Happy Holidays.

Seeya sometime next year....gotta go be a Wiitard.

Misc. Friday Ramblings...

WPMS: We play blues 3 weeks a month. The 4th week is ragtime.

• It's Photoshop Phriday.
  Mixed up game titles.
  


• Best Martial Arts scenes.
  Fist of Legend and Ong Bak. Get them.
  


• Merry Christmas from Lawdog.
  St. Nich kicks perp ass and still delivers the goods.
  


• The Wii manual is crazy.
  Do not lay out a Wii for homeless Japanese citizens. They should clean themselves up and get a job like an honorable salaryman.
  


• Great job for New Zealanders: Condom Tester.
  Hate to be the one to test the bad batch.
  


• Beaverton Proposes Fake Gun Ban.
  Key words are "in public areas". Just trying to prevent an accidental shooting from occurring, thus the department getting sued.
  


• World's smallest ankle biter.
  The portal mini-chihuahua, now with twice the nervousness for half the functionality.
  


• Number Six in playboy next month.
  Could be the start of a great series, the women of Battlestar Galactica. Oooh, put Grace Park next!
  

Friday FIREPOWER!

• Maps to local shooting ranges.
  Just in case you ever need to know.
  


• Using silly string to detect tripwires.
  

  In an age of multimillion-dollar high-tech weapons systems, sometimes it's the simplest ideas that can save lives. Which is why a New Jersey mother is organizing a drive to send cans of Silly String to Iraq.
  
  American troops use the stuff to detect trip wires around bombs, as Marcelle Shriver learned from her son, a soldier in Iraq.
  
  Before entering a building, troops squirt the plastic goo, which can shoot strands about 10 to 12 feet, across the room. If it falls to the ground, no trip wires. If it hangs in the air, they know they have a problem. The wires are otherwise nearly invisible.
  
  The military is reluctant to talk about the use of Silly String, saying that discussing specific tactics will tip off insurgents.
  
  But Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said Army soldiers and Marines are not forbidden to come up with new ways to do their jobs, especially in Iraq's ever-evolving battlefield. And he said commanders are given money to buy nonstandard supplies as needed.
  
  In other cases of battlefield improvisation in Iraq, U.S. soldiers have bolted scrap metal to Humvees in what has come to be known as "Hillybilly Armor." Medics use tampons to plug bullet holes in the wounded until they can be patched up.
  
  Also, soldiers put condoms and rubber bands around their rifle muzzles to keep out sand. And troops have welded old bulletproof windshields to the tops of Humvees to give gunners extra protection. They have dubbed it "Pope's glass" — a reference to the barriers that protect the pontiff.

  
  Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.

RIP Peter Boyle.

Peter Boyle, the tall, prematurely bald actor who was the tap-dancing monster in "Young Frankenstein" and the curmudgeonly father in the long-running sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond," has died. He was 71.

Boyle died Tuesday evening at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He had been suffering from multiple myeloma and heart disease, said his publicist, Jennifer Plante.
A Christian Brothers monk who turned to acting, Boyle gained notice playing an angry workingman in the Vietnam-era hit "Joe." But he overcome typecasting when he took on the role of the hulking, lab-created monster in Mel Brooks' 1974 send-up of horror films.

The movie's defining moment came when Gene Wilder, as scientist Frederick Frankenstein, introduced his creation to an upscale audience. Boyle, decked out in tails, performed a song-and-dance routine to the Irving Berlin classic "Puttin' On the Ritz."

Remember your math.

Getting a piece of ass, literally.

If you see these body parts hanging in a shop window in Ratchaburi Bangkok, don’t be scared or grossed out. These are not real body parts, they’re actually yummy pastries.

Even if you dare to take a bite, too bad, they’re not for sale. The owner of the pastry shop was trying to deliver a message: “Do not always believe what your eyes see”.

Gives new meaning to the phrases "Bite me" and "Eat me".

Slacker! Why yes I am.

Many of us spend our work days sitting, and we're killing our backs.

A sweeping study now confirms what ergonomic gurus long have preached: Reclining at a 135-degree angle is better for your back than sitting up straight.

In West Michigan -- ground zero for office-chair production -- designers are glad to hear the rest of the world is catching up. They've been incorporating reclining positions into their creations for years.

"(The study is) proof positive that 135 degrees is the best angle for a healthy back," said Bill Dowell, the Zeeland company's research director and a certified professional ergonomist. "But we've always been a proponent of reclining. All of our chairs recline to at least that angle because we know it's a healthy posture."

Dowell said the study conducted at the University of Alberta Hospital in Canada used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to confirm what previous studies have found: The 135-degree recline relieves back pressure. The finding should not be that surprising, Dowell said, because researchers have found the human body automatically achieves that posture when weightless in space or water.

Now I wish they'd study the effects of propping your feet up while reclining at the work desk.

Misc. Friday Ramblings...

• It's Photoshop Phriday!
  Merry Christmas...far, far away.


• Firefly MMORPG.
  About gorram time!
  


• Commercials of the 80's.
  I'm so old. I remember seeing these when they originally aired.


• Croonchy Stars.
  Scrooomshus!


• Wayans fined for using N-word.
  He can't say the N-word, but yet the club calls the act he's in "Chocolate Sundaes"? Pot, meet kettle.


• Germany has the best commercials.
  Police your beef.


• Celebs to take a bite outta crime.
  Reality TV: Cops will get better ratings.

Friday FIREPOWER!

• It's a knife and a gun.
  

  Just what we need: more weapons and even better, increasingly innovative ways to murder and maim each other. With this G.R.A.D. $699 .22-caliber gun disguised as a knife, you can pull the trigger on the handle, filling someone with five holes and then cut them up into little pieces, or vice-versa.

  
  From the looks of it, by the time you get it ready to use, you could have pulled a real firearm.
  

A Date Which Will Live in Infamy.

Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives:

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.

And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

A charity that needs a lot of support.

You need to grasp this situation, because nothing beats enhancing today's youth.

B.O. or terror threat.

An American Airlines flight bound for Dallas-Fort Worth was diverted in Nashville Monday after passengers reported smelling burning matches.

Airport officials had 99 passengers and five crew members disembark the plane after it landed around 6:40 a.m. Monday.

The plane, which was en route from Reagan National Airport in Washington, was searched and luggage was screened.

Matches were found in the seat of one passenger, who was detained and questioned by the FBI. The matches were safety matches allowed in carry-on luggage under Transportation Security Administration rules.

Airport officials said the woman, who was not identified, was trying to conceal body odor.

She was released without being charged, but was not allowed back on an American Airlines flight.

The remaining passengers were screened, and the plane resumed its flight four hours later.

I guess they should stop giving away the peanuts then.

Map of the Star Trek Universe

For us nerds everywhere.

Flight of the Bumblebees

Original version:


Hopped up version: