odd news

strange things in the news today, let's talk amongst ourselves.

- a dude was expecting a package of tools. what was delivered was 30 lbs of weed! yowza, that's a lot. and it reminds me of this post. police say it was worth about 10k. that's like 333 dollars a lb. i don't know, but that seems like it's a good price, assuming quality.

- "The goats and a family dog were rescued, but the cat was missing." stupid goats started a fire. well, it's better said that moron who put a space heater in shed with goats started a fire when the goats expectedly kicked over said heater.

- a gang intervention officer in los angeles was charged with robbing bizzy bone from bone thugs n harmony. i don't know, that sounds pretty gangsta to me.

- what do you get when you cross a bob's big boy and a noodle house? no, it's not asian denny's. well, maybe it is. more specifically it's noodle world in alhambra.

odd news stories

on break today i perused the local fish wrap. saw a couple of stories that struck me funny. that's right, i'm olde timey like that.

one of the stories was about an alabama police officer that was missing. the initial article was sort of worrisome because the officer was still missing. the officer is an organized crime specialist. looked like maybe the mob or some other organized nefarious agency had caused this officer to disappear. well, by the time i got to poking around on the fishwrap website, said officer had reappeared. in vegas. seems faron white staged his own disappearance to cover up some money missing from his department. i dunnoh, this looks worse.

however, i couldn't find the other two stories that struck me funny in the print edition on their website. so i turned to teh internets.

one story was about the possible future in-law of sarah palin, sherry l. johnston. she's the mother to levi johnston, who is engaged to and is the future baby daddy with bristol palin. it seems ms. johnston is charged with six felony counts of misconduct with a controlled substance. (the bee said she was selling oxy.) now, i realize that this doesn't reflect on the governor of alaska, or even the woman's son, just an interesting connection. i wonder if the "barracuda" will have a comment on the issue?

the other story was about a four year old that shot his baby sitter. it seems that the 18 year old baby sitter, nathan beavers, stepped on the foot of the four year old. the child went to the closet of the trailer home (that's right), got a shot gun and blasted. i've got to say, i'm a little impressed with a four year old shooting a shotgun. even a 20 gauge has got a ton a kick for a youngster like that. fortunately, mr. beavers only had minor injuries. the child has not been charged. o-hio!

good day for the fresno bee

so, today i got a chance to read the print copy of the fresno bee. i usually don't have time to do it, but today i did so i sat down @ work and whipped through it. couple of nice pieces today.

interesting article about fresno rock taco...err...cabo wabo cantina. it seems that they've cut down their hours and may be making more changes soon. i'm thinking a name change may be in their future. btw, i couldn't find the article on the front page of their website, but knew mike oz had a piece up on the beehive that had a link. what a bassackwards way to find something. step your game up bee website. turns out i could actually have seen it in a small box on the front page, but didn't. come on, this was the head of your local section. might want to have a headline on your homepage.

bill mcewen writes a humorous piece about talking smack to your former fresnan or out of town friends. i can't say i always like what mcewen writes, but this was pretty good.

then i hit the comics and saw this depressing non sequitur



i didn't quite catch it at first, but then i realized they were talking about people eating cat or dog food. man, recessions suck.

finally, i saw this article. i think they may be trying to frame the fresnan. he must have angered the gods over @ the beehive.

news round up

so, i was reading different news sites today, and saw a couple of things that were noteworthy:

apparently, using cameras to invade everyone's privacy doesn't reduce crime. and if there's a society to prove that, it would be the british.

there's a war going on, and a lot of people just don't care. not surprisingly, that frustrates protesters. just this morning i was saying to a co-worker how the last 8 years have taught me that protests don't matter any more. you can have millions show up, and the gov't will give you the bird (and maybe a stick upside your skull) and go about its business.

bloggers, be careful. you may be charged with sedition. it may be malaysia, but we're doing our darndest to suspend habeas corpus and get there, too!

scojo is off the market. and, she's got a bad album of tom waits covers coming out.

if you're working on your masters in homeland security or getting a bachelors in criminal justice, you may not want to be selling drugs. of course, those crazy ideas didn't stop frat boys @ sdsu.

carl lewis, former olympian, thinks that using banned substances in sports should be criminalized. now, i may not disagree, but i definitely don't want to hear him sing the national anthem again. yes, i do, it's hilarious.

all the news that's fit to glean

this morning i saw several stories on the l.a. times website that i thought i would comment on, or at least mention.

the first was about a brother and sister that were recently shot, both randomly, at the same birthday party. of course, the story is told with some semi-sappy details and journalism, but it's still sad. these two were @ a party, not standing near each other, and someone opened fire through the fence. both were stuck and killed. sad stuff. the story also stood out to me because i've been places recently, and you're just standing around, enjoying yourself, and some random stuff like this could just happen. generally, i tend to believe that crime follows criminals. that is, you usually don't end up in trouble like this if you're not mixing it up. and, generally, statistics show this. but, random stuff does happen. sad stuff.

