` A 34-year-old man celebrating his birthday was killed Sunday when he was ejected from the party bus he was riding in and run over by another vehicle, police said.
The 1999 Ford bus was carrying 17 passengers on the Long Beach Freeway about 3:30 a.m. when the right-side door suddenly flew open in the East Los Angeles area, the California Highway Patrol reported. Three passengers were dancing on the bus when the door opened and two of them tumbled out, according to a statement from the Patrol.’
`Animal control officers came to get the owl, and when they did, they made a shocking discovery!
“I kept smelling him and smelling him, saying ‘What is that odor’. It was lying there as happy as can be,”says one animal control officer who was at the scene.
“Curiously enough, the owl’s feathers smelled very, very potently like marijuana,” says Animal Control Officer Dering. They examined the owl, looked at its eyes, big owl eyes, and the owl was, in the vernacular, stoned.”‘
This guys is cool. Says some good things:
`If it’s true that it causes people to feel despair, that’s tough. It’s still the truth. The universe doesn’t owe us condolence or consolation; it doesn’t owe us a nice warm feeling inside. If it’s true, it’s true, and you’d better live with it.
[..] Wouldn’t it be lovely to believe in an imaginary friend who listens to your thoughts, listens to your prayers, comforts you, consoles you, gives you life after death, can give you advice? Of course it’s satisfying, if you can believe it. But who wants to believe a lie?’
`When human body cells are removed and put into a cell culture, they weaken and die quickly, usually within about 50 divisions. Without the rest of the support structure—a heart, blood circulating, a digestive system and so-on—body cells can’t survive. Body cells also age, so even if you were to simulate the body’s environment in a test tube or petri dish, the cells would eventually perish anyway. The basic mortality of the cells reflect the basic mortality of the organism they comprise, which is why there’s no fountain of youth or medicinal procedure that’ll give you biological immortality.
There is, however, one human being who is biologically immortal on a technicality, and her name is Henrietta Lacks. In 1951 she showed up at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, complaining of blood spotting in her underwear. Samples were taken of her cervical tissue and sent to a lab for analysis, which came back with a diagnosis of cervical cancer.’
`West First Avenue in West Deptford had been a relatively quiet dead-end street until about two years ago.
Then one day a flatbed truck with a steel shipping container rolled up the block, stopped at a blue rancher, and deposited the box in the backyard.
Neighbors thought Jerome L. Wigmore Jr., a drywall contractor who lived there with his wife, Betty, and mother-in-law, Alice Boozer, was using the container to store his work equipment.
“I thought, ‘Hey, that’s a pretty good idea for a tool shed,’ ” Kenneth Koen said last week. “I didn’t know it was going to end up being a chamber of horrors.”
According to police, Wigmore held at least two women captive in the padlocked container, which he had turned into living quarters complete with air-conditioning units.’
`The new Superman is giving movie bosses a headache – because of the size of his bulge.
They fear Brandon Routh’s profile in the superhero’s skintight costume could be distracting, reports the Sun.
Hollywood executives have ordered the makers of Superman Returns to cover it up with digital effects.
The Sun’s source said: “It’s a major issue for the studio. Brandon is extremely well endowed and they don’t want it up on the big screen.’
`Until the recent development of digital cameras, most photography involved the use of films coated with various light sensitive compounds of silver. The sensitivity of certain silver salts to light was known from about 1727, when Johann Heinrich Schulze published his findings in the Nuremburg Academy of Natural Philosophers. But many natural things are sensitive to light. Long ago people noticed the effect of light on green plants, or how it made coloured fabrics fade. It is the effect of light on plants that makes Roman Photography possible.’
