I want to believe

When former Gov. Frank Keating moved into the Governor’s Mansion in 1995, a member of the staff told him the place was haunted by William "Alfalfa Bill” Murray, one of the state’s founders and one of its most colorful political figures.
Keating said he shrugged off the warning that Murray’s spirit haunted the third step of the main staircase until his wife slipped and fell on the cursed step. He said the incident wasn’t isolated.
As I have said many times, I want to believe. My wife is a skeptic. Alfalfa Bill's standoff at the river is an interesting part of Oklahoma History.

Tilt Shift Time Lapse

Beached from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.
Tilt shift photography is some really cool stuff– where you change the focus and the angle of a normal photograph or film image to make it appear to be built from miniatures. Australian photographer Keith Loutit has created several amazing tilt-shift time lapse videos, which you can see more of after the jump.
More after the jump.

Band is fun

When he was hired as director of the loud, rowdy Cal Aggie Marching Band at UC Davis, nobody told Tom Slabaugh about the tradition of "naked van."
But on last year's road trip to the football game with Portland State, a trumpet player yelled "naked van!" and everybody in the vehicle - men and women alike - stripped to their underwear.
I love band. These Cal members are totally unhinged. Awesome.
There is a list at the end of some other bands and their "troubles".

European, Asian Markets Hemorrhage

(AP) World stock markets were in retreat once more on Wednesday as concerns about the state of the global economy dominated sentiment despite a coordinated rate cut by top central banks aimed at shoring up confidence in the world's crisis-stricken financial system.
I think when this is all over, there will be some new players in the market that make "new rules" for the rest.

Bad Ass

Revealed: No man's land sketches by 'hero' British WWI artist who crept behind enemy lines to gather intelligence
He was no doubt handy with a bayonet and a rifle.

But as a young soldier in the First World War, Len Smith's deadliest weapons were his pencil and his pad.

In the days before satellite surveillance provided detailed images from the sky, Private Smith would creep behind enemy lines - and draw.
I don't think men with this level of bad ass still exist. There are some close in the service of their countries out there, but this is totally bad ass.

Palin Hacker

OCTOBER 8--A Tennessee man has been indicted for hacking into the e-mail account of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. David Kernell, 20, was charged with illegally accessing Palin's Yahoo! account "by researching and correctly answering a series of personal security questions," according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Knoxville.
Some people might say he was "pretty clever" to break into the account. I'm of a mind to say he is one of the dumbest people in the universe.
You hack an account...you leave a "tell" that you did. You demonstrate that for your "peer group". And then you remove all traces...ALL TRACES you were there.

Holy Water? Seriously?

FERNDALE, Mich. -- Ferndale police said an adult education student tossed liquid on a teacher because he believed she was a witch who needed to be purified.
Police said 20-year-old Darin Najor of Ferndale threatened the teacher last month at Taft Education Center a day after confronting her about Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," which focuses on the Salem Witch Trials.
Wow. Seriously? Holy water? Someone please tell me Darin is "special".

Hundreds Of Sex Offenders Found Living Near Runner's Attempted Abduction

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Hundreds of sex offenders and predators were found to be living near an area where a 13-year-old cross-county runner was grabbed and told to get into a car during team practice.
Daytona Beach? That figures. Lots of scantily clad people having fun is sure to draw the perve crowd.

Do we need an island for all these sickos?

No Flag Displays let me guess...Kalifornia?

San Benito High School senior Jared Ballinger, who has completed basic training in the Army Reserve's Alternate Training Program and is set to finish advanced training after graduation, was driving around the campus parking lot this week with an American flag flying from the back of his truck when a school counselor flagged him down.

"I was told that flying any kind of flag, even the flag of the United States of America, wasn't allowed," said Ballinger, also noting that a school resource officer pulled up behind and took down his license plate number.

According to Beverly Bettencourt, Principal Krystal Lomanto's administrative assistant, the portion of the handbook that forbids flags is the following:

"Clothing that is offensive, threatening, provocative, vulgar, displays tobacco, alcohol or drug advertising, or displays profanity, racial slurs, or has images of gang-related symbols is disruptive to the educational process and may not be worn."

What the hell are they teaching those kids? Is this just a case of political correctness run amok? Thank you liberal America.

Is this Sexy?

Is this sexy? I can't decide.
It's got all the things young men (and middle aged men too!) live for. Namely, sports and chicks in lingerie.

It must be sexy or they wouldn't be adding more teams to the "league". I guess we can thank the league for adding teams and thusly creating jobs for young, pretty, athletic women. God knows they couldn't find gainful employment in any other manner.

Advances in technology? Not so much

You only think! we've gotten more advanced than our predecessors.

I'll bet the iPhone 3G can't open as many walnuts as the Stone.

I wonder how the iPhone 3G does when it's necessary to dispatch a small mammal for some sustenance?

Red Pumps, oh yeah

There was a "spot" on Fox News the other night talking about Sarah Palin's red pumps. They showed a clip from the Wizard of Oz featuring the ruby slippers.
My wife asked me directly what it was about "red pumps".
I said, "It must be something primordial because I liked them but couldn't tell her why."
I tried to explain my fascination with "Mary Jane Pumps" but I couldn't really explain why I liked those either.


From Wikipedia. "These styles were especially popular in the United States in the late-1990s and early-2000s, within punk rock, psychobilly, and goth subcultures. Many times the wearers would accent the look with knee-high knit socks in dark-colored stripes or patterns and often complete the look with a plaid, pleated schoolgirl-style skirt."

Oh yeah....that pretty much sums it up.

Never once did I mention "fetish" in any way.

What.The.Hell?

This undated mug shot released by the Middletown, Ohio, police department shows Michelle Allen, 32. Allen was arrested Sept. 27, 2008 after she allegedly impeded traffic, urinated on a neighbor's porch and chased children while wearing a cow suit, according to a Middletown police report.
I have no idea what else to say.

Scientists: 1 in 4 mammals faces extinction

WASHINGTON - Conservationists have taken the first detailed look at the world's mammals in more than a decade, and the news isn't good.
"We estimate that one in four species is threatened with extinction and that the population of one in two is declining," the researchers said in a report to be published Friday in the journal Science. The findings were being released Monday at the IUCN meeting in Barcelona, Spain.
I couldn't find felines on the endangered and hopefully impending threatened species list. But I haven't stopped looking.

Cats? Not a fan.

EBay to cut 1,000 jobs

SAN JOSE, Calif. - EBay Inc. said on Monday it will cut about 1,000 employees, reducing its work force by about 10 percent.
The online auction site also said it will get rid of several hundred temporary workers and reduce open positions.
Bummer for them. Good news though, the job market is awesome crappy right now, so they'll have lots of time to sit at home with their cats before they go extinct.

Down She Goes

NEW YORK - It has been another extraordinary and traumatic day on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones industrials plunging as much as 800 points before closing with a loss of about 350.
I guess some dumbasses thought that once the Congress and President signed the bill that everything would be hunky doory. Wrong. Fail.