Best in Show Radio Senior News Analyst

2008-02-17T18:21:00.001-08:00

BIS 2.17.08: Dumb Animals

2008-02-17T18:12:00.001-08:00

If we women want the men in our lives to start behaving properly, we need to treat you all like the dumb animals you are.

At least according to a new book called “What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love, and Marriage”.

Author Amy Sutherland spent a year at an animal training school learning that she could use the same techniques trainers use to coax a seal to balance a ball on its nose to train her husband to pick his socks up off the floor.

Following in the theoretical footsteps of B.F. Skinner and his pigeons, and Pavlov and his dogs, Sutherland proposes that human behavior is equally affected by its consequences. By ignoring her husband’s negative traits and offering rewards for positive behavior, she claims she was able to retrain her husband from a clueless oaf into a – still clueless, but tidier oaf.

Critics of this strategy aren’t fond of the manipulation, nor the concept that men are as dim and malleable as beasts. It also bears noting that these tactics do little to combat the stereotype of the covert woman using her feminine wiles to con hapless males in the battle of the sexes.

But honestly, why aren’t men capable of remembering the simplest of household requests without yelling, threats, and intimidation? If we women choose reward over nagging to achieve the desired improvements, will it not lead to happier domiciles?

So for ladies listening, try these animal training tips at home:

If your mate does any helpful little thing without being asked, praise him like a toddler.

Ignore the negatives and don’t nag. Trainers call this Least Reinforcing Scenario.

Distract him from behavior that annoys you, such as hovering over you while you work on something, by creating a diversion – like food – in another part of the house.

And never admit to what you’re doing. The animals don’t need to know just how dumb we think they are.

Bad Roommates

2008-02-17T18:09:00.001-08:00

Most of us have had a bad roommate situation in our lives, some of us have even been the bad roommate. But how hostile does a situation have to be for your roommate to let you die on the living room sofa and rot there for 7 or 8 years.

Neighbors complained of the smell emanating from the Bristol UK apartment for years, but assumed that the odd man who lived inside simply suffered from poor hygiene. When a cleaning crew was finally called into the building to tackle the odor, they were shocked to find the source to be a rotting corpse.

The 70-something year old man appeared to have died of natural causes, and his roommate, also in his 70s just went on with his daily routine, leaving the body to decompose, reporting the death to no one. He continued to live in the apartment with the corpse of his roommate for the next 8 years.

When I was 18, I had a roommate who soaked her panties in the kitchen sink. I’d go to wash a dish or get a glass of water, and the sink would be full of dirty undies. If it sounds sexy, it’s not, it’s disgusting. I told her she was gross and she threatened to punch me. Then we got in a knock-down, drag-out fight and she had to move out. Oh, yeah…we were also naked. Okay, maybe it was a little sexy.

For Best in Show Radio News, I’m Vanessa Cheatwood.

BIS 2.10.08: Fetishes

2008-02-17T18:08:00.001-08:00

I love you guys, but I’m not sure that any of you are normal. Food, drugs, psychiatric disorders…when we scratch the surface of Best in Show, we’re likely to find some idiosyncratic behavior. Although I can’t speak from any personal experience about the sexual deviances of my radio friends, I’m pretty sure at least a couple of you are serious sexual wackos. To test this theory, I’d like to talk about the Top 10 sexual fetishes as defined in surveys conducted recently by popular men’s magazines to see if you guys match up with other, y’know more normal type guys…or if you’ll admit to having sexual fetishes that are beyond the pale.

As reported by askmen.com, here are the Top 10 sexual fetishes:

10. A flat stomach. Men and women both fantasize about flat stomachs.

9. Body piercings, specifically tongue piercings.

8. The “bad girl” look involving leather, rubber, latex, or vinyl.

7. Domination and submission. Predominantly women dominating and men submitting.

6. Feet and hands. Men like feet, women like hands.

5. Painted fingernails and lipstick on women, red being a color of choice.

4. Braids, ponytails, and pigtails. Men are favoring these younger looks for women’s hair, and Keith will be excited to hear that women actually have fetishes involving bald men.

3. Water. Showers, rain, bathtubs.

2. Golden Showers. I’m going to pause here for effect. The #2 male sexual fetish is a golden shower, giving or receiving. I’m talking about PEE!

1. Voyeurism and exhibitionism. Everyone wants to be dirty, rotten peeper or to be dirty, rotten peeped.

There are some things on this list that surprise me, -- I’m talking about PEE! -- and some things I expected to see that are missing, but I’m really interested in hearing how the 4 of you interpret the popular kinks.

