English schoolkids vote Marcus the lamb to the slaughterhouse

(Not Marcus after slaughter and sectioning, but an incredible simulation)

Elementary students in Kent, Great Britain have elected to send a lamb they reared as a school project off to be slaughtered and rendered into succulent ribs and chops.

The decision to dispatch the lamb, which the students had named Marcus, has met with outcry from "grown-ups"...

Marcus the six-month-old lamb has now been culled, the head teacher of the primary school in Kent confirmed on Monday, after the school's council -- a 14-member group of children aged 6 to 11 -- voted 13-1 to have him killed.

The decision has provoked fury among animal-loving celebrities, animal and human rights campaigners and the parents of some of the children, and led to threats against Lydd primary school and its teachers, according to a member of staff.

Around 250 children at the school take part in a program designed to teach them about rearing and breeding animals.

The educational farm was started this year, with Marcus being hand-fed by the children. The children also look after ducks, chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs.

The intention had been to buy pigs with the money raised from slaughtering Marcus, but those plans have been put on hold following the furor created by the lamb's culling. The school said the program may now have to be stopped.

"It's all up in the air," said a member of staff. "There's been so much pressure on us as a result of all this."

Despite that, the school said there had been overwhelming support among the children, the staff and most of the parents to have Marcus -- a castrated male who could not have been used for breeding -- sent to the slaughterhouse.

But opponents branded it heartless and cruel, with animal rights campaigners asking why Marcus could not have been used to teach the children about wool, and human rights campaigners worried about the emotional impact of Marcus's death on the children.

A popular talkshow host offered to buy the lamb and give it sanctuary and Facebook groups sprung up to rally support to keep Marcus alive. But the children had the final say. The school defended the children's decision, calling it educational.

The kids are showing more wisdom and business sense than the adults here. Great Britain is becoming notoriously crazy about animal rights, often into the realm of the ridiculous.

(And that's the opinion of a guy who just got huge grief from someone about his shooting three groundhogs to death in his vegetable garden.)

But hey, I wouldn't dream of letting a story like this pass without an obligatory cameo appearance from one Dr. Hannibal Lecter...

"They were slaughtering the spring lambs? And you ran away? Where were you going, Clarice? What became of your lamb, Clarice? You still wake up sometimes, don't you? You wake up in the dark and hear the screaming of the lambs. And you think if you save poor Catherine, you could make them stop, don't you? You think if Catherine lives, you won't wake up in the dark ever again to that awful screaming of the lambs."

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Today's chapter of "When DVRs Go Nuts"

So last night I set my DVR to record Quarantine: the horror movie that came out last year.

This morning, I discovered that my DVR had recorded something, but it wasn't Quarantine at all.

Instead, it chose to record... Yentl.

YENTL?!?!?

Oy vey...

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House of Reps restricts Presidential insults

Every time I read a story like this (getting to be all too often these days) the first thing that comes into mind is that line by Tommy Lee Jones in No Country for Old Men: "Who ARE these people?!?"

Now it's Louise Slaughter, Chairwoman of the House Rules Committee of the United States House of Representatives. Politico is reporting that Slaughter has implemented some new guidelines for decorum among members of the House, particularly in regard to how representatives discuss the President of the United States (no doubt in response to Joe Wilson's crying aloud of "You lie!" during Obama's health "reform" speech last week).

So in case you're wondering, here is what is allowed...

- refer to the government as "something hated, something oppressive."

- refer to the President as "using legislative or judicial pork."

- refer to a Presidential message as a "disgrace to the country."

- refer to unnamed officials as "our half-baked nitwits handling foreign affairs."

And here is what is not allowed...

- call the President a "liar."

- call the President a "hypocrite."

- describe the President's veto of a bill as "cowardly."

- charge that the President has been "intellectually dishonest."

- refer to the President as "giving aid and comfort to the enemy."

- refer to alleged "sexual misconduct on the President's part."

To be fair, I can agree with some of Slaughter's rulings here, and only because I think sincere discussion of the issues doesn't warrant including words like "cowardly" (or "nitwits" either for that matter). But seriously: don't Slaughter and the rest of Congress have better things to do than play word games with each other and their constituents?

Of course, that's all this really is to these people: a game. One very big amusement that they get to enjoy, at the expense of the money, the liberties and even the very lives of those who sent 'em to D.C. to begin with.

America is at the mercy of a few hundred individuals with no principles, no spine, no vision and no conscience. But they do believe that it's majorly verboten enough to officially outlaw referring to an elected politician as a "hypocrite" or a "liar".

God help us.

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Taking showers could harm your health

No, not in the Psycho/Bates Motel sorta way (thankfully).

However, according to new research dirty shower heads can be an active breeding ground for Mycobacterium avium: a bacteria responsible for lung disease more common than tuberculosis in developed countries (which are more likely to have modern plumbing comforts like hot showers). Head researcher Professor Norman Bates Pace notes that "If you are getting a face full of water when you first turn your shower on, that means you are probably getting a particularly high load of Mycobacterium avium, which may not be too healthy."

