Free Raleigh, NC Getaway

You could win a FREE Raleigh Getaway!

If you've never been to NC, you don't know what you're missing! The mountains! The rivers! Raleigh is actually a gorgeous city and it's so close to all these things. Raleigh is not the stereotypical deep south city you might think it is. While it does have all that wonderful southern charm, it is also a very contemporary town combined with the affordability and appeal of a classic southern city.

There are hundreds of things to do in Raleigh. You can attend the ballet and see Carolina Ballet's Carmina Burana. You can check out the new exhibit: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, or even see the N.C. Museum of Art’s Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism.

In fact, these are some of the things you can win by entering the FREE Raleigh Getaway contest.

-One night accommodations for two at the Courtyard by Marriott Raleigh Crabtree Valley
-$25 gift certificate to Bloomsbury Bistro
-Free VIP admission for two to Rum Runners
-2 tickets to the North Carolina Theatre
-2 tickets to the N.C. Museum of Art’s Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism
-2 tickets to Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences

So make sure you register for the Fall Getaway Contest

Woman gives birth to own grandchildren

It had to happen sooner or later. The only surprise is that it didn't happen in Arkansas or Alabama. I guess Brazil isn't too far off.

Actually, it's not quite the 'inbred' story it seems it might be. A woman chose to be the surrogate for her own daughter, making her her grandchild's stand-in mom.

The full story from Yahoo and AP

Fait Accompli?

Well, it's in the books now. Bush and pals have a legitimate congressional "okie dokie" to invade Iran, and at the forefront is the hawk-in-hiding, that neo-con mole, Leiberman.

Lieberman-Kyl’s Iran amendment passed today, which threatens to “combat, contain and [stop]” Iran via “military instruments.” Wunderbar. Imperialism lives on.

And once again, the lame duck wins and the so-called majority rolls over. The Dems limp-wristed style of governance has allowed the lamest of the lame ducks to have his way once more. One notable absence in the voting: Barak Obama.

The story from ThinkProgress.org

Painted Lovers

Love ink? Think that the body painted is the perfect canvas? Single? Then this is the site for you.

Tattoo Lovers.com is an online tattoo personals site for people who have, or are interested in meeting people with tattoos. You can browse through photos and profiles of people with similar interests. The site is one of the better designed ones I've seen and the people on it look truly interesting, unlike many dating sites online.

Before you join, you can browse through some photos of members to get an idea of who might be on the site. Many are unable to be viewed without a membership. Private photos maybe? I would have liked to have seen more pics, but the ones I did get to look at were pretty intersting.

Check out tattoo dating now, at TattooLovers.com

Flaming Lips

Ok, this is getting ridiculous! Will you guys PLEASE come to Arizona already! I've been waiting to see them for years! And no, a DVD isn't gonna cut it!

Here's a video to tide ya over.

Family Guy Does Star Wars

I LOVE Family Guy so much! These guys crack me up.

Honestly, this is really amazing, how closely they followed the story and even the artwork matches the real thing so perfectly. It's astounding.

"Great kid! Don't get penis-y."

Home Theater

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Today's site review is for Gallery Furniture. Located in Houston, Texas, Gallery Furniture is a huge warehouse of furniture, committed to offering high quality furniture at affordable prices.

Gallery Furniture is the one-stop place to shop for Houston Furniture. Gallery Furniture's online presence, GalleryFurniture.com is a bright and lively site, with a number of video offerings, mostly commercials. The amount of furniture offered is quite large and the prices are certainly reasonable.

For the purposes of this review I chose a product and went through the process of finding and purchasing said product. I decided to check out their home theater department.
I love the leather theater seats!



How cool would it be to have a movie room with a killer sound system and a sweet HD TV? Gallery Furniture has a few seats offered. Even though they're not 'really' theater seats, just loungers lined up like in a theater, they're still pretty nice. It was a little difficult to find the home theater section, as it's not clearly linked, but once there, you can find a few sweet deals. I'd love the 50" HD TV!

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Talk About "Rich Desserts"

A resort in Sri Lanka is offering a dessert that costs $14,500. It consists of a little chocolate sculpture depicting a stilt fisherman, a local tradition involving surf fishing from a stilt, some sugary fruit stuff, something called Champagne Sabayon Enlighten, and, oh yeah, an 80 carat aquamarine stone.

