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mikeyfish |
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Friday, June 2, 2006 at 1:05 PM (CNN) -- Kathy Kane's return as a socialite-turned-caped-crusader might not draw much attention outside the comic book world, but Batwoman's other secret is causing quite a fuss. DC Comics says the character, who was brought in originally in 1956 as Batman's love interest, will be reintroduced as a lesbian as part of an effort to diversify its superhero roster. Kane is open about her sexuality with her friends, but has not come out to her family, executive director Don Didio said. A quick Google search for "lesbian Batwoman" drew more than half a million hits with some blog posts calling it a sign of "the steady decline of our society," and others questioning whether a 5-foot-10-inch redhead in big boots and a skin-tight suit was a role model or a straight teenagers' fantasy. (Watch lesbian Batwoman trigger sidewalk argument -- 2:14) Longtime comic book fan Joe Palmer, who runs the Gay League Web site for gay and lesbian comic book fans, said that he did not think the idea was patronizing, and dismissed concerns about Batwoman's new look. "Honestly, comic book characters are already going to be handsome or over-the-top gorgeous anyway," he said. "They're definitely going to be very physically fit, they're going to be gym bunnies basically, only they don't go to the gym." John Schroeder, an environmental consultant and Presbyterian deacon who blogs about both comic books and his religious faith, said Batwoman's sexual orientation is not a big deal to him. He said he decorated his office with superhero statues and has about 8,000 comic books. "Am I happy that there's going to be a homosexual superhero? Not really," he said. "But it's not like I'm going to jump up and down and scream and say it's the end of the world." Schroeder said he loves Batman and is "very much addicted to the superhero genre." But he's not a fan of some of the newer Batman titles, he said. "Some of the Batman work that's being done now is extremely dark, and the art as far as I'm concerned is ugly," he said. "So I'm not buying Batman like I used to, so this will be another Batman-related title I don't buy." Gay superheroes are not really new to the comic book universe. Marvel's "Rawhide Kid" introduced a gay cowboy in 2002, years before the movie "Brokeback Mountain" came out. DC's "The Authority" series features a gay superpower couple. Palmer said he likes the way Marvel's "Young Avengers" has handled the relationship between teen spellcaster Wiccan and his shapeshifting boyfriend the Hulkling. "They've been revealed to be a gay couple as well and it's handled extremely well, just matter of factly, and no big sensation made over the fact that they're gay and a couple as well," he said. He said that gay characters often end up being tokens. "What happens more often than not is that the character is really created as a token and is basically two-dimensional and appears briefly, and then is written out of the storyline or forgotten until later," he said. The Batman series already had one lesbian character, Det. Renee Montoya, who once dated Batwoman's alter ego. "This isn't about a lesbian superhero. It's about a superhero, who also happens to be gay," said Didio. He said the book was intended for all ages and not to expect any sex scenes. "This will be the first time that a gay character has been created to be a starring character and a recurring role that isn't labeled for mature readers," Palmer said. He said that the Rawhide Kid's rating drew a lot of complaints among gay readers. "The book carried a mature readers label and there was absolutely nothing of a mature aspect that occurred in the entire story. It was very tame," he said. The new Batwoman will appear starting in July in a new comic called "52." DC says the year-long series will show what happens when Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman disappear from Gotham City. DC Comics is owned by Time Warner, the parent company of CNN. 
—mikeyfish |
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mikeyfish |
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Friday, June 2, 2006 at 1:07 PM TAVARES, Florida (AP) -- A couple tried to hire a hit man to kill their three grandchildren and daughter-in-law to stop them from testifying against their son in his rape trial, authorities said. The couple, ages 60 and 59, were charged with four counts each of criminal conspiracy to commit murder. They were being held without bond. Police said the pair initially offered $100 to an undercover sheriff's deputy to kill their son's wife, their 10-year-old granddaughter, two step-grandchildren, ages 14 and 16, and the family dog. More money was promised after the killings, said Lake County sheriff's Sgt. Christie Mysinger. The couple's 31-year-old son has been jailed since November on 22 charges of sexual battery on a child, lewd and lascivious molestation and showing obscene material to a minor, court records show. Detectives say his daughter and stepdaughter are the victims. The Associated Press has withheld the names of the grandparents and the family members to protect the children's identities. The man tried to solicit a fellow jail inmate to kill his family, the arrest report said. An informant told detectives about the plot and they arranged to meet the man's parents Tuesday at a Best Western motel in Tavares, a lakefront community about 30 miles northwest of Orlando, police said. "(The deputy) said, 'You want me to kill everyone, including the dog?' They agreed," Mysinger said. The son's attorney, Peter Sartes, said he had no details on the parents' arrest. It was not clear who was representing them. —mikeyfish |
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plurryho |
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Friday, June 2, 2006 at 1:38 PM "yes. kill scruffy too. he's a risk." —plurryho |
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greymatters |
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Friday, June 2, 2006 at 2:08 PM Meteor mega-hit spawned Australian continent: researchers Fri Jun 2, 1:54 PM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - A meteor's roaring crash into Antarctica -- larger and earlier than the impact that killed the dinosaurs -- caused the biggest mass extinction in Earth's history and likely spawned the Australian continent, scientists said. Ohio State University scientists said the 483-kilometer-wide (300-mile-wide) crater is now hidden more than 1.6 kilometers (one mile) beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. "Gravity measurements that reveal its existence suggest that it could date back about 250 million years -- the time of the Permian-Triassic extinction, when almost all animal life on Earth died out," the university said in a statement Thursday. "Its size and location -- in the Wilkes Land region of East Antarctica, south of Australia -- also suggest that it could have begun the breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent by creating the tectonic rift that pushed Australia northward," they added. Scientists believe that the Permian-Triassic extinction paved the way for the dinosaurs to rise to prominence. The Wilkes Land crater is more than twice the size of the Chicxulub crater in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, which marks the impact that may have ultimately killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The Chicxulub meteor is thought to have been 9.6 kilometers (six miles) wide, while the Wilkes Land meteor could have been up to 48.3 kilometers (30 miles) wide -- four or five times wider. "This Wilkes Land impact is much bigger than the impact that killed the dinosaurs, and probably would have caused catastrophic damage at the time," said Ralph von Frese, a professor of geological sciences at Ohio State. He and Laramie Potts, a postdoctoral researcher in geological sciences, led the team that discovered the crater. They collaborated with other Ohio State and NASA