More Religion to ponder for the weekend

Just a quick dump of religion news before I sign off for the next few days. I'll be in Chicago for the Thanksgiving holiday, so hopefully I'll come back with another nice photo essay.

- First, the Kansas church responsible for picketing funerals apparently is about $10 million short of the $11 million they owe in punitive damages.

- And, if that wasn't enough fun, here is BeliefNet Blog's list of the top 10 most controversial religious films. Add some to the list in the comments section if you can think of any.

Happy Weekend! Go Dawgs!

Exposing the Youth Vote

As our stock election photo implies, every election, the Democrats swear up and down that "this is the year the youth vote will matter." And every election, the youth vote doesn't turn out, predictably because college kids just don't really care about voting, just about comparing their parents' politics.

With reference to this, here's an interesting piece about different things for which NYU students would trade their vote. At one of the most supposedly sophisticated universities in the nation, not many of these kids really seems to care about the ramifications of their vote.

I don't really see anything surprising here; as many of the kids rationalize, New York probably will always vote Democrat, just as Georgia will vote Republican for the whole of forever. But it just provides another example of the party leaders understanding very little, if not nothing, about their supposed contingencies.

Happy Holidays from The Pasty Quail!

A great Google Trends graph.

Find your own fun set of Google Trends, and feel free to post them to the comments.

Bloggers Take Charge, Identify Adults Unnamed in Teenage Suicide

Steve "Pokin Around" Pokin, reporter for the St. Charles and owner of a great nickname, wrote this sad story earlier this week. In short, a 13 year old girl named Megan Meier committed suicide after a friend she had met throughMySpace, a good-looking boy named Josh Evans, turned on her and began sending her cruel messages.

As it turns out, Josh Evans was not real, but was in fact the creation of the parents of a former friend of Megan's. They were apparently miffed that Megan decided to end her "lightswitch" friendship with their daughter. A sordid tale, indeed.

In his article, Steve "Pokin Around" Pokin chose not to name the adults who created the false MySpace page, but since then, Bloggin' the Suburbs has released the names of the people responsible. Wired has also picked up the trail.

Many commenters on all three of the articles have called for legal action against the parents who made the MySpace page, and indeed, perhaps such an action would help to assuage the grief felt by Megan's parents (who have since divorced); it remains a question what sort of claim the Meier's could bring (Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress sounds like the strongest, but those claims are notoriously difficult for plaintiff's to win; Wrongful Death would be a long shot here), or if any criminal remedy is available(nothing comes to mind here). The Meier family has repeatedly denounced any intention to file a civil lawsuit, and the authorities have been able to come up with an criminal charges that fit these actions.

In sum: Here's a tragic story, with no highlights or "feel good" moments, and no closure whatsoever.

Happy Friday!

Newsflash! New Windows Office Software Gobbles Memory, Cripples Processor Performance

In a move no-one who has completely ignored the last 20 years of computer development could have forseen, the new version of Microsoft Office is a beast. This article is great, and explains the entire timeline of the evolution of Office from 2000 'til today.

Bring on the tech nerd jokes, but for real: I am 2 sets of finals away from never having to use ExamSoft again. And when that day comes, believe you me, Vista will be blown off this machine so fast that Bill Gates won't even have time to sneeze out a $100 bill.

We Got Your Music!

* Rcrd Lbl is a self described "network of ad-supported online record labels and blogs offering completely free music streams and downloads from emerging and established artists." Basically, Rcrd Lbl offers free downloads from artists ranging from Bloc Party to Mos Def and makes money off the advertising. Is this the new model for record "sales?" The Wall Street Journal tells us how it is, while the board of the RIAA has a heart attack. That never gets old.

* Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Canadian heir to the Seagrams fortune and former song-writer turned Chairman\CEO of Warner Music Group, does the unthinkable...he publicly admits that maybe the recording industry is to blame for the rise of p2p networks.

* And Maclean's tells us why the Canadian government's tax on MP3s is a poor plan.

Religion and the Pakistani Government

In an attempt to cover religious news that doesn't in some way reflect American Christianity, here's a take on the Pakistani conflict from a religious perspective.

Briefly, the article explains:

"A helpful way to [recognize religion's role in the Pakistani political situation] would be to compare Pakistan and other Middle Eastern countries dominated by Muslim politics. Some are comparing the situation in Pakistan to the pre-revolution situation in Iran. But how does the presence of the highly professional military in Pakistan negate that factor, and what does religion have to do with it?

Another significant religion ghost that could receive more attention concerns former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. What is the religious significance that the opposition leader in an Islamic country is a woman? What does that tell us about the way Islam is taught and applied in the country?"

It shall be interesting to see how this all plays out, and by interesting, I mean we'll see how long it takes before full-scale theocratic war erupts. From a selfish standpoint, I hope we don't get caught in the middle of a religious war that we shouldn't be a part of, but it looks like it might already be too late for that.

Religion and the Election Friday!

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, the Catholics are at an impasse with regards to which side to vote for in the 2008 Election. Here, Gary Stern outlines the Church's "voting guide", reiterating the fact that the Catholics are VERY conservative on say, the abortion issue, but lean very liberal on many other social issues, such as immigration.

Again, then, as I mentioned Tuesday in a post about Sam Brownback, politicians pushing religious agenda probably would do well to recognize that strict adherence to doctrinal belief does not align with doctrinal adherence along party lines.

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With respect to the immigration issue, here's Jim Wallis' take on it from his Christian perspective.

From the article: "This immigration policy question is for us as people of faith the 'welcoming the stranger' question. . . The way we talk about people is off course. Fear and anger dominate the conversation, not a civil discussion about the legitimate issues involved."

That is only a brief summary of his discussion, which explains how yes, there are fundamental legal issues at stake with regards to immigration, but by being disallowed by law (as people are in Oklahoma, now, according to Wallis) to aid illegal immigrants medically, he says, impedes his right to be a Christian steward.

As a legal American citizen, he should have the freedom to welcome a stranger into his home (or homeland, as the case may be). A sticky issue, surely, but I think it represents the fact that not all Christians fall further to the right than Barry Goldwater.

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Finally, on Slate's blog, a conversation began by questioning the state of the "Jewish" vote, which was illuminated as being about as definable as the "Christian" vote.

Basically, you can’t pigeon-hole all the people in one religion to one party. In my opinion, that's probably because the "parties" don’t really represent "anyone."