This is either a clever way to sell a gimmicky, over-priced dessert to people with no brains but a lot of money, or a clever way of selling an aquamarine stone by pairing it with haute cuisine.

Either way, it's pretty sad considering the dish costs more than most Sri Lankans make in a year.

The full story from Yahoo

Black Hole News

Because People Suck...


A barmaid in Melbourne, Australia, known for being a "prankster", served a customer a shot of floor cleaner, causing the man to become violently ill. She essentially gave him a shot of the Aussie equivalent of Pine-Sol.

Prankster?! How about retarded psychopath?

I thought it was basic knowledge that floor cleaners were poisonous. Or don't they have warning labels in Australia? I'm assuming, or should I say, praying, that this mental midget has no kids.

The full story from Yahoo

Weight Loss Surgery

Journey Lite offers a comprehensive weight loss surgery program. Their Lap Band system is the safest, proven weight loss program available.

Looking at their website, I find it very pleasant and clean. The choice of colors, for me, is odd. I'm not a fan of the green they chose, but that's a personal preference. The layout is simple and clean and the graphics are well done. Finding information through the site is simple and quick. There are some good testimonials offered, though I'd have liked to see some before pictures. Other than that, the testimonials are handled well, well written with good photography.

This post has been sponsored by JourneyLite.com

Go OJ Go!!

Gotta love OJ. He's a constant source of amusement. And mayhem.

According to a memorabilia collector, Alfred Beardsley, OJ and five other "thugs" burst into his hotel room and demanded that they hand over the sports memorabilia they had. This was all allegedly done at gunpoint, though it's been reported that OJ himself didn't handle a firearm.

The sports memorabilia in question ranged from football game balls signed by Simpson, Joe Montana lithographs, baseballs autographed by Pete Rose and Duke Snider and framed awards and plaques. Beardsley also had the suit OJ wore when he was convicted in the civil case. Some of the memorabilia has been ordered turned over to the Goldman family as part of the civil case payment.

The irony, in a case filled with irony, is that some of this memorabilia, which OJ claims is his and that he was operating a "sting" to get back, had previously been sold by OJ himself. So he's sold something, claims it's still his and commits armed robbery to get it back. The guy's clearly nuts.

More on the story:

6th Simpson co-defendant surrenders
Amid Vegas frenzy, Simpson freed on bail

Reagan Smash!

The people at Family Guy are geniuses. Not so much because they are amazing writers, just because they go off on the weirdest tangents. I guess they really appeal to the ADD in all of us.

Freeze!

No, not another police story.


Yeah, I need a shave...

I have back problems. Not muscle soreness or joint ache, I have a herniated disc. With this in mind, I do not recommend Freeze It for this type of problem, but I tried it nonetheless. It won't make this kind of back problem worse. It's not like I reccomend that you do not use it for this, I just don't think it would help serious back issues like I have. It will help relieve the sore muscles associated with it though.
I tend to get sore muscles around the hip and leg area simply because my muscles are over-compensating for my back problems. Trying to protect my back, the muscles in my legs and upper back work overtime to help with the lower back.

Freeze It worked pretty well for the pain in my, erm, cheeks? The muscles in my gluteal area pinch my sciatic nerve which causes pain down my leg. Freeze It helped this somewhat, though not completely. I liked Freeze It because it was simply cold. It didn't go from cold to hot to cold again like I was having hot flashes from the flu or something. It simply stayed cold, like an ice pack, though not as cold as that. That can get downright painful and I fail to see the point of replacing one pain for another.



Overall I recommend Freeze It. It's an inexpensive aid in relieving sore muscles and joints.

Protect and Serve

Autistic Teen Tasered in California

A 15 year old who left a social services center and was apparently running in and out of traffic was tasered by police. According to the police, they tasered him for his own protection.

"If that were your son, would you want him Tased or hit by a car?"

"Gee, are those my only two options? Then yes, tasering was perfectly acceptable. Thank you mr police officer man. I don't know what you guys did before these marvelous devices were invented. Oh yeah, billy clubs. Yes, you would have been perfectly right to have clubbed my son unconscious had he been running loose in traffic. A coma is much better than dead under the wheels of a semi."

Never mind that the boy was special needs. If you're close enough to taser someone, you're close enough to grab him and cuff him. Lazy sons of b*****s.

The full story form Yahoo

The Best and the Brightest

Continuing our coverage, a man was arrested for hitting his wife in the back of the head with an onion...which was the style at the time...



