Friday, December 18, 2009

Crass, but damn funny

Awesome

"As you may be aware, the Commonwealth of Virginia once had a program for forced sterilization of the mentally retarded. These sterilizations were carried out at the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded, which is now known as the Central Virginia Training School, and which is located just outside of Lynchburg. During Virginia's experiment with eugenics, Lynchburg was the "dumping ground" for those who were deemed "unfit to reproduce." It should therefore come as no surprise that Jerry Falwell later chose Lynchburg to be the home to his Orwellian-named "Liberty" University. It seems quite clear that this is not the "real America," and thus complaints from within this community should be given no weight." -- Attorney Marc Randazza

Friday, November 13, 2009

Gad~!

Lindsey Lohan looks like a well worn floormat from a trucker toilet.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Ah Blogger...

I'm not dead, and I'm not dead to you...nor you to me. I've just been seeing other websites...but don't worry...you're still my 'first time' and will always have a soft spot in me heart for you...someday, we'll tango again, just not today

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Point Lookout is Amazing

And on the Solstice, God Worked His Mojo

Molson family reaches deal to purchase Canadiens
Saturday, 06.20.2009 / 6:06 PM / News
NHL.com
MONTREAL – George N. Gillett Jr and Geoff Molson announced today that they have reached an agreement in principle for the sale of the Gillett family's interests in the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club, the Bell Centre and Gillett Entertainment Group. They will hold a news conference as soon as the agreement is finalized.

Mr. Gillett was very appreciative of the extraordinary interest shown by a number of parties in the Montreal Canadiens, and acknowledged the fine work accomplished by the organization's management over the past eight years.

Congratulating and thanking Mr. Molson for the winning bid, Mr. Gillett said that he was pleased to return the ownership of the Canadiens to the Molson family, a family that has been associated with the Club for over three generations and committed to the Montreal community for seven generations over a 223 year period.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

I Think Quatto used to Live There

Residents of 'Butt Hole Road' club together to change street's unfortunate name

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:24 AM on 26th May 2009


In the end, the constant jokes were just too much to take for the long-suffering residents of Butt Hole Road.

Groups of youths used to visit the street and bare their backsides for photographs while many delivery firms simply refused to believe it existed.

And coachloads of amused American tourists frequently turned up to view the sign after it appeared in a US book.

And so despairing households in the suburban street in Conisbrough, South Yorkshire, decided that the road's name simply had to change.

The sign for 'Butt Hole Road'

The sign for 'Butt Hole Road' which has now changed to Archers Way after complaints from residents in Conisbrough near Doncaster

They spent £300 to change their address to the rather more palatable Archers Way.

Resident Peter Sutton said he originally thought the street's name would be fun - but admits he soon got tired of the jokes.

Mr Sutton moved into the house vacated in 2003 by Paul and Lisa Allott, who were forced to move after becoming fed up with their street's name.

Mr Allott said: 'We'd heard every single gag there is and we'd had enough.

'We've had people flashing their bottoms for photographs by the drive, we've had people ringing us up with hilarious jokes about the street name and then we've had those who just don't believe us.

'All the other street names around here are quite sensible.

'I just can't see why they didn't call it Butt Hall Road, or something like that. I've no idea why it was named like this.'

Not a Tasty Beverage

Man named Beverage charged with DUI

ST. PETERSBURG -- A 50-year-old Chesapeake, Va., man with an unfortunate last name -- given the circumstances -- was arrested at Third Street and 51st Avenue N around 3 a.m. last night after a breath-alcohol test asserted he was at nearly three times the limit at which a driver is considered impaired by the state of Florida.

Beverage Randy Joe Beverage, who registered alcohol levels of 0.230 and 0.194, was charged with driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance after he was found with less than a gram of oxycodone without a prescription.

He is being held in Pinellas County Jail on $2,500 bond ($500 for the DUI).

Brant James, Times staff writer

Posted by Times Editor at 10:43:00 AM on May 25, 2009

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Kotaku brings the Goods on Fallout 3's Broken Steel

Broken Steel, the third downloadable episode for the PC and Xbox 360 version of Fallout 3, will raise the game's level cap to 30 and remove the games ending on May 5, Bethesda announced this week.

