For those getting an early start on their Christmas shopping
Recently, an Australian was offering a Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich maker on EBay. Believe It or Not!
Hat tip: the occasionally fascinating www.Bidboy.com.
Sunday, January 23, 2005
"You, too, Mister Composer/Musician, can put out records if you bother to go to the trouble of sending obscene lyrics and suicide notes through the U.S. Postal Service, as I did.... "
John Trubee relates the amusing and amazing story of his undground record hit Blind Man's Penis.
John Trubee relates the amusing and amazing story of his undground record hit Blind Man's Penis.
Tom Servo, Polygamist
Colby Cosh writes a thoughtful post on the gay marriage debate in Canada, and what do I do? I wonder if that is a distant relative of Tom Servo of MST3K fame at the extreme left in the artwork of that Mormon family in his post.
I think polygamy is very objectionable. But, I should dig out a B.C. Report story that I did on the polygamous Mormons of Bountiful B.C.. I interviewed the "head wife" of a family and she told me about the unusual way that she and her "sister Wives" ran things. They would take tuens sleeping the the same bed as the husband. Some of the wives specialized in househoild tasks. Two would do all the cooking, one would watch the kids in the afternoon. Propaganda i know, but I think that I am one of the few journalists to get that side of the story.
Too bad that I didn't get a detailed report on polygamy at Bountiful before I filed my story. I would have taken a strip off the polygamists if I had had that material at hand.
Colby Cosh writes a thoughtful post on the gay marriage debate in Canada, and what do I do? I wonder if that is a distant relative of Tom Servo of MST3K fame at the extreme left in the artwork of that Mormon family in his post.
I think polygamy is very objectionable. But, I should dig out a B.C. Report story that I did on the polygamous Mormons of Bountiful B.C.. I interviewed the "head wife" of a family and she told me about the unusual way that she and her "sister Wives" ran things. They would take tuens sleeping the the same bed as the husband. Some of the wives specialized in househoild tasks. Two would do all the cooking, one would watch the kids in the afternoon. Propaganda i know, but I think that I am one of the few journalists to get that side of the story.
Too bad that I didn't get a detailed report on polygamy at Bountiful before I filed my story. I would have taken a strip off the polygamists if I had had that material at hand.
Friday, January 21, 2005
But I WANT a Little Dog..!
For those wondering about the charms of Lille Eris' song, which I mentioned in an earlier post, here is a link to Jeg Vil Ha En Liten Hund lyrics, and their English translation, as they were posted on the Incorrect Music website.
Men jeg vil ha en liten hund,
jeg vil ha en liten hund.
Jeg tenker pa hunden hver dag hvert sekund.
Jeg vil ha en liten hund!
Hat tip to Irwin Chusid and Michelle Boule. Thanks for the show, while it lasted.
For those wondering about the charms of Lille Eris' song, which I mentioned in an earlier post, here is a link to Jeg Vil Ha En Liten Hund lyrics, and their English translation, as they were posted on the Incorrect Music website.
Men jeg vil ha en liten hund,
jeg vil ha en liten hund.
Jeg tenker pa hunden hver dag hvert sekund.
Jeg vil ha en liten hund!
Hat tip to Irwin Chusid and Michelle Boule. Thanks for the show, while it lasted.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
He had to buy a printer
My friend and former colleague Colby Cosh, who has just bought his first printer, notes that the CUPpies have arranged to get Lewis Lapham as their guest of honour at their conference this week.
What sort of conference fees would you have to pay to afford his speaking fee? A zillion dollars? Canadian University Press papers must be able to afford "cement ponds" and everything these days.
My friend and former colleague Colby Cosh, who has just bought his first printer, notes that the CUPpies have arranged to get Lewis Lapham as their guest of honour at their conference this week.
What sort of conference fees would you have to pay to afford his speaking fee? A zillion dollars? Canadian University Press papers must be able to afford "cement ponds" and everything these days.
Missing mail
The Christian Research Institute, a U.S. anti-cult organization, has just issued an emergency appeal for funds. The appeal is based on thousands of pieces of mail (filled with donations) allegedly being misrouted by the U.S Postal Service. However, there is so much evidence that the fundaraising appeal blows the problem out of proporation that the CRI is reportedly about to be investigated for mail fraud.
Bill Alnor, CRI observer, has the skinny.
The Christian Research Institute, a U.S. anti-cult organization, has just issued an emergency appeal for funds. The appeal is based on thousands of pieces of mail (filled with donations) allegedly being misrouted by the U.S Postal Service. However, there is so much evidence that the fundaraising appeal blows the problem out of proporation that the CRI is reportedly about to be investigated for mail fraud.
