Aqua Teen Hunger Force is the Bomb T-Shirts

This didn't take very long.
(via Boing Boing)

And they've made an arrest already:

Peter Berdovsky, 27, a freelance video artist from Arlington, Massachusetts, was facing charges of placing a hoax device in a way that results in panic, as well as one count of disorderly conduct, said Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. The charge is a felony, she said.

According to his Web site, Berdovsky is a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art and a founding member of a video artists group called Glitch who goes by the nickname "Zebbler" and sings in a band called "Superfiction."

Authorities believe Berdovsky was "in the employ of other individuals" as part of the marketing campaign, Coakley said. "How exactly this was executed, we are still investigating." Berdovsky is scheduled for arraignment at 9 a.m. Thursday in Charlestown District Court.

So he is being charged with one count of disorderly conduct, one count of placing a hoax device in a way that results in panic, and 8 counts of making the authorities look like the Keystone Kops.

Update:
Here is Berdovsky's website along with video of him putting the lights up.

Here's the YouTube version:

Mooninites

Molly Ivins

Rest in Peace.

Boston Officials Seek Legal Action Against.....Well, Someone!

An artist's conception of the terrorists

This is going to get interesting.

Turner was promoting Adult Swim's animated television show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" in Boston and nine other cities, according to a statement e-mailed by Shirley Powell, a company spokeswoman.

"Parent company Turner Broadcasting is in contact with local and federal law enforcement on the exact locations of the billboards," the e-mail statement said. "We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger."

Governor Deval Patrick said in a statement that he was "deeply dismayed" by the "stunt."

"I understand that Turner Broadcasting has purported to apologize for this," Patrick said. "I intend nonetheless to consult with the Attorney General and other advisors about what recourse we may have."

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino also blasted the company.

"I am prepared to take any and all legal action against Turner Broadcasting and its affiliates for any and all expenses incurred during the response to today's incidents," Menino said in a statement. "Boston will look to coordinate our efforts going forward with Cambridge, Somerville and any other affected agencies."

"Aqua Teen Hunger Force" airs late at night and involves animated characters that are depicted as fast food products, including a ball of ground meat, French fries, and a milk shake.

The objects that had been placed on bridges and other infrastructure across the city are patterns of lighted dots in the shape of boxy characters on the cartoon show. The flashing lights are on black rectangles a little larger than laptops.

The War Against Mooninites

Turns out all these bomb scares we were having today in Boston turned out to be advertisements for Aqua Teen Hunger Force:

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Electronic light boards featuring an adult-cartoon character triggered bomb scares around Boston on Wednesday, spurring authorities to close two bridges and a stretch of the Charles River before determining the devices were harmless.

Turner Broadcasting Co., the parent company of CNN, said the devices contained harmless magnetic lights aimed at promoting the Adult Swim network's late-night cartoon "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." Law enforcement sources said the devices displayed one of the Mooninites, outer-space delinquents who appear frequently on the show, greeting visitors with a raised middle finger.

"While the concern is lessened as a result of the investigation, I'd like to remind citizens to treat any suspicious devices with care and to call 911 if any such device is found," Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said.

The devices had been placed as part of an "outdoor marketing campaign" in 10 cities, a Turner Broadcasting statement said.

It should be noted that Adam at Universal Hub had better news coverage than any of the Boston media that I came across while searching for more info.

Update:

This is what the "suspicious objects" which were found all over Boston today (although apparently they've been up there for three weeks) causing portions of the subway and I-93 to be shut down.



Christ on a doggy door! Boston was paralyzed today because of a do-it-yourself LiteBright???

Update 2:
This blogger saw one of the LED Mooninites 2 weeks ago:

Fun weekend with ryan, went to a Graffiti show in South Boston. It’s nice to see Boston is getting an underground art scene. We found an Adult Swim LED Ad up on a bridge. So of course I climb up and grab it. It looks like a take on the LED Throwies or Night Writer. Cool stuff though.

(via Universal Hub)

Make Google Go Crazy

From Google Blogoscoped.

How do I go about getting excommunicated?

From The Straight Dope:

There's also a practical problem. You can't have your name stricken from the Catholic membership rolls, because there aren't any such rolls. Sure, some records may be kept at the parish level, and if you're the determined type I suppose you could get your name crossed off those. But the church maintains no central registry. They figure God can keep track.

Fine, you say, but I still want to get excommunicated. OK, let me get out my--whoops, Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft. Gotta get this library organized. Ah, here we are, the Codex Juris Canonici. As revised in 1983, there are nine grounds for excommunication--physical attack on the pope, "violating the sacred species," procuring an abortion, etc.... all a little drastic. Your best bet is "apostasy, heresy, or schism," canon 1364. Probably the simplest thing is to join the Presbyterians. Voila, latae sententiae (automatic) excommunication.

But I think what you're after is an official pronouncement of excommunication (ferendae sententiae). Apparently the only way to do this nowadays is to make a conspicuous pest of yourself. The ultraconservative French archbishop Marcel LeFebvre did this by consecrating bishops without authorization, which got him excommunicated in 1988. If he could get himself formally kicked out, so can you, though it may require establishing your own schismatic sect.

The Beatles at The Cavern Club

Ricky Gervais Meets Garry Shandling

A few people emailed or commented about this clip after I did the Ricky Gervais meets Larry David post. Garry Shandling acts like a complete tool during this interview or perhaps he's just doing a bit that's going over my head.

Running From Camera

The rules are simple: I put the self-timer on 2 seconds, push the button and try to get as far from the camera as I can.

The Ding Hai Effect

From Wikipedia:

The theory goes that whenever the Hong Kong actor Adam Cheng stars in a new television show, there is a sudden drop in the market. No reason is given for this effect, and it is still a popular topic amongst stock brokers, years after the drama series Greed of Man was broadcast in Hong Kong in 1993. The effect is named after Ding Hai, the main character of the show, played by Adam Cheng.

Demolishing the Stardust

This website is posting pictures and covering the Stardust as it is being demolished.

ZeFrank on the Scooter Libby Trial

and duckies. Always with the duckies...

Mendeleev’s House

From English Russia:

Dmitri Mendeleev was a Russian chemist. He is credited as being the primary creator of the first version of the periodic table of elements. Unlike other contributors to the table, Mendeleev predicted the properties of elements yet to be discovered.

