Happy Halloween: Kiss my pumpkin.

Kick the Republican!

A part-time college instructor has apologized for kicking a student wearing a Republican sweatshirt in an off-campus incident.

Fort Lewis College student Mark O'Donnell said he was showing people his College Republicans sweatshirt, which said "Work for us now ... or work for us later," when Maria Spero kicked him.

After kicking him, Spero said "she should have kicked me harder and higher," said O'Donnell. In a police report O'Donnell said Spero kicked him in the right calf.

Durango Police Sgt. Mitch Higgins said Saturday that O'Donnell wanted to press charges against Spero and a misdemeanor summons would be issued.

"To physically take that out on someone because you disagree with them, that is completely wrong," said O'Donnell.

David Eppich, assistant to the president of the college, said the college has formally apologized for the incident. He said an investigation indicated Spero, a visiting instructor of modern languages, did not know O'Donnell was a student and she has apologized.

"I acted entirely inappropriately by kicking you, giving vent to a thoughtless knee-jerk political reaction that should never have happened. I apologize for my untoward comments. Before the incident, I did not know you and that you are a Fort Lewis student. I am entirely sorry. I am ashamed of my behavior, and I hope you will accept my apology," Spero said in a letter to O'Donnell dated Oct. 29.

O'Donnell said the apology wasn't enough, and he planned to file a complaint with the college.

"I just think that students are held accountable for how they act and what they do in town. They can have actions brought against them. It is imperative that professors should be held accountable for their actions in town and on campus."

Notice the part of the story that I bolded. To me, that makes me think that there was an understanding that it is okay to assault a fellow instructor for their political beliefs. WTF?!?!? As with all assault, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It will only be a misdemeanor, but it is all about standing up for your principles. Never let anyone push you around. Don't get physical, get legal.

The scariest Halloween costumes.

A Do-It-Yourself Guide to This Season's Quickest, Least Expensive, and Spooky-Ookiest Halloween Costumes

Ralph Nader
Put the fear of God in John Kerry and his Democratic supporters with this easy approximation of Green Party leader/Democratic ticket spoiler Ralph Nader. With just hand-me-down Sunday-best clothes and Grandma's old cocktail wig, you've got yourself a real live Ralph Nader.

Total cost: Free!
Total time: Under 15 minutes.

One fingered victory salute!

Just for you, Mr. Kerry.

Bark at the moon.

Go outside tonight and see the total lunar eclipse. Tonight's eclipse is easy and convenient for much of the world to see. Anyone who can spot a full Moon can see it fade out as the Earth's shadow engulfs it. No protective glasses or expensive telescopes are needed. The total lunar eclipse starts at 9:14 pm Eastern Daylight Time, equivalent to 1:14 am UT in the morning for sky enthusiasts in the United Kingdom. From the moment the first part of the Moon disappears to the moment that the last part of the Moon reappears will be 3 hours and 40 minutes.

Ms. Manners has definitely left the building.

Okay folks, gotta rant. I try to be considerate of other people, including those I work with. I may not know them, but they get the same courtesy extended to them as I extend to strangers. The polite head nod, the women go first, giving people their space, etc. Well, within 5 minutes, two things happened that really got under my skin.

Imagine about sixty minutes past normal lunch time. (btw, people scheduling lunch-time meetings should be....nevermind). I grab my debit card to hit the in-house ATM before going to the cafeteria. The ATM is located in a little cubby off to the side of a hallway leading to a set of the ground floor restrooms. Looking down the hallway, you have a cubby with the ATM on the right, the stamp machine and the shoe shine guy on the right. Basically, no where to stand other than in front of the machine.

Someone is using the ATM. I don't like being crowded. I don't like crowding people, especially with no room to do so. So, I stand just down the hallway, ATM card ready. I'm on the right side of the hallway, essentially starting an ATM queue. Well, after about five minutes, the person at the ATM isn't finished. Three "ladies" walk down the hall, past me, and stand right behind the person at the ATM. I'm talking 6 to 12 inches away from the person's back. They are all conversing, paying me no mind, crowding the already cramped space. About about another 3 to 5 minutes later, one of them notices me just standing there. She asks if I was waiting for the ATM. At that same moment, the original user says that the ATM is out of order. I reply to the question, "Well, I was. Thanks for noticing." I then turn and walk back to the elevators to run up to the cube to see if I can scrounge some money for lunch.

