Archive | September, 2008

Anonymous-Direct Action Movement, Pranksters or Terrorists

23 Sep

anonymousbecause.jpg

539w.jpg

anonymous-skepchick.jpg

berlin.jpg

I first became aware of Anonymous when they released their video warning to Scientology. Recently they hacked into Gov Sarah Palin’s email acct. (Why would a Governor use a yahoo account? To skirt disclosure laws of course.)

It seems Anonymous is action oriented,  mischievous, devious, technically skilled and perhaps malicious. Wikipedia has a great article about Anonymous that’s footnoted and referenced. This site by a former Scientologist also has some good links about Anonymous. Including this  glossary of Anonymous lingo. Cuz ya gotta talk the talk not just walk the walk. And how else would you know about encyclopedia dramatica?

How wonderful that in a world of demographic narrow casting it’s most subversive to be Anonymous. As Banksy is regularly unmasked, I wonder how often Anonymous will be outed in the future, hmmm?

swastika.jpg

Screen grab: ‘Anonymous’ hackers storm virtual world Habbo

Palin Hackers Behind Sick Pranks
news.sky.com  |  8:57am UK, Monday September 22, 2008
The hackers who broke into Sarah Palin’s email account are behind a host of sick pranks – including harassing a dead boy’s parents by pretending to be his ghost.

The mystery group, who call themselves Anonymous, posted a number of the Republican vice-presidential candidate’s private emails and family photos on the internet.

The McCain campaign were furious and called it a “shocking invasion of privacy and a violation of law” – and called for those responsible to be prosecuted.

The FBI are now hunting the gang, who bragged about how they were able to obtain Mrs Palin’s password by guessing she had met her husband at high school and knew her date of birth and postal code.

(more…)

Science Proves Lasting Magic to Mushrooms

19 Sep

 It’s nice to see research being done into psilocybin and the like again. Now that we’re a prozac nation and every other ad on tv urges us to “see a doctor” maybe societies’ view on hallucinogens is evolving. Seriously, if one controlled dose can cause months or years of improvement, thats pretty wonderful. A very small hammer for a very big job.

bigmushroom.jpg

totally unrelated and unretouched photo.

Spiritual Effects Of Hallucinogens Persist, Researchers Report
www.sciencedaily.com  |  2008/07

ScienceDaily (July 1, 2008) — In a follow-up to research showing that psilocybin, a substance contained in “sacred mushrooms,” produces substantial spiritual effects, a Johns Hopkins team reports that those beneficial effects appear to last more than a year.

Writing in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the Johns Hopkins researchers note that most of the 36 volunteer subjects given psilocybin, under controlled conditions in a Hopkins study published in 2006, continued to say 14 months later that the experience increased their sense of well-being or life satisfaction.

(more…)

Doing Doughnuts Make Police Blotter

16 Sep

Ahhh, its nice when people work things out and no one gets hurt.

Myrtle Beach Police Blotter |  www.myrtlebeachonline.com  |  8/5/2008

Harassment | On Sept. 1 in the Conway area, a female victim, 47, said she and her sister, 50, of North Myrtle Beach, had a verbal altercation after they had both been drinking and her sister did doughnuts in her yard with her vehicle.

The victim wanted a police report but did not want any criminal action taken against her sister.

Maine’s Missing Gorilla Found

12 Sep

This heartwarming story of mischief and pranks introduced me to Ken Booth of Gorilla Robot Factory in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.  What a wonderful business – gorilla robot manufacture!

thegorilla.jpg

AP PHOTO BY ALISON REDLICH/BURLINGTON FREE PRESS
The mechanical gorilla that belongs to Sandy and Lowell Miller, owners of Sandy?s Sales in East Machias, was recovered Sunday by Vermont State Police from a field in Swanton, Vt., and is being held at the police barracks in St. Albans, Vt. Police in Maine say they have a suspect in the theft of the gorilla.

