Annoyingly Clueless

Illegal Immigration

2010-05-17T08:26:00.006+03:00

Facebook. The place where you stumble over things you had no idea you needed to know the existance of.

One of my "friends" shared a link with me, to YouTube, to a Ray Stevens (aka Harold Ray Ragsdale) song called "Come to the USA".

Well, the lyrics are fun and the music is what it is. Ironically, none of it is true.

Whatever. What I love with the YouTube is basically the comments on these sorts of things.

As a small example, how about this ( a comment on the above mentioned song):

"The illegals can get a TIN number Taxpayer identification number so we want their money and we want them to pick fruit and do the nasty jobs but we don't want to give them a fighting chance. They don't get welfare that is where everyone is wrong!!!!!!!! Only their children who are citizens can get it. They can even get driver's license and insurance to make it safe for us on the road. Above all they can't even get a credit card."

I simply LOVE that last sentence!

Been a while

2010-02-27T13:43:00.002+02:00

Oh, man...

To my great shame I noticed that I have been as lazy as the laziest thing on earth for a few months. No need for me to try the "I needed it", "it felt good" or "the time off I deserved" explenations here. I still know the fact; I am lazy.

- sigh! -

Well. A new year, and hopefully new and happy things to write about!

Here is one topic, amongst earthquakes and tsunamis:

USA scores six times in first period, blow out Finland 6-1 and advance to final.

Yep. The proud isehockeynation Finland forgot they could use those scates in Vancouver Olympics.

Now I am, not only ashamed. I feel embarrassed too.

Perhaps it is better for me to crawl back to the hole I came from.

Dogs used as shark bait

2009-10-15T16:57:00.003+03:00

I stumbled over a group, on Facebook of course, that claimed people are using live dogs as shark bait. The picture, and the text, was so terrifying I had to do some research. I simply could not believe that this thing was true. And from the comments I read all over the net, I was not alone. Many people simply claimed that all was a hoax.

Well. Let's see what I found:

National Geographic, 19 October 2005:

"Dogs Used as Shark Bait on French Island

Live and dead dogs and cats are being used as shark bait by amateur fishers on the French-controlled island of Réunion, according to animal-welfare organizations and local authorities."

The Sun, 28 Sep 2005:

"Stray dogs are being skewered on hooks and dragged behind boats as live shark bait, The Sun can shockingly reveal. The cruel practice takes place on French-controlled Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, where Prince William spent two holidays."

ThruthOrFiction.com, 16 Feb 2009:

"In September of 2005, the government of Réunion responded to the outcries by passing into law a bill that would make it illegal for fishing boats to carry any dogs or cats, alive or dead.

Shortly after the law was enacted the article said "the first court case was held involving a person charged with using live dogs as bait. Authorities had found a seven-month-old puppy on John Claude Clain's property in July with three fishing hooks in its paws and snout." This resulted in a 5000 euro fine for Clain."

So the conclusion is; Sadly enough, they really use (or, at least used) live dogs as shark bait.

2009-08-29T15:57:00.002+03:00

I was never into racing with animals, until I met John about a year and a half ago. I have found that greyhound racing is cool - and fun!

One of his "pets", Chill Out Cocoa", had a couple of great races. Here is one; look how he enjoy the running!

Listen to what John have to say:

"Video of my racing greyhound, "Chill Out Cocoa," from November 2000 at Belle Vue, Manchester, where he absolutely flew out of trap 1 and led all the way. Born 12th October 1996, he lived with us after he'd finished racing until we had to have him put to sleep on 25th January 2009."

If the embeded clip is slow, please visit the original HERE!

Mafia Wars

2009-08-20T12:26:00.003+03:00

The basic idea behind the online game "Mafia Wars" by Zynga is simple; Start your Mafia family, Run 3 kinds of crime business and eventually try to rule all of New York City and eventually the entire island of Cuba.

OK, great, so how do you do this?

Your 2 main goals are pretty simple, grow your family and level up. Recruit as many people into your mafia family as possible to gain strength. You want as many people doing jobs for the family as well as a lot of people for fights. The more people you have the better off you are. Recruiting is pretty simple, first invite your friends and after that there are loads of places on Facebook and other social networks to find new recruits. Remember, to have someone to join in your mafia family you will have to make them your friend on Facebook or Tagged.

You level up by doing various jobs and winning fights. As you increase in level you will have the opportunity to gain more properties, better weapons and other inventory items as well as earn money.