I know this is a topic I've harped on strongly for the past couple weeks, but since no one has contested me on it, I'm sure I'll continue rambling as such. I find it very interesting that the leading political candidates are trying their best to pander to the religious contingency, but can't quite figure out exactly what these voters want. Again, it's probably a matter of the fact that each voter is unique, and a dichotomy between a turd and a douche simply doesn't fit most people anymore — or maybe it never did, but at least people are more willing to say it now.

Maybe this can be a wake-up call to politicians that they should actually try to do what's best for a country of 300 million people instead of waffling around and not accomplishing anything. You're not always going to be popular when you're charged with a job like that, and the people will speak if you screw it up too badly. Why not try a new strategy as opposed to taking on a ridiculously dated campaign method?

The Foxy Side of FOX News

Someone out there has been watching a lot of FOX news and has noticed tons of T 'n A.

There is an interesting side story here: Digg, a link aggregating service, removed the story saying that it violated Digg's Terms of Use by displaying "Adult Content".

A Slate Extravaganza with Snoopy and Black Metal

Now that my Internet reading has expanded vastly, sometimes I'll forget about Slate for a couple weeks. Yet, the magazine still remains, in my opinion, one of the best web literature out there, so when I inevitably take a couple hours to peruse its archives, several good pieces will pop out. Anyhow, from my glorious Slate experience last night, here are two of the highlights:

- A slide-show essay on Charles M. Schulz, creator of Peanuts. Sorry the link doesn't go directly to the essay, but there are two places to click on the page.

It's well worth a read, and throws in a bunch of good Peanuts comics to boot. Snoopy was always my favorite growing up.





- Second, we have a surprisingly informative piece on Black Metal, and how the genre went from Devil worship to revering the Norse culture and becoming environmentalists.

The funny part about this is that the Black Metal bands remained counterculture but shifted their focus more benevolently; yet, at the same time, no one could never understand the lyrics anyway. Regardless, I found this to be a riveting read.

Atlanta Public Schools Are on the Rise

The Atlanta Public School system has been the punch line of many jokes around here for years. For good reason, too; for as long as I can remember, the schools have consistently produced sub-standard educational experiences for their students. It has not been uncommon for people on the north-side of the city (those who can afford to get their kids out of the system) to opt to send their children to a private school south of the airport instead of the city school down the street.

However, it appears that the system has finally turned a corner. The AJC is reporting that national standardized test scores have improved dramatically, and are nearing state and national average levels. From the article:

"The increases in Atlanta's reading and math scores ... are not only record setting, but inspirational," Michael Casserly, executive director of The Council of Great City Schools, said in a press release. "Atlanta takes the lead once again in showing urban schools across the country what is possible."

Certainly, there are many factors outside of the control of the school system and the city that have contributed to the rising scores; for this reason, we should be careful to not extend too much praise, too quickly. Nonetheless, I would like to congratulate the APS for a job well done. Be sure to keep it up.

An insider's perspective on "The Church Business"

Recently, I've been posting heavily on Senator Charles Grassley's (R-Iowa) recent inquiry into several major religious figures across the country.

The latest update is here, which outlines the specific points that Grassley will focus on in his investigation:

“Ken Behr, president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, told Church Executive, a business magazine for larger and mega churches, that Senator Chuck Grassley is likely to probe into concerns over excessive compensation, income unrelated to the business purpose of the ministries, and perks or what is known as ‘excessive benefit transactions.’”

And now, as a Pasty Quail exclusive, a friend of Greg's has had some personal experience with one of the pastors in question, Bishop Eddie Long from Lithonia, Ga. (pictured here)


Following is Matt Tripp's account of Long's persona, which, after reading the story, you'll agree is literally larger than life:

"Your commentary regarding the business of church reminded me of my personal experiences with "Bishop" Eddie Long. Short version: The dude is a crook, flat out. Before law school, I worked at Preferred Jet Center at McCollum Field in Kennesaw. Long's salary, house and cars made the news. What the AJC didn't tell you about was Long's airplane. He has a Gulfstream II hangared at PJC. What does a pastor need a jet capable of flying internationally for? Well, he purportedly has a "ministry" in the Bahamas. Conversations with the flight crew, however, revealed these were more vacations than "mission trips." I've attached a picture of his airplane...note the New Birth logo on the tail.


A couple of oddities about Long:

1. Long requires his flight crews to be completely African-American. Now, one can hire whomever one wants as an employee, that's fine. But his aircraft is managed by a charter company, who provides the flight crews. As a result, they have to juggle their crew schedule to make sure his plane always has black pilots when he's using it.

2. In addition to my fueling and towing responsibilities as a lineman, part of my duties at Preferred were to load luggage, valet cars, etc. Not in the case of Long. We were the "invisible help" when he was around. We were not to touch anything belonging to Long such as his luggage and his personal vehicles. Nor were we to approach Long or speak to him. He is the only client I have ever had who a rule forbidding us to talk to him. I've spoken to Steve Spurrier, Sylvester Croom, Tommy Tuberville, numerous CEOs, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, Burt Reynolds, Toby Keith, Alan Jackson, and even Mariah Carey. All were more approachable than this supposed man of God. He even has a security detail. Really, the only other person that ever came into PJC with a similar level of security was Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

3. Speaking of the car, I never saw the Bentley. Whenever he came to the airport, he always arrived in a DUB Chrysler 300C Hemi. Long required that his vehicle be kept in the hanger and not in the long-term parking lot. PJC's insurance forbids vehicles inside the hangar (in order to prevent damage to aircraft). Yet Long's vehicle was always accommodated (only one specific employee of the charter company was permitted to drive it...this proved to be a bit problematic when we had to move it to rearrange aircraft and this employee wasn't at work). The kicker is, Long is the only person who ever requested hangar space for his vehicle. PJC's long-term parking lot routinely had Range Rovers, Maseratis, Ferraris, Porsches, BMWs and Mercedes stored in it...but his POS Chrysler had to be kept inside. Go figure."

Pretty intense stuff. Many, many thanks to Matt for his readership and his willingness to disclose this important information with regards to this story.

Mitt Romney's Mormon Mission to France

Today, the New York Times has an article about Mitt Romney's Mormon mission to France in 1968, and the deep impact that his time there had on his life. While there, Romney observed the break down of traditional French society and an emergence of younger and more progressive generations. Also, he missed the same (although less extreme) changes in American culture. From the article:

"There had been this whole revolution while we were gone,” recalled Dane McBride, a close friend from the mission. “While we had gone from being adolescents to grown-ups with a lot of responsibility, our peers — from our perspective — were just tearing down the country, becoming dangerously childish.” He added, “It just seemed deplorable."

