No Touch Monkey!

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius has won the right to compete for a place in the Beijing Olympics.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the 21-year-old South African is eligible to race against able-bodied athletes.

Friday's verdict overturns a ban imposed by the IAAF, which said his carbon fiber prosthetic blades give him a mechanical advantage.

CAS said the unanimous ruling goes into effect immediately.

Pistorius still must reach a qualifying time to run in the individual 400 meters at the Beijing Games. However, he can be picked for the South African relay squad without qualifying.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican's chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God.

The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, says that the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

In an interview published Tuesday by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes says that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures.

The interview was headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother." Funes said that ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom.

We got pressure to withdraw this course from sale earlier this year from the "adult" industry. As you probably know the adult industry is making billions of dollars every year and is considered the most powerful online business...We can't guarantee that this course will remain online forever, grab the opportunity

Labels: Ahahahahaha

Substitute teacher Jim Piculas does a 30-second magic trick where a toothpick disappears then reappears.

But after performing it in front of a classroom at Rushe Middle School in Land 'O Lakes, Piculas said his job did a disappearing act of its own.

"I get a call the middle of the day from head of supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, 'Jim, we have a huge issue, you can't take any more assignments you need to come in right away,'" he said.

When Piculas went in, he learned his little magic trick cast a spell and went much farther than he'd hoped.

"I said, 'Well Pat, can you explain this to me?' 'You've been accused of wizardry,' [he said]. Wizardry?" he asked.

Tampa Bay's 10 talked to the assistant superintendent with the Pasco County School District who said it wasn't just the wizardry and that Picular had other performance issues, including "not following lesson plans" and allowing students to play on unapproved computers."

Piculas said he knew nothing about the accusations.

"That... I think was embellished after the fact to try to cover what initially what they were saying to me," he said.

Labels: Multiple Media, Worth your time

The Secret History of Star Wars is a new full-length e-book exploring the writing and creation of the Star Wars saga. Culled from over 400 sources and filled with quotes from people such as George Lucas, Gary Kurtz and Mark Hamill, The Secret History of Star Wars traces all the way back to 1973 to examine how the first 14-page treatment that began the series came to be and was slowly built, draft by draft, year by year and movie by movie. Covering a period of over four decades, you will discover how George Lucas got his ideas for the original film, how Darth Vader was made into Luke Skywalker's father in 1978 and forever altered the arc of the story, what happened to the infamous third trilogy in the series and how the prequel stories came to be. The book also reveals the style and method of Lucas himself and how his personal life affected and shaped the story, for better and worse. This is a book which challenges many legends surrounding the series and places the films in a new light. For the more casual fan this will be a mesmerizing read and for those who think they know everything about the series, prepare to be surprised!

Labels: Gosh_Wow, Story Telling, The Geeks are my People

Labels: Fun Stuff

This is soul. Not Al Green soul. Not Isaac Hayes soul (but perhaps a bit closer to that). This is the soul of the black man. It is the soul of a student of history who is sick and tired of force-feeding and ready to spit back. This is the soul of a man tired of the system and using his art to reframe and correct it.

When it first came out in 1971, Eugene McDaniels’ vitriolic statement irked and ired many, including Vice President Spiro Agnew, who personally contacted Atlantic Records to demand that the album be shelved. Despite this high praise from such a high post, the album’s music and message has survived in the hearts and minds of music lovers (including The Beastie Boys, who sampled a piece of McDaniels’ wisdom on Ill Communication ) and has now been revived in the equally aware hands of Producer Joel Dorn.

Though the abum may be a grand departure from McDaniel’s earlier hit, "Compared To What," its provocative soothe continues to reverberate. Predicting the coming of acid jazz and even gangster rap, McDaniels covers both the topics of his time — from the horoscopic groove of "Lovin’ Man" to the androgynous murder of "Jagger the Dagger" — and of times past and still present in sharp-eyed chronicles like "Headless Heroes," "Supermarket Blues," the subtly bomb-bastic "Freedom Death Dance" and "The Parasite" (which may be dedicated to Native American artiast and activist Buffy St.Marie). Wrapping his sharp words in cozy key lines and absorbent rhythms, McDaniels tells it like it is and rarely shirks the truth. Though "Susan Jane" is a jangly Dylan-esque exercise in simple rhyme, it acts as a necessary break from McDaniels’ torrential attacks of conscience.