The game itself is really addictive once you start. You will find yourself signing in just to see if you made any money or if anything new has happened. IT can get crazy but all in all it's a lot of fun. To start playing just do a search for Mafia Wars on Facebook. It is also available for yahoo and MySpace and I am pretty sure the iphone now too.

Here are the links, please add me as a friend ;)

Mafia Wars on Facebook
Mafia Wars on Tagged

Modern Pirates

2009-04-17T06:18:00.003+03:00

"Armed pirates chased, boarded and hijacked a fishing trawler underway southeast of Mogadishu, Somalia."

"Several persons armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machetes attempting to climb onboard with use of rope at Lagos anchorage, Nigeria."

Reading the International Maritime Bureau's Live Piracy Report a catalog of piracy reports from around the world, two names crop up with disturbing frequency: Somalia and Nigeria.

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has more than doubled this year, threatening to make international trade more expensive and offering terrorists a new source of income, says one report.

During the last three weeks those Somali pirates have attacked over 20 ships and hijacked 9 of them.

The level of violence associated with the attacks is rising, with serious harm and even murder of seamen becoming increasingly common.

I find it very strange that the International community can not handle these pirates as the trash they are. Is this what the combined military forces of the western world is worth these days?

Playing around with Lego

2009-04-13T14:32:00.004+03:00

While most Christians mark Easter with prayers and song, one Swedish church opened its mass Sunday by unveiling a life-size Lego statue of Jesus Christ.

Churchgoers had donated nearly 30,000 Lego bricks to build the 1.78 metre (5.8 foot) high statue, said Per Wilder, the pastor of the Önsta Gryta Church in Västerås, about 110 kilometres (70 miles) west of Stockholm.

"This work began a year and a half ago so we saw that the initiation date was fitting in well (with this year's Easter holiday)," the local pastor Per Wilder said.

"It is a fantastic installation and it will be there as long as we think it is in a good spot," he said.

"All those I spoke with were full of praise, saying how fantastic the model looks and how much good work we put into this," Wilder said.

The model was based on Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsens's 19th century work Christus, which depicts the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Wilder said the statue would remain permanently at the church and there were no plans to sell it to raise funds.

It took the 40 volunteers about 18 months to put all the tiny plastic blocks together, and their creation shows a standing Jesus facing forward with his arms outstretched.

The Protestant church was filled to capacity with about 400 worshippers on Sunday when the statue went on display behind the altar, and some of the children in the congregation couldn't help but touch the white art work.

Good Friday

2009-04-10T15:45:00.005+03:00

Good Friday, also called Holy Friday, Great Friday or Black Friday, is a religious holiday observed primarily by adherents to Christianity commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Golgotha, an event central to Christian theology. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and often coincides with the Jewish observance of Passover.

So what holy and good things do we find from this day in our news. Let's have a look so far:

....

Guessed so. What I find is the normal Crucifictions we se every average day:

- American held hostage by Somali pirates fails in escape bid. Richard Phillips jumped into sea and tried to swim away but was recaptured by the pirates.
- Iraq suicide bombing kills five U.S. soldiers. Five U.S. soldiers were killed Friday in a suicide bombing in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the U.S. military said.

and:
- Wells Fargo boosts stocks. U.S. bank Wells Fargo (WFC.N) forecast a record profit, South Korea steered clear of recession, and Chinese export data beat expectations, all offering hope that the worst of the financial crisis had passed.

Now.
I am not a very religious guy, but I DO like to hear some good news, that aren't based on economy only, every once in a while. Eastern should be made out of soulsearching.

Happy Eastern to all of You's - Do NOT kill eachother out there. Let's NOT make a Black Friday out of this Good Friday!

Chatterbox, 1905

2009-04-02T23:08:00.006+03:00

THE WAY TO WIN.

'I wish I could win one!' a lassie was sighing,
When sitting quite still in a meadow one day,
And thinking of prizes not won without trying--
Not won by mere wishing as time slips away.

And as she sat wishing she heard a hen clucking;
She lifted her eyes and that hen she could see,
And soon it was rapidly scratching and chucking--
As gay and as busy and glad as could be.

She watched how it struggled to upturn a treasure,
A thing it was wishing for, something to eat,
A worm to be dug for with patience and pleasure!
'Twas found, and it gave Henny-Penny a treat!

That worm the hen wished for she could not have eaten
Unless she had scratched it right up from the ground;
And Mabel had seen that the hen was not beaten--
By carefully _working_ the prize had been found.