Here is a photosession of the house where he had got this prophetic vision. After the Communist’s takeover in Russia all the private property was confiscated by the state, but state has no funds to support this property. So even these days many of houses of well known pre-Communist Era people stay abandoned and almost destroyed.

Charles Barkley Quote Blog

A blog I could spend hours reading. The Charles Barkley Quote Blog:

I know why his name is DMX. Because his real name is Earl. Imagine if his name was Earl the rapper.

On baldness: "Why do bald guys always wear beards? When I started to go bald, I took it like a man."

On being misquoted in his autobiography: "That was my fault. I should have read it before it came out."

Muslim Urged To Shun 'Unholy' Vaccines

From the TimesOnline:

A MUSLIM doctors' leader has provoked an outcry by urging British Muslims not to vaccinate their children against diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella because it is "un-Islamic".

Dr Abdul Majid Katme, head of the Islamic Medical Association, is telling Muslims that almost all vaccines contain products derived from animal and human tissue, which make them "haram", or unlawful for Muslims to take. Islam permits only the consumption of halal products, where the animal has had its throat cut and bled to death while God’s name is invoked.

Islam also forbids the eating of any pig meat, which Katme says is another reason why vaccines should be avoided, as some contain or have been made using pork-based gelatine.

The White Mouse

Nancy Wake was the Allies' most decorated servicewoman of WWII, and the Gestapo’s most-wanted person. They code-named her 'The White Mouse' because of her ability to elude capture. When war broke out she was a young woman married to a wealthy Frenchman living a life of luxury in cosmopolitan Marseilles. She became a saboteur, organiser and Resistance fighter who led an army of 7,000 Maquis troops in guerrilla warfare to sabotage the Nazis. Her story is one of daring, courage and optimism in the face of impossible odds.

Related:
Wikipedia's entry on Nancy Wake.

So What

Frozen Snake Found Near Great Miami River

An eight-foot boa -- frozen solid -- was found Monday morning, Jan. 29, near the Great Miami River bike path in Middletown by McGraw-Kokosing Inc. employees.

List of Doctor Who Items

From Wikipedia.

Top 10 Foods for a Good Night's Sleep

From Yahoo! Food:

What is the secret to getting a solid 7 to 8 hours of sleep? Head for the kitchen and enjoy one or two of these 10 foods. They relax tense muscles, quiet buzzing minds, and/or get calming, sleep-inducing hormones - serotonin and melatonin - flowing. Yawning yet?

Tracking Transience: The Orwell Project

From Creative Capital:

Tracking Transience: The Orwell Project is a self-surveillance project. A former subject of an intensive FBI investigation post 9-11, Hasan Elahi is developing a network device, GPS tracker, and website that will make his exact location continuously available to anyone with access to the Internet. Tracking Transience: The Orwell Project builds on a series of installations, performances, and websites that use Elahi's self-surveillance to critique contemporary investigative techniques. A second innovation in this work is its embrace of surveillance for its subject's own protection; Elahi has protected himself from unwanted scrutiny by making his entire life and whereabouts publicly accessible.

Sounds interesting but his website is almost impossible to navigate efficiently.
(Thanks Gaby)

Help Mat Find This Song

Mat writes:

Dear Chris,

I'm a longtime reader who is in a very desperate situation. My fiancee and I are searching for the facts behind our proposed wedding song which we discovered in a Romanian brothel that we had mistaken for a hotel. We've got nothing but the melody which I have uploaded onto my blog in the hope that someone out there might know the song and reveal the title or artist in the comments. It's a longshot, but at this stage we've tried everything else.

http://romaroma.blogspot.com/2007/01/help-us-solve-mystery-song.html

Thanks kindly,

Mat

Ah yes, the old, "I swear I didn't know it was a brothel, I thought it was a Holiday Inn" excuse.

Ok Cynics, if anybody out there wants show off their knowledge of Romanian songs, here's your chance.

Wedding Thriller

And Radmila has a post with a bunch of other wacky wedding videos.

David Eddings Accidentally Burns Down His Office

Oh dear. I'm a big fan of his Belgariad series.

An acclaimed novelist lost his office in Carson City on Thursday when he threw a lit piece of paper into gasoline.

Fantasy writer David Eddings, 75, said he was using water to flush out the gas tank of his broken-down Excalibur sports car, when some fluid leaked. In a lapse of judgment he readily admitted, Eddings lit a piece of paper and threw into the puddle to test if it was still flammable. The answer came in an orange torrent.

The fire raged through the garage and a quarter of the way into the office that occupies the lot next door to his home. His 95-year-old mother-in-law inside the home, came outside to find the juniper trees lining the driveway had gone up in flames, too.

Eddings said his intention to was to prevent a fire - he was afraid to leave a tank full of gasoline in a car that had gone kaput - but instead he did the opposite.

(via SF Signal)

Unsleep Gallery

A gallery is composed of pictures taken automatically whenever this guy's laptop comes out of sleep mode.
(via del.icio.us/plutor)

"Hot" patients setting off radiation alarms

From SciAm:

MIAMI (Reuters) - When 75,000 football fans pack into Dolphin Stadium in Miami for the Super Bowl on February 4, at least a few may want to carry notes from their doctors explaining why they're radioactive enough to set off "dirty bomb" alarms.

With the rising use of radioisotopes in medicine and the growing use of radiation detectors in a security-conscious nation, patients are triggering alarms in places where they may not even realize they're being scanned, doctors and security officials say.

Nearly 60,000 people a day in the United States undergo treatment or tests that leave tiny amounts of radioactive material in their bodies, according to the Society of Nuclear Medicine. It is not enough to hurt them or anyone else, but it is enough to trigger radiation alarms for up to three months.

In August, the British Medical Journal described the case of a very embarrassed 46-year-old Briton who set off the sensors at Orlando airport in Florida six weeks after having radioiodine treatment for a thyroid condition.

He was detained, strip-searched and sniffed by police dogs before eventually being released, the journal said in its "Lesson of the Week" section.

(via Boing Boing)

Top 10 Ancient Capitals

From LiveScience:

They may now lie in ruins of crumbling stone but, to the people who lived during their glory days, these cities were the centers of the universe. Find out what made them legendary.

