Sunday, February 26, 2006
Pentagon Hot Over Environment
The Pentagon has made it official in a report (PDF abstract) recently leaked to the British press, making the planet hotter is a very bad idea for the good 'ol USA.
Seems to be that the oceans of the world do this thermohaline circulation thing that helps regulate Earth's temperature. Global warming may cause the process to very suddenly cease by lowering the saline content of the oceans. You know, those melting glaciers.
The report indicates that abrupt, catastrophic changes in global temperature "should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a U.S. national security concern." Guess they have determined that when the rest of the world is starving to death or under water they might get cranky and use nukes to steal our lunch.
Can we declare "war on" global warming now? Do we get to stop killing and dying over oil and start fighting our addiction to it?
Friday, February 17, 2006
Matt Warner letter found.
RENO, Nev. - At first, Richard Johnston thought nothing of an online auction house's offer to sell a letter written in 1900 by a member of Butch Cassidy's infamous Wild Bunch for $5,999.
It was only later that the Old West history buff from Reno made a surprising discovery: The two-page letter from outlaw Willard E. Christiansen to Utah Gov. Heber Wells was stolen from the Utah State Archives.
"I checked my files and discovered that I had seen the letter there in 1976," Johnston recalled. "As a historian, it makes you angry that these types of thefts are occurring." - Yahoo
Coincidently enough, I've been working on a site for a couple months now about the Wild Bunch.
I'm glad they recovered the letter, from experience I can tell you how rare it is to find first hand documentation like that when it comes to outlaw history. With limited exceptions (Willard E. Christiansen aka Matt Warner being one of them), these guys didn't write books. The letters they wrote to family and friends usually contained instructions to destroy them after the receiver was done. It's nice to see this letter has found its way back home.
Sick Sad World
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - For the second time in three months, a 16-year-old California girl who lost a leg in an accident has had her artificial limbs stolen.
Melissa Huff, an Arcadia High School student who uses a $16,000 prosthetic limb to play softball for the school team and another one, valued at $12,000, for everyday use, said both were taken from her bedroom on Tuesday. - Reuters
The Beautiful People
Not only are physically unattractive teenagers likely to be stay-at-homes on prom night, they're also more likely to grow up to be criminals, say two economists who tracked the life course of young people from high school through early adulthood.
"We find that unattractive individuals commit more crime in comparison to average-looking ones, and very attractive individuals commit less crime in comparison to those who are average-looking," claim Naci Mocan of the University of Colorado and Erdal Tekin of Georgia State University. - Washington Post
It's kind of funny when you think about it. All the "ugly" kids in the 70's and 80's went on to become gazillionaires, while the so-called beautiful people wound up as cokeheads and insurance salesmen.
We can't find a cure for AIDS. We can't find a cure for cancer. The economy is in the shithole and we have economists working on this?
Why?
"Because that's not the way the media wants to take it and spin it, and turn it into fear, because then you're watching television, you're watching the news, you're being pumped full of fear, there's floods, there's AIDS, there's murder, cut to commercial, buy the Acura, buy the Colgate, if you have bad breath they're not going to talk to you, if you have pimples, the girl's not going to fuck you, and it's just this campaign of fear, and consumption, and that's what I think it's all based on, the whole idea of 'keep everyone afraid, and they'll consume.' " - Marilyn Manson
Thursday, February 16, 2006
More Cheney Fun
"We really didn't know until Sunday morning that Harry was probably going to be OK, that it looked like there hadn't been any serious damage to any vital organ," he said in an interview with Brit Hume. "And that's when we began the process of notifying the press." - Yahoo
So had he died, they'd just cover it up?
Gotcha.
Humanitarianism ...it's hot.
Socialite Paris Hilton has reportedly been asked to play celebrated humanitarian Mother Teresa in a movie biopic. Indian director T. Rajeevnath has contacted the hotel heiress about taking the lead role in his new film, which will chronicle the late nun's life. He tells MTV.co.uk, "My agents in California have contacted Paris Hilton. Although there are several actresses willing to play the role of Mother Teresa, the most widely respected and loved person, the history of the actress who is finally chosen for the role would have to be analyzed thoroughly before she is chosen." -imdb.com
This is either the worst idea ever known to man (eclipsing the platypus), or the second coming of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
The Country's in Good Hands.
Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets. - AP
Seriously though, hasn't Dan Quayle been picked on enough?
James & Sarah Brady comment on the issue here.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Armageddon Days (are here again)
They're 5 miles high
As the crow flies
Leavin' vapour trails
Across a blood red sky
Movin' in from the East
Towards the West
With balaclava helmets
Over their heads
YES!
But if you think that Jesus Christ is coming
Honey, you've got another thing coming
If he ever finds out who's hijacked his name
He'll cut out his heart and turn in his grave
Islam is rising
The Christians mobilising
The world is on it's elbows and knees
It's forgotten the message
And worships the creeds
"It's War" she cried
"It's War" she cried
"This is War!"
