Via BLACKFIVE

Students reject honor to ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ hero
Member of Marines not ’sort of person UW wanted to produce’The University of Washington’s student senate rejected a memorial for alumnus Gregory “Pappy” Boyington of “Black Sheep Squadron” fame amid concerns a military hero who shot down enemy planes was not the right kind of person to represent the school.

Pappy Boyington is like the Chuck Norris of WWII. He was a POW of the Japanese and war HERO of the first degree.

Student senator Jill Edwards, according to minutes of the student government’s meeting last week, said she “didn’t believe a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce.”

Damn. I don’t believe a mindnumbingly stupid person like Jill Edwards was an example of the sort of person Americans want to produce. But that is just me, and I despise willfully stupid people.

Also covered at Myopic Zeal and the Jawa Report.

There’s been an update to this story…

New poll up on the side bar. Stolen shamelessly from a slashdot post.

At what point did you realize that George Lucas, of Star Wars “fame” completely lost it? It being any ability to create a good movie. Or even just maintain it.

Linked out to Mudville, RWN (Right Wing Nation), and Blue Star…

Girl’s Science Project May Make You Rethink That Drink Order

The 12-year-old compared the ice used in the drinks with the water from toilet bowls in the same restaurants. Jasmine said she found the results startling.

I have to wonder if the results found are in one particular restaurant, or if its pretty much all of ‘em.  A thought though:  not all bacteria found in nature is bad to consume, most of it is harmless to you.

Found over at Country Store…

Not sure how lasers work?  Let the Britney Spears guide to Semiconductor Physics show you how!!!

It is a little known fact, that Ms Spears is an expert in semiconductor physics. Not content with just singing and acting, in the following pages, she will guide you in the fundamentals of the vital laser components that have made it possible to hear her super music in a digital format.

It’s open trackback day… So work on your masterpiece of blogdom, and then link and trackback to this page.While it may not help your TTLB score, I’ll generally hit all the sites, and permanently link in the blogroll if you have good stuff.
That is all…

Go read this. Now.

I do not seek to offend religious sentiment, but I will not submit to tyranny.

Bugs in the brain!

Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite found in the guts of cats; it sheds eggs that are picked up by rats and other animals that are eaten by cats. Toxoplasma forms cysts in the bodies of the intermediate rat hosts, including in the brain.

Got it?  Cats are evil, and are the method that you get brain slugs.

But more on that later!

Since cats don’t want to eat dead, decaying prey, Toxoplasma takes the evolutionarily sound course of being a “good” parasite, leaving the rats perfectly healthy. Or are they?

Oxford scientists discovered that the minds of the infected rats have been subtly altered. In a series of experiments, they demonstrated that healthy rats will prudently avoid areas that have been doused with cat urine. In fact, when scientists test anti-anxiety drugs on rats, they use a whiff of cat urine to induce neurochemical panic.

However, it turns out that Toxoplasma-ridden rats show no such reaction. In fact, some of the infected rats actually seek out the cat urine-marked areas again and again. The parasite alters the mind (and thus the behavior) of the rat for its own benefit.

So, this brain parasite makes you suicidal and stupid.  Well, if you are a rat… what about humans?

If the parasite can alter rat behavior, does it have any effect on humans?

Dr. E. Fuller Torrey (Associate Director for Laboratory Research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute) noticed links between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia in human beings, approximately three billion of whom are infected with T. gondii:

* Toxoplasma infection is associated with damage to astrocytes, glial cells which surround and support neurons. Schizophrenia is also associated with damage to astrocytes.
* Pregnant women with high levels of antibodies to Toxoplasma are more likely to give birth to children who will develop schizophrenia.
* Human cells raised in petri dishes, and infected with Toxoplasma, will respond to drugs like haloperidol; the growth of the parasite stops. Haloperidol is an antipsychotic, used to treat schizophrenia.

Dr. Torrey got together with the Oxford scientists, to see if anything could be done about those parasite-controlled rats that were driven to hang around cat urine-soaked corners (waiting for cats). According to a recent press release, haloperidol restores the rat’s healthy fear of cat urine. In fact, antipsychotic drugs were as effective as pyrimethamine, a drug that specifically eliminates Toxoplasma.

OK… so, now we know whats really wrong with all those “cat people” out there.  The brain parasites have taken over their brains, and leave them doing… bad things.

This now also explains several of my former bosses out there.  They must have been exposed to cats, because they’re just not right up there.

Now, as a public service method to get rid of the zombies, are they going to start putting pyrimethamine in the drinking water?

Over at The Razor
Every morning on the way to work I drive past a billboard that is almost hidden in the trees next to a refinery. It doesn’t say much, just the name of the foundation, its website and a statement that it doesn’t matter if you are pro-life or pro-choice.

This is always true

Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.

Something the gungrabbers need to learn.  Of course, the rest of that post is the Marine’s rules for fightin’

And they’re still hungry…

Who remembers The Hills Have Eyes from years gone back?  That one still creeps me out.

Woman charged with smuggling…

A Haitian national faces federal charges after baggage screeners found a human skull with teeth, hair and skin in her checked luggage at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, authorities said Friday.Myrlene Severe, 30, a permanent U.S. resident, arrived Thursday afternoon from Cap Haitien, Haiti, aboard Lynx International Airlines Flight 210, said Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami.

Customs and Border Protection officials “found a human head with organic matter inside of her checked baggage,” ICE Special Agent Erick Hernandez wrote in an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint.