Take a look at the article, its a very interesting read.

Robot Guitars on the Way!!

Not content to simply dominate our manufacturing sector and home vacuuming needs, robots are now moving into the sacred realm of music.

Gibson Guitar is launching the Les Paul Robot Guitar in January of 2008. The guitar will be able to keep itself in tune even when the strings are changed. The cost? $2500.

Email Goes the Way of Regular Mail

Slate has a piece today about the death of email. It appears that Facebook messages and Instant Messaging are driving Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail into the ground; Google seems (again) to be ahead of the curve with an integrated IM/Email client that operates within a browser, but that advantage may not last forever.

Santa the latest on the P.C. censorship list

Australian Santa Clauses are getting briefed this year on ways they can possibly corrupt children, and one of the chief problems, so it's said, is his use of the phrase "ho ho ho".

As the term "ho" is a derogatory slight toward prostitutes, Santas in Sydney have been instructed to say "ha ha ha" as an alternative in an attempt to be less offensive. My favorite quote from the article, uttered by Julie Gale, "who runs the campaign against sexualising children called Kids Free 2B Kids":

"Leave Santa alone."

Seriously. Dude has been "ho-ing" for years.

Presidential Candidates looking. . . competent?

I haven't heard too much about Ron Paul, save his record-setting fundraising on Guy Fawkes' Day, but he actually seems like a viable candidate.

Of course, he's not likely to be nominated, but the AP reports on his unconventional politics, showing that there's at least one person in the race who actually is trying to utilize the system for something other than perpetuating the way it already is.

In other words, Paul is actually trying to sell himself by — get this — promoting his own beliefs as opposed to trying to pander to everyone.

From the article: "Paul remains a very long shot for the nomination. But as the only Republican candidate backing a prompt troop withdrawal from Iraq - and an airing of possible impeachment charges against Vice President Dick Cheney - he appeals to a mix of liberals and conservatives who feel alienated and deeply distrustful of the government."

He really should run as an independent; I could see him going all Perot on us. They even kind of look alike.

God makes it rain, has a little chuckle

In response to Sonny Perdue's call to pray for rain, God sent some precipitous storms toward the Southeast, providing up to an inch in some places.

As Yahoo! News reports, though, some of these storms were quite severe, damaging property and injuring several in Tennessee. Looks like God's having a little ironic moment to himself, but in the long run, we can use all the rain we can get.

An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything

The physics world is on its ear this week, following the news that a PhD. physicist who is outside the academic establishment has published a simple, elegant Unified Theory of Everything.

Of course, many great discoveries have come from scientists outside the establishment. In the words of Pete Venkman: "Einstein did his best work as a patent clerk." The Unified Theory of Everything was Einstein's dream; it was what he worked towards until his death in 1955.

The paper is available as a PDF here, and I can't claim to understand what he wrote. But after reading what people have said about it, here's what I've got so far: Lisi used a geometric mathematical pattern made up of 248 interconnected points, called E8, to map out the relation between all 228 known particles and 20 predicted particles. Work is underway to determine the predicted characteristics of the 20 predicted new particles. The Large Hadron Collider may be able to test for these particles as soon as it comes online next year.

If this thing holds up, it could be the biggest discovery in particle physics since Relativity; a Unified Theory of Everything based on 1 dimension of time and 3 dimensions of space could fundamentally alter the way that we understand the Universe, much as relativity changed the way we understand gravity.

Yesterday's Headlines, Today

I didn't get a chance to post these yesterday:

- 25 of the more interesting recent trends in what people are looking for on Google.
- The WGA strike hits FOX, and they do just what you would expect: Hire scabs.
- Solar Panels on a roll?
- It rained here in Athens last night; that brings us up to "trace" for the month-to-date.

Enjoy. I'll get to some real posting later on.

Does having sex at a younger age contribute to delinquency?

According to a new University of Virginia study, results are actually to the contrary.

Under the pretense that having sex at a young age led to subversive behavior, "abstinence education" made its way into our schools, providing yet another reason why ignoring issues probably doesn't make them better. For example, I wonder if in these original studies finding that teen sex did lead to "negative" actions took into account the fact that some of these children (who were not taught about safe sex but only not to have it) had kids of their own, and then to clothe and feed them, had to resort to illegal or "delinquent" activities to do so.

I can't say for sure, but all I know is that this Washington Post article refers to "all other things being equal" in the original studies. Personally, I'm not sure all other things can be equal, because many factors contribute to a person's behavior. Responsible young adults can engage in responsible sex, but it would probably help if they were taught to do so.

The new UVA study focused on identical twins, who, for all other practical purposes, would have "all other things equal." In the end, these results are not terribly conclusive either; however, that doesn't preclude the fact that we should teach our children about safe sex instead of avoiding the situation all together.

Romney spends subtle amounts of money on television advertising

In the Pasty Quail spirit of updating previously reported news, Mitt Romney is spending $85,000 a day on TV ads, putting his total to $10.2 million at this point.

I reported a story on how much would be spent for the election, and it looks like that figure should be no problem.

Maybe I'm just not watching enough TV, or the right channels, but I haven't seen any Romney ads. I guess they're focusing more in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, but I want in on this action too. There's going to be nothing better than a bunch of ads showing Hillary in devil horns.

The Seemingly Never-Ending Battle Between Science and Creationism

Following major political and legal defeats (see here, here, and here) around the country, creationism (i.e., intelligent design) is making a small comeback (doesn't it always). Salon has an article on the new approach of the intelligent design crowd. From the article:

"We want to teach more about evolution," says Discovery Institute's Casey Luskin, "not less." The "more" they want to teach, of course, is what they see as evolution's shortcomings, leaving an ecological niche that will then be filled by intelligent design."

I find it interesting that the intelligent design movement continues to adapt as the political and legal systems shut down each attempt to teach it in lieu (or alongside) of actual science. Its almost as if they are practicing a science of their own. Well, except that they refuse to acknowledge the work of others that has produced overwhelming evidence against their claims.

More (Bad) Financial News

Sorry to keep bringing up bad news on the economy, but there isn't much good to report these days. Unsurprisingly, there has been more fallout from the collapse of the subprime credit market.

