Stupid Man Came To America

An Iraqi immigrant who came to America, came to the state of Arizona, and in the course of time he murdered. He murdered his grown daughter. Why? What was his reason? Because he thought she had become too Westernized? Stupid reason! Stupid man!

He was sentenced this afternoon, Friday, to thirty four years in state prison. And?

Is that all he got?

If a stupid man kills his daughter and it is called a honor killing. Whose honor? His? What honor has he? He is a cold blooded murderer.

Thirty four years is a long sentence, but wouldn't justice had better been served if the sentence was life?

Stupid fathers shouldn't come to America, if they don't want their kids to become Westernize. Stupid father should stay away. Freedom is not for them

And how did this stupid man kill his daughter?

He ran her over in a jeep.

And again why?

She refused an arraigned marriage?

This goober is not well in the head.This goober should never have come to America.

Item from the Associated Press"An Iraqi immigrant was sentenced Friday to more than 34 years in an Arizona prison for running over and killing his 20-year-old daughter because she became too Westernized. " See the video.

Water Pistol Fight!

Water pistol fight! Okay the kid in me grabbed me by the eye balls. My eyes laid on the plasticware of the combatants and I couldn't help myself. I wished I was there at the biggest gathering of people, with a water gun, who were out to make fools of themselves and have fun, at the world's biggest water pistol fight ever,

Yesterday, Thursday, according to the Associated Press, a Guinness world record crowd of 3,477 participated in the water pistol fight, spraying each other for ten minutes, in the capitol city Bangkok,Thailand, during the Thai New Year's Celebration. The previous Guinness world record for the largest water pistol fight was 2,671 participants for an event in Valladolid, Spain.

For those ten minutes, during the water pistol fight, big kids could be kids. See the video. People look as if they are having fun. It is great to see that many people gathered in square and no body gets hurt. Now-a-days, that nobody gets killed, and everybody is all wet.

This is one of the benefits of the Internet, one can sit in ones own home and watch other people make delightful fools of themselves, in a nice playful way.

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Prince Turned Away?

There is an item on the Internet that the small "d' democrat in me makes me want to smile. But the skeptic in me makes me wonder: What's the real story? Is this a game? Prince William, the bloke who is soon to marry Miss Kate, was turned away from his favorite restaurant because there was no room to seat him.

Well, maybe if the Prince was alone, with a few bodyguard and a few reporters who stood out of the way? Maybe he could have been squeezed in? But he showed up with a group of twenty four and the restaurant was already packed? I know of a few restaurants in good old, liberal, democratic, DC, USA, where room would have been found. If the owners had to hand out free meal tickets for a later night, room would have been made for the prince. They would have thought of the publicity value of having him dine in their place, while his name is in the heights of the gossip sheets, and thoughts short of murder would have crossed their minds to make space. And anyone who came between them and such a celebrity diner would have been assured of a beat down.

I mean ordinary people are hustled out of the way all the time, to make way for the kings and queens of the celebrity circuit. No ones cares, because kowtowing to the rich and famous, in America happens all the time, and us, the normal people in America, know our place.

In England, the people weren't cleared out for the royal? The eating guests weren't hurried. The unseated ones reservations weren't lost? Why?

Well, come to think of it, to turn away the prince? Well? What better way to get publicity? Everybody is talking about the event. It is on the Internet. Right? Posh restaurant treats everybody like a royal? Right? Royal treated like everybody, right? Sounds like a PR man's scheme, right? See the video.

Commodore 64 Returns!

And it's better than ever. No, really!

The Commodore 64 computer, first released in 1982, is back!

Sort of. In the current obsession with retro geek culture—perhaps best epitomized by the popularity of not only the Tron re-make, but the original Tron, Commodore USA, LLC is releasing a retro re-make of the Commodore 64.

The beige somewhat thick-and-chunky looking keyboard is back— only this time, it contains an entire computer. There's an exceedingly modern HDMI port, allowing users to connect to an HDTV/monitor, and an option to add on a combination Blu-Ray and DVD drive.

