Crazy Fashion Pic of the Week

Bigfoot Update

Sadly folks, the DNA results have proved that the hair is indeed Bison hair.
I was really hoping for something a little more exciting.
Oh well.

Japanese Condom Packaging Art

Courtesy of Boing Boing

Just Me And My Castle

One of my earliest memories was me at about 18 months old playing with my Fisher Price castle.
I don't remember the dragon but I definitely remember the spinning round table, the trap door and the draw bridge.

Well, that was one of my first memories.
What's yours?

Playlist of the Week

1. Blue Orchid ~ The White Stripes
2. The Union of Wine ~ The Hidden Cameras
3. Superman ~ REM
4. Life on Mars ~ Seu Jorge
5. Neighborhood ~ Arcade Fire
6. New Slang ~ The Shins
7. Blister in the Sun ~ The Violent Femmes
8. Canadian Railroad Trilogy ~ Gordon Lightfoot
9. Silver Road ~ Sarah Harmer
10. Common People ~ William Shatner

Bigfoot DNA Testing

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - The debate over the existence of sasquatch, aka Bigfoot, an ape-like creature said to haunt the wilderness of western Canada has entered the world of modern DNA testing.

A laboratory will test hair samples that several residents of Teslin, Yukon, say were left when the large, but so-far mythological creature made a late-night run through their community in early July.

University of Alberta wildlife geneticist David Coltman, who agreed to do the tests as a favor to a colleague, said on Monday that scientists have cataloged the DNA of nearly all large animals in the Yukon such as bears and bison.

"So we'll compare it to all of that, and if it doesn't match anything, then it's potentially interesting," said Coltman, who suspects the hair was actually left behind by a much more mundane Yukon bison.

"If sasquatch is indeed a primate, then we would expect the sample to be closer to humans or chimpanzees or gorillas," Coltman said.

The legend of a large, hairy, two-legged creature lurking in the mountains of western Canada and the United States dates back to before Europeans settled the continent. This was the second report of the creature near Teslin in just over a year.

In the latest sighting, a group of Teslin residents told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. they heard branches cracking and saw a large human-like creature run by a house. It left behind large footprints, they said, and the hair tufts that were given to wildlife officials.

Coltman expects to have his results on Thursday and said that even if the hair turns out not to be from a sasquatch, the process should serve as good way to get students interested in the field of DNA testing.

"It's sort of like a wildlife CSI story," he said.

And I thought I Was Gullible...

PALERMO, Italy (Reuters) - An Italian couple stole 50,000 euros from a woman in the Sicilian city of Palermo after convincing her they were vampires who would impregnate her with the son of the Anti-Christ if she did not pay them.

The man, a cabaret singer, and his girlfriend took the money from their victim over four years by selling her pills at 3,000 euros each that they said would abort the Anti-Christ's son.

Police uncovered the fraud after the 47-year-old woman's family became concerned when they discovered she had spent all her savings, local news agencies AGI and ANSA reported.

This Was My Favourite Game Show

What was yours?

It's Paul Reubens Day!

The third annual Paul Reubens’ Day will be held on Saturday July 23rd, 2005 in San Francisco, California.

We are big Pee Wee fans so to celebrate this greatly under appreciated artist, we watched Big Top Pee Wee.

This Is One Scary Story

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Grand juries across California have indicted 40 pilots for fraud after they falsified medical records to hide disabilities like schizophrenia and severe heart problems that would have grounded them, federal officials said on Monday..

The pilots claimed to be fit to fly airplanes but collected disability payments for medical and psychological conditions that would have disqualified them from operating an aircraft, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. Other pilots failed to report they had prior criminal convictions, the statement said.

Authorities said they found pilots who continued to fly even though they had disabilities including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, drug and alcohol addiction, disabling back pain and severe heart conditions.

The FAA has revoked 14 of the pilots' licenses and medical certificates, the other 26 pilots may be suspended.

Inventor of the TV Dinner Dies

Gerry Thomas, credited with inventing the TV dinner more than a half-century ago and giving it its singular name, has died at the age of 83.

Thomas died Monday, Terry Crowley at Messinger Mortuary said Wednesday. Thomas had a long bout with cancer, relatives told The Arizona Republic.

