disturbing on SO many levels

a man builds his PERFECT woman (i already saw this episode on star trek, but in THAT scenario the woman had more choices)

what is she PERFECT FOR? well cleaning and dusting and the like AND she is PERFECT TO ASSAULT. we don't see her cleaning and dusting but we sure as shite see her being assaulted

Ontario man builds real-life female android
Geoff Nixon, CTV.ca News

For as long as he can remember, Le Trung has been obsessed with robots.

"When I was a kid, we watched a lot of anime robots," the 33-year-old told CTV.ca in a phone interview from his parents' home in Brampton, Ont.

"Gundam, when I was a kid...or Volton, Macross, whatever," Trung said, rhyming off the popular Japanese anime shows that fuelled his dream to build a robot of his own.

...............Trung hopes to make Aiko capable of completing tasks that he hates to do.

On his wish list? Teaching Aiko to dust, to clean toilets and to clean his ears with a Q-tip.

"I hate doing those chores," Trung said.

"Like for God's sake, cleaning the toilet, I hate doing that. You might as well let someone else do it, right?" ..............

bettie 4.22.23 - 12.11.08

1950s pin-up queen Bettie Page dies

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bettie Page, one of America's most photographed pin-up girls during the 1950s, died in Los Angeles on Thursday from pneumonia, her agent said. She was 85.

Page was a ubiquitous sight during the 1950s, propelled to stardom when she posed for Playboy as Miss January 1955. Soon her image was gracing playing cards, record albums and bedroom posters across the country.

this story is like many others

but they still must be told. over and over again.

in parts of the world (and american IS indeed one of those parts) grrrls and women are worth WAYYYYYYYYYYYY less than men. their worth is based upon their age, their ability to cook, clean and have babies. that's about it. in some lands grrrl-children DO have it much harder than others.

here is the story of one 15 year old. her brothers can go to school. she cannot. her father takes medicine for high blood pressure. her mother has hypertension also. however, SHE does not take meds because they can only afford pills for ONE of them.

the life of 'the fairer sex' isn't so fair after all

A Woman's World

The Struggle for Equality Around the Globe | Special Report

'This Is the Destiny of Girls'
Across Much of South Asia, a Daughter's Life Is Circumscribed By Tradition and Poverty. But for Some, the Dreams Die Slower.
LITTLE RANN OF KUTCH, India -- In the soft light of dawn, the cracked, dry seabed stretched endlessly in every direction. Jyotsna Patadia was alone -- she is often alone -- in her family's grass hut, a speck of life in the emptiness, cooking potatoes and onions over an open fire.

From October to May, Jyotsna, 15, works here in the desolate salt pans of western India, where her parents earn a living coaxing salt from the ground. The family arrives when the summer monsoons end and the water submerging this vast plain recedes.

Her two younger brothers stay behind in their village, Kharaghoda, a chaotic mix of camels and water buffalo, schools and vegetable sellers, newborn babies and blind old men.

Though the village of 12,000 is a seven-hour walk from Jyotsna's isolated hut on the salt pans, it might as well be England, it feels so different and far away.

"It's easier to be a boy," said Jyotsna, who was forced to drop out of school at 10 to help her parents. "They get to go to school.".......

because we have to be

mindin' EVERYBODY'S bid-nez but our own

here we have the cia who has never NOT been active in central and south america. they've helped despots, they've trained mercenaries, they've well, they've done things that were NOT very nice


CIA helped shoot down 15 planes in 'drug war,' often without warning
John Byrne
The CIA's clandestine role in Latin American politics continues.

With the help of CIA spotters, the Peruvian air force shot down 15 small civilian aircraft between 1995 and 2001, ostensibly as part of the US-abetted war on drugs, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee revealed Thursday. Many of the shoot-downs were made without warning within two to three minutes of the planes being detected.

Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra, who disclosed the program, was the first to confirm the number of planes shot down in the CIA led "Airbridge Denial Program," which sought to derail the narcotic trade but also claimed the life of an American missionary from Michigan and her daughter in 2001......

and here we are in africa (are we helping stop the rapes, stop the recruitment of child soldiers, feed the hungry? NOPE)
U.S. Helps African States Fend Off Islamists
By ERIC SCHMITT
KATI, Mali — Thousands of miles from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, another side of America’s fight against terrorism is unfolding in this remote corner of West Africa. American Green Berets are training African armies to guard their borders and patrol vast desolate expanses against infiltration by Al Qaeda’s militants, so the United States does not have to. .....

hmmmmm

retention bonuses may indeed be common. BUT IT'S NOT COMMON TO GIVE 2,000 OF THEM OUT. it's NOT COMMON to use MY money to pay (part of) them either.

if the executives you're trying to keep are the ones who got you in trouble to begin with WHY IN THE HELL WOULD YOU WANT TO 'RETAIN' them?

holy shite
Report: AIG Pays More Retention Bonuses by Frank Ahrens
6:02 PM ET: AIG -- the insurance giant that has thus far received $153 billion in bailout money and is 80-percent owned by the government -- is paying retention bonuses to at least 2,000 employees, Bloomberg is reporting.

The bonuses equal one year's salary, and employees were ordered to keep them secret, Bloomberg said.

AIG confirmed the bonuses to Bloomberg.

Retention bonus payments are common in troubled and reorganizing companies as a way to hold onto executives familiar with the companies's operations. Enron paid retention bonuses, for instance...........

the fabric of resistance

found via wooster collective

The Fabric of Resistance

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: craftivism history)

a pick i think we ALL

can LIVE (and i do mean LIVE) with. all the papers and blogs are talking about this. i chose the boing boing posting to link to because they had THE BEST headline

Obama Selects Nobel Prize Winning Nerd for Energy Chief
Posted by Xeni Jardin
President-elect Barack Obama is said to be likely to name Steven Chu, the physicist who runs Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as energy secretary. Here are two things I like about this: (1) Chu believes science is real. (2) Chu believes climate change is real. Chu won the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics. If you were at a Christmas party with him and the topic of discussion shifted to atomic physics, he would pwn your ass real fast. But he is not a politician. This fact worries some in Washington, because one of his first and most important tasks in early 2009 will be a landmark energy reform bill. More: CNN, NY Times, Reuters.....

pic: Boing Boing pal Bart Nagel, who is a fine, fine photographer, shot this great portrait of Chu not long ago.

this creature

is on the radio?

i'm going to find out who the hell sponsors this hate, racism and bundle of untruths and STOP USING THEIR PRODUCTS (if i do now that is)

Savage guest host Roberts: "[Y]ou may as well start an Obama savings account" so "welfare mom can have her new plasma TV as she pops kids out"
eric boehlert and jamison foser
During the December 8 broadcast of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation, guest host Rick Roberts directed listeners "to not give to charities this Christmas," later asserting that President-elect Barack Obama is "going to come to the welfare crowd's defense anyway." Moments later, Roberts added: "You're going to wish you'd kept some of that money for yourself and your loved ones come tax season. That's when our new president's uber-welfare state's going to kick in, and you're going to wish you'd kept some of that money. So you may as well start an Obama savings account right now so that that welfare mom can have her new plasma TV as she pops kids out like a Pez dispenser. Since when did having kids become a cash crop?" ......................

larisa from at largely

points us over to faux 'news' she thinks they're sniffing glue. i disagree, i think they ate too many 'shrooms

The Fox Glue Sniffers..