Severe told authorities “she had obtained the package, which contained the human head, from a male in Haiti for … use as a part of her voodoo beliefs. Severe also stated that the purpose of the package was to ward off evil spirits,” Hernandez wrote.

“It still had teeth, hair and bits of skin and lots of dirt,” Gonzalez said.

The criminal complaint filed Friday charges Severe with smuggling a human head into the U.S. without proper documentation, failure to declare the head and transporting hazardous material in air commerce.

She faces a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted on all charges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

So just remember.  When smuggling human heads, you won’t get in trouble if you fill out the paper work and send it Fedex.

Biden vs. Wikipedia

It turns out you can rewrite history, or at least Joe Biden’s entry on Wikipedia.The online encyclopedia invites its readers to revise and update entries at will.

Biden’s staff took the site at its word, repeatedly tweaking the potential presidential candidate’s online profile to delete or tone down references to plagiarism and to insert flattering references to the senator.
An entry that once read Biden “was found to have plagiarized a speech from British Labour Leader Neil Kinnock” said Thursday night that “He was alleged to have plagiarized a speech from British Labour Leader Neil Kinnock.”A paragraph referring to Biden’s 2008 presidential aspirations was altered from “His name is mentioned on the long list of possible candidates for President” to “Biden’s name regularly appears on most short lists of possible candidates for President.”

About Valentine’s Day

I came to see Valentine’s Day for what it is,” she writes, a third-rate marketing holiday — a cheap, commercial parody of romance designed to foster greed and disappointment (in women) and guilt and resentment (in men).”

And that’s from a dating expert.

Match that with this quote from Jonah Goldberg:

You know those Kay Jewellers commercials? The tagline is: “Every Kiss Begins with Kay.”
So, once again: If every kiss begins with a diamond or other bauble from Kay, then you’re either dating, or married to, a whore.

Of course, we’ve covered diamonds before… Just remember: If you ever feel pressured to do anything that involves buying something, the holiday/event/tradition was created by the corporations to make you spend more money.  Don’t get me started on the whole marriage “industry”…

On CNN.com

Look closely…

OK, I’ve caught up on a lot of blogs today.  Been VERY tired lately due to extreme lack of sleep.  But one post out of many managed to put a grin on my sleep depraved face…

From Thoughts of a Regular Guy

If you need to hold a workshop to learn how to masturbate, you aren’t terribly bright. Remember, you’re trying to make the case that a woman can do anything as well as a man. That’s the main thesis of feminism. Yet, somehow, men are fully capable of masturbating without taking a seminar. For men, it’s a natural talent. For campus feminists, it’s another excuse to seek funding from the university administration. It’s also another sign that feminists are really uptight and angry.

It’s open trackback day… So work on your masterpiece of blogdom, and then link and trackback to this page.While it may not help your TTLB score, I’ll generally hit all the sites, and permanently link in the blogroll if you have good stuff.
That is all…

What Would a Pirate Do?

For a limited time only…

I have like no attitude at all compared to this rant…

I don’t go around quoting Charles Manson, and Mohammed makes him look like a candidate for beatification.

Any group of people that can’t realize that the best animal of like all time is a dog has some serious problems…

Found via Mostly Cajun…

the dissident frogman

Let’s pump up the volume on this whole “Support Denmark” campaign as much as we can, as I suspect this story might be one of those moments of truth that can make a difference. Now is the moment to stand up, be counted, and hold the line. Remember, that’s how the Frankish infantry stopped and inflicted a crushing and decisive defeat to the Muslim cavalry in 732.

I’ve added the graphic to the top right. And yes, I went out last night and bought Danish products. A nice block of Danish Havarti, and oh yeah, some Carlsburg!

Found at Grouchy Old Cripple

• Muslims fly commercial airliners into buildings in New York City. No Muslim outrage.
• Muslim officials block the exit where school girls are trying to escape a burning building because their faces were exposed. No Muslim outrage.
• Muslims cut off the heads of three teenaged girls on their way to school in Indonesia. A Christian school. No Muslim outrage.
• Muslims murder teachers trying to teach Muslim children in Iraq. No Muslim outrage.
• Muslims murder over 80 tourists with car bombs outside cafes and hotels in Egypt. No Muslim outrage.
• A Muslim attacks a missionary children’s school in India. Kills six. No Muslim outrage.
• Muslims slaughter hundreds of children and teachers in Beslan, Russia. Muslims shoot children in the back. No Muslim outrage.
• Let’s go way back. Muslims kidnap and kill athletes at the Munich Summer Olympics. No Muslim outrage.
• Muslims fire rocket-propelled grenades into schools full of children in Israel. No Muslim outrage.
• Muslims murder more than 50 commuters in attacks on London subways and busses. Over 700 are injured. No Muslim outrage.
• Muslims massacre dozens of innocents at a Passover Seder. No Muslim outrage.
• Muslims murder innocent vacationers in Bali. No Muslim outrage.
• Muslim newspapers publish anti-Semitic cartoons. No Muslim outrage.
• Muslims are involved, on one side or the other, in almost every one of the 125 shooting wars around the world. No Muslim outrage.
• Muslims beat the charred bodies of Western civilians with their shoes, then hang them from a bridge. No Muslim outrage.
• Newspapers in Denmark and Norway publish cartoons depicting Mohammed. Muslims are outraged.

Sounds a little bit selective to me.  And while of course there have been a few reasonable practitioners of the Islamic religion who were outraged, as a group the score is pretty sad so far.