Broken Steel will sell for 800 points and will include an entire new area outside of Fallout 3's wasteland based on Andrews Air Force Base. The new DLC will also include more weapons, enemies and perks, including one that can bring back your dog when he's killed.

Broken Steel is the third of the three downloadable episodes Bethesda has been talking about for Fallout 3. The new content kicks off at the end of the game, changing away the original title ends and extending it perpetually. Once Broken Steel is downloaded Fallout 3 has no ending, Hines said.

"Broken steel doesn't have an ending," he said. "There are no more endings, we got the message."

The game also slightly tweaks the moments leading up to the ending, adding the ability to send one of several of your companions to complete the final task of the game, instead of doing it yourself.

The new content starts about two weeks after the events of Fallout 3's main quest, opening up in the Capital Wasteland by Project Purity, which is now up and running.

"Broken Steel takes into account what you did in Fallout 3 and what the world is like now," Hines said.

In Broken Steel the battle between the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave still rages and you are tasked with discovering and helping to build a Tesla Canon, a new, more powerful weapon for the Brotherhood.

As with the original Fallout 3 storyline, there are also a number of side quests in Broken Steel, most of which have to do with escorting freshly processed clean water across the wasteland and protecting it from raiders.

"You can get a number of different quests from a scribe, which has nothing to do with the main story," Hines said. "It adds some free-form miscellaneous quests you can do in the game."

The main quest sends you to an old power plat to find the parts for the Tesla Canon.

The new area is packed with new enemies, including a super mutant overlord, a feral ghoul reaver and an Enclave hellfire trooper; new weapons, like the Tesla Canon and a projectile flame thrower; new achievements and even new perks. Hines only detailed one of the perks though, called Puppies! If you pick the Puppies! Perk when Dogmeat dies he gets reincarnated automatically as a puppy, which you can go to certain areas to add back to your group.

The new pack also raises the level cap from 20 to 30 and greatly increases the enemy difficulty level.

"Enemies are a lot tougher," Hines said. "You start seeing new enemies at level 18.

"Advancement from 20 to 30 takes a ton of experience points."

Completing the main quest in Broken Steel will also require a bit of puzzle solving, Hines said. After you've get all of the parts for the new weapon, you take it trough the Presidential Metro Line to pull off an attack on the Enclave base.

One you cear out the Presidential Metro Line you get to make your way to Adams Airforce Base where you will be given new orders, Hines said.

"Adams Air Force Base is a new world space," he said. "You sort of leave the Wastelands and go to Adams Air Force Base, it's a pretty big space."

Hines says that the main quest for Broken Steel is a bit longer than The Pitt downloadable content, coming in at about four to five hours of gameplay, and that it also adds a bunch of sidequests which each take 30 minutes to an hour to complete.

The side quests, he said, have you going all over the world and give you a chance to see how it's changed since the end of the original Fallout 3.

The one thing that Broken Steel won't beef up are the collectibles, Hines said.


credit: kotaku.com and brian crecente

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Finally Some News from the Venture Compound

WE BROKE SEASON FOUR.

Or, rather, we've cleft it in twain. But, like the fabled Planarian worm of so many junior high school biology experiments, rather than dry up and die on your desk, each half of Season 4 has grown. Instead of producing 13 episodes in a row--which would have killed us and/or forced us to delay the premiere until January or February of 2010--we've decided to split the season into two halves of eight episodes each. So Season Four Volumes 1 & 2 (as I like to refer to them) will comprise a total of 16 episodes. Volume 1 will hit the airwaves this fall--October or November, I'm not sure yet. We're are just about to wrap up pre-production on those eight and will start getting them back from Korea next month. In the meantime, it's back to our laptops for me and Doc to write the eight scripts which will someday be known as The Venture Bros. Season Four Volume 2, which we'll begin producing this June with an eye towards a June, 2010 premiere.

~ credit: Jackson Publick

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Nuts!

