June 12th, 2004
More than a million pages from 19th Century British newspapers are to be put online by the British Library.Too bad my interest in English history dried up after their Reformation, but I could still see getting lost in there for a few hours.
[...]
A searchable website with digital copies of the newspapers is expected to be ready in 18 months' time.
Posted by fad at 3:12pm
Anyone else caught the sense that some people, and I ain't just talking Cuba, are pretty pissed off that everyone has been openly badmouthing communism again this last week?
Posted by fad at 2:42pm
June 11th, 2004
Posted by fad at 5:06pm
But non-existent mice need love too!
After six years of regulations and restrictions that have cost builders, local governments and landowners an estimated $100 million, new research suggests the "threatened" Preble's mouse in fact never existed.But I'll be damned if I let this administration roll back yet another bit of environmental progress just because of some minor fact. If it never existed, that means we must have already lost it. Gone, it is, gone like a yuppie lake.
Posted by fad at 3:57pm
For those who like really shitty food, overpriced beer, and, at least in my experience, semi to un attractive women dressed provacatively, a great day is here.
Hooters Air of America started service from Gary/Chicago International Airport to Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Thursday.When I think tits in flight, I will always think Gary, Indiana.
[...]
In addition to a standard crew of pilots and flight attendants, each Hooters flight is staffed with a least two "Hooters Girls" waitresses.
Posted by fad at 2:45pm
Sure, it may not be a celebration of fine beer, but you know this idea has some know-what's-best nanny incensed.
Three guys from Maryland want to honor the nation's greatest beer guzzlers -- from guys like boozing broadcaster Harry Caray to talented neighborhood beer swillers -- in a monumental brew pub with more beers on tap than anywhere else in the world.It's less about the beer than the beer drinkers, God bless 'em.
The Beer Hall of Fame would house beer-themed restaurants, a collection of beer memorabilia, Beer Radio broadcasting studios, a music and entertainment venue, an education center -- and an enormous selection of beer.And, one would hope, the world's best toilet-to-patron ratio. Since this is a Chicago paper, they are making their case as to why they should get the hall.
Chicago hosted the mother of all beer brawls, dubbed the "Chicago Beer Riots," that lasted two days after Mayor Levi Boone -- leader of the "Know Nothing Party" -- ordered pubs closed on Sundays in 1855.Good lads!
Posted by fad at 1:32pm
A few years ago, a woman I worked with and I played a game in which the goal was to "break" the other person's brain. We would rip on each other all day long, looking for the opportunity to slip in a set-up so wide open that the other person's brain would lock up with all the insult or joke possibilities. That is what happened when I saw this headline.
"Sheep like smiles say researchers"
Posted by fad at 12:59pm
Americans are getting smarter about abusing alcohol.
More Americans are abusing alcohol than in the 1990s, but fewer are technically alcoholics, U.S. government researchers.Since researches want to continue getting money for their jobs, they are puzzled by these results.
The researchers cannot say why heavy drinking is up.Hmmmm....whatever could be different about these last couple years than the 90s? Gee, I can't think of a single thing that might have added stress which some seek to relieve in a sweet, friendly bottle. This is a kaboozle.
[...]
"That alcohol abuse seems to be increasing presents intriguing questions. What is clear is that no single environmental cause can explain the increase.["]
["]Further research is an important public health priority."Translation: Give us money.
Posted by fad at 11:22am
The Revolution has come to St. Louis.
The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District's new billing system has some customers seeing double - even triple - after a glitch in the system caused duplicate payments to be pulled out of their checking accounts.Yeah. Right. It was a "glitch". "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," baby.
And still more customers did not get their bills at all.
Posted by fad at 11:06am
I've seen the commercials and read a couple reviews of that Saved! movie. It's supposed to be a dark comedy/satire about the pressures and burbling hypocrisies in a hyper religious environment. Or something. Frankly, I don't care because I don't want to type about that movie. Seeing the ads just made me think of a subject that is so ripe and perfect for this type of dark, satirical treatment.
I would love to see a movie like this that takes on 60s hyper radicalism. The actual words and events already contain all the unreality necessary. It has the spoiled, super-righteous control freaks who are also extreme hyprocrites. It has the hubraic infighting and posturing, lots of sex (and awkward sexuality in the name of smashing the system) and more than a little violence too. Such a movie would not have to be played very broad; just stick to what they really did and really said.
I think such a movie would be a whole lot of fun. If I had the talent (or, more importantly, the connections) I'd try to write it myself. Since I'm just a hack, I freely give this idea to the ages. Someone write this, please.