Yes, he was arrested. Which means, not only did he actually throw an onion at his wife, his wife called the cops over it... and she pressed charges and had him arrested. And the cops actually arrested him.

Taxpayer money well spent I say! Assault with a deadly vegetable! Forget about that suspicious family that's had 400 police calls to their trailer in the last 3 years and who are holding a woman hostage for the purposes of rape and torture! HE HIT HER WITH AN ONION!!!

The full story from Yahoo and AP

Oh by the way, thanks for taking the time to report this AP. Never mind the important stuff like the time my ex wife hit me with a potato!

Dell Desktops en Francais

DUDE!! You're getting a DELL!! Erhm, Monseur, Vous obtenez un de DELL!!

I think I got that right... 3 years of French finally comes in handy! YES!!!

Oh, who am I kidding, I went to Babelfish. I remember nothing but the dirty words. Not very helpful unless you're in Paris and some mime is harassing you.

Anyway, je digress. Dell Computers have been at the forefront of desktops and desktop technology and sales since nearly day one and they've got it down. I own one myself and am very pleased. The customer service has been great and they even gave me credit when I bought my Desktop. ME!

desktop - Desktop

In fact, it's time for me to upgrade I think. Mine is getting a little long in the tooth, as they say. This is the one I like:



Great for gaming, but also powerful enough to run my Photoshop and After Effects all at once.

This post sponsored by ordinateur.dell.fr

Black Hole News

Because People Suck

An MIT student was arrested at Logan, yes LOGAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, for wearing a fake bomb. She claimed it was art.

C'mon... I mean really... You mean to tell me that you've never heard that you shouldn't say the word "bomb" at the airport?! Oh, you have? ANd you thought that it would be ok to actually WEAR a bomb, fake or not, to the airport... That it would be cute and junk. Huh? Oh, you're proud of your art and you wanted to display it... Your lucky your brains weren't "displayed" all over the terminal wall!

Seriously, this is an MIT student! They're supposed to be the best and the brightest! So there are two conclusions to draw: Either she was looking for the publicity, which she obviously got, or she is the prime example of how stupid this country has become.

Our resident retard/genius:



The full story at Yahoo via AP

Bill O'Reilly Should Get Tasered

Bill O'Reilly, one of my favorite people ever, has called the college student that got tasered in the much-watched video that's circulating, "the biggest wimp in the United States of America".

I am not really surprised.

While I would agree that the kid does seem to be trying to force some sort of confrontation, I don't think he warranted a tasering. The cops are clearly big enough, with enough help to simply drag him out of there or make him roll over without the use of what has essentially become a torture device that cops fall to too easily.

The Full Story

Trivia!

If there's one thing I love, it's trivia. I am a trivia god! I was actually part of a trivia team in Orlando and we came in second, in Florida on NTN Trivia.

Quizrocket has trivia and other quizzes. Check out the dumb blonde quiz, it's pretty funny. They have trivia and qizzes on a bunch of other subjects like intelligence, Cooking or Teen Personality.



Check em out!

Made in China

I'm finding it rather funny that, whenever a recall happens that involves China, they scream and cry that it's us over here trying to make them look bad. Like it's us trying to start a trade war and make them look bad. Uhhh, even if that is true, these things are really happening. I mean, even if we are focusing more on these things - that they always happened and we're only pointing them out now for our own trade pressure - there are still lead products coming in.

I find it a bit astounding that no one is putting our officials' collective feet to the fire over how friggin long it took for them to do anything about it! Seriously, how long have we been getting stuff from China? Since Nixon?!! And only now, when we want to put pressure on China, do they play like they give a damn about us.

Sooo, while China is full of crap to whine about us noticing their corrupt and hazardous export issues, are we even more full of crap for waiting 30 years to point it out?


Test-drive a Nissan, win a lead-laced mug

TOKYO (Reuters) - Chinese merchandise took a fresh knock Friday when car maker Nissan said it was recalling tens of thousands of mugs it gave away in Japan because the paint contains excessive lead.

Full Story

Black Hole News

Because People Suck

Sure, I get crappy food at McD's and I can maybe complain and get my food replaced, or spit on, but if I'm a cop, I can arrest the minimum wage goober for it?!

Oversalted burger leads to charges

UNION CITY, Ga. - A McDonald's employee spent a night in jail and is facing criminal charges because a police officer's burger was too salty, so salty that he says it made him sick.