Horse bites off Indonesian man's testicle, spits it out

AAP

March 12, 2009 02:54pm

AN Indonesian villager had to be rushed to hospital after a horse bit off one of his testicles.
The 35-year-old man was unloading sand from a horse-drawn cart at a construction site in Sulawesi earlier this week when the attack occurred, Indonesia's state-run news agency Antara reported.

A witness said the animal suddenly lunged at the man, sinking its teeth into his crotch.

Shocked bystanders loaded the man into a car to take him to hospital, before one noticed a piece of flesh on the pavement.

"Luckily the horse did not chew up or swallow his testicle, but spit it onto the pavement," the bystander was quoted as saying.

"So I picked it up and brought it to the doctor at the hospital where the victim was being treated."

It was not know whether doctors attempted to sew it back on.

The 70-year-old owner of the horse, Budi, said the animal was trained but sometimes turned wild, and had bitten in the past.

All Your hate Are Belong To Us



While I have made my disdain for Frat Boy BS well known for a long time, they are still the lesser of two evils when compared to the whargarbling nutjobs of the Westboro Baptist Church. Every once in a great while, a Fraternity will do something praiseworthy, like this.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Sara Gets a Sweet Kiss from Toby


Pic credited to my hetero life-mate Andrew, master of foto-graffee

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Cover Mania

So I was surfing 411Mania today and read an article they published discussing the best cover tunes of all time. While I had heard a good deal of them, some I had not. Here's a sampling of some of the tunes. Enjoy.

Aaron Lewis performing Pearl Jam's 'Black'


Sarah George covering Nine Inch Nails 'Something I Can Never Have' (audio only)


Heart doing Led Zeppelin's 'Rock and Roll' from 1978


Ryan Adams (who?) covering Alice in Chains 'Down in a Hole'


Warren Zevon covering Bob Dylan's 'Knocking on Heaven's Door' (from his final album)


4 Non Blondes doing Van Halen's 'I'm The One'


Gob covering 'Paint it Black' by the Rolling Stones

Monday, March 2, 2009

Simian Mobile Disco

This Music Video has Coach written all over it. Note: the 'interference' in the video is intentional

Monday, February 23, 2009

I'm Hooked

So I've been playing the DnD Tiny Adventures on Facebook all weekend and I love it. The application is a simple turn-based text adventure with a handful of good images mixed in. Your character "Finds Adventure" and the game runs itself. You can walk away and come back in an hour or so and the adventure is done. As such, you don't have a lot of control over your character in game but you can equip and use potions and weapons or armor thorugh the encounters. My character, Ralphus, suffers from Squid-Dice Syndrome -- meaning that a on rather routine die roll where I only have to roll a 5 or better due to all my bonuses, I will invariably roll a 2.

Most of my buddies are on Facebook now with the major exception being Coach (Squid will likely NEVER be on). But I hold out hope becuse I really think the Faceboom could benefit from Coach's 'unique' writing talents on the variety of pages he could join. Plus he would be able to harp on Quatto daily.

Come join us Coach. Quatto, Sponge, Naked Bob and I are waiting for you to let Skippy have it.

Assholes

Feb 22nd, 2009 | FORT BLISS, Texas -- As soldiers stream home from Iraq and Afghanistan, the biggest charity inside the U.S. military has been stockpiling tens of millions of dollars meant to help put returning fighters back on their feet, an Associated Press investigation shows.

Between 2003 and 2007 -- as many military families dealt with long war deployments and increased numbers of home foreclosures -- Army Emergency Relief grew into a $345 million behemoth. During those years, the charity packed away $117 million into its own reserves while spending just $64 million on direct aid, according to an AP analysis of its tax records.


Read the full article HERE

Double Word Score

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Steelers are Champions*

This guy wrote an article saying that the Steelers need an asterisk next to their title claims due to their whole team historically being juiced up, 'roided out cheats.

Read his article HERE

Coach Smith's rebuttal to follow I'm sure.

Good News Everyone!!

