Faster than Ice Cream in July, Crazier than Tim Burton...

Crappy Idea

An Austrian politician has a novel idea for cracking down on people who don’t clean up after their dogs. A council member in Vienna proposes a DNA registry for dogs, so their droppings can be tested. The proposal isn’t likely to get very far. The governing Social Democrats have dismissed the idea, saying it would create a “police state.”

Dog Wash for Dog Days

At the “Pet Spa” at Pet World in Lakewood, Colo., dog owners load their pooches into the contraption, which looks like an industrial washing machine. Then comes a 20 minute drying cycle, usually much enjoyed by the now very clean pets.

Would this be able to accomodate smaller dogs? I'd hate to see a chihuahua get stuck in one of those.

Mr. Jinks
We only envy it because we wish we thought of it first. The full article is facinating.

Fed up with the mess created by kitty litter and inspired by the cat "Mr. Jinks" in the Hollywood film "Meet the Fockers," an Australian woman has invented a toilet training system for cats called the "Litter-Kwitter."

Ugly Ducklings
This is positively one of the cruelest things I've ever heard a news report on. I'm also galled they're trying to link this to Darwinism.

Canadian researchers have found that physical attractiveness affects how children are treated.The researchers found that 1.2 percent of the homely children were buckled into the shopping cart, compared with 13.3 percent of the prettiest ones. When a man was in charge of shopping, none of the unattractive children were strapped into the carts, while 12.5 percent of the cute children were.Less attractive children were also allowed to wander further away and were out of sight of their parents more often.

Merchandise America (TM)

Hottest sexiest looking MP3 player I've ever seen.
The ad I saw for it was a real eye-catcher. Since they came up with the blue alien concept- Sony has never had a problem with good advertising.

And This Proves that you just need to know the audience you are trying to speak to have sucess.

A London auction house sold last night Congo the chimpanzee's paintings for more then $25,000. The three paintings, which were made in 1957, had been estimated to fetch between $1200 - $1600, but the bidders increased the price to $26.000. Congo the chimpanzee's, born in 1954, made more then 400 drawings and paintings and died in 1964 of tuberculosis.

Featured in 101 ways to spend $100

“My wife, Chika, and I made a hobby of eating and drinking around the world,” says Don Tillman. “We decided to open a restaurant dedicated to special desserts.” The result is the 400-square-foot ChikaLicious in New York City. (Chika is the chef; Don runs the front of the house.) Other dessert-only restaurants are sprouting up everywhere.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8282160/

NEW YORK - Spin magazine named Radiohead’s “OK Computer” the top album of the past 20 years, praising a futuristic sound that manages to feel alive “even when its words are spoken by a robot.”

--It certainly isn't their last album, Hail to the Thief- ugh that was wretched. Wish I could find this list on the web- without subscribing to Spin.

MSNBC Article

"People ask me, 'What were you thinking while you stood there waiting for them to announce the winner?'" Bice says.
The answer?
"Please, God, don't let me win this thing."

-- Baffling sentiment to still compete to the end when he didn't want it... but hey I forgive him, he's cute.

Tech and Eats

First, the eats.

I spotted an article claiming a book with an amusing story and premise... of a French by the name of Mireille Guiliano. She says that in the 1950s she was an exchange student to America and gained over 20 lbs, sparking even more weight gain and distress upon her return to her homeland. "French Women Don't Get Fat" I say that's a big crock of bull, but I put one of the MANY copies that the library has available on hold for my giggling pleasure.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8203257/

Depression is the leading cause of poor nutrition, experts say, and should be treated. “They [My parents] started out with a great breakfast, but as the day wore on, they’d eat very little, half a sandwich, half a banana, a glass of milk. They were not eating healthy,” says a concerend daughter. Some older adults live on toast, cereal and other foods that require minimal preparation, but such a simple diet puts them at risk of anemia. Many older adults limit themselves to the easily unwrapped, eaten and digested banana, but it lacks the nutrition of other fruits, Moores said.

Facinating, this also may be the reasoning behind the 'pickiness' of many teenaged diets.

Now for Tech-

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7679912/

Standard RCA TV
They [RCA] were showing off their 27-inch 27V514T standard-definition digital TV set. It has a 4:3 ratio 27-inch picture tube...has a digital tuner.
The same TV set with an analog tuner was placed right next to it...same indoor antenna...same over-the-air TV station – one picking up the analog signal the other locked into the digital. The analog set’s picture was ...ghosts, snow and noise. The digital set was pretty great. RCA calls it DVD quality...suggested retail price will be under $300. ...New offerings from Sennheiser, including the new lightweight, affordable and ‘over-the-ear’ HD201 ($24.95)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5695964/ - A very interesting HDTV $695 that is picture tube, not LCD or plasma. Hence the greater affordability. Since we couldn't keep the ATI HDTV All-In-Wonder card, this might be a good idea later on.

Interesting Speakers - Art
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7077765/

Single driver speakers need time to break in. At least a day... to get used to the temperature in the room and then 100-200 hours of playing music to get them sounding just right.
I’d like to tell you that the Abbys reproduce deep bass and ultra-high treble sounds... they don’t— but they come real close. I’d like to say they sound like what many people think were the greatest speakers ever made — Quad ESL-57s... Abbys can make voices and instruments sound real... absolutely addictive. Even though they won’t reproduce the lowest bass notes (Cain sells a matching subwoofer for just that purpose), Abbys sound truly seductive.

Take a look, the speakers are really beautiful if nothing else- hefty tag of $1500.