Thomas was a salesman for Omaha-based C.A. Swanson and Sons in late 1954 when he had the idea of packaging frozen meals in a segmented tray.

"It's a pleasure being identified as the person who did this, because it changed the way people live," he said in a 1999 Associated Press interview. "It's part of the fabric of our society."

He recalled that the inspiration came when he was visiting a distributor, spotted a metal tray and was told it was developed for an experiment in preparation of hot meals on airliners.

"It was just a single compartment tray with foil," he recalled. "I asked if I could borrow it and stuck it in the pocket of my overcoat."

He said he came up with a three-compartment tray because "I spent five years in the service, so I knew what a mess kit was. You could never tell what you were eating, because it was all mixed together."

Since interest in television was booming, he added: "I figured if you could borrow from that, maybe you could get some attention. I think the name made all the difference in the world."

The first Swanson TV Dinner, turkey with corn bread dressing and gravy, sweet potatoes and buttered peas sold for about $1 apiece and could be cooked in 25 minutes at 425 degrees.

"We had the TV screen and the knobs pictured on the package. That was the real start of marketing," Thomas said.

Ten million dinners were sold in the first year of national distribution.

The dinners prompted drew "hate mail from men who wanted their wives to cook from scratch like their mothers did," but his idea also got him a bump in pay to $300 a month and a $1,000 bonus.

"I didn't complain. A thousand dollars was a lot of money back then," he said.

However, he didn't want to call himself the father of the TV dinner.

"I really didn't invent the dinner. I innovated the tray on how it could be served, coined the name and developed some unique packaging," he said in the 1999 AP interview. "If I'm the father of the TV dinner, who's the mother? I think it's ludicrous."

After Campbell Soup Co. acquired Swanson in 1955, Thomas became a sales manager, then marketing manager and director of marketing and sales. He left the company after a heart attack in 1970. He later directed an art gallery and did consulting work.

Courtesy of USA Today

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Google Maps The Moon!

In honor of the first manned Moon landing, which took place on July 20, 1969, Google Maps have added some NASA interface to help you pay your own visit to our celestial neighbor.

Happy lunar surfing.

Hot Cars

Top 10 - Most frequently stolen vehicles in Canada
SUBARU	IMPREZA WRX 4DR AWD
FORD	F350 SUPER DUTY 4WD
CADILLAC	ESCALADE 4DR 4WD
HONDA	CIVIC Si 2DR HATCHBACK
BMW	325Ci/330Ci 2DR
HYUNDAI	TIBURON 2DR
HYUNDAI	ACCENT 2DR
HYUNDAI	TIBURON GT 2DR
FORD	F250 SUPER DUTY 4WD
DODGE	DAKOTA 2WD

Most Stolen Vehicles of 2004 in the United States
1	1999 Acura	Integra
2	2002 BMW	M Roadster
3	1998 Acura	Integra
4	1991 GMC	V2500
5	2002 Audi	S4
6	1996 Acura	Integra
7	1995 Acura	Integra
8	2004 Mercury	Marauder
9	1997 Acura	Integra
10	1992 Mercedes-Benz	600
Source: CCC Information Services Inc.

Soggy!

Our dryer is broken!

I am someone who gets very stressed out when things cease to work. I get overwhelmed by the mire thought of something not working, then overwhelmed by the thought of getting it fixed.

Needless to say there are quite a few items in our house that stay broken. I am determined not to let my dryer become one of them. So tomorrow, I am going to call a repair man for the first time in my life.

I hope, hope, hope, I don't get ripped off.

40 Things That Only Happen In Movies

Some of these are pretty funny.

1. It is always possible to find a parking spot directly outside or opposite the building you are visiting.

2. When paying for a taxi, don't look at your wallet as you take out a note. Just grab one out at random and hand it over. It will always be the exact fare.

3. Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects you personally at the precise moment it's aired.

4. Creepy music (or satanic chanting) coming from a graveyard should always be closely investigated.

5. Any lock can be picked with a credit card or paperclip in seconds. UNLESS it's the door to a burning
building with a child inside.