Labels: Fuck The Man, Musical Media

Labels: Gosh_Wow, Multiple Media, Story Telling, The Cap'n

Labels: cool

Whaaaa, it's too cold...where's my Spring. It's too cold...where's my Spring. Crap it's raining again? I demand my Spring.

I'm pussing out of today's Boot Camp because the mosquitoes are swarming big time!

Holy Crap, it's 80 fucking degrees in my house and I have to take another shower and turn on the AC. I gotta blog this shit. Whaaaaa!

Labels: Aww Man, The Cap'n

Labels: Culture Wars, Musical Media, silly, waving a dead chicken

Democrats who appeared on the show raised about 44 percent more money after their appearance than they did before. Republicans, on the other hand, didn't fare as well after their Colbert appearance. Their appearance either had no effect, or a slightly negative one.

We tell ourselves into being, don’t we?’ he says. ‘I think that is one of the great reasons for stories. I mean, we are the storytelling animal, there is no other creature on earth that tells itself stories in order to understand who it is. This is what we do, we’ve always done it, whether they are religious stories or personal stories, or tall stories, or lies, or useful stories, we live by telling each other and telling ourselves the stories of ourselves.

Labels: meatspace

The 48-year-old was the first celebrity to speak out against the religion, telling how his 12 years with the church damaged him and accusing Scientology of being “destructive” and a “rip-off”.

After Beghe’s criticism of the church made headlines yesterday, YouTube suspended the account of the prolific Scientology critic who posted the video, making the clip unavailable to viewers.

But the suspension has angered YouTube users who have thrown their weight behind Mark Bunker, who uses the name XenuTV1 on the site.

By this morning, 45 YouTube members had used their sign-ons to re-post Bunker’s interview with the Cane and CSI actor.

In the clip, Benghe said: “My experience personally, and what I’ve observed for myself, is that Scientology is destructive and a rip-off.”

"It’s very, very dangerous for your spiritual, psychological and mental, emotional health and evolution. I think it stunts your evolution.”

The church insists it brings its members “spiritual enlightenment” and it has helped the world progress towards “the eradication of its ills”, including drugs, crime, violence and intolerance.

One user, Vongoloid, uploaded the video with the message: “Actor Jason Beghe exposes... Scientology to Mark Bunker of Xenu TV. YouTube suspended Mark's account, XenuTV1, so I am putting this up for justice.”

Another, Skeptic12345, simply said: “Rehosting while Mark Bunker's YouTube is down".

Angry viewers posted comments below the re-hosted clips.

“Unsuspend his f***ing account, YouTube,” wrote one.

“Banning free speech is a major no no. Knock it off.”

YouTube’s policy on suspending accounts relates to copyright and inappropriate content.

“We take copyright issues very seriously. We prohibit users from uploading infringing material and we cooperate with copyright holders to identify and promptly remove infringing content,” its policy states.

“YouTube reviews the content and removes it from the system within minutes if it violates our Terms of Use. This combined with our proprietary technology helps us to enforce the rules. We also disable the accounts of repeat offenders.”

It is not the first time YouTube and Scientology critics have clashed. After a video of Hollywood actor Tom Cruise speaking about Scientology was leaked to YouTube last year, the church raised copyright issues and the site removed the clip, angering its users.

Labels: Bite my shiny metal ass, Fuck The Man

Labels: video, Whoa, Zep

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush has welcomed Pope Benedict XVI to the White House with assurances that the United States is a nation of prayer and that its people are open to his message of hope.

Bush said that ``we need your message that all human life is sacred.''Unless they're brown.

Bush said that ``in a world where some no longer believe that we can distinguish between simple right and wrong, we need your message to reject this dictatorship of relativism.''signing statements and what's this bit about torture? You and your cabinet OKed torture right? Yes? Ok, I'm wondering how your own tongue won't jump out of your mouth and strangle you.