Posted by fad at 7:35am
Inspired by the 50 Coolest Song Parts thing (covered nicely here), I decided to list out some of my favorite lyric snippets. These aren't full lyrics, just a line or two at most that I've always really liked. The one other rule I made is that I have to own a copy of the song. So here goes. I've grouped them by group to make it easier on me. It's all about making things easy for me. This is not even close to a complete list; just a quick jot.
Trashcan SinatrasThat'll do for now, I think. I might add to this as the day goes on.
"Hands of the clock give me a round of applause for getting out of bed, and the scars of the night before have turned into scabs and still I'm seeing double" -- Best Man's Fall
"You came into my life like a brick through a window." -- Best Man's Fall
"I know she doesn't play the field, but she likes to know the strength of the team." -- Funny
"on streets the winter paved" -- Orange Fell
"Bury us, with shovel and Bible fuss. Like the books that we've strummed, we're dog-eared and well thumbed." -- Unfortunate Age
"off to the trough and the cubicle to get pharmaceutically full of yourself" -- Main Attraction
"My therapist with the rapist's touch" -- The Therapist
"I raise my glass like a fist; every sip's a kiss" -- Drunken Chorus
New Order
"You've caught me at a bad time. So why don't you piss off." -- Your Silent Face
"It was always special. It was like water down the drain." -- Special
Joy Division
"Watching the reel as it comes to a close, brutally taking its time." -- Passover
Depeche Mode
"In a world full of nothing, though it's not love it means something." -- World Full of Nothing
"Death is everywhere!" -- Fly on the Windscreen (just because it's still the most hilariously over the top way to start a song. I used to do a lounge version of this for fun.)
Yaz[oo]
"I'm so glad that your life stopped now before you had the chance to die." -- And On
Eels
"Think I got it all going my way, then why'm I such a fucking mess?" -- 3 Speed
"Life is funny, but not ha-ha funny." -- 3 Speed
"a careful man tries to dodge the bullets, while a happy man takes a walk." -- P.S. You Rock My World
"Mom won't shave me; Jesus can't save me." -- Dog Faced Boy
"i saw a naked picture of me on the internet wearing jesus's new snowshoes" -- Hidden Track
Posted by fad at 7:04am
June 10th, 2004
Kiril Kanew, the head of the UFO watchers group Contact has revealed that they have brought out an inter-galactic currency called the 'Galacto'.No mention on the exchange rate, yet, but backed by the all the wonderous technology and space drugs, I'm sure it will be quite strong.
"We propose that the Galacto becomes the official currency in space,"
Posted by fad at 7:36pm
Mmmmm....forthcoming pictures.
The Cassini spacecraft, on its final approach to Saturn before it enters orbit, is to make a close pass of its mysterious moon - Phoebe.Please, no "Friends" jokes. The show's over. Let it go.
[...]
On Friday Cassini will sweep past Phoebe at a distance of only 2,000km.
Posted by fad at 7:14pm
Never too young to be a hero.
Six-year-old Donnie [lastname removed] knew he couldn't swim, but he also knew the little girl in the murky, debris-filled swimming pool was in trouble.Poor kid.
[...]
Donnie jumped into the shallow end and reached toward his friend to try to pull her to safety. But Karah weighs about 10 pounds more than Donnie, and between the weight and the slick surface, the boy slipped and both ended up in the water.
Karah's mother, Melany [lastname removed], said her daughter told her that as the two were struggling in the water, Donnie helped her reach the ladder.
[...]
Paramedics eventually rescued him, but he was in critical condition and on life support Thursday.
Posted by fad at 6:51pm
Ray Charles is dead.
Posted by fad at 6:39pm
In the line of genius ideas, this one is only getting in via cuts. But no front cuts. Only back cuts.
Thanks to Chicago confectioner Brand New Products, a line of "Fear Factor"-inspired candy is in the works, and the gross factor is likely to be high.I choose to pass.
Among potential offerings, said national sales manager Jim Brochhausen, are jellyfish-shaped gummies, candy tongues meant to be dunked in goo, a giant chicken leg-shaped sucker that tastes like chicken and a "grub" bag filled with real dried silkworms and granola.
Posted by fad at 6:06pm
Stupid technology biting the tax payer's ass.
Twins conceived from frozen sperm after their father died of cancer are eligible to collect Social Security benefits, a federal appeals court ruled.Now, if they cloned the father, would they then lose the benefits as he is no longer eligible until he retires or once again expires?