`The problem I have with this “Web 2.0” slogan is that it is a contrivance, meant to imply a unified movement or wave toward a better Web. Just the very numbering of the thing brings out my moo-goo detector: 1.0 sounds like a beginning. 2.0 (as opposed to a tenth-decimal, such as 1.7 or a 2.4 implies – by its very roundness, a coordinated, standards-based, like-minded rebirth, reconstruction, renaissance, resurrection, whatever you want to call it. 2.0 is the ideal number for such an impression: it implies a concerted, noble effort at refreshing an inspired, but now aging, creation. even “3.0” implies, well, we didn’t get it right the first time, 2.0 was transitory and is getting long in the tooth, so here we are transitioning to 3.0. But 2.0 sounds good.
Well, Web 2.0 is bunk. [..]’
I concur.
`Uber environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is trying to put the kibosh on plans to build the kind of wind-farm he regularly touts as an environmentally sound alternative to fossil fuels, saying it would block views of Nantucket Sound from Cape Cod – which just happens to be home to the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis port.
In an op-ed published Friday by the New York Times, the hyper-green Kennedy tried to explain the contradiction:
“As an environmentalist, I support wind power, including wind power on the high seas. I am also involved in siting wind farms in appropriate landscapes, of which there are many.” [..]
The global warming crusader complains that the turbines will pollute the views from places like “Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket” – some of the Kennedy family’s favorite haunts.’
`The British-educated Iraqi microbiologist known as Dr Germ is among two dozen senior Baathist prisoners who have been freed after more than 2½ years in US detention, it was disclosed yesterday. [..]
Huda Ammash, the US-trained scientist nicknamed Chemical Sally or Mrs Anthrax, has also been released. She and Dr Taha were both high-ranking members of Saddam Hussein’s party and had been accused of being central figures in his biological weapons programme.
Dr Taha was even named in the dossier on Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction that the British Government released in September 2002 to make the case for war.
Other high-value detainees released without charge from prison in the Iraqi capital in recent days include Humam Abd al-Khaliq, the former Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research. Like Dr Ammash, he featured in the 55 most wanted deck of cards released by the US military during the 2003 invasion. [..]
The timing of the women scientists’ release was particularly acute, with President Bush conceding his Administration’s “intelligence failure on weapons of mass destruction”.’
`Singapore is preparing to partially lift its famous ban on chewing gum – in order to comply with a free trade agreement with the United States.
But only gum aimed at helping smokers to quit will be allowed when the new rules come into effect on Thursday.
The government will allow the sale of Nicorette, a nicotine gum, because the agreement with the US says “therapeutic” brands should be allowed.
Singapore banned chewing gum in 1992 because of a litter problem.’
`THIS IS AN ESTATE ITEM.IT WAS INSTAULLED AND REMOVED AND IS IN GREAT SHAPE..WHO KNOWS I MIGHT NEED IT IN 20 YEARS..LOL’
`Some time in 2005, we quietly passed a dramatic milestone in Internet history: the one-billionth user went online. Because we have no central register of Internet users, we don’t know who that user was, or when he or she first logged on. Statistically, we’re likely talking about a 24-year-old woman in Shanghai.
According to Morgan Stanley estimates, 36% of Internet users are now in Asia and 24% are in Europe. Only 23% of users are in North America, where it all started in 1969 when two computers — one in Los Angeles, the other in Palo Alto — were networked together.
It took 36 years for the Internet to get its first billion users. The second billion will probably be added by 2015; most of these new users will be in Asia. The third billion will be harder, and might not be reached until 2040.’
`A senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung’s tome on Communism called “The Little Red Book.”
Two history professors at UMass Dartmouth, Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Pontbriand, said the student told them he requested the book through the UMass Dartmouth library’s interlibrary loan program.
The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand’s class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents’ home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said.’
Attempting to write a paper of fascism and have the government send agents to your house would probably be worth an A+, I reckon.
