Rehab Report Card

The celeb freshmen and graduates of rehab!



Some stars treat their time in re-hab as a spa getaway, while others get clean and sober and never look back. Here we take a look at some of the rehab freshmen and graduates over the years, and give them an update report.

Colin Farrell:

"[Rehab] was horrible in one way, because I went away because I was pretty sick," the Miami Vice and S.W.A.T. actor once said. "But in another way it was great, because it was a very safe environment with a bunch of people who were looking to sort out things in their life. But I don’t want to go back." The hard-partying Irish actor says he did his time in rehab [December 2005-January 2006] for his son James, 3, because after fifteen years of craziness, just wanted to be a better dad. "I wanted to be clear, be around him, and remember being with him."

Update: So far so good!

Lindsay Lohan:

"I have made a proactive decision to take care of my personal health," Lindsay said in the statement, released by her publicist Leslie Sloane. "I appreciate your well wishes and ask that you please respect my privacy at this time." That statement was released by Lohan, 20, this January, just after she entered the $1,750-a day Wonderland rehab facility on trendy yet rustic Laurel Canyon Blvd., in West Hollywood. It didn’t seem to Celebrity Babylon that the Mean Girl’s star was taking it all too seriously, however, as she was seen out clubbing just days later.

Update: Photographed out partying when you release a statement about checking into rehab – not a good omen of things to come.

Britney Spears:

Getting world peace seems like it would be easier than what it took to get the 25-year-old pop star into rehab! It took Spears’ soon-to-be ex hubby Kevin Federline, 28, threatening to take full legal custody of their sons Sean, 1, and Jayden, 5 months, before she heeded the wake up call and checked in to Promises in Malibu, on the morning of February 21. This third time may just be the charm, as the bald one hasn’t bolted yet, and it appears that family members and friends are truly gathering to support her, and not just saying that they are doing so! Update: After almost a week, there’s no signs that Britney is digging her way out of her room with a eyelash curler and a nail file.

Charlie Sheen:

"I saw [the film] 28 Days. I don't remember rehab being like a day camp or being that funny. Rehab is a dumping ground. It's a big dumping ground." Sheen, 41, should know, the notorious hooker-and-drug lovin’ bad boy entered rehab at the request of his father, actor Martin Sheen, 66, and his lawyers. I was never shut down by the drugs; that was my problem. Cocaine was an aphrodisiac. I think that was a bit of a curse." Sheen has his act enough together now to have the top sitcom Two and a Half Men on CBS, and is often seen out and about with his two daughters (Sam, 2, and Lola, 1) by ex-wife Denise Richards, 35.

Update: We see more than a glimmer of the "old Charlie" when he chain-smokes cigarettes!

Nicole Richie:

While on the show Oprah last year, Nicole opened up about how her parent’s divorce when she was 13, led to her ultimate addictions to drugs and alcohol. Her parents Lionel and Brenda Richie begged her to go into rehab. But just one week before she was supposed to check in, she was arrested [February 2003] while driving and police found a balloon of heroin. "I was extremely, extremely scared," she explains. Out on probation, the incident scared her straight into counseling. Once inside rehab, entire family participated in heavy therapy. "Everything came out," Nicole says. "I was definitely trying to mask hurt, abandonment. I had no idea I was feeling this way."

Update: Richie, 25, didn’t stay on the straight and narrow for long, getting nabbed for a DUI on December 11 and admitting to cops she had used Vicodin and marijuana.

Robert Downey Jr.:

"It's like I have a loaded gun in my mouth, and I like the taste of metal," Robert Downey Jr., once said of his addictions to, well, you name it. Even jail time couldn’t sever the ties between addiction and the talented but troubled actor. His troubles began, he says, when his father offered him a "joint" at age 8! After that, it was probation, suspended licenses, jail time, rehabs, waking up at a stranger’s Malibu house, Wonder Woman costumes in a Palm Springs hotel room, and more. He famously infuriated other jail inmates when he was allowed out to shoot a movie!

Update: Good. His August 2005 marriage to film producer Susan Downey seems to have kept him on the straight and narrow, and out of the tabloids.

Ben Affleck:

"I've never been very judicious about my own behavior or choices until they had an impact on people other than me," says Affleck, 34, who was driven to Promises rehab by his pal Charlie Sheen in August 2001, at the same time as one of Robert Downey Jr’s stays, and comedienne Paula Poundstone. At the time, Affleck’s recovery wasn’t taken too seriously, after all, he was let out at the drop of a hat, to go to a sporting event, press junket, or an ice cream cone. At the cost of $48,000 for a 30-day stay at Promises, you would think Affleck would want to be getting his money's worth!

Update: There have been little glitches in his recovery over the years, but none since the birth of his daughter Violet, 1, with wife Jennifer Garner, 34.

Kate Moss:

Having her photo "Cocaine Kate" splashed across the front of London’s Mirror tabloid in September 2005, got Kate Moss into the Meadows rehab in Arizona. With a career in the modeling business, where a size-0 is considered overweight, and a drug-addicted boyfriend like British rocker Pete Doherty, 27, it was just a matter of time before Moss got caught with her nasty habit. At the time of media scandal, it was said that the supermodel would lose all of her lucrative contracts with Burberry, H&M, and Chanel. But that doesn’t seem to have had an effect on her career at all, in fact, you can’t walk down the street without seeing Moss on a Billboard, on TV, or in a magazine.

Update: Not good. Photos have emerged of Moss looking fairly out of it at Doherty’s concerts.

Josie Maran needs Work....BAD!

Family Guy - Hanson

Associated Press says NO PARIS!

The Associated Press declared its plans to boldly go where few wire services would dare to go in this day and age: the no–Paris Hilton zone.

“Next week,” entertainment editor Jesse Washington wrote in an e-mail memo obtained by The Transom, “the print team is planning an unconventional experiment: We are NOT going to cover Paris Hilton.

“Barring any major, major news, we are not going to put a single word about Paris on the wire,” the memo continued. “If something does come up, big or small, we encourage discussions on whether we should write about it.”

The results of the experiment, naturally, will be fodder for a future A.P. story. “Hopefully we will be able to discuss what ‘news’ we missed,” read the memo, which could have used some stern copy-editing, “the repercussions of our blackout for AP both editorially and business-wise, and most importantly the force that cause the world to be fixated on this person who, despite her shallow frivolity, represents an epochal development in our culture.”

Reached for comment, Mr. Washington said, “There was a surprising amount of hand-wringing. A lot of people in the newsroom were saying this was tampering with the news.” One editor’s response was apparently: “This is a great idea—can we add North Korea?”

Mr. Washington said he was inspired by the fact that, in the past year, Ms. Hilton has appeared on the A.P. wire about twice a week.

“We got lucky,” he said. “Totally by accident, her birthday party was the day before we started the experiment. There really weren’t any major news stories involving Paris, so we didn’t have that many really tough decisions to make.” Though “her name did pop up in a couple stories, despite my best efforts.”

PNEUMONIA KILLED ANNA NICOLE SMITH

'Idol' chatter dominates Playboy bash

More and more, it seems, the pasts of young reality star hopefuls are threatening their shots at stardom. American Idol contestant Antonella Barba, 20, has become the latest to don the scarlet letter as photos of her with her top dropped have led to speculation that the Fox network may drop her.

Hugh Hefner, who knows a thing or two about nudity in photos, calls such condemnation "hypocritical and dumb."

At a party Tuesday night at his Playboy Mansion to celebrate the third-season premiere of his E! reality show, The Girls Next Door (Sunday, 10 p.m. ET/PT), Hefner said, "I think in America we have a very strange attitude toward sexuality and nudity, and it makes no real sense."

Hefner, 80, spoke these words while seated on a sofa next to his famous grotto, the site of many an infamous sexcapade. At his side were girlfriends Holly Madison, 27, Bridget Marquardt, 33, and Kendra Wilkinson, 21, all roped of from the riffraff and protected by security.

Hef was soon joined by Ryan Seacrest, producer of E!'s newest reality series, Paradise City, which makes its debut right after Hef's show and focuses on singles trying to make it in Las Vegas. The Idol host, along with show judges Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell, were among the very few men allowed into Hefner's inner sanctum.

Cowell believes photos showing nudity should not be grounds for dismissal. "These people haven't done anything illegal; that's their private life," he stressed. He believes that the racy photos of Barba should "not affect her standing on the show, and if the public wants to keep her in, they'll keep her in." (Barba performs with the remaining female singers on Wednesday's show; two men and two women will be eliminated Thursday.)

"Nobody's clean in the entertainment business," seconded Jackson, recalling Frenchie Davis, who was famously booted from Idol in Season 2 when it was revealed that she had worked for an adult website. "There are definitely some moral things that go on with this show."

It is the morals of the person who leaked the Barba photos that Seacrest finds most repugnant. "It's just tacky, disgusting," said Seacrest. "You've got a girl who's trying to make it on a show where she needs a vote, and someone's trying to tear that away from her."

Though he said he had not yet seen the photos, Seacrest added that he would "absolutely let (Barba) stay on. If American Idol is a true representation of American youth, we're going to find imperfections. And it's OK to be imperfect."

Working Hard for a Living?

The Jeannie Tate Show

ManCrush

Just a note to some of the women who may be using the site for the first time. While they are are not opposed to women's suffrage, keep in mind that any entries you submit containing the words "hot", "sexy", "brooding", "delicious", "heartthrob", "cute", "gorgeous", or "smoldering" will not be approved by the Mancrush Integrity Committee.

See it HERE.

Ace Frehley is alive

Rumors of former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley’s suicide began to circulate around the Internet on Friday, Feb. 23rd, but it appears they turned out to be false. Instead, Frehley is said to be in good health and still working on a new solo studio album and even a couple of film projects.

Reports started to circulate the Internet on Friday that Frehley had committed suicide by taking pills, and was reported dead at 2 a.m., Friday, Feb. 23rd. However, there had been official report from Frehley’s people, KISS, or even a credible news agency.

Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia also listed Frehley as dead from suicide, but stated more information concerning the death had yet to be reported or confirmed. It has since removed the death information.

Frehley is said to have taken the news of his death well, reportedly responding: "I don't know how this ridiculous rumor got started."

Ace Frehley (who’s real name is Paul Daniel Frehley) was born on April 27, 1951, and was one of the original members of the iconic rock band Kiss. Frehley left the band in 1982 to pursue a solo career. He rejoined Kiss in 1996 for a reunion tour and new album, but left again in 2002 during its Farewell Tour.

Top 10 Ad's with people dressed as food

See them HERE.

College students think they're so special

Study finds alarming rise in narcissism, self-centeredness in ‘Generation Me’

NEW YORK - Today’s college students are more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors, according to a comprehensive new study by five psychologists who worry that the trend could be harmful to personal relationships and American society.

“We need to stop endlessly repeating ‘You’re special’ and having children repeat that back,” said the study’s lead author, Professor Jean Twenge of San Diego State University. “Kids are self-centered enough already.”

Twenge and her colleagues, in findings to be presented at a workshop Tuesday in San Diego on the generation gap, examined the responses of 16,475 college students nationwide who completed an evaluation called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory between 1982 and 2006.

The standardized inventory, known as the NPI, asks for responses to such statements as “If I ruled the world, it would be a better place,” “I think I am a special person” and “I can live my life any way I want to.”

The researchers describe their study as the largest ever of its type and say students’ NPI scores have risen steadily since the current test was introduced in 1982. By 2006, they said, two-thirds of the students had above-average scores, 30 percent more than in 1982.

We're all above average!
Narcissism can have benefits, said study co-author W. Keith Campbell of the University of Georgia, suggesting it could be useful in meeting new people “or auditioning on ‘American Idol.”’

“Unfortunately, narcissism can also have very negative consequences for society, including the breakdown of close relationships with others,” he said.

The study asserts that narcissists “are more likely to have romantic relationships that are short-lived, at risk for infidelity, lack emotional warmth, and to exhibit game-playing, dishonesty, and over-controlling and violent behaviors.”

Twenge, the author of “Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled — and More Miserable Than Ever Before,” said narcissists tend to lack empathy, react aggressively to criticism and favor self-promotion over helping others.

The researchers traced the phenomenon back to what they called the “self-esteem movement” that emerged in the 1980s, asserting that the effort to build self-confidence had gone too far.

‘I am special, I am special’
As an example, Twenge cited a song commonly sung to the tune of “Frere Jacques” in preschool: “I am special, I am special. Look at me.”

“Current technology fuels the increase in narcissism,” Twenge said. “By its very name, MySpace encourages attention-seeking, as does YouTube.”

Some analysts have commended today’s young people for increased commitment to volunteer work. But Twenge viewed even this phenomenon skeptically, noting that many high schools require community service and many youths feel pressure to list such endeavors on college applications.

Campbell said the narcissism upsurge seemed so pronounced that he was unsure if there were obvious remedies.

“Permissiveness seems to be a component,” he said. “A potential antidote would be more authoritative parenting. Less indulgence might be called for.”

The new report follows a study released by UCLA last month which found that nearly three-quarters of the freshmen it surveyed thought it was important to be “very well-off financially.” That compared with 62.5 percent who said the same in 1980 and 42 percent in 1966.

Yet students, while acknowledging some legitimacy to such findings, don’t necessarily accept negative generalizations about their generation.

Hanady Kader, a University of Washington senior, said she worked unpaid last summer helping resettle refugees and considers many of her peers to be civic-minded. But she is dismayed by the competitiveness of some students who seem prematurely focused on career status.

“We’re encouraged a lot to be individuals and go out there and do what you want, and nobody should stand in your way,” Kader said. “I can see goals and ambitions getting in the way of other things like relationships.”

Kari Dalane, a University of Vermont sophomore, says most of her contemporaries are politically active and not overly self-centered.

Enough about me, what do you think about me?
“People are worried about themselves — but in the sense of where are they’re going to find a place in the world,” she said. “People want to look their best, have a good time, but it doesn’t mean they’re not concerned about the rest of the world.”

Besides, some of the responses on the narcissism test might not be worrisome, Dalane said. “It would be more depressing if people answered, ‘No, I’m not special.”’

Bluegrass Wrecks the Music of Tenacious D

Click on a track to hear a preview

1. The History of Tenacious D
2. Fuck Her Gently
3. Kielbasa
4. Double Team
5. Karate
6. Kyle Quit the Band
7. Wonderboy
8. Explosivo
9. Jesus Ranch
10. Sasquatch

A creative approach?

Stand-in Chinese mistress sought to take wife's abuse

BEIJING - A Chinese businessman has advertised on the Internet for a stand-in mistress to be beaten up by his wife to vent her anger and to protect his real mistress, Chinese media reported on Monday.

"When the woman found out her husband had a mistress, she insisted on beating her up," the Beijing Youth Daily said, citing the advertisement posted on a popular online jobs forum on sina.com.

More than 10 people had applied for the job, the newspaper said. The "successful" candidate would be 35 and originally from northeastern China and would be paid 3,000 yuan ($400) per 10 minutes, it said.

Many Chinese businessmen keep mistresses in second homes, a trend banished after the Communists swept to power in 1949 but which has made a comeback with market reforms in recent decades.

Singer Gentry Sentenced in Bear Killing

DULUTH, Minn. -- Troy Lee Gentry, of the country singing duo Montgomery Gentry, has been sentenced to three months of probation and a $15,000 fine for killing a captive black bear. He also must give up hunting in Minnesota for five years.

Gentry pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in November. Under a plea deal, he agreed to forfeit the bear and the bow he used during the hunt near Sandstone. The 600-pound bear has been part of a taxidermy display at Gentry's home in Tennessee. He was sentenced Friday.

The bear was killed in October 2004 at the 80-acre Minnesota Wildlife Connection. Owner Lee Marvin Greenly sold the bear for $4,650 and orchestrated the hunt, which Gentry videotaped and edited to make it appear the bear had been killed in a fair chase hunt, according to authorities.

Montgomery Gentry, which includes co-singer Eddie Montgomery, are known for hits such as "My Town" and "If You Ever Stop Loving Me."

What It Will Take for Howard K. to Go Away?

Negotiations between Howard K. Stern and Larry Birkhead now have nothing to do with little Dannielynn. It's all about money.

Sources say that Howard K. Stern has all but conceded that Larry Birkhead is the dad.

Exhibit A: TMZ's story yesterday that Stern has already let Birkhead spend time with the baby. We're told Stern is willing to cooperate with paternity matters if the price is right. Specifically, sources say Stern has his eye on the Bahamian house Anna Nicole bought (not Horizons), and the boat she purchased just before her death. But that is not the end of Stern's financial wish list. Sources say he has set his sights on other assets as well.

Under the will and the laws of inheritance, Dannielynn would get all her mom's assets. Nonetheless, we're told the house, the boat and other assets are being discussed. It is unclear how Stern might lay claim to the items in question. Nonetheless, we're told that's precisely what he wants.

Celebrity partygoers exposed to Hepatitis A

A Sports Illustrated bash for its annual swimsuit issue has turned into a health scare for stars in Hollywood after a caterer working for celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck may have exposed them to acute Hepatitis A.

