The Great Separation

Here's One I've not seen on T.V.

Now this is an odd news item if I've ever seen one.

Mutated Monkeys: Woman gives birth on the 'T'

There are times when it's worth springing for a cab.

Technology Couldn't Find the Monster of the Loch.

(Reported on CNN.com)
Loch Ness, Scotland - It sure is odd that Nessie has made the news around the web of late. I wonder why? These things come and go in cycles I guess. Well, the BBC sent some scientists to the Loch to level the best that technology had to offer in the search for Nessie. Using 600 sonar buoys they mapped the Lock from shore to shore and from bottom to top. They came up empty of course. But I doubt that will silence the mystery that is Nessie; as the article notes, sightings are recorded back to the 6th century. The article notes,

"The BBC team said the only explanation for the persistence of the monster myth -- and regular "sightings" -- is that people see what they want to see."

Will the mystery continue? Sure thing. Mysteries are fun! Hmm. Maybe Nessie is the ghost of a wingless dragon lost to roam the earth in search of it's precious appendages. Only it got trapped in the Loch and can't figure a way out. ;)

Bank President Says Hitler Smart Economist.

(Reported by Tammy Chase Chicago Sun-Times)
Chicago, IL - The president of the Glenview State Bank wrote in his monthly newsletter that,

"The Great Depression of the 1930's saw falling prices, staggering unemployment and shattered stock markets all over the world, and the world's leading statesmen seemed helpless to defeat it. Except for one. His name was Adolph Hitler. Unlike France and Britain, and unlike the United States, Germany spent most of the 1930's growing economically, not declining. If we can understand why Depression-era Germany resisted the disease, we may better understand how alarmed we should be today in the 21st century."

Tammy Chase reports that the Anti-Defamation League came down hard on the bank and its president wanting an apology for the outrageous comments. They got one too. But it is really strange to me and a bit troubling that the president of this bank would think of Hitler as a great economist. I may need correcting here, but wasn't Germany on the upswing economically when Hitler came on the scene? He further blustered the economy through theft and terror by stealing the wealth from German citizens and then butchering them, thereby increasing fear and compliance among the populace. When that bank of humanity ran out he used the giant war machine that he built upon the back of an oppressed people to rape and pillage other countries.

If I had money in this bank, I'd pull it now.

Family Values Equals Homophobia.

(Reported by Art Moore for WorldNetDaily.com)
Oakland, CA - A lot of stuff gets put up bulletin boards. A lot of stuff gets on the bulletin boards that is... questionable. Like a Family Values group. More precisely the Good News Employee Associations. Two city employees posted a flyer with the title, "Preserve our Workplace With Integrity," that invited people to be part of the group. The flyer said,

"Good News Employee Associations is a forum for people of Faith to express their views on the contemporary issues of the day. With respect for the Natural Family, Marriage and Family values.

If you would like to be a part of preserving integrity in the Workplace call Regina Rederford @xxx-xxxx or Robin Christy @xxx-xxxx

Moore reports the flyer was posted,

"On an employee bulletin board where a variety of political and sexually oriented causes are promoted...."

He goes on to write that the flyer was pulled the same day by the deputy director of the Community and Economic Development Agency who a month later issued a warning about posting inappropriate material that violate the city's newly revised anti-discrimination policy on the employee boards. From the WND article:

"Specifically," she wrote according to a copy obtained by WND, "flyers were placed in public view which contained statements of a homophobic nature and were determined to promote sexual orientation-based harassment."

But there was no mention of homosexuality or heterosexuality for that matter, in the flyer. So how does the deputy director make the connection? Oh, of course, what was I thinking. Family values = homophobia. Silly me.

The two employees who posted the flyer are now suing the city for violating their free speech and for discrimination.

I think what it comes down to is a blatant discrimination against Christian values.

The Great Separation continues.

Dead Man Writes Bob Hope's Obituary.

(Reported by Reuters on Yahoo! News)
The Fictitious Minds of the Times, The New York Times - I really am beginning to wonder if the Mad Hatter isn't running the New York Times. After the passing of the Great Entertainer, Bob Hope (July 27, 2003), they published an extensive and glowing obituary on the man. The wonderful obit was penned by Vincent Canby, who died in October of 2000. I guess some writers just can't be kept in the grave. So they used a piece prepared ahead of time, so what? Well, nearly three years passed in the time being, surely there was something else to add. And indeed they did add it attributing it to Canby. On the front page of the web obit the article says,

"In 'Bob Hope: My Life in Jokes' (Hyperion, 2003), his daughter Linda helped compile some of his jibes decade by decade."