CNNMoney is reporting that Bear Stearns, a New York-based financial firm, will devalue its subprime market assets by $1.2 Billion and subsequently show a loss for the third quarter of this year. Additionally, Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest lender, has stated that reducing subprime its lending operations has played a major role in a 48% drop in loan origination for October.

Although these statements are evidence that the worst is yet to come for the economy, it is a good sign that the big financial firms are attempting to right the ship, own up to the flaws in the system, and lay the ground work for a stronger market in the future.

A Georgia-Themed News Dump (Thanks AJC!)

- An East Cobb County homeowner has been identified as the largest user of water in the system; consumed over 440,000 gallons in October. (AJC)
- Dekalb County will continue to allow bars to remain open until 4am (AJC)
- The slowing real estate market has claimed a high profile victim in Midtown (AJC)
- South Carolina and Georgia will join forces to build a new port on the Savannah River (AJC)
- Some Athens residents are going to great lengths to conserve water these days (AJC)

The Black Market Candy Trade

Reason Magazine posts an amusing story from Boulder, CO about a high school student and his thriving black market candy business at his school where the sweet stuff has been banned. From the post:

"I offered to help him buy the product, if he would pay me back,” Richard said. “We sat down and did the math. He was getting 90 in a box that cost about $12 dollars. Based on what he was able to sell an AirHead for, he was getting a 900 percent profit — almost a tenfold markup. That seemed like a pretty good enterprise. He was clearing at least $150 a week in profit."

Back to bad financial news

Even though the stock market rose and oil prices fell yesterday, it appears that gas prices are going to skyrocket in the next few weeks.

The title of this article notwithstanding (who puts the colon at the end of a headline??), warning people about gasoline spikes is really kind of useless. We're going to be paying for it either way, but at least we'll be prepared for it. Just don't be "that guy" who rushes to the gas station to fill up before prices rise 20 cents. You're still going to have to get gas in two weeks.

RED ALERT!!

NEWSFLASH!! A recent lecture on the UNC-Charlotte campus was littered with — that's right — COMMUNISTS! The speaker, Mike S. Adams, addresses his humble apologies to the crowd for those crazy reds.

Now, I wasn't at the lecture, so I don't know to what extent these kids were really invoking Communism, but is this even relevant anymore? Is it 1954? Luckily, at the very end of the speaker's "apology," he remembers to mention the true enemy of the day:

"And, finally, I am sorry that the money I made giving my speech at UNC-C was spent on expanding a firearms collection that will help ensure that the Adams household will not soon be overtaken by un-bathed hippy communists who seek to re-establish the world’s most vile and murderous ideology with the possible exception of radical Islam.

I am sorry if any Islamic Jihadists were offended by the previous run-on sentence. I was just trying to avoid using any sentence fragments that might make this apology sound sarcastic. I really mean that. Seriously. I do."

Good job, man. If you're sarcastic, as least you're somewhat humorous. If not. . .

Should Facebook allow inflammatory groups?

Yesterday, I picked up a story regarding young Muslims' appropriate offense to hate groups targeting Islam on Facebook. In response, many of these people are starting counter-groups, some are quitting Facebook all together, and others are petitioning the site to ax these groups by threatening to quit.

From the article: "[Aya] Fouad [a young Muslim girl from Cairo, Egypt], decided to create her own group — a petition threatening to quit Facebook if the anti-Islam group is not removed. In three days, the group’s membership was more than 2,000. 'People multiplied dramatically overnight,' Fouad said. 'I thought, "There’s a point in what I’m saying."'

At last count, her group had more than 76,000 members."

On the other hand, some are using Facebook to further education about Islam instead of firing back. In fact, Soheal Malik, a law student from England, took over one of the abandoned hate groups and is running it as a forum to discuss Islam.

"'People are going to join thinking it’s the same group. Maybe they’ll be exposed to some information,' Malik said. 'It would be good a thing to get people talking instead of fighting.'"

Either way, this situation is a slippery slope for Facebook, which declined comment regarding the topic. Though hate speech is explicitly banned in the site's terms of use (which are pretty damn lengthy), banning free speech is going to be a tough nut to crack.

A chief concern is that "angry and emotional exchanges could inflame users, tempting them to take their frustrations into the outside world," but I don't see how this kind of speech is any different than living in the everyday world. Should Facebook be responsible to protect people from each other?

The easy answer is no, because it's simply there to provide a site for social networking. However, if an incident does occur because of something that started on Facebook, the site could be held publicly responsible (even though not legally).

In the end, I don't really see these groups as a bad thing. Of course blind hatred of anyone is terrible, but it's also a reality. By seeing something in this forum, maybe, like Malik has done above, the hate speech can be used against itself to grow greater awareness of the idiocy these bigots project. Instead of firing back maliciously, turn the situation into a positive and educate people on the subject.

This is the advantage of free speech; it, initially, doesn't do any harm. Before violence occurs, it is always possible to engage in discourse. Unfortunately not enough people understand this concept. Diminishing speech rights leads to less compromise, more fear, and ultimately more hatred because people don't allow themselves to understand each other. By not being able to speak about how they feel, their conflict is never resolved.

We need to stop pretending hate and racism don't exist and actually start working on addressing them. Facebook is a nice little microcosm of the modern generation; why not start there?

Pope to Visit U.S.; other really important news I forgot to cover

Pope Benedict XVI plans to visit the United States next April, which will mark his first trip here during his pontificate.

Among his stops will be Washington D.C. and New York, and his activities will include conducting Mass at both the new Washington Nationals stadium as well as Yankee Stadium, an address to the U.N., and a visit to Ground Zero. Pope John Paul II, God rest his soul, visited the U.S. seven times during his tenure as the Church's leading man.


In other related news, and in one of the most glaring oversights in The Pasty Quail's history, I included ABSOLUTELY NO COVERAGE on the Dalai Lama's visit to Emory University and Atlanta from October 20-22. As the Quail's de facto religion correspondent, I am embarrassed and ashamed. My only excuse is that I was taking comprehensive exams for my Masters' that week and it just slipped by me. Although, that's not true, because I knew plenty of people that went to see him, and I just dropped the ball.

Though this is a feigned attempt at redemption, here are a bunch of links that chronicle the man's brief visit to Emory:

- Here are a couple videos from Emory of his speeches (RealPlayer), and here is the official site regarding his honorary professorship at the University.

- Further, here are two news stories that I could have posted those four weeks ago, but didn't; one from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before his visit, and one from the AP afterward.

