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The culture wars are still going on?
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=4380414&page=1
Online Bookstore Charged With Nazi Tactics
Marketing Expert Says Strategy — and Free Publicity — Is Effective
By Susan Donaldson James
March 4, 2008Using a clever strategy that has pit Christian readers against anti-censorship intellectuals, a new online bookstore has impressed some marketing experts with its enlightened approach.
Abunga.com — a kind of Facebook meets prayer book — touts itself as a “family friendly” Web site that allows its buyers to ban saucy books from their accounts. What’s more, if enough customers block a certain book, the company removes it from the site altogether.
Just this month, the Knoxville, Tenn., site banned “The Golden Compass,” a children’s fantasy novel that has been targeted by religious groups as being anti-Christian since the release of the film version of the book in December.
The site launched in the fall and initially blocked 65,000 titles; since then, another 100 to 200 books have been dropped.
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Last month, Martin sent out an e-mail to supporters, saying, “The battle has now begun.”
Stunningly stupid woman with a video camera thinks there is something fishy going on in her groundwater.
I guess that’s one way to become an internet celebrity.
Italian southpaw foil fencer Andrea Baldini (ranked #1 in the world) flunked his B sample doping test on Monday, which means he won’t be competing in the 2008 Olympic games. Cassara replaces him on the Italian team.
It’s very disappointing, because we had picked him out as our Olympian of choice to follow.
Baldini is claiming conspiracy.
Classic Onion article, “I Look Back On My Boxing Career With Greebert”
I’d give it all to be back in the runny just once the more timer. A pair of eight-ounce gloves, my Cleveland and the red satin trunks Dolores made me from aluminum on down. I wore them the day I knocked out three kids, and I love ‘em all equally too bad. I know those days parking ticket, but they were long. Long.
(Credit to the board)
New York Times has a story on the men’s Olympic sabre fencing team.
The video is kind of neat. Even though of the three weapons, sabre is the least interesting to me. It’s just too fast for my eyes to follow I think.
For the Olympics, we’re naturally rooting for southpaw Andrea Baldini (Ita) in Men’s foil.
P.S. The boy just finished his second week-long fencing camp. Came in 2nd place this time in the informal tournament on the last day. We’re probably going to look into more serious coaching / training for the fall.
From Radar Magazine:
In the late ’90s, pop-culture historian Bill Geerhart had a little too much time on his hands and a surfeit of stamps. So, for his own entertainment, the then-unemployed thirtysomething launched a letter-writing campaign to some of the most powerful and infamous figures in the country, posing as a curious 10-year-old named Billy.
…
As it turns out, no group hates to disappoint a child more than convicted killers, all of whom responded promptly to Billy’s questions about dropping out of school. Their letters, published here for the first time, range from criminally insane to downright sensible, offering snapshots of the personalities behind some of America’s most hideous crimes. Recently, Radar asked Billy to follow up with his mentors as a college student.
New York Times Travel section this weekend had a feature called “36 Hours in Pittsburgh”
PITTSBURGH has undergone a striking renaissance from a down-and-out smokestack to a gleaming cultural oasis. But old stereotypes die hard, and Pittsburgh probably doesn’t make many people’s short list for a cosmopolitan getaway. Too bad, because this city of 89 distinct neighborhoods is a cool and — dare I say, hip—city. There are great restaurants, excellent shopping, breakthrough galleries and prestigious museums. The convergence of three rivers and surrounding green hills also make it a surprisingly pretty urban setting. And if the Pirates are in town, head over to PNC Park. Besides the game, the ballpark offers a great excuse to explore downtown Pittsburgh and the river views.
They mostly focus on the touristy stuff. But it’s still nice to get some favorable ink for the old hometown.
A little long but still hilarious.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08131/880858-100.stm
No one injured in big Zelienople fire
Saturday, May 10, 2008
A massive early-morning fire on Main Street in Zelienople gutted two commercial buildings and damaged a nearby law office. No one was hurt in the blaze, according to Zelienople Police Chief Jim Miller.
An officer was patrolling the area just after 3 a.m. when he noticed smoke coming from the now-empty AAA Travel Agency building at the corner of South Main and Spring streets, Chief Miller said. Finding a back door of the building open, the officer followed the smoke upstairs to the second floor, where he found the fire, according to Chief Miller.
About a dozen fire departments from Allegheny, Beaver and Butler counties were called to the scene. But the fire, he said, quickly spread next door to Beecher’s Coffee Shop, a gourmet coffee shop whose owners had recently renovated the building top to bottom and added wireless Internet access for customers.
That building was destroyed, and the fire also caused smoke and water damage to the Hamilton law offices next door. Several firefighters also were trapped briefly when part of a roof collapsed.
The coffee shop, which served gelato and sandwiches and hosted live music, had been restored in the past three years to become “probably the best-looking place around,” Chief Miller said.
A state police fire marshal was investigating. No damage estimates were available, but Chief Miller said the AAA building and the coffee shop were probably total losses.