6. If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you bump into will know all the steps.

7. All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red digital displays so you know exactly when they are going to explode.

8. Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German officer, it will not be necessary to learn to speak German. Simply speaking English with a German accent will do. Similarly, when they are alone, all German soldiers prefer to speak English to each other.

9. Once applied, lipstick will never rub off. Even while scuba diving.

10. The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window of any building in Paris. 11. Any police officer about to retire from the force will more often than not die on their last day (especially if their family have planned a party). (Caveat: Detectives can only solve a case after they have been suspended from duty).

12. Getaway cars never start first go. But all cop cars do. (They will also slide to a dramatic stop in the midst of a crime scene).

13. If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange noises wearing their most revealing underwear.

14. On a police stake-out, the action will only ever take place when food is being consumed and scalding hot coffees are perched precariously on the dashboard . . .

15. All grocery shopping involves the purchase of French loaves which will be placed in open brown paper bags (Caveat: when said bags break, only fruit will spill out).

16. Cars never need fuel (unless they're involved in a pursuit).

17. If you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts, your opponents will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around you in a threatening manner until you have defeated their predecessor.

18. If a microphone is turned on it will immediately feedback.

19. Guns are like disposable razors. If you run out of bullets, just throw the gun away. you will always find another one.

20. All single women have a cat.

21. Cars will explode instantly when struck by a single bullet.

22. No matter how savagely a spaceship is attacked, its internal gravity system is never damaged.

23. If being chased through a city you can usually take cover in a passing St Patrick's Day parade - at any time of the year.

24. The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. Nobody will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building undetected.

25. You will survive any battle in any war UNLESS you show someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.

26. Prostitutes always look like Julia Roberts or Jamie Lee Curtis. They have expensive clothes and nice apartments but no pimps. They are friendly with the shopkeepers in their neighbourhood who don't mind at all what the girl does for a living.

27. A single match is usually sufficient to light up a room the size of a football stadium.

28. It is not necessary to say "Hello" or "Goodbye" when beginning a telephone conversation. A disconnected call can always be restored by frantically beating the cradle and saying "Hello? Hello?" repeatedly.

29. One man shooting at 20 men has a better chance of killing them all than 20 men firing at once (it's called Stallone's Law).

30. When you turn out the light to go to bed, everything in you room will still be visible, just slightly bluish.

31. Plain or even ugly girls can become movie star pretty simply by removing their glasses and rearranging their hair.

32. Rather than wasting bullets, megalomaniacs prefer to kill their enemies with complicated devices incorporating fuses, pulleys, deadly gases, lasers and man-eating sharks.

33. All beds have special L-shaped sheets that reach to armpit level on a woman but only up to the waist of the man lying beside her.

34. Anyone can land a 747 as long as there is someone in the control tower to talk you down.

35. During all police investigations it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.

36. You can always find a chainsaw when you need one.

37. Most musical instruments (especially wind instruments and accordions) can be played without moving your fingers.

38. In Middle America, all gas station attendants have red handkerchiefs hanging out of their back pockets.

39. All teen house parties have one of every stereotypical subculture present (even people who aren't liked and would never get invited to parties).

40. Trucks use their horns at random (no hang on, that happens in real life too!).

Courtesy of www.nostalgiacentral.com

Quote of the Week ~ Crazy Kathy Griffin

Question: Do you believe in euthanasia?

Yes, I believe Nikki Hilton should be euthanized. I had a conversation with her. She was so stupid I actually said, “You don’t vote, right? Because I don’t even want you to vote. Even if you want to vote for my guy, I don’t trust you to remember his name by the time you get to the booth.”

When Good Cops Go Bad

Village People 'Cop' in Trouble With The Law

DALY CITY, Calif. - Victor Edward Willis, the original policeman in the 1970s music group the Village People, was arrested by real police who allegedly found a gun and drugs in his convertible.

Willis, who co-wrote disco hits such as "Macho Man" and "In the Navy" before leaving the Village People in the late 1970s, was taken into custody Monday after an officer stopped his Chevrolet Corvette.

Police said Willis didn't have a valid license or identification and at first lied about his name and residence. Inside the car, the officer found a .45-caliber handgun as well as rock cocaine and drug paraphernalia, police said.