I'll bet that we're going to start seeing a bunch of anti-bacterial shower heads hitting the shelves just in time for the upcoming Christmas season...

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Teaser poster for TOY STORY 3

Yup, that's a teaser poster for Toy Story 3, sho' 'nuff.

The adventures of Woody and Buzz and their compatriots continues on June 18th, 2010.

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The photographs of stormchaser Jim Reed

Jim Reed may have the most exciting job on the planet. He gets to capture images of intense meteorological events, like this photograph made less than 500 feet from a tornado...

Click here for more of Reed's pictures of wild weather taken across the United States.

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Patrick Swayze has passed away

The very sad news breaking this hour that Patrick Swayze has died at age 57 following a long and hard struggle with pancreatic cancer.

Swayze was no doubt one of the more versatile actors of the past few decades. He shined in every told that he took (yeah even as a drag queen in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar: a film that I will admit to having watched once and that was quite enough thank you). Most people will remember him from Dirty Dancing and Ghost. My personal favorite Patrick Swayze films are probably Red Dawn, Road House and Point Break: to those movies Swayze especially brought rare gravitas and charisma along with his abilities as an action-oriented actor. And though I never got to meet him, those who were honored to know him have reported that Swayze was nothing other than a fine gentleman and class act all around.

Thoughts and prayers going out to his family tonight.

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Fifth INDIANA JONES movie... is REALLY happening?!

So sayeth Harrison Ford, adding that he's already getting in shape and that work on a new Indy movie has progressed further than most of us have suspected...

"The story for the new 'Indiana Jones' is in the process of taking form," Ford told France's Le Figaro. "Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and myself are agreed on what the fifth adventure will concern, and George is actively at work. If the script is good, I'll be very happy to put the costume on again."

Others may disagree, but I thought last year's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a fine addition to the Indy mythos. That and that it was as good a homage to Fifties B-movies as Raiders of the Lost Ark was a tribute to the Saturday serials of yesteryear. With that in mind, I'll gladly welcome another Indiana Jones movie (and maybe even one more if Ford is up to it :-)

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The 20 most bizarre Craigslist ads

Pope hats? Needs woman to sit in bathtub of spaghetti? Autographed copies of Plato's Republic? They're on Craigslist bay-bee! (click here for the song by "Weird Al" Yankovic)

No really, they are. Here are the twenty bizarriest Craigslist advertisements ever (or at least so far), including one for a duck mask ("Hey I got it on my big head, so it works that way") and another - from an Elon University student of all things - offering two bucks for delivery of a carton of orange juice.

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Crystal Lee Sutton - inspiration for NORMA RAE - has passed away

It's a sad irony that late on Friday night this past weekend I wound up watching Norma Rae, the 1979 movie about a woman in a southern factory town who defies her employers by becoming a union organizer. It was on one of the channels coming in from my digital satellite service. I'd seen it plenty enough before, but this was the first time that I felt led to research the background of the film.

And so it was that I learned the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton. And apart from the changed name, that really was her life that we saw portrayed by Sally Field in Norma Rae. Right down to how Sutton actually scrawled "UNION" on a piece of cardboard and brought the textile plant she worked at to a halt.

Sutton was from Burlington, North Carolina: just down the road from here. And that is where she died late last week following a battle with cancer. She was 68 years old.

Thoughts and prayers going out to her family.

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Unbelievably screwy e-mails I've received today

Here are three e-mails from two different senders that landed in my inbox within a few hours of each other earlier this morning.

Here's the first one. Obviously it's a Nigerian scam e-mail, like the one about "RANKLE Jones The Golfer 'Film Production'" (that I'm still laughing about)...

DATE: 13 Sept 2009.

Dear customer,

You have a Package that is registered with us for shipping. However, thecontent is a Bank Draft worth is $886,000 USD (Eight Hundred and Eighty Six Thousand US Dollars).Reg .Number: P-01-402761625/Reg Date: 09/13/2009.
Your package is registered with us for mailing by your colleague who iscurrently undergoing survey project with NNPC (Nigeria National PetroleumCompany). We are sending you this email because your package is registered on aSpecial Order. What you have to do now, is to contact our Delivery Departmentfor immediate dispatch of your package to your residential address. Note: Assoon as our Delivery Team confirms your information, it will take three (3)working days (72Hrs) for your package to arrive at your designated destination.
For your information, Shipping charges as well as Insurance fees have been paidby your colleague.
However, the only payment you are to make is £210 GBP to the FedEx DeliveryDepartment being full payment for Customs Duty Certificate and Tariff. PleaseNote: All registered package with us have a time limitation and you are to meetup with this payment to facilitate immediate attention toward the delivery of your package. Note: Your colleague did not leave us with any further information.
We hope that you respond to us as soon as possible because if you fail torespond until the expiry date of the foremost package, we may refer the package to the British Commission for Welfare as the package do not have a return
address. Contact the delivery department (FedEx Ship Manager) with the details
given below:
Contact Person: Mr. Richard Raynor
Email: fedex.express_nig@w.cn
Tel: +2348066879532.
Kindly complete the below form. This is mandatory to reconfirm your Postal address for clarification.
FULL NAMES:
TELEPHONE:
POSTAL ADDRESS:
Zip/Postal code:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
As soon as your details are received, our delivery team will give you the necessary payment procedure for Customs Duty Certificate and Tariff. As soon as they confirm your payment of £210 GBP USD .they shall immediately dispatch your package to the designated address with the attach Tracking Number. It usually takes 72 Hours being an express delivery service.
Ensure to contact the delivery department with the email address and ensure to fill the above form as well to enable successful reconfirmation.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs. .Mary Maxwell
FedEx Management Team.
All rights reserved. © 1996-2009 FedEx.