I know it's already too late, and I missed the boat, but if you didn't know this happened or didn't look into it, there was a pretty huge event for him. Though I didn't attend, I heard he was very jovial — even funny at times — and overall a riveting speaker. I wonder if Pope Benedict will invoke the same pleasurable reaction from his crowds.

More on the WGA Strike

Here is a handy list that outlines just how many episodes are left before your favorite show is forced into reruns.

Also, in related news, pmarca.com has an excellent run-down on the strike and the potential ramifications. Be sure to take a look at his vision of the future where hundreds of new media companies spring up in the wake of Hollywood's implosion. Sounds great to me!

For more on Hollywood's impending downfall, take a look at the International Herald Tribune's piece on a report that movies are no longer profitable.

Getting high on sewage gas apparently not as cool as once thought

To my dismay, it appears that the news I broke a couple weeks ago regarding Jenkem, a drug made from the gas of human sewage, turned out to be a hoax.

Greg got a tip on this from a random source, and suggested I check out Snopes.com for the lowdown, which is reproduced here. Though it is possible that Jenkem exists, the police report in Collier County, Florida, that I posted was based on "schoolyard chat," which, clearly, is always a reliable source.

Why am I disappointed that kids in Florida are not inhaling excrement?

Heeeey, some good financial news! Wal-Mart aides first stock market rise in 4 days

Several major stocks — including Wal-Mart, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and The Home Depot — rose today, putting Wall Street back in the economy's good graces for at least an evening.

From the article, which can articulate and present financial news much better than I can:

"Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, reported third-quarter profit surpassed projections and hinted that consumer spending might be stronger than anticipated this holiday shopping season. The results also showed that heavy discounting during the period did not hurt margins, which the company said bodes well for the fourth quarter.

A sharp pullback in energy prices also encouraged Wall Street. Oil prices plummeted after the International Energy Agency reduced its expectations for demand in the fourth quarter and next year and said crude supplies are growing. Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell $3.45 to settle at $91.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow rose 319.54, or 2.46 percent, to 13,307.09."

That's all I got, but the holiday season should bring some light to the current economic downslide, so that might be good as well.

Cyclone Sidr heads into Bay of Bengal

Apparently one of the most destructive places on Earth for a cyclone (better known as a hurricane to us Western Hemisphere-ites) to develop is in the Bay of Bengal, located on the east side of India and to the south of Bangladesh. In past years, phenomenal death tolls have risen from massively devastating storms. Fortunately, cyclones that form in the Bay usually do not gain enough steam to cause much land damage, so storms like the Bhola Cyclone (linked above) are relatively infrequent.

Unfortunately, Cyclone Sidr already has formed out in the ocean and is barreling at Category 3 or 4 strength toward the coast. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if this comes to fruition, be prepared to hear of another disheartening international tragedy, this one not caused by religious dissention or political disarray.


POSTSCRIPT: I don't mean to lighten this grim news inappropriately, but I do have a question: The subhead to the site on which I found this post refers to itself as "the consumer's guide to the green revolution." Does that seem counterintuitive to anyone else?

FEMA Under Fire Again

Recent tests on FEMA trailers that were put to use following Katrina in New Orleans show that 95% of those tested contained at least twice the CDC's maximum recommended level for long-term formaldehyde exposure. Wow.

Two questions for our readership:

- How did formaldehyde, an embalming fluid, get into the trailers?
- Is there a worse-run government agency out there than FEMA?

Japanese Brain Teaser/Lesson on Family Values

In case you don't have enough to do today, I recommend that you give this brain teaser a try. There is some sound, so be sure to mute before playing in class or at work. Ignore all of the Japanese characters at the beginning and click the blue circle to start. Here are the rules:

1. Everybody has to cross the river.
2. Only 2 persons may board the raft at a time.
3. The father can not stay with any of the daughters without
their mother's presence.
4. The mother can not stay with any of the sons without their
father's presence.
5. The thief (striped shirt) can not stay with any family member
if the Policeman is not there.
6. Only the Father, the Mother and the Policeman can operate the raft.
7. To move the people click on them.
8. To move the raft click on the pole on the opposite side of the river.

Post your time to completion in the comment section. (Thanks Big Shiv)

Re-Updates Abound: Thoughts and musings on religious support for President

BeliefNet's David Kuo yesterday posted commentary on Sam Brownback's latest oped, which outlines the Senator's basic political agenda moving forward into the election.

In light of Brownback's endorsement of John McCain, covered in the wave of religious support extended toward Presidential candidates last week, Kuo explains how McCain's backers might be a little peeved by the fact that Brownback neglected to mention McCain in the piece.

Aptly stated, Kuo says, "Brownback is scaring me. The GOP will succeed to 'the degree that it is faith-filled'. . . That is exactly and precisely wrong. America doesn't need the GOP to be more faith-filled. It needs our churches to be more faith-filled. It needs individuals and families to be more faith-filled. It needs priests and pastors to be more faith-filled. It does not need a political party to be more faith-filled."

Basically, the point here touches on the slippery slope that is the marriage of GOP politics and faith. It's one thing to cater to the religious leanings of your contingency; as we all know, pandering to special interest groups is a necessity of national politics. However, when will these politicians realize that all "Christians" cannot be lumped into one group, and that — like most other Americans — their views range widely on the political spectrum?

It doesn't seem like Brownback knows or cares that this is a possibility, so again, I'll bring up the fact that it will be interesting to see where the traditional "Religious Right" ends up voting in the primaries and in the election.

Welcoming a New Friend to The Pasty Quail

Everyone take a moment to check out the new addition to the "Friends of the Quail" section of the page.

"L'edifice Immense du Souvenir" is a travel/foreign blog written by a former UGA Amazing Student who is living in a small town in Southern France (a few hours from where Dan was) and teaching English to little French school-children.

She wrote a great post about trying a new French food; start here with Part 1, and then move on to Part 2.

ESPN Radio personality admits to using steroids!

And for some lame reason it's a big deal!

Mike Golic, co-host of ESPNRadio's "Mike & Mike in the Morning," apparently admitted to using steroids while he was in the NFL.

Golic (not to be confused with his brother Bob, aka Mike Rogers from "Saved By the Bell: The College Years) glazed over the question and the show went on, but as angry bloggers tend, someone picked up on the fact that ESPN deleted a call about the incident from its podcast, implying that The Worldwide Leader thought it was a big deal.