Scientists decode genomes of all known rhinoviruses, first step towards cure

Feb. 12, 2009


Provided by: The Canadian Press
Written by: Helen Branswell, Medical Reporter, THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO - Scientists have decoded the genetic blueprints of all known strains of rhinoviruses - a.k.a. the common cold.

The ambitious project, the results of which were published Thursday, should fast-forward efforts to combat these viral nuisances. But the vast genetic variation seen across the various strains suggests it is unlikely pharmaceutical scientists could concoct one single drug to treat all versions, the senior author of the study admitted.

"These things really are different. And they're different enough that we need to come up with a more sophisticated way of attacking them for treatment," said Dr. Stephen Liggett, of the University of Maryland.

Liggett, who did the work with colleagues from his university, the University of Wisconsin and the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Md., said he believes the variation explains the failure of previous attempts to find cures for the common cold.

"Because we have sub-families or subgroups of rhinoviruses that have different genetic makeups - that probably is going to mean that we may need three or four drugs," he said, though he insisted the variation was not so broad as to put effective treatments for human rhinoviruses or HRVs out of reach.

The work was done without external funding. The findings were reported Thursday in the journal Science.

The team performed full genome sequencing on the 99 known types of rhinoviruses stored in the official repository, the American Type Culture Collection in Rockville, Md. But it's clear there are more strains being discovered and the total now tops 100.

The viruses break down into three confirmed species or groupings. Liggett said it's likely a fourth will soon be added to that list.

One scientist who wasn't involved in the work said it should open up study into a virus that's been called "a poor orphan" of medical research.

"It is like the impact of the completion of human genome sequences on the study of human biology and diseases," said Wai-Ming Lee, from the department of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Colds can be caused by a number of different viruses. But highly infectious rhinoviruses are far and away the most common agent to trigger colds, hence the virus family's nickname as the cause of the common cold.

It's impossible to put a dollar figure on the economic toll these viruses inflict.

But a study done in 2003 provides some insight. It suggested colds cost the U.S. economy US$40 billion a year in lost wages, health-care costs and spending on over-the-counter cough and cold products.

Dr. Mark Fendrick, a researcher at the University of Michigan and lead author of that paper, said Thursday he hasn't updated the work, largely because there is no funding for cold research.

"We are hopeful that these scientific advances ... regarding the genetics of the common cold will lead to more funding and research to ultimately produce an agent or a set of agents that will safely and cost-effectively treat this public health menace," he said.

While Liggett is hopeful the work will ignite renewed interest in rhinoviruses research, others are skeptical that the logistics of dispensing a cold cure will make this work attractive to drug makers or the health-care system.

"It's not a killer for most people. It's a nuisance. It's not something that people are going to want to invest a tremendous amount of new additional costs in to get minimal gain," said Dr. Aaron Glatt, a spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Glatt said the multiple drug scenario Liggett predicts would require people with colds to seek a doctor's care, get tested to see whether a rhinovirus is responsible and if it is, from which family the virus hails.

That's a lot of work - and additional cost to the medical system - for an illness that people generally start to recover from on their own within a few days, he said.

"It doesn't make sense," said Glatt, who is an infectious diseases physician and CEO and president of New Island Hospital in Long Island, N.Y. "To add hundreds of dollars to the medical budget for really no benefit is a tough sell, even if we had such a perfect drug available."

"Until you come up with a very, very simple treatment, you're not going to go anywhere with it.... It's going to always be the poor orphan in terms of research. It's going to be the poor orphan in terms of public health support for it."

But Liggett said medical science shouldn't give up on the possibility of effectively treating colds.

An asthmatic himself, he noted rhinovirus infections exacerbate asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD). And a bad rhinovirus infection in a child under age two can essentially program the child's immune system to develop asthma, he said.

"Though it may be disheartening to think that we may have to use multiple drugs, I still think it's better than not treating, because it is a major medical burden," Liggett said.

The group now plans to sequence contemporary rhinoviruses taken from 1,000 people across the United States and compare them to those in the repository, which were mainly collected in the 1970s. That comparison should provide clues as to how fast rhinoviruses mutate.