Bill O'Reilly is someone who is obviously well beyond brain damaged, so I expect this non-sense from him, but Rove is still rather sane, albeit criminal. So the latest conspiracy spin from the glue sniffers is rather interesting. You see, according to Bill'O and Turd-Blossom, the New York Times and other "liberal media" are behind a conspiracy to paint the US economy as bad in order to help soon to be President Obama:

Yesterday on Fox News, Bill O’Reilly and Karl Rove went on a tirade against the media for hyping the struggling state of the economy. They claimed that it’s not as bad as reports are making it out to be, and journalists are overstating the case in order to help President-elect Barack Obama:

O’REILLY: All right, so you are agreeing with me then that there is a conscious effort on the part of The New York Times and other liberal media to basically paint as drastic a picture as possible, so that when Barack Obama takes office that anything is better than what we have now?

ROVE: Yes.

Think Progress has the footage as well. Here is my theory as to why Rove has suddenly crawled up Bill'Os colon........

the REASON i think they ate too many 'shrooms is not because everyone in the entire universe is laying people off left and right or homes are being foreclosed on. nope, IT'S BECAUSE OF THIS: (which they OBVIOUSLY DID NOT READ)

NFL laying off about 150

raise your hand if you think

joe the plumber is a media whore? (hmmmmmm no one has mentioned him in the past couple of weeks so he has to open his trap again. he just spews idiocy any damn way)

from pam's house blend

she shares this wonderful jon stewart clip with us. jon DID make mincemeat o' the huckster

(all people are created equal unless you are gay, black, asian, a native of somewhere, brown, jewish, hindi, muslim, or NOT LIKE ME - the me being the huckster)

Jon Stewart slays the homophobic Huckabeast without breaking a sweat

by: Pam Spaulding

And entertains while doing so. Jon Stewart asked serious questions any hard-hitting progressive journalist or political commentator with a talk show is perfectly capable of asking. He made Huckabee explain his positions on LGBT rights and connects it to the messages in his new book about the merits of social conservatism that he's hawking. That's on-point and newsworthy journalism -- and Stewart certainly found and made the topic interesting. Thank you, thank you, Jon. .....

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Mike Huckabee Pt. 2

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

you know what?

if i know you and know you celebrate christmas, i'll certainly wish you merry christmas. if i don't know you, i will indeed say happy holidays. i'm not concerned with two words. nor should the 'christians' be concerned with those two words either. they should emulate their projection of jesus and feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the sick. nope. they DO NOT CARE one wink about ANY of that kind of stuff. i'm not exactly sure WHAT their beef is. really, i'm not

The White Nationalist Behind Bill O'Reilly's War on Christmas
By Max Blumenthal, The Daily Beast.
What would Christmas be without warnings of the secular crusade to destroy it? Thanks to the fulminations of cable news cranks and evangelical moralists, the War on Christmas has become an annual outrage. The story typically goes as follows: secular elements have intimidated stores into replacing the phrase “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays;” nativity scenes have been removed from public spaces under threat of ACLU lawsuits; a decadent culture is moving ever closer to eradicating Christian morality; and America slouches towards Gomorrah...........

..........Back during the culture wars of the 1990s, Peter Brimelow, then a Fortune magazine editor, grew incensed with the increasing use of the phrase “Happy Holidays” by retailers like Amazon.com. “I just got real interested in the issue,” Brimelow told The Daily Beast, “because I noticed over the years there was this social shift taking place where people no longer said ‘Merry Christmas.’”

In his 1995 book, Alien Nation, Brimelow argued that the influx of “weird aliens with dubious habits” from developing nations was eroding America’s white Christian “ethnic core,” and in turn, sullying its cultural underpinnings. The War on Christmas was, in his view, a particularly pernicious iteration of the multicultural “struggle to abolish America.”...............

the gays are going to

do to america what those terrorists (i don't know they sexuality but they were probably 'the gays' too) in mumbai did in india. do you BELIEVE this fucked up asswipe?



found via americablog

i'm actually surprised they're

making this public. why? because of all the prior lies lies and more lies we've had to hear

our brave men and women COULD HAVE been better protected (and still can of course)

but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

we're fucking worrying about wall street and ceo salaries and cars NOT human lives

NOTE: THEY KNEW BEFORE the war started. BEFORE

and we're not just talking deaths here either. we're talking traumatic brain injuries and amputations and more. with the competence of the medics in the field now more of our troops are living BUT AT WHAT COST?