All inside the keyboard. Like the original 1982 Commodore 64, this computer lists for around $595.00. But there are other options, too. The high-end version, with a Blu-Ray and DVD drive and a larger hard disc can drive the price up to $895. But for those with excessive nostalgia, the low-end model at $250.00 is essentially a box with a keyboard, so that the seriously geeky customer can add their own motherboard, DVD player, drive, and other components.

The makers seem especially proud of their detailed, dedicated emulation of the original Commodore 64 keyboard, which was apparently one of the primary goals. The current stock is already spoken for, but they're making more, and you can see the detailed specs and place orders.

Sneakers: Overlooked Heists

If anyone can summon a notion of who Phil Alden Robinson is off the top of their head, it’d be a remarkable feat. Having directed Fletch, a classic in its own right, back during the eighties, Robinson didn’t work in features at any significant pace. A few films followed, but in 1992, he returned with Sneakers, which time hasn’t been ridiculously kind to. There’s no reason for that, though.

Admittedly, not much more than another heist film, Sneakers details the exploits of a crew specializing in security. As a twist, though, the clan, as helmed by Robert Redoford, but including everyone from Sidney Poitier to Dan Aykroyd and River Phoenix, show companies their collective security flaws by perpetrating break-ins and robberies. Pretty interesting, huh. With such an odd specialty, it shouldn’t be a surprise that everyone involved has some sort of weird record their either hiding or escaping. As it turns out, the Redford character was a sixites’ radical who miraculously escaped arrest by virtue of going out for pizza. His partner – played by none other than Ben Kingsley - wasn’t as lucky and did some hard time, only to emerge as the Mafia’s go to guy for numbers.

The Redford character gets wrangled by some mysterious arm of the government and winds up being forced to investigate a scientist, leading back to the Kingsley character. The whole thing’s kinda preposterous, but in a James Bond kinda way. And while there aren’t too many utterly gripping moments – and certainly none involving Annette Benning – on the whole, Sneakers doesn’t offer up too many dull moments.

Working within the heist vacuum – but not as uniquely as, let’s say, Rififi – Robinson allows for each character to receive enough screen time to develop something of a personality. Even the Phoenix character goes and shows viewers he’s still a kid by asking an FBI agent for her phone number. Nothing here winds up being ground breaking, but at the point in each performers career Sneakers found them, there’s a wealth of good acting and something of a ridiculously talented cast. Not winning any awards isn’t a surprise. And most likely, the film won’t end up in a BFI list anytime soon. But whatever your personal view on heist flicks or the assembled talent here, Sneakers is worth a watch for nothing else other than Aykroyd’s character talking to Poitier about aliens. That’s just plain crazy.

The Tiger takes the big show, Schwartzel takes the win.

At the Masters --The King of Golf remains the King of Golf

Yesterday, Sunday, South African golfer, Charl Schwartzel, won the Master by two shot. Second mentioned in the golfing news, after the name of the winner, was Tiger Woods. The Associated Press noted, " Tiger Woods finished in a group four off the lead." The 2011 Tiger is not the old Tiger, roaring in with the wins, But as long as he is near the front of the pack and not trailing in the dismal downs, fans can hear him roaring, no matter how faint, and all is right in the world of golf. Fans know the Tiger is there.

Tiger Woods made a late charge at Masters, like he was on a comeback mission, then his progress stalled and he wasn't able to reach the goal of another green jacket and his fifteen major victory. He shot a very good 31 on the front nine at Augusta National on Sunday, and everybody was ready. The TV network executives were especially happy and hopeful. The show, a real reality show, had excitement and drama. But then, the Tiger who has won the Masters four times wouldn't on Sunday. He missed a birdie putt at 16, from there the roller-coaster ride was downhill. But his ability to make a surge reminded the world of golf that when the Tiger is on his game, there is no better golfer on the field.

With relatively new names like Charl Schwartzel, winning his first majors title, and the two runners up, Adam Scott and Jason Day, and the rise of no new dominate player, Tiger Woods, because of his past performances, and his never says die efforts on the greens, remains the King of Golf.

