tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102583622011-04-21T15:48:37.121-04:00The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.comBlogger2881100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1137078426441358472006-01-12T10:05:00.000-05:002006-01-12T10:07:06.476-05:00<h4>Monday, January 9, 2006</h4> <span class="rss:item"> <a name="024597"> </a></span><a name="024597">AS far as Kyle Stoneman is concerned, the campus police were the ones who started the Facebook wars. "We were just being, well, college students, and they used it against us," says Mr. Stoneman, a senior at George Washington University in Washington. He is convinced that the campus security force got wind of a party he and some buddies were planning last year by monitoring </a><a href="http://facebook.com/" target="_">Facebook.com</a>, the phenomenally popular college networking site. The officers waited till the shindig was in full swing, Mr. Stoneman grouses, then shut it down on discovering under-age drinking.<br /><p> Mr. Stoneman and his friends decided to fight back. Their weapon of choice? Facebook, of course.</p> <p> Once again they used the site, which is visited by more than 80 percent of the student body, to chat up a beer blast. But this time, when the campus police showed up, they found 40 students and a table of cake and cookies, all decorated with the word "beer." "We even set up a cake-pong table," a twist on the beer-pong drinking game, he says. "The look on the faces of the cops was priceless." As the coup de grâce, he posted photographs of the party on Facebook, including a portrait of one nonplussed officer.</p> <p>A university spokesman, Tracy Schario, insists that noise complaints, not nosing around Facebook, led the police to both parties. But, she says, "it's sort of an inevitability that if a party is talked about on the site, word of it will reach the enforcement people, who then have no choice but to investigate." In fact, two campus police officers and the chief's assistant are among the 14,000 Facebook members at <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/george_washington/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about George Washington.">George Washington</a>.</p> <p>The stunt could be read as a sign that Facebook has become more than a way for young people to stay in touch. Started in 2004 by Harvard students who wanted to animate the black-and-white thumbnail photos of freshman directories, the site is the ninth most visited on the Internet, according to Nielsen/Net Ratings, and is used by nearly five million college students. Facebook is available at most of the country's four-year colleges, and many two-year colleges, too. </p> <p>Because of its popularity, though, the site has become a flashpoint for debates about free speech, privacy and whether the Internet should be a tool for surveillance. It has also raised concerns from parents, administrators and even students about online "addiction." "There are people on this campus who are totally obsessed with it, who check their profile 5, 6, 20 times a day," says Ingrid Gallagher, a sophomore at the University of Michigan. "But I think that more and more people are realizing that it also has a dark side." </p> <a name="024597"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/education/edlife/facebooks.html">LINK</a><br /></a><span class="rss:item"><a name="024597"></a></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-113707842644135847?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1137008151385244852006-01-11T14:33:00.000-05:002006-01-11T14:35:51.516-05:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/image001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/image001.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;"><br />PORTLAND</span></span>, Ore. - A photo of a one-eyed kitten named Cy drew more than a little skepticism when it turned up on various Web sites, but medical authorities have a name for the bizarre condition. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">"Holoprosencephaly" causes facial deformities, according to the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the <span class="yqlink"><a href="http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=National+Institutes+of+Health" title="Related information on National Institutes of Health">National Institutes of Health</a></span>. In the worst cases, a single eye is located where the nose should be, according to the institute's Web site.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Traci Allen says the kitten she named Cy, short for Cyclops, was born the night of Dec. 28 with the single eye and no nose.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">"You don't expect to see something like that," the 35-year-old Allen said by telephone from her home in </span></span>Redmond in central Oregon.</p> <p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Allen said she stayed up all night with the deformed kitten on her recliner, feeding Cy a liquid formula through a syringe. She says she cared for the kitten the next day as well, until it died that evening.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Allen had taken digital pictures that she provided to The Associated Press. Some bloggers have questioned the authenticity of the photo distributed on Jan. 6.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">AP regional photo editor Tom Stathis said he took extensive steps to confirm the one-eyed cat was not a hoax. Stathis had Allen ship him the memory card that was in her camera. On the card were a number of pictures - including holiday snapshots, and four pictures of a one-eyed kitten. The kitten pictures showed the animal from different perspectives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Fabricating those images in sequence and in the camera's original picture format, from the varying perspectives, would have been virtually impossible, Stathis said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Meanwhile, Cy the one-eyed cat may be dead, but it has not left the building.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">Allen said she's keeping the cat's corpse in her freezer for now, in case scientists would like it for research.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;">She said one thing's for certain: "I'm not going to put it on eBay."<br /></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060111/ap_on_re_us/one_eyed_cat;_ylt=ArkaHFZI27ttWSnpb2vDQG2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-">LINK</a><br /></span></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-113700815138524485?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1133272386206224722005-11-29T08:52:00.000-05:002005-11-29T08:53:06.206-05:00Hmmmm, I see some xmas ideas here. *snicker*<br /><br /><a href="http://ifun.ru/comments/joke1782.html">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-113327238620622472?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1133272302675322152005-11-29T08:50:00.000-05:002005-11-29T08:51:42.676-05:00<span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Presenting the world’s first iPod compatible bed by DesignMobel. “Pause”, as it was named, features an integrated iPod Dock and can accomodate a <a href="http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/ipod-compatible-bed#" style="text-decoration: underline; position: relative;" fs2="" class="kLink1" onmouseover="adlinkMouseOver(event,this,0);" target="_top" id="KonaLink0" onclick="dcax47y(event,0,this,0,this)" oncontextmenu="return false;" onmouseout="adlinkMouseOut(event,this,0);"><span style="color: rgb(73, 117, 183); position: relative; font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: 400; font-size: 13px;color:#4975b7;" ><span class="kLink1" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(73, 117, 183); color: rgb(73, 117, 183); position: relative; font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: 400; font-size: 13px; background-color: transparent;">Bose </span><span class="kLink1" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(73, 117, 183); color: rgb(73, 117, 183); position: relative; font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: 400; font-size: 13px; background-color: transparent;">Speaker</span></span></a> Systen. The bed is crafted from solid New Zealand Rimu with aluminium detailing. Now you can bring some style and function into the bedroom.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/ipod-compatible-bed">LINK</a><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-113327230267532215?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1133272118155562112005-11-29T08:48:00.000-05:002005-11-29T08:48:38.156-05:00<h5 class="f14 mb10">Consoles taken at gunpoint just hours ago; thief apprehended, consoles recovered.</h5> <p> A Stafford, Virginia, Electronics Boutique store was the scene of an armed robbery this morning. According to sources, the perpetrator made off with two Xbox 360 systems, forcing the store manager to hand them over at gunpoint. </p> <p>Sources tell GameSpot the local police responded quickly, cordoned off the store, and immediately pursued the thief. The thief was apprehended shortly afterward. </p> <p>Because the police consider the heist an ongoing criminal investigation, store employees were reluctant to discuss details of the robbery. But as of press time, the store is open, and all systems are back to normal.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.gamespot.com/news/6140176.html">LINK</a><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-113327211815556211?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1133272076877203742005-11-29T08:47:00.000-05:002005-11-29T08:47:56.876-05:00A Jonesboro (Georgia) woman was robbed at gunpoint outside of her home early Tuesday morning after returning from Best Buy with a newly purchased Xbox 360. Patsy Springer, a 53-year-old widow, had waited nearly nine hours to secure her son’s coveted Christmas gift. <p>When Springer reached her home she was approached by a man who pointed a gun at her face and grabbed the shopping bag containing the Xbox 360 and additional accessories &amp; software (valued at roughly $600). The man then fled to his car, at which point Springer attempted to pursue him in her own car—she eventually gave up. The attacker likely followed Springer from the Best Buy parking lot.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000830069633/">LINK</a><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-113327207687720374?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1133271746325632422005-11-29T08:41:00.000-05:002005-11-29T08:43:47.290-05:00<span style="color: rgb(47, 46, 46);font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:navy;" ><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);font-family:times new roman;" > Christina Desforges a teenage girl died due to Peanut allergy after her boyfriend kissed her after having a peanut butter.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);font-family:times new roman;" >Desforges is from the city of Saguenay, though she received a dose of adrenaline soon after the kiss she could not be cured of the hypersensitivity reaction and died a week after the kiss. The exact cause of the death is being investigated and an autopsy has been planned for Christina Desforges.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: times new roman; color: rgb(204, 204, 204);" href="http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=5949">LINK</a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);font-family:times new roman;" >-----------------------</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);font-family:times new roman;" >HOLY CRAP!</span></span><br /></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-113327174632563242?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1130504782307768232005-10-28T09:05:00.000-04:002005-10-28T09:06:22.306-04:00This is really fun. Navigate yourself to the puppet page.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.comcastic.com/shell.swf">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-113050478230776823?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1130504235667421092005-10-28T08:54:00.000-04:002005-10-28T08:57:15.700-04:00Click here for a fun little poo game.<br /><br /><a href="http://minibytes.mondominishows.com/poo/affiliates/play.asp?Affil=iwon&amp;W">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-113050423566742109?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1130423108778341422005-10-27T10:24:00.000-04:002005-10-27T10:25:43.353-04:00DETROIT - Nearly 50 years ago, Rosa Parks made a simple decision that sparked a revolution. When a white man demanded she give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus, the then 42-year-old seamstress said no.<br /><br />At the time, she couldn't have known it would secure her a revered place in American history. But her one small act of defiance galvanized a generation of activists, including a young Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and earned her the title "mother of the civil rights movement."<br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051025/ap_on_re_us/obit_rosa_parks">LINK</a><br /><br />This woman left a legacy. :o)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-113042310877834142?