I come down alone on the elevator, into situation two. Our elevator lobby has six elevators. Sometimes it only feels like three are working. So, on a good day after lunch, the lobby gets crowded. Well, I'm the only one in this particular elevator, standing at the front near the double doors. It gets to ground floor, the doors open. Now, normally, you'd think people would let you off the elevator before trying to board. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. People start to move into the elevator without even looking to see if someone is there first. Again, wrapped up in their little worlds, I guess. Imagine their surprise when they look ahead to see my 6'2" bulk in front of them. I have to actually look down at them and sternly say "Excuse Me!" for them to realize that they need to step aside before I could get off.

Ms. Manners has left the building.

The band goes in the bus, not under it.

Teen songbird Ashlee Simpson had a microphone malfunction on "Saturday Night Live" (oct 23) last night, scurrying off stage when a production glitch caught her lip-synching the wrong tune.

The pop star, younger sister of singer and TV star Jessica Simpson, sounded great belting out "Pieces of Me" in her first segment on the show. It was the same song that she butchered at August's MTV Music Video Awards, drawing withering reviews for a flat, out of key performance.

But the triumphant moment turned into a debacle when she came out to debut the song "Autobiography" for a second set. But whoever was responsible for piping in a studio-engineered rendition for Simpson to mouth screwed up, playing "Pieces" once again.

A still-humiliated Simpson apologized to her fans - and blamed her band for playing the wrong song.

I want to know what the hell she was trying to do by dancing the way she did. It was some sort of contorted irish jig. Still, synch is nothing new to pop acts. Remember the night the tape skipped? It just doesn't seem so dramatic anymore, if the artist recorded the original work. They get lazy, go out, put on a good dance, then synch the concert to give the fans studio quality lyrics. At least the band plays on.

Check six!

You think you are taking a leisurely stroll through the woods. You check out the flora and fauna. You stop for a bite to eat, not realizing that someone has you in mind for dinner.

You say tomato, I say that'll be $5 each.

Hurricanes including Charley and Francis, which hit Florida in August and September, forced many of the state's tomato farmers to replant crops that were expected to be sold in November and December, according to Gary Lucier, an economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

As a result, tomato prices in October have risen 167 percent to about $15 for a 25-pound box, Lucier said.

To make matters worse, heavy rain in California this week flooded the state's tomato crops, halting harvests and threatening to put the brakes on a deal, which began last Saturday, for California growers to supply McDonald's restaurants in Japan.

"I have one supplier that's trying to continue but I have two others that can't supply them at all," said Ed Beckman, president of the California Tomato Commission, a trade group for tomato farmers.

But while consumers may not feel the brunt of the tomato shortage while dining out, they are certain to be paying more in supermarkets.

It isn't just the tomatoes either. The damage to Florida's crops from the hurricanes this year will be about $3 billion. Florida lost about half if its grapefruit crops, and about 20% of its oranges. Overall, Florida supplies about 75% of the nations grapefruit, and 50% of the oranges. Those prices have been going up for a while. However, tomatoes are used for a hell of a lot more than the citrus products. I bet Italian and Mexican restaurants will be feeling the pinch the most. When they feel the pinch, so does your wallet.

Why do gentlemen let ladies go first?

A general, cynical observation to follow. I'd like to think that most males are instructed by their parent(s) that men are supposed to treat women a little more special. This may be old-school thinking, in this day and age of equality. However, I do believe that women enjoy a man paying for their meal, opening a door, and letting them go first. Well, having grown up in the "me" generation, I do believe that men of this era do still adhere to those gentleman's tenants. However, the "me" stands out when you let women go first, because you can stare at their ass as they proceed in front of you.

Do as we say, not as we flu.

John Kerry's presidential campaign is complaining that Vice President Dick Cheney, a heart patient, received a flu shot this week, even though health officials have urged that only those most vulnerable receive the vaccine.

But apparently team Kerry didn't notice on Monday when Hillary Clinton announced that her heart patient hubby, Bill, also received a flu shot, during an address about the vaccine shortage at a New York City health center.

"Once again, the Bush administration proves that it is the 'do as we say, not as we do' White House," the Kerry campaign said in a statement issued late Wednesday, according to Agence France-Press.

Cheney - a pacemaker-wearing cardiac patient who has had four heart attacks - would fit into the government's definition of those most vulnerable to a looming influenza epidemic, noted AFP.

So would recent quadruple bypass recipient ex-President Clinton.