For Sexy Best in Show Radio News, I’m Vanessa Cheatwood.

Rethinking the Meat Guzzler

2008-01-30T18:30:00.001-08:00

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By MARK BITTMAN
Published: January 27, 2008 - NY Times

A SEA change in the consumption of a resource that Americans take for granted may be in store — something cheap, plentiful, widely enjoyed and a part of daily life. And it isn’t oil.

It’s meat.

The two commodities share a great deal: Like oil, meat is subsidized by the federal government. Like oil, meat is subject to accelerating demand as nations become wealthier, and this, in turn, sends prices higher. Finally — like oil — meat is something people are encouraged to consume less of, as the toll exacted by industrial production increases, and becomes increasingly visible.

Global demand for meat has multiplied in recent years, encouraged by growing affluence and nourished by the proliferation of huge, confined animal feeding operations. These assembly-line meat factories consume enormous amounts of energy, pollute water supplies, generate significant greenhouse gases and require ever-increasing amounts of corn, soy and other grains, a dependency that has led to the destruction of vast swaths of the world’s tropical rain forests.

Just this week, the president of Brazil announced emergency measures to halt the burning and cutting of the country’s rain forests for crop and grazing land. In the last five months alone, the government says, 1,250 square miles were lost.

The world’s total meat supply was 71 million tons in 1961. In 2007, it was estimated to be 284 million tons. Per capita consumption has more than doubled over that period. (In the developing world, it rose twice as fast, doubling in the last 20 years.) World meat consumption is expected to double again by 2050, which one expert, Henning Steinfeld of the United Nations, says is resulting in a “relentless growth in livestock production.”

Americans eat about the same amount of meat as we have for some time, about eight ounces a day, roughly twice the global average. At about 5 percent of the world’s population, we “process” (that is, grow and kill) nearly 10 billion animals a year, more than 15 percent of the world’s total.

Growing meat (it’s hard to use the word “raising” when applied to animals in factory farms) uses so many resources that it’s a challenge to enumerate them all. But consider: an estimated 30 percent of the earth’s ice-free land is directly or indirectly involved in livestock production, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, which also estimates that livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases — more than transportation.

To put the energy-using demand of meat production into easy-to-understand terms, Gidon Eshel, a geophysicist at the Bard Center, and Pamela A. Martin, an assistant professor of geophysics at the University of Chicago, calculated that if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan — a Camry, say — to the ultra-efficient Prius. Similarly, a study last year by the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Japan estimated that 2.2 pounds of beef is responsible for the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the average European car every 155 miles, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days.

Grain, meat and even energy are roped together in a way that could have dire results. More meat means a corresponding increase in demand for feed, especially corn and soy, which some experts say will contribute to higher prices.

This will be inconvenient for citizens of wealthier nations, but it could have tragic consequences for those of poorer ones, especially if higher prices for feed divert production away from food crops. The demand for ethanol is already pushing up prices, and explains, in part, the 40 percent rise last year in the food price index calculated by the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization.

Though some 800 million people on the planet now suffer from hunger or malnutrition, the majority of corn and soy grown in the world feeds cattle, pigs and chickens. This despite the inherent inefficiencies: about two to five times more grain is required to produce the same amount of calories through livestock as through direct grain consumption, according to Rosamond Naylor, an associate professor of economics at Stanford University. It is as much as 10 times more in the case of grain-fed beef in the United States.

The environmental impact of growing so much grain for animal feed is profound. Agriculture in the United States — much of which now serves the demand for meat — contributes to nearly three-quarters of all water-quality problems in the nation’s rivers and streams, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Because the stomachs of cattle are meant to digest grass, not grain, cattle raised industrially thrive only in the sense that they gain weight quickly. This diet made it possible to remove cattle from their natural environment and encourage the efficiency of mass confinement and slaughter. But it causes enough health problems that administration of antibiotics is routine, so much so that it can result in antibiotic-resistant bacteria that threaten the usefulness of medicines that treat people.

Those grain-fed animals, in turn, are contributing to health problems among the world’s wealthier citizens — heart disease, some types of cancer, diabetes. The argument that meat provides useful protein makes sense, if the quantities are small. But the “you gotta eat meat” claim collapses at American levels. Even if the amount of meat we eat weren’t harmful, it’s way more than enough.