The Los Angeles County health department recommended on Tuesday that anyone who ate uncooked food at the U.S. sports magazine's party on February 14 get treatment by Wednesday to avoid developing the serious liver disease.

Health officials said the risk was "quite low" and that no Wolfgang Puck pre-packaged foods or restaurants were affected.

Hepatitis A is caused by a virus spread by ingesting something contaminated with the feces of an infected person. Symptoms can include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, abdominal pain and jaundice.

Carl Shuster, president of Wolfgang Puck Catering, said the company was working closely with health officials to contact anyone who ate food prepared in its Hollywood kitchen between February 1 and 20.

Shuster said the worker was placed on medical leave and the company has "applied exceptional procedures" to disinfect the kitchens and food processing areas.

"Our catering efforts continue and we remain confident that our guests will receive the highest standards of excellence for which Wolfgang Puck is known," the statement said.

This year's swimsuit issue features singer-actress Beyonce Knowles as the cover model, with rapper Kanye West, country star Kenny Chesney and members of the bands Aerosmith and Gnarls Barkley posing with scantily clad models.

20 New Ocean Species Found in Indonesia

Twenty new species of sharks and rays have been discovered in Indonesia in a five-year survey of catches at local fish markets, Australian researchers said Wednesday.

The survey by the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, or CSIRO, represents the first in-depth look at Indonesia's sharks and rays since Dutch scientist Pieter Bleeker described more than 1,100 fish species from 1842-60.

Researchers said six of their discoveries have been described in peer review journals, including the Bali Catshark and Jimbaran Shovelnose Ray, found only in Bali, and the Hortle's Whipray, found only in West Papua.

Papers on the remaining 14 are being prepared.

"Indonesia has the most diverse shark and ray fauna and the largest shark and ray fishery in the world, with reported landings of more than 100,000 tons a year," said William White, a co-author of the study. "Before this survey, however, there were vast gaps in our knowledge of sharks and rays in this region."

From 2001 to 2006, researchers photographed and sampled more than 130 species on 22 survey trips to 11 ports across Indonesia. More than 800 specimens were lodged in reference collections at the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense at Cibinong, Java, and the Australian National Fish Collection at Hobart.

The survey was part of a broader project working toward improved management of sharks and rays in Indonesia and Australia, researchers said.

"Good taxonomic information is critical to managing shark and ray species, which reproduce relatively slowly and are extremely vulnerable to overfishing," White said in a statement. "It provides the foundation for estimating population sizes, assessing the effects of fishing and developing plans for fisheries management and conservation."

A MR SHOW Classic...

Printable Cold Sores

Nowhere in advertising is the gap between natural beauty and manufactured perfection more apparent than on subway posters. As we wait for transportation, we are unwillingly assaulted by larger-than-life representations of supposedly beautiful salespeople. The large scale of these ads and their extremely close proximity to the viewer offer up more than perceived intimacy, however... they give us the chance to see the mechanical flaws designed to correct their physical flaws.

Why don't we just see them for what they are? They are regular people just like us, they just have a team of retouchers waiting at the ready.

Printable cold sores allow us to take action! Bring these people back down to our level, and tell advertisers that you don't agree with their message. How can you help? It's easy...

1. Download the printable cold sore sheet. This is optimized for use with 1" x 2 5/8" Avery Easy Peel Clear Mailing Labels, #18660.



2. Print it out on a transparency sticker sheet.



3. Tag an subway poster that seems appropriate.



4. Document and submit to printablecoldsores@gmail.com

5. Repeat.

*NOTE: Tagging subway ads is illegal! You can make your point simply by documenting your work, removing your stickers, and submitting an image. I am in no way responsible for your actions, I am merely presenting a theoretical solution to a real-world problem.

Elizabeth Taylor Celebrates Her 75th Birthday in Vegas

GORE MANSION USES 20X AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD

Nashville Electric Service/Gore House

2006

High 22619 kWh Aug – Sept
Low 12541 kWh Jan - Feb
Average: 18,414 kWh per month

2005

High 20532 Sept - October
Low 12955 Feb - March
Average: 16,200 kWh per month

Bill amounts

2006 – $895.60 (low) $1738.52 (high)
2005 – $853.91 (low) $1461 (high)

Nashville Gas Company

Main House
2006 – $990(high) $170 (low) $536 (average)
2005 – $1080 (high) $200 (low) $640 (average)

Guest House/Pool House

2006 – $820 (high) $70 (low) $544 (average)
2005 – $1025 (high) $25 (low) $525 (average)

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization, issued a press release late Monday:

Last night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.

Gore’s mansion, [20-room, eight-bathroom] located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).

In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home.

The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.

Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.

Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.

Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.

“As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk to walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use,” said Tennessee Center for Policy Research President Drew Johnson.

In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.

Rap-Cat in trouble with "THE MAN".

The Rap-Cat Website HERE.

TAMPA– Some local animal control workers have a beef with a popular fast food chain. They say Tampa-based Checkers Restaurants is encouraging customers to stick cats inside paper bags. While it's supposed to be part of a humorous ad campaign, some people aren't laughing.

All the controversy started with a commercial, and it turned into something weird on the internet. People began shooting videos of their cats wearing the Checkers paper bags, which led the restaurant to start a "cat-in-a-bag" contest.

The company printed instructions on the side of their hamburger bags so customers would know how to make the bags into attire for their felines.

The bags instructed customers to cut holes for the paws and tail, push the cat in backwards, and then take a picture for their restaurant's website. It does include a disclaimer advising people not to harm or endanger any cats, but Animal Services employees say there's no safe way to put a cat into a paper bag.

"If you are knowingly trying to put a domestic cat into a paper bag, it's patently ridiculous," said Marti Ryan of Hillsborough County Animal Services.

Experts say it's also dangerous. Some cats get so upset during the process, they could hurt someone. Even trained handlers have trouble putting some cats in places they don't want to go.

Animal workers claim the contest has led to cat abuse, meaning they could arrest the animals' owners, and even go after Checkers.

"I'm told the county attorney may seek an injunction," said Ryan.

Managers at Checkers' headquarters would not talk on camera, but they issued a statement. It reads:

"We received dozens of letters...requesting Rap Cat merchandise...our new Web site...and carry-out bags are...intended only as a creative extension of our television campaign."

That does not address the county's concerns.

"At issue here is the idea that you're asking a pet to do something against its will and forcing it into a bag," said Ryan.

That's why the county may challenge Checkers to a cat fight in court.

Mother of the Year

In a zoo in California , a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of
triplet tiger cubs. Unfortunately, due to complications in the
pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size,
they died shortly after birth.

The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started
to decline in health, although physically she was fine. The
veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a
depression. The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate
another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve.

After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing
news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to
the mourning mother. The veterinarians decided to try something that
had never been tried in a zoo environment. Sometimes a mother of one
species will take on the care of a different species. The only orphans"
that could be found quickly, were a litter of weaner pigs. The zoo
keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the
babies around the mother tiger. Would they become cubs or pork chops??
Take a look........ you won't believe your eyes!!

Chong to Raise Money for 'Guru of Ganja'

Comedian Tommy Chong will help raise money to defend the self-proclaimed "Guru of Ganja," who is charged with growing hundreds of marijuana plants for a dispensary.

Chong, who starred with Cheech Marin in stoner movie classics "Up in Smoke" and "Nice Dreams," will appear at a $125-per-person event for Ed Rosenthal.

Rosenthal, 62, famed for his marijuana cultivation books and the "Ask Ed" column he wrote for High Times magazine, will host the event at his Piedmont home on March 4.

"The party will celebrate how far we've come in legalizing medical marijuana as well as provide me with the money I need to fund my current trial that is defending all of our rights," Rosenthal said.

Rosenthal, who's scheduled to appear in federal court March 19, estimates his trial and related expenses could cost more than $300,000.

Federal prosecutors accused Rosenthal of growing marijuana, laundering money and falsifying tax returns from October 2001 through February 2002.

In a post to his Web log, The Blog of Chong, on Saturday, Chong urged his readers to attend the benefit for Rosenthal and donate to his defense. "Ed is being dogged by the feds for his marijuana work with sick people," Chong wrote. "It is the feds who are sick."

Mr Chong's web presense HERE.

Britney Shears - BID NOW !!!

BID LINK HERE.

Hummmm.....

Take a look HERE.

James Brown's DNA dispute settled

A lawyer for James Brown's partner says an agreement has been reached over obtaining DNA samples from the late soul singer's body.

Lawyers for Brown's trustees wanted DNA samples to help sort out several paternity claims made against the singer since he died two months ago.

Brown's partner, Tomi Rae Hynie, originally didn't like the way the trustees wanted the DNA collected, her lawyer, Robert Rosen, said.

But both sides have reached an agreement on how to collect the samples, leading to the cancellation of a hearing scheduled for Tuesday, Rosen told The Augusta Chronicle.

Instead, the lawyers plan to present an order for the judge to sign, Rosen said.

Rosen did not return a phone message from The Associated Press left at his office Tuesday.

Brown, who died on December 25 at the age of 73, has yet to be buried. His trustees have said it would be easier to collect the DNA samples before he is entombed in his final resting place.

Representatives of Hynie and Brown's six adult children have said they reached an agreement on where to bury the singer, but have not made the arrangements public.

Hynie says she is the singer's fourth wife and has a child with Brown. She says she wants a paternity test to prove it.

Attorneys for the singer have said Brown and Hynie weren't legally married when he died because she was married to another man when they said their vows.

IT'S COMING ....TODAY....

Go HERE.

Top 10 Reno 911 Moments

See them HERE.

Mice get smarter with drug

Down syndrome researchers see promise in PTZ, or pentylenetetrazole.

Lab mice with the mental retardation of Down syndrome got smarter after being fed a drug that strengthened brain circuits involved in learning and memory, researchers reported Sunday.

After receiving once-daily doses of pentylenetetrazole, or PTZ, for 17 days, the mice could recognize objects and navigate mazes as well as normal mice did, researchers said. The improvements lasted up to two months after the drug was discontinued, according to the report in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Scientists said the study opened a promising avenue for research in a field that had seen little success.

"These mice are essentially restored to normal, which I haven't seen before," said David Patterson, a Down syndrome researcher at the University of Denver, who was not involved in the study. "And the treatment seems to be long-lasting, which is a pretty surprising observation all by itself."

Senior study author Craig C. Garner, a Stanford School of Medicine professor, said his lab was preparing to conduct human trials of the drug, although he said it would take time to complete more preliminary studies and procure a supply of purified PTZ.

People with Down syndrome should not be given the drug until it has been studied further, he cautioned, because PTZ can induce seizures at high doses and might have other serious side effects.

Down syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21. The syndrome occurs in one of 660 births and usually causes cognitive deficits, cardiac problems and physical abnormalities, such as low muscle tone, short stature and an upward slant to the eyes. More than 300,000 Americans have Down syndrome, making it the leading cause of mental retardation. There is no approved drug to improve cognition in people with Down syndrome.

PTZ blocks a neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid, researchers said. GABA, as it is called, passes messages between neurons along specific brain pathways. Normal brains have a balance of neurotransmitters that excite neurons and make learning possible, and of GABA, which slows neurons down so they do not become overly stimulated. It is believed that people with Down syndrome have too much GABA, inhibiting brain circuits involved in learning and memory.

The drug was used until 1982 to enhance cognition in the elderly and mentally impaired people, but was removed from the market by the Food and Drug Administration because studies showed no clear benefits. Garner said he believed the drug failed in part because the dosing schedule then was different from the one his team used in mice.

The mice were genetically altered to possess cognitive impairments similar to those of Down syndrome patients.

Tests compared the mental abilities of mice fed PTZ against healthy mice and untreated altered mice.

Researchers said the drug took effect after several days. Once established, the improvements were long-lasting, although after three months the circuits in the brain showed a decline in activity, Garner said.

Scientists also fed PTZ to normal mice, but the drug had no effect on the animals' mental skills.

Stanford graduate student Fabian Fernandez, who designed the experiment, said the 17-day dose in mice was equivalent to a two- to three-year daily regimen in people. If the drug worked in humans as it did in mice — and there was no assurance it would — PTZ could produce cognitive improvements lasting up to 10 years, he said.

Professor Lynn Nadel, a Down syndrome researcher at the University of Arizona who was not involved in the research, said: "These results are very encouraging that it will ultimately be possible to do something to improve outcomes in Down syndrome."

Fernandez said the effect of PTZ on the mice prompted his Stanford colleagues to tease him that he was recreating the popular 1966 book "Flowers for Algernon," in which a fictional mouse masters mazes after an experimental surgery, then reverts when the effect wears off. Fernandez said researchers almost referred to the book in their study, but decided against it because their mice fared better than Algernon.

The book was adapted into the 1968 movie "Charly," for which Cliff Robertson won a best actor Oscar.

The research was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and several foundations, including the Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation, which was started in Silicon Valley by parents of children with Down syndrome.

Patricia A. O'Brien White, a co-founder of the foundation, said medical advances since the 1980s had more than doubled the life span of people with Down syndrome, to 56, increasing the likelihood that they would outlive the parents who cared for them. A small gain in cognition would allow a significant number of people with Down syndrome to hold jobs and live independently, she said.

"Typically the message that parents receive when the child is born is that nothing can be done," White said. "I think this study offers a different perspective."

Duct Tape Bandages

The nice thing about 3M owning so many lines of products, is that they can cross the brands to make some interesting hybrids.

Nexcare 3M Duct Tape Bandages are bandages made to look and feel like real duct tape. The packaging says they provide "heavy-duty protection for minor cuts and scrapes", and are longer in length to accomodate the meatier fingers of a workin' man.

oh...skinny models, now i get it...

Phone Fun : It was only a matter of time....

We all send romantic, suggestive text messages to our partners, often deliberately to get them going. Imagine if these texts could touch the body as well as the mind. Thanks to new technology, now they can. Mental images and physical sensations are one with The Toy. Your text fantasies are no longer confined to the imagination. With The Toy you can unite, wherever you are...

What is The Toy?

The Toy is a hi-tech vibrating bullet. Connected to a mobile phone with Bluetooth it becomes an intimate, silent connection between two lovers, regardless of distance. Custom designed for your pleasure, it is intelligent, sophisticated and invented for bliss.

The Toy is worn internally, linked to a mobile phone and controlled by sms text messages sent to the phone. Once read, the message is transported automatically to The Toy, which turns it into vibrations - with a huge range of movements, depending on what you have written. Just say what you feel, The Toy will do the rest.

In VMax mode, The Toy is also a manual vibrator with powerful and varied motions. A rechargeable battery gives sufficient energy to play all day. When you're apart, The Toy is all you need.

The Toy can enhance your relationship! Regardless of where you are, shopping in town, at your place of work, or across an ocean, as long as you can get a signal on your mobiles, you can intimately connect. Imagine that fantasy...

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Johnny Sings Bonanza

Broke Jackson Family to Tour Again

Jacko, Janet Will Tour

It had to happen eventually: With no work coming his way, Michael Jackson, sources say, has agreed to do a tour with sister Janet and his brothers.

I'm told that Michael reluctantly met with his siblings on Monday in Las Vegas. Sisters Janet and Rebbie, as well as Jermaine, Randy, Marlon, Tito and Jackie, all knocked on Jackson's Las Vegas door around 7:30 p.m. Nanny Grace Rwaramba, who runs the door, made them wait between 30 and 60 minutes before allowing the brood in.

What was discussed was the family's financial situation and the fact that Jackson has so far been unable to get work in Vegas. Sources say concert promoter Leonard Rowe of Atlanta, who worked with the Jacksons in the 1980s, was there and made a proposal: a family tour with all members.

The weird thing is, Michael seemed to understand what was happening.

That's good, too, because Jackson is still "radioactive," according to those familiar with the casino business. For example: The owner of one big casino hotel in the Caribbean recently told his chief executive to make sure Jackson was not invited to a big music event being arranged there this summer.

A successful Jackson family tour could change all that for Michael. It would also be a financial boon to a family that needs cash in a hurry. Jackson recently took a new mortgage on his parents' home, and his own home — the Neverland Valley Ranch — is in hoc to the tune of $25 million. Jackson himself relies on cash from royalties on his own songs. But that only comes to a maximum of $7 million a year. As described in court testimony, Jackson could go through that kind of money in just a couple of weeks.

The tour idea also works for Janet Jackson, whose last two albums have been huge duds. The idea of Michael and Janet performing a couple of duets, or Janet's brothers backing her on her own hits, would be a tantalizing notion to any promoter.

Nuts in Space: Nasa's Plan?

Our Three Presidents

Tenga Onacup Hole Warmer

Buy HERE.

Tenga, the brand that brought us a huge line of masturbation toys (also called onacups) that can simulate nearly any act or (blush) orifice, has come up with a very handy tool to couple with their stylish designer “cups”.

The Tenga Hole Warmer is a microwavable and REUSABLE insert that warms the toys to the perfect temperature for realistic body warmth. Simply put it in the microwave for 20 seconds, shake it up, pop it in for another 20 seconds and insert in one of your favorite designer self-pleasure onacups. The warmer is small, reusable, and easy to use: When the liquid inside crystallizes and it “clicks” up, it’s ready. Real women can’t warm up this easily!