So Mabel thought quietly over the matter,
And learnt the good lesson, 'No prize can be won
By thinking and wishing, by waiting and chatter!'
And soon she jumped up and to work she begun.

D. H.

April Fools' Day

2009-04-01T09:27:00.002+03:00

April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day, although not a holiday in its own right, is a notable day celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, enemies, and neighbors, or sending them on fool's errand, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible.

Some of the most famous hoaxes throughout history:

1957: The respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied, "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

1962: In 1962 there was only one tv channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station's technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that, thanks to a new technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to display color reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their tv screen. Stensson proceeded to demonstrate the process. Thousands of people were taken in. Regular color broadcasts only commenced in Sweden on April 1, 1970.

1976: The British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio 2 that at 9:47 AM a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event was going to occur that listeners could experience in their very own homes. The planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, temporarily causing a gravitational alignment that would counteract and lessen the Earth's own gravity. Moore told his listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment that this planetary alignment occurred, they would experience a strange floating sensation. When 9:47 AM arrived, BBC2 began to receive hundreds of phone calls from listeners claiming to have felt the sensation. One woman even reported that she and her eleven friends had risen from their chairs and floated around the room.

1998: The April 1998 issue of the New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter contained an article claiming that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi from 3.14159 to the 'Biblical value' of 3.0. Soon the article made its way onto the internet, and then it rapidly spread around the world, forwarded by email. It only became apparent how far the article had spread when the Alabama legislature began receiving hundreds of calls from people protesting the legislation. The original article, which was intended as a parody of legislative attempts to circumscribe the teaching of evolution, was written by physicist Mark Boslough.

'Angel' Star Andy Hallett dead

2009-03-31T17:23:00.005+03:00

'Angel' Star Andy Hallett Dies at 33.

Andy Hallett, the actor who portrayed the cheerful green-skinned demon Lorne on the TV series 'Angel,' has died from heart failure following a five-year battle against heart disease, according to E! Online. His friend and agent Pat Brady confirmed that the actor passed away at the age of 33 on Sunday night at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles with his father Dave Hallett by his side.

The actor and musician appeared in more than 70 episodes of Joss Whedon's series 'Angel' between 2000 and 2004 and contributed two songs to the 'Angel: Live Fast, Die Never' soundtrack, released in 2005.

Andy Hallett was born 4 August 1975 in the tiny Cape Cod village of Osterville, part of the town of Barnstable. He attended Barnstable High School and then Assumption College in Worcester. Always shy, he didn't begin singing until Patti LaBelle invited him onstage at a concert. After moving to Los Angeles he worked as a runner for an agency and then as a property manager and personal assistant. When "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997) creator Joss Whedon saw Hallett singing in a Universal City blues revue, Whedon conceived the character of The Host, an anagogic demon who reads people when they open up through singing karaoke. Hallett was invited to try out and got the part, his first job ever as an actor.

Gremlins

2009-03-25T10:05:00.007+02:00

A gremlin is an English folkloric creature, commonly depicted as mischievous and mechanically oriented, with a specific interest in aircraft.

The word "gremlin" originated in Royal Air Force (RAF) aviators' slang in Malta, the Middle East and India, with the earliest recorded printed use being in a poem published in the journal Aeroplane, in Malta on April 10, 1929.

The concept of gremlins responsible for sabotaging aircraft was popularised during World War II among airmen of the UK's RAF, in particular the men of the high-altitude Photographic Reconnaissance Units. The creatures were responsible for otherwise inexplicable accidents which sometimes occurred during their flights.

Gremlins were also thought at one point to have enemy sympathies, but investigations revealed that enemy planes had similar and equally inexplicable mechanical problems. As such, gremlins were portrayed as being equal opportunity tricksters, taking no sides in the conflict, and acting out their mischief from their own self-interests.

In reality, the gremlins were a form of "buck passing" or deflecting blame. This led the folklorist John Hazen to note, "Heretofore, the gremlin has been looked on as new phenomenon, a product of the machine age — the age of air."

Author Roald Dahl is credited with getting the gremlins known outside of the air force. In January, 1942 he was transferred to Washington, D.C. as Assistant Air attaché. There he eventually authored his novel The Gremlins, in which he described male gremlins as "widgets" and females as "fifinellas". Dahl showed the finished manuscript to Sidney Bernstein, the head of the British Information Service. Sidney reportedly came up with the idea to send it to Walt Disney.

Thanks mainly to Disney, the story had its share of publicity which helped in introducing the concept to a wider audience.