Americans are downing close to 200 pounds of meat, poultry and fish per capita per year (dairy and eggs are separate, and hardly insignificant), an increase of 50 pounds per person from 50 years ago. We each consume something like 110 grams of protein a day, about twice the federal government’s recommended allowance; of that, about 75 grams come from animal protein. (The recommended level is itself considered by many dietary experts to be higher than it needs to be.) It’s likely that most of us would do just fine on around 30 grams of protein a day, virtually all of it from plant sources.

What can be done? There’s no simple answer. Better waste management, for one. Eliminating subsidies would also help; the United Nations estimates that they account for 31 percent of global farm income. Improved farming practices would help, too. Mark W. Rosegrant, director of environment and production technology at the nonprofit International Food Policy Research Institute, says, “There should be investment in livestock breeding and management, to reduce the footprint needed to produce any given level of meat.”

Then there’s technology. Israel and Korea are among the countries experimenting with using animal waste to generate electricity. Some of the biggest hog operations in the United States are working, with some success, to turn manure into fuel.

Longer term, it no longer seems lunacy to believe in the possibility of “meat without feet” — meat produced in vitro, by growing animal cells in a super-rich nutrient environment before being further manipulated into burgers and steaks.

Another suggestion is a return to grazing beef, a very real alternative as long as you accept the psychologically difficult and politically unpopular notion of eating less of it. That’s because grazing could never produce as many cattle as feedlots do. Still, said Michael Pollan, author of the recent book “In Defense of Food,” “In places where you can’t grow grain, fattening cows on grass is always going to make more sense.”

But pigs and chickens, which convert grain to meat far more efficiently than beef, are increasingly the meats of choice for producers, accounting for 70 percent of total meat production, with industrialized systems producing half that pork and three-quarters of the chicken.

Once, these animals were raised locally (even many New Yorkers remember the pigs of Secaucus), reducing transportation costs and allowing their manure to be spread on nearby fields. Now hog production facilities that resemble prisons more than farms are hundreds of miles from major population centers, and their manure “lagoons” pollute streams and groundwater. (In Iowa alone, hog factories and farms produce more than 50 million tons of excrement annually.)

These problems originated here, but are no longer limited to the United States. While the domestic demand for meat has leveled off, the industrial production of livestock is growing more than twice as fast as land-based methods, according to the United Nations.

Perhaps the best hope for change lies in consumers’ becoming aware of the true costs of industrial meat production. “When you look at environmental problems in the U.S.,” says Professor Eshel, “nearly all of them have their source in food production and in particular meat production. And factory farming is ‘optimal’ only as long as degrading waterways is free. If dumping this stuff becomes costly — even if it simply carries a non-zero price tag — the entire structure of food production will change dramatically.”

Animal welfare may not yet be a major concern, but as the horrors of raising meat in confinement become known, more animal lovers may start to react. And would the world not be a better place were some of the grain we use to grow meat directed instead to feed our fellow human beings?

Real prices of beef, pork and poultry have held steady, perhaps even decreased, for 40 years or more (in part because of grain subsidies), though we’re beginning to see them increase now. But many experts, including Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University, say they don’t believe meat prices will rise high enough to affect demand in the United States.

“I just don’t think we can count on market prices to reduce our meat consumption,” he said. “There may be a temporary spike in food prices, but it will almost certainly be reversed and then some. But if all the burden is put on eaters, that’s not a tragic state of affairs.”

If price spikes don’t change eating habits, perhaps the combination of deforestation, pollution, climate change, starvation, heart disease and animal cruelty will gradually encourage the simple daily act of eating more plants and fewer animals.

Mr. Rosegrant of the food policy research institute says he foresees “a stronger public relations campaign in the reduction of meat consumption — one like that around cigarettes — emphasizing personal health, compassion for animals, and doing good for the poor and the planet.”

It wouldn’t surprise Professor Eshel if all of this had a real impact. “The good of people’s bodies and the good of the planet are more or less perfectly aligned,” he said.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, in its detailed 2006 study of the impact of meat consumption on the planet, “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” made a similar point: “There are reasons for optimism that the conflicting demands for animal products and environmental services can be reconciled. Both demands are exerted by the same group of people ... the relatively affluent, middle- to high-income class, which is no longer confined to industrialized countries. ... This group of consumers is probably ready to use its growing voice to exert pressure for change and may be willing to absorb the inevitable price increases.”

In fact, Americans are already buying more environmentally friendly products, choosing more sustainably produced meat, eggs and dairy. The number of farmers’ markets has more than doubled in the last 10 years or so, and it has escaped no one’s notice that the organic food market is growing fast. These all represent products that are more expensive but of higher quality.