Habanos Festival 2007

See the Festival HERE.

Cigar aficionados should not expect to see ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro strut out to greet them at the annual Habanos festival, but they will be able to bid for humidors signed by him.

The maker of Cuba’s famous hand-rolled cigars said on Tuesday that five elaborate humidors to be signed by Castro will be auctioned for charity at the closing gala dinner on March 2.

“There’ll be five humidors signed by the Comandante,” said Enrique Babot, marketing director for Habanos S.A., a joint venture between Cuba’s communist state and Spanish-French tobacco group Altadis.

The chance to meet Castro has drawn well-heeled cigar smokers from across the world to the lavish banquets each year, but the ageing revolutionary has missed the last three.

Emergency intestinal surgery forced him to relinquished power to his brother Raul Castro on July 31. He has not reappeared in public since. A video clip released two weeks ago showed the 80-year-old leader had put on weight but still looked frail.

Humidors signed by Castro and filled with Cuban cigars were auctioned for 610,000 euros ($730,000) last year. The proceeds go to cancer research in Cuba.

Castro, once a cigar-chomping guerrilla, gave up cigars in 1986 and has said tobacco is a poison and boxes of cigars are best given to one’s enemies.

Some 1,300 aficionados and retailers are expected for the Habanos festival starting Feb 26.

For five days they will puff away at the world’s finest cigars, tour factories to see the cigars being rolled by hand and visit tobacco plantations outside Havana.

The Cuban cigar industry will unveil an entirely aged version of the Montecristo No. 4, perhaps the top-selling cigar ever, Babot said. The Reserva de Montecristo will have binder and filler leaves, not just the wrapper, that have been fermented and aged for three years, as Cuba moves to add value to its sales.

Habanos’ sales rose 10 percent last year to $370 million, despite the fact that Cuban cigars are barred from the United States, the world’s largest market for cigars.

“U.S. trade sanctions have not affected our sales. On the contrary, there is more and more demand for Habanos in other places,” Babot said.

More than 400 million cigars are sold each year worldwide, half of them in the United States. Cuba sells 60 percent of its cigar output to Europe where smoking restrictions have begun to hurt sales, and is looking to Asia for sales growth.

Penelope Cruz: The Oscar dress

Daniel Baldwin: Britney Doing "Great" in Rehab

Britney Spears seems “a little fearful” but is “doing the do,” according to Spears' rehab compatriot Daniel Baldwin, 46, who says he’s 97 days sober and recently ran into the pop princess in Malibu.

“I told her if she needed anything or if she wanted me to bring anything to her where she’s at, I’d be happy to come see her,” Baldwin said Sunday at the "Night of 100 Stars" pre-Oscar party at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

“She’s doing great; she looks great,” added Baldwin, saying he gave Brit his number after running into her two days ago in Malibu.

“She seemed like she was a little fearful,” he continued. “I mean, she’s a young girl – I have kids older than her. I think that she knows that she needs some help, and God bless her. All we can do is pray. That’s what I want people to do: Pray for her.”

Baldwin, who was arrested in April on charges of being under the influence and carrying cocaine paraphernalia, said he left Brit with simple advice: “Don’t drink. Don’t use.”

“It’s really simple,” he said. “One thing I mentioned to her is if you took a look at how much effort you put into going out – at least for me – going out and using and doing the things we do, compared to how much effort you need to do to stay sober, it’s infinitesimal on a comparison basis.”

I hope Britney understands what that means, because Idon’t.

Another thing I don't understand: Isn't it a violation of the Anonymous part AA to blab about THE BRITNEYS mental well-being in rehab?

Pakistan Kite Festival

At least 11 people died and more than 100 people were injured at an annual spring festival in eastern Pakistan celebrated with the flying of thousands of colourful kites, officials said today.

The deaths and injuries were caused by stray bullets, sharpened kite-strings, electrocution and people falling off rooftops yesterday at the conclusion of the two-day Basant festival, said Ruqia Bano, spokeswoman for emergency service in the city of Lahore.

The festival is regularly marred by casualties caused by sharp kite strings or celebratory gunshots fired into the air.

Kite flyers often use strings made of wire or coated with ground glass to try to cross and cut a rival’s string or damage the other kite, often after betting on the outcome.

Lahore Mayor Mian Amier Mahmood said that the two-day permission to fly kites ended yesterday and the ban has been re-imposed.

Police arrested more than 700 people for using sharpened kite strings or firing guns and seized 282 illegally held weapons during this year’s festival, said Aftab Cheema, a senior Lahore police officer.

Sharpton's Kin were Slaves to Thurmond's

Geneaologists have found that civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton is a descendent of a slave owned by relatives of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The Daily News said professional genealogists, working at the newspaper's behest, recently uncovered the ancestral ties between one of the nation's best known black leaders and a man who was once a prominent defender of segregation.

``I have always wondered what was the background of my family,'' the newspaper quoted Sharpton as saying. ``But nothing, nothing could prepare me for this.''

``It's chilling. It's amazing.''

Sharpton's office said Sunday morning that he planned to discuss the findings further at a news conference later in the day, but would not comment before then.

Some of Thurmond's relatives said the connection also came as a surprise to them. A niece, Ellen Senter, said she would speak with Sharpton if he were interested.

``I doubt you can find many native South Carolinians today whose family, if you traced them back far enough, didn't own slaves,'' said Senter, 61, of Columbia, S.C. She added: ``And it is wonderful that (Sharpton) was able to become what he is in spite of what his forefather was.''

One of the late senator's sons, Paul Thurmond, and a nephew, Barry Bishop, declined to comment, the Daily News said.

According to the Daily News, the genealogists found documents establishing that Sharpton's great-grandfather, Coleman Sharpton, was a slave owned by Julia Thurmond, whose grandfather was Strom Thurmond's great-great-grandfather. Coleman Sharpton was later freed.

The newspaper said the lead researcher was Megan Smolenyak, the chief family historian for Ancestry.com and an author of several published books on genealogy. Another researcher on the project was Tony Burroughs, who teaches genealogy at Chicago State University.

Strom Thurmond, of South Carolina, was once considered a symbol of segregation. During his 1948 bid for president, he promised to preserve racial segregation. In 1957, he filibustered for more than

24 hours against a civil rights bill.

But Thurmond was seen as softening his stance later in his long life. He died in 2003, at 100. The longest-serving senator in history, he was originally a Democrat but became a Republican in
1964.

His children have acknowledged that Thurmond fathered a biracial daughter. Essie Mae Washington-Williams' mother was a housekeeper in the home of Thurmond's parents.

The Coffin of Jesus 2.0

A Hollywood director will today unveil three coffins he claims were those of Jesus, his mother Mary and his 'wife' Mary Magdalene.

James Cameron says he has proof that Jesus married Mary and that she bore him a son, Judah, who was buried alongside them.

The Titanic director has produced a documentary telling the story of ten stone coffins found in a 2,000-year-old tomb in Jerusalem by Israeli builders.

The Lost Tomb of Jesus, made for the Discovery Channel, will be shown in the U.S. this week and later in Britain by Channel 4.

Today, Cameron is holding a press conference on what he describes as 'one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time'.

Crucially, he is not denying the resurrection - as there were no bones in the caskets.

But the £2million film still strikes at the foundation of Christianity in the same manner as the novel The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, in claiming that Jesus married and had a family.

His theory, which has already met with derision from experts, centres on a tomb found in the Talpiot suburb in 1980. Inside, archaeologists found ten coffins, or caskets for bones, and three skulls.

Six had names etched into them, which were translated as Jesus son of Joseph, Judah son of Jesus, Maria, Mariamne (thought to be Mary Magdalene's real name), Joseph and Matthew.

At the time the inscriptions provoked little interest. The Israeli Antiquities Authority said the names were common at the time.

A connection to the holy family was not made until 15 years later, when a film crew stumbled across the collection in a storeroom.

Though the bones had long since been reburied elsewhere, as was the custom, tiny traces of DNA left in the caskets were tested.

The results for the coffins labelled Jesus and Mariamne showed the two were not related by blood, leading Cameron and his team to conclude they were married.

The film's Israeli director, Simcha Jacobovici, said: 'Either this cluster-of names represents the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth and his family.

'Or some other family, with this very same constellation of names, existed at precisely the same time in history in Jerusalem.'

The idea that Mary Magdalene had a child with Jesus was the main theme of The Da Vinci Code. The book claimed their union was kept secret in a church conspiracy.

The location of Cameron's conference is being kept secret until the last moment to stop crowds trying to see the artefacts. The cave in which they were found has also been put under armed guard.

However, the archaeologist who oversaw the work at the tomb described the theory as 'nonsense'.

Amos Kloner said the names found on the coffins had been found in tombs before, adding: 'It makes a great story for a TV film, but it's impossible.

'Jesus and his relatives were a Galilee family with no ties in Jerusalem. The Talpiot tomb belonged to a middle-class family from the first century.'

Moment of Zen

Fake Private Parts Are No Joke, Myers Says

Delegate Wants to Ban Vehicle Displays of Plastic Genitals
Get yours HERE.

Maryland Del. LeRoy E. Myers Jr. to truckers: If you've got 'em, you don't need to flaunt 'em.

As the General Assembly debates global warming and the death penalty, Myers (R-Washington) has something else on his mind: the outsized plastic testicles that truckers dangle from the trailer hitches of their pickups.

To some truckers, they are manly expressions of rural chic. But Myers, who says his Western Maryland district is brimming with giant fakes on the roadways, calls them vulgar and immoral -- and filed legislation this week to outlaw them.

"People are making a joke out of it," Myers said yesterday. "But I think it's a pretty serious problem. You have body parts hanging from the hitches of cars. We've crossed a line."

His bill would prohibit motorists from displaying anything resembling or depicting "anatomically correct" or "less than completely and opaquely covered" human or animal genitals, human buttocks or female breasts. The offense would carry a penalty.

A hunter could still throw a freshly killed and uncovered deer in the back of his pickup, though, because the deer's body parts would be real, Myers said.

Myers, 56, said he's trying to match the standards of Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), who has pledged to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. "We have a governor whose agenda is, 'Let's make us the best,' " the delegate said. "So let's clean up what our children are seeing on our roads."

Myers, a general contractor with four grown children, represents Washington and Alleghany counties in Maryland's most rural corner. He said he acted at the request of a constituent who was distressed by what he saw as he drove down a highway.

Since Myers submitted the bill Tuesday, it has been the brunt of jokes from radio and TV interviewers. "But my office has gotten 100 phone calls from grateful parents," he said.

Civil libertarians say the bill is misplaced. "The solution to speech we don't like is more speech," said Meredith Curtis of the Maryland American Civil Liberties Union. A sticker of the Venus de Milo statue would be illegal if the legislation passes, she said.

Myers's fellow lawmakers seemed bemused. "Hmmm. Is this what the framers had in mind?" Del. Tom Hucker (D-Montgomery) asked jokingly.

The truck ornament industry is not amused. "It's not a perverted sexual thing at all," said David Ham, founder of Your Nutz, a San Diego-based business that sells more than 200 kinds of fake testicles. "It's a sense of humor. This lawmaker is looking out for two or three old women in tennis shoes. He's got too much time on his hands."

Ham said he shipped about 100 orders last year to customers in Maryland and Virginia. He said those who support a ban would do well to recall that 50 years ago, many people in the nation lived on farms. "Did all the little donkeys and sheep walk around with their panties on so children wouldn't see their bodies?" he asked.

The bill is now in the House Rules Committee. "I think it's a terrible bill," Chairman Hattie N. Harrison (D-Baltimore) said yesterday, but she agreed to defer to her colleagues on whether to let it die a quick death in committee or assign it to another one for a full debate.

Well it is Sunday After all....

Peter Pan Peanut Butter Lid

See it HERE.

PETER PAN PEANUT BUTTER

THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS, IT SENT ME STRAIGHT TO THE BATHROOM!!

You are bidding on a empty, steralized Peter Pan Peanut Butter Lid marked with product code, 21116350001846a, that may have contained Salmonella.

The story is in all the headlines. Symptoms include diarrhea and abdominal pain leading to possible hospitalization. And I suffered through it all and endured much anguish, just to bring you this listing.

Yes, I did it . . . I ate that ENTIRE jar of peanut butter only to end up sick as a dog and even had to miss one day of work. But, I'd suffer through it all again, just to bring you this WACKY, TOTALLY BIZARRE OPPORTUNITY.

Many people have filed suit against ConAgra Food or are cashing their jars in for a full refund, but I've chosen to list it right here, so you have a chance to own a piece of EBAY and PETER PAN HISTORY. These lids are officially being called collectibles.

Where's Nick Cage?

See more photos HERE.

McPhee Gets Felt Up Video

See it HERE.

American Idol Scandel - Antonella Barba

See ALOT MORE of her HERE.

Girls with Guns

Britney Cutout

Get yours HERE.

Osama Dead?

Osama bin Laden, charismatic founder of al-Qaeda, died of typhoid earlier this month in Pakistan, according to a highly classified intelligence brief given to the King of Saudi Arabia and President Chirac this week, and leaked to the French newspaper L'Est Republicain.

The chief of the terror group was known to have been suffering from acute typhoid and seeking treatment in Pakistan in mid-August. This was picked up and tracked by Saudi intelligence services. The same sources, said by the French to be very reliable, believe he later died.

The powerful Pakistani intelligence Agency the ISI at times virtually a parallel government, instrumental among other things in founding the Taliban - has not confirmed the report. "We have no information on Osama's death," a senior Pakistan Interior Ministry official said on Saturday morning.

Bin Laden last appeared on video in 2004. A few poor-quality audio tapes purporting to be of his voice surfaced earlier this year - but it was impossible to say when the original recordings were made.

The reaction of the bin Laden command cell of al-Qaeda to the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks was surprisingly muted and unfocused. It said al-Qaeda would attack "American targets" again, and that all Americans should "convert to Islam".

It is now clear that most of the talking, and broadcasting, by the old command cell has been done by Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, spokesman and ideologue for bin Laden and always seen as his Number 2. The highly articulate doctor came to the surface in the security operations following the assassination of Egypt's President Anwar Sadat in October 1981. He can only exist in the shadow of the magnetism of bin Laden and is not seen as a leader or strategist in his own right.

Much the same goes for the al-Qaeda movement as a whole. Like other, admittedly smaller, terrorist groups such as Italy's Red Brigades, it has found it hard to reprise its big spectacular. It has never done anything like 9/11 since. Attacks like the Bali and Mombasa bombs, the train and transport bombings in Madrid in 2004 and London in July last year may have been carried out in the name of Islamic revolution - adopting the al-Qaeda logo as it were - but
they were not under bin Laden's direct command.

The attacks appear to be loosely linked homegrown efforts whose ideological and operational roots are in Pakistan and Bangladesh as much as in the bin Laden training camps in Waziristan and Kashmir.

The death of bin Laden, if it is confirmed, will be cloaked in the propaganda of martyrdom, mourning and revenge. It could also trigger a major rethink of such notions as "Global War on Terror", which is long overdue. It will be a blow to the sloganising of the neo-conservatives - and their notion of the "clash of civilisations" - and to the high-flown rhetoric of President Bush and Prime Minister Blair.

It is likely to mean not so much "back to basics" in tackling terrorism, but back to the practicalities of how to deal with terrorists in the real world.

Baaaaaa.....

100 dead sheep found in downtown back yard TheStar.com - News - 100 dead sheep found in downtown back yard

Residents of a downtown neighbourhood woke up today to the stench of 100 dead sheep wafting in from the back yard of a nearby rooming house.

Toronto police were called to a Victorian rooming house near Jarvis and Pembroke Sts. shortly before 11 a.m. today to investigate the stench, said Staff Sgt. Edward Tymburski of nearby 51 Division.

“A guy there had been given a contract to dispose of some sheep carcasses so he took it upon himself to bring them home and he was taking the skins off of them,” Tymburski said. “He was in the process of transporting them to a site for disposal and that's when we got the call.”

Police decided not to press charges against the man, opting instead to let him continue removing the bodies. The incident, he said, will still be investigated by the Ministry of Natural Resources to see if the man was in violation of the provincial act for disposing of dead animals. Public health officials were also called to the scene today to ensure there was no danger to any nearby residents.

“It's obviously pretty bizarre,” Tymburski said of the incident. “These things apparently stunk to high heaven too.”

Although it is not yet clear what the animals died of—police said that too was a matter for the Ministry of Natural Resources—Tymburski noted the man brought them to the city from Stoney Creek, where he was contracted for the job.

Oscar Spoilers

1. This first secret is big. Huge. Gigantic. It's that Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, and George Lucas together will be presenting the Best Director award this too-long telecast. What a gimmick. It'll be interesting for Hollywood to watch the interplay among them. (If I'm murdered overnight, then the Academy did it.)