Again with the "It's okay if we do it, because we know better. Don't you dare do it though". Either way, I just don't understand why people rush out to get flu shots. Oh sure, inject me with the illness that I'm trying to avoid getting, so it can ramp up my immune system. Every time family members get the shots, they get the flu! I'd rather chance not getting it at all rather than getting it on my own timing. Besides, it's a crap shoot anyways, because the CDC has to guess what flu will be coming, and immunize for that one in particular.

14th Amendment-section 3, and John Kerry

Here's what section 3 says:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

But for the purposes of the Treason Clause, and I suspect of section 3, the test isn't simply whether the actions help the enemy, or help the enemy through improper means, or help the enemy through improper means with the knowledge that they will help the enemy. If Kerry's purpose was not to help the North Vietnamese, but to help the United States or to help maintain U.S. compliance with its own laws and policies related to military conduct, then he's not covered. And I have no reason to think that Kerry's purpose was indeed anything other than to help the United States, whether or not his actions in pursuit of that purpose may have been misguided or excessive.

There has been quite a bit of jabbering on the conservative side of the blog-o-sphere concerning John Kerry's eligibility for the Presidency based upon his anti-war actions while still a U.S. Navy officer. Well, sorry folks, but it doesn't look like you can hang him out to dry for treason quite yet. However, there has been some more ruffling of feathers over Kerry's comments about a U.S. soldier's blood is worth it only under a U.N. flag.

The price of your political views.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Monday that his speech backing President Bush at the Republican Convention in August resulted in a dramatic cold shoulder from his wife Maria Shriver, a member of the very Democratic Kennedy family.

"Well, there was no sex for 14 days," Schwarzenegger told former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta in an on-stage conversation in front of 1,000 people. "Everything comes with side effects."

The crowd roared with laughter, but the governor may have been serious: he has said little in public to back fellow Republican Bush since then. Panetta, a Democrat, had asked him how Shriver, whose uncle was U.S. President John F. Kennedy, had reacted to his praised but partisan prime-time convention speech.

At least this isn't as bad as the withholding that is being advised by the folks over at Votergasm. However, it is troubling to see that the king of macho men could be humbled by his little wifey (that is sarcasm folks....say it with me....SARCASM). I guess we know who wears the pants in that family. Still, I don't blame him. I bet 14 days gives him adequate time to heal up the bone bruises he gets from humping Skeletor.

The other side of prostitution.

A local television news anchor was arrested on prostitution charges Thursday.

Darryl Tardy was arrested at Westside Regional Park. Police said the arrest was part of their normal undercover work to eradicate prostitution.

Officers said they chose the park because of complaints from nearby residents. It has also been the site of prior prostitution arrests.

According to a police report, Tardy asked an undercover officer if he was a cop and demanded that he prove that he was not.

Tardy was reportedly arrested after the sheriff's officer refused to expose himself.

Seven men were arrested in the sting. Police emphasized that prostitution is not a victimless crime.

"The problem is, there are children there and it's not right for people to go there to act out their fantasy or what they think they want," said Public Information Officer Ken Jefferson.

Tardy works for First Coast News, WTLV in Jacksonville. The station had no comment on the arrest.

I can't find the original story, but he was not busted for solicitation of prostitution, but for the act of prostitution. He was the 'ho'. Kind of reminds me of the rest area scene from "There's Something About Mary".

George W. Bush Robs Bank

Police in York County are looking for a bank robber who committed his crime in a George W. Bush Halloween mask.

It happened Thursday night at the Commerce Bank in Manchester Township.

Bank employees said the man had on the mask and a gray sweat suit.

He got away with cash.

Now that is what I call Campaign Finance Reform!

Laser MAGIC

On a rare foggy night, mysterious laser beams seem to play across the MAGIC telescope at Roque de los Muchachos on the Canary Island of La Palma. The lasers are actually part of a system designed to automatically adjust the focusing of the inovative, seventeen meter wide, multi-mirrored instrument. The MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov) telescope itself is intended to detect gamma rays - photons with over 100 billion times the energy of visible light. As the gamma rays impact the upper atmosphere they produce air showers of high-energy particles. The MAGIC camera records in detail the brief flashes of optical light, called Cherenkov light, created by the air shower particles that ultimately correspond to cosmic sources of extreme gamma-rays.

From the local geologist, Mr. MF'r, it looks like La Palma might not be the best of places to install sensative equipment. And if that sucker did collapse into the Atlantic, the eastern U.S. could possibly see 50m tall waves. Surf's up, dude!