The Blink Off

(via Evil Bobby)

Ricky Gervais Meets Larry David

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Slo-Mo Rasberry

Recorded using the Photron ultima 1024 PCI at one thousand frames per second (fps), this sequence shows the interesting facial expressions involved with 'blowing a raspberry'

(via Brohan's Video Blog)

Norman Mailer vs Rip Torn

Norman Mailer created a film in the late 60s called MAIDSTONE. He played the part of a famous movie director who is considering a run for the presidency. Rip Torn played his potential assassin. At the end of filming, Rip appeared to get a little too far into his role, and he attacked Mailer on camera with a hammer, drawing blood. Mailer retaliated by viciously biting into Torn's ear, drawing even more blood. This is the fight.

It's debatable how "surprised" that Mailer was by the attack, but it should be noted that he still had the camera crew hanging around and filming, the day after production had allegedly "ended" on the picture. However, the blood from both men is undeniably real, as are the horrified reactions of Mailer's children (his wife, on the other hand, seems to be overacting badly). Torn's ear was damaged so badly, he had to have it partly stitched back on later that day, so though he claims that he "pulled" the hammer blow to soften the impact, Mailer definitely didnt hold back in his bite.

(via Panopticist)

Where's Kong

A round-the-clock live view of New York City's Empire State Building, one of the oldest, tallest and best known skyscrapers in the world.

(Via Mystery of the Haunted Vampire)

A Girl Like Me

From Eyeteeth:

In 1954 researcher Kenneth B. Clark did a test: he asked African American kids to choose which doll they liked better, a black one or a white one. Overwhelmingly black kids chose white dolls. The test was instrumental in Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court case that overturned school segregation.

Unfortunately, as 17-year-old filmmaker Kiri Davis found out last year, little has changed. As part of a film project at Reelworks, she set out to recreate the test, finding that 15 of 21 black children she interviewed picked the white doll as the "nice" one:

Has There Ever Been a Mutiny Aboard a U.S. Naval Vessel?

From The Straight Dope:

The Caine Mutiny opens with the words, "There has never been a mutiny in a ship of the United States Navy." This may be narrowly true — so far as I can determine, nobody has ever been formally charged with committing mutiny aboard a commissioned U.S. naval vessel. But let's not bandy words. There have been mutinies in the U.S. Navy, including one conspiracy aboard a ship at sea; U.S. Navy personnel have been formally charged with mutiny and punished for it; and a few poor sods hanged. We've just never had a case where all these things applied at the same time. Here's how it all sorts out:

(Btw, The Caine Mutiny is one of my favorite novels of all time.)

Angry Parents Have Gore's Movie Pulled from Classroom

The reasoning is very scientific:

FEDERAL WAY, WASH. — Frosty Hardison is neither impressed nor surprised that An Inconvenient Truth, the global-warming movie narrated by former vice president Al Gore, received an Oscar nomination this week for best documentary.

"Liberal left is all over Hollywood," he grumbled after the nomination was announced.

Hardison, a parent of seven in the suburbs of Seattle, has himself roiled the global-warming waters. It happened early this month when he learned that one of his daughters would be watching An Inconvenient Truth in her seventh-grade science class.

"You will not teach or show that propagandist Al Gore video to my child, blaming our nation — the greatest nation ever to exist on this planet — for global warming," he wrote in an e-mail to the Federal Way School Board.

The computer consultant is an evangelical Christian who says he believes that a warming planet is "one of the signs" of Jesus Christ's imminent return for Judgment Day.

I Won't Be Happy Until I Lose My Legs

The WTF article of the day:

I was six when I first became aware of my desire to lose my legs. I don't remember what started it - there was no specific trigger. Most people want to change something about themselves, and the image I have of myself has always been one without legs.

To the general public, people like me are sick and strange, and that's where it ends. I think it is a question of fearing the unknown. I have something called body identity integrity disorder (BIID), where sufferers want to remove one or more healthy limbs. Few people who haven't experienced it themselves can understand what I am going through. It is not a sexual thing, it is certainly not a fetish, and it is nothing to do with appearances. I simply cannot relate to myself with two legs: it isn't the "me" I want to be. I have long known that if I want to get on with my life I need to remove both legs. I have been trapped in the wrong body all this time and over the years I came to hate my physical self.

As a teenager, in the privacy of my own home, I used to play by myself at being an amputee. I would pretend I had one leg, strapping the other one up behind me and wearing oversize trousers so there was no shape. I knew even then that it wasn't normal, that it wasn't something to share with friends or my parents. But, trussed up like that, I would be quite happy and satisfied for a while.

Christian Wrestling Federation

Worshipping a god that's not real through fighting that's not real. How apropos.

CWF's Mission: the CWF is a group of talented athletes using amazing feats, athletic ability, and entertaining stories to share the gift of Jesus Christ. The CWF uses a unique evangelistic approach to embrace the youth of today. CWF Events are conducted in communities, churches, conferences, and festivals to spread the message of Jesus' love. God has drawn many different groups to CWF shows, telling us that God transcends any age, color, social status, popularity and spiritual stature.

Milk Meets Coffee

A gallery of cool milk splashing in coffee pictures.
(via Bifurcated Rivets)

James Randi exposes Uri Geller

James Randi exposes James Hydrick

Long but worth it to see how Randi busts him.

James Randi Exposes Peter Popoff

A famous (or perhaps we should say "infamous") preacher you may have heard of is Peter Popoff. In the early 1980's he was pulling in over 4 million dollars a year deceiving thousands. Then, he was exposed by a stage magician (and skeptic) by the name of James Randi. Randi attended one of the services where Popoff seemed to "prophetically" know people's names, addresses and ailments and, with a small FM scanner, he discovered that Popoff was being fed information through a wireless receiver in his ear (by his wife backstage). This video clip is an excerpt from an interview with Randi on NOVA. Beware, for this money-lusting false preacher is still at it today!

Friday Cat Blogging

Cynikitty should have a monocle for this pose.

Update:


Cynikitty now has a monocle for this pose. Thanks to Oliver Snarkyspot for doing the actual work while I did nothing.

Cynikitty looking like he's about to give a fireside chat (or scheme against Batman).