Benedict was only the second pope to visit the White House and the first in 29 years. He arrived in picture-perfect spring weather on his 81st birthday, and the crowd of thousands sang him Happy Birthday. More than 9,000 guests, including several members of Bush's Cabinet, came to the ceremony, the largest in White House history.

Labels: Fuck The Man

THE ‘MUSEO CARTACEO’, or ‘Paper Museum’, is a collection of more than 7,000 watercolours, drawings and prints, assembled during the seventeenth century by the famous Roman patron and collector, Cassiano dal Pozzo, and his brother Carlo Antonio dal Pozzo. It represents one of the most significant attempts ever made before the age of photography to embrace all human knowledge in visual form. Documenting ancient art, archaeology, botany, geology, ornithology and zoology, the collection today constitutes a visual database that provides us with a significant tool for understanding the culture and intellectual concerns of a period during which the foundations of our own scientific methods of research and classification were laid down. Moreover, the Paper Museum reflects the taste and intellectual breadth of one of the most learned and enthusiastic of all seventeenth-century Roman collectors. As secretary to Cardinal Francesco Barberini, as well as patron of such artists as Poussin, and a friend of Galileo, Cassiano dal Pozzo crossed the boundaries of artistic, scientific and political disciplines, to create his unique visual encyclopedia.

Labels: Interesting

Labels: Earworm Eraser

Labels: Nothing to see here folks-move along

• St. Radio plays wayyyyy to much Def Leppard. In fact any Def Leppard is too much Def Leppard...I've wanted to say this for months.

• Geezer Rock- Check out the bands coming through STL for Spring & Summer. Journey/Heart/Cheap Trick, Boston/Styx, Chicago/Doobie Brothers, Stevie Nicks. I'd claim Rush, Geezers yeah, but they are still cranking out new music.

• Last Sunday I ran for the first time (other than running/trotting after a frisbee) for the first time since 1985 when I was designated last place guy on my HS track team. I went to a free fitness bootcamp Meet Up at Tower Grove Park and worked my ass off in a fun way. Gyms bore me but I know I need exercise. This was pretty fun, but brutal. I'm sore all over, but in a good way. I'm also coughing up nasty goo from deep in my lungs. I look forward to the next session.

• I am of the opinion that American Idol is the worst thing to happen to television. It's too hard to escape. Even the NBC affiliate and Classic Rock station I watch and listen to in the morning talk about who got kicked off the night before. People, keep to your networks! No free advertising!

• In regards to the previous post in which I ask, "What year is this?" I remembered later in the evening, The empire never ended

• I'm bothered by the fact I've never been to New York City.

• I read the first two Culture books by Ian Banks (Iain M. Banks: Welcome to the Culture, the Galactic Civilization That Iain M. Banks Built). They rocked!

Labels: Things and Stuff

Without "reflection over the power of the meat" the art does not have radiant emittance strength.

The sketchy black-and-white picture shows the Twelve Apostles drinking, dancing, and well, getting extremely friendly with each other. It certainly isn’t the version of Christ’s Last Supper that most people are familiar with…

Austrian artist Alfred Hrdlicka’s version of the Last Supper as a homosexual orgy was supposed to be one of the highlights of an exhibition at the Dommuseum, the museum of Vienna’s Roman Catholic cathedral. An initial favourable review by the local Catholic news agency didn’t seem to find anything wrong. But blink and it’s gone — thanks to the intervention of Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the archbishop of Vienna, after the painting sparked criticism in Austria and as far away as the United States. Here’s a protest article in German (with 61 comments and an explicit video about the exhibition) and a comically bad machine translation into English.wonderfully profound Babelfish Article with Angry Video (but you have to squint, my Lovelies)

Labels: All Religions are Fairytales

Man who received heart commits suicide: "HILTON HEAD ISLAND — After Terry Cottle killed himself more than 12 years ago, his heart lived on in former Hilton Head Island resident Sonny Graham.

Grateful for the transplant that saved his life, Graham wrote to thank the Cottle family. Through that correspondence, he met Cheryl Cottle, his donor’s widow. Then the unexpected happened — they fell in love and married.

Earlier this week, the unexpected happened again, when Graham’s life ended the same way Terry Cottle’s did.

On Tuesday, Graham took his own life at his home in Vidalia, Ga. He was 69."