`Volusia County (FL) joins Leon in dumping Diebold. Due to contractual non-performance and security design issues, Leon County (Florida) supervisor of elections Ion Sancho has announced that he will never again use Diebold in an election. He has requested funds to replace the Diebold system from the county. On Tuesday, the most serious “hack” demonstration to date took place in Leon County. The Diebold machines succumbed quickly to alteration of the votes. This comes on the heels of the resignation of Diebold CEO Wally O’Dell, and the announcement that stockholder’s class action suits and related actions have been filed against Diebold by four separate law firms. Further “hack” testing on additional vulnerabilities is tentatively scheduled before Christmas in the state of California. ‘
`The new devices are based on a natural process — when a river runs into the ocean, a huge amount of energy is unleashed because of the difference in salt concentration.
“It’s basically harvesting the energy that comes free from a natural process,” Wetsus managing director Johannes Boonstra said in his agency’s laboratory in the Dutch town of Leeuwarden.
“You have the fuel for free and it’s very sustainable — no greenhouse gas emissions.”
The two projects use different methods to harness the electricity — the Dutch apply something called reverse electrodialysis while the Norwegians use a kind of osmosis.’
Tired of goatse, lemonparty and tubgirl?
This could be the next big fad.
`These two guys have been drinking all afternoon in a bar. 5 o’clock rolls around and all the suits start rolling in after work. There are HEAPS of goodlooking girls around in business suits and short skirts. One guy leans over to the other and says ‘I can fuck any one of these girls tonight if I wanted to’. The other guy turns around and looks at him.. thinking how butt ugly he is and says ‘You’re full of it. How the hell are you gonna do that??. The guy leans over again and whispers ‘I’m a rapist’. [..]
What do you tell a woman with two black eyes?
Nothing, because she’s already been told twice. [..]
How long does it take to get from the top floor of the World Trade Center to ground level?
The rest of your life [..]
How many feminists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Two. One to screw it in and one to suck my dick.’
`It’s important to be a good citizen wherever you may find yourself, by following the rules of that place. The Internet is a “place” with its own very special rules. People who communicate over the Internet are called “cybercitizens.” It’s important to learn the rules of the Internet before you log on, so that you can be a “good cybercitizen.” Each of the following stories describes a situation that you might find yourself in while “surfing” the Internet. What would you do in each of these situations? Click on one of the “GO!” links to choose what you might do, and what might happen as a result of your choice.’
The answers are predictable, given that it’s a .gov domain. It’s designed for school ages kids, but amusing none the less.
`Newberg and d’Aquili base this revolutionary conclusion on a long-term investigation of brain function and behavior as well as studies they conducted using high-tech imaging techniques to peer into the brains of meditating Buddhists and Franciscan nuns at prayer. What they discovered was that intensely focused spiritual contemplation triggers an alteration in the activity of the brain that leads one to perceive transcendent religious experiences as solid, tangible reality. In other words, the sensation that Buddhists call “oneness with the universe” and the Franciscans attribute to the palpable presence of God is not a delusion, or subjective psychology, or simple wishful thinking. Rather, it is triggered by a chain of distinct neurological events that can be objectively observed, recorded, and actually photographed.
The inescapable conclusion is that God seems to be hard-wired into the human brain. [..]’
`The blood. And shit. And semen. Robert can’t get it out of his mind, his dreams, his life.
He was 14 in the summer of 1984. He had moved with his family to Texas sometime before and now, on summer vacation, had returned with them to visit friends and old neighbors in Santa Ana. While in his former hometown, Robert’s family ran into their old parish priest, Father Eleuterio Ramos. Ramos had tickets to the Olympic gold-medal soccer game at the Rose Bowl that week. He had invited Robert’s former neighbor, Michael, but Michael refused. Robert agreed. [..]
Robert was just one of more than 25 boys Ramos admitted to fondling, drugging, groping, gang-raping, sodomizing, photographing and fellating during a decade-long career in Orange County parishes from Placentia and Santa Ana to Brea, La Habra and Anaheim. Controversy engulfed Ramos at every stop. His superiors typically listened to the priest’s critics and took notes—and then let Ramos escape to the next parish.’
These priests have committed absolutely horrific acts, and the Catholic church has knowingly allowed this behaviour to continue. If that’s not bad enough, the way the church officials behaved once the vicitims spoke up is absolutely disgusting:
`Meissner says he told the church lawyers just as they were about to finalize the deal that all Michael ever wanted was an apology. The lawyers were silent.