(Thanks to Snarkyspot again)

20 Greatest Guitar Solos Ever, With Videos

From CityRag:

Guitar World complied a list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Solos". Over the last few days the Howard Stern Show has been playing clips from the list. We've found listening to these great classics a very moving experience, so we took it a step further and dug up a video link for each of the top 20! Listen and watch the musical genius and mastery that made these classics famous!

Guest Friday Cat Blogging

Catherine writes in:

Hi Chris,

I'm a long time visitor to your blog, keep up the good work!

Here's a photo of my big fat cat Salem, just in time for Valentine's Day!

Thanks!
~Catherine

Thanks Catherine!

Pictures of All Purchases for 2 Years

Another OCD site:

I am going to be slowly updating all of the images that I took of all of my purchases from 1/22/02-4/22/04. This documentation used to be on my website www.obsessiveconsumption.com, but has long since been taken down. I am revisiting these images in order to create new images. I am searching for where the object is now and if still around, I plan on documenting the history it has had over the past few years.

(via Found on the Web)

Guest Friday Cat Blogging Part Deux

Kevin from Lord of the Fries was kind enough to send in a pic of his siamese cat Cooper.

Get In My Belly

Pictures of every meal this person has eaten since 2002.

(via Found on the Web)

Vegemite Ice Cream

Mmmmm.. Yeasty:

It's a multicultural twist on an Aussie favourite that's sure to get the tastebuds tingling this Australia Day.

Those celebrating the national day in Brisbane will have the chance to cool down after a couple of snags and beers - with a Vegemite gelato.

Italian-trained Gherardo Deflorian and his partner Lei Hua, of Brisbane's Gelateria Cremona, concocted the unique ice cream flavour for lovers of the Australian icon.

"I thought we'd do something different for Australia Day and so I was thinking about maybe lamington, but Vegemite has to be more controversial," Mr Deflorian told AAP.

"When I came to Australia there's so many more ingredients than there were in Italy so I like to keep my job a bit more fun, a bit more interesting so I try new things.

"Everything can be transformed into a gelato."

(via Slashfood)

Guest Friday Cat Blogging

I like this idea of readers sending in photos of their cats for friday cat blogging so I'll keep doing this as long as the photos keep coming in. (McGee & Jenni, I'm looking at you!)

Thanks to Piri for sending in a picture of Binx who is a Sphinx and is in dire need of a winter coat.

Hamster Wheel

(via Brohan's Video Blog)

Insect/Bug Macros

Macro shots of various Insects or bugs If you are trying to find a particular type of bug, it might be easier to look in the subsets of this. All the shots are taken in my garden.

SF/F Writers Who Blog

SFSignal has a list of SciFi/Fantasy authors who blog

Charlie on the MBTA

This post will probably be of interest only to my fellow Bostonians. It's a blog called Charlie on the MBTA which focuses on the new Charlie system that is now being used for mass transit in Boston. The Charlie reference was taken from a folk song called "Charlie on the MTA" which was about a person named Charlie trapped in the Boston subway because he can't pay his fare to exit. The MBTA saw this as a positive and named the whole damn system after him.

Here is a letter published on Charlie on the MBTA from a T worker about the failings of the new system:

Hi Charlie

I am writing because of your post that things seem to be getting better with the Charlie Cards. I feel compelled to tell you that is not the case.

I am currently stationed at Porter Square as a “T Ambassador”, the T’s Madison Avenue way of describing a customer service representative. After working many years behind bullet proof glass I have come to enjoy interacting with customers and enjoy my job. Our complaint is we are getting virtually no help from T officials’ downtown. They want the public to believe the system is working flawlessly and I must tell you it is not.

Since the weather got colder in the past couple of weeks the machinery has not been working properly. Yesterday morning we must have admitted over 40 people with Monthly passes that the turnstiles refused saying their pass had already been used. We also have been having problems with gates that deduct fares and then will not open.

The ticket machines have been a nightmare. While they don’t malfunction the way the turnstiles have they are very confusing for customers to purchase tickets. I have a stack of unused railroad tickets that passengers have bought in error. We let the people in after they have bought the wrong ticket but our lives would be so must easier if we could correct errors like this on the spot but the T will not allow that. We also have been seeing many passengers throwing away tickets that still have value on them. Over the weekend I collected about 25 discarded tickets and about half of them still had value remaining from amounts raging from 30 cents to eight dollars.

We try to intercept passengers using machines for the first time and offer them a Charlie Card but when the station is busy that is next to impossible. It is especially chaotic when the railroad arrives upstairs and we can have 300 people entering at once. Many are day trippers to Boston and have no idea how the new system works and wind up making mistakes that we can’t fix. Customers then get angry at us and I can’t really blame them.

Then we have customers that do have a Charlie Card who want to buy either a one week or one day pass and the machines instead of putting the pass on the Charlie Card issues a Charlie Ticket and passengers then say why do I need this dumb card? All I can say to them is that is what the marketing department of the T wanted.

You mentioned that the ticket machines don’t tell passengers how much a ride is and wonder why there are no signs on the machines. Again this was not something that was overlooked by the T but done by design. They do not want people buying single ride tickets and designed it so it appears the cheapest ticket available is $5. I had a suit from downtown upset that we had put up hand written signs informing passengers of the fare amount. They have at least responded to another concern we had and now have stickers on the machine telling customers how to insert a credit card.

What infuriates me and my co-workers is the T’s Sgt. Schultz approach that all is well with the new equipment and for the workers not to speak up about what is going on. We are not allowed to talk to reporters but must refer them to some guy named Joe downtown. When the system was first introduced we had reporters from the Cambridge Chronicle and Somerville Journal asking us questions and we are forbidden to respond if they say they are a reporter.

I have become a coffee buddy with a guy that works for the company that built the machines out in Burlington as he has spent a lot of time at our station. He gripes he is spending too much time going out to Logan to get spare parts from Germany for machines that are only a few months old. He told me that the design choices made in Europe sometimes leaves him scratching his head.

The main reason I wrote this message is the hope that somebody at T headquarters reads it and decides to actually do something. I want nothing more than for Dan Grabauskas to come to our station during rush hour by himself and see first hand the mess this system is. We have called and asked his office for him to come and have been rebuffed. But we shouldn’t be surprised by this as the running joke with T employees is “The people who run the T have never taken it in their lives.”

Thank You for a place I could vent.