2. I can reveal another secret which the Academy is keeping -- that Tom Cruise will be presenting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to ex-Paramount mogul Sherry Lansing. (This year, the Academy took the unusual step of not announcing which awards the celeb presenters will give out. This was done supposedly to heighten the suspense. As if...) Having Tom and Sherry do this together is an inside joke for Hollywood. Because both were shown the door at Paramount by parent company boss, Viacom's Sumner Redstone. Trust me, Hollywood is going to get a kick out of this, even if the folks watching at home may not understand its significance. (Then again, the Oscars are always filled with inside jokes enjoyed by the Industry alone.) Of course, Lansing greenlighted many Cruise films during her years at Paramount, where Tom's production company used to have its home. So the choice makes sense. But it's also a corporate laugh riot.

3. Here's another spoiler: Oscar telecast producer Laura Ziskin and Dreamgirls director Bill Condon have planned that each of the Dreamgirls -- Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson, and Anika Noni Rose -- will sing each others' songs from the movie. That's a cool concept: nothing's more boring than having the person you expect do the singing. Or maybe Beyoncé wants a crack at singing Jennifer's songs. Who knows... (But I can knock down right now one rumor flying around which I'll mention just because it's so assinine: that Michael Jackson will sing one of the songs from Dreamgirls. Thankfully, not even the Academy is that blind to the PR disaster of an MJ appearance on the Academy Awards. It's not happening.) Diana Ross, on whose life the Motown musical is loosely based, was asked to sing one of the Dreamgirls songs on the Oscars. But she said no, telling the producers, "I'm not interested in promoting that movie." She still claims she hasn't seen it.

4. Here's another secret: I'm told that there's a big change in the order that the awards will be presented. The Best Supporting Actor and Actress awards will NOT be presented in the up-front portion of the show, as in previous years. Instead, none of the acting awards will be given out until the last third of the telecast. The Academy is doing this, I understand, because Oscar viewership starts out strong and then wanes. Ziskin is hoping that this will keep the audience glued to the entire broadcast hour after hour. But I understand this decision was hotly disputed because it breaks with tradition. All I can say is that now there's not much reason to watch the beginning of the show, either. UPDATE: *This is the only one of my spoilers being disputed by someone I respect. Steve Pond, a contributor to the LA Times' Envelope blog and author of a book about Oscars history, The Big Show tells me: "They're spread out, not bunched in the last third: early, middle and late. Been that way on the rundowns all week." I sincerely hope he's right. But I can only report what my sources tell me, and so far they've been really accurate. They said the Supporting Actor/Actress category had been moved as of Thursday night. I say, move it back.*

5. I can also report that, after a few years absence, three members of the longstanding Oscars' comedic writing team are back together on the job: Bruce Vilanch, Carrie Fisher and Carol Leifer. This is great news for Sunday's telecast because their quick wits make the show that much more livelier and topical. They'd been individually helping -- for Chris Rock or Jon Stewart -- but not as a trio. FYI, they have not written Ellen DeGeneres' opening monologue.

6. Ellen DeGeneres is writing the opening monologue on her own and with her own team. I hear she has decreed it won't be political or mean-spirited. (But expect Vilanch & Fisher & Leifer to insert plenty of references to politics and pop culture into the rest of the show. Because Hollywood expects them.)

7. Speaking of Ellen, I can provide you with another nugget: the Oscar telecast kicks off with an expensive and "inspired piece of CGI trickery", I'm told. Along with other movie scenes from other studios in which she inserts herself, Ellen DeGeneres will be dancing with the Happy Feet penguins. You see, Ellen dances on her talk show, the birds dance in the movie, so we're supposedly talking synergy. Especially since Warner Bros., which is the producer of both the toon and Ellen's syndicated series, spent an enormous amount of money to make this segment happen and hired Happy Feet director George Miller to do it. (DVD out next month.)

8. And, the Oscar broadcast will feature some clip packages directed by top names in Hollywood. Among them, Michael Mann (Miami Vice, Ali, The Insider) looks at how America is portrayed in the movies, and Nancy Meyers (The Holiday, Something's Gotta Give, What Women Want) examines how writers have been depicted in films. I can tell you about the latter: as ink-stained wretches. (Remember Barton Fink?) Believe me, this is when the Kodak Theater audience will laugh the loudest.

Confiscated airline carry-on items become big sellers on eBay

Get some for yourself HERE.

What happens to those scissors, lighters and the occasional machete confiscated at US airports? Some land in an Ali Baba-style cave here, to be auctioned on eBay.

"We collect items from 12 different airports, including JFK and LaGuardia in New York, but also at Boston, Philadelphia and Syracuse," said Ed Myslewicz, spokesman for the State Agency for Surplus Property (SASP) at the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania airport.

Each month, two tonnes of merchandise is sorted, photographed and put up for sale on eBay.

"The program started in June 2004, and the idea was to generate new revenues for the state," he said.

And it works: Up to 98 percent of the stuff is sold, according to Myslewicz.

To one side of the warehouse, merchandise -- including baseball bats, golf clubs and even a catapult -- arrives in 200-liter (55-gallon) drums or other containers.

"Don't ask me why people want to take these kinds of items with them on a plane," said Mary Beth Enggren, marketing director for the SASP, standing amid boxes of pocket knives and scissors.

Items seemingly innocuous before September 11, 2001 but caught in the tightened security net following the attacks also clog the warehouse: large flashlights, snow globes filled with liquid, handcuffs, toy guns and pointy belt buckles.

Red bricks, a bottle of perfume shaped like a grenade, food processors, electric drills, horseshoes and a snow shovel are also among the banned booty.

"And we also have our hall of fame," Enggren said. On the wall hang a bow and a quiver of arrows, a wooden saber, an old wooden pistol, a realistic-looking plastic grenade, a 30-centimeter (12-inch) metal pipe wrench and a good-sized machete.

Mike Hooks, one of the employees who sorts the merchandise for sale, has his favorite: "What surprised me the most up till today was a semi-automatic pistol, 40 caliber."

"That we cannot sell on eBay," Enggren said.

Still, the operation has netted 360,000 dollars (274,000 euros) after eBay's commission, money that funds social programs in the northeastern US state of Pennsylvania.

Other states also take part in the program, according to Amy Kudwa, spokeswoman for the US Transportation Security Administration, which sets the rules on what may be brought aboard airplanes.

Kudwa said 13.7 million items were collected at US airports in 2006, including 11.6 million lighters.

The figures do not include liquids, gels and creams that have been confiscated since August, which go directly to the trash dump.

Bones of Jesus & son uncovered in Jerusalem

Digging for controversy, the Titanic filmmaker James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici are about to stun Christians the world over with a docu-drama that claims archaeologists have located the casket of Jesus.

The inscribed box, with some human remains still inside, apparently was crammed into an old cave near Talpiyot, an industrial zone in Jerusalem, alongside nine other two thousand year-old sarcophagi allegedly containing the bodies of Mother Mary, the carpenter Joseph, a little-known brother called Jofah, Mary Magdalene, and, most surprisingly of all, Jesus's son Judah, who technically could be considered the grandson of God.
To read more, click here.

It sounds like a sequel to a Da Vinci Code sequel. And just as profitable. The filmmakers express aim is to cross the excitement of Indiana Jones-style tomb raiding with Dan Brown's bold approach to modern theology, all in a 90 minute video.

A couple of these mysterious bone boxes are about to be unveiled in New York City, in good time to promote Cameron's latest made-for-television movie, which will be broadcast on Discovery Channel in the US, Channel 8 in Israel, and Channel 4 in Britain before Easter.

Devout Christian congregations will abhor Cameron's publicity stunt as absolute heresy. Some 27 years after archaeologists first uncovered this unprepossessing family tomb containing half a dozen inscribed caskets and four unmarked ones, the sensational scientific claims now threaten to debunk belief in the Resurrection, a cornerstone of the Christian faith. The New Testament recounts how three days after crucifixion, Jesus arose from the grave (which is now supposedly the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at the heart of Jerusalem's old walled city.) But scientists, archaeologists, DNA experts, statisticians,and antiquities specialists are suggesting that Jesus's burial site was on a hill rather far away from the old rugged cross.

Repercussions of the initial discovery were minimized, even after Israeli professor Amos Kloner deciphered the inscriptions containing such profoundly familiar Biblical names a decade ago, because the Israeli Antiquities Authority stored the caskets in their Beit Shemesh archive. Little publicity leaked out. Biblical archaeology has proven to be a minefield, albeit with a certain sects' appeal. Who could have foreseen that forensic tests could be made on Jesus' bones in a New York crime lab? If you thought that the Israeli archaeologists' salvage tunnel close to the Al Aqsa mosque ignited some religious fury, get ready for another white hot fight. Remember the Spanish Inquisition? Or the fuss over teaching Darwin's theory of Evolution? After Monday's press conference, Izzy imagines it won't be long before an intelligent design component emerges for the holy caskets in the cave. "King of the World", eh?

Here is the inscription that started all the speculation, from the webpage of savvy Simcha Jacobovici, who dubbed himself the "Naked Archaeologist"

A Lil Bing Crosby....

Playboy Online Store : Anna Nicole Section

Get all of Her HERE.

Chuck Conners Sports Wood...

Bob and Johnny

Ash Wednesday Mass Interrupted by Porno Recordings

The Roman Catholic Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi was evacuated during noon Mass on Ash Wednesday when three CD players duct-taped to the bottom of pews began blaring sexually explicit language.

The players were set to turn on at 12:22 p.m. as parishioners were in the middle of Mass, police Capt. Gary Johnson said.

The recordings were filled with people using foul language and "pornographic messages," Johnson said. He would not elaborate because of the ongoing investigation.

Church staff personnel removed the CD players, took them to the basement and called police, who sent a bomb squad, Johnson said.

The bomb squad blew up two of the players on a grassy area near the church, then kept the third one for analysis after determining the players were not dangerous.

The recordings were made on store-bought blank discs, Johnson said.

"We'll run the full gamut" of tests on the player, including checking for fingerprints or DNA and tracing its components, he said.

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, which marks a 40-day period of fasting before Easter. Clergy mark the foreheads of the faithful with ashes to symbolize penance during Ash Wednesday services.

The Gov of Ca Smoken the Evil Weed....

Tyra Banks Grabs Katharine McPhee’s Breasts

Gumby Dharma

See the trailer HERE.

Anna Nicole's Assistant Speaks!

Celebrity Vacuum Cleaners?

See them all HERE.

TrimSpa Spokes Model Open Audition

BRITNEY RAGE PHOTOS AND VIDEO

See the FULL RAGE HERE.

Rachael Ray’s Wax Figure Revealed

Ubiquitous TV chef Rachael Ray unveils her Yum-O wax figure at Madame Tussauds wax museum in Times Square on Wednesday night in New York City. The faux Rachael wears a Diane Von Furstenberg dress and boots from Faryl robin Footwear.

One of Rachael’s favorite catchphrases, “E.V.O.O.” (extra-virgin olive oil) is slated to be included in the 2007 edition of the Oxford American College Dictionary.

Men-free tourism island planned

Iran plans a female-only island to boost tourism in a northwest province, the Tehran-e Emrouz newspaper on Wednesday quoted a local official as saying.

It will be on the Urumiyeh lake in Western Azerbaijan province, a municipality official identified only as Aghai said.

Under Iran's strict Islamic law, mixing with men in public is forbidden. Strict sex segregation actually protects women rather than restricting their rights, officials argue.

"There will be no men on the Arezou (Wish) island. Public transport, restaurants and other facilities will be staffed only by women," Aghai said.

Parts of Iranian beaches are reserved for women, where they can remove their headscarves and wear swimming costumes. Women have forced their way into the national sports stadium, defying strict sex segregation. There are several parks for women only.

In public women have to cover their body in long loose coats and their hair with headscarves. The chador, literally meaning 'tent', an all-enveloping, usually black cloth is obligatory in some government offices.

Ahhhhh....Bacon Bandages...

Get them HERE.

What's Mischa Barton Smoking?

CA Gov Candidate Mary Cary in...

Get it HERE.

Long Live the Aflac Duck

Contrary to recent media reports, Aflac has no intention of abandoning its use of the Aflac Duck.

"Like all of America, we love the Aflac Duck," said Jeff Herbert, Aflac's Chief Marketing Officer. "It is as central to our marketing efforts today as it will continue to be going forward."

Since its introduction, the Aflac Duck has helped the company achieve 90 percent brand awareness.

"In January, we launched Aflac's 28th spot using the lovable duck to explain that Aflac's insurance products help pay for routine expenses such as rent, utility bills and car payments when people are temporarily unable to work," said Herbert. "We look forward to unveiling new and exciting Aflac Duck commercials later this year as we continue to spread the message about the need for Aflac products."

For more than 50 years, Aflac products have given policyholders the opportunity to direct cash where it is needed most when a life-interrupting medical event causes financial challenges. Aflac is the number one provider of guaranteed-renewable insurance in the United States and the number one insurance company in terms of individual insurance policies in force in Japan. Our insurance products provide protection to more than 40 million people worldwide. Aflac has been included in Fortune magazine's listing of America's Most Admired Companies for six consecutive years and in Fortune magazine's list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America for nine consecutive years. Aflac has also been recognized three times by both Fortune magazine's listing of the Top 50 Employers for Minorities and Working Mother magazine's listing of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers. Aflac Incorporated is a Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFL. To find out more about Aflac, visit aflac.com.

Britney , Lets re-live the "good old days"

Know your Boobs...

Know your Testicles

Release Your Inner Slut

Get your Spin By Spin Guide HERE.

Your Peekaboo Pole Dancing Kit HERE.

And your Lap Dancing Kit HERE.

Charlie Chaplin- Table Ballet

Pot Smoking Aaron Carter and Charlize Theron

What the hell is he doing?

The Guy Who Bought Britney's Hair

What Would George Bush Do?

Hitler's Rug

Millions would love a chance to wipe their feet on Adolf Hitler and now it looks like they could have the chance with this 'Hitler rug'

The work is by Israeli artist Boaz Arad who says he is hoping to show how the Holocaust has scarred Israel, but also been misused by it.

He says the rug is a representation of what a Nazi hunter would do if he caught the ultimate prize, the Nazi leader.

The exhibition is at the Tel Aviv Center for Contemporary Arts.

German guitarist Uli Jon Roth....

After years of hopelessly drifting in the musical equivalent of the deep-space Phantom Zone, virtuoso German guitarist Uli Jon Roth -- who, along with countryman Michael Schenker virtually wrote the text for Teutonic guitar heroes of the 1970's during his spell with the Scorpions -- finally stumbled upon a new creative framework with which to express his still quite daunting, but until now, often mislaid talents. Doing away with the psychedelic Hendrix-worship which had branded him both a pale imitation and dated anachronism throughout the 80's and 90's, Roth rediscovered his surest footing via the Transcendental Sky Guitar concept, which uniquely married his expertise on a self-designed instrument dubbed the "sky guitar" with backing orchestral ensembles. Surprisingly, this format has allowed him to both compose anew and revisit old creations from his oeuvre -- not to mention reinterpret classical music standards with mostly stellar results. Come time for 2004's Metamorphosis, the third volume of the Transcendental Sky Guitar series, Roth and the current, 15-strong, version of the Sky Orchestra (notably filled with female musicians as talented as they are stunning) have chosen to take a stab at Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. And, except for the odd whispered recitation and ancillary sound effects (wind, rain, thunder, etc.), the first half of Metamorphosis consists of a pretty straightforward reading of Vivaldi's masterwork, with Roth's preternatural guitar playing almost always acting the lead voice. The results are both inspired and inspiring, although one isn't entirely convinced that the concert was truly performed live, and is also forced to accept the hippie-fied subtitles concocted for each movement by Roth (ever the suppressed flower child) with a pinch of salt. And for those who find this program's first half far too formal and regimented in nature, there's the eleven-part second half (the actual Metamorphosis suite) where Uli leads the Sky Orchestra through a series of looser, more improvisational, and often blistering displays of technical mastery, both based on, and independent of Vivaldi's original, four concerti. This portion of the program also serves to highlight the bluesier, even psychedelic aspects of his technique, which, thanks to the most tenuous of thematic restrictions, manage to keep his more dubious tendencies in check. All in all, Metamorphosis restates the core philosophy behind the Transcendental Sky Guitar project and therefore qualifies as yet another worthy addition to the collection of any Uli Jon Roth loyalist, or guitar hero fans, for that matter.

Visit his website HERE.

Ya, like this needs a DEMO....

See the DEMO HERE.

Guns N Roses Track Leaked

Hear it HERE, while you can...

Connect the Dots...so sad....

Oscar Odds

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Forest Whitaker, 'The Last King of Scotland' (Open: 6-5) (Current: 2-5)
Leonardo DiCaprio, 'Blood Diamond' (Open: 3-1) (Current: 6-1)
Peter O'Toole, 'Venus' (Open: 6-1) (Current: 5-1)
Ryan Gosling, 'Half Nelson' (Open: 8-1) (Current: 12-1)
Will Smith, 'The Pursuit of Happyness (Open: 10-1) (Current: 10-1)
** Run Forest Run! It looks like Whitaker can start walking now with the lead he has built. Peter has started to collect some of his expected sentimental votes but not enough to be a legitimate threat.