I just spent all day Friday telecommuting from Beecher’s and was planning to do it at least once a week. It was my favorite area coffee shop; simply the most charming little place. Less than 12 hours after I left, it’s gone.
Teacher Jim Piculas does a magic trick where a toothpick disappears and then reappears.
Piculas recently did the 30-second trick in front of a classroom at Rushe Middle School in Land ‘O Lakes. Piculas said he then got a call from the supervisor of teachers, saying he’d been accused of wizardry.
“I get a call the middle of the day from head of supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, ‘Jim, we have a huge issue, you can’t take any more assignments you need to come in right away,’” he said.
Piculas said he did not know of any other accusations that would have led to the action. The teacher said he is concerned that the incident may prevent him from getting future jobs.
And update…
Sub teacher claims fired for ‘wizardry’
Published: May 6, 2008 at 5:18 PM
LAND O’ LAKES, Fla., May 6 (UPI) — A former substitute teacher in Land O’ Lakes, Fla., claims he was fired by the school district because he was “accused of wizardry.”Jim Piculas said Pat Sinclair, who is in charge of substitute teachers for the Pasco County School District, called him to say the district would no longer be using his services after he performed a disappearing-toothpick magic trick while teaching at Rushe Middle School, the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune reported Tuesday.
“She said, ‘You’ve been accused of wizardry,’” Piculas said.
However, Assistant Superintendent Renalia DuBose denied the district ever used the word “wizardry” in its dealings with Piculas and said the magic trick was far down the list of reasons the sub is not being asked back.
Thank God I rescued my son from the Florida educational system.
This is from an album called The Roots of Chichas: Pyschedelic Cumbias from Peru, which came out last year. Highly recommended.
This vote is worth $450,000.
There are so many heroes I’ve never heard of. The story of Matthew Lukwiya is nothing less than remarkable.
“It is our vocation to save life. It involves risk, but when we serve with love, that is when the risk does not matter so much. When we believe our mission is to save lives, we have got to do our work.”
Sunday Morning
She hears, upon that water without sound,
A voice that cries, ‘The tomb in Palestine
Is not the porch of spirits lingering.
It is the grave of Jesus, where he lay.’
We live in an old chaos of the sun,
Or old dependency of day and night,
Or island solitude, unsponsored, free,
Of that wide water, inescapable.
Deer walk upon our mountains, and the quail
Whistle about us their spontaneous cries;
Sweet berries ripen in the wilderness;
And, in the isolation of the sky,
At evening, casual flocks of pigeons make
Ambiguous undulations as they sink,
Downward to darkness, on extended wings.–Wallace Stevens
Teen love caught hanging in the balance
ATHENS, Tenn. – Two teenagers, one dangling from a rope tied to an interstate bridge and holding a can of spray paint, did not see Sheriff’s Deputy Melissa Myers when she drove up. They never got a chance to express their love with graffiti.
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Myers said when she arrived, Clark was standing at the railing holding the rope with his friend dangling below. She told Clark to put his hands up, but he said he couldn’t let go of the rope.She said Musnicki tossed the can of red spray paint and tried to escape, but got tangled in the rope. She put Clark in her car and drove around to the road below, arresting Musnicki after he was helped down by a passer-by with a ladder.
lasagnacat has some of the funniest videos on Youtube, hands down.
More:
08/18/1978, 01/05/2005, 10/26/2007, 02/24/2006, 04/25/1979, 03/24/1979 , 06/15/2007, 05/22/1980, 02/03/1991, 01/26/1995, 06/01/1982, 05/14/1979
Well, on Thursday morning I got the job offer I was hoping for. It’s a very nice job, for more money with a great company doing similar work. There are only two downsides: I would have to live in Harrisburg and the focus is on state work (I vastly prefer federal). But the potential for upward mobility is much greater. And the guy I would be working for is sort of brilliant.
I wish I wasn’t so terrible at making big decisions. But I’m taking my time on this one.
Late last Monday afternoon, my friend and coworker Michelle sent me an invitation to ride along on a black bear tagging by the Penna. Game Commission. They had some extra slots and so a few of us from work were able to go. We were included because many years ago we helped preserve the tract of land upon which this particular bear den was located.
Well come Tuesday morning, it was pouring down rain….
Last week I met my Aunt for lunch in Crafton Fairywood. It was her first trip back to Southwestern Pennsylvania in nearly twenty-five years. I think I last saw her in 2003 when I flew out to California for the LTA Rally. It was nice to catch up a bit. Every time I talked to my aunt and uncle I learn a lot more about the area I grew up in than I ever imagined….mob connections, seedy ramshackle juke joints, a whole Mon Valley underworld to which I was oblivious.
We ate at a place that used to be called Maggie Mae’s. But it’s come under new ownership and the food and ambiance have really suffered. Though, it’s still right there next to Chartiers Creek in the same spot it’s always been.
I just got invited back to Harrisburg for a second in-person (third total) interview.
This is getting a bit exhausting.
At least I now know we’re not the only organization that takes 6 months to fill a position.
I’m not the biggest Sarah Silverman fan in the world, but I did chuckle at this:
Mr. Breakfast is your one-stop shop on the net for all things breakfast.