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1130376642382464512005-10-26T21:30:00.000-04:002005-10-26T21:30:42.383-04:00Omg, check out the cover of the magazine. Ugh.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.divorcemagazine.com/">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-113037664238246451?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1130376552664721152005-10-26T21:28:00.000-04:002005-10-26T21:29:12.683-04:00Literally, a complaint written to Continental Airlines. I laughed out loud...hysterical.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=11134">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-113037655266472115?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1129079080897308962005-10-11T21:00:00.000-04:002005-10-11T21:04:40.906-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/order.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/order.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Are you fed up with bringing bananas to work or school only to find them bruised and squashed? Our unique, patented device allows for the safe transport and storage of individual bananas letting you enjoy perfect bananas anytime, anywhere. <p>The Banana Guard was specially designed to fit the vast majority of bananas. Its other features include multiple small perforations to facilitate ventilation thereby preventing premature ripening and a sturdy locking mechanism to keep the Banana Guard closed. The Banana Guard is of course dishwasher safe for easy cleaning.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.bananaguard.com/">LINK</a><br /><br />-----------------------------</p> <p>This is one of those websites that has me asking...are they serious?<br />Honestly, I think I like the colors best:<br /></p> <ul> <li>Ravishing Red </li><li>Outrageous Orange </li><li>Mellow Yellow </li><li>Sublime Green </li><li>Skyhigh Blue </li><li>Brilliant Blue </li><li>Passionate Purple </li><li>Pretty in Pink </li><li>Glow in the Dark</li> </ul> <p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112907908089730896?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1128949636162659382005-10-10T09:04:00.000-04:002005-10-10T09:07:16.180-04:00<h3>"Catch a bunch of flies. Put them in a jar and put the jar in the freezer. In a few seconds the flies will be chilled out completely. This is called cryogenics, and it has its drawbacks. For example, the flies will be dead flies if you freeze them too long. Dead flies are no good. So if you're a tinkerer, refrigerate your flies. It takes longer to make them comatose, but they have a higher recovery rate than the ones you leave in the freezer next to the burritos."</h3><br /><a href="http://www.email.net/work-well-together.html">Link</a><br /><br />---------------<br />I really wonder if this would work?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112894963616265938?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1128903011985645532005-10-09T20:08:00.000-04:002005-10-09T20:10:11.986-04:00This is really stupid, but I figured I would share. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=vwl98dU0kY8">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112890301198564553?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1128902728978462522005-10-09T20:04:00.000-04:002005-10-09T20:05:28.980-04:00Five years ago, while on a particularly chilly camping trip with his father, Justin faced an age old dilemma: “How can I possibly leave the warm haven of my sleeping bag for the cold morning wilderness?” Being a natural problem-solver, Justin figured there had to be a way to stay in his warm sleeping bag and still get up and walk around. His solution: the Quad Zipper. The Quad Zipper is a new zipper technology that allows for synchronized, compartmental transformation of fabrics. The Quad Zipper simultaneously zips and unzips parallel rows of zipper tape to transform articles of clothing without adding or removing any parts. For example, the Quad Zipper transforms a sleeping bag into a walking suit, allowing the occupant to get up and walk around in their sleeping bag while maintaining the generated body heat trapped inside.<br /><a href="http://www.usanetwork.com/series/madeintheusa/theshow/characterprofiles/quadzipper_3/index.html"><br />LINK</a><br /><br />--------------<br />Thanks Noobs...blogworthy indeedy.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112890272897846252?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1128902622369096332005-10-09T20:02:00.000-04:002005-10-09T20:03:42.376-04:00Ok, I rarely post anything like this...but I thought this was too weird to not share. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.linkshard.com/Link.asp?ID=659">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112890262236909633?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1128004714770817392005-09-29T10:38:00.000-04:002005-09-29T10:38:34.770-04:00This is fun. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.igotlooks.com/warp/warp1.htm">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112800471477081739?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1128004563976170362005-09-29T10:35:00.000-04:002005-09-29T10:36:03.986-04:00<span class="subheader"><span style="font-style: italic;">"Welcome to my Hall of Technical Documentation Weirdness. On this page, I list wacky, bizarre, surreal and otherwise strange examples of technical documentation, particularly illustration. This page is in its infancy, so I welcome submissions, both written and visual. Note that I'm not looking for just bad technical writing--there are plenty of examples of that. I'm looking for the inexplicable, the surreal and the strange. Email me at (DARREN at DARRENBAREFOOT fullstop COM) with your submissions. When you're done, you might want to </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/">check out my weblog,</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> which includes other fascinating things."</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/hall/">LINK</a><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112800456397617036?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1127934225735613922005-09-28T15:02:00.000-04:002005-09-28T15:03:45.746-04:00I read this article today on fistulas in young African women and girls and was horrified. I have heard of genital mutilations on young women in Africa, but never heard of this. This made me sick. Where is the UN, where are human rights? To think that these families and husbands literally threw these girls into huts as trash was utterly disturbing.<br /><br /> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/28/international/africa/28africa.html">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112793422573561392?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1127748246705723982005-09-26T11:22:00.000-04:002005-09-26T11:24:06.750-04:00<span style="font-family:Geneva,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:85%;">It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico.</span> <p><span style="font-family:Geneva,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet's smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.</span></p> <p><!-- This site/section combo is not set up to show MPU's --><span style="font-family:Geneva,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taught to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compound was breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those who have studied the controversial use of dolphins in the US defence programme claim it is vital they are caught quickly.<br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Geneva,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><a href="http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1577753,00.html">LINK</a><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Geneva,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:85%;">--------------------------------------<br />This one's from Joe. OMG?!?! I had to re-read this....twice.<br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112774824670572398?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1127489361792966002005-09-23T11:26:00.000-04:002005-09-23T11:29:21.793-04:00<p> SEOUL (Reuters) - Armed, six-legged robots may one day work alongside man's best friend on the southern side of the Korean DMZ.</p> <p> South Korea will spend 33.4 billion won ($32 million) over the next five years to develop the robots for the heavily fortified demilitarized zone that divides the peninsula, the Communications Ministry said in a statement on Friday.</p> <p> South Korea envisages the robots performing roles on the battlefield now done by dogs, such as sniffing for explosives and catching intruders, the ministry said.</p> <p> The robots will stand knee-high to the average adult, mounted on wheels for road missions or on as many as eight legs to get them over uneven terrain, it said. Equipped with firearms, they will be able to carry out combat missions via remote control.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-09-23T122951Z_01_WRI344795_RTRIDST_0_TECH-KOREA-ROBOTS-DC.XML&amp;archived=False">LINK</a><br /></p> <p>------------------------------------------<br /></p> <p>After years spent crafting nifty little plastic toys that fill vending machines, Korea decided to turn things up a notch and created BATTLE ROBOTS! I'm not too concerned though. If they match the quality control of their cupie-doll cousins, they will easily break apart in a few days.<br />*snicker*<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112748936179296600?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1127489142352654732005-09-23T11:23:00.000-04:002005-09-23T11:25:42.353-04:00<p><span style="font-size:85%;">A rubber company in China has begun marketing condoms under the brand names Clinton and Lewinsky, apparently seeking to exploit the White House affair that led to the impeachment of America's 42nd president.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Spokesman Liu Wenhua of the Guangzhou Rubber Group said the company was handing out 100,000 free Clinton and Lewinsky condoms as part of a promotion to raise consumer awareness of its new products.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">He said that after the promotion ends, the Clinton condoms will go on sale in southern China for 29.8 Yuan ($3.72) for a box of 12, while the Lewinsky model will be priced at 18.8 Yuan ($2.35) for the same quantity.<br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/09/21/international/i040000D51.DTL">LINK</a><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">-------------------------------<br />Gives new meaning to "giving a Lewinsky"<br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112748914235265473?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1127488976149074992005-09-23T11:21:00.000-04:002005-09-23T11:22:56.163-04:00<p>"We must do more to allow French families to have as many children as they want," the prime minister said.</p> <p>France's fertility rate, at an average of 1.9 children per woman, is the second highest in Europe after Ireland's, around 2. But it is still below the 2.07 level needed to prevent population decline.</p> <p>The European Union average is around 1.5, dropping to less than 1.3 in some countries, including Greece, Spain, Italy and the new EU member nations in Eastern Europe where fertility rates dropped precipitously after the collapse of communism. Some experts fear that the decline in fertility rates across the continent could have far-reaching economic and social consequences.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.comcast.net/news/strange/index.jsp?cat=STRANGE&fn=/2005/09/22/226640.html">LINK</a><br /></p> <p>---------------<br />Ok, just an interesting thought...ever hear of survival of the fittest? Maybe the true cause for the decline in the fertility rate of France is just a part of natural selection? Hmmmmm.... ;o)<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112748897614907499?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1127315339559591002005-09-21T11:08:00.000-04:002005-09-21T11:08:59.560-04:00<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Check out the 4 gallery links on the left. This is art that was found on microchips... these images are 200 to 500 times their original size. Also check out the "How it is done" link.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.chipworks.com/gallery/gallery_home.asp">LINK</a><br /></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112731533955959100?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1127315266042867782005-09-21T11:05:00.000-04:002005-09-21T11:07:48.450-04:00A new collectible card game!<br /><br /><a href="http://onlinegamers.org/ktg/">LINK</a><br /><br />-----------------<br />Ugh. Thanks Jim. :-P<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112731526604286778?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1126834191818359092005-09-15T21:28:00.000-04:002005-09-15T21:29:51.830-04:00Crunchy critters up close. I mean C L O S E.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.funmansion.com/html/Freaky-Looking-Bugs.html">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112683419181835909?