Kendra Bull was arrested Friday, charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct and freed on $1,000 bail.

The full Story


Airline tells woman her outfit won't fly

SAN DIEGO - A 23-year-old woman who boarded a Southwest Airlines plane in a short skirt for a flight to Arizona says she was led off the plane for wearing an outfit that was considered too skimpy.

Kyla Ebbert said a Southwest employee asked her to leave her seat while the plane was preparing to leave San Diego's Lindbergh Field on July 3.

Ebbert, a student who was headed to Tucson for a doctor's appointment, said Friday on NBC's "Today" show that the employee told her she would have to catch a later flight.

"You're dressed inappropriately. This is a family airline. You're too provocative to fly on this plane," she quoted the employee as saying.

The full story

My God... It's Full of Tards...

I do surveys every once in a while. Not because I'm desperate to talk to people or have them know my opinion. Or care. Or believe they really care what my opinion is beyond their ability to milk the last penny from me, but because I can get some pennies from them for a change.

In my travels through the tardosphere, I've noticed some things.

First, they usually want to know some standard profile stuff about you. Normal enough but in the last few years a trend has developed. We've all heard how hispanics are the fastest growing segment of society. Hooraaay. You got to wonder at the irony of being hispanic and finally being "noticed" by the man. Comes with some ironic twists I would say. On the one hand, companies and entertainment groups are now focused on pleasing you so your culture and heritage are on display and such. More TV shows, more products directed at you, more entertainment directed at you in general, but as the African Americans in this country found, this isn't always well-done, or well-intended. It's simply to try to get at your money. Most are slow to notice this in their pride and pleasure at being noticed.

So, back to my survey.

The form asks for my "ethnicity". From a very limited group of choices, I put white.

Then they ask for my "race".

My only choices are:

Hispanic/Latino (what's the difference?)
Other
Prefer Not to Say

How freakin blatant is that?!

Are you hispanic?! Yeah?! Woohoooo!! Here's a bunch of stuff we want to market to you in order to capitalize and monetize this, the most rapidly growing market in the US right now. The blacks let us down because we didn't realize that they don't all drink Malt Liquor and eat fried chicken (though we still try both avenues), but you guys totally eat up the hispanic thing as long as we pander to you.

Then...

I click through to the page that asks that you be truthful:

Before you begin, please make sure that you check off the appropriate option below:


- I agree to provide honest and thoughtful responses to all questions within this survey and to
take the time to read and respond accurately to all questions within this survey.


- I do not agree to provide honest and thoughtful responses to all questions within this survey or to
take the time to read and respond accurately to all questions within this survey.


.
.
.
.
.
.
Huh? I'm going to really click the one that says I'm going to be dishonest? Why would you even offer that option?! If I click "I do not..." does that mean I'm lying about that too and WILL be honest?

Argue With Everyone

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Ahh, not for the weakhearted.

Argue With Everyone.com is a forum designed with very little rules, no moderators and no holds barred. Seriously, this is one rude forum.

As someone who loves a good argument, even I'm not sure I have the stamina for the kind of debate going down. But it certainly would be fun to try. The anonymity provided by the internet provides the cover for people who would not normally voice their opinions openly.

This often means that the people you are chatting with will go much further than they normally would and head down the road to cruel and unusual. If you've got the jacobs to deal with this sort of thing, then this is the site for you.

Talk us politics, religion, social issues - just about everything your mom told you not to.

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That's Our Bush!

The so-called leader of the free world showed us once again why Americans are loved and respected the world over. His command of the english language continues to shock and awe.

Bush shows gift of gaffe at APEC summit


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Even for someone as gaffe-prone as U.S. President George W. Bush, he was in rare form on Friday, confusing APEC with OPEC and transforming Australian troops into Austrians.

Bush's tongue started slipping almost as soon as he started talking at a business forum on the eve of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Sydney.

The Full Story from Yahoo News and Reuters

Black Hole News

Because People Suck

World of Warcraft, too, is an online game as popular as Second Life, with warrior-players amassing digital gold coins from every opponent they vanquish, and the greater the lucre, the higher they advance in the WOW ranks. Some players take the easy route, though, and buy their WOW gold coins from dealers, who mostly get them from "Chinese gold farmers" in Nanjing and other cities men and women hired to play the game 80 hours a week, not for advancement but to score coins that they can sell to other players, at the equivalent of about $1.25 per 100 coins (marked up to $20 per 100, retail), according to a June New York Times Magazine article. [New York Times Magazine, 6-17-07]


Yeeaah. As a sorta veteran of WoW, this isn't news, nor all that weird. Okay, it's a little weird. What's weird is that the teens who were planning a Columbine style attack got the money for their weapons by selling WoW gold.