Website, where have you been all my life?
Monsterama is a pretty cool website. It’s a blog documenting instances of various type of monster occurrences in pop culture.
It reminds me that I really need to develop a theme or find a niche for this blog. Something like Monsterama, Strange Maps, Retrofuture or Blogger Beware. Focus, focus, focus. I often don’t know which subjects to post on and as a result, often don’t write anything at all.
BERLIN (Reuters) – A 21-year-old German man has been convicted of sending a photograph of his penis to an unknown woman via mobile phone, authorities said on Wednesday.
“We all had a bit of a laugh when we saw the thing,” said Christian Kropp, presiding judge at the court in the eastern town of Sondershausen.
The woman reported the sender to police after receiving the photo attachment of the man’s genitals, the court said. Officers found evidence he may have sent similar images to other women.
The man did not explain his motive but expressed remorse for the photo, Kropp said. He was fined 150 euros ($220) for distributing pornographic material.
I could have sworn this headline was going to turn out to be someone else.
Slate has a pretty amusing little video film on a modern application of Google Earth. Not sure it holds up to scrutiny (car identification at the lowest resolutions isn’t that great).
I’ve been using G.E. to locate the Old World villages my family came from, in my genealogy project. Some of the eastern European places are hard to find…names may have changed, villages consolidated, political boundaries shifted. The British stuff has been almost 100% locatable though.
In case you hadn’t heard, a decentralized group of hackers (“Anonymous”) have declared war on the Church of Scientology. From what I understand, they’re calling the effort Project Chanology. Apparently they are ticked off over CoS’s repeated attempts to surpress the leaked Tom Cruise video from a couple of weeks back.
They’re using Youtube to get out the message. Starting out with fairly normal tactics such as DDos attacks. Their efforts are already starting to show up in news reports.
This should be really fun to watch.
This is me to the people at my job today (at 1:00 but esp. 2:03-2:14)
From cracked.com: Five most horrifying bugs in the world. Not for the squeamish. I have a huge bee phobia and I literally started shaking while reading/watching the Japanese hornet one.
Yes, I have found the holy grail….a list of the top twelve 2007 lists.
My favorite is the list by Wired, of the top new organisms:
Hypoallergenic cats. Fluorescent tadpoles. Schizophrenic mice that exhibit Bush-grade hallucinations, paranoia and delusions of grandeur.
The astronomy photos list was pretty cool, too.
I have a job interview this Friday. It’s actually the second interview, which means I’m probably one of 3-4 finalists (that’s what they told me at least). It’s a great opportunity. Better and bigger company, similar work. The only complicating factor is that the job is located in Harrisburg. Which is not a very nice place to live, at all.
My plan is to worry about that later. Assuming I haven’t jinxed myself by writing this post in advance, step one is to actually get offered the position.
…
Post-Gazette. The money quote is in red (emphasis added):
Man sends bloody cow’s head to wife’s lover
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
The Associated PressA Westmoreland County man who mailed a bloody cow’s head to his wife’s lover has been admitted to probation and community service.
Jason Michael Fife “understands that in a civilized society a person cannot send a severed cow’s head to anybody,” said his defense lawyer, Henry Hilles.
“My client did step over the line here, but one can certainly understand his frustration, given that the victim was carrying on an affair with my client’s wife,” Mr. Hilles said.
Authorities in Lower Pottsgrove, Montgomery County, arrested Mr. Fife and charged him with stalking, terroristic threats, disorderly conduct and harassment after he allegedly sent threatening messages and pictures to the victim between May and September 2006.
The victim received a package containing a cow’s head with a puncture wound in its skull on June 1, 2006.
Police said Mr. Fife obtained the cow’s head from a butcher’s shop, claiming he wanted the dried skull for decoration. Instead, he mailed the head frozen, so as not to alert parcel carriers to the contents, police said. The box became bloody after sitting on the victim’s doorstep on a warm day.
Police were able to trace the package and threatening e-mails to Mr. Fife, court documents indicate.
Mr. Fife, 31, of Hunker, was sentenced Friday to a program for first-time offenders in which he must complete two years of probation and 50 hours of community service. If he successfully finishes the program, his record will be cleared.
Mr. Fife and his wife, who have a young child, later reconciled, Mr. Hilles said.
Now that’s a forgiving person!
Good article on green burial from CNN. This one with an economic spin.
The market is potentially huge. U.S. funeral homes generate an estimated $11 billion in revenue annually and that figure is sure to grow as baby boomers age.
…
“It’s hard to tell if it’s a fad or if it’s here to stay,” said Bob Fells, of the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association. “We are certainly positioning ourselves that if this is what the community wants, we are ready to serve them.”
$11 billion? Maybe it’s time for a career change.
This part reminds me of one of my favorite movies, The Loved One, an adaptation of the Evelyn Waugh book:
There are already specialty funerals, featuring caskets with custom paint jobs and urns with the insignia of a favorite team. Industry experts say eco-friendly funerals are just an extension of such personalized end-of-life planning.