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1126796612475093732005-09-15T11:02:00.000-04:002005-09-15T11:03:32.486-04:00<a href="http://www.cardstacker.com/gallery.html">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112679661247509373?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1126742702257935512005-09-14T20:03:00.000-04:002005-09-14T20:05:02.256-04:00and I quote: "Cool paintings done by mouth or foot"<br /><br /><a href="http://yoke.cc/artists.htm">LINK</a><br /><br />Considering I can't draw a damn thing with my hands...this is pretty impressive. For those of my friends that can draw...I ask you...can you do this?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112674270225793551?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1126742051575288332005-09-14T19:52:00.000-04:002005-09-14T19:54:11.576-04:00Uhm...the game of scrabble just got a little bit nerdier.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.leettiles.com/">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112674205157528833?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1126741835732170762005-09-14T19:47:00.000-04:002005-09-14T19:50:35.753-04:00<p> NAIROBI (Reuters) - A Kenyan court on Wednesday brought a charge of child theft against the wife of a self-styled Kenyan archbishop who says his prayers bring "miracle babies" to barren women.</p> <p> Prosecutors charged Mary Deya, wife of "Archbishop" Gilbert Deya, with stealing a child from an unknown parent at Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya's biggest hospital, on September 10.</p> <p> She denied the charge and was remanded in custody until September 30, when her case will be heard. Prosecutors said she faced similar cases of child theft pending in court.</p> <p> Mary Deya said she delivered a "miracle baby" over the weekend but doctors at the hospital examined her, dismissed her claim as false and called the police who arrested her.</p> <p> On Monday, a Kenyan court issued an arrest warrant for her UK-based preacher husband, accusing him of stealing five children between 1999 and last year.</p> <p> Deya, whose ministry is based in southeast London, says his prayers result in miracles.</p> <p> Kenyan authorities say his "church" is part of an international ring responsible for kidnapping babies and small children and passing them off as the offspring of infertile women.</p> <p> Last year Kenyan authorities sought Gilbert Deya's extradition after taking custody of more than 20 children in Kenya. Deya protested he would not recieve a fareceiveir trial back home and moved to Scotland.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2005-09-14T141629Z_01_MAR451392_RTRIDST_0_OUKOE-UK-KENYA-MIRACLE.XML&amp;archived=False">LINK</a><br /></p> <p>----------------<br />Miracle babies, eh? *Ugh*<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112674183573217076?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1126629701791472462005-09-13T12:40:00.000-04:002005-09-13T12:41:41.806-04:00If you have five minutes...this is pretty cool. 20 Q's with a computer.<br /><br /><a href="http://y.20q.net/anon">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112662970179147246?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1125761249238225162005-09-03T11:25:00.000-04:002005-09-03T11:31:26.906-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/r62582564.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/r62582564.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><p> Four days after Katrina killed hundreds if not thousands, Republicans joined Democrats in shaking their heads. </p> <p> "If we can't respond faster than this to an event we saw coming across the Gulf for days, then why do we think we're prepared to respond to a nuclear or biological attack?" asked former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican. </p> <p> Republican Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts called the government's response "an embarrassment."<br /></p> <p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050903/ap_on_go_pr_wh/katrina_bush_28">LINK</a><br /></p> -----------------------<br /><br />In a country as rich as America, things like this shouldn't happen. A thriving city like New Orleans was transformed into a third world country in only four days. I am angry and filled with great disappointment in our government. I want someone to explain why our military couldn't drop water, food, and supplies down from helicopters since day one. This tragedy has magnified my feeling of our need to be self sufficient, and less dependent on our government. The government has no problems taking our tax money immediately from our bi-weekly paychecks. Ask them to wait four more days for our hard earned cash. Can you imagine? They'd have you in cuffs faster than you could say "Jack Robinson".<br /><br />It's a national disgrace. We should expect more from America, no we should demand it!<br /><br />We pray for all the lives lost and for the solace of those left behind.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112576124923822516?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1125411385795521142005-08-30T10:14:00.000-04:002005-08-30T10:16:25.806-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/buy_atari_model.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/buy_atari_model.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />We told you about the NESBuckle a year or so ago, in which we lamented the ruin of a perfectly good NES controller to be used as a belt buckle. But fine, it did look kinda cool, if you’re into retro geek chic. However, now NESBuckle has taken it too far: They’ve expanded their belt buckle line to include <em>perfectly good</em> game controllers from SNES, Genesis, and yes, the Atari (pictured here). <p>Look at it. It’s obscene. Even NESBuckle says it should never have been made into a belt, but they did it anyway just for that reason. Plus imagine the many Atari systems that will go unused because someone took the controller just to make a belt buckle.</p> <p>However, we still think you should totally get this. If, you know, you want to be ridiculed. Or be a hit with the ladies. </p> <p>The controller buckle itself costs $50, and a belt and buckle combo costs $65. </p><br /><br />Better late than never....<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/gaming/index.php#atari-belt-buckle-insert-your-favorite-joystick-joke-here-122726">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112541138579552114?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1125110208800110062005-08-26T22:33:00.000-04:002005-08-26T22:36:48.810-04:00<a href="http://www.asciimation.co.nz/">Link<span class="" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_CreateLink" title="Link" onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 8);ButtonMouseDown(this);"></span></a><br /><br />----------<br />Someone had a little too much time on their hands.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112511020880011006?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1124830271356083882005-08-23T16:50:00.000-04:002005-08-23T16:53:52.113-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/redheadedpain135.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/redheadedpain135.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Blondes may have more fun, but redheaded women have a special quality that is as unique as their hair color. They have an innate ability to tolerate more pain than other people.</b></span> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">In studies on "redhead" mice, which actually have blonde fur but carry a similar gene to the one that causes red hair in humans, scientists from the Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh, Scotland were able to target the pain-reducing mechanism. These red-haired mice have a similar ability as human female redheads to withstand higher pain thresholds compared with other mice and require less anesthetic to block out certain kinds of pain.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">This Scottish study was a follow-up to research conducted at McGill University in Montreal several years ago. While testing the painkilling drug pentazocine, the McGill researchers discovered that the same gene that gives women red hair and fair skin also plays a role in the body's natural pain suppression system. However, it doesn't work for male carrot-tops. Redheaded women can tolerate more pain than anyone else, including men with red hair and men and women who do not have red hair. The others all had a similar and much lower tolerance to pain than flame-haired females.<br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=Redheaded+Women+Have+a+Unique+Ability&page=1&amp;offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3Dd4218b5be4a42c15%26clickedItemRank%3D1%26userQuery%3DRedheaded%2BWomen%2BHave%2Ba%2BUnique%2BAbility%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fcnn.netscape.cnn.com%252Fnews%252Fpackage.jsp%253Fname%253Dfte%252Fredheadedpain%252Fredheadedpain%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DNSCPTop%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&amp;remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fcnn.netscape.cnn.com%2Fnews%2Fpackage.jsp%253Fname%253Dfte%2Fredheadedpain%2Fredheadedpain">LINK</a><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">--------------------<br />That's right...we fuking rock.<br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112483027135608388?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1124813400366770662005-08-23T12:07:00.000-04:002005-08-23T12:10:00.376-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/nun2.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/nun2.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><p> BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Belgian nun's acrobatic and indecorous dancing with a missionary during the Catholic World Youth Day in Germany over the weekend earned her a reprimand from her mother superior, a Belgian paper said on Tuesday.</p> <p> Daily Het Laatste Nieuws showed pictures of a dancing Johanne Vertommen being held up in the air by the missionary, and then clinging to him with her legs wrapped around his body.</p> <p> "I wouldn't do this at home but at such occasions I get carried away by the enthusiasm of the group," the 29-year-old told the paper later.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&amp;storyID=2005-08-23T114959Z_01_KRA342547_RTRIDST_0_OUKOE-UK-NUN.XML">LINK</a><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112481340036677066?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1124477632381622482005-08-19T14:53:00.000-04:002005-08-19T14:56:13.623-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/0hand2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/0hand2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />This is so neat!!!<br /><br /><a href="http://yoke.cc/handart.htm">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112447763238162248?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1124477137110171922005-08-19T14:44:00.000-04:002005-08-19T15:01:28.516-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/bike.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/bike.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Cycling manufacturer giant Specialized has announced that it is working on prototypes for revolutionary new bikes, set to be released in 2006. The new line of bikes is being dubbed the Venom Line. The bikes feature aerodynamic design and revolutionary technology that was pioneered by a special research team in Japan. Specialized unveiled the bikes at a special media conference in Tokyo on November 31st. The text below is from an official press release from Specialized.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mountainbiketales.com/Verdra3.htm">LINK</a><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112447713711017192?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1124476975224484622005-08-19T14:41:00.000-04:002005-08-19T15:03:48.316-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/ian_jeen_%20_sausage_5704.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/ian_jeen_%20_sausage_5704.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />This is an interesting little game. Snappy music...I like it. Not sure why or how...but I made it to some high score list. I guess I've always been a good sausage tosser? ;)<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.double-plus.de/games/littleErde/">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112447697522448462?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1124457187800298082005-08-19T09:03:00.000-04:002005-08-19T09:13:07.836-04:00My friend Anthony has a blog - Blackpot - at blogspot. One of his latest entries caught my eye, and I decided to post his link here as well. I don't normally repost other blogs...however...he made me laugh more than once and the concept was absolutely blog-worthy. <br />~Melanie<br /><br /><h2 style="font-style: italic;" class="date-header">Wednesday, August 10, 2005</h2> <!