I'm not so sure. While Awful Announcing here is a little overzealous in its attempt to indict ESPN for this, I can see that side of things. Why not make this public? Who even cares? He argues that if ESPN makes such a big deal of Barry Bonds, then why not of this?

I'd respond to that by saying it's a completely different situation. It is ESPN's job to pretend that sports records matter; therefore, Barry Bonds using steroids was a big deal to them. This guy is their employee, and may or may not have used steroids 20 years ago.

However, Deadspin brings up a good point, saying “Seriously, Golic: We don't mind if you did steroids. It's really not a big deal. . . But seriously now: It happened. We heard it."

Greg brought up a good point when he and I were chatting about this, because I was kind of confounded by why ESPN is trying to keep this so hush-hush. If you care that much, fire him; if not, let it go. Greg mentioned that this could be a good thing for them, as Golic could bring up why he took steroids (he said it was for an injury, which is a perfectly legitimate reason), and open a discourse about it instead of continuing with the "Drugs are bad, mmmm-kay?" discussion that solves nothing and will perpetuate illicit drug use unless we actually do something about it.

This doesn't really pose a problem for Golic's stint on the radio at ESPN; however, it could throw a thorn in the side of the diet food he peddles along with a bunch of other former NFL players.

How To: Make a lot of money from the Internet

Unfortunately, by posting this I'm probably precluding The Pasty Quail's opportunity to set up a crooked charity organization, but I think this is pretty important news.

The website FreeRice.com is actually a legitimately good charity. For every simple vocabulary word you guess, they'll donate 10 grains of rice to undernourished people.

Well, The PC Spy enlightens us all by mentioning that FreeRice is not a registered charity, and though, as it did on Sunday, the site donated about 2,700 kg (approx. 6,000 lbs.) of rice, the rest of its money is profit.

However, at the current rate, PC Spy estimates that the site's entrepreneur could be raking in more than $150,000 a day in internet advertising. After the cost of rice, which stands around $1,000 for that 6,000 lbs., that's a pretty hefty sum.

Again, I don't want to diminish the good deeds that FreeRice is doing. But this is reminiscent of my recent coverage on The Church Business, seeing people help many others while ultimately helping themselves at the top of the ladder.

Is there anything wrong with what FreeRice and the Rolls-driving church pastors are doing?

The Morning Paper: News Flashes

Happy Crappy Tuesday! At least in these parts, the weather is still beautiful despite the lack of rain. (Wednesday it's supposed to, according to the weather jockeys)

Here are some random clips to start your day off:

- First, this is not terribly weird, but interesting nonetheless: Seattle citizen is thrown in jail for photographing the wrongful arrest of another man, and now has been released and awarded $8,000. Apparently the cops were crooked, and on top of that they didn't file a report for the photographer's arrest. Fishy all around, but good for this guy - except for that time he had to spend in jail.

- Next, we have a look from the other side of the coin, a nun in Illinois that pleads no contest to molestation charges. We don't hear about the ol' heterosexual abuse in the Catholic Church much, but this lady's crimes were pretty egregious.

- Finally, I discovered yesterday, through this informative post, that ANYONE can post responses on the Yahoo! Answers site. So, if you're bored, try it out. Sounds like fun to me. Here's the main site.

Update: Nuclear Apocalypse Friday

Pakistan is swearing that its nuclear arms are completely secure. From Yahoo! News:

"Responding to comments by former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton and others in Washington, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq said "there are multiple layers of command and control and the weapons are not in danger of falling into any hands."

Phew!

McCain's Mother Speaks Out

Here we have a video of John McCain's mother ripping Mitt Romney for being Mormon. You gotta love old people - always saying what the rest of us are thinking. Of course, those of us under 65 probably have enough brain function left to realize that its a bad idea to go on national television and actually say it:



Oh, and my apologies for posting a video that includes Chris "I Have to Yell All the Time So That People Will Pay Attention To Me" Matthews.

Flags Come Crashing Down Around Hillary; Hopes of Presidential Bid Next?

Nah, probably not.

The Worst Recession Since the 1930's?

Jim Melcher, the Wall Street superstar who runs Balestra Capital Partners, thinks so. Citing the collapse of the housing market, along with deteriorating credit markets and rising food and energy costs, Melcher believes unemployment is bound to begin rising substantially. He also cites the worldwide de-basing of major currencies, including the US Dollar, which he predicts will lead to a new round of higher inflation.

Obviously, Mr. Melcher believes what he's saying. His investments are all in gold and short-term treasuries. Personally, I don't know what kind of articles he's reading; everything looks fine to me.

Zombies!!

Matt Wells, a friend of the Quail and fellow law student, emailed this on Friday:

"Apparently Zombie attacks have been a problem for, oh, lets say 5000 years. A tomb was uncovered in Hierakonpolis that contained a dead body whose brain was infected by Solanum, the Zombie virus. There were also scratch marks all over the tomb walls from where the zombie was trying to escape.

Luckily the archaeologist have a zombie defense plan."

2008 Iowa Caucus: A Nation Feels Sorry For You

In the tradition of the "Living Room Chats" that are such a part of the Iowa Caucuses, Hillary Clinton fielded questions after a speech at a biodiesel plant in Newton, Iowa. According to the Scarlet and Black, Grinnell University's Newspaper, one of Clinton's senior campaign aides contacted a Grinnell University student and told her a question to ask. To the surprise of no-one, FOX News was the first major outlet to pick up on this story. The NY Daily News says that bruises are beginning to show as the other Democratic candidates are taking aim at the front-runner. Slate has an article about how the women in Iowa view the New York Senator.

It's been a tough week for Hillary; the debate was a debacle, and her response to it was even worse. She's still well ahead of her fellow Democratic contenders, and there is little doubt that she will win the Iowa Caucus; but a slip like this could have long-term consequences if her performance in Iowa is anything less than spectacular.

The 22nd Edition of the Georgia Blog Carnival

Recently, The Pasty Quail participated in the Georgia Blog Carnival, a bi-weekly summary of stories written by bloggers from right here in this great state. Check out the newest edition here.

Robertson not helping Guiliani yet as Romney pushes forward in the polls

Hearkening again back to news commented upon last week here on the Quail, it appears that Rudy Giuliani is showing some decline in the polls against Mitt Romney.


As I discussed in the aforementioned Quail post from last week, I find it interesting (and so have many others) that some of the most far-right social conservatives are supporting Guiliani, who is at least a social moderate, at least according to the "standard" definition that includes being pro-choice and supportive of civil rights for homosexuals. As a result of this disconnect, I can see why he might eventually lose ground, unable to cater to the many current faces of the GOP.