Further Art
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8203597/

In his lifetime Leonardo completed only 12 paintings, and the possibility of discovering a lost work is sending a ripple through the art world. Even if only fragments of the painting are found it would be the greatest discovery in art in 100 years. The challenge is how to reach what could be da Vinci’s fresco without damaging the existing murals. The work may have been destroyed, painted over or hidden for [wartime] safety. But it was da Vinci’s largest and possibly most important work.
"We know he painted it, we know he had problems with it," says Karl Sabbagh of the Kalpa Group, which finances Seracini's research. "The paint dripped, it didn't dry properly, and so on."

I'm Glad the Internet News is Free-

because some of the stuff I read isn't worth five cents.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8118123/

WASHINGTON - Federal authorities may prosecute sick people whose doctors prescribe marijuana to ease pain, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, concluding that state laws don’t protect users from a federal ban on the drug.

It makes so much sense to allow something in a state law and to have it illegal in federal law. California has ruled medicinal MJ for a few years and this is only just now being handed down. I personally am not in favor of recreational drug use- perscription or otherwise. Its bad enough we get chemicals in our over processed food, I don't see the need to flood our bodies with more drugs to satisfy an itch.

But medicinally, there isn't any difference between marijuana vicodin adderal or any of the hundreds of other pain treating medicines there are. At least the medicinal marijuana is purer, and the intent is to treat pain- not to get high.

I have sympathy for people undergoing chemo-therapy, degenerative diseases, and various forms of paralysis. I lost my father to cancer in less than half a year after diagnosis. Its very difficult and painful.

I worked in a pharmacy for a time as a technician, and I got to see everything from people with legitimate problems and were treating them to the best of their ability so they could live their lives. But then I did see some fewer people that dependancy had dropped in on their conditions, and they were satisfying the addiction rather than the cause- and they knew it. The worst were the fewer, angrier ones that had no real legitimate need for the drug and had a doctor givng them paper rather than rehab.

The ones I felt the most sorry for, were the ones who were going to the 'doper doctors'. The patients honestly trying to find a diagnosis/cure for their condition, and the doctors would have them on 6+ drugs. I felt like crying when we'd have drugs in plastic bags-because they wouldn't fit in the larger paper perscription sacks. And they'd be such nice people too.
I wish them well, and all the strength angels can give them.

Haven't Seen This Much ___ Since...

White Stripe Wedding

A statement reads: "Karen Elson and Jack White were married yesterday (June 1) on the confluence of three rivers - the Rio Negro, the Solimones and the Amazon - by a traditional shaman priest on a canoe at the exact point where the three rivers met.

When White goes weird he doens't do things by half does he? Good luck, Jack.


Denial isn't a body of water.

Lohan has dismissed eating disorder whispers, attributing her skin-and-bones bod to a loss of "baby fat," and she tells the magazine she "feels good" about her new figure because "you can fit into more things."
"... Compared to a lot of actresses my age, I'm actually overweight," the alarmingly slimmed-down teen queen tells Teen Vogue. "There are so many really, really thin girls out there."
"At the time, I was going out every night because my friends were and I thought if I wasn't going out then I was going to miss out on something," the world-weary actress explains.

A hit I'd think.

and to lead in to Herbie: Fully Loaded

Tales of trouble on the set, as Lohan allegedly called in sick on some days, dogged the production.

I think she's doing meth.

ooh and to back that up -

"Lindsay, who's currently wrapping filming on "Just My Luck" in New Orleans, also 'fesses up to some experimentation, but claims she "hated" pot and "never tried cocaine" because "I've seen my father; I've seen how it messes with families, and, you know, it [bleeps] your life up.""

At what point was smoking in the john a good idea?

A man who says he was severely burned when a portable toilet exploded after he sat down and lit a cigarette is suing a general contractor and a coal company, accusing them of negligence.

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Writer's block is your friend. It's your unconscious mind telling you that what you just wrote or are about to write is wrong—you don't believe in it or care about it, and so you can't stand the thought of writing it. Go back and reinvent the story, which may involve throwing out everything you've written up to now.

Finish the story and mail it out. Get it out of the house. After a couple of days, unmailed manuscripts start to smell and keep you from writing anything else.

---Orson Scott Card

While some people are sensitive to foods themselves, others get headaches from food additives like monosodium glutamate (MSG), an amino acid salt used for flavor and preservation, and aspartame, an artificial sweetener.

http://managingmigraines.msn.com/article.aspx?aid=14>1=6528

Well, finally a little exposure on the matter. I'm surprised even that much was published. Bloody food additive market has a lot of lobbyists that hush up this kind of thing.

More in the duh department...

But children must have access to tasty, healthy choices, stressed Van Horn: If only hot dogs are served at the baseball game, that’s what they’ll eat. Noses turn up when the only choice at the school lunch program is mushy beans.
Still, neither group ate enough fruits or vegetables, and the high amount of daily snacking and pizza was stunning, said Van Horn.
One key: Don’t forbid the foods that children find yummy, but teach balance — that there are “go foods” for every day, “slow foods” for a few times a week, and “whoa foods” to eat only once in a while.
For example, eating a healthy breakfast is important for staying fit. Unsweetened whole-grain cereal, like oatmeal, is a go-food choice. Prefer waffles or pancakes? Those are “slow foods,” perhaps for the weekend. Croissants, doughnuts or sweetened breakfast cereals are whoa foods, maybe for a holiday or vacation treat.

WHERE ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE COMING FROM?!?