Report: Marines slow to get protective vehicles into Iraq
By Mike Mount
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Marine Corps knew of the threat posed by roadside bombs before the start of the Iraq war, yet did nothing to buy protective vehicles for troops, according to a report to be released by the Pentagon.

Additionally, Marine leaders in 2005 decided to buy up-armored, or reinforced, Humvees instead of Mine Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles to shield troops in Iraq from mines and other explosives -- a decision that could have cost lives, according to the report obtained Tuesday by CNN.

The report by the Department of Defense inspector general was requested by the Marine Corps in early 2008 after a civilian employee with the service complained that bureaucratic delays undermined the program to develop the armored vehicles.

Inspectors found that the decision not to buy MRAP vehicles in 2005 stopped the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, the agency in charge of finding the best protective vehicle from troops in Iraq, from "developing a course of action ... to attempt to obtain funding for [MRAPs]," according to the report.........

d-boy!!!

shot three times, TWICE in the head.......... and he's still 'freshening up'

holy schmagolies

but this man CAN PLAY



(found via boing boing posted by David Pescovitz, and the npr link In the Hands of a Master, the Ukulele Is No Toy)
By Renee Montagne

campari isn't the ONLY one doing this

she's beautiful ANYWAY (is the point). why airbrush her? is the airbrushed one going to make more men get more wood?

Impossible Beauty Standards: Jessica Alba's Airbrushed Campari Ads

Posted by Melissa McEwan, Shakesville

If there's one thing I've always said about Jessica Alba, it's that she's fat and ugly. So it's a good thing that Campari made sure to have her photos retouched for their ad campaign instead of using her au natural.........

wow i'm telling you

this dude (allegedly) has a worse mouth than even i do (and that my dears is pretty bad indeed)

Blagojevich called Obama mother****er
John Byrne
From the indictment of Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich filed today. Various individuals' names were obscured in the filing, as is standard legal practice.

Rod Blagojevich said that the consultants (Advisor B and another consultant are believed to be on the call at that time) are telling him that he has to "suck it up" for two years and do nothing and give this "motherf***er [the President-elect] his senator. F*** him. For nothing? F*** him." Rod Blagojevich states that he will put "[Senate Candidate 4]" in the Senate "before I just give F***ing [Senate Candidate 1] a F***ing Senate seat and I don't get anything." (Senate Candidate 4 is a Deputy Governor of the State of Illinois). Rod Blagojevich stated that he needs to find a way to take the "financial stress" off of his family and that his wife is as qualified or more qualified than another specifically named individual to sit on corporate boards.........

as well they SHOULD be!!!

Tuskegee Airmen Invited to Obama Inauguration
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
When the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black force of elite pilots, emerged from combat in World War II, they faced as much discrimination as they had before the war. It was not until six decades later that their valor was recognized and they received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor Congress can give.

Now, the roughly 330 pilots and members of the ground crew who are left from about 16,000 who served are receiving another honor that has surpassed their dreams: They are being invited to watch the inauguration of Barack Obama as the country’s first black president.

“I didn’t believe I’d live long enough to see something like this,” said Lt. Col. Charles A. Lane Jr., 83, of Omaha, a retired Tuskegee fighter pilot who flew missions over Italy.........




picture: U.S. Army Signal Corps, via Associated Press

you've seen him in EVERYTHING

tv, movies, the stage. he was a damn fine actor too

Robert Prosky; D.C. Actor Appeared on 'Hill Street Blues'
By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Robert Prosky, 77, a character actor with hundreds of film, TV and stage credits whose roles included an avuncular sergeant on the NBC police drama "Hill Street Blues" and a desperate real estate salesman in David Mamet's play "Glengarry Glen Ross," has died. Mr. Prosky, a District resident for nearly 50 years, died Dec. 8 at Washington Hospital Center. He had complications from a heart procedure.