-- Begin .post --> <a style="font-style: italic;" name="112370639116729886"></a> <h3 style="font-style: italic;" class="post-title"> Oh yeah, I have a blog </h3> <div style="font-style: italic;" class="post-body"> <div> Some sports related articles have caught my eye recently:<br /><br />KNBR, the flagship radio station for the San Francisco Giants, <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2130288">fired talk show host Larry Krueger</a>. While station management gave other reasons for the firing, Krueger was a center of controversy for stating the Giants had too many "brain-dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly," during his post-game show. Giants’ manager Felipe Alou, among other Latin players in and out of the Giants’ organization, was publicly upset about the remarks.<br />Fellow KNBR host and San Francisco sportscaster Gary Radnich thought the firing was unwarranted and said the following;<br /><br /><blockquote>"Felipe Alou got rolling, got a head of steam up, and in this politically<br />correct world, you don't get a second chance any more," </blockquote><br />Excuse me as I whip out the smallest violin and play a tune.<br /><br />First of all, if you are a broadcaster and you are stupid enough to insult a whole group of people, you get what you deserve. Why should Latin people in the Bay area listen to KNBR if they are going to get insulted during a post game show?<br /><br />Second, Alou did nothing wrong. Blaming him, however subtly, for Krueger’s firing is like blaming a mugging victim for reporting the offense to the police. Tiger Woods caught similar flack for not throwing a life preserver to Fuzzy Zoeller after he made the <a href="http://www.cnn.com/US/9704/21/fuzzy/">chicken & collard greens</a> crack at the Masters in 1997. It is not the job of the insulted to bail out the insulter. If it is in the heart of the insulted to do so, like Yao Ming did with Shaquille O’Neal’s <a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/news/2003/01/10/shaq_yao_ap/">"Tell Yao Ming, 'ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh."</a> comments in 2003, so be it. If not, tough luck.<br /><br />Filip Bondy, columnist for the New York Daily News, takes the PGA Tour to task for the lack of diversity of players in the upcoming PGA Championship;<br /><br /><blockquote>“Don't let the skin color of Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh fool you, over the<br />next four days of bleached television coverage. The top levels of this sport are<br />not getting any darker, any more diverse, any more accessible to minorities in<br />this country. Woods stands alone, in more ways than one.<br /><br />As of early this week, there were 156 tentative entrants in the PGA<br />Championship, and 90 of them were from the U.S. Of those 90, there was one<br />Asian-American, one Hispanic-American and one Asian-African-American, who<br />happens to be the greatest player in the world. The rest were white guys. The 24<br />club pros who qualified for this championship were all white again, which tells<br />you that the mid-level pipeline is not pumping out diversity.<br /><br />We are still seeing too many pros who had enough money to hire the<br />right coaches, or to grow up around a golf course when they were young. Woods'<br />success has not enabled or energized the black population to take up irons in<br />earnest.”<br /></blockquote><br />Okay, now what?<br /><br />Is the PGA Tour doing anything to keep people of color away from the links? No. I believe PGA Tour officials would jump up and down in glee if they had more golfers of color on their tour. I watch a lot of golf (much to my wife’s chagrin), and I see a number of <a href="http://www.thefirsttee.org/Club/Scripts/Home/home.asp">The First Tee</a> promotional messages, bringing golf to places where it wasn’t played before (read: the ‘hood).<br />Is golf in general doing anything to keep people of color away from the greens? No. If you think golf coaches wouldn’t like to get their hands on the athletes that are currently playing basketball, football and baseball, regardless of color, you are crazy. If an Al Queda follower could hit a 300 drive straight down the fairway, he would get a college scholarship faster that you could say As sala'amu alaikum.<br /><br />There are few to no golfers of color at the highest levels of the sport because golf is expensive (as I unfortunately know, it would be cheaper and less addictive if I took crack cocaine up as a hobby) and because golf has only become cool in the last decade, corresponding with Tiger’s accession to the top of the golf world. The kids who Bondy describes growing up with a club in their hands are in their teens now; too young to challenge Fred Funk and Sergio Garcia.<br /><br />By the way, if you want to see the first waves of Tiger Woods’ effect on high level golf in America, look at the LPGA. The teenagers threatening to take over the women’s tour (Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel) were in grade school when Tiger won the Masters. While 17 year old boys can’t contend on the PGA, 17 year old girls have been able to place well in LPGA tournaments.<br /><br />I don’t see any solutions from Bondy on how to get more color on the PGA Tour. I’m not one to buy into the ‘patiently wait, your time will come’ idea of getting what you want, but in this case, patience will reap rewards. </div> </div> <em style="font-style: italic;">posted by Blackpot at <a href="http://blackpot.blogspot.com/2005/08/oh-yeah-i-have-blog.html" title="permanent link">4:33 PM</a><br /><br /><a href="http://blackpot.blogspot.com/2005/08/oh-yeah-i-have-blog.html">LINK TO BLACKPOT</a><br /><br />---------------------------------------<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I agree with Anthony on many levels. I work in College Admissions. Coaches have been fired for not having enough minority players. This INCLUDES coaches of lacrosse, field hockey, hockey, and golf. (Mens and Womens) The poor coaches come in to our office...without any means of recruiting such players. Most of these sports are expensive and inner city schools just don't have the funding to offer them. See....this is why I am trying to teach Khairi to play ice hockey. Think of his college scholarship opportunities if he even plays "so-so". He will have colleges begging him to play for their schools! :o) Ok...so maybe the real reason is that I don't enjoy watching basketball and football. Sue me.</span><br /></em><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112445718780029808?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1123691743972952422005-08-10T12:31:00.000-04:002005-08-10T12:35:43.983-04:00<p>INDIAN SHORES, Fla. - Humpty Dumpty doesn't sit on the wall. But thieves are to blame, instead of a fall.</p> <p>A 3-foot bronze Humpty sculpture that has adorned the beachfront home of Hugh Smith and his wife, Diana Fuller, vanished last weekend. And they desperately want him back.</p> <p>"He was kidnapped," Fuller said. "We're waiting for a ransom demand."</p> <p>The couple ordered the piece two years ago from an artist who specializes in making sculptures of the nursery rhyme characters. They specified Humpty's size, his expression and even the colors he should wear. They paid $5,112 for the whimsical, 60-pound piece they bolted atop a pillar of a concrete wall.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.comcast.net/news/strange/index.jsp?cat=STRANGE&fn=/2005/08/10/197718.html">LINK</a><br /></p> <p><br />--------<br />This reminds me of a house I used to drive by on my way to work when I lived in Bloomfield. On their front lawn was a garden and a scarecrow. This scarecrow was HUGE, perhaps 7 feet tall and it had a huge bunny head. It was impossible to miss. Well, one night, the head was stolen. The next day, there was a huge sign posted with a large sum reward. It read, "I WANT MY HEAD BACK". It was so funny. The head was returned and is still there today.<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112369174397295242?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1123684944816898922005-08-10T10:41:00.000-04:002005-08-10T10:42:24.826-04:00Ok, this is one of the funniest things I have seen this week.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.collegehumor.com/movies/1599379/">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112368494481689892?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1123678823304490302005-08-10T08:59:00.000-04:002005-08-10T09:00:23.330-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/cohn.marc.080805.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/cohn.marc.080805.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><p>Singer Marc Cohn, best known for his 1991 hit "Walking in Memphis," was shot Sunday in Denver, according to the Denver Police department.</p> <p>Per a DPD statement released Monday, Cohn was shot in the head late Sunday during an attempted carjacking near the city's convention center.<br /></p> <p>The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, who is married to ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas, is expected to make a full recovery.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112367882330449030?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1123600568252195052005-08-09T11:09:00.000-04:002005-08-09T11:16:08.266-04:00<span>RYE, N.Y. --</span>A 7-year-old Connecticut boy was found dead in the water of a boat ride at the Playland amusement park in Westchester on Wednesday after he didn't emerge from a tunnel, authorities said.<br /><br />"Tonight, one family left this park without their son," County Executive Andrew Spano said at a news conference at the park. <p>The boy, whose name was not made public, was from Norwalk, Conn. He was found underneath the conveyer belt that runs Ye Old Mill, a boat-in-the-dark amusement beneath the Dragon Coaster on the midway. The 77-year-old ride is "one of our most benign rides," Spano said.</p> <p>The ride, which was renovated three years ago to modernize its scenery, consists of 14 boats propelled into a tunnel that features gnomes and trolls. The water is 2 1/2 feet deep at its deepest, and instructions tell riders to stay seated and keep their hands inside their boats.</p> <p>The boy, who was at the park with his mother, got on the ride by himself after passing the 42-inch height requirement for riding alone and was the only person in his boat, Spano said. He "got out of the boat and was caught somehow on the conveyer belt," Spano said.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2005/08/03/7_year_old_connecticut_boy_dies_on_park_water_ride/">LINK</a><br /></p> <p>-------------------<br />They said on the news today that he was scared of the gnomes and trolls. Ha!<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112360056825219505?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1123590088773449482005-08-09T08:20:00.001-04:002005-08-09T08:21:28.773-04:00<span class="body-content"><p>Honestly, I didn't know how to take <i>The Dukes of Hazzard </i>movie ... still don't.</p> <p>I didn't expect much from it.</p> <p>In reruns on CMT, the 1979-85 TV series was actually more entertaining than I remembered. It wasn't <i>Hill Street Blues </i>or <i>I, Claudius</i>, but it was a pleasant little slice of the rural South, where family was paramount and everyone knew everyone's business.</p> <p>With a PG-13 rating and Johnny Knoxville in the cast, we knew the movie wouldn't be the down-home bit of Americana the TV show was.</p> <p>But what's been blazing across movie screens since Friday is a raunchy, humorless betrayal of the source material.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/living/events/12308065.htm">LINK</a><br /></p> </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112359008877344948?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1123590045137155722005-08-09T08:20:00.000-04:002005-08-09T08:20:45.146-04:00<b class="Dateline">BRENTWOOD, N.H. -- </b>Emergency workers helped a New Hampshire man out of a difficult situation over the weekend after a friend apparently locked a padlock around his testicles.According to the <i>Portsmouth Herald</i>, police reported that the 39-year-old man was intoxicated when they arrived at the scene on July 30 at about 3:40 a.m. The man, who was not identified, told them that he had the padlock around his testicles for two weeks.The man said that a friend put the lock on while he was drunk and passed out. When he woke up, the friend was gone."Never in my 13 years have I seen anything like this," Cpl. H.D. Wood told the <i>Herald</i>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.news4jax.com/news/4815844/detail.html">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112359004513715572?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1123506046891172162005-08-08T08:59:00.000-04:002005-08-08T09:00:46.906-04:00This is really amazing. It's so hard to believe that something that small has a beating heart! The pictures are really interesting.<br /><br /><a href="http://community-2.webtv.net/hotmail.com/verle33/HummingBirdNest/">Link</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112350604689117216?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1122664124242677782005-07-29T15:07:00.000-04:002005-07-29T15:08:44.263-04:00<p><span style="font-size:85%;">A woman who was branded with letters from the Consolidated Edison logo when she fell off a skateboard onto a searing hot manhole cover in Manhattan last year filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking unspecified damages from the utility.