scientists, as well as partners from Russia and South Korea. They reported their preliminary results in a recent American Geophysical Union Joint Assembly meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. Some 100 million years ago, Australia split from the ancient Gondwana supercontinent and began drifting north, pushed away by expansion of a rift valley into the eastern Indian Ocean. The rift cuts directly through the crater, so the impact may have helped the rift to form, von Frese said. The more immediate effects of the impact, however, would have devastated life on Earth. "All the environmental changes that would have resulted from the impact would have created a highly caustic environment that was really hard to endure. So it makes sense that a lot of life went extinct at that time," he said. Collaborators included Stuart Wells and Orlando Hernandez, graduate students in geological sciences at Ohio State; Luis Gaya-Pique and Hyung Rae Kim, both of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center; Alexander Golynsky of the All-Russia Research Institute for Geology and Mineral Resources of the World Ocean; and Jeong Woo Kim and Jong Sun Hwang, both of Sejong University in South Korea. —greymatters |
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plurryho |
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Friday, June 2, 2006 at 2:46 PM where do you get this crap anyway?
everyone knows the earth is only a few thousand years old.
lol dinosaurs.
also, orlando hernandez? there is another clue that none of this is for real. a latin american scientist? come on! orlando hernandez pitches for the mets now, btw. 
—plurryho |
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greymatters |
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Friday, June 2, 2006 at 3:17 PM orlando hernandez pitches for the mets now, btw. He won his debut with them. He was suppose to pitch tonight but it got rained out so he's pitching game one of a doubleheader tomorrow. —greymatters |
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greymatters |
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Friday, June 2, 2006 at 5:46 PM We are not entirely human, germ gene experts argue By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - We may not be entirely human, gene experts said on Thursday after studying the DNA of hundreds of different kinds of bacteria in the human gut. Bacteria are so important to key functions such as digestion and the immune system that we may be truly symbiotic organisms -- relying on one another for life itself, the scientists write in Friday's issue of the journal Science. Their findings suggest that studying bacteria native to our bodies may provide important clues to disease, nutrition, obesity and how well drugs will work in individuals, said the team at The Institute for Genomic Research, commonly known as TIGR, in Maryland. "We are somehow like an amalgam, a mix of bacteria and human cells. There are some estimates that say 90 percent of the cells on our body are actually bacteria," Steven Gill, a molecular biologist formerly at TIGR and now at the State University of New York in Buffalo, said in a telephone interview. "We're entirely dependent on this microbial population for our well-being. A shift within this population, often leading to the absence or presence of beneficial microbes, can trigger defects in metabolism and development of diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease." Scientists have long known that at least 50 percent of human feces, and often more, is made up of bacteria from the gut. Bacteria start to colonize the intestines and colon shortly after birth, and adults carry up to 100 trillion microbes, representing more than 1,000 different species. They are not just freeloading. They help humans to digest much of what we eat, including some vitamins, sugars, and fiber. They also synthesize vitamins that people cannot. "Humans have evolved for million of years with these bacteria. And they provide essential functions," Gill said. GERM SURPRISE Gill and his team sequenced the DNA in feces donated by three adults. They found a surprising amount of it came from bacteria. They compared the gene sequences to those from known bacteria and to the human genome and found this so-called colon microbiome -- the entire sum of genetic material from microbes in the lower gut -- includes more than 60,000 genes. That is twice as many as found in the human genome. "Of all the DNA sequences in that material, only 1 to 5 percent of it was not bacterial," Gill said. "We were surprised." They also found a surprising number of Archaea, also known as archaebacteria, which are genetically distinct from bacteria but which are also one-celled organisms often found in extreme environments such as hot springs. The donors were healthy adults. None had taken antibiotics for a year, as these drugs are known to disturb the bacteria in the body. Gill said his team hopes now to make a comparison of the gut bacteria from different people. "The ideal study would be to compare 20 people, 30 people from different ethnic backgrounds, different diets, drinkers, smokers, and so on, because I think there are going to be distinct differences," Gill said. These bacteria almost certainly help break down drugs that people take and studying the effects of different populations of the microbes might provide clues to treating different people with various medications. The next study will focus on the bacteria in the mouth, Gill said. There are at least 800 species in the mouth and maybe more, Gill said. —greymatters |
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Dark Laith |
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Friday, June 2, 2006 at 6:01 PM So that makes them, like, our microbe slaves, right? —Dark Laith |
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catloaf |
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Friday, June 2, 2006 at 7:16 PM I think it's the other way around. —catloaf |
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mikeyfish |
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Friday, June 2, 2006 at 7:48 PM TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan (AP) -- A man who stuffed a dead mouse into his Taco Bell burrito in a botched extortion attempt was sentenced Friday to 16 to 30 months in prison. Ryan Daniel Goff, 20, pleaded guilty last month to a felony count of attempted false pretenses between $1,000 and $20,000. Sheriff's investigators said Goff complained to a restaurant employee in January that his burrito tasted "funny." Goff reported finding the mouse to the local health department and Taco Bell's regional manager. According to court records, he allegedly told the manager: "It won't be a good day if the media finds out about this." But investigators said his girlfriend told them he purchased frozen mice from a pet store and put one of them in his burrito. Goff's sentencing was just the latest in several recent cases of alleged extortion over body parts and dead animals in restaurant food. In January, Anna Ayala, 40, was sentenced to nine years in prison for planting a severed human finger in a bowl of chili at a Wendy's restaurant in California in an extortion scheme. Her husband, Jaime Plascencia, 44, who obtained the finger from someone who lost it in an accident, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison. In April, Carla Patterson, 38, and her 22-year-old son, Ricky, were convicted of trying to extort money from the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain by claiming they found a dead mouse in a bowl of soup in Virginia. Both are awaiting sentencing. —mikeyfish |
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plurryho |
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Friday, June 2, 2006 at 9:08 PM /\ you mean rodent isn't one of the ingredients in the 7 layer burrito? huh. i did not know that! i don't have a link for this, but heard it on the talk radio station that carries st. louis cardinals baseball by chance while changing cd's in my car.
