on the 2nd Monday in October or the 4th Thursday in November. It's the same parade, the same crazy meals and the same spirit. It's a day when relatives travel thousands of miles to be with their families. It's a special, un-commercialized day. There are no syrupy songs about it, no pressure to rush out and buy gifts and because of that it's preferred by many to Christmas. And it'll be that way, of course, this weekend here at our house as up to 30 people, I've lost count of how many I've invited, will cram into our basement to share that common meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries, pumpkin pie and love. We'll be lost in that swirl of family and friends until next Monday, so have a good weekend, everyone, and thanks to One and all.
Rush Limbaugh Returns From Rehab NY Post Tuesday 18 November I've always been fond of Rush, not because I share his politics but because I enjoy good radio and Rush is that. So I made it a point to listen to his opening segment today and to his first few calls. I had to turn it off when caller number 3 praised him for his honesty and Rush, in his usual manner, basked in the glow. You may think that Rush tells the truth about politics, I don't happen to agree, but one thing he did not tell the truth about was his drug habit and that makes blanket praisings for his honesty ring false.
Photo of the Day Yahoo Monday 19 November If I were a woman, I wouldn't be too happy with this photo, and it's not because I'm on the other side, because I'm not.
Man Faces Deadline on Wife's Feeding Tube AP via Yahoo Tuesday October 28 Co-editor Kay asked last week how I weigh in on the case of poor Terri Schiavo, but I haven't answered because of conflicting emotions. On the one hand I look into her eyes and I think I see intelligence. However, even admitting that, if I were judge I would defer to the judgment of her husband, Terri's legal agent, who has been wrestling with this tragedy for 13 years.
Sick Airline Hoax Wednesday 22 October NY Post Let's look at Nathaniel Heatwole, the fellow who planted the boxcutters on that Southwest jet. Perhaps one should look at Mr Heatwole, who by the way has 855 Google results as compared to 1200 for Steve Bartman, as a crusader for safety. Sure, he broke the law and should get some time, but he discovered an obvious flaw in security, one that can, therefore, be addressed. {we hope}. If I were the judge I would look at this as more of a civil disobedience type of offense and not a sick hoax.
How to Help Hockey Tuesday 21 October MSNBC We leave politics, sex and baseball behind tonight to have our first look at the new puck season as we examine Windsor Star columnist Bob Duff's ten ideas to "help" hockey. First of all, I'm not all that sure that hockey needs "help," other than a little contraction. Of course, if you live in Calgary, Nashville, Tampa Bay or Pittsburgh you'd rightfully disagree, but those teams, and a few others, probably should go, but some of these ideas are goofy. "Full two minute power plays"? Too radical. Scoring would soar until the playoffs when the refs would hesitate to alter the games.
"Shrink goalies, bend sticks"? Did anyone happen to see the comparison photos Sports Illustrated ran a few weeks ago that showed the difference in size between the pads of a 50's goalie and Patrick Roy's? They're at least 40% larger today. "In with the shootout"? No, no, no, no, NO!!!! They have this, of course, in the Olympics and it leaves me cold. Keep that soccer-crap out. "return to one ref"? Amen. "Enlarge the ice surface"? Another bad idea. Let's not treat Olympic hockey as the greatest thing in the world, though I did like their quick faceoffs. "Make Brett Hull Commissioner"? Not this year, baby....he's got some more goals to score for my beloved Wings, who lost to Les Habs, 2-1, tonight.
Secondhand Smoke Scam FoxNews Saturday 18 October Co-editor Kay sends in this link. Lately when we stroll into a crowded restaurant I've been telling the Maitre D, if that's what you call the person who handles seating at an Olive Garden, that we'll take a smoking or non-smoking table, whichever opens up first. We don't allow smoking in our house, but, when you're hungry, standards slip. I can't imagine a bar not being smoky. Bars, bowling alleys, bingo halls, jail....these are places where people smoke. Or did smoke, before the advent of the Smoking Police. Police, apparently, are now roaming around, looking for smoking-perps. Kay's link shows that much of the issue is, at best, overrated, overemphasized and misguided. People smoke for the same reason that they drink. The same reason that they watch so much TV or overeat or kick the cat. Stress. Living is stressful. The spectre of dying is stressful and these moral patrol dogs are not helping matters.