And Liggett said the team also wants to try to match viruses to the illness they cause, effectively trying to find out whether some rhinoviruses are nastier than others.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Love, Sweet Love

Sounds Like It Was Supposed to Be a Wild Time

Vibrating condom, energy drink stolen


Couple detained in Wal-Mart shoplifting

Friday, February 6 | 9:21 a.m.

BY CRAIG BROWN, COLUMBIAN STAFF WRITER

Two people were detained after Hazel Dell Wal-Mart employees reported a shoplifting incident Thursday evening.

Stolen were a SOBE energy drink and a vibrating condom, according to a report.

The incident was reported at 6:22 p.m. at the store, 9000 N.E. Highway 99.

Detained were Kayla M. Raymond, 19, and Michael W. Kautz, 21.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Saturday, January 31, 2009

~Sweet~

So my buds and I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Cheech and Chong Live last night at the State Theater in Cleveland. As soon as Benchoff and I heard that they were touring we dedicated ourselves to seeing them whenever they came to or close to Cleveland. We were pleased that they stopped over in C-Townb. Of course it was cold as hell.

Afterwards, we were all in agreement that this was one of the best shows we had ever seen. In parge part due, no doubt, to the premise that I (for one) was absolutely convinced that I would NEVER see this show materialize. It seemed as though there had been a lot of, say, bad blood between these two for so long that to see them live was a once in lifetime chance. I am most pleased we had the chance to take advantage.

So I trolled the YouTube today and found a couple of choice bits from their tour to share. They opened the show with their send up to "Up In Smoke".



Then they went into some musical numbers featuring Blind Melon Chitlin:




Space Mexican...



The Dogs: Ralph and Herbie...



And they finished with a sing-along...



All in all, it was an incredible exprience...one that I am glad to have shared with some of my best friends. Check out the Light Up America Tour if you get the chance.

Friday, January 30, 2009

You Have Got To See This


Worth1000.com either sponsored or is reporting on some art contest in which people take familiar art themes or images and give them the Star Wars treatment. Yoda above nearly made me spit coffee on my keyboard.

There are 39 such entries. Be forewarned, some of them are nudes (Leia = yum). Those of us who can appreciate the long and storied history of the nude in art can hack it. Prudes may feel free to navigate your ass on out of here.

Check out the full gallery HERE

Murder my Dear Watson....Murder

68-year-old man found beaten inside Plano home

02:22 PM CST on Thursday, January 29, 2009
By DAN X. McGRAW / The Dallas Morning News
dmcgraw@dallasnews.com

Detectives are investigating the death of a 68-year-old man who was found beaten inside his Plano home this morning, Plano police said.

Sherlock Holmes was found by a friend about 12:45 a.m. inside his home in the 1100 block of Avenue I, said Plano police spokesman Rick McDonald.

Police were interviewing neighbors and friends to determine a motive, McDonald said.

Holmes, a longtime resident of Plano, was a member of the city’s Douglass Community Center.

Denise Likes Kittens

Worth the Wait

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Kevin Smith: Akron

An "Actual" Writer

Acclaimed writer John Updike dies at 76

By Mark Feeney, Globe Staff

John Updike, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, whose jeweled prose and quicksilver intellect made him for decades one of America's foremost literary figures, died today. He was 76.

Mr. Updike, a long-time resident of Beverly Farms, died of lung cancer at Hospice of the North Shore in Danvers, said his wife, Martha.

"He was obviously among the best writers in the world,'' said David Remnick, editor the New Yorker, Mr. Updike's literary home for more than half a century.

A master of many authorial trades, Mr. Updike was novelist, short story writer, critic, poet -- and in each role as prolific as he was gifted. He aimed to produce a book a year. Easily meeting that goal, Mr. Updike published some 60 volumes. The first was a collection of poems, "The Carpentered Hen" (1958). "My Father’s Tears and Other Stories" is scheduled to be published in June.

Mr. Updike combined diligence with brilliance. Few writers have staged such elegant lexical ballets on the page. "The scrape and snap of Keds" fill "the moist March air" in the opening of Mr. Updike’s second novel "Rabbit, Run" (1960). Thirty years later, in "Rabbit at Rest," something as mundane as angina becomes “that singeing sensation he gets as if a child inside him is playing with lighted matches.”