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Elizabeth C. Wallenberg, 27, was burned just above her buttocks and on her left arm when she fell off her skateboard onto a cover over a steam pipe at Second Avenue and 13th Street in the East Village shortly after midnight on Aug. 11, 2004, said her lawyer Ronald Berman.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">"It literally looked like a brand that had been applied by someone," Berman said about the burn marks left on Wallenberg's body.<br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/07/21/national/a173707D06.DTL">LINK</a><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112266412424267778?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1122570197527495782005-07-28T13:01:00.000-04:002005-07-28T13:03:17.526-04:00<center><b>Zoom in on stuff - up to 200X</b></center> <p> This computer microscope allows you to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary for hours of fun and learning. View specimens collected around the house, backyard, your desk, or the fridge. Look at the micro-printing on a dollar bill or examine the traces on your motherboard. This microscope provides you an easy way to zoom in on a wide variety of objects to satisfy your curiosity of the world around you. Ever wondered what lint looks like or the mold growing on your week-old bagels? Now you can find out. </p> <p> Simple plug and play operation with included software that allows you to magnify objects and view them on your PC up to 200X and take snapshots and time-lapse movies. You can also manipulate images with drawing and painting tools. The QX5 microscope is detachable from the stand to allow you to get closer to large objects.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/77aa/">LINK</a><br /></p> <p>==========================<br />Wow, it's like a digital camera for small shit! :o)<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112257019752749578?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1122569527532111722005-07-28T12:50:00.000-04:002005-07-28T12:52:07.533-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/top.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/top.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />This is pretty neat. Take a listen to all the accents that make us unique!<br /><br /><a href="http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=find&amp;language=english">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112256952753211172?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1122569173883118242005-07-28T12:44:00.000-04:002005-07-28T12:46:13.886-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/carborator.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/carborator.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><p>SAN FRANCISCO - A man who compared a woman's anatomy to a carburetor won an annual contest that celebrates the worst writing in the English language.</p> <p>Dan McKay, a computer analyst at Microsoft Great Plains in Fargo, N.D., bested thousands of entrants from the North Pole to Manchester, England to triumph Wednesday in San Jose State University's annual Fiction Contest.</p> <p>"As he stared at her ample bosom, he daydreamed of the dual Stromberg carburetors in his vintage Triumph Spitfire," he wrote, comparing a woman's breasts to "small knurled caps of the oil dampeners."<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.comcast.net/news/strange/index.jsp?cat=STRANGE&amp;fn=/2005/07/28/189418.html">LINK</a><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112256917388311824?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1122568788062240972005-07-28T12:37:00.000-04:002005-07-28T12:39:48.066-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/iguy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/iguy.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><p> Meet iGuy-the first bendable, posable friend for you and your iPod! Not only is iGuy fun, he's fully functional- offering great rubberized protection, docking capability, and screen protection for your iPod or iPod Photo. </p> <p> iGuy is your iPod's new best friend! He provides protection and fun for you and your iPod. Pose his arms- sit him down in the dock, and trust that his rubberized body and screen protector will keep your iPod safe. How much protection does iGuy really offer? iGuy's rubberized body protects your iPod from bumps, scratches and even the occasional drop. The removable screen protector stays put and is harder plastic, giving your screen extra protection.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/accessories/775f/">LINK</a><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112256878806224097?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1122469537951435422005-07-27T09:04:00.000-04:002005-07-27T09:05:37.953-04:00Ok, another one. :o)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.logogle.com/">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112246953795143542?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1122469287058448052005-07-27T08:59:00.000-04:002005-07-27T09:01:27.060-04:00Personalize your own Google search engine! Jazzy, eh? The latest and greatest from our friends at the "Big G".<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/ig">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112246928705844805?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1122468875233473362005-07-27T08:53:00.000-04:002005-07-27T08:54:35.240-04:00<span class="rss:item"></span><a name="021091">" As seen using Microsoft Earth (left), Apple's Cupertino headquarters looks like its been bombed to rubble. Compare with Google Maps (right)"<br /><br /><a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2005/07/25/microsoft_nukes_appl.html">LINK</a><br /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112246887523347336?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1122391094523398552005-07-26T11:16:00.000-04:002005-07-26T11:18:14.530-04:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/jesus%20comic.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/jesus%20comic.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/scary%20man%20blood%20jared%20hindman.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/scary%20man%20blood%20jared%20hindman.jpg" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112239109452339855?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1122317331359588792005-07-25T14:46:00.000-04:002005-07-25T14:48:51.710-04:00<p>EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Authorities have accused an East Rutherford woman of amassing more than $12,000 in free merchandise by claiming she was an assistant of celebrity Jessica Simpson.</p> <p>Courtney Handel, 23, was arrested Friday and charged with theft by deception. By Sunday, she had been released from the Bergen County Jail after posting bail.</p> <p>Police say Handel sent e-mails and faxes to companies in which she posed as Simpson assistant CaCee Cobb. Handel told the companies that Simpson, who is playing the movie version of Daisy Duke, had expressed interest in their product lines.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.comcast.net/music/index.jsp?cat=MUSIC&amp;fn=/2005/07/25/186370.html">LINK</a><br /></p> <p>---------------------<br />Only in Jersey.<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112231733135958879?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1122297845608269562005-07-25T09:22:00.000-04:002005-07-25T09:24:05.616-04:00"Og Og Alive is a Shockwave game that I haven't quite figured out yet, but I'm having a good time discovering what it's all about. It's an original concept game that appears to be well produced and looks like it could be quite fun. There are two playable characters, male and female Og Og, chosen when you first start the game. You are then given your first assignment: Og Og hungry, fill stump with food."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rit.edu/%7Ejhb4598/jblog/archives/000370.php3">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112229784560826956?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1122229086105595822005-07-24T14:14:00.000-04:002005-07-24T14:18:06.110-04:00<span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><strong></strong><br />"People still live in caves. Interesting 21 century cave</span>."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yumlum.com/115.html">LINK</a><br /><br />_________________<br />Neat pics...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112222908610559582?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121989690401879722005-07-21T19:46:00.000-04:002005-07-21T19:48:10.420-04:00<p>A 13-year old Virginia Beach boy is being held at the Virginia Beach Detention Center after police say he abducted an exotic dancer last Tuesday night.</p> <p>According to officials, the dancer showed up at a pre-arranged appointment at a residence - subsequently discovered to be vacant - in the 700 block of South Rosemont Road around 6:30pm. </p> <p>The woman noticed the client was a juvenile, but was told that the contract was for his older brother. Police say the woman waited for a while, but no one else showed up. </p> <p>Authorities say when the woman eventually tried to leave the residence, she was stopped by the juvenile who pointed a shotgun at her and ordered her to dance. </p> <p><br /><a href="http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=2601567">link</a><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112198969040187972?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121949112433944132005-07-21T08:29:00.000-04:002005-07-21T08:31:52.443-04:00LITCHFIELD, Conn. - The owner of an exotic animal and petting zoo is facing criminal charges for allegedly locking up a some people. James A. Mazzarelli, 61, of Goshen, has been charged with unlawful restraint, breach of peace and interfering with an officer.<br /><p>Mazzarelli, the owner of Action Wildlife, was charged with an incident on July 9.</p> <p>One of the six people locked in the park, Kathleen H. Dickey, of Torrington, called 911 to report her party was stuck in the park, state police said.</p> <p>Dickey told police Mazzarelli intentionally locked the gates, keeping her from driving their vehicle out of the parking lot. Dickey, two other adults and three children were prohibited from leaving the compound.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050720/ap_on_fe_st/zoo_arrest;_ylt=AkodoxlZXQ3zjIyRDyQz3jvtiBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl">LINK</a><br /></p> <p>--------------------------------------<br />Hmmm, i am going to turtle back zoo tomorrow...should i be concerned?<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112194911243394413?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121910704496390802005-07-20T21:47:00.000-04:002005-07-20T21:51:44.496-04:00<p> LONDON (Reuters) - The word "fail" should be banned from use in British classrooms and replaced with the phrase "deferred success" to avoid demoralizing pupils, a group of teachers has proposed.</p> <p> Members of the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) argue that telling pupils they have failed can put them off learning for life.</p> <p> A spokesman for the group said it wanted to avoid labeling children. "We recognize that children do not necessarily achieve success first time," he said.</p> <p> "But I recognize that we can't just strike a word from the dictionary," he said.</p> <p> The PAT said it would debate the proposal at a conference next week.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2005-07-20T130239Z_01_L1972360_RTRIDST_0_ODD-BRITAIN-FAILURE-DC.XML">LINK</a><br /></p> <p>-----------------<br />Right here...this is the nonsense that makes my job difficult. "Oh Sweetheart, you are my special golden star...you can do anything you put your mind to...it doesn't matter if you have failed...oops I mean...<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">deferred success </span>in all of your classes!" Yak, yak, yak!!!<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112191070449639080?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121910433383345032005-07-20T21:44:00.000-04:002005-07-20T21:47:13.390-04:00<p><span style="font-size:100%;">A city fire captain has gotten in trouble for mixing work with his home life.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">Capt. Kevin Shaffer must repay the department $120 for using a fire truck to water his yard. He also was reprimanded and must pay 35 cents per gallon for the water he used, officials said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">Shaffer and other firefighters were training recently on the south end of town, after which Shaffer wanted to purge the truck's tank.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">Instead of dumping the water down on the street or down a drain as is normal procedure, Shaffer put the water on his lawn in the city 50 miles north of Indianapolis, Deputy Chief Pat Donoghue said Tuesday.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">"We consider that a misuse of fire department equipment," Donoghue said. "He said he didn't want to waste it. If he didn't want to waste it, he could have watered the department's lawn."