Traces of cocaine and other paraphernalia were also found his home at a mobile home park in Daly City, just south of San Francisco, police said. Willis also had an outstanding felony warrant for possession of narcotics.

AP

Engrish Pic of the Week

Alternative Canadian Walk of Fame

Inductee: Tommy Chong

Reason for Induction:

For promoting racial harmony and teaching multiple generations of counterculturalists that laughter makes the best medicine.

Citation:

Hey man. It’s hard to know if the sun beamed on Edmonton on May 24, 1938, but it’s nice to think that the whole world brightened with the arrival of Thomas B. Kin Chong.

From his early years forward, Tommy Chong has walked his own path. He dropped out of his Calgary high school in his sophomore year, playing guitar to support himself. (The Chongs had moved from Edmonton to Dog Patch, a town on the outskirts of Calgary, when Tommy was a boy.) Money, it seems, was a minor motivation. “I was about 16 when I discovered music could get you laid, so I got into music,” Chong told fellow Alt-Walk inductee Nardwuar in 1993. His first band, formed in 1955, was a rarity for the time: “There was a Canadian Indian, a black... and myself who’s half-Chinese. We called ourselves the Shades cause we’re all different colours.” Chong’s proto-rockers gigged in Edmonton and Calgary until, he has said, Calgary’s mayor asked them to leave the city. The Shades decamped to Vancouver and became Little Daddie and the Bachelors, then Four Ns and a C — crass shorthand for “four coloured fellas and a Chinese lad.”

In the mid-’60s, Chong met Motown recording artist Bobby Taylor on a San Francisco street corner (Taylor was walking the city with Wilt Chamberlain and Sly Stone at the time); Chong and Taylor partnered to form Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers. Jimi Hendrix joined the band for close to a year, before he was famous, though they fired him for his overlong solos. Chong co-wrote the Vancouvers’ biggest hit, 1968’s Does Your Mama Know About Me?, a song about interracial dating. He was later turfed for skipping a band commitment to attend a hearing for his U.S. green card.

Making music and hanging out in nightclubs introduced Chong to the world of improv comedy. Also in ’68, he formed a comedy troupe, City Works, then honed his chops at a Vancouver gentlemen’s club managed by his brother. That was where Chong met Richard “Cheech” Marin, a Los Angelino who’d come to Canada to dodge the U.S.’s Vietnam draft. Marin joined City Works; he and Chong became fast friends. When the troupe disbanded two years later, Cheech and Chong turned their focus to a two-man act in which they played affable, dim-witted stoners who wanted nothing more than high times with “good grass.” The duo began releasing comedy albums in 1971; George Harrison contributed guitar licks to 1973’s Grammy-winning Los Cochinos.

Cheech and Chong’s creative and (counter) cultural peak came in 1978, with the release of their first film, Up in Smoke. Most critics belittled the effort, a ridiculous road movie about two idiots, Pedro (Cheech) and Man (Chong), smuggling a van made of marijuana across the U.S.-Mexico border, but audiences came in droves: Up in Smoke grossed close to $42 million US at the box office. Cheech and Chong made many more movies in the following years, all of a similar kind — Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie, Nice Dreams, Still Smokin’, etc. — but never equalled the comedic success of their debut. They folded the act in 1985, though, to the public, it seems Chong has mostly stayed in character since.

That last bit is worth dwelling on: Tommy Chong is an actor. From Up in Smoke through That ’70s Show, where he had a recurring guest role as an aging burnout, Chong the character has always been further removed from reality than Chong the man. The latter is intelligent and articulate — if not immune to the former’s bad habits. In 2003, U.S. authorities raided Chong’s L.A. home and discovered a pound of marijuana on the premises. They’d come looking for pot pipes and accessories, part of a federal case against Chong for selling drug paraphernalia on the Internet. Chong was made to forfeit $120,000 US in sales proceeds and sentenced to nine months behind bars. He served his time with typical aplomb. “Mail call here is like two sacks, one for me and one for the rest of the people,” he told L.A.’s City Beat in a jailhouse interview.