evidently, registered sex offenders are not allowed to enter public swimming pools or playgrounds. i guess it has something to do with half naked humans and frolicking children. well, the sex offenders feel as if their rights are being violated by being restricted to these areas. hey, they're people too, right?
so, guess who's sticking up for the sex offenders and trying to get them access?
that's right, the ACLU. wow. just wow. —plurryho |
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plurryho |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 11:43 AM i don't really have a problem with the ACLU until they start defending sex offenders. now i do have a problem with this clown... Bush backs federal marriage amendment WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush on Saturday backed a resolution to amend the Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman even though the idea has little chance of being passed in the Senate. "Ages of experience have taught us that the commitment of a husband and a wife to love and to serve one another promotes the welfare of children and the stability of society," Bush said in his Saturday radio address. "Marriage cannot be cut off from its cultural, religious and natural roots without weakening this good influence on society." Democrats say Senate floor time is being wasted on the issue, and accuse Republicans of making a pre-midterm election appeal to social conservatives whose votes were key to Bush's re-election. This November, initiatives banning same-sex marriages are expected to be on the ballot in Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin. "Sadly, President Bush is playing election-year politics with this divisive issue," the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said Friday. "He is shamelessly using this ploy to energize his right-wing base. We should never rewrite the Constitution to enshrine intolerance." The White House said Bush did not devote his radio address to the issue or decide to host a presidential event Monday to again endorse the amendment because it is politically expedient, but because there's a vote on it scheduled next week in the Senate. "On Monday, I will meet with a coalition of community leaders, constitutional scholars, family and civic organizations and religious leaders," Bush said in urging Congress to pass the amendment and send it to the states for ratification. "They're Republicans, Democrats and independents who've come together to support this amendment." The amendment would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages. To become law, the proposal would need two-thirds support in the Senate and House, and then would have to be ratified by at least 38 state legislatures. Bush said the amendment would fully protect marriage from being redefined, while leaving state legislatures free to make their own choices in defining legal arrangements other than marriage. It stands little chance of passing the 100-member Senate, where proponents are struggling to get even 50 votes. Several Republicans oppose the measure, and so far only one Democrat — Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska — has said he will vote for it. Acknowledging that emotions often run hot in this debate, Bush urged calm. "As this debate goes forward, we must remember that every American deserves to be treated with tolerance, respect and dignity," he said. "All of us have a duty to conduct this discussion with civility and decency toward one another, and all people deserve to have their voices heard." David Buckel, Marriage Project director of Lambda Legal, a national organization working to protect the rights of lesbians, gay men and others, said the amendment would be damaging to the lives of same-sex couples and families, which raise millions of children. "It would brand lesbian and gay men as legally inferior individuals," he said. "It would write into the supreme law of the land that this group of people are inferior and when it's the law, it's a message to everyone else in society that they have license to discriminate." In his radio address, Bush struck back at judges who have overturned state laws similar in intent to the proposed legislation. "Unfortunately, activist judges and some local officials have made an aggressive attempt to redefine marriage in recent years," the president said. Bush said there is broad consensus in America to protect the institution of marriage. Voters in 19 states have approved amendments to their state constitutions that protect the traditional definition of marriage, he said. Moreover, he said, 45 of the 50 states have either a state constitutional amendment or statute defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. —plurryho |
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mandeemoo22 |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 2:25 PM now i do have a problem with this clown... Good! PS My parents totally think I'm a lesbian and it's awesome. —mandeemoo22 |
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Beat It! |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 2:31 PM Is it because of all the sex you're having with other women? 'Cause that'll do it every time. —Beat It! |
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greymatters |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 2:49 PM My parents totally think I'm a lesbian and it's awesome. Did you tell your parents that you're a lesbian for fun? —greymatters |
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plurryho |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 3:13 PM
Edited Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 3:25 PM mandee, why is it payback time for your parents?
ok, so you didn't get the jetta for your 16th birthday.
does this mean you have to torture them like this? —plurryho |
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greymatters |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 3:16 PM
Edited Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 3:27 PM mandee, why is it payback time for your parents?
ok, so you didn't get the Lexus for your 16th birthday.
does this mean you have to torture them like this?