Incidentally, the originating e-mail address is NOT from a FedEx-owned domain (but you probably already figured that out ;-)

And then later on in the morning the following two e-mails arrived within minutes of each other. I'm going to include the address that they came from, because whoever bl1334@cs.com is, he/she/it made sure to include that address within the text of each message...

Subject: you are definitely!! doing the work of SATAN.
BL1334@cs.com to me
show details 11:53 AM (52 minutes ago)

I will not run from a BIBLICAL debate. bl1334@cs.com

---

Subject: (no subject)
BL1334@cs.com to me
show details 11:57 AM (51 minutes ago)

A christian should never watch VH1, George Lucas`s magazine bl1334@cs.com

At first glance I'm tempted to say that BL1334@cs.com sounds like a member of Johnny Robertson's cult, especially since he/she is using words like "debate" etc. But I kinda doubt it now: this person's spelling and grammar is much too good. So I'm probably going to chalk this up as an attempt at parody. But if it's not, remember: You are putting your eternal soul in peril if you "watch VH1, George Lucas's magazine" (so far as I know the only magazine that George Lucas has anything close to direct input on might be Edutopia, which is for teachers and parents of children in school... parse that as you will).

If anything else unintentionally hilarious comes in today, I'll just amend this post as needed :-)

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Algae-powered car attempting to cross America on 25 gallons of fuel

The Algaeus (pictured at right) is said to be the world's first fuel-powered vehicle running on algae. The other notable components of the Algaeus are a nickel metal hydride battery and an electrical plug. There are no other modifications made to its gasoline engine. It's currently attempting to cross the United States from coast to coast... on just 25 gallons of fuel!

Read more about it here.

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Scientists levitate mouse with magnets

Sounds like a Marvel Comic character in the making, doesn't it?

Scientists working for NASA have created a device which uses magnetic fields to levitate small animals (in this case, a three-week old mouse) in an effort to simulate and study various amounts of gravity.

Click here for more about Magneto-Mouse.

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The fourth PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN movie has a title...

Johnny Depp will set sail again as Captain Jack Sparrow - in my opinion the most delightfully original character of American cinema of at least the past decade - in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Production begins this coming spring with a release date of summer 2011.

Read more here, mates!

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Chris Knight's Somewhat Sacrilegious Theological Thought O' The Day! (patent pending)

Christian denominations are like all families: go back far enough in the history of each, and you'll find a relative who once wore a rope for a necktie.

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Something I've never been able to come up with words for

I'll just let this image and the circumstance surrounding its existence speak for itself.

This is the opening shot of the third-from-last scene of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. This shot and the ensuing dialogue between Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu and Yoda are dominated by a brilliant and beautiful sunset, which poignantly echoes the darkness that is now falling across the galaxy...

According to the original online annotations for the Star Wars Episode II DVD on StarWars.com, the background plate in this scene was a photograph made of the Tokyo skyline at sunset.

And this is a photograph that was taken on September 11th, 2001.

If you figure the time zone difference, the dominant element of this pivotal scene in the Star Wars saga was taken from the real world, at about the very same moment that New York City was coming under attack thousands of miles away.

Then again, maybe I don't need to come up with words. Some things... just seem to speak plenty enough on their own.

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Pigeons much faster than Internet in South Africa

Telkom is the largest provider of Internet service in the country of South Africa. You'd think that data delivery would be especially speedy over its network, right?

Well, Unlimited IT wasn't satisfied. So on Wednesday it conducted an experiment: using an 11-month old carrier pigeon to send data from the company's office near Pietermaritzburg to the city of Durban, 50 miles away. A data card was strapped to the pigeon's leg and sent on its way. As Winston the pigeon was flying out the window, Unlimited IT began transmitting the same data via the Internet to the Durban location.

Winston the pigeon arrived 1 hour and 8 minutes later. The data was downloaded upon arrival. The complete transfer took 2 hours, 6 minutes and 57 seconds.

By that point, Telkom had only delivered four percent of the same data!

(I don't think my old 14.4 modem was that slow...)

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