Team America - The MoFo Review

Thank God for Team America: World Police, the marionette-o-vision Homeland Security drama from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone opening nationwide October 15. This movie is more than just therapy for anyone who has missed nights of sleep trying to decide between Empire and Appeasement or allowed their girlfriends to drag them to see Before Sunset: It is a moral vision of America's future delivered by two of our nation's finest political thinkers. It also makes your breath fresh, your teeth whiter, and teaches children their multiplication tables.

In Hollywood, Alec Baldwin's Film Actors Guild-F.A.G.-protests Team America's tactics and unilateral imperialism. "We believe the world needs compassion," Baldwin says on the ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. Additional FAG voices join Baldwin's chorus, including Tim Robbins ("It's all corporations! Corporations!"), George Clooney, Liv Tyler, Janene Garofalo ("If we read the newspaper and then say what's inside, it'll sound like we have opinions!"), Susan Sarandon, Helen Hunt and Sean Penn ("Iraq was a happy, sunny place before Team America! There were rainbows and bunnies and chocolate rivers!"), and, of course, Ethan Hawke.

Of course, according to the ever-accurate Drudge Report, the real-life Penn actually wrote an open letter to Parker and Stone on October 6, not so eloquently opining: "You guys are talented young guys but alas, primarily young guys. . . encourag[ing] irresponsibility that will ultimately lead to the disembowelment, mutilation, exploitation, and death of innocent people throughout the world. All best, and a sincere fuck you, Sean Penn." Sean Penn, of course, knows all about the horrors of disembowelment, mutilation, exploitation, and death.

Naturally Blix warns Jong-Il about the consequences of giving WMDs to terrorist organizations. "We will be very, very angry," Blix says, "and we will write you a letter about it." In response, Jong-Il feeds Blix to his "killer sharks," played here by catfishes that look enormous compared to the marionettes. "How do you like that, Hans Blix?" Jong-Il screams. "How do you like that, you cocksucking piece of shit?"

This is the movie where they had to remove the puppet oral sex scene because it would have been given a NC-17 rating instead. Ah well, Trey and Matt have never been known for their subtlety. They are the creators of South Park, afterall.

Elvis has left the building with Jake and Elwood.

Police responding to a call of a convulsing Elvis Presley impersonator soon found themselves in a high-speed chase of another faux celebrity — a man dressed as one of the Blues Brothers.

Crystal Police Capt. Dave Oyaas said the bizarre string of events began when officers were called to a veterans hall Monday morning to find a man dressed as Elvis Presley apparently in convulsions.

When the officers approached, Oyaas said the man suddenly jumped up and yelled, "Viva Las Vegas!" before singing show tunes.

At about the same time, two women said another man at the veterans hall dressed as John Belushi's character in "The Blues Brothers" had stolen their car and driven to a nearby airport.

The man led police on a high-speed chase around the airport before officers forced him to stop and arrested him.

"It's one of those things that you stop and scratch your head, and you think that 'Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?'" Oyaas said.

Oyaas said charges pending against the men could include disorderly conduct, fleeing police and drunken driving.

The men had been drinking together at the VFW before police arrived. Blood tests will show how much, but Oyaas said, "I would venture to say quite a bit."

As if a convulsing Elvis wasn't funny enough, Jake obviously had to get to Chicago to pay for the orphanage. He was "on a mission from God", afterall.

Goodbye, Superman.

Actor Christopher Reeve, who soared through the air and leapt tall buildings as "Superman," turned personal tragedy into a public crusade, becoming the nation's most recognizable spokesman for spinal cord research — from a wheelchair. Reeve went into cardiac arrest Saturday while at his Pound Ridge home, then fell into a coma and died Sunday at a hospital surrounded by his family, his publicist said. He was 52.

He is a shining example of turning adversity around, and continuing to live life to its fullest extent. He will be sorely missed.

U.S. Air Force reveals new Space Command badge

The Air Force Space Command has taken the wraps off its new space badge, designed to be worn by both space and missile operations professionals.

The new badge also replaces the missile operations occupational badge, more commonly known as “the pocket rocket,” currently worn by those in the missile operations career fields.

“Just as pilots wear the same badge, whether they fly fighters, bombers, tankers or transports, all very distinct and different missions, our space professionals should wear the same badge to reflect the unity of their mission and capabilities,” said General Lance Lord, commander of the Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.

That is a very good looking badge. Uniforms get revamped all the time, medals and badges should as well. How long before one of those badges are turned into a Star Trek Communicator?

Want to participate in an event to break a world record?

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Voting, Florida Style

Thanks Jeb!