<br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/07/20/national/a053646D87.DTL">LINK</a><br /></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">-----------------------<br />Let me make sure I understand this. If he wasted the water by dumping it down a street made of asphalt, that would have been fine. However, actually using the water for living things...ummm...that's a no-no. Right. That makes complete sense.<br /></span></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112191043338334503?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121733596329130062005-07-18T20:37:00.000-04:002005-07-18T20:39:56.330-04:00<p> NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian police forced around 200 people caught watching pornography to do sit-ups in public to shame them and keep them away from theaters that illegally screen smutty movies.</p> <p> The Hindustan Times reported Monday that police stopped the screening of a pornographic movie at a cinema in Balasore district in the eastern state of Orissa and made audience members -- some as young as 17 -- do 10 sit-ups each at a public square, watched by onlookers.</p> <p> The police made the all-male group vow not to watch pornography again. To make matters worse for the embarrassed teenagers who were caught, police called their parents to watch them doing sit-ups.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2005-07-18T155527Z_01_SP69050_RTRIDST_0_ODD-INDIA-PORN-DC.XML">LINK</a><br /></p> <p>--------------------<br />Interesting thought...who's sicker, the porn watchers or the sit-up watchers? I'll let you decide. I've already made up my mind. ;)<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112173359632913006?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121733393784814102005-07-18T20:35:00.000-04:002005-07-18T20:36:33.786-04:00<p><span style="font-size:100%;">One could say that St. Mark United Church of Christ is bee-deviled. The church in Clarion County, about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, has been infested with bees in its walls for about seven years. The church tried an exterminator and that didn't work. Now the problem has gotten so bad that honey oozes through its walls.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">The church has hired McCool's Wildlife Removal of Rocky Grove to remove the honey, seal the damaged walls — and relocate an estimated 1 million bees to a local bee keeper.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">Eric McCool, who owns the business, said it typically takes about a day to remove bees from an infested building, but the church is so badly infested it will take three or four days.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">The bees aren't crazy about the move. McCool has been stung more than 100 times this week.<br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/07/07/national/a130438D29.DTL">LINK</a></span><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112173339378481410?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121733246374241182005-07-18T20:31:00.000-04:002005-07-18T20:34:06.376-04:00<p> DALY CITY, Calif. (AP) - Victor Edward Willis, the original policeman in the 1970s music group the Village People, was arrested by real police who allegedly found a gun and drugs in his convertible. </p> <p>Willis, who co-wrote disco hits such as Macho Man and In the Navy before leaving the Village People in the late 1970s, was taken into custody Monday after an officer stopped his Chevrolet Corvette. </p> <p>Police said Willis didn't have a valid licence or identification and at first lied about his name and residence. Inside the car, the officer found a .45-calibre handgun as well as rock cocaine and drug paraphernalia, police said.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.canada.com/entertainment/story.html?id=e047cccd-4806-49e9-9e7a-b653d02b5eb1">LINK</a><br /></p> <p>-----------<br />"Hey, the village called...they're missing their idiot!" G O N G !!!!!!!<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112173324637424118?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121732775101156302005-07-18T20:23:00.000-04:002005-07-18T20:26:15.106-04:00This little game couldn't be easier. Perhaps It's my terrible mood or the fact that it feels like a million humid degrees outside...but I sincerely enjoyed this one. Click - click - click. Click on anything, hell, click on everything. <br /><br />Watch it <a href="http://kiteretsu.jp/on/grow3/">G R O W</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112173277510115630?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121545615441360932005-07-16T16:25:00.000-04:002005-07-16T16:26:55.446-04:00<p><span style="font-size:85%;">A man drinking holy water at St. Joseph's Catholic Church was removed from the church by police on Wednesday. The man, Stacy Lamar Bradford, has a history of trespassing at the church, said Tom Rocks, the church's office manager.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">On Oct. 15, Bradford was arrested at St. Joe's after he assaulted the church's pastor, broke a processional crucifix and broke the window of a police cruiser, Rocks said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">He was barred from the church for five years, but he continues to come in the church about every two weeks to drink holy water, which is kept for use in baptisms and other sacraments.</span></p> <br /><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/07/14/national/a132923D10.DTL">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112154561544136093?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121516510720432212005-07-16T08:18:00.000-04:002005-07-16T08:21:50.723-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/image.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/image.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><p>The experiment will see about 1000 agents live together in a simulated world hosted on a network of 50 computers based at the various institutions involved. </p> <p>Each agent will be capable of various simple tasks, like moving around and building simple structures, but will also have the ability to communicate and cooperate with its cohabitants. Though simple interaction, the researchers hope to watch these characters create their very own society from scratch.</p> <p>Every character in the simulated world will need to eat to survive, and will be able to learn from their environment through trial and error - learning, for example, how to cultivate edible plants with water and sunlight. In addition, characters will be able to reproduce by mating with members the opposite sex and their offspring will inherited a random collection of their parents "genetic" traits.<br /></p> <p>Perhaps most importantly, however, by pointing to objects and using randomly generated "words", characters should be able to conjure up their very own language and communicate with others inside their world.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7674">LINK<br /></a></p> <h5><br /></h5><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112151651072043221?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121516102710574012005-07-16T08:04:00.000-04:002005-07-16T08:15:02.716-04:00<p> MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A group of stranded illegal immigrants facing death in the parched Arizona desert saved themselves by using a cell phone they found to call rescue services, the U.S. Border Patrol said Thursday.</p> <p> The group got lost in the desert near Arivaca, south of Tucson, Arizona, Wednesday after their guide abandoned them during a four-day trek across the border from Mexico.</p> <p> Lost and low on water, they used a cell phone they found in their guide's bag to dial 911. Rescuers dispatched helicopters and located the group in the desert shortly after sunset.</p> <p> "Their quick thinking in using the phone to call for help and lighting signal fires saved their lives," the Tucson Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol said in a news release.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2005-07-15T162228Z_01_N14545591_RTRIDST_0_ODD-MEXICO-CELLPHONE-DC.XML">LINK</a><br /></p> <p>-------------------<br />I really want to hear the 911 tape of that call! <br /></p> <p>"Hello, 911..."<br /></p> <p>"Hello, How can we help you..."<br /></p> <p>"We were walking in the desert...and it just kept getting hotter...and hotter..."<br /></p> <p>"The desert, why are you in the desert?"<br /></p> <p>"Well, you see...we were illegally sneaking into your country...and we only had three choices: the 120 degrees desert walk, the rat infested sewerage tube, or the rubber dingy action adventure."<br /></p> <p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112151610271057401?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121473968239776962005-07-15T20:29:00.000-04:002005-07-15T20:33:14.103-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/GrappaWH_t.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/GrappaWH_t.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">These little interactive applets are both fun and mesmorizing.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.eigelb.at/?sID=67">Link</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112147396823977696?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121457851715324132005-07-15T16:00:00.000-04:002005-07-15T16:04:11.720-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/1600/double.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7556/784/320/double.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />TOKYO - At last, a way to end squabbles over which TV channel to watch — without buying a second set. Sharp Corp. has developed a liquid-crystal display that shows totally different images to people viewing the screen from the left and the right.<br /><br />One person can be surfing the Internet, using the display as a PC screen, while another watches a downloaded movie or TV broadcast. It also works for watching two TV channels: One person can watch baseball while another watches a soap opera.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050715/ap_on_hi_te/japan_double_display">LINK</a><br /><br />-------------<br />Testing out the new blogger image upload. So far, so good. This takes blogging to new levels of fun!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112145785171532413?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121392859796881282005-07-14T21:59:00.000-04:002005-07-14T22:00:59.803-04:00<p><span style="font-size:85%;">An expert in eating disorders collapsed in a supermarket after inhaling propellant from whipped cream cans, according to police.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Lisa G. Berzins, a prominent psychologist who has been on national television and radio shows and in newspaper articles, was arrested on a warrant Friday charging her in the May 29 incident, The Hartford Courant reported.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Berzins, 49, has a practice in West Hartford. She has written and lectured on eating disorders, female development, sex roles and self-esteem, according a speaker's biography from the American Psychological Association.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">According to the arrest warrant affidavit, West Hartford police responded to the Farmington Avenue Stop & Shop and found Berzins lying on the floor and bleeding from her head. Berzins, the affidavit says, told police she did not know what happened.<br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/07/12/national/a133326D79.DTL">LINK</a><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">------------<br />This is why I don't go to therapy. Ugh.<br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112139285979688128?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121369228952945492005-07-14T15:26:00.000-04:002005-07-14T15:27:08.960-04:00<p>ROANOKE, Va. - An 84-year-old man who said he strangled his wife of more than 50 years as she slipped deeper into Alzheimer's disease was sentenced to prison by a judge who said the case was the toughest he had faced on the bench.</p> <p>William Wallace Hurt was sentenced Wednesday to a 10-year prison term, to be suspended after he serves one year, for killing 83-year-old Neva Hurt.</p> <p>Hurt had pleaded no contest in March to second-degree murder.</p> <p>On Easter morning 2004, Hurt placed a plastic bag over his wife's head to end what he said was her steady decline to the disease. He then attempted to kill himself - first by placing a bag over his head, then by ingesting weed killer and finally by striking his head repeatedly with a hammer.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.comcast.net/news/national/index.jsp?cat=DOMESTIC&amp;fn=/2005/07/14/178315.html">Link</a><br /><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112136922895294549?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121307551034210382005-07-13T21:30:00.000-04:002005-07-13T22:25:34.330-04:00<div align="justify">...a little girl I never met, but pray for every evening before I go to sleep.<br /><br />Losing a child, is one of the most painful experiences a human can bear. The greiving process is slow and painful and you constantly feel completely alone in your emotions. For me, two years have passed since my loss and not a day goes by...that it doesn't cross my mind.