“That’s it?” one finally replied. “How about we just give him $5 and apologize?”’
If these are God’s representatives on Earth, it’s no wonder religion has been nothing but a source of violence and sorrow throughout history.
`The House of Representatives voted to build a wall along the US border with Mexico to stop illegal immigration.
The 260-159 voice vote on an amendment to a bill on illegal immigration “mandates the construction of specific security fencing, including lights and cameras, along the Southwest border for the purposes of gaining operational control of the border. [..]
The US border with Canada was not forgotten. The bill “includes a requirement for the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct a study on the use of physical barriers along the Northern border.”‘
`It is impossible, really, to miss the overt signs of the ongoing air war in Iraq when you are there, which makes the lack of coverage all the more startling. At night, while standing on the roof of my hotel in Baghdad during the November 2004 assault on Fallujah, a city some 40-odd miles away, I could see on the horizon the distant flashes of U.S. bombs that were searing that embattled city. [..]
In his recent article and interview, Hersh rightly reflects the concern of American military men that, in any proposed draw-down plan for American forces, Iraqi security forces are likely to be given some responsibility for Air Force targeting operations. After all, they’ll be the ones left on the ground. It’s an idea, he reports, that is “driving the Air Force crazy,” because they fear it may involve them in a future revenge war of ethnic and religious groups in Iraq.’
`Monday night, a record number of noise complaints were received by Residential Security Officers in Roger Revelle College. Officers responding to the calls found the sexual activity of a deaf couple to be the source of the noises, which were described as “cacophonous” by witnesses.
The first officer on the scene, Frank Zipelli, reported, “I could hear those two all the way from the parking lot.” According to Zipelli, “It sounded as if they were bludgeoning a cow. There would be a low moan, like a ‘moo,’ and then a ‘bang’ and a higher-pitched ‘moo.’ It was like ‘MOO…BANG…MOOO!’”‘
`Hamachi is a UDP-based virtual private networking system. Its peers utilize the help of a 3rd node called mediation server to locate each other and to boot strap the connection between themselves. The connection itself is direct and once it’s established no traffic flows through our servers.
Hamachi is not just truly peer-to-peer, it is verifiably secure peer-to-peer.’
Not safe for work, though not as bad as that Mr. Hands thing from the other week.
`ON SELF-KNOWLEDGE
“Everywhere I went, my cleavage followed. But I learned I am not my cleavage.”
–Carole Mallory
ON PSYCHOLOGY
“I loved making ‘Rising Sun’. I got into the psychology of why she liked to get strangled and tied up in plastic bags. It has to do with low self-worth.”
–Tatjana Patitz
ON GEOPOLITICS
“Mick Jagger and I just really liked each other a lot. We talked all night. We had the same views on nuclear disarmament.”
–Jerry Hall
ON BREAKTHROUGHS
“Once I got past my anger toward my mother, I began to excel in volleyball and modeling.”
–Gabrielle Reece’
`A Finnish citizen arrested on a public bus while drunk and nearly naked has set an apparent record for unpaid fines in Norway, with an estimated 99 of them, police said Friday.
The man, whose name was not released, is known by police for his tendency to discard pieces of clothing as his level of intoxication increases, the Bergens Tidende newspaper reported. [..]
In the latest incident, on Wednesday, police received a telephone call from the bus driver in Bergen, the main city on Norway’s west coast, who said: “There is a naked, drunk, difficult Finn causing trouble on board.”‘
`A plumbing problem at a Spokane home turned out to be a naked man. Police say a woman who thought she was having a problem with water pipes beneath the floor called the Water Department. Employees found the basement barricaded, and when they determined there was someone behind the door, they called police.
Police broke through the door, found the naked man and took him into custody. They searched the basement but found no clothing for the man. They also found that a pipe had been broken and repaired.’
