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« Ummm... Other?: December 2006 | Main | Ummm... Other?: February 2007 »

Ummm... Other?

Madman

Newsweek (found via This Modern World):

Does President Bush have it in for the press corps? Touring a Caterpillar factory in Peoria, Ill., the Commander in Chief got behind the wheel of a giant tractor and played chicken with a few wayward reporters. Wearing a pair of stylish safety glasses--at least more stylish than most safety glasses--Bush got a mini-tour of the factory before delivering remarks on the economy. "I would suggest moving back," Bush said as he climbed into the cab of a massive D-10 tractor. "I'm about to crank this sucker up." As the engine roared to life, White House staffers tried to steer the press corps to safety, but when the tractor lurched forward, they too were forced to scramble for safety."Get out of the way!" a news photographer yelled. "I think he might run us over!" said another. White House aides tried to herd the reporters the right way without getting run over themselves. Even the Secret Service got involved, as one agent began yelling at reporters to get clear of the tractor. Watching the chaos below, Bush looked out the tractor's window and laughed, steering the massive machine into the spot where most of the press corps had been positioned. The episode lasted about a minute, and Bush was still laughing when he pulled to a stop. He gave reporters a thumbs-up. "If you've never driven a D-10, it's the coolest experience," Bush said afterward. Yeah, almost as much fun as seeing your life flash before your eyes.

By fnord12 | January 31, 2007, 4:06 PM | Liberal Outrage & Ummm... Other? | Comments (6)| Link



Pink Sheet room, please.

Daily Howler:

MATTHEWS SCANS THE LOBBY: To help you grasp the soul of your "press corps," let's return to the charity event we glancingly described in October 2005. (See THE DAILY HOWLER, 10/24/05. Scroll down to "Culture Corner.") The emcee that night was Kathleen Matthews, then of Washington's Channel 7. On the way out of the Mayflower Hotel, we saw her husband, TV talker Chris Matthews, chatting with DC journo Mark Plotkin. We don't know Plotkin, but we know Chris a tad. So we decided to stop for a chat rather than walking on by.

"Tough crowd tonight," we thoughtfully said. Chris then offered us a look at the odd soul of the Washington press corps. His eyes stared past ours, scanning the Mayflower's block-long lobby in a classic thousand-yard stare. "I just saw the most incredible prostitute," he weirdly said. (Instead of "prostitute," he may have said "hooker.")

To Plotkin's credit - again, we don't know him - he seemed to be just as surprised as we were by Chris' oddball comment. But Chris wasn't through with his weird discussion; his eyes continued to scan the long hall as he said something like, "Yeah, you have to ask for the 'pink sheet' rooms when you check in." (Not an exact quote.) At no point did Plotkin seem to think that this was a recognizable topic. For ourselves, we'd have to say it was the strangest thing any man has ever said to us. No, it simply isn't our experience that men make such weird comments to other men - much less, to men whom they barely know. Men like Matthews apparently think that this is standard male discussion. (We googled and Nexised "pink sheet" the next day. We found no usage which conformed to what Chris had said.)


By fnord12 | January 30, 2007, 1:28 PM | Liberal Outrage & Ummm... Other? | Link



*Whistle*

I blame the brain hemorrhaging.

A high school lunch period was disrupted Monday by a greased, naked student who ran around screaming and flailing his arms until police twice used a stun gun on him, authorities said.

Taylor Killian, 18, had rubbed his body with grapeseed oil to keep from being caught, and got up after the first time he was shocked to continue running toward a group of frightened students huddled in a corner at Westerville North High School, Lt. Jeff Gaylor said.

"That prank went a little farther than he intended, I guess," Gaylor said.

Link

And, no, i didn't get this from the Oddly Enoughs this time. I was on a respectable site. TPM. So there. :P


By min | January 30, 2007, 1:25 PM | Ummm... Other? | Link



The Kaiser Network

I don't know who they are or what they do. But they're they Kaiser Network, ferchrissakes. The Kaiser.