Starting in 1958, Mr. Prosky began an affiliation with Washington's Arena Stage that transformed him over 23 seasons and 130 roles from a struggling actor to one of the most versatile and prolific performers in a top regional theater.

He jokingly attributed his success to his paunch and prematurely gray hair, telling The Washington Post, "This hair and this gut are the two reasons I got started as an actor. I could play men 50 when I was 30, maybe 25. I could always play the funny fat man." .......


robert prosky at imdb

(picture: theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/9521)

update: LOOKS LIKE IT JUST MAY BE TRUE. a BUNCH of papers are carrying the story. i think here doctor(s) ought to have their licenses YANKED

World's oldest mother gives birth - at 70

IVF treatment ends 55 years of infertility for Indian couple
By Andrew Buncombe in Delhi
For more than half a century, Rajo Devi and her husband dreamt of having a child.

Such was the desperation of her husband for an heir that 10 years into their marriage, he even married Mrs Devi's sister in an effort to produce offspring. Even that odd, unlikely measure failed to pay off and he and his wife (or wives) gradually accepted they would live their lives without children.

Then last year, with both aged about 70 and married for 55 years, Mrs Devi and her husband, Bala Ram, learnt through neighbours of a news story about a 58-year-old woman who had given birth to twins after in vitro fertilisation treatment. They decided they too would do the same. That was nine months ago........


this is JUST WRONG in every way imaginable. there is NOT ONE THING RIGHT WITH THIS STORY, NOT ONE THING

don't know if this is true or not though. i'm PRAYING it is some sort of elaborate hoax.
70-Year-Old Woman Gives Birth
By Lisa Belkin

Rajo Devi became the oldest woman in recorded history to ever give birth on November 28, when the 70-year-old delivered a baby girl in India.

Married for 50 years, she had been trying, without success, to have a child for much of that time, until she entered menopause (which was 20 years ago). The Hindustan Times, announcing the birth yesterday, quotes her as saying : “We longed for a child all these years and now we are very happy to have one.”

The baby was conceived through the use of a donor egg that was injected with Ms. Devi’s 72-year-old husband’s sperm. And she seems to be a preemie, since the embryo transfer took place on April 18, according to newspaper reports, and she was born seven months later. .........

to me, this is absolutely mind boggling

IF this is true (and they're sayin' they have YEARS worth of evidence, but then again they convicted don siegelman on 'evidence' too) HOW STUPID is this dude? (well are THESE dudes?)

wrigley stadium? the trib? SELLING SENATE SEATS?

was it (allegedly) greed?

was it (allegedly) as blago said, his lack of funds (if a GOVERNOR is broke think how his PEEPS are getting by)

really, i am SO at a loss here. IF true, this is the saddest, most moronic thing i have heard in a LONG LONG LONG TIME.

doesn't he know about wire taps?

shite, didn't he ever watch the wire? the sopranos? see donnie brasco? READ THE "BLEEPING" PATRIOT ACT?


i guess he is NOT a citizen above suspicion

FBI Arrests Ill. Governor Rod Blagojevich
Complaint Alleges Gov. Tried to Sell Obama's Senate Seat

By Carrie Johnson, Peter Slevin and William Branigin

Washington Post Staff Writers

FBI agents this morning arrested Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich (D) and his chief of staff on conspiracy and bribery charges, including allegations that the governor was seeking to benefit financially from his appointment of a successor to the U.S. Senate seat that was vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

The arrest of Blagojevich, 51, and his top aide, John Harris, 46, capped a lengthy investigation into public corruption at the highest levels of state government. The two men later appeared in a federal courthouse in Chicago before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan, who ordered the governor's release on $4,500 bond.

Blagovich, appearing in court in sweat pants, gym shoes and an athletic shirt, was also ordered to relinquish his passport and his firearm owner's identification card, the Associated Press reported......

if you click the picture below, it will enlarge

sent to me via alternet

speaking of 'science'

wtf WERE THEY THINKING? obviously they WERE NOT THINKING at all


Zoo pulls Creation Museum promotion
By Dan Horn • dhorn@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Zoo and the Creation Museum launched a joint promotional deal last week to draw attention to their holiday attractions. It worked, but not the way zoo and museum officials had hoped.

The zoo pulled out of the deal Monday after receiving dozens of angry calls and e-mails about the partnership, which offered reduced prices to anyone who bought tickets to the zoo’s Festival of Lights and the museum’s Christmas celebration, Bethlehem’s Blessing.

Most of the protests echoed the same theme: the Creation Museum promotes a religious point of view that conflicts with the zoo’s scientific mission.

Some complained that the zoo, which receives public support through a tax levy, should not become involved with a private museum dedicated to the teachings of the Bible’s Book of Genesis. Others said a scientific institution shouldn’t link itself to a place that argues man once lived side by side with dinosaurs........

here's some interesting science

news

let's get burnin'!

Scientist says ancient technique cuts greenhouse gas

By Gerard Wynn

POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) - An ancient technique of plowing charred plants into the ground to revive soil may also trap greenhouse gases for thousands of years and forestall global warming, scientists said on Friday.

Heating plants such as farm waste or wood in airtight conditions produces a high-carbon substance called biochar, which can store the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and enhance nutrients in the soil.

Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow. Subsequently storing that carbon in the soil removes the gas from the atmosphere.

"I feel confident that the (carbon storage) time of stable biochar is from high hundreds to a few thousand years," said Cornell University's Johannes Lehmann, at an event on the sidelines of U.N. climate talks in the Polish city of Poznan.

Lehmann estimated that under ambitious scenarios biochar could store 1 billion tons of carbon annually -- equivalent to more than 10 percent of global carbon emissions, which amounted to 8.5 billion tons in 2007.

Under a conservative scenario the technique could store 0.2 billion tons of carbon annually, he said. That would still require heating without oxygen -- called pyrolysis -- some 27 percent of global crop waste and plowing this into the soil...........

we were told the other day

we were NOT going to get raises this year (well our review period for raises comes up in march). i'm not shocked by that and i guess i understand. i'd rather have a job than a raise (and i'd rather my coworkers have THEIR jobs too).

BUT THIS my dears takes stones (and NOT the good kind i mentioned a post or two ago)

Disgusting: Bought Out Merrill CEO Wants $10 Million Bonus
Posted by Staff, Huffington Post
From the Wall Street Journal:

Merrill Lynch & Co. chief John Thain has suggested to directors that he get a 2008 bonus of as much as $10 million, but the battered securities firm's compensation committee is resisting his request, according to people familiar with the situation.

The committee and full board are scheduled to meet Monday to hear Mr. Thain's formal bonus recommendations for himself and other senior executives of the New York company. No decision has been reached, and it isn't known what Mr. Thain will recommend, but the compensation committee is leaning toward denying the executives bonuses for this year, these people said.

Reuters points out that several other Wall Street firms, including Goldman Sachs, will not be giving out bonuses to top executives this year. Though Thain's company was sold to Bank of America after losing a net $11.67 billion this year, Thain argued that it could have been worse........

wha???????????

what'd he say?
Bush: Bible 'probably not' literally true
Agence France-Presse
US President George W. Bush said in an interview Monday that the Bible is "probably not" literally true and that a belief that God created the world is compatible with the theory of evolution.

"I think you can have both," Bush, who leaves office January 20, told ABC television, adding "You're getting me way out of my lane here. I'm just a simple president."