If those trends continue, meat may become a treat rather than a routine. It won’t be uncommon, but just as surely as the S.U.V. will yield to the hybrid, the half-pound-a-day meat era will end.

Maybe that’s not such a big deal. “Who said people had to eat meat three times a day?” asked Mr. Pollan.

BIS 1.27.08: The Future of Our Foreskins

2008-01-27T09:05:00.000-08:00

I think it’s about time we all got on the same page about this whole circumcision thing. Not owning a penis myself, I’m turning to you guys to weigh in on this important debate: to cut or not to cut.

The debate over the preservation of one 12 year old boy’s foreskin has gone all the way to the Supreme Court in Oregon. For 3 years, the boy’s father, who converted to Judaism in 2004, has been trying to have his son circumcised as part of the faith. The mother appealed to the high court to keep her son intact, saying the operation could harm her son physically and psychologically.

On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that the 12 year old himself should have say in the decision and that if the boy wants the operation, the mother’s motions will be denied. If the boy does not want to be circumcised, the father’s continuing custody of his son will be analyzed by the courts.

This case as covered by the Associated Press.

So this got me thinking, if the Supreme Court agrees that a 12 year old should have a say in which parts of his body he chooses to hang onto, why are newborns robbed of this decision and ritualistically altered within hours of their birth? Automatic non-medical circumcision is on the decline, but the topic remains one of the most controversial in pediatrics today.

At this point I had intended to describe the circumcision procedure, done on most male babies in the United States and without anesthesia, but I’ve decided against it because one of you might throw up. Suffice to say, the description included the following words: penis, cut, bleeding, clamp, crushing, scalpel, and blunt probe.

For Jews, circumcision is Law, and was the first commandment given Abraham by God, that his foreskin be cut and that all male children to follow should also have their foreskins cut as a sign of their covenant with God.

For everyone else, it is possibly the anachronistic result of the myth that a man would face future disease, injury, and locker room jokes if his penis were to lack customary trimming. 19th century physicians suggested that the child’s penis produced itchy substances which encouraged masturbation. As they believed masturbation caused insanity, blindness, tuberculosis, and a litany of other diseases (for which they could offer no other cure), these early physicians urged parents to employ aggressive hygiene. Boy babies began to be circumcised automatically in the U.S. as a measure against filth, but as time has gone on and circumcision clearly did not slow down the masturbatory habits of anyone, why is genital mutilation still a common practice in this country? When I ask men about the hypothetical futures of the genitals of their unborn male children, those who have been circumcised all seem to lean towards continuing non-medical cutting because of a concept that the boy should resemble the father. And maybe he should. Or maybe that’s ridiculous.

Like I said, I’d like you all to weigh in because I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to feel about foreskins. I do NOT have a penis. I’m Vanessa Cheatwood.

For more on this topic:

doctorsopposingcircumcision.org

Science Daily

2007-09-11T21:38:00.001-07:00

Neo-Nazis in Israel

2007-09-11T13:57:00.001-07:00

Members of the alleged neo-Nazi ring from Petah Tikva.
Police: Israel has dozens of neo-Nazis | Jerusalem Post

The original picture painted by investigators of a Petah Tikva-based neo-Nazi group has grown more serious in the days since the lifting of a gag order on the subject, as more and more people have submitted complaints to the police claiming that they too fell victim to the violent gang.

Central District police disclosed that information late Monday, hours after Israel Police Insp.-Gen. David Cohen revealed during a pre-Rosh Hashana celebration the bad news that there are "dozens more neo-Nazis in Israel."

Police were working on finding those neo-Nazis, including combing neo-Nazi Web sites for possible suspects, Cohen said at the annual toast at the Police National Headquarters in Jerusalem.

Experts have warned that neo-Nazi organizations may be active in urban areas including Beersheba and the Haifa suburbs.

Cohen added that although a number of neo-Nazi Web sites have been operating in Israel over the past few years, neo-Nazi organization among immigrants was still not a widespread phenomenon.

Shortly after Cohen's announcement, Central District police confirmed that since the revelation of the gang's existence following the arrest of nine suspected members, they had received three additional complaints from citizens who claimed to have been attacked by the same group of neo-Nazis.

The complaints spanned two police precincts - at least one was submitted in the Tel Aviv District and a second in the Central District, where the case was originally cracked.

The third complaint was filed anonymously by a father who claimed that his son had been attacked by the gang.

All the complaints, including the one originating in Tel Aviv District's Yiftah Subdistrict, were transferred to the Central District's Central Investigative Unit, which has been responsible for investigating the case following two Spring 2006 synagogue desecrations in Petah Tikva believed to be the handiwork of the same cell.