Furniture From Home Review

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Furniturefromhome.com offers customers the chance to shop for furniture from the comfort of their own homes. You don't even have to get dressed! You know, that old chestnut.

Furniture from home offers a huge selection of furniture, broken down by room and style. From living room furniture to bedroom furniture to office furniture
The site is easy to negotiate and each piece of set is nicely illustrated with zoomable photos in very nice resolution so there is no concern about being able to see what you're getting.

Furniture from home has office desks,

They offer free shipping and tax-free for all customers outside of California. They have a pretty liberal return policy as well. If their products show up broken or damaged, they will send a replacement or replacement part immediately.



This post has been sponsored by FurnitureFromHome.com

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Black Hole News

Because People Suck

I've heard nothing but weird things about Second Life. Should be called Waste of Life.

Ric Hoogestraat is married to Sue and works at a call center in the Phoenix area but spends 30-plus hours a week inside the online Second Life video game, pretending that he is the digitally drawn Dutch Hoorenbeek, a 6-foot-9, muscular babe magnet who lives on his own island. That unnerves Sue, according to an August Wall Street Journal profile, especially since Dutch recently "married" a digital woman and set up housekeeping with their two digital dogs. (The real-life creator of the new Mrs. Hoorenbeek has never met Ric and says she never will.) Dutch and his wife spend hours shopping and motorcycling together, leaving Ric little time for Sue. "Is this man cheating on his wife (meaning Sue)?" the Journal asked. Lamented Sue: "You try to talk to (Ric) or bring (him) a drink, and (he)'ll be having sex with a cartoon." [Wall Street Journal, 8-10-07]

Pink Floyd, Live at Pompeii

I've been a Floyd fan for a long time and this has always been one of my favorite songs. From their album, Meddle, which pre-dates their hugely famous Wall and Dark Side albums.

One of These Days is a slashing, driving bass and drum-driven piece, embodying the disjointed, chaotic psychosis that would epitomize their later works. This version, live in Pompeii is simply amazing.

From our friends at Milk and Cookies

Car Guy Garage

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Car Guy Garage. Hmmm, got my name in the title. How can I NOT like them?!

This is one Guy who can use some storage and these guys have tons. Though, I'm not really a car buff... I still like the cabinets they sell and could certainly find a use for one or two. Garage storage alone is a good reason to get 1 or 2 of these cabinets, but I can see storing some of my art supplies in one of the flat drawer cabinets.

I think the checkerboard garage flooring is a bit much though. My old boss had that in his garage, for his baby, a sweet special edition 'Vette, but I have to say, I'm a different kind of geek.

This post is sponsored by CarGuyGarage.com

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Office Space

Office Space re-realized as a drama.



These are excellent when well done. It's a case study in how to make a preview trailer. Goes to show what really sells a movie. How many times have you seen a preview that kicked ass only to find the movie sucked?

Poland Air Show Crash

Here at the Human Show, we like to show people at their dumbest, and it couldbe argued that an air show is kinda dumb and those involved agree to certain risks, bla bla bla, but this is just kinda tragic and sad.

And yet I can't stop watching it.

Oh, yeah

One more thing to add to the list...

It's been 2 years since Katrina, and forgetting (which the Bush administration has all but done - forgot) all the corruption, mismanagement and lies....

...the levees still haven't been repaired.

2 years

Maybe it's because the NATIONAL Guard is in Iraq? The NATIONAL GUARD! The GUARD that is supposed to GUARD us here at home while our troops are fighting elsewhere? Or the Army Corp of Engineers? Too busy building bridges of understanding between us and our Iraqi brethren I suppose.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

Gotta love this. Can't say I'm really surprised though. The list of things that simply piss me off more than I can say is growing longer and longer every day.

"This is the largest US Embassy built – roughly the size of Vatican City – and at $600 million (£300 million) the most expensive. At a time when millions of Baghdadis outside the green zone receive only a couple of hours of water and electricity daily, Iraqis observe that this project has been completed on time, on budget, and is entirely self-sufficient with its own fresh water supply, electricity plant, sewage treatment facility, maintenance shops and warehouses."

The Full Story from The Times