Now a free man again, Chong, 67, claims to have quit smoking dope. He continues to perform stand-up comedy with his wife of three decades, Shelby. In February, he joined Marin onstage in Aspen, Colorado for the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival; they performed their Cheech and Chong routine for the first time in 20 years. There has been loose talk of an Up in Smoke sequel, although thus far the rumour has amounted to more vapour than substance. So don’t hold your breath.

Matthew McKinnon writes about the arts for CBC.ca.

Mr. & Mrs. Smut

This is really just too funny to pass up.

Courtesy of Radar Online

I Am So Lucky!

The Robins are back and I am so excited.

Just as I resigned myself to the fact that the Robins probably would not nest on our porch railing two years in a row (since it was such an odd place for a nest to be in the first place) low and behold, a new nest!

Two days later.... four beautiful Robins eggs!

It's Dark In Here

Smile? Why should I smile?

I'm sitting here at my good friend Karl Lagerfield's fashion show in Paris.
I have more money than God, everyone loves me and I only have to be around my daughter when she's not cranky or stinky (that's the Nanny's job)

So you tell me, what's to smile about?

White House Won't Comment on Rove, Leak

When is enough going to be enough!

For the better part of two years, the word coming out of the Bush White House was that presidential adviser Karl Rove had nothing to do with the leak of a female CIA officer's identity and that whoever did would be fired.

But Bush spokesman Scott McClellan wouldn't repeat those claims Monday in the face of Rove's own lawyer, Robert Luskin, acknowledging the political operative spoke to Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, one of the reporters who disclosed Valerie Plame's name.

McClellan repeatedly said he couldn't comment because the matter is under investigation. When it was pointed out he had commented previously even though the investigation was ongoing, he responded: "I've really said all I'm going to say on it."

Cooper also had planned to go to jail rather than reveal his source but at the last minute agreed to cooperate with investigators when a source, Rove, gave him permission to do so. Cooper's employer, Time Inc., also turned over Cooper's e-mail and notes.

One of the e-mails was a note from Cooper to his boss in which he said he had spoken to Rove, who described the wife of former U.S. Ambassador and Bush administration critic Joe Wilson as someone who "apparently works" at the CIA, Newsweek magazine reported.

Within days of the July 11, 2003, e-mail, Cooper's byline was on a Time article identifying Wilson's wife by name — Valerie Plame. Her identity was first disclosed by columnist Robert Novak.

That ran counter to what McClellan has been saying. For example, in September and October 2003, McClellan's comments about Rove included the following: "The president knows that Karl Rove wasn't involved," "It was a ridiculous suggestion," and, "It's not true."

Rove declined to comment Monday and referred questions to his attorney. Last year, he said, "I didn't know her name and didn't leak her name."

The Rove disclosure was an embarrassment for a White House that prides itself on not leaking to reporters and has insisted that Rove was not involved in exposing Plame's identity.

The disclosure also left in doubt whether Bush would carry out his promise to fire anyone found to have leaked the CIA operative's identity. Rove is one of the president's closest confidants — the man Bush has described as the architect of his re-election, and currently deputy White House chief of staff.

Rove's conversation with Cooper took place five days after Plame's husband suggested in a New York Times op-ed piece that the Bush administration had manipulated intelligence on weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion of Iraq. Wilson has since suggested his wife's name was leaked as retaliation.

The e-mail that Cooper wrote to his bureau chief said Wilson's wife authorized a trip by Wilson to Africa. The purpose was to check out reports that Iraq had tried to obtain yellowcake uranium for use in nuclear weapons. Wilson's subsequent public criticism of the administration was based on his findings during the trip that cast serious doubt on the allegation that Iraq had tried to obtain the material.

Luskin, Rove's lawyer, said his client did not disclose Plame's name. Luskin declined to say how Rove found out that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA and refused to say how Rove came across the information that it was Wilson's wife who authorized his trip to Africa.

Rove's lawyer says his client has done nothing wrong.

Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean said it is "disturbing that this high ranking Bush adviser is not only still working in the White House, but now has a significant role in setting our national security policy."

By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer

Slurpee Turns 40!