A “T” Ambassador

Muslim Cabbies Impose Booze Ban

More religious stupidity:

"We're doing a story about the conflict between the cabbies and the airport. The Muslim drivers have been refusing to take passengers carrying alcohol, such as wine or liquor purchased at a duty free shop," I explained.

A group of men gathered around us.

"This is America, we have freedom of religion," says one cabbie. We could see their feelings are intense -- that the issue seems to cut to the core of their identity.

"The Metropolitan Airport Commission is discriminating against us Muslim drivers," says Abdulkaddir Adan, a Somalian-American who's been driving a cab in the Twin Cities for two years.

This reminds me of the xians pharmacists who refuse to give out the morning after pill because it conflicts with their beliefs. Just more religious people pushing their religion onto others.

Right now, MAC says any cabbie who refuses a passenger carrying alcohol must go to the back of the line. No small thing, given cabbies often have to wait at the depot up to three hours for the next fare.

But because MAC officials have received thousands of complaints, they're considering stiffer penalties: a 30-day suspension for a first refusal, a two-year suspension for a second.

"We're now at a point where the drivers may have to make a choice," said Hogan.

For Adan, the choice is clear.

"I would leave my job, instead of doing something that's not allowed in my religion," he said.

Final Scene From Star Wars Acted Out Using Hands

(Thanks Patricio)

Andre The Giant, The Greatest Drunkard Ever?

Modern Drunkard Magazine seems to think so:

While it can be argued that a miniscule handful of professional wrestlers matched Andre’s in-ring achievements (Gorgeous George back in the ‘40s and ‘50s, perhaps; Dusty Rhodes in the ‘70s, and Hulk Hogan, without a doubt, in the ‘80s), no other wrestler ever matched his exploits as a drunkard. In fact, no other human has ever matched Andre as a drinker. He is the zenith. He is the Mount Everest of inebriation. As far as great drunkards go, there is Andre the Giant, and then there is everyone else.

The big man loved two things: wrestling and booze—mostly booze—and his appetites were of mythic proportion.

First, consider the number 7,000. It’s an important number, and a rather scary one considering its context, which is this—it has been estimated that Andre the Giant drank 7,000 calories worth of booze every day. The figure doesn’t include food. Just booze.

You won’t find it in the Guinness Book of World Records, but Andre the Giant holds the world record for the largest number of beers consumed in a single sitting. These were standard 12-ounce bottles of beer, nothing fancy, but during a six-hour period Andre drank 119 of them. It was one of the few times Andre got drunk enough to pass out, which he did in a hallway at his hotel. His companions, quite drunk themselves, couldn’t move the big man. Fearing trouble with cops, they stole a piano cover from the lounge and draped it over Andre’s inert form. He slept peacefully until morning, unmolested by anyone. Perhaps the hotel people thought he was a piece of furniture.

WiiBot

We took an industrial robot, strapped a tennis racket and a sword to it, and put it under the control of a WiiMote. We ran very light pattern recognition on the WiiMote, so it would copy our sword swings. You can read the write up at www.usmgarage.com

The Atheist Delusion

God is real. And he's unbelievable.

Southwest Nearly Lets Liver Transplant Patient Die Because He Wouldn't Buy 2nd Ticket

Those friendly skies again: Richard Brown nearly died on Sunday, January 21st, thanks to reckless indifference by a Southwest Airlines ticket agent.

A dying hep-C patient, Richard, secured an appointment at the Mayo Clinic. After getting turned down, he was referred to the University of San Francisco.

When he went to board in Scottsdale for California, the ticket agent refused to let Richard fly unless he bought another ticket, due to his weight.

The weight gain is due to water retention because of his failing liver. Richard lives on California Disability Pay and had no funds to pay for the extra ticket. The flight was not sold out.

The ticket agent didn't care when shown Richard's medical papers, saying, "each airport has their own rules and these are ours, no extra seat, no boarding."

Family scrounged up what little money they had to help him pay for meals. Call after call to customer service ended in countless transfers and wrong numbers.

Finally, a Southwest Airlines agent in Dallas paid for Richard's ticket herself.

"All the while, Richard sat freezing wrapped in several blankets at the gate. The Southwest agent content to let him die in the boarding area," writes his daughter Brandi.

Kitty Washing Machine

A pet supply store offers a "pet spa". It has a device that will wash and dry your pet. After fighting with cats in the past. We decided to try it. The pet store told us that cats love it. As you can see he didn't like it. We stopped it ealry. He was much much cleaner but he did talk to us for a hour.

(via del.icio.us/revgeorge)

Adam Savage From Mythbusters Asks AskMetafilter for Show Ideas

Mythbusting Question: can you help me find inspiration in the old west?

MeFi's own Adam Savage here. I'm tasked with busting some "Old West" myths. And we're light in the idea department on this one. Now we've already done a whole bunch of sharpshooting myths, and gunslinger myths, and they still want more! I'm asking the hive mind: are there any myths you can think of regarding cowboys or indians or anything to do with the old west. (cue black humor about the donner party etc.)

All suggestions taken seriously. Mostly.

4 Million Hits

I'm closing in on 4 million hits and thought it would be interesting to check to see the top 10 blogs that I've received the most hits from:

1. Geekpress 77,011
2. Kottke 39,943
3. Bibi's Box 28,050
4. SME Blog 7,096
5. Killinki 6,902
6. J-Walk Blog 6,679
7. Waiterrant 6,576
8. Marginal Revolution 3,639
9. Eyebeam reBlog 3,121
10. Incoming Signals 2,102

About 2 million hits came from Google Image search which basically means that if you want to increase traffic to your blog, put up a lot of pictures.

Human Slingshot

(via J-Walk)

The Whiskey and Water Bet

How To Isolate Amniotic Stem Cells From the Placenta, At Home!

Here I would like to show, although I do not provide any warranty and can not give any guarantee, that isolating stem cells from the placenta is not more difficult than making a steak, and with proper preparation, investment and timing you can do it even at home or in a rent lab. The process is ethically non-controversial since the placenta is usually discarded after birth. Today, stem cell therapy is just a promising possibility, but in the not so distant future, self-aware citizens may manage their own stem cells, grow them in the garage, and store them in the fridge. If so, it could be a form of autonomous medical self-insurance. We are at the dawn of the bioDIY movement backed by open source science for anybody. I used Make magazine’s Backyard Biology issue as a reference, because it invented the basic language of bioDIY or home or garage biotech. Here is the algorithm at the cartoon and below are the detailed, although not self-including textual protocol.