However, seeing Romney near the top of the polls is intriguing to me as well, given what I perceive as a general mistrust of Mormonism by many U.S. Christians. Though the issue of his religion has not been raised seriously in public, Romney is prepared to address it if and when that time comes.

Questions: Is it possible that the issue of Romney's religion has not come up because he isn't taken seriously as a viable candidate? If he is elected as the Republican candidate, will it then come to the forefront?

Secondly, is it possible that people really are overlooking the fact that he is Mormon, realizing that the Mormon social ethic is very similar to "traditional" Christianity (whatever that might be)? Either way, I'm excited to see how that discourse comes around if Romney is a front-runner moving forward.

Follow-up on The Church Business: Creflo Dollar publicizes his church's earnings

Last week I posted an article on the The Church Business, which covered specifically a probe into the exploits of several preachers from the Atlanta area as well as other news regarding the marriage of Christianity and free market capitalism.

As an update to that story, Creflo Dollar, the pastor of World Changers Church International in College Park, Ga. (and pictured here), announced his church's earnings this weekend, which checked in around $69 million in 2006.

The article here brings in the perspectives from both sides of Senator Charles Grassley's probe into Dollar's income.

As many of us know, "the government treads carefully when it comes to walking in religion’s orchard. The federal government does not tax ministries." By not taxing ministries, it certainly makes embezzlement a relatively simple task. While ostensibly, there should be a level of trust associated with a preacher, as Dollar seems to imply, the law in this case — appropriately — trusts no one and is searching simply for information:

"Grassley said his probe has nothing to do with religion. 'I’m not interested in doctrine, just the tax laws,' he said. He has looked at the high-roller lifestyles of TV ministers and wonders whether church leaders are using the breaks given to them to enrich themselves."

Justifiably, "Dollar said he understands the senator’s worries but is concerned at the same time about the government sticking its nose into religion’s business. Dollar said he is having legal experts look over the senator’s request."

I think this is perfectly plausible; Dollar not only does not take a salary from the church, but he also has investments in other lucrative interests. The point the article seems to say, though, that the vast wealth of some of the largest U.S. churches seem focused on something other than God, saying:

Dollar is particularly concerned the government may be trying to divine what people can or cannot believe. And Dollar believes in prosperity.

The six religious broadcast empires under the gun all preach and teach forms of a gospel that justifies the accumulation of money and material goods as one sign of God’s blessing. It includes benefits like health, a good family life and benevolence toward others.

"It is an American-born faith that mixes Christianity with capitalism, individualism and materialism," said Shayne Lee, a Tulane University sociologist who studies megachurches and religion.

It became popular in the 1980s, with Reaganism, a rising stock market, growing middle class and consumerism.

As early 20th century sociologist Max Weber once aptly observed (as well have many others), the capitalist drive to accumulate wealth supports a Protestant work ethic that seeks God's favor with a similar zeal.

In this respect, preachers proposing that wealth is a reflection of spiritual health has been around for centuries. Yet, tithing to support the church has been around for all ages, and with all the excess money that people have at their disposal, is it surprising that these churches make a lot of money? Especially since the church runs without government support, it needs to be upheld by its parishioners.

Everyone rails Scientology because it's "only a scam," and people have to pay money in order to receive "higher revelations." Yet, as I've reported from time to time — Tom Cruise notwithstanding — Scientology has helped many people. The question is: Do they just look crazy because they are up front about running their church like a business?

EDIT/UPDATE: Here are some more links on Grassley's probe, including someone railing on Scientology! (that's kind of funny)

Also, see here to read about the whole story again, and here for more information on televangelist Kenneth Copeland's private jet.

Dawgs Black Out, Beat the Tigers, 45-20

The Dawgs carried on several of their new traditions for this year, including Knowshon Moreno running for over 100 yards (101 and 2 scores), scoring more than 40 points, and dancing to "Crank Dat" in the break before the 4th Quarter:



As you can see in the video, the Dawgs came out in black jerseys; according to Dan Magill, this is the first time we've ever come out in the blacks; others have claimed that the 1942 National Championship team wore black jerseys in the Rose Bowl at the end of that season. Either way, the stands were full of fans in black; the team looked great in the jerseys and, more importantly, they looked jacked up for the game. It seems like another psychological ploy by Mark Richt has paid off.

Georgia came out hot to start the game, scoring on a FG following a Kelin Johnson interception. After an Auburn FG, Mohammed Massaquoi caught a long touchdown to give the Dawgs a 7 point lead. After getting the ball back from Auburn, Sean Bailey added another touchdown to stretch Georgia's lead to 14. But Auburn would come back to score before halftime, and at the break, the Dawgs were clinging to a 17-10 lead.

As hot as we looked in the first quarter, we came out flat to start the second half. Auburn scored, and then drove down again to kick another FG with 6:47 to go in the 3rd Quarter. That kick gave Auburn a 20-17 lead, their first of the game.

After that, everything went Georgia's way. Knowshon scored twice, and Thomas Brown and Brannan Southerland each scored once; the Tigers never even sniffed the end zone after that. We quit scoring when the score got to 45-20, with just less than seven minutes left in the Fourth Quarter.

The Worldwide leader has the recap. Paul Westerdawg, at the Georgia Sports Blog, has an article about the Jekyll and Hyde effect of the black uniforms on our head coach. PWD also has pictures of the defense and the offense.

What does Saturday's win mean going forward? We still need Tennessee to lose another game if we're going to make it to Atlanta; even without a trip to play LSU in the Dome, we're sitting pretty at number 9 in the BCS standings right now. Of the 8 teams ahead of us, two of the three teams in the Big 12 must lose at least one game: Kansas and Mizzou play each other, and the winner of that game will have to play Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship. Arizona State still has to play USC, and Ohio State has to play at Michigan as well. If we win out the regular season, we could easily be in the top 5 of the BCS standings before Bowl Season, regardless of whether we play for an SEC Championship.

Unfortunately, I will be missing the game next weekend; if we can hold serve at home against the Wildcats, we'll be keeping the pressure on Tennessee. The Vols are only one slip-up away from handing us a shot at the #1 team in the country; it's hard to say how we'd fare against LSU, but I'd pay good money to find out.