By min | January 29, 2007, 1:20 PM | Ummm... Other? | Link



Somewhere between cute and freaky-weird


(found on some message board in someone's way-too-big signature)


By fnord12 | January 25, 2007, 9:15 AM | Ummm... Other? | Link



Worse Than Ballitus

Some radio station hosted a contest where they gave contestants water to drink and whoever held their pee the longest, won a Wii.

Well, a 28-yr old ended up dead from water intoxication because of it.

Contestants were first given eight-ounce (225-millilitre) bottles to drink without going to the toilet. After eight rounds, contestants drank 16-ounce (0.5 litre) bottles.

Ms Strange may have drunk nearly two gallons (7.5 litres), witnesses said.

...

One of Ms Strange's work colleagues, Laura Rios, said: "She said to one of our supervisors that she was on her way home and her head was hurting her real bad.

"She was crying and that was the last that anyone had heard from her."

Drinking too much water can eventually cause the brain to swell, stopping it regulating vital functions such as breathing, and causing death.

She only came in second.


By min | January 17, 2007, 1:34 PM | Ummm... Other? | Comments (4)| Link



All The Wrong People Owning Guns

Two high school students got shot in Vegas by someone suffering from road rage.

"This was not a school shooting. It was a road rage incident that occurred a couple of blocks from the school and just happened to end at the high school," Montoya said.

Montoya said the shooter and a student at the school nearly collided at a nearby gas station and the two drivers exchanged angry words. The shooter then followed the student to Western High School, outside downtown Las Vegas.

"The suspect followed the car as it went into the high school parking lot and fired 4-7 shots, hitting one of the student passengers and an unrelated female who happened to be in the parking lot at the time," Montoya said.

Too bad the guy wasn't equipped with a taser instead. I hear "they save lives by reducing the use of firearms." Except for the part where some people have died after a taser was used on them.

The gun has however been at the centre of fresh controversy this weekend over the death of a man in Florida after police used a Taser to subdue him.

Its use by police in the UK has also sparked debate. Late last year a man in the north of the country died three days after being shot with a Taser.

...

Amnesty International has long campaigned against the use of Tasers, arguing they have been linked to more than 150 deaths in the USA and Canada since 2001.

Whoops.

Mebbe in addition to a criminal background check, they should make people who want weapons to go through a mental health check. I'm pretty sure i don't want you having a gun or a taser if you're crazy even if you never committed a crime before.

Actually, i'm pretty sure most people are crazy and stupid, so mebbe none of you should have weapons. If the government can make you wear seatbelts for your own good, they should also keep you from having firearms for the same reason.


By min | January 9, 2007, 2:11 PM | Ummm... Other? | Comments (1)| Link



Pillow Angel

This 9-year old girl has a mental disability that leaves her with the mental ability of a 3-month old. She can't walk. She can't talk. She can't feed herself. Her parents decided to have her given hormones to limit her height and weight and had her uterus and breast buds removed. They said that they did this so she can have a better life. Her perpetual child-like size will definitely make it easier for them to care for her as she gets older. And without a uterus, no worries about menstruation or pregnancy should she get assaulted.

Their decision has caused a debate about the ethics of it. What i'm wondering is did they know before she was born that she would have this mental condition and if so, why did they carry the pregnancy to term? Not everybody likes the idea of abortion, but what kind of life is this girl having? Even if she wasn't given hormones and still had her uterus and breasts, what kind of life could she have? Is this better? Is this right?

But mebbe it's not something you can know ahead of time. And then her parents have to make the best of the situation. Gone are the days of Vikings where a weak child could be left outside and not have it considered inhumane, and murder besides. In a cold and practical light, how can they not make decisions that would make it easier for them to care for her? They seem to be committed to caring for her for the rest of their lives. Considering the health care system and what it takes for people to care for a disabled family member, can you really blame them for their decision?

The extent of my knowledge of this case is what i've read in a couple of articles that basically report the same thing. So if there's other info, i'd like to know. With just the info i have now, i'm not ready to condemn her parents on a breach of ethics.


By min | January 5, 2007, 3:32 PM | Ummm... Other? | Comments (3)| Link



The dangers of home schooling

Learn about "lightening" and how it works on this home schooling science page.


By fnord12 | January 2, 2007, 5:16 PM | Ummm... Other? | Comments (1)| Link



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