The suspected members of the gang, whose remand was extended Sunday in the Ramle Magistrate's Court, will be indicted Tuesday morning in the Tel Aviv District Court. Sources within the Justice Ministry said that due to the fact that some of the suspects are juveniles, the details of the charge sheet against them can only be revealed Tuesday pending a judge's approval.

It is likely that the youths will face charges related to distribution of racist materials via the Internet, as well as concerning the two Spring 2006 Petah Tikva synagogue desecrations, and a number of other violent attacks.

The alleged ringleader of the group has been seen in home videos displayed on the Internet espousing violent philosophy, and police have reconstructed Internet chats in which he allegedly told would-be followers that they must "erase their [Jews'] religion, to burn their houses and their shelters - I mean their synagogues," as well as saying "I have always been a Nazi and I will always remain one. And I will not rest until we kill them all."

Public Security Minister Avi Dichter reiterated at the toast that Israel should not hurry to change the Law of Return, which permitted the neo-Nazi youths to enter Israel, and that it was important to examine the matter carefully.

"Israeli society must ask not only where these youths made a mistake, but also where we made a mistake in absorbing them and in their education," he said.

Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman, himself an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, took a similar position to Dichter on Monday, saying that the state must come down hard on the neo-Nazi groups but also warned against generalizing against the Russian sector and calling for a stop to FSU immigration.

"First and foremost, we need to deal with the gang without compromise. It is an unacceptable phenomenon and we need to eradicate it with an iron fist, without mercy," Lieberman said Monday, adding that it is "completely unreasonable" to change the Law of Return "because of one or two gangs, or 10 youths."

The government response continued to trickle down Monday as the Education Ministry announced that the educational television stations, youth groups and schools will dedicate the coming week to the topic of neo-Nazism, with teachers and youth group counselors working with high school and middle school-age students to offer special materials drawn up in response to this week's revelations.

In addition, the film The Wave will be broadcast on educational channels during school hours throughout the week, and educators are encouraged to use the movie's content to stimulate discussion on the phenomenon.

The film, produced in the United States in 1981, is based upon a social experiment carried out by an American teacher who, through the experiment, displayed the ease through which youth can be co-opted into violent fascist beliefs and behavior.

Education Minister Yuli Tamir and ministry Director-General Shmuel Abuav sent a letter to school principals in which Tamir told school officials that "the ministry is continuing to stick to the policy through which we must confront these problems and not sweep them under the carpet.

"The scale of the phenomenon may have been presented by the media with a certain amount of exaggeration, but as members of the pedagogical community, we must give our students the opportunity to speak about these things and about the dilemmas as a preventive action."

It was before the sun came up...

2007-09-09T07:40:00.001-07:00

FOXNews.com - Colorado Priest Faces Charges After Nude Jog at High School Track

He told officers he sweats profusely if he wears clothing while jogging.

Virgin Chicken

2007-09-08T15:48:00.001-07:00

'Virgin Chicken' Off the Menu in Beijing
Hungry visitors to next summer's Beijing Olympics won't have to choose between "steamed crap" and "virgin chicken" if Chinese authorities succeed in ridding restaurant menus of mangled English translations.

The Beijing Tourism Bureau has released a list with 2,753 proposed names for dishes and drinks, designed to replace bizarre and sometimes ridiculous translations on menus, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.

Foreigners are often stumped by dish names such as "virgin chicken" (a young chicken dish) or "burnt lion's head" (Chinese-style pork meatballs). Other garbled names include "The temple explodes the chicken cube" (kung pao chicken) or "steamed crap" (steamed carp).

"These translations either scare or embarrass foreign customers and may cause misunderstanding on China's diet habits," Xinhua said.

It's the latest effort by Beijing Olympics organizers to clean up the city and ensure that the best image is presented to the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected next summer.

Etiquette campaigns are afoot to stamp out bad manners such as jumping ahead in line, spitting, littering and reckless driving. The revised menu names are part of an effort to ban unintelligible English, known as "Chinglish," that abounds on signs everywhere.

A team set up by the Beijing Municipal Foreign Affairs Office and Beijing Tourism Bureau has been working on the menu names for more than a year, Xinhua said. Translators developed names for dishes based on one of four categories: ingredients, cooking method, taste, or the name of a person or place.

For example, a dish with mushrooms and ducks' feet will be listed as simply "Mushroom-Duck's Foot." Others proposed names include "Fish Filets in Hot Chili Oil" and "Crispy Chicken."