Drop your possessions
All you simple folk
You will fight them on the beaches
in your underclothes
You will thank the good lord
For raising the Union Jack
You'll watch the ships sail out of harbour
And the bodies come floating back
Watch the ships sail out of harbour
And the bodies come floating back
If the real Jesus Christ were to stand up today
He'd be gunned down cold by the C.I.A
.Oh, the lights that now burn brightest
Behind stained glass
Will cast the darkest shadows
Upon the human heart
But God didn't build himself that throne
God doesn't live in Israel or Rome
God doesn't belong to the Yankee dollar
God doesn't plant the bombs for Hezbollah
God doesn't even go to church
And God won't send us down to Allah to burn
God will remind us what we already know
That the human race is about to reap what it's sown
Islam is rising
The Christians mobilising
The world is on it's elbows and knees
It's forgotten the message
And worships the creeds
The world is on it's elbows and knees
It's forgotten the message
And worships the creeds
Armageddon days are here again
Armageddon days are here again
Armageddon days are here again
Armageddon Days Are HERE!!! - The The
Friday, February 10, 2006
Interesting Article
Clooney is sufficiently battle-hardened these days to shrug it off when people have a go at him. "I was at a party the other night and it was all these hardcore Republicans and these guys are like, 'Why do you hate your country?' I said, 'I love my country.' They said, 'Why, at a time of war, would you criticise it then?' And I said, 'My country right or wrong means women don't vote, black people sit in the back of buses and we're still in Vietnam. My country right or wrong means we don't have the New Deal.' I mean, what, are you crazy? My country, right or wrong? It's not your right, it's your duty. And then I said, 'Where was I wrong, schmuck?' In 2003 I was saying, where are the ties [between Iraq] and al-Qaida? Where are the ties to 9/11? I knew it; where the fuck were these Democrats who said, 'We were misled'? That's the kind of thing that drives me crazy: 'We were misled.' Fuck you, you weren't misled. You were afraid of being called unpatriotic." - Guardian Unlimited
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Double Bored
Four jobs I've had:
Local stringer for MTV
Home Equity Banker
Security guard @ a Grateful Dead show
One-Hour Photo flunky
Four Movies I can watch over and over:
The Big Lebowski
The Shawshank Redemption
The Empire Strikes Back (all six of the Star Wars films really)
Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
Four Places I've Lived:
Anchorage, Alaska
Seattle, Washington
Cleveland, Ohio
Reno, Nevada
Four TV shows I love:
My Name is Earl
Mythbusters
Battlestar Galactica (old & new)
Twin Peaks
Four places I've vacationed:
Valdez, Alaska
San Francisco
New York City
The Middle of Nowhere
Four of my favorite dishes:
Peanut Butter & Chocolate (You can make a meal of it, I've done it before.)
Chow Mien
Puerco Pibil
These things
Four sites I visit daily:
Flickr
Drudge Report
Craigslist
Snopes
Four places I would rather be right now:
On a spaceship.
Snoqualmie Falls
Hawaii
Teotihuacan
6 Degrees of Philip Seymour Hoffman
Paris Hilton: (in 4 moves)
- Hilton was in House of Wax with Elisha Cuthbert.
- Cuthbert was in Old School with Luke Wilson.
- Wilson was in The Royal Tenenbaums with Ben Stiller.
- Stiller was in Along Came Polly with Hoffman.
Chewbacca (in 3 moves)
- Chewbacca appeared in Star Wars: Episode III with Ewan McGregor.
- McGregor was in Robots with Robin Williams.
- Williams was in Patch Adams with Hoffman.
Too cool. Via the Rochester Insider, check out the rest of the article, complete with more moves here.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Prove it!
"To accuse us of being the pawns of the lobbyists is - is - is beyond slander, beyond insult," Specter stammered. "It's beyond outrage." - Yahoo
Then prove it. Democrats, Republicans, if you're above being mere pawns to the lobbyists, above blind acceptance to party lines, prove it.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Chris Rock Quote
"White people sell guns, that's all right. Black rapper says guns...congressional hearing!"
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Who Knew?
I was searching for a phone # when I came across this...
"The IAOPCC (International Association Of Pet Cemeteries & Crematories) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of pet cemeteries everywhere through public awareness programs.
...
You are invited to join the IAOPCC. If you have not yet opened a pet cemetery, you may join IAOPCC as an Affiliate Member for only $200. This will allow all the benefits except voting rights. It also delays the payment of the $100 initiation fee until you have a cemetery up and running." - IAOPCC
I'm sure these are good people and not flesh-eating weirdo's, but an international (Hell, even a national) association of pet cemeteries gives me the creeps. Although I do wonder what their public awareness programs are like.
There's even a link to Faithful Friend Pet Caskets & Urns.
Creepy.
Creepy.
Creepy.
"I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary, I don't want to live my life again. I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary, I don't want to live my life again." - Ramones
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