A famous example of the more modern gremlins is the 1984 movie Gremlins and its 1990 sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. The gremlins in these movies had nothing obvious to do with aircraft in particular, although they were portrayed as adept at subverting or sabotaging mechanical systems; more explicit connections between the films' Gremlins and those of folklore were drawn in the novelizations however.

Strangely, the gremlins in these movies look nothing like the ones of folkloric mythology as they appear as monsters with large ears that are similar to a bat's, sharp teeth and claws, red eyes, and dark reptilian skin; however they are very mischievous.

42-piece dinner set made from cocaine

2009-03-22T10:33:00.004+02:00

BARCELONA, Spain, March 20 -- Authorities in Spain said they have seized a 42-piece dinner set made from 45 pounds (20 kg) of cocaine and arrested the intended recipient.

It was an entire 42-piece crockery set, with plates, bowls, cups and saucers fit to honour any group of diners – especially if they had a serious drug habit.

Police said a 35-year-old Spanish man, identified only as JVLL, was arrested and charged with an offense against public health after police seized the package in an international operation coordinated with Venezuela, where the package originated, The Times of London reported Friday.

Investigators said they believe JVLL was forced into the deal by Venezuelan drug lords. The cocaine was intercepted after a tip-off about a suspicious package that had been sent by recorded delivery last month from Maracaibo. Police said that the drugs were meant to have been reprocessed and sold in Catalonia, northeast Spain.

Two weeks ago Spanish police arrested a Chilean man aged 66 with a broken leg whose “plaster cast” was made with cocaine. The man, who was arrested at Barcelona airport, also carried six cans of beer and two hollowed-out stools that contained the drug. Altogether, he was in possession of 4.85kg of cocaine.

Bin Laden urges Somalis to topple new president

2009-03-19T14:32:00.007+02:00

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden urged Somalis in a new audio tape today to topple the new President, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.

"The war which has been taking place on your soil these past years is a war between Islam and the international crusade," bin Laden said, according to the group's own English translation of the tape.

"These sorts of presidents are the surrogates of our enemies and their authority is null and void in the first place, and as Sheikh Sharif is one of them, he must be dethroned and fought,"

The 11-and-a half minute recording was released by al-Qaeda's media arm As-Sahab and posted on militant websites known as clearing houses for Islamic messaging.

Focused entirely on Somalia and entitled "Fight on, champions of Somalia," it carried an often seen bin Laden photograph with a map of Somalia in the background. The Arabic audio had English subtitles.

Somalia, a nation of about 8 million people, has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 and then turned on each other.

Obama outraged with AIG

2009-03-17T10:06:00.006+02:00

Speaking before a group of small business owners, armed with a new plan to help struggling American employers keep their doors open, President Barack Obama first expressed his anger with insurance giant AIG.

Late last week it was reported that American International Group would issue 165 million dollars to its executives in the form of bonuses. But AIG is not a normal company, it’s only surviving because of government infusions. So far it’s received almost 170 billion dollars in federal rescue funds, tax payer money, to keep the company afloat and financial markets falling further. Bailout funds apparently have not been helping to sure up AIG’s bottom line. In early March AIG records show the company lost 61.7 billion dollars in the fourth quarter of last year; the greatest loss in history for a large corporation.

"It's hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay," Obama said.
"How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat."
"All across the country, there are people who work hard and meet their responsibilities every day, without the benefit of government bailouts or multimillion-dollar bonuses. And all they ask is that everyone, from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, play by the same rules."

During the tongue lashing of AIG, Mr. Obama choked up, explaining his anger was getting the best of him. The President reassured today’s audience that his administration “will pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses.” He noted that Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner was already in talks with AIG chairman Edward Liddy. Obama says the two men will rectify the situation. “Everybody involved needs to know this is not just about dollars and cents, it’s about values,” said the President.

Russian Professor Panarin Predicts End of U.S.

2009-03-13T09:05:00.005+02:00

For a decade, Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. For most of that time, he admits, few took his argument -- that an economic and moral collapse will trigger a civil war and the eventual breakup of the U.S. -- very seriously.

Prof. Panarin, 50 years old, is not a fringe figure. A former KGB analyst, he is dean of the Russian Foreign Ministry's academy for future diplomats. He is invited to Kremlin receptions, lectures students, publishes books, and appears in the media as an expert on U.S.-Russia relations.

A polite and cheerful man with a buzz cut, Mr. Panarin insists he does not dislike Americans. But he warns that the outlook for them is dire.