Bill Alnor, CRI observer, has the skinny.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Flummox my pastor!
....by visiting the Rapture Ready website, if you have an interest in a pre-trib interpretation of Christ's Second Coming.
....by visiting the Rapture Ready website, if you have an interest in a pre-trib interpretation of Christ's Second Coming.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
I'm Schnappi the little Crocodile!
Treppenwitz has the scoop on Schnappi das kleine Krokodil, a reportedly cute song about a little crocodile sung by a little German girl.
The song has just hit number one on the German pop charts!
I haven't heard the song yet, but my vote for most endearingly annoying kid-sung song still goes to Lille Eris' "I Want A Little Dog!" (Jeg Vil Ha En Liten Hund), as immortalized on the Incorrect Music (RIP) radio show.
By the way, Lille Eris fans may be pleased to see this recent clipping from a Norwegian newspaper about the now grown up Lille Eris Magnussen. I can't read Norwegian, but I'm hazarding a guess that it seems to talk about her getting 30,000 kroner in back royalties for her 1967 hit song, warbled when she was an 11 year-old chanteuse.
Treppenwitz has the scoop on Schnappi das kleine Krokodil, a reportedly cute song about a little crocodile sung by a little German girl.
The song has just hit number one on the German pop charts!
I haven't heard the song yet, but my vote for most endearingly annoying kid-sung song still goes to Lille Eris' "I Want A Little Dog!" (Jeg Vil Ha En Liten Hund), as immortalized on the Incorrect Music (RIP) radio show.
By the way, Lille Eris fans may be pleased to see this recent clipping from a Norwegian newspaper about the now grown up Lille Eris Magnussen. I can't read Norwegian, but I'm hazarding a guess that it seems to talk about her getting 30,000 kroner in back royalties for her 1967 hit song, warbled when she was an 11 year-old chanteuse.
Friday, January 14, 2005
Ballot box 13 found in Bellevue
While I am catching up at work, read more about the eye-popping Washington state governor's election at Stefan Sharkansky (and others)'s blog. Washington state, home of the "Frankenvoter", the undead who cast ballots!
At least we can be grateful that the dead aren't rising from their graves to vote in alphabetical order, as they did for LBJ.
While I am catching up at work, read more about the eye-popping Washington state governor's election at Stefan Sharkansky (and others)'s blog. Washington state, home of the "Frankenvoter", the undead who cast ballots!
At least we can be grateful that the dead aren't rising from their graves to vote in alphabetical order, as they did for LBJ.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Two world wars and one world cup, doo dah, doo dah
A soccer player for Italy's Lazio is in trouble for allegedly making a 'fascist salute' to the crowd after a game. Player salute spotters are especially concerned as Mussolini himself used to cheer for Lazio seventy years ago.
Hat tip: Tim Blair.
A soccer player for Italy's Lazio is in trouble for allegedly making a 'fascist salute' to the crowd after a game. Player salute spotters are especially concerned as Mussolini himself used to cheer for Lazio seventy years ago.
Hat tip: Tim Blair.
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Friday, January 07, 2005
The rise of the professional student journalist
A note in my blogging friend and former colleague ColbyCosh's blog is worthy of comment:
On January 21, at the same hour of the day, I'll be hosting a roundtable discussion for the Canadian University Press's national student media conference at the Crowne Plaza in Edmonton. Since I'm not really an expert at anything except being me, the topic will be weblogs and journalism (weblogs vs. journalism?).
As a former CUPpie (I attended CUP 50, CUP 52 and CUP 53) and CUP staffer (I worked for the organization for 8 months for the princely sum of $600 per month), I'm able to point out a trend that Colby's guest appearance points to: the rise of the semi-professional student journalist.
Back in my day (picture me in a rocking chair talking in a quavery crabby old person voice), national CUP conferences were always held in the week between Boxing Day and New Year's Day because those attending were students going to classes. With a January 21 event date, it seems that CUP has moved to a stance of not caring if their student journalists blow off a week of classes to attend seminars and debate punctuation changes in the CUP Statement of Principles.
This is not good. Back when I was a student journalist, CUP at least nodded in the direction of acknowledging that their members were supposed to be average students, well grounded in the educational life of their campus, who happenned to do student journalism on the side. As recently as 15 years ago, most student newspapers paid their editors in the form of tuition wavers or paltry salaries that forced the editors to get student loans that required them to take classes.