But "evolution is an interesting subject. I happen to believe that evolution doesn't fully explain the mystery of life," said the president, an outspoken Christian who often invokes God in his speeches.............

wow

this IS stones (and i mean in a GOOD BRAVE way)

bailouts for big bid-nez are FINE as LONG AS THE MONEY FUNNELS DOWN TO WHERE IT BELONGS and NOT into the pockets of the good ol' whiteboy network WHERE IT USUALLY FLOWS STRAIGHT TO

Ill. Governor suspends all state business with Bank of America
Stephen C. Webster

BoA set to lose billions in business as Governor, President-elect show solidarity with workers

In a stinging note of support for the laid off workers that have taken up residency in Chicago's Republic Windows & Doors factory, the Governor of Illinois has suspended business with Bank of America until it reissues credit to the shuttered company.

Bank of America cut off credit to Republic Windows & Doors company last week, and workers, demanding severance pay, began staging sit-ins, effectively taking control of the building.

The governor's bold move comes immediately after President-elect Obama, himself a Chicago native, expressed sympathy for and agreement with the worker's plight and resulting actions..........

do you like barenaked ladies

like i do? well geekdad at wired links us up for a FREE jingle bells download (how cool is that?)

Barenaked Ladies: Snacktime!, a Free Holiday Download, and CD Giveaway

This has been an interesting year for multi-million selling Canadian pop-rock favorites Barenaked Ladies (or just BNL). They've been busy engaging in rock star kinds of shenanigans- you know, miraculously walking away from airplane crashes and that sort of thing... But they also kicked the year off with their first ever kids' CD release. I mentioned Snacktimeback in a Canada Day post; have a look and you can watch the video for the song 7-8-9.

The CD is worth revisiting for several reasons: it's pretty damned good, it would make a great and inexpensive Christmas gift for any young ones you might have running around the house, and BNL vocalist/guitarist Ed Robertson made the time to talk with us about it............

duhhhhhh

hope they didn't spend a lot o' dough on this study cause ANY dog owner could have told 'em this FOR FREE


Dogs feel envy and reject unequal treatment: study
Agence France-Presse

CHICAGO — Dogs can feel a simple form of envy and will respond with petulance to unequal treatment, a study published Monday has found.

But while dogs will refuse to give their paw when they see another dog is given a treat for doing it and they are not, they do not seem to care whether the other dog gets a better treat.

And unlike monkeys -- who in previous experiments got so frustrated with the unequal treatment that they refused to eat the less tasty treat -- the dogs never rejected a snack.......

GAG ME WITH A SPITOON

classify this in the realm of the bizarre and beyond


Company tries to get gun classed as medical device
Updated 19:01 05 December 2008 by Ewen Callaway
A US company claims to have received federal approval to market a 9-mm handgun as a medical device and hopes the US government will reimburse seniors who buy the $300 firearm. But the US Food and Drug Administration says there are currently no formal designations of the gun as a medical device.

Called the Palm Pistol, the weapon is designed for people who have trouble firing a normal handgun due to arthritis and other debilitating conditions.

"It's something that they need to assist them in daily living," says Matthew Carmel, president of Constitution Arms in Maplewood, New Jersey, which hopes to manufacture the Palm Pistol - now just a patent and specifications.

"The justification for this would be no more or less for a [walking aid] or wheelchair, or any number of things that are medical devices," he says.

The sales information reads: "It is also ideal for seniors, disabled or others who may have limited strength or manual dexterity. Using the thumb instead of the index finger for firing, it significantly reduces muzzle drift, one of the principal causes of inaccurate targeting. Point and shoot couldn't be easier."...........

(found via boing boing)



picture: Currently at the design stage, the Palm Pistol is intended for people such as the elderly or disabled who have trouble handling a normal weapon (Illustrations: Constitution Arms)

just when you thought it

could NOT be uglier. you find out more truths and it IS uglier

.........

Former general and former drug czar and present Pentagon propagandist Barry McCaffrey, you’ll recall, was the subject of a recent evisceration by the New York Times.

If you don’t recall, follow the links in the Columbia Journalism Review article by Charles Kaiser from which the excerpt below comes.