"There's a 55-45% chance right now that disintegration will occur," he says. "One could rejoice in that process," he adds, poker-faced. "But if we're talking reasonably, it's not the best scenario -- for Russia." Though Russia would become more powerful on the global stage, he says, its economy would suffer because it currently depends heavily on the dollar and on trade with the U.S.

Mr. Panarin posits, in brief, that mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation will trigger a civil war next fall and the collapse of the dollar. Around the end of June 2010, or early July, he says, the U.S. will break into six pieces -- with Alaska reverting to Russian control.

The professor says he's convinced that people are taking his theory more seriously. People like him have forecast similar cataclysms before, he says, and been right. He cites French political scientist Emmanuel Todd. Mr. Todd is famous for having rightly forecast the demise of the Soviet Union -- 15 years beforehand. "When he forecast the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1976, people laughed at him," says Prof. Panarin.

Iron Chef Cat Cora and her wife are both pregnant

2009-03-10T16:19:00.003+02:00

One pregnant lady can be a lot to handle - the cravings, the hormones, the nerves, the excitement - but two pregnant ladies? At the same time? Living under the same roof?

That could either be the perfect solution...or the perfect storm. Iron Chef Cat Cora and her wife, Jennifer Cora, are about to find out.

Together for nearly ten years, the Cora’s share a unique family story in which both women have carried the other’s biological child.

Cat’s pregnancy is a result of in-vitro fertilization with Jennifer’s embryo. The couple’s sons, Zoran (5 years old) and Caje (23 months), were both carried by Jennifer. She was artificially inseminated for her first pregnancy, but the second she carried to term using Cat’s embryo.

Way To Go! I say!

2009 DD45

2009-03-05T13:10:00.003+02:00

Close call.

An asteroid about the size of one that leveled more than 800 square miles of forest in Siberia a century ago just buzzed the Earth. The asteroid named 2009 DD45 was about 48,500 miles (74,800 km, 0.000482 AU) from Earth when it zipped past early Monday, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported. That is just twice as high as the orbits of some telecommunications satellites and about a fifth of the distance to the Moon.

"This was pretty darn close," astronomer Timothy Spahr of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said last Wednesday.

The space rock measured between 69 feet and 154 feet (20-50 meters) in diameter. The Planetary Society said that made it about the same size as the asteroid that exploded over Siberia in 1908.

NASA's orbital diagram of 2009 DD45 is found HERE.

The asteroid was only discovered three days before by the prolific asteroid hunter Robert McNaught at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia, when the space rock was already within 2,414,016 km (1½ million miles) of Earth and closing fast.

McNaught pointed out that the 2009 DD45 asteroid circles the sun every 18 months, but its path will not threaten this planet until the next century at the earliest.

Bill Gates - The House

2009-03-04T09:31:00.004+02:00

The latest issue of Vogue takes us inside the house of Bill Gates. Apparently the article in found Melinda Gates saying that iPods and iPhones are a no-no in the Gates household.

Mrs. Gates says:

“There are very few things that are on the banned list in our household. But iPods and iPhones are two things we don’t get for our kids.”

The house is a modern design in the Pacific lodge style, with classic features such as a large private library with a dome shaped roof and oculus (light well). The house also features an estate-wide server system running Windows, heated floors and driveways, and a pin worn by guests that upon entrance of a room automatically adjust temperature, music, and lighting based on the guest's preferences.

The 5 acres are planted in native alder, maple, and Douglas fir, kept as natural in appearance as possible. Most walkways are covered with slate. Concrete retaining walls are faced with sandstone and granite.

The Gates family's 11,500-square-foot inner sanctum is surprisingly modest, with four bedrooms and quarters for a nanny. A four-car garage is attached. The lower levels include a techno-playland family room and an exercise facility that is better appointed than many health clubs.

Take a virtual tour inside the Gates estate.

A Palme d’Or for Clint Eastwood

2009-02-26T09:13:00.002+02:00

Clint Eastwood, in Paris for the release of his film Gran Torino, was given the Palme d’Or of the Festival de Cannes by Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux at a private ceremony on wednesday, 25th February.

The American filmmaker has a long and trusting relationship with the Festival which first welcomed him for the first time in 1985 with Pale Rider. He has returned to present Bird, and then White Hunter, Black Heart, Mystic River and Changeling.

