Oh, the refreshing hypoc...I mean consistency of the "religious" right

DeLay Let Brain-Damaged Father Die

People with too much time on their hands #1957

THE WORLD'S UGLIEST CAR IS RESTORED BY MECHANIC ANDY SAUNDERS, DORSET, BRITAIN

People with too much time on their hands #217

Solar Death Ray

Israeli therapy uses adult stem cells to treat Parkinson's Disease

Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics has developed a novel stem cell therapy to treat Parkinson's Disease - using a patient's own bone marrow stem cells to produce the missing chemical that enables restoration of motor movement. (click and keep reading, it's awesome!)

DVD Rot, or Not?

Interesting article about DVD handling (as opposed to CDs) from PCMag.com

Answers.com

Did I mention how ridiculously cool Answers.com is? And that it's an Israeli company?

I had never heard of Thomas Noon Talfourd before today. Had you? But I thought ALT-clicking might help. Here's my Answer. That's how simple it is: you hold down ALT and click on any word on your computer, in any program. Yes, it doesn't have to be in a browser; I clicked out of an email message in Eudora, and I've done the same out of a Word doc. ALT-click ANYWHERE on your computer and get a definition or answer to something. That's what the Net is all about.

Hendecasyllabic

Today's AWAD word means having eleven syllables. This page displays the brilliant hendecasyllabic work of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, channeling the Roman poet Catullus, who was a master of the form.

The Joy of Marmite

This FARK forum covers the gamut of feelings about the inexplicably popular spread from down under. And by gamut I mean 99.9% deep, intense hatred.

Bart Simpson, Philosopher

Here's an allegedly complete list of Bart's Chalkboard Gags from the title sequence of every episode of the Simpsons through all 11 seasons. What's your favorite?

Exploring Emergence

An active essay by a couple of guys at MIT, Exploring Emergence. If I didn't have work to do, I'd be in trouble with this.

[evil finder]

Enter any name or word or short phrase into the [evil finder] and it'll figure out a way to prove that thing is evil.

To wit:
**** THE PROOF THAT homphobia IS EVIL ****

H O M P H O B I A
8 15 13 16 8 15 2 9 1 - as numbers
8 6 4 7 8 6 2 9 1 - digits added
\_____/ \_____/ \_____/ \_____/ \_/
5 2 5 2 1 - digits added

Thus, "homphobia" is 52521.


Subtract 1876, the year first crematorium in the United States opened. The result will be 50645.

Divide by 7, the sacred number of Illuminati - the result is 7235.

Add 6891 to it - this is the year of the Chernobyl "incident", written backwards - you will get 14126.

Add 1995, the year O J Simpson was acquitted for double murder - the result is 16121.

Subtract 1591 from the number - this is the year the Rosenbergs were sentenced to death for spying by the US, written backwards. It gives 14530.

This, when read backwards, gives 03541. This is 1889 in octal, the year Adolf Hitler was born...

Evil, QED.

Go on, try it. You know you want to.

Concrete Canvas

Exceedingly cool British invention: Wired News: Need a Building? Just Add Water

The Gift of a Lifetime

Organ Donation, Tissue Donation, Organ Transplants are a topic that's particularly close to my heart these days, as I've been found to be a bone marrow match for someone. I'll probably be donating in early May. I'll be sure to comment on the procedure.

Sign up to do it. Donate blood, get on the National Marrow Registry, sign the little card that goes with your driver's license, whatever. Just do it.

Study Abroad in Israel

Thanks to the anonymous commentator from the UCSD sex tape entry for reminding me of the system-wide suspension in both California state university systems of sponsored study abroad in Israel:

UC EAP page
Cal State International Programs page

The CSU page dopes not explicitly state that the program is suspended, but it is. I recently signed the petition that will be delivered to the President of SDSU and hopefully to the Chancellor of CSU in the coming weeks. For information on getting your name on there too, contact SDSU Hillel at 619-583-6080 or email Josh at jklemons@hillelsd.org.

NY Public Library online

The NYPL Digital Gallery is another example of what the Internet is supposed to be all about: Free and open access to information, knowledge, and resources.