Friday 17 October The most dramatic baseball semifinals ever finally ended at 12:16 a.m. this morning and before your eyes cloud over with indifference I'd like to share some thoughts.
--I won't go back into the Bartman story, other than to wonder which state he's headed for. I'd vote Idaho.
--Have you noticed how common it is for games that start in the Eastern Time Zone to end past midnight? How can any kid under the age of 10 stay up that long? Sports are hurting themselves in the long run over this, as a whole generation of kids
are snoozing instead of storing memories.
--I knew the hero of at least one series would have a Detroit angle and, sure enough, it happened as Aaron Boone slammed the game winning homer to win it for the Yanks. Boone is the grandson of former journeyman Ray Boone, who played in Detroit from '54-58, back when I was a grade schooler, storing memories.
--Have you noticed how so many Latin players salute the heavens after making a good play? They pause and then dramatically point upwards, often then kissing their fingers. It's a tribute to God, no doubt, but I keep wondering why, when they screw up, they don't
flick off the devil, by giving the finger to the ground?
--Finally, I was rather amazed to see how many drug ads permeated the broadcast. In Game 7 alone, Tums, Rolaids, Pirilosec OTC, Nicoderm, Levitra and Viagra were regularly pimped. Man, the boomers have taken over and they are one sick bunch. They seem to mostly have a lot of upset stomachs and the guys have trouble getting it up. The ads for Viagra and Levitra were especially interesting because they artfully never mention what they're for. Levitra wants you "back in the game" while Viagra has slugger Rafael Palmeiro telling us that he comes up big with it. This reminds me of the purple pill ads that ran last year when Nexium was introduced. They never mentioned why you would need it, only that it was purple and that you needed it. I heard that spot so many times that I wanted it. I needed it, but I was disappointed to find, after visiting their website, that I didn't have acid reflux so I couldn't get a prescription. Dammit.
--Anyway, I know it upsets frequent commenter POL that people reflexively hate the Yankees, but too bad. This latest pennant is the 39th they've won since 1921. Enough already. Go Fish!
Slender threads tie 19 to terror
Toronto Star Friday 29 August
We linked to this the other day when I called this crew "the third string," but maybe it's just a case of hysteria. (I wasn't up in Canada, but I can just imagine the news reports and film clips, tying this all neatly together.
Supporters Seek Return of Alabama Ten Commandments
Reuters Friday 29 August Let's skip past the obvious and go directly to the grand Christopher Hitchens and his article in yesterday's Slate, in which he asks the million dollar question: "This leaves us with the insoluble mystery of why he would have molded ("in his own image," yet) a covetous, murderous, disrespectful, lying, and adulterous species." Which reminds me of the old George Carlin bit in which he examines this juvenile concept of God: Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!
But He loves you. He loves you."
No smiling! We're Canadian
Toronto Globe and Mail
Thursday 29 August
Lighten up, Canada, you have it pretty good up there. You have wonderful beer, Montreal, great hockey, a low murder rate, Toronto, a social system envied by many, Vancouver and, of course, your true national treasure...Shania Twain....er, i mean Coffee Crisp candy bars.
SAT Scores Soar
CBS News
Wednesday 28 August
How about that? The generation that wears their jeans too low and loves tats and piercings just may be the smartest bunch.
Cig Co. Targets Celebrity Smokers
CBS News
Friday 08 August
As one who now has an unpleasant case of asthma from secondhand smoke and whose house is impermeted
with the stench of it, I find the idea of a company pushing to make an addict of someone for
life disturbingly immoral.
Ginsburg: Int'l Law Shaped Court Ruling
Yahoo
Thursday 07 August
Contributed by BIL: "Oh, great! The Supreme Court is making decisions based on
Euro-faddism. Ruthie, you took an oath to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution. If you don't want to do that, please step down."