I haven't had a Slurpee in years but I do have fond memories of walking home from Keele Street Public school and stopping by 7 Eleven and having a Coke Slurpee mixed with a bit of Orange Crush for the walk home.

Slurpee celebrates 40 years of 'brain freeze'

Long before smoothies and Frappuccinos there was the Slurpee. The slushy, colorful 7-Eleven brand - and American icon - turns 40 today and is still popular for the same reasons it caught on back then: fun, variety, "brain freeze" and colored tongues.

Slurpee was born in Kansas at a Dairy Queen where owner Omar Knedlik served semi-frozen bottled soft drinks. When they were a hit, he worked with a Dallas company to develop the "Icee" machine that replicated that consistency in slushy soft drinks served at 28 degrees.

When a 7-Eleven manager happened upon an Icee machine in a rival's store, he saw potential and got them into three 7-Eleven stores in 1965. Within two years, they were in almost every 7-Eleven - renamed Slurpees for the noise they make through a straw.

"It hasn't changed a lot in 40 years," says John Ryckevic, a member of 7-Eleven's beverage team that helped promote Slurpee in its heyday. "You can't say that about a lot of brands."

Slurpee fun facts:

~ Consumption. Since 1965, more than 6 billion Slurpees have been sold. They're now sold in 17 countries. U.S. annual sales alone are $170 million.

~ The magic of the machine. Syrup, carbon dioxide and water are mixed under pressure in a freezing chamber.

~Building the brand. In 1970, Slurpee marketing included Slurp magazine and a dance step and song called The Slurp.

By Theresa Howard, USA TODAY

Gag Me With A Spoon!

Freddy Mercury is rolling over in his grave!

American Idol star CONSTANTINE MAROULIS is on a winning streak again after losing out on a place in the finals of the TV talent show - his version of Bohemian Rhapsody has been chosen as the first single from a new Queen tribute album.

What I'm Addicted To At The Moment

Creator of Charlie the Tuna Dies In Drowning

Charlie the Tuna Creator Tom Rogers Dies

Tom Rogers, 87, a retired advertising copywriter whose beret- and sunglasses-wearing hipster tuna became an icon of pop culture, died June 24 in Charlottesville, where he lived with his son's family. He drowned while swimming alone in the family's backyard pool.

Charlie the Tuna was the likably obtuse deep-sea striver who never lived up to the taste standards of Starkist Tuna. ("Sorry, Charlie. Starkist wants tuna that tastes good, not tuna with good taste.") The character was based on an acquaintance of Mr. Rogers's who was an habitue of the beat scene in 1950s New York City, said his son, Lance Rogers. A beat musician and part-time actor who called himself Henry Nemo, the man personified one of Mr. Rogers's favorite aphorisms: "The straightest distance between two points is an angle."

Mr. Rogers had a hand in creating other memorable ad mascots of the 1960s and '70s, the cookie-baking Keebler elves and the finicky feline in the 9 Lives cat food ads, Morris the Cat. He didn't originate the characters, his son said, but he infused them with distinctive personalities based on a lifetime of observing human nature as a screenwriter, aspiring novelist and copywriter.

Charlie the Tuna sprang to life in 1961. Mr. Rogers, unlike most copywriters today, had total control over his creation -- how Charlie looked, the sound of his voice (supplied by veteran character actor Herschel Bernardi) and what he said about the product.

Charlie appeared in 86 commercials and guest spots throughout the 1960s and '70s before he was retired as the Starkist spokesfish.

By Joe Holley
Washington Post Staff Writer

Love It!

Electronic Games

Created by Petromyzon.

Gallery of the Absurd

For more great art from the Gallery of the Absurd click here.

Engrish Pic of the Week

Now devilsfood, that's a different story...

Jaws In 30 Seconds

I love this one.
Click here to view.

Home Sick

I get homesick every year at this time.


I miss: going to the CNE on a hot summer night.




I miss: having an amazing museum near by.


I miss: the Saturday farmer's market at the st. lawrence market.


I miss: the stinky, hot subway.


I miss: going to centre island




I miss: my favourite buildings.


I miss: eating at my favourite restaurant with Jessa


I miss: high park


I don't miss: air quality warnings.


And I don't miss: the traffic!