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Archive for the ‘News’ Category

How romantic

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

Woman Gives USB Wedding Ring to Her Geeky Fiancé

The gold ring isn’t actually a functional USB drive, but its design is reminiscent of one. The interior is engraved with the words, “For a lifetime of memories,” an allusion to the USB’s storage capabilities.

Man with mysterious bulge under shirt has titis

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

(Click HERE for background music)

Man caught smuggling 18 monkeys in girdle

MEXICO CITY — A man with a mysterious bulge under his T-shirt was stopped, searched and detained at Mexico City’s international airport after authorities found 18 tiny endangered monkeys in a girdle he was wearing.

The Public Safety Department said in a statement Monday that 38-year-old Roberto Cabrera arrived on a commercial flight Friday from Lima, Peru, when authorities noticed the bulge and conducted a body search.

The department says Cabrera was carrying the 6-inch titi monkeys in pouches attached to the girdle. Two of the monkeys were dead.

Cabrera was arrested on charges of trafficking an endangered species.

Cabrera told authorities he was carrying the monkeys in a suitcase but decided to put them in his girdle “so the X-rays wouldn’t hurt them.”

Source: The Associated Press

Thanks, Lynda!

Blow me

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Okay, I’ll admit it. I am completely and perversely fascinated with the whole Mel Gibson / Oksana Grigorieva drama. If you haven’t been following it, here’s a brief summary: Mel left his wife of godknowshowmany years for Oksana, they had a baby together, later they split up. Oksana first claimed Mel hit her in the face, then “mysteriously”, several recorded phone calls featuring Mel and Oksana were released.

In these recordings, Mel is huffing and puffing, shouting and swearing, being racist/sexist, and basically just acting nuttier than a sack of weasels. Which is why I find the recordings so fascinating. That is, pitiful at the same time. Mel is clearly in severe psychological distress and having an emotional meltdown, yet we’re all laughing about it. Well, maybe if he weren’t such a bigoted asshole, I’d actually feel sorry for him.
My favorite quote:

Ok, I’ll burn the goddamn house up, but blow me first!

Yeah, there’s a man who’s got his priorities straight. So now the internet is running rampant with memes.

Here’s my favorite one:

Update: If you want to read excerpts of Mel’s rants, presented by adorable kittens to make them more palatable, clicke here: The 20 Worst Mel Gibson Rant Quotes (Presented By Kittens)

Inspirational

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

I just stumbled upon a news story about Simon Cowell, prominent English guy (for what I can’t remember – America’s Got Talent?) supporting the Katie Piper fund.

When I read the story I remembered where I’ve seen her – I saw a Channel 4 documentary about her a while back and was absolutely amazed at how brave she is and what a horrible ordeal she’s had to go through.

To make the story short (as as much as I remember from the film) she was a model and TV presenter, dating someone who seemed really nice but turned out to be the ultimate nightmare. After he’d raped her for hours, she made it home and broke off contact with him but was too afraid to press charges. Days later he had a friend wait for her outside her apartment and throw acid into her face, permanently disfiguring her.

The acid burned through all four layers of skin on her face, some spilled down her throat and she was left blind in one eye.
She has undergone more than 40 operations on her face and throat including groundbreaking surgery at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

I remember seeing that documentary and wondering if I would ever recover from that sort of thing – she had her whole life ahead of her, everything going for her – she was (still is, I think) beautiful, had a great career going, fun friends, etc. – and ended up in horrendous pain, needing constant care from her parents and countless operations. And for what, just because she had the misfortune of dating a lunatic. After the assault, she was afraid to leave the house, obviously everyone stared, but she made it. Would you? Would I? I don’t know. I think I might’ve spiraled into a life-long “why me?!” depression.

Until I read the news story with Cowell, I didn’t realize she’s started a fund. Treatment for people with severe burns and scars is enormously expensive and not every insurance covers it. Many victims have to live with the disfigurement fort the rest of their lives and simply can’t afford any help to get through it – this help would include treatments but also psychotherapy, or even makeup classes (there is such thing as „camouflage“ makeup, for example). It’s not only about trying to heal the wounds as best as possible but also rebuilding victims’ self-esteem and dealing with the way they look now, dealing with the looks they get from other people.

The foundation’s vision is to create a n advanced burn and scar management and rehabilitation clinic in the UK accessible to anybody who would benefit from specialised treatments. This will include daily pressure therapy using controlled, standardised and customised care with the help of LPG Endermologie machines, manual massage, physiotherapy, hydrotherapy and silicone treatment.

The clinic will also be a place where people can learn to overcome the psychological barriers of living with disfigurement and concentrate on rebuilding their lives.

The foundation also aims to offer non-medical advice to empower people and build up their confidence by showing them how to look and feel their best again. This would include professional lessons on camouflage makeup and hair styling as well as a mentorship program that brings burns survivors together to support each other.

Yeah, I guess there are tons of other worthy causes – children starving, our world as we know it being ruined (thank you, BP), but pick whichever one you feel a connection to, I say. Helping any cause at all is better than doing nothing. Lots of people who have lost loved ones to cancer support cancer causes; if you have friends or family who have been disfigured by burns, this might be a good cause for you to support. I don’t personally know anyone who has been disfigured, by the way, but I just find her story very inspirational. Maybe because I saw the film, I don’t know.

Here’s more info:

The Katie Piper Foundation

Just my 2 cents for today…

Eerie indeed

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

’70s board game contains eerie BP oil spill scenarios

The game BP Offshore Oil Strike, which came out in the 1970s and is adorned with an old BP logo, revolves around four players exploring for oil, building platforms and constructing pipelines – all in the name of being the first to make $120 million.

But like the real-life oil game there are some big hazards, too. Players have to deal with the possibility of large-scale oil spills and cover cleanup costs. You struggle with “hazard cards” that include phrases now part of our daily vernacular, including: “Blow-out! Rig damaged. Oil slick cleanup costs. Pay $1 million.”

They say truth is stranger than fiction

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

You can’t make this shit up.

The actual story isn’t even that interesting, but I think the headline is pretty funny.

Hey, why not?

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Trapped Drunk NZ Driver Cracks Another Beer

The newspaper quoted defense lawyer Peter Young as telling the court when Sneddon found he could not open the doors, ”he had nothing else to do at that point, so he had another beer.”

That takes balls. Or idiocy.

Reason #341 I’m democrat

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

Republican congressman Joe Barton actually apologized to BP for the US government holding them responsible for the largest offshore spill in U.S. history because they simply chose profit over safety.

Barton: I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation could be subject to what I would characterize as a shakedown. In this case a $20 billion shakedown.

Then Barton told BP’s Hayward: “I apologize.”

(Source: KERA)

After realizing that he was making himself seriously unpopular, however, he… apologized for the apology. People (his party, Joe Biden, and others) had to point this out to him, of course, because the idiot is so out of touch he couldn’t find his ass with both hands and even then his head might get in the way.

But let’s not stop at apologizing to BP, he’s also apologized to AT&T and Comcast now (he must be catholic).

Can’t get enough of Joe Barton’s apologies? Click HERE for more!

No joke

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

This man is a true hero.

Heroic Skydiving Instructor Saves Life


Skydiving instructor Dave Hartsock was paralyzed when he took saved his student, and took the brunt of the impact when his parachutes tangled. (CBS)

Are you happy to see me or just “showing distension”?

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Controversial crucifix creates rift at Warr Acres church