Bob Hope 'still joking on his deathbed'
Ananova
Tuesday 29 July
I wasn't going to add a Bob Hope link, but my Darling Wife and I watched About Schmidt this evening. I thought it was a bio of former Detroit Lion great Joe Schmidt, but it turned out to be a kind-of-nice chick flick. Early in the film we get a hint to its solution. Schmidt is watching an old Bob Hope film and then remotes away to one of those Save a starving African Kid commercials and the phone number ends in the letters hope. And that's how Schmidt ultimately finds hope....salvation...by reaching out. Note that Bob himself was still reaching out....right to the very end.
Metrodome wind blows in Twins favor
Akron Beacon Journal
Monday 28 July I am not all surprised that "A former superintendent at the Metrodome admits he tried to help the Minnesota Twins by adjusting the ventilation system during the late innings of close games in an attempt to get baseballs to carry farther." I expect jazz like this to happen, and not only in sports. Take presidential elections. Choose one and let's call the two opposing forces the Dems and the Tories. And let's say the Dems are steamrolling along on election night. In fact most of the national networks are already calling the election in their favor. However, during an interview with the Tories' father, who himself was prez once-upon-a-time, Dad says "Not so fast. We have reports that Fluorida didn't fall. Don't count that one quite yet." That, my friends, would be the Groundskeeper Rule at work.
Pierogi TV
Northwest Indiana News
Monday 28 July
What? They had a Pierogie Fest and my beloved mother in law was not invited? I am shocked. Her potato pierogi rock!
Man's signature offends DMV
delawareonline.com
Tuesday 22 July
This is kind of cool: a fellow trains himself to sign his name upside-down. One problem, however: the window clerk at the driver's license bureau refused to accept it, telling him to "stop fooling around and sign it right."
Numbers game in predicting heart disease risk
Ananova
Thursday 17 July
If a male has three of these five signs, then he may be at cardiac risk: "fatness around the waist, elevated levels of triglycerides - a kind of blood fat - low levels of "good" cholesterol, high glucose and high blood pressure." Hmmm, I'm down to 2 of the five now...but was at 3 when I had the m.i..
Inmate Sought Pen Pals Online After Plea in Internet Sex Case
NY Times
Did you see the bit over the weekend about convicted child killer Susan Smith? She is looking for love online and she's not alone. Trot over to write a prisoner.com and check some of these winners out. Sylvilla Humphrey
, for example, is a cute 5'10" African American who is looking for a "good man someone special, classy, honest and clean. I'd like someone who enjoys life and lives it to the fullest, but he's stable in all aspects. I'm a very outgoing woman with a lot to offer the right man." Only one hitch...she's in the joint for murder.
Monday 14 July
Pictionary led to convict's rage and hostage-taking: report
canada.com/alberta
Thursday July 10
Ah, you see, my Darling Wife, it's not because I was too busy watching hockey, or messing with my website to play Scrabble with you and the kids. It's because I was protecting you!!
Man Who Introduced Cool Whip Dies at 86
Springfield Missouri News-Leader.com
Tuesday July 08
I could have opened with a bit about the death of Buddy Ebsen and tied it in with Buddy Hackett's death last week by making a comment about buddies dying together. Or I could have linked to this bit about Brad Pitt forbidding crew members from looking at his feet. But neither of the Buddies, nor Brad, have had an impact on our lives when compared with the inventor of cool whip. A little cool whip mixed in with some fresh berries. One of life's true delights.
Only 16 taboo words left
London Telegraph
Tuesday July 08 We could guess the sixteen, but what really interested me was this: "There are now, it appears, only 16 taboo words in use in English, including the f-word and c-word." How silly. Every reader understands what the f-word really means and immediately translates it mentally. But the c-word? I can think of several so-called c-words.
High Court Upholds Library Web Filters
ABC News
Tuesday 24 June Co-Editor Kay, a librarian, and I have sparred over this many times in the past and it pleases me that the Court has come down on the side of common sense and decency.
