News: April 2006 Archives
I'd be a little more careful choosing my words if I were writing about a man mysteriously struck and killed by lightning.
The neighbors had been chatting outside around 6:30 p.m. about the upcoming hurricane season when Bennett, shirtless and in sandals, hiked up his shorts an inch and took three steps toward Thompson.He was smiling when the sky lit up with electricity.
The lightning bolt struck his head from behind, and yellow sparks formed inside his mouth, Thompson said.
Standing about 25 feet away, Thompson watched in horror as her friend — the most caring and energetic man she'd ever known — died without a word.
Right. The ads at the bottom of the page may also be in poor taste.
Sometimes I watch cable news in the morning while I'm exercising, but I'm getting sick of all the "gas prices are so high!" stories. Duh. This isn't news. Gas prices have been high for years now, and there's no sign that they're going to drop significantly. Why waste airtime "reporting" a story that everyone already knows? It's pointless filler. No one needs an on-location report from some journalist standing in front of a gas station with $3-a-gallon gas; we can see that for ourselves one block away!
In contrast, how many blog posts do you read about high gas prices? Proportionally far fewer. If I were running a cable news network, I'd lose all the journalists and hire a few editors to scour the blogosphere and a few beautiful women to read the best posts on camera. We'd pick stories based on Technorati's "What's happening right now" section (no mention of gas prices in the top 10) and bring the best news and commentary the world has to offer. Then, instead of worthless trackbacks, we'd send $100 cash to each of our sources and show their URLs on-air.
Since 2004 leopards have been hunting people in Mumbai, killing several people a week in India's most populous city.
It’s a classic case of survival of the fittest and the fight for space between man and beast. All the more difficult in a city like Mumbai, whose burgeoning population is increasingly pushing deep into the forest.The forest, which is Mumbai's green lung is also a wildlife sanctuary and the leopards' natural habitat. But, in the last few months, the big cats have increasingly emerged from the forest and into the urban jungle, killing twenty-two people including children.
Residents are up in arms about what they call “official apathy”, but forest officials say it’s up to residents to take great care in the face of an unexpected threat.
"Take great care", but it's apparently illegal to actually kill one of the cats. Despite this formal preference for animals over people, some Indians apparently think the government isn't doing enough to protect the man-eaters.
It might be strange if i say that i was the happiest person when I heard Leopards had killed some 14-15 people in Mumbai. I’ll also support with my reasons why i’m happy. ...3) There is nothing wrong with the Leapord in killing people (which is also a part of Population control ) who had encroached within its land. People deserve such capital punishment who for their selfish reasons occupy its terrain. One day it might happen that even domestic animals might seek revenge for the abuses made on them in India.
Though I don't want to make overly broad generalizations, one of the commonalities I've noticed among the Indians that I've met is that they don't tend to put a high value on the lives of people they don't know. Several of the Indians I know best, when asked, have said that of course this is true -- India has far too many people as it is, so why should anyone be overly concerned about the deaths of strangers? This reaction was particularly strong in response to the recent freezing winter in New Delhi and the resulting deaths of countless homeless.
Holy crap. Tom Cruise is a lunatic.
TOM Cruise has claimed he will eat the PLACENTA after fiancée Katie Holmes has their baby.The actor, 43 — who wants her to give birth in silence according to his Scientology cult rules — said: “I’m gonna eat the placenta, too.
“I thought that would be good. Very nutritious. I’m going to eat the cord and the placenta right there.”
That is possibly the most disgusting thing I've ever heard.
Wade Smith points out what I hope to God is true: being insane will hurt Tom Cruise's box office appeal. How can a studio invest money in this kind of psycho? Who would want to share a stage with such a freak?
So now along with www.oneclickdigital.com is a scam, I have determined that WAWADigital is a scam as well. I had agreed to buy a new camera at a certain price, and when he called to confirm the order it turned out that he wanted to sell me a refurbished camera. He then offered to sell me a new camera at a much higher price, and when I was I wasn't interested he said he was cancelling my order and he hung up. I've called my credit card company to alert them.
I've never had this many problems buying online in the past.
Though my wife may not accompany me, I'm anxious to see United 93, the upcoming movie about the events on United flight 93 on September 11th, 2001. As this Time Magazine review states, I'm sure it will be both unbearable and unmissable.
"Movies need to address the way the world is," [writer/director Paul] Greengrass says. "We have to tell stories about 9/11." He also notes, "The victims' families want this film made. Every single one of them." (Universal, the studio producing the film, is donating 10% of the first weekend's box-office gross to the Flight 93 National Memorial Fund.) Hamilton Peterson, whose father and stepmother died on the flight and who serves as chairman of Families of Flight 93, sees two reasons America needs this film. "One, we're proud of what these Americans did," he says. "These are ordinary citizens who in a matter of minutes overcame what very evil and capable people had planned for years. The passengers took action without police or official support. They knew right from wrong, and they acted on it. Out of the dark of 9/11 came these heroes. And two, it is an example that future world citizens can learn from. If you remember Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, he tried to engage a very dangerous bomb and was thwarted by the bravery of the passengers and crew. Flight 93 served as a beacon for them. I don't think you can reaffirm that message too often or too much.""I hope we're not as a society inured to the messages of the movie," says Hoagland. Those messages, of the hijackers' terrible cunning and dedication, the passengers' valor and sacrifice, are both timeless and timely. "I know it's not too soon," she says. "I hope it's not too late."
I want to relive it, I want to cry again, and I want to be reminded. It's one thing to say "never forget", but I think that puts an onus on us not to return to "normalcy" and not to lose sight of the vicious attack perpertrated on our country. We're still in a war, we're years away from winning, and we have to keep our determination. Part of that is emotion, and I don't want to lose my anger towards those who murdered more than 3,000 of my countrymen.
No, the title of this post doesn't refer to any of the spam trackbacks I've been getting; rather, it's a reference to a bill that just passed the California state Senate Judiciary Committee that will require all textbooks sold in the state to mention whenever a historical figure was gay, lesbian, or transgender.
The bill, which was passed by a Senate committee Tuesday, would require schools to buy textbooks ``accurately'' portraying ``the sexual diversity of our society.'' More controversially, it could require that students hear history lessons on ``the contributions of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender to the economic, political, and social development of California and the United States of America.''Though it's a California bill, it could have far-reaching implications, not only by setting a precedent but also because California is the nation's largest textbook buyer and as such often sets the standards for publishers who sell nationwide.
Bill author Sheila Kuehl, D-Los Angeles, doesn't mention whether or not she wants to "out" closeted gay historical figures. I personally think it would be most interesting not just to mention the gays, but to focus on the sexual fetishes of all our historical figures. I want to know who stuck what body part into which hole of what! Only then will I be able to put history into its proper context.
It seems there are/were some people out there who accused recently-released hostage Jill Carroll of being unAmerican because of statements she made while in captivity. It should have been the universal assumption that any statements she made while held hostage were made under duress, and Miss Carroll's subsequent statements confirm that assumption.
In a video, recorded before she was freed and posted by her captors on an Islamist Web site, Carroll spoke out against the U.S. military presence. But Carroll said the recording was made under threat. Her editor has said three men were pointing guns at her at the time."During my last night in captivity, my captors forced me to participate in a propaganda video. They told me I would be released if I cooperated. I was living in a threatening environment, under their control, and wanted to go home alive. So I agreed," she said in a statement read by her editor in Boston.
"Things that I was forced to say while captive are now being taken by some as an accurate reflection of my personal views. They are not."
Anyone who's angry with her for things she said with a gun to her head is an idiot.