- plurry's original message I don't think Mandee is a Lexus girl, I bet she wanted a Jetta. —greymatters |
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Stryker311 |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 3:23 PM its true. i'm a lexus girl, check my profile under "Cars", and me and mandee can never agree, for the day that happens will be the day of the apocalypse. —Stryker311 |
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plurryho |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 3:24 PM
Edited Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 3:25 PM I don't think Mandee is a Lexus girl, I bet she wanted a Jetta. actually, that sounds right.
i'll change my post to make myself look smarter and you can delete yours. —plurryho |
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mandeemoo22 |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 3:41 PM
Edited Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 3:42 PM I really don't have a car preference. Right now I have a Chevy Cavalier and I'm fine with it. I don't care what kind of car it is as long as it isn't a big SUV or a Hummer. As long as it's a good color. But, my parents think I'm a lesbian because I do a lot of activist work for GLBT groups and it would never occur to them that I'm just an ally. I'm on the executive board (Pride Director) of the GSA at my school and I am also volunteering at the Gay Pride Festival in Baltimore, so according to them, that makes me gay. It has nothing to do with the importance of human rights and social justice, of course. —mandeemoo22 |
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anobody |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 7:18 PM mandee, why is it payback time for your parents? —anobody |
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mandeemoo22 |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 7:22 PM It's not. I have nothing against them. Although it probably does seem like it especially considering my job is to talk to people about conserving land and stopping development and guess what my mom's job is? Yeah, she's a commercial real estate developer. —mandeemoo22 |
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plurryho |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 7:34 PM ok, when did your mommy rape ya? —plurryho |
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Beat It! |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 7:49 PM ...my job is to talk to people about conserving land and stopping development and guess what my mom's...a commercial real estate developer. I love it when things work out so orderly. That's where I find meaning and comfort in life when all seems hopeless and chaotic. Thanks, mandee. —Beat It! |
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anobody |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 7:55 PM Beat It! I'm sure it's all just a coincidence. —anobody |
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mandeemoo22 |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 8:24 PM Yeah, I mean it's not my fault that she's part of the reason that there is a Walmart on every corner. But then again, that is how she supports my sister and I and pays for me to go to college. —mandeemoo22 |
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anobody |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 8:27 PM I might be off here but I think that what Beat It! was trying to say isn't that it's your fault that she does what she does but that part of the reason you do what you do might have a little to do with her. —anobody |
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mandeemoo22 |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 8:29 PM I really don't think so. I'm glad that she has a job where she makes a lot of money. I'm just concerned about the environment in general, especially in Maryland where development is just out of control. When I applied for this job, I didn't even think about the fact that it was basically working against my mom. And also her whole side of the family because they all really do the same thing. —mandeemoo22 |
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anobody |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 8:32 PM Somehow didn't do the math before but just realized that you might end up living near my x-wife (she's probably going to be taking a postdoc position at Johns Hopkins). —anobody |
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mandeemoo22 |
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Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 9:44 PM That's in the city. I live like 15 minutes outside of it. —mandeemoo22 |
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mikeyfish |
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Sunday, June 4, 2006 at 12:09 AM PHOENIX, Arizona (AP) -- Fifty-five National Guard members from Utah arrived in Yuma, Arizona, on Saturday as the first troops to be sent to the Arizona-Mexico border in a plan announced by President George W. Bush to crack down on illegal immigration. The Utah troops were supposed to work on fences and other projects as part of the Guard's long-standing efforts at the Arizona border, officials had said as late as Wednesday. But their mission has since been folded into Bush's plan to send up to 6,000 National Guard troops to the four southern border states to help federal immigration agents. The Utah troops got word of the change Friday from Guard officials in Washington, D.C., said Maj. Hank McIntire, a spokesman for the Utah National Guard. They were scheduled to be briefed on their mission Sunday and start their field work as early as Monday, McIntire said. Under the president's plan, troops would perform support duties that would free up federal authorities to focus on border security. They would not perform significant law enforcement duties. The Utah troops, who will not carry weapons, will be in Yuma for two weeks installing improved lighting at a border crossing site, extending an existing border fence and building a road, McIntire said. The projects will be done in the area of San Luis, Arizona, a town 25 miles south of Yuma with a fortified stretch of border with Mexico. The town is part of the nation's busiest U.S. Border Patrol station. A 12-foot corrugated metal fence divides San Luis from Mexico, followed 50 yards later by an 8-foot chain-link fence topped with barbed wire and towers with surveillance cameras. Stadium lights help agents spot those who try to slip across under the cover of darkness. "We are pleased and excited that this has finally got under way because the request has been in place for so long in Arizona," said Jeanine L'Ecuyer, spokeswoman for Gov. Janet Napolitano. Napolitano proposed a similar plan in December, but her proposal remained on the shelf while funding was sought. Arizona is now the nation's busiest illegal entry point, and illegal immigration is considered a top political issue this year. Officials say 300 National Guard soldiers from Arizona were expected to begin arriving at the state's border in mid-June. About 170 National Guard troops are already helping federal and state officers there with communications, fence construction and anti-drug efforts. The National Guard has been providing such assistance along the Arizona border for more than 15 years. Troops from the Utah Guard were deployed to Iraq in 2004 and 2005 and helped with recovery efforts following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, McIntire said. Their mission along the border will better prepare them when they are assigned to disaster and war efforts, he said. —mikeyfish |
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anobody |