This is important to encourage, because one of the few times that student journalists are confronted with frank opinions about the quality of the leftist agitprop that they churn out, is when they come down from Mount Olympus and actually meet the students who read their newspaper. I know this for a fact because my classmates who knew that I wrote for The Ubyssey often buttonholed me about things that they liked or disliked in the paper, even though I was just a reporter. One of the reasons that I never became an editor of the paper was that I was dependent on student loans. I couldn't justify adding thousands of dollars to my student loan tab in order to take one course and blow off the year to be a Ubyssey editor.
If CUP retains a social conscience, why are they discouraging poor people whose first priority is going to school full time from participating in their activities by scheduling their national conference during class time?
A note in my blogging friend and former colleague ColbyCosh's blog is worthy of comment:
On January 21, at the same hour of the day, I'll be hosting a roundtable discussion for the Canadian University Press's national student media conference at the Crowne Plaza in Edmonton. Since I'm not really an expert at anything except being me, the topic will be weblogs and journalism (weblogs vs. journalism?).
As a former CUPpie (I attended CUP 50, CUP 52 and CUP 53) and CUP staffer (I worked for the organization for 8 months for the princely sum of $600 per month), I'm able to point out a trend that Colby's guest appearance points to: the rise of the semi-professional student journalist.
Back in my day (picture me in a rocking chair talking in a quavery crabby old person voice), national CUP conferences were always held in the week between Boxing Day and New Year's Day because those attending were students going to classes. With a January 21 event date, it seems that CUP has moved to a stance of not caring if their student journalists blow off a week of classes to attend seminars and debate punctuation changes in the CUP Statement of Principles.
This is not good. Back when I was a student journalist, CUP at least nodded in the direction of acknowledging that their members were supposed to be average students, well grounded in the educational life of their campus, who happenned to do student journalism on the side. As recently as 15 years ago, most student newspapers paid their editors in the form of tuition wavers or paltry salaries that forced the editors to get student loans that required them to take classes.
This is important to encourage, because one of the few times that student journalists are confronted with frank opinions about the quality of the leftist agitprop that they churn out, is when they come down from Mount Olympus and actually meet the students who read their newspaper. I know this for a fact because my classmates who knew that I wrote for The Ubyssey often buttonholed me about things that they liked or disliked in the paper, even though I was just a reporter. One of the reasons that I never became an editor of the paper was that I was dependent on student loans. I couldn't justify adding thousands of dollars to my student loan tab in order to take one course and blow off the year to be a Ubyssey editor.
If CUP retains a social conscience, why are they discouraging poor people whose first priority is going to school full time from participating in their activities by scheduling their national conference during class time?
Thursday, January 06, 2005
I see dead people voting
Amongst blogger Stefan Sharkansky's amazing revelations about the Democrats' keep-counting-till-we-win shenanigans in the Washington state governor's election: it seems that dead people appear to have risen from their graves to cast absentee ballots in November.
Amongst blogger Stefan Sharkansky's amazing revelations about the Democrats' keep-counting-till-we-win shenanigans in the Washington state governor's election: it seems that dead people appear to have risen from their graves to cast absentee ballots in November.
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
When "Old hack's disease" strikes
My old newspaper has gone full colour.
Back in my day, we were happy with black and white. Harumpf!
My old newspaper has gone full colour.
Back in my day, we were happy with black and white. Harumpf!
"Seriously, burned Velveeta is what they use to stick the tiles on the Space Shuttle. Don't burn the Velveeta...."
One blogger's amusing recipe for Macho Dip
Hat tip: Ilyka Damen.
One blogger's amusing recipe for Macho Dip
Hat tip: Ilyka Damen.
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Monday, January 03, 2005
When bloggers kill
Police in Alaska are suspecting a teen of masterminding a plot to kill her mom after they read her blog.
Creepy!
Police in Alaska are suspecting a teen of masterminding a plot to kill her mom after they read her blog.
Creepy!
"...Anyway, finally, one day without the horoscopes in hand, I told the slot guy I would handle it. No phone calls for us tomorrow. No readers reeling in anger, confusion and fear. All would find a helping hand from the Dayton Daily News.
And I faked it....."
A note on why newspapers are never caught short when it comes to horoscopes, by the waggish desker Charles Stough.
And I faked it....."
A note on why newspapers are never caught short when it comes to horoscopes, by the waggish desker Charles Stough.
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Bob Barker is second best
I'll argue that Bill Cullen was the best host ever of The Price Is Right. Perhaps the linked tribute website will persuade you.
I'll argue that Bill Cullen was the best host ever of The Price Is Right. Perhaps the linked tribute website will persuade you.