Easthampton split by Treehouse plan
Daily Hampton Gazette
Tuesday 24 June Kay sends in this local bit about building a community centered on adoptions, with Kay writing that "It's disturbing when people are more concerned about their property values than they are about providing an opportunity for a loving home to a child." A lot of people, especially older property owners, Kay, have their entire finances centered upon their property's value. Threaten that and you threaten them.
New system could speed up Web downloads
CNN
You could d/load a movie in minutes? Be prepared, then, for MONSTROUS hard drives. Imagine one thousand gigs! What would they call that?
Friday June 6
A New Twist On A White Wedding
nbc5.com
Today our sweet little three year old, Thea, serves as a flowergirl in a Hawaiian-motif wedding in which none of the parties is of Hawaiian descent. This perplexes my Darling Wife and me. What's next? Mountain climbing Sherpa-motifs? Weddings where everyone dresses as a cat? Insane Clown Posse themed weddings? If you think I exaggerate, check out the Nbc5 link above. Anyway, I'll take many photos this afternoon and will post some of our darling little grass-skirted one here later this evening.
Well, the wedding is over and little Thea was great...holding it together until after the vows, then crying for 15 minutes as her form of release, no doubt. It was a lot of pressure on a 3 year old. Heres a photo of her going up the aisle as flowergirl.
Saturday May 31
Online communities get real
BBC
And over the past 4 months I think we've created a small community here on net.Headlines and I'd like to thank everyone involved. Good Job!
About 3 weeks ago Jan suggested that I move the page to Movable Type, a system which would be a tad easier for me and would be in alignment with the weblog community as a whole. I'd like some feedback re this. Specifically, how the page loads. It seems that it's loading much slower lately and that could be because of some botched HTML code I've entered. If we have consensus that the page is loading much slower, then perhaps a change is in order. Friday May 30
Secret webcam angers woman
GazetteNet.com Kay sends in this one about a father who secretly photo'd his adult daughter in her bedroom with a camera that was set up to record a still photograph every five seconds. Police seized between 100 to 200 nude photos of her from his computer, but insist that no law has been broken. The father lamely claims he thought she might have been dealing drugs. How can a law not be broken here?
Friday May 30
Photo of the Day
Yahoo
Figures the ACLU is behind this. Speaking of the devil, back in law school the Ancient Prof asked what I thought I thought of a case and I cracked back that "I am sure the ACLU would not agree with how I feel." That's when he dropped the hammer: "Please continue. Don't let the fact that you are speaking to the President Emeritus of the Michigan Chapter of the A. (pause) C.(pause) L.(pause) U. stop you."
Thursday May 29
Computers harbour germs
ABC Western Australia
Hmmm, here's a statistic I find hard to believe: "the average desk is home to 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat."
Tuesday 17 May
Canada Announces Mad Cow Case in Alberta
My Way News
And immediately the States bans imports of cattle, beef, beef-based products and animal feed from Canada. They should have also banned The Ottawa Senators from entering the country, thereby guaranteeing us the Cup.
Wednesday May 21
NC Gov.: Prepare for hurricane season
news14charlotte.com
I dunno, my Darling Wife, maybe we should rethink our summer vacation plans.
Tuesday May 20
Effects of passive smoking questioned
Pakistan's Daily Times
The evil passive smoke theory has always bothered me. Both of my parents were heavy smokers, as was so common back then, yet I and my sisters had relatively healthy lives. I'm not saying that I enjoyed the filth that such smoking creates, but it probably didn't do any physical harm.
Monday May 19
Fast-Food Salads Have Some Seeing Green
Moneycentral.com
I never thought I'd be reading this: "salad sales helped McDonald's U.S. restaurants in April show their first sales gain in more than a year." If you like grilled chicken salads, nab one. It's excellent.
Sunday May 18
Photo of the Day
Yahoo
Anybody wise to this? My Darling Wife brought it up yesterday and said she heard it is growing in popularity, but it makes no sense to me. However outlawing it seems silly. It would seem to be a matter of personal choice.
