Outing Ali-G

Sacha Baron Cohen, most famous as Ali-G, is in America spreading his racist, hurtful type of humor. Today's edition of The Sunday Times has a story about how he's descended to humiliating a 75 year old gentleman who only offered hospitality. It's like the elementary school bully who gets all his pals to laugh while he kicks the little kid. The good news is that Ali-G's mug is recognizable and getting more so, leading to fewer kind hearted souls willing to be disrepected.

Planet X

Hey! Look what they found!

The Sound of 10,000 Superballs Falling

Thanks to Cory at BoingBoing for pointing us to this great Flickr set of thousands of superballs being dumped onto a San Francisco hill. One comment says this was for a Sony Commercial and was done 4 times. Apparently there were dozens of people hired to collect the balls afterwards.

Bush's Finger Of Hostility

BradBlog has posted a link to a Tonight Show clip which seems to show the President flipping off the press corp. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan refused to comment during today's press briefing, implying that Jay Leno was "misportraying" the finger waving as something it wasn't. But when asked again if the President was waving the "finger of hostility", Mr. McClellan, after admitting he hadn't seen the video, refused to "dignify" the question with an answer.

UPDATE: The White House is now saying it is the President's thumb we see in the video. As much as I'd love to disagree, I took a careful look at the video and it's quite possible that we're seeing the Prez giving a thumb's up. This is particularly noticeable in the couple of frames where he's bringing down his hand, twisting it counter-clockwise. I hope I'm wrong, as it would be much more fun.

Burger King's Coq

Burger King has removed sexual text from its CoqRoq.com website including "Groupies love the Coq" and "groupies love Coq."

Coq is french for rooster, and makes for a wonderful stew.

I'm a Wikipedian!

I made my first two initial entries into Wikipedia today. One for Lew Hill of Pacifica Radio fame, and another for Ralph McGehee, who created the CIABASE database (someone had written to me about the database, which in turn led me to Wikipedia looking for more info).

I pretty much block and copied text from elsewhere, being sure I referenced the source. But since there was no entry for either (Lew especially deserves so much more), I thought I'd begin with something. No attribution for me, but I didn't do it for the fame. All in all it's pretty cool, with a feeling I've contributed to the global knowledgebase.

I do plan on updating the Hill entry later if nobody beats me to it.

Turd Blossoms and Monkey Poo

Time for a pop quiz!

Which comic strip deserves to be pulled or edited by newspaper editors?

This Karl Rove "Turd Blossom" strip from Doonesbury?

Or...

This Howard Dean "Monkey Poo" strip from Prickly City?


That's right, the correct answer is neither.

Umm, Can I Have My Foot Back?

You know someone with a name like Ezekiel Rubottom is a person to watch. Described in this E&P article as a "21-year-old artist, occasional hip-hop emcee, and recovering methamphetamine addict", Mr. Rubottom was born with a club foot.

This summer, upon advice from his doctor, he had the foot amputated. But instead of letting the hospital dispose of the body part, he took it home and stuck it (along with a can of beer and a porcelain horse) in a bucket of formaldehyde on his front porch.

When a neighborhood kid told his parents about seeing the foot in the bucket, they called the police, who in turn confiscated the foot pending an investigation. As it turns out, it's perfectly legal to keep your own body parts, so the foot was returned to Mr. Rubottom, who's already planning on giving a couple toes to friends.

Paper Wants to Censor Employees

In Pennsylvania, The York Daily Record is in contract negotiations with its employees. Ironically, the paper wants to limit what reporters can say, on and off the job. According to this E&P article, the publisher wants to ban "disparagement of the company whether this occurs on or off company property."

Got that? So sitting around a table grousing about work with friends over a beer would be grounds for termination. Also included in the ban is a prohibition against operating a blog which "may reveal the employee's personal opinion" without company permission.

Nice to know who supports free expression.