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Sunday, June 4, 2006 at 12:21 AM this amuses me to no end. PHOENIX May 4, 2006 (AP)— A posse of 100 volunteers and sheriff's deputies will patrol the Phoenix area and arrest any illegal immigrants, the county sheriff said.The group likely will be deployed across parts of Maricopa County by the weekend, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Wednesday. Volunteers will be drawn from the department's 3,000-member posse, whose members are trained and are often former deputies. "It's important to send the message out to stay in Mexico and don't come roaming around here hoping you're going to get amnesty," said Arpaio, who in years past gained notoriety for putting inmates on chain gangs and issuing them striped uniforms and pink underwear. Arpaio's deputies have already arrested about 120 illegal immigrants using a new state smuggling law. "We're going to arrest any illegal who violates this new law," he said. "I'm not going to turn these people over to federal authorities so they can have a free ride back to Mexico. I'll give them a free ride into the county jail." Under the law as interpreted by the Maricopa County attorney illegal immigrants can be arrested and prosecuted for conspiracy to smuggle themselves into the country. The law's authors have said they intended it to be used to prosecute smugglers, not the immigrants being smuggled. Lawyers for nearly 50 undocumented immigrants charged with conspiracy to commit human smuggling have filed motions to have the charges dismissed. A Los Angeles attorney brought into the case last week by the Mexican Consul General's Office in Phoenix plans to file another motion claiming Maricopa County Attorney officials are violating state and federal law because it's the federal government's job to control illegal immigration. Both motions are to be argued in county court on May 23. The gist - Sheriff Joe Arpaio got a possee together to patrol the desert in Maricopa County for illegals crossing over from Mexico (that made me laugh my ass off). ... what you have to understand to 'get that' is that Maricopa County is here
 —anobody |
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mandeemoo22 |
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Sunday, June 4, 2006 at 12:51 AM Well, it's like tag. When you are trying to get someone out and they are on "base", you don't stand right next to the base and wait for them. You have to give some room, so that you can see which direction they are heading first so that you can catch the,. —mandeemoo22 |
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mandeemoo22 |
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Sunday, June 4, 2006 at 9:50 PM Yes. I live with my mom. My dad lives about an hour away and I usually see him once a week. —mandeemoo22 |
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greymatters |
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Sunday, June 4, 2006 at 9:53 PM Do you think your mother worked too much to make the marriage work? What I'm getting at is, do you blame her for the divorce, even a little bit? —greymatters |
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mandeemoo22 |
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Sunday, June 4, 2006 at 10:03 PM No, not at all. Both of my parents work equally as much. My mom is awesome. I can't imagine anyone wanting to marry my dad though. He's just so annoying and immature. But somehow he's gotten two women to marry him. I mean, I don't blame anyone for the divorce. I'm really happy that they are divorced. They split up when I was 8 and I don't recall being that upset about it. —mandeemoo22 |
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greymatters |
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Sunday, June 4, 2006 at 10:06 PM Do you have any half brothers or sisters? Your mom was working a lot when you were in your developmental years, that must have affected you in some way. Don't you have an older sister? —greymatters |
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anobody |
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Sunday, June 4, 2006 at 10:16 PM I'm always impressed by your Greydar. Psychology major? Women's intuition? It's gotta come from somewhere... —anobody |
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anobody |
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Sunday, June 4, 2006 at 10:35 PM OK - so you're saying you're a chick. I think we knew that much already. —anobody |
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mandeemoo22 |
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Sunday, June 4, 2006 at 11:40 PM I have a younger sister. My mom didn't really work THAT much. I was in school while she was working. I came home at 3pmish and she got home at 6pm. There are plenty of kids in that same situation. —mandeemoo22 |
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plurryho |
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Monday, June 5, 2006 at 12:09 AM They split up when I was 8 and I don't recall being that upset about it. ooo repression. you are a time bomb. tick tick tick... —plurryho |
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mikeyfish |
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Monday, June 5, 2006 at 3:07 AM Zombie plots new mayhem for 'Halloween'
By Borys Kit
Rob Zombie is resurrecting Michael Myers, one of the big screen's favorite horror villains. Zombie will write and direct a new "Halloween" movie, serving up what is being called as a brand-new vision for the long-running horror series. Malek Akkad of Trancas International Films will produce the feature along with Andy Gould of Vision Entertainment Group. Zombie also will serve as a producer and a music supervisor on the film. Miramax Films will co-finance the development with Dimension Films. The movie will not be a sequel or a straight-ahead remake of the original -- which helped director John Carpenter cement his name in the horror biz -- but a reimagining that will infuse new blood into the Myers story. "The look and the feel is going to be completely different," Zombie said in an interview. " 'Halloween' started off as a very terrifying concept, a terrifying movie. But over the years, Michael Myers has become a friendly Halloween mask. When it came to the point where you could buy a Michael Myers doll that was cute-looking and press its stomach and play the 'Halloween' theme, you knew the scare factor was gone. But I think the story and the situation is scary. All it needed was someone to come in and to take a totally different approach to make it scary again. To me, that's the challenge and that's the fun." The movie will not pay heed to the numerous sequels that have followed the 1978 classic, which introduced masked psycho serial killer Myers as well as the now-famous piano theme to the world. "Everything that has come before does not figure into this one," Zombie said. "That series is done." And while Zombie aims to keep the scares and the character more real, the mask will remain. "That's an iconic image that can't go away," he said. Zombie wrote and directed "House of 1000 Corpses" and last year's "The Devil's Rejects," which proved to be extremely profitable theatrically and on DVD. A lot of horror movies have been thrown his way, but he wanted to be choosy when it came to his third film. Zombie is a fan of the original and said he sought Carpenter's blessing. "He said, 'That's awesome, go for it,' " Zombie said. "He was very supportive, which I thought was very important. I feel like 'Halloween' is his baby, and I wanted to be very respectful." An October 2007 release is being planned. —mikeyfish |
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Dusty TheHick |
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Tuesday, June 6, 2006 at 4:28 AM Somehow didn't do the math before but just realized that you might end up living near my x-wife (she's probably going to be taking a postdoc position at Johns Hopkins). —anobody
I was born there not to mention the month or so I did on one of their psych units in the early nineties. I suppose that makes me "cool."