It turns out that McCaffrey is the living embodiment of all the worst aspects of entrenched Washington corruption — a man who shares with scores of other retired officers a huge financial interest in having America conduct its wars for as long as possible. ...........................

bad attitudes directs us to "Sy Hersh’s account of how McCaffrey’s role in Bush War I, the Gulf War, was not that of a conquering hero but rather a bloodthirsty, glory-seeking butcher who needlessly massacred hundreds if not thousands of fleeing and helpless Iraqi troops — during a ceasefire."

proof enough for me

the lone terrorist survivor of the mumbai attacks did indeed come from pakistan. i'm NOT saying the pakistani government had anything to do with the attacks, but i'm not saying they didn't either. the government is still not readily admitting the gunman was pakistani.

Villagers: Surviving Mumbai attacker killed for Kashmir
By Saeed Shah | McClatchy Newspapers
FARIDKOT, near Depalpur, Pakistan — The lone gunman captured alive by Indian police during last week's terrorist attack on Mumbai comes from a dirt-poor village in Pakistan's southern Punjab region where a banned Islamist group has been actively recruiting young men for "jihad," according to residents of the village and official records seen by McClatchy Newspapers.

Ajmal Ameer Kasab, the dark haired 21-year-old man arrested by Indian authorities in the first hours of the assault -- in which over 170 people died -- left the village four years ago, several residents said. He would return once a year to see small family home and one villager recalled him talking about freeing the Muslim-dominated region of Kashmir from India.

His origins are a key to the investigation of the attack and could have a profound impact on relations between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, already at the brink of confrontation. Until now, the Pakistan government has repeatedly said that there was no solid evidence to back Indian accusations that the gunmen came from Pakistan. .................

homeland security:

keeping america SAFE from undocumented and illegal aliens!!!
High-Ranking Homeland Security Official Repeatedly Hired Undocumented Workers
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly

If you work as a high-ranking border official, it's probably not a good idea to knowingly and repeatedly hire immigrants who entered the country illegally to clean your house.

It's one of those obvious lessons that Lorraine Henderson apparently forgot.

Lorraine Henderson, the regional director of Homeland Security, Customs, and Border Protection, was arrested Friday at her home in Salem. She was expected to appear in federal court later Friday.

Henderson is responsible for stopping illegal aliens from entering the country through the Port of Boston...........

no video

but this IS it. i keep forgetting how this is one of my favorite songs in the entire universe. oh and YES by steven stills, al kooper and mike bloomfield




then again you have THIS:

you all need to check this out

project sunshine

(pic from project sunshine, the post of the link below)

here is but ONE post:

Dressing Africa, Dressed in Africa and African Dress

i sure don't know if this will work or not

BUT AT LEAST PE BARACK OBAMA KNOWS AND ADMITS WE HAVE SOME WICKED SERIOUS PROBLEMS. at least he's putting stuff out on the table. he's picking team members from all areas and 'sides'. while i don't agree with some of his picks (and his asking everyone to forgive da LIEbs irks me the MOST), like i said, HE'S TRYING (unlike our current monarch, king george). i'm not an economist, but i do have my fingers crossed

Obama Offers First Look at Massive Plan To Create Jobs
Project Would Be the Largest Since the Interstate System
By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
On the heels of more grim unemployment news, President-elect Barack Obama yesterday offered the first glimpse of what would be the largest public works program since President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the federal interstate system in the 1950s.

Obama said the massive government spending program he proposes to lift the country out of economic recession will include a renewed effort to make public buildings energy-efficient, rebuild the nation's highways, renovate aging schools and install computers in classrooms, extend high-speed Internet to underserved areas and modernize hospitals by giving them access to electronic medical records.

"We need to act with the urgency this moment demands to save or create at least 2 1/2 million jobs so that the nearly 2 million Americans who've lost them know that they have a future," Obama said in his weekly address, broadcast on the radio and the Internet. .........

'make your mind crazy'

i LOVE this kid

ruby does smart girls at the party (from feministing) (i can't help it's sponsorship though. don't blame me)