Friday May 16
Denny McLain pitches Slurpees
Detroit News
Hollywood should get hip to this story. This guy, one of the two or three greatest pitchers ever to wear a Tigers uniform, was once the Toast of the Town, but now must finish his 8 year prison sentence by working at a 7-11 near our old neck of the woods, 16 Mile and Mound.
Friday May 16
Schools Sell Blood, Day Care, Dr. Pepper
ABCnews.com
Welcome to the land of the unfunded mandate. Public schools in the US are
experiencing a desperate budget crisis, partially due to the fact that the
federal government is slashing federal aid while at the same time
requiring conformance to the "No Child Left Behind" program. This program
sets minimum testing standards that schools must meet, and according to
this article, costs $5.3 billion a year -- over $1 billion more than "No
Child Left Behind" promises in funding. My feeling? If the feds want to
leave educational funding to the states, they should leave testing
standards to the states as well.
Thursday May 15
"Buffalo Spammer" Nabbed in New York
CNet
New York's first criminal case against a spammer, who sent more than 840
million spam e-mails. I think the guy's punishment should be to have to
stand up while 840 million people take turns coming up to him and poking
him in the chest. "Was that annoying? How about now? How about now?
How about now?"
Thursday May 15
Lizard Head Found in Applebee's Salad
Iowa City Press-Citizen
They say the problem was that wildlife somehow found its way into a
fresh lettuce. Their solution: switch to bagged lettuce. Except
that once at an Olive Garden, my husband found a piece of plastic bag
in his salad, so I think the moral of the story is, don't eat salads.
Or, learn to like eating lizard.
Wednesday May 14
In Search of the Ripe Stuff
Christian Science Monitor
The "buy local" movement, as this article calls it, would have us all
buy fresh produce that was locally grown. Great in theory, but ask
the local farmer of your choice how easy it is for him to sell
organically grown, locally harvested produce. Or, check out the
organic stuff at the supermarket next time you're there: it's
smaller and less attractive than the shipped stuff, because it's not
grown with pesticides, and it's not designed to forsake taste in
favor of hardiness during shipping. Also, people are used to being
able to buy whatever fruits and vegetables they want, no matter what
the season. That having been said, we buy locally grown when
possible in our own family. Why? Because around here it's cheaper --
which has to be the case in general for locally marketed goods, or
the "buy local" movement is going nowhere fast.
Wednesday May 14
Lord Wants Charges Laid Against Crab Rioters
CBC News
Comment: I don't recall ever seeing this story in the bible. Must be in the old testament, when God was mean and vengeful, even to crabs. I imagine it is pretty dangerous when crabs riot, though. They start whipping those claws around, and pretty soon someone's gonna lose an eye or something. I love Canada.
Tuesday May 13
Ex-'NYPD Blue' Star Delaney Enters Rehab
Salon.com
I loved this show, and I was so glad to see this chick leave. WAY too much
emoting. That constant pained, concerned, angst-ridden look on her face
drove me nuts. But, I hope she gets better. Monday May 12
Fleetwood Mac: Love, destiny, music
CNN.com Fleetwood Mac has their first album out in the past fifteen years. Now, the very name Fleetwood Mac justifiably may make you cloud over with indifference, or even hate, for many reasons, most of all that stupid, bubbly "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" song of theirs that the Dreaded Clintons used as their rallying tune. But that's not how I remember Mac. In 1969 they came over to the States as a stone-cold blues band. Lead by the brilliant, legendary Peter Green, he wrote "Black Magic Woman," they gave, by far, the best concert I've ever seen. But Green, whom many think was better than Clapton, flipped out and Jeremy Spencer, their rhythm guitarist, flipped out, (sense a pattern?) and the band somehow slowly mutated into its present putrid state. But, let me attest brothers and sisters, that the 1969 Mac was the best of the British Invasion.