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Helen Mirren, 'The Queen' (Open: Even) (Current: 1-15)
Meryl Streep, 'The Devil Wears Prada' (Open: 9-5) (Current: 12-1)
Penelope Cruz, 'Volver' (Open: 6-1) (Current: 12-1)
Judi Dench, 'Notes on a Scandal' (Open: 6-1) (Current: 20-1)
Kate Winslet, 'Little Children' (Open: 4-1) (Current: 15-1)

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Eddie Murphy, 'Dreamgirls' (Open: 8-5) (Current: 4-5)
Alan Arkin, 'Little Miss Sunshine' (Open: 5-2) (Current: 5-2)
Djimon Hounsou, 'Blood Diamond' (Open: 3-1) (Current: 10-1)
Jackie Earle Haley, 'Little Children' (Open: 4-1) (Current: 12-1)
Mark Wahlberg, 'The Departed' (Open: 6-1) (Current: 18-1)

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Jennifer Hudson, 'Dreamgirls' (Open: 7-5) (Current: 3-5)
Cate Blanchett, 'Notes on a Scandal' (Open: 2-1) (Current: 7-1)
Adriana Barraza, 'Babel' (Open: 4-1) (Current: 10-1)

Rinko Kikuchi, 'Babel' (Open: 6-1) (Current: 9-1)
Abigail Breslin, 'Little Miss Sunshine' (Open: 8-1) (Current: 5-1)

Achievement in Directing

Clint Eastwood, 'Letters From Iwo Jima' (Open: 2-1) (Current: 5-1)
Martin Scorsese, 'The Departed' (Open: 5-2) (Current: Even)
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 'Babel' (Open: 3-1) (Current: 4-1)
Stephen Frears, 'The Queen' (Open: 6-1) (Current: 14-1)
Paul Greengrass, 'United 93' (Open: 10-1) (Current: 10-1)

Best Motion Picture of the Year

The Departed' (Open: 5-2) (Current: 2-1)
'Babel' (Open: 3-1) (Current: 7-2)
'Little Miss Sunshine' (Open: 10-1) (Current: 4-1)
'Letters From Iwo Jima' (Open: 4-1) (Current: 12-1)
'The Queen' (Open: 6-1) (Current: 10-1)

Caffeine - Release March 16th, 2007

In the tradition of the convenience store in Clerks, the record shop in Empire Records and the theme restaurant in Waiting comes ... the coffee house in Caffeine...

According to the production notes:
A fanciful battle of the sexes ensues when the relationships of the staff and patrons of a quirky London cafe are unexpectedly turned upside down by sudden revelations of terribly embarrassing secrets having to do with their sexual misadventures.

As you can see by the trailer , it shows PROMISE...

Andy Warhol Died 20 years ago today...

Andy Warhol died 20 years ago today. It's a shame he's gone, because if anyone could appreciate our current environment of nonstop entertainment and visual stimulation, it would be Warhol, the master of Pop Art.

Not only did Warhol impact the worlds of art, film, advertising, publishing and celebrity, he managed to change the way people think. Warhol's influence still permeates popular culture and can be seen everywhere from TV ads to CD covers. As for that "15 minutes" prophecy, well, at no other time in history has it seemed so accurate.

If you'd like to spend a few minutes with Warhol, here are a few places to start:

- For basic info, head to Warholstars, Artcyclopedia, Wikipedia.

- On YouTube, check out a Japanese commercial featuring Andy, some home-movie footage from 1966 and this clip from the groundbreaking '70s reality show An American Family, in which Lance Loud visits a Warhol exhibit.

- The Andy Warhol Museum has a cool online time capsule featuring receipts, photos, magazines and other interesting items from the artist's vast collection.

- This blog entry is in French, but it features an MP3 of David Bowie's Andy Warhol.

The Britney BACK IN REHAB...3rd time in 2 weeks

Faced with the very real threat of losing custody of her sons, the Britney caved in to pressure from Kevin Federline and checked back in to rehab on Thursday morning, she was driven to Promises by her mother.

As a result of Britney's decision to get the help she desperately needs but is reluctant to receive, Kevin has agreed to cancel today's previously scheduled emergency custody court hearing.

If Britney leaves rehab before getting full treatment, which is expected to last a minimum of 30 days, Kevin will immediately go to court seeking orders allowing him unquestioned full custody of the children.

A crazed Spears arrived at Federline's house last night but he wouldn't let her in.

Both children have been staying with Kevin since last week.

stay tuned...

Klaus Harmony: The Mozart of Porn

Born in Baden in 1941, Klaus Harmony was the foremost German composer of erotik film scores in the 1970’s, crafting music for over nine classic movies in just thirteen years. In collaboration with filmmaker and long time friend, Friedrich Wohlfäht, he expanded and thrust the genre beyond its known limits.

Together they created seminal classics such as Elektrische Lippen (1969), Die Sins des Apostles (1972) and The Ladies Man (1977) which made stars of actors, Jürgen Klampf and Lola Schlipp, who was to become his fourth wife. In 1974 Klaus Harmony released an album of instrumental music, Brown on Brown which gained cult status among his fans.

Following the death of Wohlfäht in 1981, Harmony continued to write movies scores, eventually retiring in 1982. In 1984 he was killed in an unexplained explosion during a visit to a second-hand music store in London’s east end.

See and Hear the love HERE.

Heather Mills Going `Dancing With the Stars'

Here's a bet there won't be any Beatles songs on the next "Dancing With the Stars." ABC announced Wednesday that Paul McCartney's estranged wife, Heather Mills, will be among the competitors.

Mills will be the first contestant with an artificial limb to compete on the series, which returns for its fourth season March 19. She lost the leg in a motorcycle accident in 1993.

Olympian Apolo Anton Ohno, boxer Laila Ali, former basketball star Clyde Drexler and actor Vincent Pastore, who played gangster Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on "The Sopranos," are also in the cast.

Jerry Springer, one of last season's competitors, teased ABC's "Good Morning America" audience before tossing out Mills' name.

"She may be a sentimental favorite," said Springer, even though Mills has Yoko Ono-like favorability ratings among many Beatles fans. Her selection delivers a message that whatever challenges people face in life, they can dance, he said.

Mills is an activist for animal rights and elimination of the use of land mines.

"Dancing With the Stars" has proved to be a substantial hit for ABC, although this is the first time it will air when a season of Fox's "American Idol" is under way. ABC will air its dancing competition on Monday and Tuesday nights to avoid going head-to-head with "American Idol."

Actor and former country star Billy Ray Cyrus, former 'N Sync member Joey Fatone, Miss USA 2004 Shandi Finnessey, former "Entertainment Tonight" host Leeza Gibbons, model Paulina Porizkova and former "Beverly Hills, 90210" star Ian Ziering round out the cast.

Adolf Hitler: A Look Back...

How the intellectual climate in Germany shaped the future Führer.

The following essay is adapted from Clive James' Cultural Amnesia, a re-examination of intellectuals, artists, and thinkers who helped shape the 20^th century.

You have everything that I lack. You are forging the spiritual tools for the renewal of Germany. I am nothing but a drum and a master of ceremonies. Let's cooperate!
—Adolf Hitler at the ­Juni-­Klub, spring 1922, as quoted in Jean Pierre Faye's Langages totalitaires.

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) should need no introduction. Statistics suggest, however, that a large proportion of young people now emerging from the educational systems of the Western democracies either don't know who he was or have only a shaky idea of what he did. One of the drawbacks of liberal democracy is thus revealed: Included among its freedoms is the freedom to forget what once threatened its existence. Granted the uncontested opportunity to do so, Hitler would have devoted himself to eliminating every trace of free expression that came within his reach. The awkward question remains of whether, on his part, this propensity precluded any real interest in the humanities. The awkward answer must be that it didn't.

Though it is tempting to think of him as illiterate, Hitler could quote Schopenhauer from memory. His love of music was passionate, to the point where some believed that his admiration for Wagner was a sufficient reason in itself for dismissing that composer from musical history. Hitler the would-be painter never lost interest in the plastic arts. His projected art gallery in his home town of Linz was one of his most dearly cherished dreams for Nazi Europe after the inevitable victory. Above all, Hitler was moved by architecture, which brings us to the central point, because he wasn't just moved by it, he was mad about it. He had no sense of proportion in any of his ostensibly civilized enthusiasms. His interests lacked the human element, so they could never have amounted to a true humanism. But though his connection with the civilized traditions was parodic at best and neurotic always, there was still a connection: In that respect, he stands above Stalin and Mao and should therefore, by the scholar, be handled with even greater caution, because he is far more poisonous.

Many of his more cultivated victims used their learned resources to deny that Hitler had a mental existence. Some of the last aphorisms written by the great Robert Musil were devoted to summarizing the pathogenic nature of Hitler. Beautifully crafted statements, they had no effect on Hitler whatsoever. The finest minds in Europe devoted their best efforts to proving that their mortal enemy had no mind at all. But nothing they said was of any avail. Hitler could be defeated only by armed might: i.e., on his own terms. Whole libraries written to his detriment didn't add up to the effect of a single Russian artillery shell. This ugly fact should be kept in view when we catch ourselves nursing the comforting illusion that there is a natural order to which politics would revert if all contests of belief could be eliminated. There is such a natural order, but it is not benevolent.

Books about Hitler are without number, but after more than 60 years, the first one to read is still Alan Bullock's Hitler: A Study in Tyranny. Familiarity with the events that it recounts should be regarded as an essential prerequisite to the study not just of modern politics but of the whole history of the arts, since its hideously gifted subject first demonstrated that a sufficient concentration of violence could neutralize any amount of culture no matter how widely diffused. It is not possible to be serious about the humanities unless it is admitted that the pacifism widely favored among educated people before World War II very nearly handed a single man, himself something other than a simple Philistine, the means to bring civilization to an end.

Respectably situated in Berlin's Motzstrasse, to the south of the Tiergarten, the Juni-­Klub, or June Club (the name breathed defiance at the Treaty of Versailles), was a '20s talking shop for ­right-­wing intellectuals concerned with revolutionary conservatism. The consciously oxymoronic idea of revolutionary conservatism had almost as many forms as it had advocates, who found it easy to mistake their dialectical hubbub for the clanging forge of a new order. Of the 150 members, 30 were present on the afternoon Hitler dropped in. They thought he had come to hear what they had to say, and they found out that he had no intention of listening to any voice but his own. Their scholarly qualifications counted for nothing. Best qualified of all was Arthur Moeller van den Bruck. Before World War I, Moeller had been a translator of Baudelaire, Defoe, De Quincey, and the complete poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, and had written essays on Nietzsche, Strindberg, and others. He knew Paris well and spent time also in London, Sicily, Venice, the Baltic countries, and Russia. For cultivation he was up there with Ernst Jünger, one of Germany's most gifted modern prose writers and likewise a revolutionary conservative.

As a kind of ­back-­to-­the-­future movement, revolutionary conservatism depended for its force on advocates who embodied established values. Moeller embodied learning the way Jünger embodied ­storm-­of-­steel militarism. Both had their rationale for a conservative revolution worked out in detail, with all the nuances duly noted. Possibly because of this meeting at the June Club, Moeller was the first to grasp that Hitler didn't care about any of it. Moeller's revolutionary conservatism was meant to safeguard the nation's ­Wesens-Urgestein (the original essential stone) from the corrosive encrustation of mixed blood. Nominally, the tainted blood he was most concerned about was the Latin blood of the German south. Some of Moeller's colleagues thought that Hitler might have picked up the dreaded southern infection from spending too long in Bavaria. But it hardly needs saying that Jewish blood was the real bother. If anyone is still looking for the linking factor between the resolutely thuggish Nazi movement and all those ­long-forgotten, highfalutin nationalist groups that superficially seem so much more refined, ­anti-­Semitism is it.

When, during World War II, Jünger finally allowed himself to find out exactly what the Nazis were doing to the Jews in the east, he was suitably devastated. But during the '20s it never seemed to concern him much that all the various nationalist groups always seemed to have this one characteristic, ­anti-­Semitism, in common. Not, of course, that it would have come to anything much if Jünger and the rest of the intellectuals had been left to themselves. It wasn't mass murder that they had in mind: just the purification and protection of the folk heritage, brought to the point of irreversible decay by the curse of liberalism. Moeller thought that Julius Stahl, the 19^th-­century theorist of Prussian conservatism, was not conservative enough. Stahl was baptized a Lutheran, but he was Jewish. So the objection was racial, although Moeller would have resisted being defined as a mere racist. He had bigger ideas than that. The biggest of them was that liberalism was the real enemy. To the June Club's collective testament, he contributed a fragment of his forthcoming book, which he called "Through Liberalism Peoples Go to Ruin." The book, published in 1923, carried a title that would gain in resonance beyond his death: The Third Reich.

I have a copy of The Third Reich in front of me as I write. An ugly little volume bound in paper, it was put out in 1931 by a Nazi publishing outfit based in Hamburg. This particular example was first purchased by someone signing himself Wm. Montgomery Watt—presumably a Scot, because I found the book in a dust pile in the back of an Edinburgh ­second­hand bookshop. Watt underlined the same point over and over. It was the point Moeller couldn't help making: He got around to it whatever the nominal subject. The point was that Germany had never lost the war, except politically. Militarily, it had triumphed, and all that was now needed was a revolution in order to put reality back in touch with the facts. It just never occurred to Moeller that to say "Germany had never lost the war except politically" was like saying that a cat run over by a car had never died except physically. It never occurred to hundreds of thousands of present and future Nazis, either, but Moeller was supposed to be an intellectual. So was Jünger, whose book Der Arbeiter (also published by Nazi outfit) came with a resonant line of publicity material: "Jünger sees that bourgeois individualism, the cult of personality, the conceit of the ego all belong to the nineteenth century, and are now visibly melting before our eyes through the transformation of separate people into a collectivity." (Memo to a young student of cultural flux: When you buy old books, keep the wrappers if you can. Nothing gives you the temperature of the time like the puffs and quotations.)

All these finely articulated arguments were going strictly nowhere, because nobody in the Nazi hierarchy ever found much time to read them, and certainly Hitler never read a single line. What continues to matter, however, is not where the arguments were going but where they came from. They came from the same source that gave the chance of action to the thugs who used them as a warrant: the chaos, the dislocation, and the demoralization of a civil order. To that extent, and to that extent only, superior minds like Moeller and Jünger were right. They were like Groucho Marx turning up his nose at any club that might admit him as a member: A society that led them to write such stuff had no future.

At the end of the meeting in the June Club, before Hitler set off through the Tiergarten to doss with an old comrade, Moeller politely offered him a free subscription to the club's monthly magazine, Gewissen (Conscience), but was later heard to say that Hitler had understood nothing. If, as seems likely, Hitler had given nobody time to speak except himself, it is hard to see how there could have been anything to understand. Finally, however, Moeller understood Hitler in the only way that counted. The following year, the Munich putsch was a fiasco, but it caused enough uproar to show Moeller the difference between ­well-­polished words in ­small-circulation magazines and raw charisma in the streets. Suddenly Moeller remembered Hitler's little farewell speech. Shouting feebly from the sidelines, Moeller made the classic obeisance of the man of letters to the man of action: "Beat the drum, drum of nature!"

With a brief pause for unsuccessful psychiatric treatment, Moeller committed suicide in 1925, so he never had to see what became of his subtle theories. What became of them was nothing. What mattered was the stuff he took for granted: anti-­Semitism, and his certainty that the Weimar Republic had only one destiny—to be destroyed. It was the second of those two things that turned out to be crucial and the steady subversion from men like him that helped to make it happen. After Moeller's death, the June Club was succeeded by the Herrenklub, the gentlemanly conservative ambience of which provided a support group for von Papen, who in turn thought that he had found a suitable ruffian to clear the way for a return to the traditional ascendancy. Hitler, the suitable ruffian, could never have done it on his own. He could never have done it with all his party. He needed a climate of belief—the belief that Weimar was a problem requiring a solution. Having solved it, he was free to answer his version of the Jewish Question—the question that the intellectuals had fooled with on paper. Only the madmen among them had ever thought it needed to be answered with fire. But the sane ones had helped open the door for the avenger that the madmen had dreamed of.

It may seem unfair to condemn intellectuals who conspire to undermine vulgar democracy in favor of a refined dream for failing to foresee the subsequent nightmare. And Moeller was only one among many. But there were too many: That was the point. Too many ­well-­read men combined to prepare the way for a pitiless hoodlum who despised them, and they even came to value him for being a hoodlum: for lacking their scruples, for being a drum of nature. Among the revolutionary conservative intellectuals, Jünger is the real tragic figure. Unlike Moeller, Jünger was condemned to live. He saw the light, but too late. In his notebooks he gradually de-emphasized his call for a conservative revolution led by men who had been "transformed in their being" by the experience of World War I. In 1943, in Paris, he was told the news about the extermination camps. He finally reached the conclusion that he had been staving off since the collapse of the Weimar Republic he had helped to undermine: One of the men whose being had been transformed by their experience of the Great War was Adolf Hitler. The quality Jünger valued most had turned out to be the only one he shared with the man he most despised.

Clive James, the author of numerous books of criticism, autobiography, and poetry, writes for the New York Times Book Review and The New Yorker. He lives in London.