Link to Gorilla Ransom Video

Link to Gorilla Reward Video

Mainer will go to Vermont to retrieve stolen gorilla
www.bangornews.com  |  Diana Graettinger, BDN Staff  |  9/10/08
EAST MACHIAS, Maine — Rescuing a “really big” gorilla was never one of Annette Farrington’s life goals, but soon the good Samaritan from Waterford will be doing just that.

She plans to drive to Vermont, visit family, pick up Seamore the kidnapped mechanical gorilla, and return her to the Miller family at Sandy’s Sales on Route 1. Farrington hopes this will happen over the weekend. Her daughter lives about 30 miles from St. Albans, Vt., where Seamore is being held in custody by the Vermont State Police.

Meanwhile in Maine, police said Tuesday there is a suspect in the Labor Day weekend kidnapping caper. Sandy and Lowell Miller can’t wait for Seamore’s return. The robotic gorilla has been like a member of the family since she first appeared 20 years ago, and has been a rubbernecker’s delight as she waved her furry black hand and rotated back and forth outside their flea market store, Sandy’s Sales.

(more…)

Pope Angered Over Crucified Frog “Art”

12 Sep

I was sorta disappointed when I first saw the art in question. I thought the crucified frog would be a real frog and look like one of those classy taxidermy frog souvenirs from places where novelty amphibian taxidermy can feed the kids. The art in question has sorta grown on me. I can see it as a self portrait.

However, I can also see the Popes point. As God’s mouthpiece he’s gotta stick up and defend his racket and it’s non copyrighted symbols.  Even if deep down inside, as a German, the Pope knows the feeling of wanting the beer thats in your hand but just not being able to reach it. Ack!

Kudos for the museum for sticking to their guns and keeping the art up. But c’mon, I gotta call bullshit on their description of the piece as “representing human anguish.”  The passion of the happy hour you missed is more like it. For sure, this piece of art is not worth hunger striking over,  Franz Pahl, you need a hobby, or maybe this press is perfect for an election year.

crucified-frog-ital_797428f.jpg

This is Art.

frog_christ_big.jpg

This is Art.

frog_bass.jpg

This is not art.

show_picturephp.jpeg
Pope’s call for ‘blasphemous’ frog to be removed from museum refused
www.telegraph.co.uk  |  Last Updated: 5:46PM BST 28 Aug 2008

Pope Benedict’s request to have the sculpture of a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg removed from display in an Italian museum has been rebuffed.

The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano has refused to take down the modern art piece which the Vatican has condemned as blasphemous.

A majority vote decided that the wooden sculpture by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger should remain.

The sculpture called “Zuerst die Fusse”, meaning Feet First, depicts a frog of about four feet high nailed to a brown cross holding a beer mug in one outstretched hand and an egg in another.

(more…)

Bollywood Sued over “Harri Puttar”

10 Sep

Just imagine how awful a Bollywood Harry Potter  would be? Bad, but not laughably SHOWGILRS bad. Better to satirize it at a Fringe Festival or Cabaret. The photos below are actual people found on the interweb who did a fine job on their Potter costumes. 

harryplusa.jpg

costume2.JPG

puttar3.jpg

puttar4.jpg

Warner ‘sues over Puttar movie’
news.bbc.co.uk  |  Monday, 25 August 2008 15:01 UK

Harry Potter maker Warner Bros is suing an Indian film company over the title of upcoming film Hari Puttar – A Comedy Of Terrors, according to reports.

Warner Bros feels the name is too similar to that of its world famous young wizard, according to trade paper The Hollywood Reporter.

A spokesman confirmed the lawsuit against Mumbai-based Mirchi Movies.

The case is reportedly due to be heard in Bombay High Court later. The film is due to open in India on 12 September.

“We have recently commenced proceedings against parties involved in the production and distribution of a movie entitled Hari Puttar,” Warner Bros spokeswoman Deborah Lincoln told The Hollywood Reporter.
(more…)

Horrid Blistering Weed Spreading in Minnesota

8 Sep

YUK! As if poison ivy, fire ants and poison oak weren’t bad enough.

wild_parsnip.GIF

phyto20wild20parsnip1.jpg

phyto20wild20parsnip.jpg

Weed with bite is eating acres across state
Star Tribune  |  HERÓN MÁRQUEZ ESTRADA  |  August 25, 2008

Kerry Saxton is in the third year of a war he’s not sure he can win, and he’s got the scars on his left forearm to prove it.