And Thanks for the Fish

Last Thursday, Boston Herald columnist Howard Manly filed his column, talked a bit with his editor Rachelle Cohen, and left work. For good. Along with his column, he left a resignation message on the computer system and a letter to Cohen on his desk.

Outhouse Man is Just a Romantic

In late June, Gary Moody was busted when he was found inside the vault of a women's outhouse in a New Hampshire park. When asked what he was doing, he said he was searching for a wedding ring he dropped while changing clothes. The woman who umm, discovered him looking up at her isn't buying it. After a very, very thorough investigation, neither are the authorities.

Oldest. Dildo. Ever.

From the BBC:

A sculpted and polished phallus found in a German cave is among the earliest representations of male sexuality ever uncovered, researchers say.

The researchers at Tübingen University say the tool was also used for sharpening flints, but I'm pretty sure that's just what the cave women said to avoid embarrassment.

Secular Summer Camp

Following up on last month's NYT article, ABC news' Good Morning America has a short profile today on Camp Quest, a secular summer camp where kids don't have religious doctrine forced upon them.

Arnold's Supplemental Income

Just a few days after resigning from a multi-million dollar position as executive editor of Muscle & Fitness and Flex magazines, Arnold Schwarzenegger (who's other job is running the nation's most populous state) announced that he's also cutting business ties with The Arnold Classic, an annual bodybuilding competition.

Both the magazines and the competition heavily promote "dietary supplements" in return for advertising fees. The Governor, who's keeping the money he's received, vetoed a bill regulating supplements while on the magazine's payroll. Now he will be writing articles in the magazine for free, allowing the publishers to keep any money they would have paid him. Apparently he feels donating his services to the magazine does not continue raise conflict of interest issues.

As for The Arnold Classic, their spokesperson reportedly did not know how much the actor/politician was paid for his services.

The Naked Tickler

From the Associated Press:

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. - Police are on the lookout for the naked tickler. Investigators said they believe one man could be responsible for a series of bizarre break-ins in which a naked man enters victims' rooms while they are sleeping and tries to tickle their feet.

It's been going on since 2001. It happened again last weekend.
Where's Homeland Security when you need them?

A Few Good G-Men

While it's a bit over-long, R. Glass has a pretty terrific Half-Life 2 adaptation of the famous courtroom scene from the movie A Few Good Men. I particularly love the way emotion is conveyed, especially with the G-Man. His sneers work perfectly. This shows some of the great promise of original works which will come.

Fashion Police

Apparently Kate Darmody's decision to wear flip-flops in the White House marks a turning point in fashion.

Update: Oh God yes, there's more.

Hang On Thunder Horse!!

BP's massive Thunder Horse oil platform is listing heavily after Hurricane Dennis made its way through the area 150 miles off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico. While engineers say they can save the platform, it's deck is already touching the surface of the ocean. Lots of photos here, along with a video.

Harry Potter Zaps Free Speech

People who may have legitimately, if prematurely, purchased the latest Harry Potter book are prohibited from talking about it! I'm not exactly sure how things work up there in Canada, but I guess the four days gained of silence is worth the sacrifice of the nation's civil rights.

Headlice Invade Parliment

Lawmakers in Britain's lower House of Commons are now prohibited from sharing combs and brushes. This is an attempt to thwart the spread of headlice and blood-borne diseases.

Sleepwalker Found on Crane

In London on June 25, an unnamed 15 year old girl was found fast asleep on top of a crane's concrete counterweight 130 feet above a building site. It is believed the girl climbed up the crane and walked across a narrow metal beam while asleep. The two hour rescue finished up around 4am.

Marina's Deformed Horoscope

Marina Bai is suing NASA over the Deep Impact probe which successfully crashed into comet Tempel 1 over the weekend. Claiming the experiment "ruins the natural balance of forces in the universe" she is suing in a Moscow court for the equivalent of about $300 million dollars. She had claimed the crash would "deform her horoscope" and this amount is meant to cover her "moral suffering".