(via Kottke)

Wikipedia's Entry on Star Wars Music

Reason #756,345,233 of why I love Wikipedia. Star Wars Music has its own entry:

The scores utilize an eclectic variety of musical styles, many culled from the Late Romantic idiom of Richard Strauss and his contemporaries that itself was incorporated into the Golden Age Hollywood scores of Erich Korngold and Max Steiner. While several obvious nods to Holst, Walton and Stravinsky exist in the score to Episode IV, Williams relied less and less on classical references in the latter five scores, incorporating more strains of modernist orchestral writing with each progressive score. The reasons for Williams' tapping of a familiar Romantic idiom are known to involve Lucas' desire to ground the otherwise strange and fantastic setting in well-known, audience-accessible music. Indeed, much of the trilogy's success relies not on advanced visual effects, but on the simple, direct emotional appeal of its plot, characters and, importantly, music.

Dusty Windshield Art

Windshield art that may or may not be photoshopped.

Beer for Dogs

Hmmmm.

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS — After a long day hunting, there's nothing like wrapping your paw around a cold bottle of beer. So Terrie Berenden, a pet shop owner in the southern Dutch town of Zelhem, created a beer for her Weimaraners made from beef extract and malt.

"Once a year we go to Austria to hunt with our dogs, and at the end of the day we sit on the verandah and drink a beer. So we thought, my dog also has earned it," she said.

Berenden consigned a local brewery to make and bottle the nonalcoholic beer, branded as Kwispelbier. It was introduced to the market last week and advertised it as "a beer for your best friend."

Suggestion Link

I deleted the link I had set up for submissions because it was getting hammered with spam. If you come across an interesting link that you feel is worth sharing, email it to cc@cynical-c.com with a subject heading "submission" or something to that effect.

The (un)Originality of Jesus

Tracing where the bible authors got the idea of Jesus.

Where Are They Now -Rock Groupies of the '70s

Miss Cellania tracks them down. (Slightly NSFW)

God Hates Goths

God sure does love to hate:

This is an exciting time for all at PAG, This year marks our tenth anniversary, and what better way to celebrate a decade of speaking out against Satanism, helping children escape from satanism, lecturing in schools and Churches about the dangers of teen satanic culture, heavy metal, Wicca and Goth, than by firmly establishing our online presence.

What we offer is ten year of experience in educating young people such as yourself about the dangers of the Gothic subculture, and the role that heavy satanic music plays in destroying lives (and brain-cells).

If you want to go on being lead around by your nose-rings, then ignore the message of salvation this website offers you. If you want to seek repentance and a new lease of life, that only Jesus Christ can offer you, now is your chance for recovery. I hope you take much hope and inspiration from this site.

And of course there is a section on what bands to avoid:

AC/DC: song Hell's Bells, inspired "Night Stalker" serial killer, pentagrams on album art (Highway to Hell), violent cover art (If You Want Blood You Got It), guitarist admitted to being 'possessed' while on stage.

Aerosmith: drug and alcohol abuse, equating sex and religion on "Angel"

Black Sabbath: number of the beast, crucifixion imagery, objectionable album art (Born Again, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath)

Jimi Hendrix: hypnotizing people through music, choking on own vomit, voodoo rhythms, rebellion, violence, "If 6 Was 9" used in interstitials

Led Zeppelin: backmasked messages and references to Pan on "Stairway to Heaven", Zoso = number of the beast

24

For the past few months, me and the Cyni-wife haven't been truly happy until our netflix delivery arrives with the latest 24 dvd. We innocently enough placed season one into the netflix queue one day without realizing that 24 is the tv equivalent of crack cocaine. Especially when seen on dvd. Broadcast tv forces you to watch it in small doses. It's more like being at a wine tasting where you sip the wine and savor all the subtle nuances of each particular vintage. Watching 24 on dvd is more like being at a college kegger with somebody forcing a funnel down your throat and pouring each episode down your gullet.

This season is the first one I'm watching as it is broadcast and I need to vent. I'll vent in the comments so there won't be any spoilers for those who are still catching up to speed.

Bush's State of the Union Address

I thought last year's was better.

Love God's Way

A religious website that outs rock bands and musicians as gay or gay friendly. I can't tell the difference between satire and religious silliness anymore so I have no idea if this is serious or not. Either way it's pretty goddamn funny.

One of the most dangerous ways homosexuality invades family life is through popular music. Parents should keep careful watch over their children's listening habits, especially in this Internet Age of MP3 piracy.

Here are a few bands to watch out for:

The Spores
Ravi Shankar
Bjork
The Doors
Phish
Queen
Metallica
The Rolling Stones
David Bowie
Jay-Z
Clay Aiken
Audioslave
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Panic at the Disco
Elton John(really gay)

Update:

The site seems to be down. Here's the cached version.

Update 2:

Thanks to Gaby for this David Brent-like music video for the song "God Hates Fags" by the guy who did the LoveGodsway.org site. I'm almost certain it is satire now. You can't take anybody with that kind of moustache seriously.

The Quotations Of Leif Segerstam

A few years ago we worked with Leif Segerstam, a composer/conductor from Finland. He had a remarkably creative way of using the English language, and as usual, I started writing my favourite quotes in our music. After a few days, I learned that several other members of the orchestra were doing the same thing. This is a compilation of our efforts.

A few examples:

I want the music more traumatised.

The string section without the basses is a plasmatic living cluster.

You have to become a little dirty about the fingerboard there.

More grease in the pianissimo.

The Bra Bag

Byzantine Blogging

This history lecture podcast covers the little known Byzantine Empire through the study of twelve of its greatest rulers. Mr. Lars Brownworth presents this series for free through this website and the podcast section of the iTunes store.

Mr. Brownworth teaches History at The Stony Brook School on Long Island, New York. His passion for Byzantine history has taken him on travels from the furthest reaches of the Byzantine Empire right into Constantinople, (present day Istanbul) the very heart of Byzantium. He has traveled and studied Byzantine history extensively and produced this lecture series giving us this concise overview.

NYC Newcomer Gets Lost for Five Days

Bizarre.

