February 19, 2006
— Ace Eventually, they say, they'll be able to turn the sleep requirement off completely through drugs.
Related Claim: Vietnamese man says he's gone 33 years without sleep.
Not sure if I buy it. He says he doesn't even cat-nap for a few minutes, and that not even sleeping pills work.
Who knows. Maybe the "sleep center" of his brain, whatever that is, just isn't functional.
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09:36 AM
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— Ace How dare a cartoonist suggest that Islam was often an intolerant, violent, aggressively expansionistic religion:
Nigerian Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad attacked Christians and burned churches on Saturday, killing at least 15 people in the deadliest confrontation yet in the whirlwind of Muslim anger over the drawings.
It was the first major protest to erupt over the issue in Africa's most populous nation. An Associated Press reporter saw mobs of Muslim protesters swarm through the city center with machetes, sticks and iron rods. One group threw a tire around a man, poured gas on him and set him ablaze.
Meanwhile... Muslim Pop Singer, Whose Song Promotes Women's Rights, Threatened With Death By Fanatics.
Why, you'd almost imagine they intend to subjugate us to their primative fundamentalist religion through violence or something.
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09:34 AM
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— LauraW.
Of course, to a Republican, there is no such thing as overcharging. There is only what the market will bear.
Eh heh, heh heh. Yes.
They require an expensive, all-vegetarian diet — 84 pounds a day, each. They are attended by a four-person entourage, and both crave privacy.
But the real sticker shock comes from the fees that Zoo Atlanta and three other American zoos each must pay the Chinese government: $2 million a year to rent the pair of giant pandas.
China is taking in about $80 million per year for US panda rental. Zoos may be forced to give them up after these contracts start to expire in a couple years.
Posted by: LauraW. at
06:29 AM
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February 18, 2006
— LauraW. This Is An Open Thread.
I don't want to hear any bitching from rd. It's an open thread, and damn you, yes that is what I'm here for. Occasionally, when the need arises.
We can do a Q&A if you'd like; specifically, my husband saw L.A. Confidential recently and wonders if the weapons used in the film were true to period. He saw certain weapons with clips and thought that wasn't right.
Anybody else have some niggling thoughts that they think can be answered here, jump on in.
Anyone with complaints about Open Thread Saturday Night, please call 1-800-KISS-MY-BEAUTIFUL-ROUND-HUNCHBACK.
Posted by: LauraW. at
04:27 PM
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— LauraW. Sometimes a court ruling seems counterintuitive, but once you find out the specifics of the case you understand that it's actually batshit crazy.
Case in point: Remember these guys?
Two men who claimed in numerous national television interviews that they found buried treasure in the back yard of a home were arrested early Friday after being questioned by police, who said the money was stolen.
LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP) -- A judge threw out charges Friday against four men accused of stealing antique money they originally claimed to have found buried in a backyard.Police determined the men actually found the money last April in an old barn that three of them had been hired to repair.
Their lawyers had sought the dismissal, arguing that the money was abandoned property because nobody knew it was in the barn.
Makes sense to me. Look it up. That law is on the books in Massachusetts as 'Finders-Keepers, Neener-neener,' for well-known thief Bob Neener-neener. His entire family was on the State Legislature.
UPDATE: Hubris comes in from another angle.
The key point is that unless MA law modifies the common law (and that could be the case, I have no idea), the owner of the barn never owned the money if it was hidden by a (now-dead) person and the barn owner never knew about it. It was there for the taking by any person who found it. It wouldn't be stealing.
You learn something new everyday. And it's never anything good.
UPDATE II: From Michael:
The choice as to who gets the treasure (property owner, finder, state) is purely practical -- choosing the finder minimizes disputes, and also minimizes illegal conduct because 96.2% of finders are going to try to keep the treasure anyway.Note that the issue is far different if the "treasure" is simply lost by a living owner. Now, the utility of "finders keepers" is trumped by the sanctity of property rights. So, let's say you dropped your wallet at the liquor store whilst stocking up on Val-U-Rite Vodka. Somebody else finds it. You still have good title to the wallet and everything in it. If you can identify the finder, your rights are superior to his. The social expectation is that a lost wallet gets turned in to the "lost & found" box of the property owner (the liquor store), to be held in safekeeping in the event you return to claim it. If you don't, the finder has the next best claim.