Tonda Wanda Hoy - Dean Martin

Bert is Evil

See it HERE.

Tossing Dead Animals At Games

The rivalry between USD and Augie has a lot of tradition, including the shocking toss of a dead coyote out onto the basketball court. It happened last year at the Sioux Falls Arena and some are predicting it'll happen again, but this this time arena officials are promising tougher consequences.

It's as much of a tradition as the rivalry itself.

"I think it's pretty funny, I mean as far as sportsmanship where that stands," said Pam Hoffmann.

Hoffmann is a sophomore at Augustana College. She and Alyssa Herrig are both members of the what's called the Augie-holics, student based fans who cheer on the basketball team.

"I think it's pretty disgusting, I know it can be disrespectful," said Herrig.

Arena officials are treating tonight's big game just like any other major event, only security will specifically be looking for anyone trying to sneak in a dead coyote.

"It's embarrassing it happened in this facility, but they worked hard to get it in last year, we're going to try and keep it out this year," said DeCurtins.

Last year the student who got caught tossing the coyote was turned over to the college to be punished, this year, anyone caught throwing an animal will be turned over to police and charged with disorderly conduct.

Executive director, Russ DeCurtins says that may seem a little harsh, but the arena is public facility.

"I don't know why anyone would expect us to treat these fans or customers any different than we do a rock concert or anything else and we don't tolerate it for those and we're not going to tolerate it for this either."

But fans we talked with say, the tradition of tossing dead animals, will live on.

"I don't know if they have one, but I know there's been talk," said Hoffman.

The charge of disorderly conduct carries a maximum punishment of 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.

Britney Leaves Promises Rehab...

The reason MS Spears left the posh Promises Rehab Center was security it seems, the above photo surfaced yesterday of "THE BRIT"inside the center. Appears that they will allow anyone in to take a picture if the price is right.....hummmmm....

What Would Jesus Drive (WWJD)

Fake drug, fake illness

A media exhibit featuring a campaign for a fake drug to treat a fictitious illness is causing a stir because some people think the illness is real.

Australian artist Justine Cooper created the marketing campaign for a non-existent drug called Havidol for Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder (DSACDAD), which she also invented.

But the multi-media exhibit at the Daneyal Mahmood Gallery in New York, which includes a Web site, mock television and print advertisements and billboards is so convincing people think it is authentic.

"People have walked into the gallery and thought it was real," Mahmood said in an interview.

"They didn't get the fact that this was a parody or satire."

But Mahmood said it really took off over the Internet. In the first few days after the Web site (www.havidol.com) went up, it had 5,000 hits. The last time he checked it had reached a quarter of a million.

"The thing that amazes me is that it has been folded into real Web sites for panic and anxiety disorder. It's been folded into a Web site for depression. It's been folded into hundreds of art blogs," he added.

The parody is in response to the tactics used by the drug industry to sell their wares to the public. Consumer advertising for prescription medications, which are a staple of television advertising in the United States, was legalised in the country in 1997.

Cooper said she intended the exhibit to be subtle.

"The drug ads themselves are sometimes so comedic. I couldn't be outrageously spoofy so I really wanted it to be a more subtle kind of parody that draws you in, makes you want this thing and then makes you wonder why you want it and maybe where you can get it," she added.

Mahmood said that in addition to generating interest among the artsy crowd, doctors and medical students have been asking about the exhibit.

"I think people identify with the condition," he said.

Father of the Year Candidate 2007

Kevin Federline, and his lawyer were scheduled to appear Thursday at an emergency hearing in family law court, Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini said. It was not known what issue the 28-year-old aspiring rapper planned to raise, though the former couple are in a custody dispute over their two children.

His attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, did not return a call seeking comment.

The hearing comes amid increasingly bizarre behavior by Spears, which culminated with her reportedly checking into and out of two rehab centers in a week and shaving her head bald on Friday.

Wonder Why Britney Spears has a Problem?

See the Video HERE.

BRITNEY ATTEMPTS SUICIDE

Terrified she'd lose custody of her sons, an out-of-control Britney Spears tried to kill herself TWICE in the hours after shaving her head, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively from sources.

Hours after creating a media frenzy by shaving her head, sources say the troubled star tried to take her own life by walking into traffic, only to be rescued at the last second by her staff.

But that wasn't the end of Britney's self-destructive impulses. A short time later she was rushed to a doctor after saying she was going to kill herself and then taking too many Xanax, say the sources.

Britney's emotional collapse was triggered by a "reconciliation" with estranged husband Kevin Federline — that was actually meant to be an intervention, sources tell The ENQUIRER.

And when Kevin warned her that she'd fail a drug test and he'd get custody of their sons, a hysterical Britney went over the edge and ended up shaving herself bald while a crowd of spectators and photographers watched outside Esther's Haircutting Studio in Tarzana, California.

"After she shaved off her hair, Britney had a complete breakdown and tried to kill herself," an insider told The ENQUIRER.

Quote of the Day

"I used to live in the same area as Britney for a while. I just want to scoop her up and give her a kiss. I hope she's all right. She's just had a new baby and stuff. I hope she can just enjoy it because it's an incredible thing. [And, I think] she looks good with her hair shaved off."

- Gwen Stefani

Burial Plot Continues...

The judge presiding over the circus-like Anna Nicole Smith case announced that he'll rule today on who gets the body for burial.

Hopefully we can start to get a little closure......

That is until the paternity case heats up!

Britney's Latest Sighting...

'Find the Illegal Immigrant'

College Republicans' event today incites protest from student groups

A contest called "Find the Illegal Immigrant" - a mock hunt for a student posing as just that - is being met with widespread protest on campus and receiving local and national media coverage.

The event, sponsored by NYU's College Republicans, is planned for today in Washington Square Park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The student posing as the illegal immigrant will wear a name tag saying so. Other students will try to find him or her, playing the part of border patrol agents and wearing nametags that say "INS," referring to the former Immigration and Naturalization Service.

College Republicans president and CAS junior Sarah Chambers said the contest is intended to bring attention to the issue of illegal immigration. The hunt is also designed to draw people to a table the group plans to set up in the south side of the Silver Center, Chambers said.

"The event will open up both vocally and physically the issue of illegal immigration," she said. "That it's not right to come here illegally while others are waiting to come here legally and receive free health care and jobs that undercut wages of American workers and people that are living here legally."

The contest's premise has caused an uproar on campus. Student groups - including the ACLU at NYU, the College Democrats and several multicultural clubs - have organized a protest that they expect will draw hundreds of students.

College Democrats president and CAS senior Nora Toiv called the event ignorant and dehumanizing.

"The event is offensive because by playing a game like this, you make light of a real-life situation," Toiv said. "To ridicule what is often a very traumatic experience is hateful."

Chambers refuted accusations of racism and said that the event is bringing debate to the issue.

"We are raising awareness here," Chambers said. "People from around the country have been e-mailing me both positively and negatively, but the fact remains that everytime the American public is polled, immigration ranks among the top three issues of concern, so we're not too far-fetched in our stance here."

"The goal here is to get people talking about it," she added.

Toiv said the College Democrats' largest objection to the event is in the way it has been presented.

"It's the issues they address and the way they address them that seem to always be targeting fellow students and staff at NYU. It's hateful," Toiv said. "Why can't you talk about something that doesn't personally attack several students?"

"Having tolerance for immigration is not a partisan issue," she added.

Protesters from the various other groups will be carrying signs and handing out pamphlets stating "No one is illegal" and calling the event "completely unacceptable."

Toiv said she wants the protest to be peaceful and is pushing for a silent protest.

"We're hoping for a peaceful protest that displays our disgust with the event," Toiv said. "If we come out looking crazier than the Republicans do, then we will have failed. But if the protest can go off peacefully, it will be a victory for us."

In light of the event, TV vans and national news stations swarmed onto NYU's campus yesterday. Many local stations reported live in front of the Kimmel Center, while the story made headlines nationwide, including coverage on CNN, Fox News, NPR and talk radio.

While the College Republicans anticipated the large response from the NYU community, Chambers said she had no idea the event would create this much of a reaction from outside the university.

"The media response was much larger then I expected - the NYU response was not," she said.

In interviews yesterday, several students voiced concern about the event.

CAS junior Zach Lane said he wishes it hadn't gotten so much coverage.

"I think it's better not to give them any attention," he said.

Road Sign America Part 1

More ways to get you laid...

Get it HERE.

Milk Sucks

Passers-by look on as an activist sucks on the teats of 'Freeda the Cow' as part of Animal Liberation Victoria's "Milk Sucks" campaign launch on February 9, 2007 in Melbourne, Australia. The Demonstration is aimed at increasing the general awareness of how environmentally damaging dairy farming is, and how it affects the animals themselves.

2007 Bra Questionare

Answer the questions HERE.

Significant Nuclear Accidents

February 13, 1950
A B-36 Bomber drops a nuclear weapon from 8,000 ft. over the Pacific Ocean before crashing after experiencing serious mechanical difficulties on a simulated combat mission. Only the weapon's explosive material detonates. The bomb was never recovered from the ocean.

April 11, 1950
A B-29 Bomber carrying a nuclear bomb crashes into a mountain on Manzano Base near Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. The bomb is destroyed but the accompanying nuclear capsule, which had not been inserted into bomb, remains intact.

July 27, 1956
A United States bomber crashes into a storage igloo containing three Mark 6 nuclear bombs at Lakenheath RAF base in the United Kingdom. The resulting fire damages the bombs, but fails to ignite their conventional explosive triggers.

March 10, 1957
A U.S. Air Force B-47 bomber flying from Florida to Europe with two capsules of nuclear materials for bombs fails to meet its aerial refueling plane. No traces are ever found.

May 22, 1957
A B-36 ferrying a nuclear weapon from Biggs Air Force Base, Texas to Kirtland accidentally discharges a bomb in the New Mexico desert. The high explosive material detonates, completely destroying the weapon and making a crater approximately 25 ft in diameter and 12 ft deep. Radiological survey of the area disclosed no radioactivity beyond the lip of the crater at which point the level was 0.5 milliroentgens. The nuclear capsules had not been inserted into the bombs. A nuclear detonation was not possible.

July 28, 1957
A C-124 aircraft en-route from Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, loses power in two engines and jettisons two nuclear weapons over the Atlantic ocean. The nuclear weapons were never found.

February 5, 1958
An F-86 aircraft and a B-47 Bomber collide midair on a simulated combat mission out of Homestead Air Force Base, Florida. The B-47 jettisons its nuclear weapon, which is not found and is considered irretrievably lost.

March 11, 1958
A B-47 bomber accidentally drops a nuclear weapon over Mars Bluff, South Carolina. The conventional explosive trigger detonates, leaving a crater 75 feet wide and 35 feet deep.

November 4, 1958
A B-47 catches fire on take-off and crashes, killing one crew member. The high explosive in the nuclear weapon on board explodes leaving a crater 35 feet in diameter and 6 feet deep. Nuclear materials are recovered near the crash site.

November 26, 1958
A B-47 catches fire on the ground. The single nuclear weapon on board is destroyed by fire. Contamination is limited to the immediate vicinity.

January 23, 1961
A B-52 bomber carrying two 24 megaton bombs crashes at Goldsboro, North Carolina. On one of the bombs, five of six interlocking safety devices fail, and a single switch prevents detonation. The explosion would have been 1,800 times more powerful than the bomb exploded at Hiroshima.

June 4, 1962
A nuclear warhead atop a Thor rocket booster falls into the Pacific Ocean when the booster has to be destroyed.

June 20, 1962
A second Thor rocket booster fails, and the nuclear device falls into the Pacific.

April 10, 1963
An American nuclear submarine, Thresher, sinks in the North Atlantic, killing all 129 crewmen.

December 5, 1965
A nuclear-armed airplane rolls off the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga and sinks in 16,000 feet of water off the coast of Japan.

January 17, 1966
A B-52 bomber carrying nuclear weapons has a midair accident while refueling and drops four nuclear weapons on Palomares, Spain. Although no nuclear explosion occurs, conventional explosions in two of the weapons scatter radioactive material over a populated area.

January 21, 1968
A B-52 bomber crashes while attempting an emergency landing at Thule Air Force Base, Greenland. The high explosive components of all four nuclear weapons aboard detonate, producing plutonium contamination over an area approximately 880,000 sq. feet.

March 8-10, 1968
A Soviet Golf-II class submarine with three nuclear tipped missiles aboard sinks 750 miles off the coast of Oahu of the Hawaiian island chain.

May 21, 1968
The American nuclear submarine Scorpion sinks in the Atlantic near the Azores, killing 99 crewmen.

May 24, 1968
An accident aboard the Soviet nuclear submarine K-27 kills five crew members. After unsuccessfully attempting to repair the submarine, the Soviets scuttle it along with its nuclear fuel near Novaya Zemlya.

January 14, 1969
A bomb is accidentally dropped on the deck of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, killing 25 and wounding 85 crewmen.

April 12, 1970
The Soviet nuclear submarine K-8 sinks in the Bay of Biscay, killing 53 crew members.

April 16, 1976
A nuclear warhead on the cruiser USS Albany is damaged (this type of incident is code-named Dull Sword).

September 8, 1977
A Soviet Delta class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine accidentally jettisons a nuclear warhead near Kamchatka in the Pacific. The bomb is recovered.

June 3, 1980
A 46-cent computer chip fails, causing the mistaken detection of a Soviet missile attack by the NORAD system. About 100 B-52 bombers were readied for take off along with the President's airborne command post before the error is detected.

September 20, 1980
A technician dropping a wrench and breaking a fuel tank causes an explosion in the silo of a Titan II Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile. The explosion blows off the 740-ton door and sends the re-entry vehicle with its 9-megaton warhead 600 feet into the air, killing one man and injuring 21 others.

April 9, 1981
The USS George Washington, a submarine carrying 160 nuclear warheads, collides with a Japanese freighter in the East China Sea.

November 2, 1981
An American Poseidon nuclear missile being winched from the submarine support ship USS Holland falls seventeen feet when the winch runs free. The automatic brakes on the winch bring it to rest just above the submarine's hull.

March 21, 1984
The aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk collides with a Soviet attack submarine. The submarine is carrying nuclear armed torpedoes and the carrier is armed with several dozen nuclear weapons.

October 3, 1986
A fire breaks out aboard a Soviet Yankee Class nuclear submarine in the Atlantic about 400 miles east of Bermuda. The submarine sinks three days later while under tow.

April 7, 1989
The Soviet nuclear submarine Komsomolets sinks 300 miles off Norway, killing 42 crewmen.

September 27, 1991
A missile misfires on a Soviet Typhoon class nuclear-powered submarine carrying several nuclear weapons.

March 20, 1993
A Russian Delta III class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine collides with the USS Grayling, a nuclear-powered attack submarine in the Barent Sea.

January 19, 1996
A French Mirage 2000-N nuclear bomber crashes in southern France after flying into a flock of birds. French officials state that there were no nuclear missiles on board when the plane went down.

Virginia GOP Hates The Chinese Year of the Pig

What is it with Virginia Republicans and Americans with ancestry in Asia and India?

Evidently, it wasn't enough that former Republican Senator George Allen insulted a native Virginian, whose parents immigrated from India, by calling him "macacca" and "welcoming" him to "the real Virginia and real America."

Now macacca Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates, once again showing their true colors (or lack of color as the case may be) have shown that Allen's retort was not an isolated incident.

Recently, Del. Adam Ebbin, from Arlington, introduced what one would've thought was a non-controversial joint resolution to recognize the importance of the Lunar New Year and the contributions of the roughly 350,000 Asian/Indian/Pacific Americans living in the Commonwealth.

Fluffy resolutions like this fill the General Assembly's calendar. Rarely do they make any waves.

But Ebbin's resolution attracted an unusual amount of opposition from macacca Republicans in the House. The Rules Committee (like all committees, controlled by the GOP) removed references to the Lunar Year 4075 and the Chinese Year of the Pig, and also deleted a reference to the importance of the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans of Virginia.

Then, after those changes, four Republicans on the committee still voted against the resolution. In the full house, 14 Republicans and an independent also voted against the resolution.

(We thank the Arlington Sun Gazette for the info on this one).

While Mrs. Curmudgeon, who is Chinese-American, barely pays attention to the Lunar New Year, she can't understand what's so offensive to these Republican legislators that they'd vote against Ebbin's resolution.

It wasn't all that long ago--1969 to be precise--that it would have been illegal for the Curmudgeon to marry Mrs. Curmudgeon under Virginia's anti-miscegenation law (struck down in the aptly named Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia). We suspect that in their hearts of hearts, some of those same legislators that voted against the Lunar New Year resolution also miss those "good ol' days."

Sadly, macacca lives on in Virginia. Let's hope the coming election at least thins the herd.

Robert Adler: Father of TV Remote Dead at 93

Robert Adler invented the television remote control while working for Zenith over 50 years ago. He died yesterday at age 93.

"People ask me all the time -- 'Don't you feel guilty for it?' And I say that's ridiculous," he said. "It seems reasonable and rational to control the TV from where you normally sit and watch television."

His invention will live on forever....

His full bio....