[...]
``Developing reproductive technology has outpaced federal and state laws, which currently do not address directly the legal issues created by posthumous conception,''
Posted by fad at 6:02pm
I have found my role model.
The decomposed body of a man dressed in pajamas was discovered in an abandoned Tokyo apartment building 20 years after he is believed to have died, police said Thursday.A nice peaceful passing. But that's not the good part (ok, in the grand, earthly scheming of things, it is).
The man, identified only as former worker of the company that built the apartments, was in his mid-50s when he divorced his wife, left home and moved into the building in the early 1980s, the official said.He completely disappeared. How cool that would be. Even then, you'd think the neighbors would have noticed a wafting funk.
Police believe the man had been unable to repay bank loans and had stopped showing up for work
But nobody noticed his death because the real estate agency managing the property went out of business after the building was completed in 1973 without ever having found renters, he said. The building had been unoccupied since it was completed.Sweet.
Posted by fad at 12:56pm
A glorious day has come to pass. My subscription* to Reason magazine has finally run out. I no longer have to bear witness as Nick "When You're This Smug You Don't Need An Argument" Gillespie continues to turn a magazine once about ideas and optimism into one filled with bitching and moaning or self-satisfaction at being ever so much smarter than those conservatives and liberals (in that order). About the only good thing Gillespie did was bring Matt Welch, who always turned in well reasoned and examined work, in as a frequent contributor. Yes, there is still some fine work being done there, but it is a sad, sad shadow now.
*Years ago I signed up for a very lengthy subscription, only to have Virginia Postrel step down a couple months into it. Yes, I could have canceled, but I am lazy and feared it might involve a phone call.
Posted by fad at 10:31am
So a dude armors up a bulldozer, goes on a rampage and then offs himself. Turns out, he may have had some issues.
[He] refers in the notes to a dispute over a concrete plant he opposed because he worried it would ruin his neighboring business.But the keen observational eye of local law enforcement is there to put it all into perspective.
He claimed four people, including himself, had died "prematurely" since the plant was approved.
"I guess he was a lot more deranged than I ever thought," Sheriff Rod Johnson said.Come on. "Rod Johnson"? Is his deputy Peter McDick?
Posted by fad at 8:21am
There are some things you wish only happened in the movies.
After letting himself in and making a cup of tea, he opened the refrigerator to get some milk and found his daughter-in-law's dismembered body wrapped in plastic bags on the shelves, the paper said.Yipes! With weird stories like this, it's always the details that are the creepiest. Someone actually took the time and care to dismember her, then wrap the parts in plastic, and finally arrange them so they'd fit in the fridge.
The man reportedly called police after finding the body and was said to be receiving counseling.I hope by "receiving counseling" they mean, "knocking back a metric assload of alcohol".
Posted by fad at 8:07am
Oh, as if anyone cares, but I'm feeling much better now. Still not 100%, but getting there.
Posted by fad at 7:45am
I typed before that, outside one show, the local sports radio here is sadder than even normal for sports radio (a commercial this morning went, "The station for guys who put women on a pedestal.....so we can check out their legs"). Because I do enjoy the afternoon show, though, the car radio was still tuned to that station when I fired up the old beast this morning. The morning show was in the midst of demonstrating one of the things I hate most about public discussions, whether they be on tv, radio or blogs.
Yesterday, to hype a show airing tonight, ESPN released what it hoped to be the most controversial part. In it, Larry Bird is quoted on the issue of white players in the NBA. On the radio show, they were saying, "Larry Bird has said he wants there to be more white players." The hosts expressed confusion about why Bird would come out and say this. They said they didn't know why he said it or what his motivations could be for saying this. Was it because he thinks the league is too black, they asked? Was it because he thought it would help marketing to a very large market? They just couldn't figure it out. Nor could the callers who thought Bird had said this.
To show how much show prep these doofii put in, let me quote from the freely available story I linked above. Here is why Larry Bird said anything about this.
ESPN host Jim Gray asked Bird whether the NBA lacks enough white superstars.Well, there's your answer as to why Bird said anything. He was freakin' asked. And now, Bird's actual response.
"Well, I think so," said Bird, the Indiana Pacers' president of basketball operations. "You know, when I played, you had me and Kevin [McHale] and some others throughout the league. I think it's good for a fan base because, as we all know, the majority of the fans are white America. And if you just had a couple of white guys in there, you might get them a little excited.["]I think it's quite clear what he said. He did not say, as the guys on the radio claimed, that he thought there needed to be more white players. He was saying he it would be nice to have a couple more white superstars in order to help market the game. Wrong or right on that is still a far cry from the mangled quote being discussed this morning.