Monday, January 26, 2009

Absoloutely Fabulous Coming to FOX

The pertinent are: Will it suck and will Jen watch it?


Fox picks up US remake pilot

Fox has picked up a pilot for a US version of cult comedy Absolutely Fabulous, the Jennifer Saunders creation which ran for five series plus specials on the BBC, but has to date defied attempts to rehash it for the transatlantic market.

Saunders has an executive producing role for the pilot, which is a joint venture between Sony Pictures TV, BBC Worldwide Productions and Tantamount, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The script was penned by Christine Zander, whose previous credits include episodes of 3rd Rock from the Sun and work on Saturday Night Live, and who's relocated Eddy and Patsy to Los Angeles.

LARPer Love

Stumbled across this story today on fark.com...

Google Street View Captures Your Shame* (GOOG)

|

By now, we all know if you write something embarrassing on the Internet under your own name, it's your own fault if your missive lives forever on Google's (GOOG) search engine.

But what if you do something embarrassing outside? Should there be a right to protection against Google's roving cameras, integrated into Google Maps?

The residents of 8 Sampsonia Way in Pittsburgh, PA may be wondering that.

gmaps_larpers.jpg

In case you're wondering, it seems we're looking at LARP ("live action role play"), which is sort of like Dungeons & Dragons. Except instead of sitting around in someone's basement with dice, you dress up in faux medieval armor and attack people with tinfoil swords.

All of which reiterates what we've always felt about Google Street View: Amazingly cool, but also kind of unnerving. Next time, head into the deep woods, fellas.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Check It Out

Any fan of Star Wars or their Battlefront Series of games NEEDS to see this.

Click HERE

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Suck It 'vangelists

NASA discovers evidence of possible 'life on Mars'Agence France-Presse
Published: Thursday January 15, 2009

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Plumes of methane gas detected on Mars could be a sign of geological or biological activity -- and possibly the latest indication that life can be sustained on the Red Planet, according to a study released Thursday.

The presence of methane implies active geological, or possibly even biological, processes on Mars, and the amount of methane observed on the "Red Planet" is comparable to some active sites on Earth, the study published in the journal Science found.

"We believe this definitely increases the prospects for finding life on Mars," principal researcher Michael Mumma told The Washington Post.

"No other discovery has done as much to increase the chances of finding life."

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Fascinating

The resemblance is uncanny, though Obama actually displays a personality and Tuvok is just lame.

Don't Think These Ever Were Posted


Classic

Star Wars fan film that was created by Kevin Rubio in 1997. The voicing cast includes Jess Harnell, Cam Clarke, and Bill Farmer.


"Artistic Luxury"

So the CMA has their "Artistic Luxury" show going on. It's been open since late October or so but the event has drawn a lot much needed attention for a Museum that was closed for almost three years.

Tiffany Glass and Faberge Eggs are the big draws for the special exhibit which runs through January 18th is worth a look if you have the time and few bucks to spare.

Just in time for the 2012 Elections

Is a 'Katrina-Like' Space Storm Brewing?

Scientists Worry We Aren't Prepared for Event That Could Zap Government, Cost Trillions



U.S. scientists worry we aren't ready for a solar space storm that could knock out our electricity, our cell phones, even our water supply.

The chances of that happening are small, but it is a possibility as we move into an active period of solar storms.

How do they know? Well, it's happened before. Back in 1859, a solar eruption resulted in telegraph wires burning up.

Of course, the world is now covered in wires and wireless devices that could be vulnerable.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) gathered experts from around the country to look at the economic and social costs from these space storms. While they didn't make any recommendations, the scientists hope their report is a wake-up call.

"We're not trying to be alarmist," said Dan Baker, who is the lead author of the report, "but we are trying to show how our systems are interconnected."

Fallout DLC


Looks like the DLC pack for Fallout coming in March is finally going to expand the level cap. Good news heroes!