the second story that i wanted to comment on was about a new reality tv show. it's about a "news anchor." basically, the producer of american idol and some other shows took this actress/model/dancer/whatever and plopped her into some town in texas. of course, the other news anchors are upset about this. it wipes away what little credibility that these "journalists" have. especially upset are the other females at the station, who are mortified that a barbie-esque woman is being plopped into their situation. but, can they complain? or, do they become shrews or worse for "hating" on this blond? so, what is a news anchor other than a pretty face, or a voice that reads a teleprompter. let's be honest, it's not like most anchors are out researching stories. they have something written for them, and they deliver it like a well versed pitch. frankly, it doesn't bother me at all that this show is exposing the "news" for what it is: a glorified dog & pony show. perhaps i'm being too harsh. but i'll allow myself to do that. the nightly news is barely any different than any other nightly television program. it's just not as funny as the comedies and the story lines often aren't as interesting as the dramas. anchors are chosen for their look, their voice, their delivery. and if they don't fit the look, they change. if you don't believe me, ask kopi soteropolis about his amazing hair regeneration (or, if you prefer, toupe). or ask yourself why it seems like every news team has a blond and a brunette on it?

the third story somewhat follows. it seems that mattel is suing a porn site. china barbie is apparently not a chinese barbie. or, at least mattel doesn't want you to associate their barbie with this porn star. they believe that this other company, "used a domain name containing the word 'barbie' in a 'bad faith attempt to profit from Mattel's Barbie trademarks." i think i have to agree.

since i'm talking about women, why not mention the fact that the l.a. times has a female motorcycle reviewer. i always thought this was pretty cool, and have linked to her reviews before. the bike world is dominated by men, which i am one of. i would imagine that most bike journalists/reviewers/etc are also men. so, i'm pretty impressed that the times hasn't been afraid to use a woman where it would be so easy to just go with a man. anyway, to the story. a custom motorcycle company has a pretty nice bike that they designed just for the ladies. pretty cool idea. i especially enjoy her semi-practical suggestions for improvement of a "ladies" bike.

finally, i think i'll end with a story about a possible credit crisis. this, apparently, may be the straw that breaks the camel's back for the republicans. what? an unwinnable quagmire isn't? the systematic disregard for our rights and constitution isn't? the continual impeacheable acts committed by the president, vice president and attorney general aren't?

link dump

been a while since i've done a good ol' link dump, so here we go:

apparently, kids these days aren't downloading music. instead, they're buying vinyl. except, saying that vinyl sales are up doesn't really mean that people aren't downloading.

teh internets (aka, those series of tubes) is the cause of neglect. or, you're just a bad parent.

we may be nearing war on three fronts. that always goes well, right?

so, some senators had an argument about iraq (shocking, i know). we had a little bit of one in the class i t.a.'d during the dinner break.

the maverick ship seems to be sinking. or, maybe the rats are all jumping off.

in some fresno related news, riverpark hates teenagers. well, at least those ones that do what teenagers do: hang out. and teh kids are organizing.

the wall street journal says new atheism sells well, lacks substance and uses the word tract, all in subheadline. and the sun wants you to know that the pagan's are ticked off. but, hey, the sun also wants you to know that birds singing loudly are a problem.

not sure if this jesus action figure is better than the one i have. i mean, it comes from walmart which is akin to the holy of holies.

not everyone is happy that trump is coming to fresno. now, this guy has some good points, but i think that he goes a little far with his quotes on who benefits from a development in west fresno.

newsy

so, i thought i'd give some links to articles through snarky quips


surprise! a kenyan won a marathon.

shocking! russian rich people live in palaces, outside of the big city.

wha? alec balwin is like a lot of other parents and said something stupid about his kid?

jobless? it could be your own fault. apparently, bad resumes make good comedy.

shark snacks on dolphin, punished for act by being caught. big, bad shark may be a record. gotta love florida.

china is developing abilities that we already have. of course, we're afraid. countdown to attack has begun.

really? the state that allowed polygamy still is a little resistant to federal rules? funny quote in story, "by dang we're not going to give them up."

death for swindlers!

uhhh, i'm not a fan of the death penalty, so i generally think that any time it is being exercised that it's wrong.

i came across this story on the bbc and thought, holy cow. death penalty for running a scam. c r a z y.


and then i saw this story about youtube & mexican drug cartels. even crazier.

and a link for annthrope

a couple of stories

"When the waltz was first performed at a royal British ball in 1816, the Times of London wrote: "So long as this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is attempted to be forced on the respectable classes of society … we feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so fatal a contagion."

hey, think what you want, but i still don't want to see kids grinding away. (warning, long article)


and, on a completely unrelated topic, guess who said this, "Look, if the president needed an option, there's all sorts of things they can do. Let's take the best case, OK. You picked up someone you know is the No. 2 aide to Osama bin Laden. And you know they have an operation planned for the United States or some European capital in the next … three days. And you know this guy knows it. Right, that's the clearest example. And you think you can only get it out of this guy by shooting him full of some drugs or water-boarding him or otherwise working him over."

this person also summarized his own views by saying, "If they really believe the time comes when the only way they can get a reliable piece of information is to beat it out of someone or put a drug in their body to talk it out of 'em, then they can present it to the Foreign Intelligence Court, or some other court, just under the same circumstances we do with wiretaps. Post facto…."

ah, but at least he concluded by saying, "But I think if you go around passing laws that legitimize a violation of the Geneva Convention and institutionalize what happened at Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo, we're gonna be in real trouble."

that makes it all better. thanks, friend.