Update: Seattle Parks Dept. backs off. According to this press release, they've decided not to take any action this year. Apparently they released this Friday afternoon, but it wasn't really publicized much until Saturday night. Note in the press release that they've seriously downplayed the global warming aspect. It's all about the "associated behaviors," you see (drinking, loud music, huge amounts of trash, including the leftover bones and organs from hobo-skinning, etc.)

At least I'm pretty sure they included that last part...or I'm just reading between the lines. Whatever, I'm just not sure this is an improvement over their initial "global warming" reasoning since they may still ban the beach fires due to the effects of the AoSHQ Lifestyle. So please remember, people, leave the beach as you found it and pack out your empty vodka bottles and the excess body parts when you leave so that we can preserve this cherished tradition for future generations.

(end of update)

Ace posted about this yesterday. The Seattle Parks and Recreation Department wants to outlaw beach bonfires in order to combat global warming. I wouldÂ’ve weighed in at the time, since I live in that gawdforsaken place, but I was passed out in a pool of Â…um, never mind that.

But I have it on good word that the Department has also passed some new regulations in their Star Chamber overnight. Besides beach bonfires, the following will also be banned:

IÂ’ll just use some simple graphics here to illustrate the new rules since most of you canÂ’t read beyond a simple PhD level:

Well, thankfully, the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department is up to the task. And their efforts to combat global warming have already paid off! Due to their diligent efforts, they were able to keep the temperature here down to a comfortable 52 degrees yesterday. Bonus: snow forecast in the mountains! Year-round skiing is just around the corner. ‘Bout damn time.

Posted by: Open Blog at 07:44 AM | Comments (16)
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Unpasteurized dairy products linked to reemergence of ancient disease.

Ancient? Reemergence? Ay, caramba!

“A rare form of tuberculosis caused by illegal, unpasteurized dairy products, including the popular queso fresco cheese, is rising among Hispanic immigrants in Southern California and raising fears about a resurgence of a strain all but eradicated in the U.S.”

“Cases of the Mycobacterium bovis strain of TB have increased in San Diego county, particularly among children who drink or eat dairy foods made from the milk of infected cattle, a study in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases shows.
But the germ can infect anyone who eats contaminated fresh cheeses sold by street vendors, smuggled across the Mexican border or produced by families who try to make a living selling so-called “bathtub cheese” made in home tubs and backyard troughs.”

Posted by: Open Blog at 04:15 AM | Comments (63)
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My, my. One could almost get the idea that Democrats are as racist as they accuse Republicans of being.

A Democratic superdelegate from New Jersey said this week he is worried that unifying the party behind Barack Obama may be difficult because the Clinton camp "has engaged in some very divisive tactics and rhetoric it should not have."

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, who supported Hillary Clinton throughout the primary season, disclosed he received a phone call shortly before the April 22 Pennsylvania primary from a top member of Clinton's organization and that the caller explicitly discussed a strategy of winning over Jewish voters by exploiting tensions between Jews and African-Americans.

"There have been signals coming out of the Clinton campaign that have racial overtones that indeed disturb me," Andrews said at his campaign headquarters in Cherry Hill Tuesday night after he lost his bid for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.

"Frankly, I had a private conversation with a high-ranking person in the campaign ... that used a racial line of argument that I found very disconcerting. It was extremely disconcerting given the rank of this person. It was very disturbing."

It should be noted that Andrews just lost his bid to run as the Democratic candidate for NJ Senator, losing to thousand year old fossil Frank Lautenberg.

So he may be looking for employment in Obama's administration.

The Clinton camp, however, was far too classy to point that out.

Oh wait, no they weren't:

Clinton's campaign issued an angry response to Andrews, who once was charged with lobbying other members of Congress to support her.

"Comments like these, coming so soon after Congressman Andrews' crushing defeat, are sad and divisive," said Clinton's chief national spokesman, Phil Singer.

Posted by: Ace at 05:27 PM | Comments (84)
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Well that episode title seems kinda obvious, doesn't it? I suspect it's a cliffhanger for next week's mid-season finale.

About that...I'm on the guest list for the Wednesday early screening with the cast at the Arclight and I may have more news about that on Monday.

Spoiler Policy: Anything from the miniseries and the show up to and including tonight's episode is fair game; no need to warn or in some way obscure text for anything that comes from that material. However, anything you may have heard about future episodes should be kept to yourself. Thanks.

eman, you think you would have learned your lesson last time: more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:48 PM | Comments (32)
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Judgment.

Lightworker.

Layers.

This guy did that; give him a click.

Posted by: Ace at 04:13 PM | Comments (23)
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That's not overstated; anywhere from half to two-thirds of its critical equipment simply doesn't work.

Have they looked into the possibility of anti-bear suits?

Posted by: Ace at 03:34 PM | Comments (45)
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The new(ish) video is at the end.

If you don't know who Troy Hurtubise is, he's a guy who's spent much of his adult life designing "anti-Grizzly armor," so he can, I guess, fight Grizzlies in hand-to-hand combat, like God intended.

He's been continually refining this armor, which mostly seems to be parts cobbled together from football and hockey pads. In the below clip, he tests the armor against a variety of tactics Grizzlies are known to employ, such as running people while driving pick-up trucks.

Silly music added by uploader. more...

Posted by: Ace at 03:20 PM | Comments (35)
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Okay, answer this question silently in your head: Was alcohol involved?

Police charged Hunter with public drunkenness and creating a health code violation, but they have no idea why he was in the toilet with his clothes off.

Give yourself five points if you answered "Yes." Also, do a shot.

A question unanswered is "Was masturbation involved, and/or sex with a hooker or hustler?"

I'm thinking "Yes" again.

In a Porta-Johh. Smell the romance.

See, when women say "Oh, you have no idea, we're just as horny as men," this is Evidence A for calling bullshit.

Thanks to CAD Daddy, I think.

Posted by: Ace at 01:45 PM | Comments (25)
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Okay, not really. But sort of -- an unwitting whore in training. In an NPR interview she describes her audition for an all-girl "singing group," supposedly the "International Spice Girls," which turned out to be a cover for a high-class call-girl ring.

They eventually attempted to turn her out. She politely declined (begins at 23:10).

Ah, what could have been. She blames her failure as a prostitute on her stick-in-the-mud parents.

Via PetiteDov.

Related: If you listen to the full interview it gives the answer away, but here's a trivia question, which is possibly bullshit, because I just heard it from one person:

Which state's residents speak in the most unaccented "neutral" American accent in the country?

I always figured it would be -- well, where I'm from. New Jersey. Or Connecticut. But people keep telling me recently I have a "New Jersey accent," something I find hideously insulting. (I went through my whole life not knowing I had an accent, now I'm tagged as having one.)

A Crappy Accent Quiz: Well, it accurately says I'm from the Northeast, but doesn't feature the way I pronounce "horrible," and keeps putting the Phildelphia accent at the top of my list. (Well, that or "The Inland North.")

I sound nothing like a Philadephian. They say "wudder" instead of "water," and "eye-yern" instead of "iron."

Stupid quiz is supposed to say "no accent at all."

Thanks to Pablo Honey.

Posted by: Ace at 01:16 PM | Comments (93)
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Apparently caused by humidity in its sensors.

Thanks to tmi3rd.

Posted by: Ace at 12:47 PM | Comments (30)
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