Man's $150 "toy poodles" really ferrets on steroids

A retiree in Argentina bought two toy poodles for about $150 (American) each.  When he brought them home it was discovered that the "dogs" were in reality two ferrets pumped-up with steroids and then had their fur styled to make them look like poodles! From Mail Online's article about this very bizarre con... "Beware of rodent" Gullible bargain hunters at Argentina's...

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The Iron Lady has left us...

Margaret Thatcher October 13, 1925 - April 8, 2013 ___________________ Prime Minister of Great Britain 1979 - 19...

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"The Rings of Akhaten": Chris gets moved to tears by the profound beauty and wonder of this season's best DOCTOR WHO yet!

"Come on then... Take mine.  Take my memories.  But I hope you've got a big appetite, because I've lived a long life and I've seen a few things.  I walked away from the Last Great Time War.  I marked the passing of the Time Lords.  I saw the birth of the universe and I watched as time ran out, moment by moment, until nothing remained.  No...

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Hell hath no fury! Turkish TV station neglects special effects mid-show

Television station STV in Turkey - an outfit apparently specializing in religious programming - recently produced a movie or series episode or something about a father and son and the father dies and goes to Hell and the son gets to watch him burn in tortured agony. Yeah, I'd probably be screaming too if I were locked in a deep blue chromakey room being chained-up by guys covered head to toe in Hulk-green nude suits! To STV's credit, the first...

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33 most beautiful abandoned places in the world

Nothing of man lasts forever.  In the end, all crumbles to dust. But some things sure do give us haunting beauty during the course of their long toil to entropy. BuzzFeed has compiled photos of 33 places build by man throughout the world, left to ruin but gorgeous to behold.  There is quite a poignancy in these images.  I thought the one on the left - of the...

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"Senator" Feinstein wants violent video game control

Somebody educate me: how do people like Dianne Feinstein get elected to anything whatsoever? Feinstein shouldn't be trusted with city sanitation manager, much less United States Senator. Having failed in her bid to ban "assault weapons" (there is no such thing, incidentally) Demented Dianne has now decided that violent video games must be controlled and regulated by act...

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Roger Ebert has passed away

Look, I didn't agree with all of his reviews and of his politics, far less.  But Roger Ebert was instrumental in introducing a lot of people to movies that they otherwise might never have gone to a theater to see.  Me included. Roger Ebert passed away today after a long battle with cancer... Thoughts and prayers going out to his family....

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It is snowing and sleeting right now...

It's the fourth day of April.  Spring has been here for over two weeks.  And in as north-central North Carolina as you can get, it is currently snowing and sleeting... And it's confusing Tammy something fierce.  I let her out to do her "doggie business", she took one good look at the weather and promptly turned back to the doorsteps. "Global warming"? ...

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End of an era: Disney closes LucasArts

LucasArts is no more. Disney laid off the entire staff and shuttered the studio this morning.  There had been speculation that LucasArts might be liquidated after Disney acquired Lucasfilm and the other companies beneath its umbrella five months ago.  The video game studio had been flailing in recent years despite moderate successes like LEGO Star Wars. ...

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North Carolina lawmakers want statewide official religion

Earlier this morning I first read about this and ever since I've been trying to find a measure of absurd purpose or mad brilliance in this legislation... but if it's there I can't find it. Two members of this state's House of Representatives have filed House Bill 494, which if passed would allow for an official religion to be imposed upon North Carolina. It's not a late April Fools joke.  Representatives Harry Warren and Carl Ford (each of...

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The day the music dies: "American Pie" is final DLC for ROCK BAND

Today is a bittersweet occasion in the annals of video game history: Harmonix is releasing the final downloadable content for its Rock Band series. Since the first Rock Band came out in late 2007 the studio had promised new songs weekly for downloadable purchase and play.  It kept that promise for 281 consecutive weeks: far, far longer than most players probably expected. ...

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Looking up at this week's Tammy Tuesday

Whenever anyone goes down the basement stairs, Tammy has to come to the door and look down.  I think it's in the hopes that we might bring something yummy up from the freezer (which she might or might not get a tasty morsel of)... ...

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April Fools 'Fess-Up 2013 Edition!

Yes the rumors are true!  They were absent for a few years but 2013 saw the return of the April Fools pranks to The Knight Shift.  The story about CBS producing a pilot for a modern-era reboot of The Andy Griffith Show was my own humble entry in this year's festivities.  It seems to have been moderately successful 'cuz a few friends were taken in by it (one of whom had some rather colorful remarks about it) and a few hours after I...

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CBS produces pilot for reboot of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW! Modern MAYBERRY to star Kevin Sorbo as Sheriff Taylor, Aunt Bea as closet lesbian!

Keep in mind that what you're about to read is as of right now a pilot episode and maybe not even that much.  I thought it noteworthy that the CBS execs are describing this not as a pilot but as a "proof of concept".  Meaning the idea is being explored but it may not go any further and I doubt it will.  But hey, stranger things have happened in Hollyweird... MAYBERRY...

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THE WALKING DEAD: Forty-five minutes after "Welcome to the Tombs"...

Okay.  Okay.  Okay. Okay.  Oh-kaaaaay... That was NOT what I was anticipating.  The first few minutes after tonight's season finale of The Walking Dead I was feeling... well, a bit let down. But then I remembered that Season 3 didn't end any better or worse than the previous two have.  In fact, with each passing moment I'm finding myself thinking that this season finale was as well as it could have been.  Perhaps,...

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"He's Alive" by singer/songwriter Bethany Myers

Hey gang, hope y'all are having a Happy Easter!  It's also my birthday, muhahahahaha!!  So along with my girlfriend Kristen being here to celebrate, we had the return of Doctor Who last night, and then tonight it's the season finale of The Walking Dead and the season premiere of Game of Thrones.  Have the stars aligned for this geek, or what?! :-) (And then...

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"The Bells of Saint John" chime the return of DOCTOR WHO!

It took me an hour and a half after the episode aired on BBC America before I could turn in a blog post about "The Bells of Saint John"... So along with statues, shadows, clocks, gas masks, cracks in the walls and Lord knows what else, now we have to be afraid of our Wi-Fi networks.  Damn you Steven Moffat!  DAMN YOU!! (But he sure knows how to run Doctor Who...

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