—Dusty TheHick |
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mikeyfish |
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Tuesday, June 6, 2006 at 7:33 AM MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesian officials evacuated 11,000 villagers from around Mount Merapi volcano, as lava and superheated clouds of gas poured repeatedly down its upper slopes, officials said Tuesday. The mountain's lava dome has swelled in recent weeks, raising fears that it could suddenly collapse and send scalding clouds of fast-moving gas and debris down into populated areas. The government of nearby Magelang district mobilized more than 40 trucks and cars to evacuate about 11,000 villagers from three sub-districts near the foot of the mountain, said Edy Susanto, a district official. He said the villagers were taken to temporary shelters, including school buildings. "Of course it is dangerous. But we don't know for sure whether the lava dome will collapse," said Subandriyo, a government volcanologist who uses only one name. Red-hot lava flowed as far as one kilometer (half a mile) from the mountain's crater, while gas clouds called pyroclastic flows streamed as far as 2-1/2 kilometers (1-1/2 miles) down its southwestern slope, Subandriyo said. The 3,000-meter (9,800-foot) mountain is one of the world's most active volcanos. Activity has risen since a magnitude 6.3 earthquake on May 27 hit a region about 30 kilometers (20 miles) to the south, killing at least 5,862 people. Some scientists say the quake may have contributed to the increased activity at the mountain. A major eruption could severely strain quake relief efforts. The government had earlier urged residents to evacuate from a danger zone on the mountain's fertile slopes, but thousands of villagers remained in their homes, saying they didn't want to abandon their fields and livestock and complaining of boredom at the shelters. The mountain, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of the capital, Jakarta, is notoriously unpredictable. Government scientists say they're not sure whether the lava dome will suddenly collapse, simply keep growing, or gradually break into small pieces. Its last deadly eruption was in 1994, when it sent out a searing gas cloud that burned 60 people to death. About 1,300 people were killed when it erupted in 1930. Indonesia is located on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. It has 76 volcanoes, the largest number in the world. —mikeyfish |
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Dusty TheHick |
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Tuesday, June 6, 2006 at 10:25 AM On second thought, anobody, maybe you meant the university, not the hospital. From 1994-2004, I lived about five blocks or so from the university. —Dusty TheHick |
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anobody |
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Tuesday, June 6, 2006 at 4:09 PM She'd be working for the medical center (I'm not sure if it's connected to the hospital or not but I think it's off the main campus). —anobody |
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anobody |
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Tuesday, June 6, 2006 at 5:53 PM - 13:06 06 June 2006
- NewScientist.com news service
- Tom Simonite
 The robot (shown on top of pig gut) modelled on a polychaete, or "paddle worm" (Image: BIOLOCH project) A robot designed to crawl through the human gut by mimicking the wriggling motion of an undersea worm has been developed by European scientists. It could one day help doctors diagnose disease by carrying tiny cameras through patients' bodies. The team behind the robot includes scientists from Italy, Germany, Greece and the UK. They modelled it on polychaetes, or "paddle worms", which use tiny paddles on their body segments to push through sand, mud or water. "We turned to biological inspiration because, in the peculiar environment of the gut, traditional forms of robotic locomotion don't work," says Arianna Menciassi, a roboticist from the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy. "Worms have locomotion systems suited to such unstructured, slippery environments." The team studied the way real worms use their paddles to crawl and developed computer models to simulate the motion. The Italian scientists then put together two prototype robots that move in the same way. Pig gutVideos show an early prototype crawling through a section of pig gut, and a recent version of the robot in a researcher's hand. Further clips show more complex prototypes, with multiple paddles and undulating bodies, wriggling over sand, to simulate the slippery conditions of the gut, and on a flat surface. Next, the researchers plan to develop a robot equipped with a camera and light source that can capture video footage as it travels. Doctors currently explore the gut using endoscopes, which have to be fed through the body, or "camera pills" that must be swallowed by a patient. A pill capable of wriggling through the gut on its own could be a valuable tool, says Andrew Gardner, an independent medical imaging expert at University College London. "Capsules can show you places nothing else can, but you can't stop or slow down when you get to a point of interest," he told New Scientist. Interesting crevice"Being able to have some control, perhaps even to turn around and go to look in a crevice that would otherwise be missed, would be very valuable." But Gardner says the system would need careful testing. "If something this complicated goes wrong, it could be very hard to get out." He believes it could take years of laboratory and animal testing before the robot is ready for clinical use. Menciassi agrees but says the project may have other pay-offs. It could, for example, help biologists to study animal locomotion. "The robots can be used to validate theories about how certain animals move," she says. —anobody |
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catloaf |
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Tuesday, June 6, 2006 at 6:16 PM You know I'm easily nauseated at this time, right? —catloaf |
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anobody |
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Tuesday, June 6, 2006 at 6:17 PM
Edited Tuesday, June 6, 2006 at 6:18 PM Sorry - I forgot :-| Whatever you do - don't watch the movies! —anobody |
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mikeyfish |
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Wednesday, June 7, 2006 at 3:29 PM Congress Increases Indecency Fines Tenfold WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress gave notice to broadcasters Wednesday that they will pay dearly for crossing the line with offensive material like Janet Jackson's 2004 Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction," passing legislation that would multiply indecency fines 10 times. The 379-35 House vote on the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act sends the bill to President Bush for his signature. The bill, which already passed the Senate, increases the top indecency fine the Federal Communications Commission can levy from $32,500 to $325,000 per incident. Bush said he looked forward to signing the legislation into law. "I believe that government has a responsibility to help strengthen families," he said in a statement. "This legislation will make television and radio more family friendly by allowing the FCC to impose stiffer fines on broadcasters who air obscene or indecent programming." "This is a victory for children and families," said Senate sponsor Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. The higher fines were needed, he said, "in a world saturated with violent and explicit media."