Over the years, the acknowledgement of his peers has met the growing fervor of international critics to acclaim a major artist who alone makes “the synthesis of the classicism and modernity of American cinema”.
The passion he incites in film lovers is one of admiration and respect, a natural response to his elegance and legendary reserve.

A few years after having paid tribute to Ingmar Bergman, the Festival de Cannes yesterday awarded a Palme d’Or to Clint Eastwood in homage to the talent of a grand master at the summit of his craft.

Festival de Cannes.

The Flat Earth Society

2009-02-19T14:21:00.004+02:00

Yet again, while surfing this wonderful thing called "The Net", i stumbled over something increadible: The Flat Earth Society.

"For over five hundred years humanity has believed the "round Earth" teachings of Efimovich and his followers. But all hope is not lost. For through all that time, a small but diligent band of individuals have preserved the knowledge of our planet's true shape. And now, after centuries in the Dark Ages, we believe that mankind as a whole is once again ready to embrace the truth that has forever been the Flat Earth Society. Using whatever means are deemed necessary and relying heavily on a callous disregard for the lives and well-being of our members, we have slowly but steadily been spreading the news."

The Flat Earth Society (also known as the International Flat Earth Society or International Flat Earth Research Society) is an organization that furthers the theory the Earth is flat rather than a sphere. The modern organization was founded by Englishman Samuel Shenton in 1956, and later led by Charles K. Johnson, who based the organization out of his home in Lancaster, California. After Johnson’s death in 2001, the Flat Earth Society weakened and decentralized, but there are recent attempts to create a more unified and worldwide movement.

"Associate Membership contribution of $10.00 a year, includes four (4) issue of FLAT EARTH NEWS and Membership Card. An 8 x 12 Color Certificate of Membership is $5.00 extra. Sustaining Member $25.00 a year; Patron $100.00 and up. One year of the quarterly (4 issues) FLAT EARTH NEWS and Membership Card and Certificate. $5.00 single copy. Each issue contains further proofs of the fact - earth IS flat. People of goodwill who seek the truth also known as the Facts are Welcome! We do not want members who are stupid, mindless, brute beasts with two feet whose only aim is to scoff or in some way 'harm' our work -- Facts, Logic, Reason, Sanity also known as commonsense, is our aim."

OMG! OMG! OMG!

Australian Red Cross

2009-02-10T18:44:00.003+02:00

Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009

The 2009 Victorian Bushfire Fund to assist individuals and communities affected by devastating bushfires in Victoria has been launched by the Premier John Brumby in partnership with Red Cross and the Federal Government.

An independent panel made up of community leaders will oversee the appeal Fund's operation.

Donations are continuing to flow in via the website and phone, and there has also been an overwhelmingly generous response from corporate Australia.

Donations can be made using our secure online donations form or by phoning 1800 811 700.

Please, go HERE and help now!

Pregnant American abducted, killed in Puerto Rico

2009-02-05T15:33:00.004+02:00

Or: Remember Your Cellphone

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A pregnant American tourist, Sara Kuszak, was killed Wednesday after she was abducted during a morning jog. Stuffed into the trunk of a car, she made a desperate call for help. About an hour later, she was found dead with her throat slashed.

The man was located because the FBI picked up a signal from the victim's cell phone, which he was carrying, investigating officer Arsenio Rodriguez said. Kuszak's fiance had called the FBI, but the department turned the case over to local police.

Kuszak, who moved to Savannah, Georgia, from San Francisco about five years ago, arrived Tuesday night in Puerto Rico, where she met up with her fiance and several friends.

"She was looking forward to the rest of her life with her fiance and her unborn baby," her friend Matt Daniel said in a phone interview from Georgia. "I'm just devastated. I don't know who would do something like that."

Kuszak, who worked on sailboats and part-time in real-estate and catering, was five months pregnant, friends said.

Original AP-post with pictures found HERE

Location of Lemuria

2009-01-24T12:36:00.005+02:00

Every now and then I find myself daydreaming, taking strange fiction as fact, and here is yet another fine example of things I consider "possible real" when I have that kind of sillyness going on... I think maybe the amount of wine I consume may have something to do with these attacks.

The following texts are picked from different sources on our wonderfully helpful internet:

"Lemuria was an ancient civilization which existed prior to and during the time of Atlantis. Physically, it is believed that Lemuria existed largely in the Southern Pacific, between North America and Asia/Australia. Lemuria is also sometimes referred to as Mu, or the Motherland (of Mu). At its peak of civilization, the Lemurian people were both highly evolved and very spiritual. While concrete physical evidence of this ancient continent may be difficult to find, many people "know" that they have a strong connection to Lemuria."