Best known as the "Father of the TV Remote Control," Dr. Robert Adler is responsible for a large number of significant scientific contributions to the electronics industry, including landmark inventions in the field of consumer products and in sophisticated specialized communications equipment. He holds more than 180 patents.

Dr. Adler joined Zenith's research division in 1941, after receiving his Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Vienna in 1937. He was named associate director in November 1952, vice president in 1959, and vice president and director of research in 1963. He officially retired from Zenith in 1982 but remains active as a technical consultant.

In the consumer electronics field, Dr. Adler developed Zenith's Space Command� ultrasonic remote control for TV sets, the first practical wireless TV remote, which Zenith introduced in 1956. In 1959, he received the 1958 Outstanding Technical Achievement Award of the Institute of Radio Engineers Professional Group on Broadcast and Television Receivers for his "original work on ultrasonic remote controls" for television.

Among Dr. Adler's earlier work is the gated-beam tube which, at the time of its introduction, represented an entirely new concept in the field of vacuum tubes. The use of this tube greatly simplified the sound system in television receivers, markedly improving reception by screening out certain types of sound interference while lowering the cost of the sound channel.

Dr. Adler also was instrumental in originating and developing a synchronizing circuit which permitted demonstrably greater stability in fringe areas of television reception. This invention was in wide use for many years and its principles are still employed today.

The electron beam parametric amplifier, developed in 1958 by Dr. Adler jointly with Dr. Glen Wade, then of Stanford University, was at the time the most sensitive practical amplifier for ultra high frequencies (UHF). It was used by radio astronomers in the U.S. as well as abroad, and by the U.S. Air Force for long-range missile detection.

Dr. Adler's original work in the field of acousto-optical interaction was instrumental in the 1966 public demonstration, by a team of Zenith engineers, of an experimental television display using ultrasonic deflection and modulation of a laser beam to produce a wall-size TV picture without a cathode ray tube.

During World War II, Dr. Adler worked on high frequency magnetostrictive oscillators for use in Armed Forces communications equipment. His early work on electromechanical filters paved the way for the development of the highly compact filters widely used in aircraft receivers after the war. In the mid-60s, he suggested the use of surface acoustic waves in intermediate frequency filters for color television sets, a technology that has since become universal. Acoustic waves also are used in touch screens, employing principles he originated.

In 1951, Dr. Adler became a Fellow of the Institute of Radio Engineers (now the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE), a professional honor which is conferred by the Institute's board of directors solely on the basis of "eminence and distinguished service." He was cited for his "developments of transmission and detection devices for frequency-modulated signals and of electromechanical filter systems."

Dr. Adler received the 1967 Inventor-of-the-Year Award from George Washington University's Patent, Trademark and Copyright Research Institute for his inventions in the field of electronic products, devices and systems used in aircraft communications, radar, TV receivers and FM broadcasting. In 1970, he received the Consumer Electronics Outstanding Achievement Award from the IEEE. This award is made annually to an engineer who has contributed significantly toward the advancement of consumer electronics through engineering achievements.

Dr. Adler also received the 1974 Outstanding Technical Paper Award from the Chicago section of the IEEE for his report on "An Optical Video Disc Player for NTSC Receivers." His other IEEE awards include the Edison Medal in 1980 and the Sonics and Ultrasonics Achievement Award in 1981. The Edison Medal is the principal annual award of the IEEE and is presented for a career of meritorious achievement in electrical science, electrical engineering, or the electrical arts.

In 1998, Dr. Adler joined other Zenith engineers in accepting an engineering Emmy award for "pioneering work in the development of the remote control." In 2000, the Consumer Electronics Association acknowledged Dr. Adler's significant contributions to the industry, inducting him into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame.

Also in 2000, Dr. Adler was inducted into the National Academy of Arts and Sciences Chicago/Midwest Chapter's "Silver Circle," which recognizes "outstanding individuals who have devoted a quarter of a century or more to the television industry and have made a significant contribution to Chicago broadcasting."

Dr. Adler is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was born in Vienna, Austria on December 4, 1913.

Fearmongering RED CROSS Billboards

http://buybritneyshair.com/

The 5 Most Obviously Drug-Fueled TV Appearances Ever

See them HERE.

Working on possibly the longest 'Star Wars' movie of all time

George Lucas might be done making “Star Wars” movies, but his fans aren’t.

And possibly one of the longest and most extensive independent fan films is taking shape in Kane County.

Written and directed by Darren Crawford, “Star Wars: Forgotten Realm” could be coming to public access television and the Internet by 2009.

The Yorkville man and his crew have been shooting scenes at a Waubonsee Community College studio since early 2006.

Crawford, an operations crew chief at Batavia’s Fermilab, hopes to wrap up filming of live actors this year and spend next year creating digital environments and backgrounds for his characters.

f Max Monningh, left, of St. Charles, and Jim Kirkhoff, of Batavia, rehearse their lines for "Star Wars: Forgotten Realm". The movie was written and is being directed by Darren Crawford, a Fermilab employee.(Whitney Curtis/Daily Herald)

“I’ve been a Star Wars fan since 1977. It came out on my (10th) birthday,” said Crawford, who began writing his script in early 2005.

The story takes place between 2005’s “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” and 1977’s “Episode IV: A New Hope,” which people commonly refer to as the original Star Wars.

A rebel named Yari’el, who is on her way to meet with a contact to deliver plans about an Imperial invasion, is forced down on a remote planet.

There, she is rescued by a Jedi named Web Mallick and his unit of Clone Troopers, who were believed to have been killed during the Clone Wars in a crash. Yari’el, played by Crawford’s wife, Laura, works with Mallick to fight back against the Empire.

“I was trying to come up with something that’s not repetitive, the same themes you see in the trilogies,” Crawford said. “Why couldn’t there have been a ship that crashed during the Clone Wars?”

So far, most of the scenes have been shot against a blue screen, a tactic used by Lucas to later add digital environments and planets behind live actors.

Crawford has developed some of the digital backgrounds for space battles and other scenes. He also plans to shoot larger scenes in the prairie surrounding Fermilab this spring that will involve dozens of costumed actors and real sets.

“(Crawford’s) endeavor shows his enthusiasm and his passion in doing something unique for the Star Wars community,” said Ted O’Sullivan, a Naperville man who plays Darth Vader. “The work so far has been done extremely well. He’s got a knack for filmmaking.”

Fans out in force

Crawford, 40, has a small army of Stormtroopers, Sith Lords and longtime fans of the space saga helping make “Forgotten Realm.”

“I was blown away by the amount of support we’ve received,” he said. “It’s amazing. I guess everybody realizes ‘I was a Star Wars fan as a kid, and now is my chance to act it out.’æ”

After work spread through a Fermilab newsletter, fans started coming out to help.

Co-workers with acting and production experience stepped up.

One guy called Crawford out of the blue, offering the services of a full-sized, remote control R2-D2 unit.

Members of the Midwest Garrison of the 501st Legion, Vader’s Fist, agreed to act in some of the movie’s larger scenes.

The garrison includes people from Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan who are part of an international group of nearly 4,800 who dress up as Stormtroopers, Sith Lords, bounty hunters and other evil characters. They make appearances at charity events, parades and schools.

A Warrenville man volunteered to compose additional music for the film, which will rely on John Williams’ original score.

“One of the things I didn’t expect was the amount of people who are die-hard Star Wars fans,” added Laura Crawford, who noted her husband introduced the space saga to her and their 6-year-old daughter, Victoria, who plays a young Princess Leia in the movie. “It amazes me that people want to keep this Star Wars thing going.”

Local contributions

It’s a “thing” that strikes a chord with many.

Jim Kirkhoff, a 37-year-old Batavia resident with an engineering background, heard that Crawford was looking for a few more actors.

So he signed up for a screen test and now plays Jared, an archaeologist hired by the Rebellion to transport Yari’el.

“I said, ‘This would be cool,’” said Kirkhoff, who, like many, got hooked in 1977. “I probably did a play in fifth grade. I’m just a fan of the movies.”

Even though the endeavor is taking time, it’s OK with Kirkhoff’s wife, Suzy. She’s also a big Star Wars fan and helps him rehearse his lines.

His character, Jared, is a little bit like Han Solo from the original 1977 Star Wars — helping the rebels for money, not necessarily the cause.

“To be honest, a lot of (the acting) is channeling the Han character and taking things that I’ve seen and trying to reproduce it,” Kirkhoff said. “In the future, there’s going to be scenes with Stormtroopers and Darth Vader. To be involved in that, I just can’t wait.”

Meanwhile, O’Sullivan, the Darth Vader actor, and St. Charles resident Max Monningh, who plays the Jedi Web Mallick, will soon be taking Japanese sword-fighting lessons in preparation for their duel.

O’Sullivan, a 6-foot 5-inch member of the 501st who amply fills out his authentic Vader costume, heard it could take 40 hours of filming for material needed for a 10-minute lightsaber battle.

“I’m not looking forward to that because my outfit is extra hot,” said O’Sullivan, 51.

Laura Crawford has acting experience from college but said actors really have to use their imaginations when they are in the studio and against the blue screen. She’s looking forward to the spring shoot at Fermilab, when Imperial forces chase her and her fallen ship.

“That’s something where we get bloody. It’s an intense scene,” she said. “I am proud of Darren that he is making his dream come true. I feel everyone should have a hobby. I’m glad Darren has such a wealth of resources, helpers and supporters to aid him in his endeavor. I feel strongly that this will be the best Star Wars fan film ever.”

FVTV premiere

Darren Crawford expects the film — shot in letterbox format — to clock out at two hours.

This means “Forgotten Realm” could be one of the longest fan films ever made about Star Wars.

The Web site, www.theforce.net, hosts numerous independent films, some serious and others whimsical.

One of the more well-known projects was “Revelations,” made in northern Virginia, Maryland and the Washington, D.C., metro area. Since its posting on www.ifilm.com in April 2005, it’s been viewed more than 283,000 times but it is only 47 minutes long.

In exchange for using their cameras and editing equipment, Crawford agreed to allow Fox Valley Television, or FVTV, to premiere it.

The station is an outlet of the Southwest Fox Valley Cable and Telecommunications Consortium, which is a partnership between North Aurora, Oswego, Plano, Sandwich and Yorkville.

But after that, it likely will wind up on the Internet so people can watch or download it.

And Crawford might take one more page from Lucas’ book — including himself in a short scene in the movie like the master himself did in Episode III.

“Everybody’s been trying to talk me into doing a bit part,” Crawford said. “I’ll probably be an Imperial officer in the background.”

Man accused of car exhaust rape

A man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly putting a woman in a car with a hose from the exhaust pipe feeding into the vehicle, and then raping her.

Police said the 60-year-old woman fell asleep in her home in Bundaberg between 6pm (AEST) on Sunday and 3am yesterday after feeling odd following a meal.

She was woken by a man who allegedly put her in a car where a hose had been fed into the vehicle from the exhaust pipe.

It's alleged the woman was raped before being able to leave the vehicle.

A 62-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder, administering a stupefying drug, deprivation of liberty and two counts of rape.

He will appear in the Bundaberg Magistrates' Court tomorrow.

Top 99 Most Desirable Women

See them all HERE.

Croatia probes Hitler image on sugar packets

ZAGREB: Small packets of sugar bearing the likeness of Adolf Hitler and carrying Holocaust jokes have been found in some cafes in Croatia, prompting an investigation, the office of the state prosecutor said on Monday.

"The local district attorney in (the eastern town of) Pozega has opened an investigation and is currently looking at the matter," said Martina Mihordin.

The Novi List daily newspaper reported that officials at a small factory in Pozega have confirmed the sugar packs were produced on their premises.

The incident will embarrass the government which has been keen to play down the country's past links with Nazism.

Croatia's Ustasha regime sided with the Nazis in World War 2 and enforced ethnic laws under which thousands of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies, as well as anti-fascist Croats, were killed in local concentration camps in 1941-45.

The Jerusalem-based anti-Nazi Simon Wiesenthal Center said in a statement it had protested the matter to Croatia's authorities.

Its director, Efraim Zuroff, expressed his "revulsion and disgust that such an item could be produced these days in a country in which the Holocaust not only took place, but was for the most part carried out by local Nazi collaborators".

"If nothing else, this is a disgusting expression of nostalgia for the Third Reich and a period during which Jews, Serbs and Gypsies were mass-murdered (in Croatia)," it said.

Zuroff urged Croatia to force the factory owners to recall the sugar packets immediately, in line with a law against racial, religious or ethnic hatred.

Under President Franjo Tudjman, who governed Croatia from its 1991 independence until 1999, some of the Ustasha symbols were tolerated and their crimes often dismissed in public, which strained relations with Israel.

Subsequent Croatian leaders, who set the country on the road to European Union membership, apologised publicly for the Ustasha crimes.

Anna Nicole Smith's body embalmed under tight security

Under conditions of extraordinary security and secrecy, Anna Nicole Smith's body was finally embalmed Saturday after 10 days of legal wrangles and a last-minute switch of morticians. Broward Medical Examiner Dr. Joshua Perper said the Jupiter-based Aycock Funeral Home performed the 3-hour embalming of Smith's body starting about 9 a.m. Perper said he and his chief investigator were on hand to monitor the process. "The body was in fairly good state except for some early changes of deterioration," he said. Saturday's procedure ended only one of the many conflicts to have arisen since Smith's death Feb. 8 in Hollywood. Still unresolved are the battles over who will bury the former Playboy centerfold turned reality show star, obtain custody of her 5-month-old daughter, Dannielynn, or inherit what may be a vast fortune. Her estate was left in a 2001 will to her recently deceased son, Daniel. The cause of the 39-year-old's death also remains a mystery, though Perper said he has already conducted at least one key interview and planned to gather more evidence in coming days. The conflict over embalming Smith's body was short-lived. Hollywood-based Fred Hunter's Funeral Home had been selected to perform the embalming Friday but balked at signinga confidentiality agreement, Perper said. The agreement forbids talking about, writing about, drawing or photographing the body, though Perper said the funeral home's chief concern was over its potential liability if the procedure went bad The funeral home relented, but its embalmers refused to sign the form, Perper said. The Jupiter funeral home was then hired. Before its employees began their work, they were frisked for cameras or cell phones that could take photographs. Perper and his chief investigator, Edwina Johnson, watched as they worked. Smith's remains were then placed into a black bag and sealed with evidence tape. The bag was placed in a locked cage that in turn was sealed with tape. Perper said only one of his employees has the key to the cage, which was put in a locked freezer that will be guarded around the clock by two Broward sheriff's deputies. Perper, Broward County's medical examiner since 1994, said he couldn't recall a case requiring such security measures. But, he said, a break-in at Smith's home in the Bahamas soon after her death erased any doubts he had about the decision. "Somebody may be so deranged that they'd maybe break into the medical examiner's office and maybe take the body or damage the body or take a photograph -- who knows what," he said. Perper said the ongoing legal battles over Smith's estate and the fate of her daughter had not held up the investigation into her death. Smith's partner and boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, and Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, have been fighting to obtain Smith's body for burial. A legal challenge from Larry Birkhead, one of the three men claiming to be the father of Smith's baby, delayed the embalming so DNA samples could be taken for paternity tests. Perper said he has conducted a phone interview with Stern, who accompanied Smith to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. On Monday, Perper plans to interview Smith's nurse, who found her unresponsive in her room at the Hard Rock. The medical examiner said his office also wants Smith's medical records from the Bahamas. Because of security concerns, he may have an investigator retrieve the records by hand. Perper said his office already has received some results from tests conducted to determine Smith's cause of death, but refused to disclose any information until all data were in, a process that could take a few more weeks. "It's like being in a foggy area," he said. "Every piece of information which we obtain takes away some of the fog, but not completely."

Pop's princess on the edge

TORMENTED BRITNEY SPEARS has been driven to the brink amid fears she could lose her kids, it was claimed last night.

Sources close to the singer — who bizarrely shaved her head BALD at the weekend — say she is struggling following the breakdown of her marriage to KEVIN FEDERLINE.

And she is terrified her estranged hubby will take sons Sean Preston, one, and five-month-old Jayden James from her.

Lawyers for Kevin, 28, have been portraying Britney as an unfit mother in a bid to help him win custody.

And the 25-year-old star’s erratic behaviour in recent weeks has left pals fearing she is going through an extraordinary public meltdown.

Britney checked into an Antigua rehab clinic last Thursday after hitting rock bottom during a four-day booze bender in New York.

But she stayed less than 24 hours before returning to California, where she briefly visited her sons in Malibu before shaving off her hair, getting tattooed and dashing to a hospital in the early hours and asking for help.

Ex-boyfriend Isaac Cohen told how the Oops I Did It Again star was at breaking point after her agonising marriage break-up last year.




He claimed she was drinking to forget her problems — but was terrified that her children could be taken away.

Cohen said: “Britney’s boys mean everything to her and she worried she might lose them in a custody battle. It was clear she was not over her marriage.

“She’d lie like a rag doll in my arms and say, ‘Why can’t everyone leave me alone?’”

Britney, whose career began as a child star in US TV’s New Mickey Mouse Club, checked herself into rehab after months of hard partying that left friends and family fearing she was spiralling out of control.