Rickrolling the Entire Oregon State Legislature

The Democratic member of Oregon's House of Representatives hatched the plot early in February 2010 with his spouse. Their goal: To Rickroll the entire Oregon State legislature, in collusion with their colleagues, all sixty, even divided between both parties.

Rickrolling began as an Internet meme involving getting someone to click on a link that they think is pertinent to the topic at hand, but in fact is a video of the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up." Like many such memes, Rickrolling was a product of 4Chan.

Smith coordinated with his colleagues on both side of the House by distributing lyric fragments from Asley's song. Their goal: insert their lyric fragment during a member's regular speeches on the floor of the House. They had to be subtle enough about it to escape the watchful eyes of observers— including the state of Oregon's House clerk. Since all speeches are recorded on video tape, the most laborious part of the scheme involved the public records permissions needed to get the video, and then the careful editing job to construct the video.

The video was finally released on April 1, 2011, and has quickly begun to climb as a popular destination for Rickrolling further innocent victims.

Some Australian Retailers Now Charging for Fitting Rooms

Hello, Australia. Have you gone completely insane? First you made it illegal for women in the porn industry to have small breasts—not normally a high crime in most countries in the world. Then you managed to pass a law allowing bored and/or horny customs officials to search computers for porn. Now, some stores in Australia are charging their customers to use the fitting rooms. If a customer buys an item in the store, the charge, which is as high as $50 in some cases, is then refunded to the customer.

Is this a good business practice? Does this even make any sense at all?

Not really. The reasons for the Brick and Mortar stores to charge a fee is that they are being forced to compete with foreign online stores to sell their clothing and shoes. Australian shoppers have to pay a high GST tax if they shop in Australia, but can save money if they shop online with foreign-based retailers. The Australian stores are angry that customers waste the stores time by trying on clothes or boots; instead of buying whatever they tried on, the customers then search online to buy the right clothes or boots. 

While I can understand the retailers’ anger about the GST and competing with Internet retailers, I have a strange feeling that this might backfire on the retailers. If I’m shopping for a pair of boots, I might have an honest intention to buy, but would definitely be put-off by a $50 charge just for the privilege of trying on a pair or two.

The article I read about the new Australian practice doesn’t make it sound all that great. One retailer complained about a loss in sales because customers were shopping online for their True Religion jeans. I do understand that the loss in sales is not good for the Australian retailers, but it is hard to sympathize when you consider that the retailer is selling designer jeans.

Australian retailers also complained that wages and holiday pay were much higher in Australia than in either the United States or in Asian countries.

Again, the concerns of the Australian retailers are probably not just limited to Australia, but do the store owners really think their customers are going to be willing to pay as much as $50 for the privilege of a fitting room? Would you pay that much? I wouldn’t.

The solution may be found in a change of government policy.

"Bricks and mortar" retailers want the Federal Government to abolish a tax break for overseas retailers, who do not have to pay the 10 per cent goods and services tax or import duties of 10 to 15 per cent on items costing less than $1000.

Bigfoot

Do I believe that the legendary Bigfoot, a furry man-beast, or beast-man, yay tall, that is out in the woods roaming around? In woods of California? North Carolina? the Ukraine? Do I believe in a good ghost story? Ghost? Yes, hasn't Bigfoot been as elusive as a ghost?

Old Bigfoot or Sasquatch has been popping up on You Tube and lately on mainstream TV and cable news, which has so many hours to fill. And video pictures of old Bigfoot are no clearer than the blurry pictures of ghosts, and just as short. And like a lot of ghosts are people in bed sheet, right? Old Bigfoot is a man in a gorilla suit? Right?

But damn. You Tube videos of Bigfoot rack up a million clicks at a pop, so there's a whole lot more interest in seeing him than in seeing a ghost

Well, Bigfoot is not supernatural, so is more believable? Right? Yo, but with all the satellite cameras, with Google's ability to show a zoom shot of ones backyard, one wonder why Bigfoot hasn't been googled-woogled? And with good fast digtal cameras, why all the blurry pictures? Well, whatever, talking about Bigfoot makes for conversation.


ABC North Carolina Bigfoot Video

MSNBC Ukraine Bigfoot Video

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