Drawing from scratch

Art from the ground up, as it were.

EEGAH!

Mark Longmire, he of the Romance Novel covers I mentioned a few days ago, has another site, this one entirely dedicated to the, um, classic 1962 opus EEGAH!, starring Richard Kiel and a bunch of other people. Rather than spend 90 minutes on the actual film, go through this inspired multimedia synopsis.

Radio gaga

Mark Morford is a bloody gorgeous sexycuteawesome columnist at the SF Chronicle (just ask him). Recently he ranted about the death of radio, so his readers obliged with ringing endorsements of still-kicking indie stations all over the place. He gathered the raves into And Now For Some *Real* Radio - Listen up!

Why our empire will fall

If we don't root people like the ones on this school board out of our society, we are doomed. The Board Member in charge of the school in question is Carol Vallencourt, CVallencourt@mail.clay.k12.fl.us, telephone (904)264-1589, fax (904)291-4922. You can get the contact info for the other board members here

School Board Bans Photo Of Girl Wearing Tux

Don't want to click on that link? Fine:
GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. -- After a spirited discussion over a photo of a girl wearing a tuxedo at Thursday's Clay County School Board meeting, the principal's decision to ban the picture from the Fleming Island High School yearbook stands.
Kelli Davis, 18, had her senior class photo taken in a tuxedo top and bow-tie outfit provided for boys rather than the gown-like drape and pearls provided for girls. The school's principal decided it could not appear in the yearbook because she didn't follow the dress code.

Kelli, a straight-A student with no discipline problems, is a self-proclaimed lesbian. She said she was uncomfortable to have her chest exposed in the photo.

"Because that's me, you know. That represents me. The drape does not," Davis said. "They're not accepting me, that's the whole reason we're here."

Davis denies it's about her sexual orientation, just about a student not following the rules.
"There's a dress code to follow -- a dress code expected for senior pictures in the yearbook, and she chose not to follow them. It's just that simple," Clay School Superintendent David Owens said.

More than half of the 24 people who addressed the controversy supported using Davis' picture in the yearbook, some applauding after Cindi Davis, the teen's mother, asked the board "What is so offensive about this tiny picture?"

Cindi Davis asked the school board not only to reverse the principal's decision on the photo, but to apologize for firing the yearbook editor, who voiced her support of publishing the photo.

While the board's ruling will keep the photo from appearing with other senior pictures, it will appear in the yearbook. Kelli's parents bought a two-page ad in the back of the book for $700, which will feature the picture.

This article reprinted in full without permission for the purposes of discussion and review, as permitted by Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976.

Ready, or not.

This went around as an email forward shortly after the Ready.gov site went up. Thanks to Veronique for reminding me of its goodness.

Also available: the aptly titled Yet Another Redy.gov Parody

And thanks to a Google search for terrorism preparedness parody, enjoy this ribald retelling of Snow White from the other side of the pond. This is not for the faint of heart or weak of humor.

Our awesome cross-town colleagues

UCSD Student's Porn Video Airs On Campus TV

I know better than to think this'll make any difference in this country's prudishness and ass-backwards attitude towards sex, but it's nice to see this sort of subversiveness still alive on the campus, and even nicer to see the hands-off attitude the administration is taking.

More L&O fun

The Law & Order Cycle: A Haiku Epic in Seventeen Parts is part of alltooflat.com.

Disturbing Auctions

Disturbing Auctions has been around since 2000, but I don't think I've pointed it out yet. It is exactly what it says.

Samorost

An oldie but goodie Flash puzzle game.. Samorost by Jakub Dvorsky

Greatest. Spam. Ever.

This is very personal, touching, moving, and hilarious. I want to shout from the rooftops, "I'm rich! Rich, you hear me?! RICH!!!!"

From: suhaarafat7@walla.com
Subject: YASSER ARAFAT WILL

Body: YASSER ARAFAT WILL
Dear Friend,

I am Mrs. SUHA ARAFAT, the wife of YASSER ARAFAT, the
Palestinian leader who died recently in Paris. Since his
death and even prior to the announcement,I have been
thrown into a state of antagonism,
confusion,humiliation,frustration and hopelessness by
thepresent leadership of the Palestinian Liberation
Organization and the new Prime Minister. I have even been
subjected to physical and psychological torture.