<br /><br />This came on the radio the night I heard about Jordana and for some reason I found comfort and strength in this song. I can only pray that Jordana's mother will one day find solace.<br /><br />For what it's worth...here it is.<br />~m<br /><br />~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div align="justify"><br /><a href="http://www.30fps.org/Quickstart/AudioLib/Held.mp3"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><strong>http://www.30fps.org/Quickstart/AudioLib/Held.mp3</strong></span></a></div> <div align="justify"><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">"Most of us have experienced the death of a loved one or we've watched somebody that we know and love experience the pain of losing someone that they love. Maybe this is even happening to one of you right now or to someone that you know in your circle of friends, your school, your work, your prayer group. My friend Christa Wells wrote this song after she had lost two people very dear to her in the span of 48 hours. I recorded this song in the prayer and hopes that it would bring comfort to a lot of people. The first time I heard it, honestly it just moved me to tears. Christa found a lot of comfort in the message. My prayer and hope is that you will, too." -Natalie Grant </span></div> <span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><div align="justify"><br />The following is on her personal website to intro the song:</div><div align="justify"><br />"Christa Wells, a part-time songwriter and stay-at-home mom of three in North Carolina wrote this song in response to two very difficult losses that happened within 48 hours. And for her, I think it must have been one of those total shake-your-fist-at-God moments where you cry, "Why God?" These are the things in life that we cannot understand or explain, and the lyrics reflect that honesty. God didn’t promise us we’d be okay or that life would be easy. My faith does not protect me from pain, but it provides me with peace. God only promises us that when we suffer, when we’re in pain, we’ll be held in His arms through every circumstance."</div><div align="justify"><br />The words are as follows: </div><div align="justify"><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);">Two months is too little.<br />They let him go.<br />They had no sudden healing.<br />To think that providence would<br />Take a child from his mother while she prays<br />Is appalling. </span></div><div align="justify" style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);"><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);">Who told us we'd be rescued?<br />What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?<br />We're asking why this happens<br />To us who have died to live?<br />It's unfair. </span></div><div align="justify" style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);"><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);">Chorus:<br />This is what it means to be held.<br />How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life<br />And you survive.<br />This is what it is to be loved.<br />And to know that the promise was<br />When everything fell we'd be held. </span></div><div align="justify" style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);"><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);">This hand is bitterness.</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);">We want to taste it, let the hatred know our sorrow.</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);">The wise hands opens slowly to lilies of the valley and tomorrow.</span> </span></div><div align="justify" style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);"><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);">(Chorus)<br />This is what it means to be held.<br />How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life<br />And you survive.<br />This is what it is to be loved.<br />And to know that the promise was<br />When everything fell we'd be held. </span></div><div align="justify" style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);"><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);">Bridge:</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);">If hope is born of suffering.</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);">If this is only the beginning.</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);">Can we not wait for one hour watching for our Savior?</span> </span></div><div align="justify" style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);"><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);">(Chorus)<br />This is what it means to be held.<br />How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life<br />And you survive.<br />This is what it is to be loved.<br />And to know that the promise was<br />When everything fell we'd be held. </span></div><div align="justify" style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 255);">-Held, Natalie Grant</span></span></div><div align="justify"><br />Right now, we all need to know we are held. We all need to know that someone realizes life is too short and we feel like we are falling thru the cracks. The song spoke volumes to me, it reminded me that I am far from alone, that somehow the darkness will turn back to light, and that someday, somehow, I will feel held again.</div> </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112130755103421038?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121255397171716152005-07-13T07:48:00.000-04:002005-07-13T07:49:57.176-04:00<pre wrap="">Check out these 2 articles on nuts.<br /><br />==============<br /><br />Pop peanuts.<br /><br />Nuts have a very high satiety power--meaning they make you feel fuller after<br />eating than many other foods. And even though they're high in calories,<br />those calories appear to be processed differently in the body. University of<br />Michigan researchers found that men who added 500 calories' worth of peanuts<br />a day to their diet gained no excess weight at all.<br /><br /><a href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_5_21/ai_n13779040/pg_2">Source:</a><br /><br />==============<br /><br />People who snacked on 500 extra calories worth of cocktail peanuts every day<br />for 8 weeks didn't gain weight, an amazing Purdue University study finds.<br /><br />Researchers speculate that the healthy fats, fiber, and protein in nuts are<br />so filling that study volunteers ate less at other times of the day without<br />even realizing it. Crunchy peanuts also raised metabolism.<br /><br />Evidence suggests that consumption of walnuts, pecans, and almonds also has<br />little impact on body weight, says study author Richard Mattes, PhD, RD.<br /> <br />How many nuts equal 500 calories? A lot!<br /><br /> <br />Roasted peanuts<br />1/2 cup, about 122<br /> <br />Cocktail peanuts<br />3/8 cup, about 103<br /> <br />Almonds<br />5/8 cup, about 73<br /> <br />Pecans<br />5/8 cup, about 45 halves<br /> <br />Walnuts<br />5/8 cup, about 25 halves<br /> <br /><br /><a href="http://www.prevention.com/article/0,5778,s1-4-121-48-3661-1,00.html">Source:</a><br /><br /><br />---------------------------<br />Personally, I'm a fan of the soy sauce/wasabi almonds. How about you?<br /></pre><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112125539717171615?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121176794183621662005-07-12T09:59:00.000-04:002005-07-12T09:59:54.190-04:00LOS ANGELES - Daredevil skateboarder Danny Way rolled down a massive ramp at nearly 50 mph and jumped across the Great Wall of China on Saturday, becoming the first person to clear the wall without motorized aid, an event sponsor said.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&amp;fn=/2005/07/09/174647.html">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112117679418362166?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1121097264972189582005-07-11T11:53:00.000-04:002005-07-11T11:54:24.980-04:00<div class="firstP">PITTSBURGH (AP) - James Henry Smith was a zealous Pittsburgh Steelers fan in life, and even death could not keep him from his favorite spot: in a recliner, in front of a TV showing his beloved team in action.</div> Smith, 55, of Pittsburgh, died of prostate cancer Thursday. Because his death wasn't unexpected, his family was able to plan for an unusual viewing Tuesday night. <p>The Samuel E. Coston Funeral Home erected a small stage in a viewing room, and arranged furniture on it much as it was in Smith's home on game day Sundays.</p> <p>Smith's body was on the recliner, his feet crossed and a remote in his hand. He wore black and gold silk pajamas, slippers and a robe. A pack of cigarettes and a beer were at his side, while a high-definition TV played a continuous loop of Steelers highlights.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/3741544">LINK</a><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112109726497218958?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120835676253054312005-07-08T11:13:00.000-04:002005-07-08T11:14:36.260-04:00This week, David Pogue has arranged for a special guest video artist: Scott Kelby, Photoshop maven. Last week, as he keynoted his own Mac Design conference, he played a hilarious Apple ad spoof for something called the iPod Flea, which I'm pleased to offer in its Web debut.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/video/html/2005/06/29/technology/highbandwidth/windowsmedia/20050629_GUEST_VIDEO.html">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112083567625305431?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120757315262605862005-07-07T13:26:00.000-04:002005-07-07T13:28:35.273-04:00GRANTS PASS, Ore. - To prove his love, a 38-year-old man set himself on fire before getting down on one knee and asking his girlfriend to marry him.<br /><br />About 100 people gathered to watch Todd Grannis perform the flaming stunt on Monday, which involved wearing a cape soaked in gasoline. <p>Grannis climbed up a 10-foot scaffold, was set on fire and then plunged into a swimming pool, dousing the blaze. Emerging unscathed, he got down on one knee and proposed, as a friend standing nearby slipped him the engagement ring.</p> "Honey, you make me hot," he told his sweetheart, Malissa Kusiek.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050707/ap_on_fe_st/fire_stunt">LINK</a><br /><br />---------------<br />Honey...you make me hot? *Sigh*, this is so far from being "Lloyd Dobbler".<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112075731526260586?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120698658841041622005-07-06T21:09:00.000-04:002005-07-06T21:10:58.846-04:00<p>JAMAICA, Vt. - A search is on for a Hungarian-speaking parakeet that escaped its owners' summer home last week. Peetuka is a 4-year-old blue parakeet, said owner Carol Mezofi, of Queens, N.Y.</p> <p>"It was a hot day and we were sitting on the porch. My mom opened the door to go inside and he flew out," she said. "We tried to lure him back in and we stayed up all night but he didn't come back. We cried for a few days I don't think we'll find him now unless we get lucky."</p> <p>Mezofi and her husband Laszlo said the small blue, white and gray bird, whose name is the Hungarian equivalent of "Steve," wasn't valuable, but was important to the family.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.comcast.net/news/strange/index.jsp?cat=STRANGE&amp;fn=/2005/07/05/171657.html">LINK</a><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112069865884104162?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120678446471451152005-07-06T15:32:00.000-04:002005-07-06T15:34:06.473-04:00<p><b style="font-size: 14px;">LONDON, England (CNN) -- An eco-car that can travel the world using a fraction of the electricity it takes to power a light bulb has been unveiled by its British creators.</b></p> <p>The hydrogen-powered Ech2o needs just 25 Watts -- the equivalent of less than two gallons of petrol -- to complete the 25,000-mile global trip, while emitting nothing more hazardous than water, the UK's Press Association reported.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/07/04/eco.car/index.html?section=cnn_tech">LINK</a><br /></p> <p>-----------------<br />Sounds good and all....however....notice the test driver is 13. That's because anyone of legal driving age can't fit in the damn thing. *lol*<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112067844647145115?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120678333444607832005-07-06T15:31:00.000-04:002005-07-06T15:32:13.446-04:00Ahhh, this is one of those "cute and fuzzy" sites we all love so much. Enjoy.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.attackchi.org.au/intro.htm">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112067833344460783?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120678025859857032005-07-06T15:25:00.000-04:002005-07-06T15:27:05.863-04:00Hmm… Words fail me at this here product. I mean, it’s not much more than a clothespin, really. Yet it is being marketed as a face resurfacer of sorts. <p>Clip it to your nose for undeterminate amounts of time (any Japanese readers would come in really handy right about now), and it claims to, uh, permanently alter the appearance of the said appendage.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.ohgizmo.com/?p=323">LINK</a><br /></p> <p>-----------------<br />If only Jacko saw this years ago...he wouldn't need the velcro nose.