NEW YORK - A newcomer to the city became hopelessly lost for five days after going for a walk. Damon Mootoo was staying at his brother's house in South Jamaica, Queens, when he decided to go for the stroll last Wednesday, 12 hours after arriving in New York for the first time, the Daily News reported Monday.

The 32-year-old man quickly got disorientated by the confusing streets of Queens.

On Sunday night, after a good Samaritan came to his aid, he was recovering at Jamaica Hospital from dehydration and frostbite.

Mootoo, who is hard of hearing but can communicate in English, said he didn't ask for directions because he was afraid he'd be deported and because he had heard many scary stories about New York. He recently had received his permanent resident card.

The Samaritan, Michael Bharath, was walking home from church when he spotted Mootoo shivering on the street. After he and his wife made him a sandwich, Mootoo opened up and told them his story.

The Wyoming Incident

The Wyoming Incident (or The Wyoming Hijacking) is a lesser known case of television broadcast hijacking/hacking. A hacker managed to ... all » interrupt broadcasts from a local programming channel (believed to serve several smaller communities in the county of Niobrara) and aired his/her own video. The video contained numerous clips of disembodied, human heads showing various emotions and "poses". The camera position changed often (usually every ten-to-fifteen seconds) and the video was often interrupted by a "SPECIAL PRESENTATION" announcement. This clip is taken from one of these intervals.

The video is mostly locally well-known, and would probably not even be that popular if it were not for the effects it had on the few residents who watched it for an extended period of time. Complaints included vomiting, hallucinations, headaches, etc. While some believed it was paranormal, specialists have determined that the cause of these afflictions were frequencies played regularly throughout the broadcast. In this clip, the frequency being played is somewhere between 17 and 19 hz. This range of frequency, when played for long periods of time, causes the eyes to subtly vibrate, sometimes inducing visual hallucinations.

This video is significant in that is one of the most recent television hijackings. Such actions were rare even in the '80s (search for Chicago Max Headroom Incident) and are even more rare today. The hacker has not yet been caught, and all attempts to trace the video have proven futile.

Related:

Wikipedia's entry on Broadcast signal intrusion.

The 300 Million Year Old Rock

Why believing that a 300 million year old rock is only 6,000 years old is dangerous. (not to mention completely insane)

Standing at the bottom, calling out over the roar of the falls, I got to teach the exciting conclusion, "The layers of slate and shale beneath our feet tell us that 300 million years ago, this deciduous forest was a tropical jungle."

"What book d’ya get that out of?" came the reply one day. And thus it began, for this waterfall was not only located in ancient rock, it was also in the heart of the Bible-belt. I had heard there were people who believed the Earth was only 6,000 years old, but I never thought I would actually meet any. That summer, and every other summer I worked teaching science to the public, I met a lot of them. Though most objectors would just walk away from the program, some mothers would cover their children’s ears to protect them from the "blasphemous park ranger." One man, after I patiently explained how we know the age of rocks, finally just threw up his hands, exclaimed, "The Devil made that rock look that old to turn you away from God," and led his family back up the trail.

At the time, to a college kid with a summer job, these responses seemed bizarre but relatively harmless – they were local, "everyone’s entitled to their own beliefs", "no skin off my back", "whatever"… But now, 15 years later, I understand these taunts to be the threat they truly are: dangerous beliefs made more dangerous because more and more people believe them.

Cheers Theme in German

Cynicism Link With Heart Disease

Crap.

Being cynical can increase the risk of heart disease, US researchers claim.

A study of 6,814 people found that cynical distrust was associated with signs of inflammation which in turn increase the risk of heart disease.

Chronic stress and depression were also found to be associated with higher levels of certain inflammatory markers in the blood.

The Archives of Internal Medicine study suggests cynical people are more likely to lead unhealthy lifestyles.

Researchers from the University of Michigan asked participants to fill out a questionnaire that assessed a person's risk of chronic stress or depression.

Cynical distrust was measured at a later follow-up visit.

Top 10 Weirdest USB Drives

1.5 years ago I published the original 'Top 10 weirdest USB drives'. Over 500 000 people have visited the original page, and it included all of the sushi drives, the thumb drive and the now classical barbi drive. I've received quite many comments and emails about the list, and I know that some of you guys wants an updated list.

(via Bifurcated Rivets)

Andy Griffith vs. The Patriot Act

I always had a feeling that Richie Cunningham was a neo-con.
(Thanks Niel)

Shatner Sings!

Shatner performs "It Was a Very Good Year"


Shatner-"Keep it Gay"


Shatner sings "Taxi"


Shatner-"How to Handle a Woman"


Shatner sings "Rocket Man"

What A Credit Card's First Digit Means

From The Consumerist:

You can tell a lot about a person by looking at their shoes, and likewise, by looking at their credit card's first digit. This represents the Major Industry Identifier. Here's the breakdown.

1,2: Airlines
3: Travel/Entertainment
4,5: Banking/Financial
6: Merchandising/Financial
7: Petroleum
8: Telecommunications
0,9: Other

Fox News Outs Obama...

As a smoker!!!!!!! John Gibson reports:

GIBSON: Meantime, time for "Big Politics." Sure he's young, sure he's charismatic, but what do we really know about Barack Obama? And what does he really stand for? Obama is the kind of presidential hopeful who appeals to the masses. He portrays himself as a political moderate, but he's much more liberal than he says he is. And his team works overtime trying to hide Obama's dirty little secret. He is -- get this -- a cigarette smoker. The point is: What else do we not know about Barack Obama? America seems to love him now, but will we still love him tomorrow?

(via BB-Blog)

The Worst Driver Ever

It's obvious from the title that she gets into some sort of accident but I wasn't expecting what happened.

Why I Escort

From DailyKos:

I started escorting women at the local abortion clinic after the presidential election in 2004. For me, the election results were a loud wake up cry forcing me out of a life of comfortable complacency. It seemed glaringly obvious that the country and our elected leaders were attempting to dismantle many of the rights I value including women’s reproductive freedoms. Equally obvious was my responsibility to do something in response. Since I’m not one to be easily intimidated escorting seemed like it might be a good fit.

I had no idea what to expect my first Saturday. Of course I was somewhat familiar with the violence of Operation Rescue in addition to the murders of Dr. David Gunn, Dr. Barnett Slepian and Dr. John Britton, but I convinced myself that if massive assaults were occurring at our community's clinic there would have been some coverage by local media. Fortunately the other volunteers encouraged me to merely observe until I was comfortable with the process.