Wednesday May 07
Annie's brave face
This is London
48 year old Annie Lennox will appear as is on her new CD Bare.As you can see, there's nothing shocking here other than the fact that a mature woman would willingly pose like this. No one would bat an eye, of course, if a 48 year old male singer posed the same.
Wednesday May 07
Nigerian scam moves to online auctions
Mike's Journal.com
Tech writer Mike Wendland of the Detroit Free Press passes along two disturbing bits of news:
1) Wendland tells of a disturbing new twist on the old Nigerian email scam Before you laugh that anyone could still be fooled by this old canard, keep in mind that "US Customs Service estimates that Nigerian scam artists claiming to need help transferring money fleeced US Internet users for at least US$100 million last year."ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS! That alone should be justification for invasion!
2) Wendland also reports that the Michigan ACLU has voiced objections to an anti-spam bill that is being considered by the Legislature there because it would consist of a government database and that, in the ACLU's view, is bad, bad, bad. What an idiotic, knee-jerk reaction. The government keeps tens of thousands of databases. Databases about everything under the sun. nAnd databases about the sun, as well, I am sure. So, why not a database of slime that send pornographic spam-emails to my kids?
Monday May 05
Peace signs pulled from Pepin School
Daily Hampshire Gazette
Frequent commenter BIL and I squabbled about a variation of this story a month ago when I complained that "PEACE" symbols should not have been banished from a mall. Here the signs were banned from public school grounds, which is even worse! By creating this fake "neutral ground," but still allowing yellow ribbons, the school is plainly telling the students that pacifism has no place in a public forum. Submitted by Kay
Saturday May 03
The Man of Virtues Has a Vice
Newsweek
American Liberals must be ecstatic this morning as word of William Bennett's vice spreads. Whatever the outcome, Bennett will never again be able to speak with the moral certainty that has made him so popular among conservatives.
Saturday May 03
Apple offers legal downloading
The Daily Mississippian
There's just too damned many letters in that word Mississippian. Here in the Midwest we do it right, as in Ohio and Iowa, but I digress: Apple has set up a very intriguing 99 cent per mp3 download service. Alas, at the moment, it's only for Apple Users. In other mp3 news, the RIAA tried a new tactic Monday when they warned, via instant-messages, thousands of Grokster and Kazaa users who were silly enough to list their real instant message addresses that the jig is nearly up. Speaking of Kazaa, I did a spyware scan last week and found a bunch of Kazaa-derived spyware files which allowed them to track my online movements. The files are now gone, but they'll re attach should I decide to use Kazaa again. Finally, no matter what the RIAA does, file trading is here to stay because, and this statistic totally shocked me, 42% of all users are hunting for porn. Logging on to Kazaa I just found 4,175,234 users which means that there were 1,766,399 free porn surfers.
Friday May 02
Wrestling personality 'Miss Elizabeth' dies
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This will not interest any female nor most of the male readers, but former pro wrestler Lex Lugar was taken into custody today for possession of drugs after former wrestling diva Miss Elizabeth was found dead from a possible overdose earlier in the day. To quote our 14 year old son Steve, who watches this crap: "Oh Geeeze, that's messed up." It's more than "messed up." It's a seedy, slimy act from hell. Friday May 02
Cechmanek, Flyers blank Senators
CBC
Not a good night for Canada as the Canucks also lost, but did you see the end of the Canuck-Wild game? It was old-fashioned, testosterone-loaded and insane. The way hockey should be.
Monday April 28
U.S. media mock Toronto
Canada.com's National Post
Relax, Canada, it's simply not true. Citing The Daily Show as your prime example of American Media is inane and would be akin to citing the
The Royal Canadian Air Farce. In fact, this is so slanted that one might think that it's purpose is to foster anti-American sentiment. Sunday April 27
Sinead O'Connor retires From Music
Reuters
We continue with what has somehow evolved into a weekend of silly entertainer headlines.
Saturday April 26
Man Makes Living "Arming" Cows
WPVI.com Philadelphia
We have a very knowledgable core of readers, so did any know what "arming a cow" meant before reading this bit, and why? Thursday April 24