<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112067802585985703?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120591123477036302005-07-05T15:17:00.000-04:002005-07-05T15:18:43.483-04:00MOSCOW - <span class="yqlink"> <form class="yqin" action="http://yq.search.yahoo.com/search" method="post"> <input name="p" value="&quot;NASA&quot;" type="hidden"> <input name="sourceOrder" value="c1,i,yn,c3" type="hidden"> <input name="c1" value="" style="&quot;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-size:13px;padding:0;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:.5em;&quot;">NASA</p>" type="hidden"> <input name="c3" value=""><strong>SEARCH</strong><br /><a href="&quot;http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p="%22NASA%22&fr="yqovly1&quot;">News</a> | <a href="&quot;http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p="%22NASA%22&c="news_photos&amp;fr="yqovly2&quot;">News Photos</a> | <a href="&quot;http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p="%22NASA%22&fr="yqovly3&quot;">Images</a> | <a href="&quot;http://search.yahoo.com/search?p="%22NASA%22&fr="yqovly4&quot;">Web</a></p>" type="hidden"> </form> <a href="http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=NASA" onclick="activateYQinl(this);return false;" class="yqimgins" title="Related information on NASA">NASA</a></span>'s mission that sent a space probe smashing into a comet raised more than cosmic dust — it also brought a lawsuit from a Russian astrologer.<br /><br />Marina Bai has sued the U.S. space agency, claiming the Deep Impact probe that punched a crater into the comet Tempel 1 late Sunday "ruins the natural balance of forces in the universe," the newspaper Izvestia reported Tuesday. A Moscow court has postponed hearings on the case until late July, the paper said.<br /><br />Scientists say the crash did not significantly alter the comet's orbit around the sun and said the experiment does not pose any danger to Earth.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050705/ap_on_fe_st/russia_comet_case">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112059112347703630?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120589905339884602005-07-05T14:57:00.000-04:002005-07-05T14:58:25.340-04:00<p>UTICA, N.Y. - The company's name may have a catchy ring to it, but work has been no picnic for Mr. Ding-a-Ling ice cream vendors in some parts of central New York.</p> <p>Some vendors have been ticketed for violating local noise ordinances, prompting officials of the Albany-based company to order their trucks to stay away from New York Mills and Whitestown, where people have complained about music blaring from loudspeakers.</p> <p>"I don't want trouble with nobody," said Hector Morales, who manages 16 Mr. Ding-a-Ling trucks in the area around Utica.</p> <p>Familiar tunes like "The Entertainer" and "Pop Goes the Weasel" can be heard as the ice cream trucks pass through neighborhoods carrying frozen treats for sweltering customers.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.comcast.net/news/strange/index.jsp?cat=STRANGE&amp;fn=/2005/07/05/171242.html">LINK</a><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112058990533988460?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120589511188707332005-07-05T14:51:00.000-04:002005-07-05T14:51:51.193-04:00Check this OUT! <br /><br /><a href="http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2005/07/05/wood_ipod_zapwizard/1.html">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112058951118870733?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120588748946701362005-07-05T14:37:00.000-04:002005-07-05T14:39:08.950-04:00<span style="font-family:Geneva,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:85%;">The art of bell ringing may have a gentle image but a condition identified as "ringing vertigo" is causing campanologists to give up their hobby.</span> <p><span style="font-family:Geneva,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Ringers are suffering panic attacks, fearing the bells will fall on their heads or they are going to be strangled by the ropes.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Geneva,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Some have had to stop taking part in what they call "the exercise" after years of ringing and suffer anxiety upon hearing the tolling of a bell or catching sight of a church tower.<br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Geneva,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1520668,00.html">LINK</a><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112058874894670136?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120397901557397062005-07-03T09:33:00.000-04:002005-07-03T09:38:21.556-04:00"Enjoy a simple life with Simpletron. Imagine the happiness you feel as your mental vocabulary shrinks from 50,000 to 11."<br /><br /><a href="http://chappie.stanford.edu/archives/1999-2000/freshman_issue/simplify/">LINK</a><br /><br />----------------<br />The stick and I bike in an hour... =) This is fun.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112039790155739706?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120397484380289232005-07-03T09:30:00.000-04:002005-07-03T09:31:24.380-04:00<p> MADRID, Spain (AP) - Police arrested eight Ecuadoreans accused of working as dentists without a license or training, treating illegal immigrants in filthy, clandestine clinics and in one case using a microwave oven to sterilize instruments, officials said. </p> <p>Two patients had to be rushed to hospital emergency rooms after undergoing treatment, police said. In one case, a patient's tooth was extracted but the root was left in place, and another person suffered severe jaw damage, police said in a statement issued Friday.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2005/07/02/1114334-ap.html">LINK</a><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112039748438028923?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120397380509395782005-07-03T09:28:00.000-04:002005-07-03T09:29:40.516-04:00<p>TOKYO - A Japanese psychiatric counselor has recited pi to 83,431 decimal places from memory, breaking his own personal best of 54,000 digits and setting an unofficial world record, a media report said Saturday.</p> <p>Akira Haraguchi, 59, had begun his attempt to recall the value of pi - a mathematical value that has an infinite number of decimal places - at a public hall in Chiba city, east of Tokyo, on Friday morning and appeared to give up by noon after only reaching 16,000 decimal places, the Tokyo Shimbun said on its Web site.<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.comcast.net/news/strange/index.jsp?cat=STRANGE&amp;fn=/2005/07/03/169916.html">LINK</a><br /></p> <p>-----------------<br />People like this make me feel stupid.<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112039738050939578?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120229962083214712005-07-01T10:55:00.000-04:002005-07-03T09:40:01.070-04:00<h1 align="left" style="font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">The online dating agency with a difference!!</span></b></span></h1> <h2 style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Having trouble finding Mr or Mrs Right? Always in debt? Massive overdraft? </span></b></span></h2> <h2 style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><b><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:Comic Sans MS;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-size:100%;"> Welcome to Marry an Ugly Millionaire - the dating agency created for people like you. We provide a unique dating and marriage service. A service that you will not find elsewhere on the internet. For we are about to solve both your financial problems and your relationship problems with just a few clicks of the mouse! </span><br /></span></b></h2><br /><a href="http://www.marry-an-ugly-millionaire-online-dating-agency.com/">LINK</a><br /><br />---------------<br /><br />Right.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112022996208321471?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120229558639980642005-07-01T10:51:00.000-04:002005-07-01T10:52:38.643-04:00<p class="wallacepara"> In a move to rival Singapore for cleanliness, authorities in Rome have decided to fit the horses which transport tourists in carriages with underpants to avoid their droppings from fouling the streets of one of Europe's tourist gateways. </p> <p class="wallacepara"> The elegant grey and pink coloured bags will be worn from August 15 after a compromise between the city council and the union of coach drivers.<br /></p> <p class="wallacepara"><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200507/s1404503.htm">LINK</a><br /></p> <p class="wallacepara">-------------<br />=)<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112022955863998064?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120154589053785992005-06-30T14:02:00.000-04:002005-06-30T14:03:09.056-04:00<span class="rss:item"></span><a name="020626"> In Korea, a woman's dog crapped on the train. When people on the train asked her to clean up the mess, she became belligerent.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2005/06/29/woman_doesnt_clean_u.html">LINK</a><br /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112015458905378599?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120153503874944612005-06-30T13:43:00.000-04:002005-06-30T13:45:03.876-04:00Rosey Grier's Needlepoint for Men came out in 1973. At 6'5" and 300 pounds, he didn't care if you thought he was a sissy or not.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/69799427@N00/sets/491625/">Link</a><br /><br />-----------------<br />This is awesome!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112015350387494461?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120153095427775782005-06-30T13:37:00.000-04:002005-06-30T13:38:15.433-04:00TAIPEI (Reuters) - It may take a strong stomach to eat curry or chocolate ice cream out of a toilet bowl, but a commode-themed restaurant in Taiwan does booming business serving up just that. <p> The Martun, or toilet in Chinese, restaurant in the southern port city of Kaohsiung boasts lengthy queues on weekends as diners wait for a toilet seat in its brightly coloured tile interior.</p> <p> Food arrives in bowls shaped like Western-style toilets or Asian-style "squat pots".<br /></p> <p><a href="http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml;UXRQIQDQGZMIACRBAELCFEY?type=oddlyEnoughNews&amp;storyID=8941779">Link</a><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112015309542777578?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1120140812120584212005-06-30T10:12:00.000-04:002005-06-30T10:13:32.126-04:00Interesting...in an annoying sort of way.<br /><a href="http://dotnetrix.co.uk/nothing.html"><br />LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-112014081212058421?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1119978132978815332005-06-28T13:01:00.000-04:002005-06-28T13:02:12.983-04:00Matty Sallin’s Bacon Alarm Clock, which I believe was a 60s anti-police jam band, has entered the 21st century with this amazing new porkish update. Part art project, part electronics experiment, and part delicious way to greet the day, the Wake ‘n’ Bacon is essentially an alarm clock wired to a heat lamp. At the appointed hour, the light turns on, the bacon begins to smelt, and the sleeper is awakened.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/clocks-and-watches/bacon-alarm-clock-110132.php">LINK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-111997813297881533?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258362.post-1119962639275486382005-06-28T08:42:00.000-04:002005-06-28T08:43:59.276-04:00<span style="font-family:Geneva,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Up to 1,000 teenage boys have been separated from their parents and thrown out of their communities by a polygamous sect to make more young women available for older men, Utah officials claim. </span> <p><span style="font-family:Geneva,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Many of these "Lost Boys", some as young as 13, have simply been dumped on the side of the road in Arizona and Utah, by the leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), and told they will never see their families again or go to heaven.<br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Geneva,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1505997,00.html">LINK</a><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Geneva,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:85%;">--------------<br />Uh huh....this is exactly the kind of story that makes christians look creepy.<br /></span></p> <p> <span style="font-family:Geneva,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> <!-- /* set the domain in anticipation of the ad*/ if(setDomainForAds) { setDomainForAds(); }; //--> </script> </span></p> <span style="font-family:Geneva,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"> </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10258362-111996263927548638?l=thebeautifulletdownxyz.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>The Happy Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04613476144198293668noreply@blogger.com0