The measure, given impetus by Jackson's momentary exposure during the Super Bowl halftime show, was an election-year priority of conservative groups. The Parents Television Council, an aggressive critic of indecency on the public airwaves, praised Congress for listening to Americans "fed up with the sexually raunchy and gratuitously violent content that's broadcast over the public airwaves, particularly during hours when millions of children are in the viewing audience." Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., a chief supporter of the legislation in the House, said the tenfold increase in fines to get "the filth and triple-x smut off the public airwaves" was appropriate when a 30-second commercial aired during this year's Super Bowl cost $2.6 million, or $86,000 a second. The bill does not apply to cable or satellite broadcasts, which are not included in FCC rules on public broadcasts, and does not try to define what is indecent. The FCC recently denied a petition of reconsideration from CBS Corp.-owned stations facing $550,000 in fines over the Janet Jackson breast-revealing incident at the 2004 Super Bowl. Under FCC rules and federal law, radio stations and over-the-air television channels may not air obscene material at any time, and may not air indecent material between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. when children are more likely to be in the audience. The FCC says indecent material is that which contains sexual or excretory material that does not rise to the level of obscenity. The legislation, while facing little resistance in Congress, had detractors warning of problems in defining what is indecent and of the erosion of First Amendment rights. "What is at stake here is freedom of speech and whether it will be nibbled to death by election-minded politicians and self-righteous pietists," Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., said in a statement. He recalled how after the Super Bowl incident, numerous ABC affiliates refused to air the acclaimed war movie "Saving Private Ryan" because of its rough language. Jeremy Harris Lipschultz, School of Communication director at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said that while the heavy fines may have some short-term effects, broadcasters ultimately will go with edgy programs that audiences want. "Broadcasters are in the business of attracting audiences, so they are going to be under pressure to find the edge of that envelope." The National Association of Broadcasters said it would prefer to see the nation's 13,000 radio stations and 1,700 TV stations police themselves. "The NAB position is that we think responsible self-regulation is preferable to government regulation in areas of program content," spokesman Dennis Wharton said. Since the 2004 Super Bowl incident, many broadcasters have voluntarily policed their broadcasts through means such as five-second delays on live broadcasts. The legislation coming out of the Senate does not go as far as a bill sponsored by Upton that the House passed last year. That measure would have increased the maximum fine to $500,000, allowed fines for individual performers and given the FCC the authority to revoke the licenses of broadcasters fined three or more times. The FCC has also actively responded to the increase in complaints about lewd material over the airwaves, with total fines jumping from $440,000 in 2003 to almost $8 million in 2004. The agency recently handed down its biggest fine, $3.3 million, against more than 100 CBS affiliates that aired an episode of the series "Without a Trace" that simulated an orgy scene. That fine is now under review. —mikeyfish |
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smaller hands |
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Wednesday, June 7, 2006 at 3:36 PM
Edited Wednesday, June 7, 2006 at 3:38 PM I hate people who copy and paste articles. did you see what i did there mikeyfish? —smaller hands |
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anobody |
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Wednesday, June 7, 2006 at 7:44 PM Congress Increases Indecency Fines Tenfold Those darn mother fucking cock sucking ass hole whores! did you see what i did there mikeyfish? I see what you're doing, alright - trying to chip away at his self esteem until he looses his girlfriend and all hope and then, just when he's at the peak of his depression, you swoop in and scrape him off his knees. —anobody |
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anobody |
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Wednesday, June 7, 2006 at 8:59 PM From here. Judge orders lawyers to play game Acrimonious attorneys told to settle dispute by playing a round of 'rock, paper, scissors.' By Roger Parloff, FORTUNE senior writer June 7, 2006: 1:06 PM EDT
NEW YORK (FORTUNE) - Faced with the inability of two bickering attorneys to resolve even the most innocuous scheduling questions without his intervention, a Florida federal judge yesterday ordered the two to meet on the steps of the federal courthouse and resolve their latest quarrel by playing "one (1) game of 'rock, paper, scissors.' " (Read the ruling.) Judge Gregory A. Presnell of Orlando ordered the unusual measure, which he characterized as "a new form of alternative dispute resolution," after the two Tampa attorneys had proven unable to agree upon where to hold a deposition, even though both of their offices are just four floors away in the very same building in Tampa. Defense attorney D. Lee Craig, of Butler Pappas Weihmuller Katz Craig, proposed holding the deposition in his office, but plaintiffs' attorney David J. Pettinato of Merlin Law Group wanted it to take place at the court reporter's office down the street. The Solomonic ruling comes in an insurance dispute filed last September by Avista Management against Wausau Underwriters Insurance Co. Characterizing the disagreement as "the latest in a series of Gordian knots that the parties have been unable to untangle without enlisting the assistance of the federal courts," Judge Presnell ordered each attorney, "accompanied by one paralegal who shall act as an attendant and witness," to play the dispositive round of RPS on June 30. "The winner of this engagement shall be entitled to select the location of the . . . deposition," he ruled, so long as it was within Hillsborough County. In an interview, plaintiff's lawyer Pettinato says, "I'm going to comply with the court's order to the letter." Defense lawyer Craig did not respond to a phone message, while Judge Presnell, 63, who was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 2000, declined comment. 