As a widow that is so traumatized, I have lost confidence
with everybody in the country at the moment.You view this
website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3965541.stm
You must have heard over the media reports and the Internet
on the discovery of some fund in my husband secret bank
account and companies and the allegationsof some huge sums
of money deposited by my husband in my name of which I have
refuses to disclose or give up to the corrupt Palestine
Government.

In fact the total sum allegedly discovered by the
Government so faris in the tune of about $6.5 Billion
Dollars. And they are not relenting on their effort to make
me poor for life. As you know, the Moslem community has no
regards for woman, more importantly when the woman is from
a christian background, hence my desire for a foreign
assistance.

I have deposited the sum of 21 million dollars with a
Financial firm in Europe whose name is withheld for now
until we open communication.I shall be grateful if you
could receive this fund into your bank account for safe
keeping and any Investment opportunity. This arrangement
will be known to you and I alone and all our
correspondence shouldbe strictly on email
alone because our government has tapped all my lines and
are monitoring all my moves.
In view of the above, if you are willing to assist for our
mutual benefits, we will have to negotiate on your
Percentage share of the $21,000,000 that will be kept in
your position for a while and invested in your name for my
trust pending when my Daughter,
Zahwa, will come off age and take full responsibility of
her Family
Estate/inheritance.

Please note that this is a golden opportunity that comes
once in life time and more so, if you are honest, I am
going to entrust more funds in your care as this is one of
the legacy we keep for our children.

In case you don't accept please do not let me out to the
security and international media as I am giving you this
information in total trust and confidence
I will greatly appreciate if you accept my proposal in good
faith.
Please expedite action.

Yours sincerely,
Suha Arafat

Cinemanow

Cinemanow is an awesome source of LEGAL movie downloads at reasonable prices. Because really, the "free" part of P2P downloading is misleading, considering the risk of both legal action and craptastic quality.

Cinemanow is still working on their marketing, but I happen to know that you don't have to subscribe in order to download movies, you can just do PPV. The categorization is sensible, and the selection is excellent and growing all the time. Really excellent stash of indie, foreign, and otherwise hard-to-find films, besides the major releases.

Simpson's Contemporary Quotations

When I saw the title of this work, I was sure it'd be things like "D'OH!" and "Mmmmmm.... beer.." But no, it's a legitimate collection, similar to Bartlett's, compiled by James, not Homer. Another reason Bartleby is a great resource.

Secret Agent Mann

**Mossad Agent Who Captured Eichmann Dies

Peter "Zvika" Malchin, the legendary Mossad agent who physically captured Adolf Eichmann, died in New York on Monday and is being brought to Israel for burial, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Malchin, who was 77, will be buried at the Kiryat Shaul Cemetery in Tel Aviv at 11 am on Friday. Former comrades are expected to eulogize him, including former Mossad head Meir Amit.
Raised in Poland, Malchin represented a different breed of secret agent from a time when spies would sneak into factories and secretly photograph blueprints of missiles, or catch enemy spies. He eventually became chief of operations of the Mossad during the 1960s. While many of his covert tales can never be told, he is best known for his 1960 role in the Mossad's most famous operation in which he personally nabbed Eichmann, the SS officer who symbolized the horror of Hitler's Final Solution.
"He was an ambassador of extraordinary and clandestine Israeli might," journalist and long-time friend Uri Dan said.
"Malchin convinced his commanders to let him trail Eichmann alone in order not to scare him off," Dan explained. "He told me later: 'I was determined to catch him because the eyes of six million are following me.'"
Malchin often went by his pen name of Peter Mann. He was an internationally acclaimed artist who used this trade as his cover. A recent article about him in The New York Times referred to him as "the artist who captured Eichmann." In recent years he made his home in both Israel and New York, where he enjoyed the art scene.

Reimagined Romance Novels

This fella Mark retooled a bunch of romance novels. You need to be somewhere you can laugh out loud. Longmire does Romance Novels