And that's what often bugs me about discussions. They don't actually talk about the real quote in context. Instead people talk about what someone must have said. Even if the orginal quote was stupid enough, they still have to wring it about a bit. One example is when Limbaugh said what he said about Donovan McNabb. By the time it was run through the purple monkey dishwasher, people were claiming that he said blacks didn't have what it took to play quarterback and that became the point of discussion rather than what he actually said. This isn't to defend or attack his statement, but to point out that how this happens. You see this all the time in the media with quotes from public figures. The most famous recent of these was the 16 words from the 2003 state of the union bore-athon. By the time that story got done, people were saying Bush specified Niger in the speech (and you can bet if someone says "Nee-ghzer" when they say that, they didn't know that pronunciation 2 years ago). It wasn't enough for them that he might have been wrong with his actual words. They had add new words to make him even wronger (because that rhymes with "monger" of which, to them, Bush is the war-type).
When you have to waste time bringing discussion back to the actual reality, it gets frustrating and becomes a giant waste of time.
Posted by fad at 7:33am
June 9th, 2004
The phenomenon of single-punch deaths has seen scores of people - mainly young to middle-aged men - end up behind bars on manslaughter charges.See? That's why you hang out around the edges and pick the pockets of the discarded coats or distracted, drunken onlookers instead of fighting.
[...]
Often drunk after a night out, victims simply cannot react quickly enough to protect their heads as they hit the ground.
That can result in what doctors refer to as a primary brain injury, where the impact results in instant damage to the brain tissue, or secondary brain injury, where bleeding in the skull cavity leads to a blood clot pressing on the brain with fatal consequences.
Posted by fad at 6:10pm
Like getting drunk, but hate all the work? Have I got the item for you.
The user chooses which spirit will be used and the spirit is loaded into a diffuser capsule in the machine. The oxygen bubbles are then passed through the capsule, absorbing the alcohol, before being inhaled through a tube. The resultant cloudy alcohol vapour is then inhaled from the end of the tube via a device akin to an asthma inhaler.The ultimate in low-carb alcoholism. God bless efficiency.
Once inhaled, the alcoholic gas goes straight into the bloodstream to give an instant ‘hit’. The potent combination of oxygen and alcohol creates a feeling of well-being which intensifies the longer the vapour is inhaled.
Posted by fad at 2:47pm
Art!
Paintings of President Bush and former President Clinton, accompanied by messages referring to the artist's bodily fluids, mysteriously appeared last week on the walls of two major city museums and reportedly at two other museums in Philadelphia and Washington.If The Man won't let you in, you break in, motherfuckers!
[A] cartoon-type painting of Bush against a background of shredded dollar bills was found hanging Saturday on the wall near an exit in the museum's modern art galleries.Hey, at least he was only spreading his seed in a creative way instead of procreative*.
[...]
The 9-by-15-inch work, done on a frameless canvas, was affixed to the wall with double-sided tape. A label taped next to the painting said it was made with "acrylic, legal tender and the artist's semen."
Citing an unidentified source, the Post said the intruder left typewritten notes at all four locations that read: "I mixed my semen in some acrylic gel medium and I painted it in the right hand corner of this piece of art. It is an artistic reference to the silent power of the biological sciences."I dunno. Art that requires an explanatory essay from the artist doesn't appeal to me all that much. Oh yeah, neither does spunked up art.
*My apologees to each and every one of you for such a horrible and easy joke. Well, every one of you except you. You know who you are.
Posted by fad at 2:21pm
There aren't many details yet on the suspected bomb explosion in Germany, but I wanted to point out one that does exist.
Local radio reports said "thousands" of nails were lying on the street and speculated they were part of the bomb.Imagine how much of the brain must be warped or shut down in order to choose to put all those nails into your bomb knowing full well what they would do if you successfully planted it.
Posted by fad at 1:32pm
Since I know you all are desperate for more knowledge about me, here is a Random! Fact!
My full name uses all the vowels except that bastard son of a bitch, "y". Some day he'll pay for what he did to me and my family. There's only so much cabbage in this world. He can't hide forever.
Posted by fad at 11:32am
I've spent two days trying to come up with encapsulating jokes for this and came up with nothin'. Therefore, like I do with all other things in life, I'm giving up.
Posted by fad at 10:14am
Thank God Carrie wasn't nearby, or there might have been some serious shit thrown down after this.