His enemy? Parsnip.

Wild parsnip to be exact, a perennial weed with sap that is harmful to human skin and is so corrosive it can cause blisters as severe as a second-degree burn.

Wild parsnip has been a problem in southeastern Minnesota for years, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. But it has grown to severe levels this summer in Wright County, which will spend tens of thousands of dollars to fight the infestation.

Exacerbating the problem is the fact that state funding to combat wild parsnip infestation is being reduced.

Wright County, for example, expected $70,000 in state funding this year for eradication efforts. Instead, it will get less than a third of that amount — $20,000, according to officials.

(more…)

Cindy McCain’s 300K Outfit at RNC

5 Sep

According to the smartie pants at Vanity Fair the costs of the outfits of Cindy McCain and Laura Bush at the final night of the recent RNC is as follows.

Laura Bush
Oscar de la Renta suit: $2,500
Stuart Weitzman heels: $325
Pearl stud earrings: $600–$1,500
Total: Between $3,425 and $4,325

Cindy McCain
Oscar de la Renta dress: $3,000
Chanel J12 White Ceramic Watch: $4,500
Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000
Four-strand pearl necklace: $11,000–$25,000
Shoes, designer unknown: $600
Total: Between $299,100 and $313,100

For the love of Christ, I hope all those garments and baubles were at least made in the USA. Oscar de la Renta, hmm, that  sound foreign. And umm those are prolly blood diamonds and south seas pearls. And Cindy’s dress, well it ain’t all that, it makes her emaciated frame look down right dowdy. Laura Bush continues her role as first closet fox. It’s been a source of great sadness to me to watch the first ladies impressive rack literally downplayed and bound. (c’mon, get her a bra that moves them up 2 inches and show off her natural waist.)

That creaking sound is the gap between the rich and poor growing ever larger as we sleep. 

for-web_82621223-thumb-242×378jpeg.jpg

picture1.jpg

rnc_cindy_laura.jpg

mp_main_wide_rnccindymccainlaurabush452.jpg

82621223-bggr.jpg

Queen Victorias Underwear Fetches Handsome Sum at Auction

3 Sep

My comment; I SEE LONDON. I SEE FRANCE. I SEE QUEEN VICTORIA’S UNDERPANTS

queen-victoria.jpg

queen_v_1890.jpg

bloomers.jpg

AP Photo:  In this undated photo provided by Hansons Auctioneers, Samantha Rhodes models a pair of bloomers…

Queen Victoria’s bloomers sell for $9,000
By EMILY RISTOW, Associated Press Writer Wed Jul 30, 1:54 PM ET

LONDON – A pair of Queen Victoria’s bloomers, with a 50-inch waist, were snapped up for $9,000 by a Canadian buyer at a central England auction Wednesday.
ADVERTISEMENT

Auctioneer Charles Hanson said Queen Victoria’s underpants belonged to “a very big lady of quite small stature with a very wide girth.” She was said to be 5 feet tall.

The handmade knickers — which date back to the 1890s — bear the monogram “VR” for Victoria Regina. They are open-crotch style, with separate legs joined by a drawstring at the waist, a popular style in the late Victorian era.

The royal drawers belonged to a family in western England whose ancestor was a lady-in-waiting for the queen.

“These pants, considering their provenance and pedigree, are very exciting,” Hanson said. “They are monogrammed and crested and we know that they are hers.”

Also up for auction was Queen Victoria’s chemise, with a 66-inch bust, sold for $8,000. Her nightgown sold for $11,000.

Before the auction, Hanson valued the underwear at $1,000, while the chemise and nightgown were valued at $600 each.

Queen Victoria lived from 1819 to 1901. She became queen at age 18 and was the U.K.’s longest-reigning monarch. Her reign is noted for both imperial expansion and the decreasing political power of the monarch.