—anobody |
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pookie |
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Thursday, June 8, 2006 at 2:40 PM Cheesesteak Restaurant Says 'Order In English' - Owner Is Grandson Of Immigrants PHILADELPHIA -- If you want a classic Philly cheesesteak from Geno's, you'd better know the lingo: English. The famous South Philadelphia cheesesteak joint has an English-only ordering policy that has thrust it into the nation's immigration debate. Geno's owner Joseph Vento, 66, has posted signs saying, "This is America, when ordering speak English." Vento himself is the grandson of immigrants who struggled with English after immigrating from Sicily. He said immigrants are "lucky" and ought to learn the language. Of course, in the South Philly neighborhood where greasy sandwiches rule, English is open to interpretation. It is, after all, the land of "yo" as a greeting and "youse" as a perfectly fine way to address someone next to you. Vento says his English-preferred policy has brought plenty of criticism and threats, but he's holding his ground. Vento also said his workers are happy to help non-native speakers and haven't turned anyone away. But the policy has irked some groups. Brad Baldia, director of development and outreach for Day Without An Immigrant, said the policy will probably drive some people to Pat's -- the iconic cheesesteak place right across the street from Geno's. Kathy Smith, a manager at Pat's, called the English-only policy "ridiculous" and said her shop welcomes people of all tongues. —pookie |
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plurry |
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Thursday, June 8, 2006 at 3:23 PM NO, NOT ALRIGHT! but in all seriousness, this quote is dead on... "immigrants are "lucky" and ought to learn the language." -Vento —plurry |
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mikeyfish |
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Thursday, June 8, 2006 at 5:55 PM
Edited Thursday, June 8, 2006 at 5:55 PM Coming soon: '24' the movie? LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- The real-time TV thriller "24" is headed to the big screen under a deal between movie studio 20th Century Fox and the show's producers, trade paper Daily Variety said Thursday. The Hollywood publication said no deals are in place with the cast, although star Keifer Sutherland -- an executive producer of the series -- has said he would like to reprise his role as sleep-deprived action hero Agent Jack Bauer in a feature version. However, the paper said the "24" movie would likely abandon the TV show's distinctive real-time conceit, meaning that all the murder and mayhem will no longer be squeezed into one day. A rough plot outline has been drafted, but no details have been disclosed, it said. Fox, a unit of News Corp., struck a deal with series creators Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow, who will write the script, and executive producer Howard Gordon, who will work on the story, Daily Variety said. The feature could potentially shoot next spring and summer during the hiatus between season six and a likely seventh season of "24." The critically acclaimed "24" series, which airs in the United States on News Corp.'s Fox Broadcasting unit, saw ratings improve by 14 percent for the just-wrapped fifth season, with nearly 14 million viewers tuning in every week, the paper said. —mikeyfish |
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anobody |
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Thursday, June 8, 2006 at 6:02 PM Speaking of 24 - I finally got the last disc from season 2 :D —anobody |
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pookie |
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Friday, June 9, 2006 at 1:26 AM First-ever cancer vaccine approved WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that it has approved the first vaccine designed to prevent cancer. The vaccine, Gardasil, blocks infection by two types of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which account for about 70% of cervical cancer cases. Gardasil also blocks infection by two other HPV types that cause about 90% of genital warts cases. Spread by skin-to-skin contact, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the USA. More than 90% of cases clear up on their own, but persistent infection with certain HPV types causes virtually all cervical cancers. HOW WILL IT BE USED?: Q&A on the vaccine Alex Azar, deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, called Gardasil "a major step forward in public health protection." Cervical cancer rates in the USA and other developed countries have plummeted since the introduction of the Pap test more than a half-century ago. But the disease is still the second-most-common malignancy and a leading cancer killer of women worldwide. "The real benefits of this are going to be cancer reduction globally, but, in the U.S., it's going to be its effects on abnormal Pap smears," Columbia University pathologist Thomas Wright said. Though fewer than 10,000 women in the USA will be diagnosed with cervical cancer this year, at least 600,000 will be found to have cervical pre-cancers, and about 60% of those are caused by the two cancer-causing HPV types targeted by Gardasil, Wright said. Abnormal Pap smears then lead to more tests and procedures. The FDA approved Gardasil for use in girls and women ages 9 through 26, the age group studied in clinical trials submitted by vaccine maker Merck. Some questions remain about the best age for immunization with Gardasil, although the consensus is that girls should be vaccinated before becoming sexually active. "The studies clearly show that once you've been infected, the vaccine will not prevent the ability of that virus to cause a cancer," said Jesse Goodman, who heads the FDA division that regulates vaccines. He added that vaccinated women will still need regular screenings for cervical cancer, because Gardasil does not protect against all cancer-causing HPV types. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will issue recommendations at the end of the month on who should get the Gardasil vaccine and when. Kelley Dougherty, a Merck spokeswoman, said the company expects to have the vaccine available within a month. It is given in three separate shots over a six-month period. Merck says it has priced Gardasil at $120 a shot. —pookie |
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