What Julia Child Learned

An interview with Julia in Esquire from 2000:

Fat gives things flavor.

There is nothing worse than grilled vegetables.

Celebrity has its uses: I can always get a seat in any restaurant.

Always remember: If you're alone in the kitchen and you drop the lamb, you can always just pick it up. Who's going to know?

(via Slashfood)

Greek Orthodox Church Embraces Atheism

At least when it comes to other invisible men in the sky.

After successfully staging a landmark ceremony at the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, their leader pledged to fight for the right to conduct baptisms, marriages, and funerals according to the rites of the ancient religion.

"We are a legitimate religion. But the authorities don't let us do this, but we shall claim this right through the European Union," said Doretta Peppa, the high priestess, who led the prayers next to the 15 remaining columns of the temple.

The move is bound to aggravate the highly conservative Greek Orthodox church, which strongly disapproves of what it regards as paganism.

"They are a handful of miserable resuscitators of a degenerate dead religion who wish to return to the monstrous dark delusions of the past," said Father Efstathios Kollas, the President of Greek Clergymen.

The World's Most Dangerous Bookstore

Bookgasm takes a field trip to the world's most dangerous bookstore.

You see, as is apparent from one’s first step squeezing through the front door, Bill’s Yesterday Books is not the nicely organized, aesthetically pleasing publication warehouse like a Barnes & Noble or even a typical trade store you’re used to visiting.

Instead, it’s a whole damn house with no living space whatsoever. Books are literally (and pat yourself on the back, dear reader, if you caught that pun) piled to the ceilings, but not on shelves, with a foot-wide pathway rudely carved through the rubble that one must shimmy through sideways in order to travel. The place is so overflowing with reading material that the path itself is comprised of volumes. It is near impossible to see the walls. And a window? Forget about it. There isn’t enough sunlight to discourage insects from forming veritable kingdoms in there. With careful balance and a reliable pair of mountain boots, the home is navigable, but it’s a one-way trail, and friend, there ain’t no passing once inside.

(via Clusterflock)

Sonny Bono's Anti-Pot PSA

(via Bedazzled)

Satellite Killer's Broad Impact

From DefenseTech:

There's been immediate fallout -- both physical and political -- from China's satellite killer test.

Debris from the orbital collision has already been spotted, the M-T Milcom blog notes. "As of this writing NORAD has officially cataloged 32 objects... that now pollute a vital area of space (sun-synchronous polar orbit)." The picture to the right is of a few of 'em.

"There are over 125 satellites that operate in this portion of space," the M-T blog observes. Those include reconnaissance satellites, like the Lacrosse and Advanced Keyhole orbiters, as well as weather-monitors, like the Defense Meteorological Satellites Program series. In other words, this test directly effects the American military's ability look for terrorist hideouts, and survey a potential battlefield. These are not small matters. "Our space assets are the first asset on the scene," GlobalSecurity.org's John Pike tells the AP. "They are absolutely central to why we are a superpower - a signature component to America's style of warfare."

Even the International Space Station could be at risk.

Cream

I thought I was going to be sick from all the fast cuts in the video. Who the hell edited this?

Fairy Doors

Tiny doors in Ann Arbor Michigan.
(via J-Walk...again)

Sextuplets Are Born Into a Religious Debate

Some religious idiocy to go along with your coffee.

OTTAWA — Canada's first sextuplets, born more than a week ago, are facing an additional complication to the usual premature baby's struggle for survival: Their parents' religion forbids blood transfusions, a typical part of a preemie's treatment.

The babies' condition remains a mystery, and the hospital refuses to confirm reports that one infant has died.

The six babies were born Jan. 5 and 6 in Vancouver, British Columbia, to parents who are Jehovah's Witnesses. Delivered at 25 weeks, more than halfway through the typical 40-week pregnancy, the four boys and two girls averaged 1.6 pounds and can rest in the palm of an average man's hand. The survival rate for such births is about 80%.

The parents have asked to remain anonymous, and the hospital has not provided information since shortly after the births, when a spokesman reported that the babies were in fair condition.

On Tuesday, hospital officials would not comment on a media report citing sources in the hospital that one of the boys had died.

(via J-Walk)

Death of a Mining Town

From the Washington Post:

Signs of Picher's impending death are everywhere. Many stores along Highway 69, the town's main street, are empty, their windows coated with a layer of grime, virtually concealing the abandoned merchandize still on display. Trucks traveling along the highway are diverted around Picher for fear that the hollowed-out mines under the town would cause the streets to collapse under the weight of big rigs. In some neighborhoods, empty mobile homes sit rusting in the sun, their windows broken, their doors yawning open, the detritus of life -- car parts, broken toys, pieces of carpet, rotting sofas -- strewn across their front yards.

"It's like watching somebody that you love very much suffer a long, slow, painful death," said Kim Pace, a lifelong resident and principal of Picher-Cardin Elementary School. Even though "it's the right thing to do, and it needs to happen, you're not ready to give them up."

The culprits of Picher's demise are the same lead and zinc mines that brought the town its prosperity and boosted its population to a high of 16,000 before World War II. But the mines were shut down in the 1970s, and all that is left in and around Picher are about 1,000 people and giant gray piles of mining waste, known locally as "chat," some hundreds of feet tall and acres wide, that loom over abandoned storefronts and empty lots.

Psychic Sylvia Browne Wrong.....Again

This time it was about the missing teenager who was found last week.

Montel Williams' psychic pal Sylvia Browne told the family of missing Shawn Hornbeck he was dead shortly after the Missouri boy vanished - and later allegedly offered to help locate his body for $700 per half hour.

The popular TV clairvoyant appeared on the "Montel Williams Show" in February 2003, four months after Shawn disappeared, and told Pam and Craig Akers she believed their son was "no longer with us."

She also advised that his body could be found in a wooded area 20 miles from their Richwoods, Mo., home, near two large jagged boulders.

Shawn, now 15, was found alive and well last Friday, living just miles away with a man now charged with snatching the boy when he was 11.

Browne's "vision" of his death caused search teams to redirect their efforts and drew dozens of calls from the public who believed they lived near the woods matching Browne'