EDIT: As if the video of Knowshon and TB dancing wasn't enough, here's Verne Lundquist:

It's All for You, Greg or A Brazen Attempt to Use Trends in the Recording Industry to Generate Beef

I know I just finished a fairly substantial music post, but there's more. In my continuing efforts as a footsoldier in the recording industry's war to survive and sack your wallet, let's talk about Paramore and the rising popularity of the 360 deal.
This is Paramore, a pop-punk act out of Tennessee signed to Atlantic Records and the poster-children for a major record label's successful use of the 360 deal. The New York Times covered the 360 deal in some detail this weekend, explaining how it benefits both major labels and their signed acts. For those of you super-interested in this stuff, shoot me a line on the comments page, and I can explain in greater detail.

Traditionally, record labels have provided the lion's share of the funds for an artist's promotion and marketing opportunities. The label fronts the money for the artist to record an album and then puts forth the money for the sales and marketing of that record. On the sales and marketing end, the label pays for everything from co-op advertising (where a label pays for a certain portion of physical space to advertise a record in a retail store) to radio promotion (buying ad time and paying independent radio promoters to push the record on DJs) to publicity appearances on television and in-person to P.O.P. materials (like the flyers and banners you see at stores) to street-team marketing. The label foots the bill for everything from the band's wardrobe for a photo shoot to meals eaten in the recording studio to posters you see around town advertising the album.

Traditionally, the only way that the label makes back its money is on the sale of that record, which it shares with the artist. In a recording contract, the artist agrees to pay back most recording costs and certain marketing costs so the label can recoup its losses. Did you catch that? The label gets back its money back first for recording and some of the marketing costs, which it takes off the top of the record's profits before giving money to the artist. (This is why the distinction between recoupable and non-recoupable costs in a recording contract is key. It's the difference between having a bill and not having a bill for tens of thousands of dollars if not more.) Yet the label and the artist share the revenue stream from the sale of the record. While the label owns the master sound recordings for the tracks on the record (a standard part of a record deal) and makes a fair amount of money in selling the album, the label must compensate the artist as the performer and/or writer of the song (called a "mechanical royalty"), while selling the album cheap enough at wholesale so that the label doesn't anger retailers by reducing their profit margins.

The artist, by contrast, has traditionally profitted on the record and everything else associated with the artist's name and face. The artist makes money off touring, the selling of merchandise, publishing royalties (mechanical, as mentioned above, and performance royalties from the spins off the radio), performances, licensing to TV and film, sponsorship opportunities, the sale of ringtones, the clothing line, etc.

The 360 deal, in short, is where the artist share a greater portion of his/her/their revenue streams with the label. Labels give the artist a greater front-end (literally, "money up front" after inking the deal), money for touring, and more monetary and resource support for artist development. The artist, in turn, gives the label a cut of the other revenue streams, like tour profits, merchandise rights, etc.

The 360 deal is an endless source of controversy in the music industry because it flips the seventy-five year-old business model of a hundred year-old industry on its head. Some here on the Quail editorial board see it as the last gasp of a dying industry, the death rattle of major record labels trying to keep their strangehold on artists' income. Others see it as a fair redistribution of resources between the engine behind the artists and the artists themselves. What do you think?

Monday's Music News or Jay-Z Explains That Rich People Have Problems Too*

- Jay-Z, a man who reportedly made just shy £5,000 per hour in 2006, tells us how hard life can be* and how his work on "American Gangster" revived his joie de vivre. The Guardian UK has the scoop.
- San Francisco's CBS affiliate, Channel 5, has a piece on the first big Starbucks/iTunes collaboration, whereby now every song that plays in Starbucks will appear on your iPhone, iPod, or laptop running iTunes. Verizon has a similar program in the works, offering a free application for your handset that will be able to name and track any song playing in the area.
- The Seattle Times tells us why indie music suffers because of the digital revolution.
- It's good to be Lily Allen.
Lily Allen, the puckish English singer most famous for tracks about she loves London and why her ex sucks, will now host "Lily Allen and Friends" on BBC Three starting next year. However, the concept for the show is based on MySpace. Here's a clip from after the jump: "Blending chat, music and celebrity interviews....the show will be based on the social networking phenomenon sweeping the world. Paying homage to internet sites like MySpace and Facebook, viewers will be invited to become Allen’s virtual friends and will then be able to contribute to the show’s discussions and put questions to the singer’s guests."

This comes days after the rumor that Allen will replace Kate Moss and be the new face of Agent Provacateur, the international lingerie chain.

The Army Opens Up to the Riff-Raff (Again)

Yahoo News and 23/6.com cover the new "bad behavior" waiver for the U.S. armed forces. Given higher recruitment goals, the military has recently been forced to come up with new methods of making more persons acceptable for service and is now specifically considering lower standards for the service aptitude test and granting additional bad behavior waivers. A bad behavior waiver is where the Army grants a recruit a waiver for a record of previous bad acts (convictions for stealing, fighting, drugs, weapons in school) to boost numbers in the ranks.

Prohibitions on bad behavior (and their attendant bad behavior waivers) are only a recent phenomena in U.S. history. As late as the 1960s, criminal defendants were offered the opportunity to join up in lieu of serving time. But in recent years, the Armed Forces have taken greater steps to become a more professionally oriented organization with higher standards for recruitment than in decades prior. How will the growing use of these waivers and the relax in educational standards and scores on the service aptitude test affect the perception of the Armed Forces in America? Any thoughts?

Dr. Pasty

- Please note that the photo to the left is a photo of a giant rabbit, but not the kind we're talking about here at Dr. Pasty. Babeland Blog has a helpful suggestions on what to do when you want to recycle your rabbit but don't know how. The UK adult store LoveHoney has started a Rabbit Amnesty program for those of us who want to stay green and um, satisfied.
- Geeksugar has a piece on a gentleman's game console says about his performance. Now maybe I'm a video game purist, but a man with an Atari may be out of date but damn fine.
- The "Cans for Cans" Program at Scores, the famed and mad sketchy gentleman's club in Chelsea NYC, has been a smashing failure. Believe it or not, men don't want their tits and charity in the same place.
- Today in internet dating: "Crazy Blind Date" is a not your traditional matchmaking service. Users list their likes and dislikes in a partner and times during the week when they are free, and Crazy Blind Date will set them up with matches on super-short notice (as little as 15 minutes). By the way, there's no photo exchange or exchange of info on your partner; you just meet up.
- And I know this is a bit dated, but LA Times columnist Joel Stein talks smack about women on Halloween, aka "A Holiday for Slutiness".