Interesting how Canby knew about that from beyond the grave. The sheer arrogance of the Times is becoming laughable. The Reuters post on this guffaw, a bit ironic being Reuters has had some themselves, mentions that they didn't say in the Times hard copy that Canby was diseased but they did mention it on the web sites original post. However, in my searching for the article in the Times archives, I have found no mention of Canby's passing attached to the piece. Maybe the Times should switch gears and start covering Alien Abductions and Crop Circles, and enlist the experts like Mulder and Scully.

Priest Saves Seven Drowning Children But Succumbs to the Water Himself.

(Reported by Reuters on CNN.com)
Adriatic Coast, Italy - With all the bad press about priests of late (much of their own doing) here is a stellar one. Father Stefano Gorzegno took 50 children, ages 12-16, to the Adriatic Coast for a swimming field trip on Wednesday. Seven of the children had troubles in the water when they got trapped in strong undertow. So the priest jumped in, robes and all, and rescued every one of the children,

"but collapsed with his lungs full of water, local police said."

Thank you Father Gorzegno.

He'll receive a hero's funeral this Friday.

Austrian (not Australian) Birdman Soars Over English Channel.

(Reported by the Agence France-Presses on Yahoo! News)
Cape Blanc-Nez, France -

"A 34-year-old Austrian mechanic became the first person ever to fly across the English Channel without the benefit of an aircraft, gliding from England to France wearing only a specially-designed suit."

Boy, ain't it cool! Can you imagine the rush this guy felt cruising at 120 miles per hour for 20 miles of unaided flight? If you follow the link, you'll see a great picture of the guy in flight and his specially designed suit. He began his flight 30,000 feet up over England and pulled his parachute 3,281 feet above France. How exciting is that?

3:58 Update:
Oops, I made a mental typo in the title alerted to me by Steph. I put in Australian instead of Austrian. As Steph noted, that's a big difference.

Thanks Steph!

Hurrah! Pill Promises I Can Stay on Couch!

BBC NEWS | Health | Excitement over weight loss drug

Researchers are now hopeful that a drug can eventually be developed to tackle the "obesity epidemic" threatening the West.

This is just great. The cure for laziness. I'm sorry, not the cure for laziness - the cure for one of the many effects of laziness. Somehow I doubt that this isn't going work without some serious side effects despite what they say.

The pill, KB-141, works by speeding the metabolism up; some drugs on the market can already do this. But the side effect of those drugs is rapid heartbeats - which leads to ill effects of course. These folk say they've figured how to turn up your metabolism but not the heartbeat.

The monkeys they tested it on lost 7% of their body weight in 7 days.

Pretty soon we'll have a pill for stopping nose hairs from growing to long. I'll stick with the tweezers and my Huffy, thank you.

Loch Ness Fossel Likely a Hoaxs. Gee, Do Ya' Think?

(Reported on NationalGeograpic.com)
Loch Ness, Scotland - Remember the story I posted about the fossil of a plesiosaurus? The fossil was found in the waters of the Loch and everyone was excited that it was evidence that there is a monster. Well, turns out some scientists have been looking over the fossil and, like they said originally, it is a fossil piece of a plesiosaurus but it couldn't have originated in the Loch. Turns out the fossil looks like it came from the sea because of evidence of sponge organisms. The Loch is fresh water and couldn't support the sponges that leave behind holes in the rocks they attach too. So someone left it in the Loch to be found or perhaps just dropped it by mistake (yeah, a big mistake). Ah, Nessie, you big blurry beast. You continue to sucke... mystify and evade.

Thief Beats Store Employee with Bananas.

(Reported by Reuters on Yahoo! News)
Duesseldorf, Germany - This is just odd. Wouldn't you like to see the video? Fruit Thief enters store and steals bananas. A store employee stops the thief who then tries to run with his bunch, but can't get away from the store employee. So the fruit thief starts smashing the employee with the bananas. By the time the police arrive the store employee has had a fruit facial. The Fruit Thief is getting his fruit handed to him behind bars at the moment. Monkey see, Monkey do.