Sure. I've felt that connection too...

"Lemuria and Atlantis were super continents of the ancient world. The Lemurians’ land was located where a portion of the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea exists now and was a race of reptilian humanoids. (Note: Ancient Chinese Emperor’s believed themselves to be direct descendents from dragons.)

The Atlanteans were located according to Plato beyond the Pillars of Hercules which places it in the Atlantic. (They were fair in complexion and were believed to have been the forefathers to the Aryan bloodlines of blonde hair and blue eyes.)
Both of these Civilizations were far more advanced technologically and spiritually than our modern world."

Now we're getting somewhere! My ancestors were reptilian humanoids! That explains a lot! ;)

"The Lemurians were malevolent in nature and wanted to rid the planet of the Atlanteans and the mythology states that the Lemurians had help from an extra-terrestial race that helped them war against the Atlanteans. The war was devastating and no one came out on top really."

Right. So they all died, luckily for us...

"As the civilizations of Lemuria and Atlantis matured, conflict developed between the two. As a last resort to the struggle for control, they decided to attack the crystal temples which held the Firmament in place. Initially, the strategy was to destroy the Firmament above the enemy. However, they underestimated the effect of the destabilization of the Firmament.

Attacks were made simultaneously on the crystal temples, and so disrupted the structure of the Firmament in the heavens. This caused the end of the Firmament, and the falling of millions of gallons of water from the sky. This is historically and biblically known as the Great Flood."

What was left behind was not only a period of roughly 40 days of rain but a whole new world. The old histories of humanity had been virtually flooded away and all that was left were the oral stories and legends."

Ok, so here comes Noah. This is a good time to quit for this time, before we go into biblical proof. More wine!

Virginity for sale

2009-01-13T12:54:00.003+02:00

Natalie Dylan, a twenty two year old woman from San Diego, is not the first woman to try to auction off her virginity for money. But Natalie Dylan, which is a pseudonym (surprise!), appears to be the most successful so far in running up the bidding.

The highest bid for a night of passion with Natalie Dylan has come to $2.5 million. At least ten thousand men have out in bids to relieve Natalie Dylan, a cute brunette, of her virginity.

“I don’t have a moral dilemma with it,” says the pretty brunette. Ironically, Natalie has a bachelor's degree in Women's Studies from Sacramento State and wants to pursue a master's degree in Marriage & Family Therapy.

2009 Critics Choice Awards

2009-01-09T13:16:00.005+02:00

With a star-studded audience on-hand, the 14th Annual Broadcast Film Critics’ Association’s Critic’s Choice Awards were handed out at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Thursday night (January 8).

The Critics have chosen and it seems like they are all in favor for “Slumdog Millionaire.” The low budget film pulled in 5 awards for Best Picture, Best Director (Danny Boyle), Best Writer (Simon Beaufoy), Best Young Actress (Dev Patel) and Best Composer (A.R. Rahman).

The complete list of 2009 Critic’s Choice Awards Winners:

Best Picture: “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Director: Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Actor: Sean Penn, in “Milk”
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, in “Doubt” and Anne Hathaway, in “Rachel Getting Married” (tie)
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, in “The Dark Knight”
Best Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet, in “The Reader”
Best Writer: Simon Beaufoy, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Foreign Language Film: “Waltz With Bashir”, Ari Folman's animated documentary into the horrors of the 1982 Lebanon war.
Best Animated Film: “WALL-E”
Best Documentary: “Man On Wire”
Best Acting Ensemble: “Milk”
Best Young Actor/Actress: Dev Patel, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Composer: A.R. Rahman, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Song: “The Wrestler,” by Bruce Springsteen ("The Wrestler")
Best Action Film: “The Dark Knight”
Best Comedy Movie: “Tropic Thunder”
Best Picture made for television: "John Adams"
Joel Siegel award: Richard Gere

Tatiana Londono

2009-01-02T15:27:00.003+02:00

I had a peek at Google Hot Trends, where you can have a brief look at what people in US search for. I came across this name (?) Tatiana Londono, that said me absolutely nothing.

I did some searches myself, on Tatiana, and I learned that I could have a free wife from Russia, a couple of new friends on Facebook and some strange photographes with women doing things I had no idea they physically could. Well, I'm not so in to any of those, so I had to dig deeper.

I found a picture of a very fat man on TVNZ, a speech held by Tatiana from the University of Hamburg, one explanation of the word "londono" in esperanto (surprisingly enough it means London) and a very intriguing family tree of a Hungarian family.