Thanks guys.
I appreciate the clarification.
I'll never let a tradesman in my home again without being present for every little excavation or wall-opening.
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01:06 PM
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— Ace Hard to watch. Our guys are facing some brutal circumstances over there.
A lot of cursing, as you would expect.
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11:10 AM
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— Ace Took me a while to realize there was a problem. Eventually I just took down the ad that was blowing the margins.
Sorry for that. Thanks for letting me know.
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10:06 AM
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— Ace A he-whore peddling his mangina:
A Dallas Democrat seeking election to the Texas House of Representatives has acknowledged that he once worked as a prostitute.Tom Malin, a salesman and actor, said he no longer works as a prostitute but conceded that his previous life could cost him the nomination in the March 7 Democratic primary.
"I've made mistakes in my life, and I've stood before my creator and I've accepted responsibility for my behavior," Malin told The Dallas Morning News for its editions today.
"I've also accepted his grace and his redemption and his love and his forgiveness," and that's what is important, he said.
The man was outed by a Democrat who feared the information would come out after Malin had won the primary. So, in other words, a Democrat outed this information in order, indirectly, to win an election.
I don't expect this story to get too much play -- I don't think it really deserves it -- but I imagine if a Republican had, in fact, outed this information during the general election, it would be cited by the media as a dirty trick of some sort.
Democrats can out this sort of old dirt on people, Republicans can't.
Posted by: Ace at
09:42 AM
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— Ace I think we've all been there:
JUNEAU--...
According to the criminal complaints, Zahn was stopped at 11:07 a.m. on Aug. 20, 2005, on Highway A/I, four-tenths of a mile south of Short Road, after Dodge County deputies had received reports of an erratic driver.
...
No field sobriety tests were performed, and according to the complaint, Zahn told the deputy, "I'm drunk, why do them?"
When the deputy searched Zahn's vehicle, he found a pig in the backseat, an empty fifth of vodka, an unopened 12-pack of beer and an insulated cup.
A blood test showed Zahn had a blood alcohol concentration of .299.
The man swears the pig told him she was eighteen.
Thanks to SWOOD.
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08:46 AM
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February 17, 2006
— Ace It's cute when dumb people play smart:
I mean, this is the guy that sicced Enron on Gray Davis and the state of California to embarrass Davis, trigger the recall and then watched Arnold Schwarzenegger become governor of California. (To this day, perhaps, still the low point in American political life.) Then Cheney covered it up.Cheney's the guy who told Libby to out Valerie Plame. The rumor I heard is that someone yelled, "Look out! Shooter!" and Cheney thought he said Scooter and fired in that general direction.
Cheney is a terrorist. He terrorizes our enemies abroad and innocent citizens here at home indiscriminately. Who ever thought Harry Whittington would be the answer to America's prayers. Finally, someone who might get that lying, thieving Cheney into a courtroom to answer some direct questions.
Alec Baldwin wrote this post during a break from his frantic schedule of not starring in movies.
This guy's biggest gig is appearing on Saturday Night Live every five weeks. The producers love him, because they know he doesn't bring any of that "project to promote" baggage with him.
The young readers may not remember, but at one time Alec Baldwin was actually an action star with enough heat to actually be considered a suitable actor for the role of James Bond. He was a two-fisted Hollywood tough-guy, smacking around everyone who got in his way. But enough about his marriage to Kim Bassinger.
The Baldwin Index -- the number of Baldwin Brothers you're expected to recognize the names of -- used to be 3. (Daniel only pushed it up to 4, briefly, when he was on crack & hooker binges.) It's now only at 1, and that 1 is actually Adam Baldwin from Firefly, and he's not even related.
I don't want to say the guy hasn't worked in a while, but his appearance on Inside the Actor's Studio was just embarrassing. They spent ten minutes talking about his role in Hunt For Red October, then they had to fill the rest of the hour discussing their favorite Blue Oyster Cult songs. (Alec's: Burnin' For You. James Lipton's: Godzilla.)
Dipshit.
Thanks to SWOOD.
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03:49 PM
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