Complete props goes to a MF'r at work for this info.

Welcome our Insect Overlords!

This image was taken at 10:44 am PDT, on September 28, 2004. We believe the seismic activity on Mount St. Helens increased dramatically about this same time. Coincidence?

It is Vigo....you are like the buzzing of...oh nevermind.

10 million dollar money shot.

A stubby rocket plane powered its rockets and appeared to blast through the Earth's atmosphere for a second time in two weeks Monday to capture a $10 million prize meant to encourage space tourism.

SpaceShipOne, the rocket plane funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, appeared to top its required altitude within minutes of firing its rockets, said Peter Diamandis, who founded the X Prize eight years ago.

The plane took off from a desert runway early Monday, slung to the belly of a carrier plane with a test pilot at the wheel. It was released at about 46,000 feet and fired its rockets to continue to an altitude of just over 62 miles — generally considered to be the point where the Earth's atmosphere ends and space begins.

If the altitude of 368,000 feet is confirmed, the backers will claim the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million award that goes to the first privately built, manned rocket ship to fly in space twice in a span of two weeks.

Last week, Richard Branson, the British airline mogul and adventurer, announced that beginning in 2007, he will begin offering paying customers flights into space aboard rockets like the SpaceShipOne. He plans to call the service Virgin Galactic.

I defy any government to be able to do the same thing in the same time with the same money. I don't think it can be done. however, you watch for the FAA or some other agency to start tacking rules onto civillian extra-terrestrial travel. I wonder how much salvage could be gotten by pulling down old satellites? Branson funding the travel isn't surprising. He's an adventurous sort anyways.

Blowing your top.

Mount St. Helens quieted down after spewing a plume of steam and ash — but only briefly. Within hours of the eruption Friday, seismic readings suggested pressure was building again inside the volcano, which had been dormant for 18 years.

It began rumbling last week, set off by small earthquakes occurring as often as three or four times a minutes, and scientists said there could be more steam eruptions soon.

Friday's eruption, described by government scientist Jeff Wynn as a "throat-clearing," was the sleeping giant's first since 1986. On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens blew its top with such force that 57 people lost their lives.

The volcanic burp cast a haze across the horizon as the roiling plume rose from the nearly 1,000-foot-tall dome. After about 20 minutes, the mountain calmed and the plume dissipated.

I was only 10 when the big blast happened, but I can remember it well. What I remember the most was the camcorder shot footage of people on the run from the eruption. The ominous cloud of smoke and ash. The forests laid waste. The lightning storms over the crater. Then there were the deaths. At least there are warning signs that can't be heeded now. Hopefully the next blast will just be steam and ash. Still, I don't think I'd ever consider a volcano eruption a "burp".

Don't you dare hack nudity INTO our game.

Mainichi Interactive reports today that game publisher Tecmo has won another decision in a long-standing legal battle concerning its Dead or Alive franchise. The Supreme Court of Tokyo has ruled that a small software publisher called Westside infringed upon Tecmo's copyright when it released a utility that allowed PlayStation 2 owners to remove the clothes from the character Kasumi when they played Dead or Alive 2.

Two years ago, the district court of Tokyo also found Westside to be in infringement of Tecmo's copyright. Westside appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Tokyo. The decision of the Supreme Court was no different from that of the district court, ruling that Westside was "causing violations of copyright laws by allowing purchasers to use the [hacking] software."

The verdict against Westside was small on its face--the company must pay only two million yen ($18,205) in damages--but the financial damage may actually be worse, considering how much the company had spent on its legal fees up until now. Westside continues to operate in the video game data-hacking business, releasing tools that can modify or extract data from various games. The company sells its utilities by way of a bimonthly periodical “Otanoshimi CD," as well as through its corporate Web site.

The outcome of this case might have been completely different in the United States. In the early '90s, American courts continually upheld the right of Lewis Galoob Toys to produce its Game Genie accessory, which let Nintendo Entertainment System users alter their video games in a similar, temporary manner. Nintendo asserted that the device infringed upon its copyrights, but the courts did not agree.

As a matter of fact, there is a Codebreaker code available that does the same thing on the U.S. PS2 version of DOA2. I'm just glad that we do live in the U.S. Seems like people here are smart enough to realize that once you purchase a product, although you don't own the Intellectual Property, you do own that product. You can do whatever you want to with it as long as you don't make money off of it without giving proper credit to the IP owner. Besides, who cares about naked, over-endowed, anime, female ninjas in a video game? >=)