I still have no clue of what, or who, this Tatiana Londono is.

Can anyone help me?

The first computer

2009-01-02T12:53:00.006+02:00

As we all know, the first computer is claimed to be ENIAC, short for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer. Eniac was an early electronic, digital, general-purpose, programmable computer. It was the first, digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems, although earlier machines had been built with some of these properties. ENIAC was designed and built to calculate artillery firing tables for the U.S. Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory.

Bla, bla.

All of that is completely bull, since in the early Bible it states that Eva used an Apple.

The following is supposedly a true story. To be included, besides being true, the story is most likely strange, weird, surprising, or funny.

Apple Corporation Sues Itself.[AP] In a move that has industrial analysts scratching their heads, Apple Computers has filed suit against Apple Computers Corporation. The company claims that Apple has violated the Look and Feel of their own machines which has helped to make the company famous. An Apple Spokesperson stated "This is no joke. If we don't protect our copyrighted interface, everyone will use it and we could lose the exclusive right. So it is in our best interests to sue anyone who uses the Macintosh Look and Feel, including ourselves."

The spokesperson says Apple has retained the prestigious LA law firm of Kukla, Fran and Ollie to spearhead the lawsuit. Apple's in house lawyers will defend.Long time Apple observer Ernest Dinklefwat stated that this is a sure sign that Apple has too many lawyers and not enough engineers. "In the old days Apple depended on its talented engineers to keep ahead of the competition, but now they have lost the edge, as well as their grasp on reality." The industry will be sure to watch this case closely. If Apple wins the suit against itself, this could mean a massive recall of all Macintosh and Lisa computers which will need to be converted to avoid all graphics and desktop metaphors and instead provide a simple terminal-like interface. Such a move would cause a massive digression in the personal computer market. Users of computers would be forced to learn to read, which could cause dangerous literacy among college students and professionals.

Kennedy Center Honours

2008-12-31T08:55:00.000+02:00

Caroline Kennedy hosted the 31st Annual Kennedy Center Honors, which taped Dec. 7, before she made headlines by announcing her political ambitions.

The six honorees this year are Ms. Streisand, actor Morgan Freeman, Texas singer George Jones, choreographer Twyla Tharp and rockers Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of the Who.

None of the honorees did much but wave, but there where a number of big name salutes:

Actor and director Clint Eastwood paid tribute to Freeman calling him "a great good luck charm".
In a video message, Queen Latifah said Streisand "threw out the rule book" to chart her own career. "She took to the stage like butter on a bagel," she added.
Broadway star Idina Menzel sang Don't Rain on My Parade from Streisand's 1964 musical Funny Girl, Beyonce sang The Way We Were and R&B singer Ne-Yo grooved to Streisand's 1965 hit Lover, Come Back to Me.

Another set of stars paid tribute to The Who in front of a neon-lit Union Jack, including rock singer Rob Thomas who sang Baba O'Riley.
Country stars Garth Brooks, Randy Travis, Alan Jackson and Shelby Lynne gave Jones a tip of the hat with performances of the star's work.

For Tharp's presentation, actress Lily Tomlin said Tharp saw dance everywhere she looked: "This is a woman who saw the Beach Boys and made a ballet."

First Lady Laura Bush took the stage to salute George Jones, saying "there's no getting tired of a singer like him". The First Dude sat in the audience.

Banned Words

2008-12-31T08:23:00.000+02:00

This was fun and interesting. We had a small discussion yesterday, with a friend of mine, about banned words and phrases on TV and radio. As so often happen, when there nowadays is a discussion about anything, someone pick up the old laptop and start playing around with a nonmentionable search engine.

This time however, every hit that came up showed a 404 or page not found error. Reaaally strrange, said us fellows with spooky voices, had another beer and forgot all about it.

So this morning (late afternoon) when I woke up, I decided to do some serious research. Here's some results from my huge efforts:

Lake Superior State University's 2009 list of banished words and phrases:

-green
-carbon footprint or carbon offsetting
-maverick
-first dude
-bailout
-Wall Street/Main Street
-monkey
-icon or iconic
-game changer
-staycation
-desperate search
-not so much
-winner of five nominations
-it's that time of year again

The school in Michigan's Upper Peninsula selected those 15 entries from about 5,000 nominations.

So I guess; After a desperate search on a green search-engine, I found not so much as a list worth a monkey or the first dude.