She was famously pictured in Los Angeles on a string of drunken nights out with Paris Hilton, wearing no knickers.

At New Year she collapsed in a Las Vegas nightclub after downing champagne and cocktails — but still continued partying with Cohen and a string of dancer pals in LA. Last Friday she was seen sobbing in her limo for ten minutes before she entered Esther’s Haircutting Studio in Tarzana, California, at 6.15pm.

After hairdressers refused her plea to shave off her dark locks, Britney — whose tearstains were visible on her hooded top — grabbed the clippers and did it herself.

Stunned salon owner Esther Tognozzi said: “I tried to talk her out of it, but she said, ‘No I absolutely want it shaved off now.’

“Afterwards she looked in the mirror and said with tears in her eyes, ‘Oh, my God, I shaved it all off. My mom is going to be so upset with me.’” Esther said Britney, who was accompanied by two minders, seemed dazed and distant. She added: “She was just there in body and not really emotionally there.”

Britney, who wore a Star of David from Cohen and whose bared neck revealed a tiny tattoo, left the salon just after 7pm and then drove aimlessly around LA for 40 minutes.

At about 8pm, her car pulled up outside the Body and Soul Tattoo parlour and she rushed inside.

With shaved hair all over her top, she ordered staff to etch a set of pink lips on her wrist and a black, white and pink cross on her lower hip.

Workers said Britney was “screaming and flipping out from the pain”.

Emily Wynne-Hughes, who was in the tattoo shop, said: “After she left, we said to each other, ‘We just saw a huge celebrity on the verge of a nervous breakdown.’

“She basically just said she was tired of having things plugged into her. She didn’t want anybody to touch her.


“She seemed really distraught and disturbed. She was very scatterbrained.

“The whole time, I felt like she wasn’t there — like her body was but her thoughts were somewhere else.

“It was crazy, very surreal. She’s definitely crying out.”

Britney left just before 10pm and returned home. But at about midnight she drove out again — only to return home 20 minutes later.

At about 2am the troubled singer was briefly spotted at the Cedars Sinai Medical Centre in Beverly Hills — wearing a dark wig. Onlookers said she spoke with staff before entering a private room. Sources said she was with a pal and seemed “disturbed”.

But she left after just over an hour and was seen heading home. She has not been seen since.

Britney’s spokeswoman Gina Orr refused to comment last night.

Happy Presidents Day

Many Playboy Playmates Have Died Young

The selection of Anna Nicole Smith as a Playboy Playmate in 1992 made her a member of an exclusive sorority. Her death at 39 put her in a more grisly club - Playmates who haven't reached their 50th birthday.

Automobile accidents, drug overdoses, homicides, a plane crash - all have claimed the lives of Playmates. The cause of Smith's death is still unclear.

"It's sad how many girls we've lost," said Peter Gowland, who photographed a number of centerfolds for Playboy in the 1950s and 60s with the help of his wife.

In 1968, Gowland photographed Paige Young. In 1974, she was dead of a drug overdose. Jayne Mansfield, another Playmate he photographed, died in a car crash in 1967 at 34.

"It's a curse to be beautiful," Gowland said.

More than 600 women have graced Playboy's centerfold since the magazine began publishing in the 1950s.

Their lives after the magazine have been both in and out of the spotlight, but their limited number and Playboy's wide circulation has meant that the death of one can become bombshell news.

Perhaps before Smith, the most headline-grabbing death of a Playmate was that of 20-year-old Dorothy Stratten. Just months after she became the magazine's Playmate of the Year in 1980, she was murdered by her jealous estranged husband.

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has said he and others never really got over Stratten's death. The magazine ran a tribute to her and movies were made about her life.

Eve Meyer, a 1955 Playmate, was one of more than 550 people killed when two airliners collided on takeoff at Tenerife in the Canary Islands in 1977. She was 46. More recently, Ellen Louise Maligo, known in Playboy as "Star Stowe," was found murdered at 40 in Coral Springs in 1997.

Marilyn Monroe, the cover girl for the magazine's inaugural issue, famously died at 36 from a 1962 overdose of sleeping pills.

Tonya Crews, Carol Willis and 1970 Playmate of the Year Claudia Jennings all died in car accidents in the 1960s and 70s while still in their 20s. Playmate Willy Rey, pictured on Playboy's first stock certificates, was 23 when she died of a drug overdose in 1973.

Twenty-eight-year-old Playmate Elisa Bridges died in 2002 after being found unresponsive in bed. Playboy said she died of natural causes, but a coroner's report said Bridges died of an accidental drug overdose.

"There've been some that do too much booze and too much drugs, just as in the general population," said former Playboy editor Gretchen Edgren, author of "The Playmate Book: Six Decades of Centerfolds."

A page on Playboy's Web site is dedicated to remembering Smith.

"Perhaps Billy Joel should write a sequel to his song 'Only the Good Die Young' simply changing the last word to 'Beautiful.' We'll miss you Vicki," photo editor Gary Cole wrote on the site's blog, using Smith's real first name.

Most romantic lyrics of all time

Keeping Your Poop in a Jar
Hayseed Dixie


im keepin your poop in a jar till the day you come back, so don't forget just what you are yeah im keepin your poop in a jar

i thought you took everytihng ,but you left somethin behind. i scooped it out, i bottled it up. and now its there to stand by the bed to remind me. the taste i could't forget, you're just a piece of POOP.

Im keeping your poop in a jar, till the day you come back so dont forget just what you are, yeah im keepin your poop in a jar.

let me testify, i was feeling alittle down. so i opened the lid for a smell. Then it all came back to me baby, when the vapor was rubbed, i remembered you well.it all came back to me, it was just a piece of poop.

Im keepin your poop in a jar, until you come back so dont forget just what you are, yeah im keepin your poop in a jar, heyaw everybody sing, im keepin your poop in a jar, till the day you come back so dont forget just what you are yeah im keepin your poop in a jar, im keepin your a poop in a jar.

Tom, Paris and The Diceman

Got Beer?

Goat Herders Online

Just stop on by HERE , you will talk about for a lifetime.

Moment of Zen...

Squirrel Melts?

I'm Harry Potters Ass

Tommy Ramone Co-Fronts Bluegrass Duo

Tommy Ramone may have co-founded one of punk music’s most influential acts (and served as their manager and producer, in addition to his duties as a drummer), but the 55-year-old rocker doesn’t seem keen on letting his past define him as a musician. Instead of convalescing in the wake of the Ramones’ undeniable legacy, he’s exploring new musical avenues—including the wonderful world of bluegrasss.

Ramone, along with NYC music scene veteran Claudia Tienan, comprise the bluegrass duo Uncle Monk. Although it may seem a far cry from the days when he penned such punk classics as “Blitzkrieg Bop” and “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend,” Ramone says his current musical project draws its inspiration from the same free-spirited authenticity that defined the punk era.

“There is a similarity between punk and old-time music-- both are home-brewed as opposed to schooled,” he said in a recent statement. “Both have earthy energy. And there is a certain cool in old-time music that is found in the best alternative artists.”

Uncle Monk’s eponymous debut LP, featuring 14 original tunes, will be released on Airday Records on May 22, 2007.

See the website HERE.

SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING?

"Stewardesses" is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right. (Bet you tried this out mentally, didn't you?)


No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.


"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
(Are you doubting this?)


Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.


The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet. (Now, you KNOW you're going to try this out for accuracy, right?)


The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes). (Yep, I knew you were going to "do" this one.)


There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous. (You're not doubting this, are you?)


There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious." (Yes, admit it, you are going to say . a e i o u)


TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard. (All you typists are going to test this out)


A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.


A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
(Some days that's about what my memory span is)


A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.


A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.


A snail can sleep for three years. (I know some people that could do this too.)


Almonds are a member of the peach family.


An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.


Babies are born without kneecaps They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.


February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.


In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.


If the population of China walked past you, 8 abreast, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.


Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.


Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!


Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.


The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.


The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.


The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket. (Good thing he did that)


The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.


There are more chickens than people in the world.


Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.


Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

A Call from Alec Baldwin...

Just stop by HERE and enjoy.

Britney Britney Britney

Share a fantasy with Britney Spears right HERE.

Joel Surnow's "The 1/2 Hour News Hour"

Al Franken for Senate

See it HERE

Top 10 most common passwords....

The password trends show that the average user cares less about choosing a strong password and more about memorability.

Our life these days is largely dependent on passwords whether shopping online, transferring funds or sending emails passwords have a part to play.

With fraudsters more and more turning online to get money and we all hear about security breaches and fraud stories all the time.

It still amazes us how people think of passwords as a word they can remember easy, it might just be time for a change if your password is listed here.


Top 10 Most Common Passwords
10. Thomas
9. arsenal
8. monkey
7. charlie
6. qwerty
5. 123456
4. letmein
3. liverpool
2. password
1. 123

How To Shave The Modern Male

In which a helpful corporate giant encourages you to please groom your crotch. Truly

I have often wondered, in calmer moments of profound wisdom unaffected by actual subtle thought or deeper intellectual concerns, why there is no sly and essential maintenance manual for the penis.

Wait, let me be more specific. Why has no men's magazine, not Esquire and not Maxim and certainly not yuppie-riffic GQ, dared venture (to my knowledge, anyway) a single enthusiastically detailed column as to the general health and upkeep and -- perhaps most importantly of all, as far as overall aesthetics and tactile friendliness are concerned -- the prudent follicular trimmage of the enchanted regions surrounding the male appendage?

Oh I know, it's a sensitive topic, this male-maintenance thing. It's not one many sexually confused modern men open up to easily, not something we like to dwell upon and analyze in the way women can so easily discuss menstrual flow or waxing techniques or purse design.

Men, in our infinite mulish simplemindedness, tend to think all body parts are just supposed to work and all the stuff growing on our backs and thighs and groinal regions looks damn fine as it is no matter how tangled and shaggy and utterly extraterrestrial it might appear and how often our lovers cringe and shudder at the sight of us naked. Besides, there's little we can do about it anyway. Right?

Wrong.

For example, grooming. "Queer Eye" and the entire unloved metrosexual movement aside, simply shocking is the size of the male population that thinks trimming the male body's incredible swarm of hair follicles is silly and unnecessary and just far too feminine, and is only meant to be restricted to the head and face and maybe a few strays on the biceps, when in fact there is an entire universe of trimmage that could take place and grateful indeed would be most attuned women of the world.

(By the way, many of the top waxing salons, especially here in San Francisco, have a great plethora of straight male clients, many of whom are brought in by their wives and girlfriends. And as any worthy and attentive porn fan knows, many of the male stars are waxed and trimmed and almost shaved completely, all the way down and back up underneath and well up into God's country. Makes for more aesthetically pleasing camera shots, is why. Just, you know, FYI.)

Which brings us, finally, after far too many meandering paragraphs, to Philips Norelco, a major appliance manufacturer and global leader in high-end hospital medical devices, recently venturing with seeming unchecked fearlessness into the delicate terrain of, you know, shaving the male crotch.

Gaze, won't you, at Philips Norelco's latest and surprisingly bold viral Internet ad campaign from 2006, found on shaveeverywhere.com (Note, with some bemusement, that the shaveeverywhere.com URL was apparently still available to Philips and had not already been claimed by some happy underground fetish porn outfit. Wonders.)

For the record, shaveeverywhere.com is one of the new breed of interactive live-action campaigns that uses a series of fluid, fast-loading video splices of real actors to give the feel that the character is actually speaking right to you. There is another prime example of this genre, Microsoft's baffling but highly entertaining (well, for about 10 minutes) search site called Ms. Dewey (msdewey.com), in which a terrifically sexy actress (Janina Gavankar) simultaneously flirts with and fluently berates her army of swooning geek-boy viewers as they desperately scramble to type something clever to get her attention. Check it.

Right off the bat, the playfully smarmy Philips pitchman -- let's call him "Gary," a guy apparently meant to be a cross between a likable frat guy and a B-grade Hugh Hefner and that dude at the bar who orders a gin and tonic and won't stop talking about his love of cigars and parasailing -- Gary lets you know the game. He mentions the absolute necessity of trimming (with full bleeps intact, natch) your back, c--k, balls and ass. He keeps a straight face throughout, all winking nudge-nudge in-the-know guy chitchat.

Gary is selling something called the Bodygroom, a rather cheaply modified electric shaver made "exclusively" for men. It is, apparently, an all-over trimmer for all sorts of hair, from back to armpits to undercarriage. And yes, it really exists. Philips has sold a truckload of them, far more than they expected. And it's all thanks to Gary.

The pitch is clear. Gary will tell you, straight out, that the Bodygroom will "help make your d--k look bigger." This is a theme and a key selling point. He will also tell you, with a (winking) straight face, that the Bodygroom is "the convenient, easy, gentle way to make your genitals bloom." And if you ask him if women really prefer a well-groomed man, he will snicker in disbelief and barely be able to contain his laughter before composing himself, looking straight at the camera and deadpanning, "Yes, yes they do."

In fact, the opening introduction alone addresses your average American frat guy's naggingly homophobic concerns right from the start. Gary even admits to it himself: "Let me tell you, this whole issue [of genital grooming] used to make me quite uncomfortable. But now, with a hair-free back, well-groomed shoulders and an extra optical inch on my c--k, let's just say life has gotten pretty darn cozy."

You will smile and say to yourself, wait, this is Philips Norelco? This is a major manufacturer of mountains of Chinese-made consumer products? Are they insane? Are they simply begging the Christian right to write nasty little notes to corporate HQ and threaten a shaver boycott as they pule about the flagrant innuendo and the bleeps and the offensive notion that American men should shave their perineum?

Doesn't matter. Click through this site a couple times (be sure to watch the music video) and you can't help but admit it's a ballsy move. Not only is Philips' ad agency (Tribal DDB) smarmily defying the cultural conservative mind-set that wails about gays and cries about sex and screams at the sight of the female nipple, but they are simultaneously going after that rarest of homophobic monosyllabic demographic beasts, the untrimmed American Net-savvy frat guy blog-reading dude. And if sales are any indication, they're succeeding fabulously.

In this way, you might even say that Philips is serving a deeper humanitarian purpose, fulfilling a serious cultural need. They are (inadvertently, of course) doing nothing less than informing armies of young, sexually confused man-beasts that the general trimming of body hair -- including, as Gary repeatedly states, the c--k, balls and ass -- isn't just for transvestites and gay porn stars and metrosexual writers anymore. In other words, caring about this sort of thing doesn't make you gay, or stupid, or emasculated. It actually makes you sort of hot.

And besides, who wouldn't want the pleasure of an extra optical inch?

Anna Nicole's Custom Casket

VDAY: Moment of Zen

Happy Valentines Day 2007

A gas saving solution....

President Bush wants us to cut the amount of gas we use.

The best way to stop using so much gas is to deport 11 million illegal immigrants! That would be 11 million less people using our gas. The price of gas would come down.

Bring our troops home from Iraq to guard the border. When they catch an illegal immigrant crossing the border, hand him a canteen, rifle and some ammo and ship him to Iraq.

Tell him if he wants to come to America then he must serve a tour in the military. Give him a soldier's pay while he's there and tax him on it. After his tour, he will be allowed to become a citizen since he defended this country. He will also be registered to be taxed and be a legal patriot.

This option will probably deter illegal immigration and provide a solution for the troops in Iraq and the aliens trying to make a better life for themselves. If they refuse to serve, ship them to Iraq anyway, without the canteen, rifle or ammo. Problem solved.

Moment of Zen...

"NASA made it official today: They are no longer going to recruit their astronauts from eHarmony.com." -- Jay Leno

Illegally Park-ed

No one disputes that an on-duty Irvine police officer got an erection and ejaculated on a motorist during an early-morning traffic stop in Laguna Beach. The female driver reported it, DNA testing confirmed it and officer David Alex Park finally admitted it.

When the case went to trial, however, defense attorney Al Stokke argued that Park wasn’t responsible for making sticky all over the woman’s sweater. He insisted that she made the married patrolman make the mess—after all, she was on her way home from work as a dancer at Captain Cream Cabaret.

“She got what she wanted,” said Stokke. “She’s an overtly sexual person.”

A jury of one woman and 11 men—many white and in their 50s or 60s—agreed with Stokke. On Feb. 2, after a half-day of deliberations, they found Park not guilty of three felony charges that he’d used his badge to win sexual favors during the December 2004 traffic stop.

Park, 31, was red-faced and unable to control his twitching foot in the moments before the verdict was announced; if convicted, he would have faced prison. When he was found not guilty, he briefly embraced Stokke. In the public seating section, tears flowed from his gray-haired mother’s face. His father, a mechanic, closed his eyes and threw his head back. Outside the courtroom, surrounded by his family, a smiling Park said he felt vindicated.

Veteran sex crimes prosecutor Shaddi Kamiabipour—who’d called Park “a predator” during the nine-day trial—said she was disappointed with the verdicts. She also dismissed Stokke’s contention that the Orange County District Attorney’s office had overcharged the case. At stake, Kamiabipour said, was the principle that no one—not even a horny cop who’d once won honors for community servi