A truck carrying 9,000 gallons of pig's blood was rear-ended and spilled its entire cargo on the German autobahn Wednesday, forcing the highway to close for several hours.As I've typed many times before, the scariest cargo I ever followed was a tanker labeled "Liquid Fish Product". A spill of that would have tainted the land for many seasons.
Posted by fad at 7:10am
Robert "My Belly's Full, So What's Your Problem?" Mugabe enters a final phase in land siezure by pledging to nationalize all remaining unsiezed farmland. A government minister then issued the battle cry of failed systems.
"It will now be the state which will enable the utilization of the land for national prosperity.""National prosperity" being Mugabe and his cronies. Those who oppose Mugabe aren't really part of the nation, you know.
The opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, expressed concern that state ownership of all land would merely give the government another means to exert control over the population.Heavens, no! Why, the state is merely the purest expression of The People™, therefore its every action is in their best interest. If you get screwed in the process, well your little individual concerns are nothing compared to the greater will and good of The People™. Every action of the state works out for the best of the whole, so piss off, egotist. Remember, as Polly Toynbee says, only the state can give people those things that make them happy. So next time someone gives you something that makes you happy, ask them if they got it from the state. If they didn't, spit on it and throw it back at them for daring to perpetuate the divisive lie that happiness can be found in individual exchanges.
Posted by fad at 6:57am
"Group: Poverty a security threat to U.S."
Poverty and disease in places such as Afghanistan, Haiti and Somalia pose serious threats to U.S. national security but are frequently overlooked by American policy-makers, a group of former U.S. government officials said Tuesday.Though flirting very close to the "root cause" idea which blames the US for not paying everyone's way even more, there are valid points there. Failed states run by tyrants and thieving thugs are incredibly inviting to those who would kill us to come in and set up shop (sorry for the cliche. it's early and I've been unwell). But then we read this paragraph.
[...]
"Weak and failed states pose a 21st century threat to U.S. security, interests and values," the report said. "But the U.S. government institutions charged with meeting this threat are relics of the mid-20th century."
"The situations in Iraq and Afghanistan warn of the serious consequences for our security when we allow governments to collapse and chaos to reign," the report said.Leave aside the Iraq comment. They are suggesting it is bad that we "allow[ed]" the Taliban to "collapse" and got rid of most of those terror camps. That reduced our security. Something is starting to sound fishy about this "group". Let's see if the last paragraph has any more information on them.
Members of the panel included former Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara and former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering.McNamara and Pickering. Yup, my Portable Batshit Detector just exploded spraying Baco-Bits everywhere.
This is what is known as the "Press Release as News Item" laziness of the wire services. Not one ounce of reporting was done here. Not one bit of journalism is involved. This is pure, uncritical funnelling of some group's views by the media. Real service to the citizenry, there.
Posted by fad at 6:41am
June 8th, 2004
Posted by fad at 5:47pm
June 6th, 2004
UPDATE: Oh yeah, two other things. Fred and George seem to be trying to do their best at David St. Hubbins look-a-liking.
And, with the early "Something Wicked This Way Comes" thingy, I liked how the first thing to start moving in the playground was the merry-go-round/carousel.
Ok, come inside if you want the spoilerish stuff.
Posted by fad at 1:19pm
I do have to say, it is very strange to be watching American style football being played in Olympic Stadium in Berlin on D-Day.
Posted by fad at 12:56pm
Post deleted. Told ya it was just for one day.
Posted by fad at 12:28pm
There will be no long D-Day or Reagan posts here. Those will be handled better many times elsewhere. D-Day for me has come to be a battle that allows us to personalize and distill the sacrifices and courage of everyone during that war, especially, as well, those who endured hell in the Pacific Theater who often seem overlooked.
As for Reagan, I spent his presidency loathing his policies and considering him a well meaning, but dangerous fool. I have, of course, grown up since then. Instead of considering any policy or actual action, at this point I prefer to consider his philosophy of optimism and love of the idea of liberty.
I do know that I will be avoiding most media coverage this week. It will be hard to watch many of those who so openly disdained the man and what he believed in be charged with setting his place in history. Add in that in reaction to that many will be attempting hagiography will make it extra annoying. It will be impossible, after yesterday's initial coverage, to avoid politicizing of this. Hell, Bill Bennett couldn't even get through 10 minutes yesterday without making what I'm sure he thought was a sly Clinton crack. Not that I really expect much more from Bennett.
Posted by fad at 11:53am