"The syntax for patterns is a subset of the syntax for [XPath] expressions. In particular, location paths that meet certain restrictions can be used as patterns. An expression that is also a pattern always evaluates to an object of type node-set. A node matches a pattern if the node is a member of the result of evaluating the pattern as an expression with respect to some possible context; the possible contexts are those whose context node is the node being matched or one of its ancestors."

Hey there,

I am doing a discussion on cereals for kids tomorrow (long story, I will fill you in when I talk to you in person :-) ) I have to fill out a questionaire with really imaginative questions and needing imaginary answers for them. And you are the greatest at that my brother!! I am doing a discussion on fruit loops. I also had to pick 3 cereals from a list that my kids eat. I picked.... I have to write an obituary
for Cookie Crisp cereal!! These are the questions!

1. Died at what age and reason.
2. Most significant accomplishments or 3 highest points of their life.
3. Greatly missed for what?
4. Biggest failing or regret?
5. Broke what record at what age?

Yes, this is all related the cereal "Cookie Crisp" silly, huh?

I also have to make a collage with 4-5 items (not food related) with words or pictures. example: picture of
a sun == happiness..... for the 3 cereals I picked from the list that the kiddos eat- Cookie Crisp, Coco pebbles and cinnamon crunch toast. I also have to use non food imagery and words to symbolize the qualities that these 3 cereals have in common that I value!!

Chip was an unfriendly pooch (who no longer wore a mask) who would go around stealing cookie crisp from the elderly. Typically a kid would interfere on the grounds that cookies are not breakfast food and instead to alter his choice for an english muffin, but they would change their minds once Chip gave them a taste of his cereal.

Recent advertisement campaign

In 2003, Chip was radically redesigned, gaining a change in both attitude and species. He is now Chip the Wolf (originally known as Howler), a slim grey wolf in a red sweater and blue pants. Ironically, his new design seems to have come with a change back to his criminal ways-the new ads generally depict him trying to steal Cookie Crisp from children, just like Cookie crook, using various schemes but always coming up short. In this respect he is much like the Trix rabbit, or the Lucky Charms Leprechaun.

1. Chip the Wolf died at age 27 from choking on his cereal. He ate too fast and didn't chew enough. You ever hear someone say, "He wolfed that down." when eating? They were referring to Chip. Unfortunately there was no one around who knew the Heimlich Maneuver.

2. 3 highest points of his life? First Little Pig, Second Little Pig, Third Little Pig.

3. All the other wolves thought Chip had a great howl. Cooooooookie Crisp! was very original, and far superior to the boring, "Aowwwwwww, Aow, Aow, Aowwwwwwww!"

4. Eating the 3 little pigs. While the greatest accomplishment was blowing down the brick house and eating the pigs, it was also the lowest when he found out that the pigs were actually quite nice. So Chip went off the meat forever and became a cereal-itarian which is like a vegetarian but eating cereal instead vegetables.

5. At age 15 Chip was the first wolf, to swim the Mississippi River while eating a pig. Since then other wolves have broken his record by eating more pigs per river crossing, but none have been any younger.

Rest in Peace Chip.

Labels: The Cap'n

Labels: Frogs, Whoa

Labels: work

Labels: Frogs, Fun Stuff, too fucking cute

Labels: Worth your time

How to Celebrate the Four Thousandth to Die For a Mistake (Advice in Bastardized Haiku Form)

1. The Gift Option
Sixteen miles or so
Of small intestines can make
Some very thick quilts

2. The Party Option
Six thousand gallons
Of blood is enough to fill
A dozen hot tubs

3. The Furniture Option
Eighty tons of bones
Could be used to build many
Comfortable chairs

Especially if
One upholsters them with skin
And stuffs them with fat

4. An Alternate Option
The eight thousand eyes
And eight thousand pairs of ears
Should be wrapped and shipped

In one large package
To 1600 Penn Ave
Washington, DC

When they arrive, Bush
Will wonder what they're used for;
Cheney will say, 'So?'"

The Stunt Devils vs The Smashinistas
Originally uploaded by JonU235

Labels: tattooed chicks, Vavavoom

Labels: The Cap'n

We tested McCann's pre