The tourism bureau is soliciting public opinion on the translations. Once a final decision is made on the list of names, they will be used in restaurants across China, Xinhua said.

Virgin Chicken

2007-09-08T15:46:00.001-07:00

Naked Leopard Man

2007-08-26T06:36:00.001-07:00

Defamer Exclusive: Naked Leopard Man On Melrose! - Defamer

Hollywood types in cars continue to plague America.

2007-08-25T08:16:00.001-07:00

Sat Aug 25, 7:21 AM ET

LOS ANGELES - Oscar-nominated director John Singleton was driving a Lexus SUV when it struck and killed a jaywalker who stepped in front of the car, police said Friday.

Singleton, 39, immediately stopped his car and waited for police to arrive after the accident Thursday night in the city's Jefferson Park neighborhood, said Officer Jason Lee, a police spokesman.

"Mr. Singleton stopped and identified himself as required by law and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol," Lee said. "He was questioned and released."

The woman was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead Friday morning, Lee said. She was identified as Constance Russell, 57, of Los Angeles.

Other details were not immediately released, and an after-hours call to Singleton's agent was not immediately returned.

Singleton, whose debut film, 1991's "Boyz N The Hood," earned him two Oscar nominations, has also directed "Poetic Justice," "Shaft," and "2 Fast 2 Furious." He was the producer of "Hustle & Flow," "Black Snake Moan" and the just-released "Illegal Tender."

Golf Cart Mayhem

2007-08-23T19:03:00.001-07:00

Wed Aug 22, 2:50 PM ET

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Bill Murray was stopped by Stockholm police Sunday and tested for drunk driving after he was found at the wheel of a golf cart en route to his downtown hotel, police said Wednesday.
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Murray was brought to Norrmalm police station, in the north of the city, and given a blood test for alcohol after he refused to take a breath test, said station commander Jan-Olov Lundgren.

"He said in the United States you don't have to do it (take a breath test)," Lundgren said. "He was very calm and friendly. No problem at all."

Murray had been out with golfing friends who had played in the Scandinavian Masters tournament, Sweden's Expressen newspaper said.

Lundgren said the American had been stopped while driving the golf cart from Cafe Opera, an upscale restaurant in the center of town, back to his hotel. A manager at Cafe Opera declined to comment.

Murray was nominated for an Oscar for his leading role in "Lost in Translation" and is the star of numerous comedy blockbusters, including 1980's "Caddyshack," which lampoons the world of country club golfing.

Lundgren said the blood test result would take 14 days. He said Murray had signed a statement admitting to having had alcohol and had been released.

Representatives for Murray could not be reached for comment.

Click me.

2007-08-22T20:40:00.001-07:00

The Superficial - Because You're Ugly

2007-08-22T20:39:00.001-07:00

The Superficial - Because You're Ugly
The Superficial - Because You're Ugly

She loves crack.

2007-08-18T15:34:00.001-07:00

(08-13) 13:32 PDT Rochelle, Ga. (AP) --

A woman was arrested after she called police to help "get her money back" after she was unhappy with the crack cocaine she purchased.

Juanita Marie Jones, 53, called Rochelle Police late Thursday night after she purchased what she thought was a $20 piece of crack cocaine, according to police reports.

She told officers she broke the rock into three pieces and smoked one, only to discover the drugs were "fake."

She took Officer Joel Quinn and Deputy John Shedd of the Wilcox County Sheriff's Office into her kitchen and showed them the drugs, police said.

She was promptly arrested on charges of possession of cocaine.

Urban Legends from snopes.com

2007-08-10T04:34:00.001-07:00

Y'know how Elvis was a racist, right? Didn't he say "The only thing a Negro can do for me is buy my records and shine my shoes"?

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Elvis Presley 'Shine My Shoes' Remark

From tmz.com

2007-08-07T21:43:00.001-07:00

The Superficial - Britney Spears hits and runs

From thesuperficial.com

2007-08-05T11:48:00.001-07:00

The Superficial - Keith Richards is a normal guy

There was a rumor going around awhile back that Keith Richards mixed his dad's cremated ashes with some cocaine and snorted it. Well he's clarifying the rumor, and tells Rolling Stone yes, he did snort his dad's ashes, but he didn't mix them with cocaine. So it's all good everybody, no need to worry. I bet all you people who thought he was a freak feel pretty silly about now. Man, how embarrassing for you.

Cat Kills Old People

2007-08-04T20:15:00.001-07:00

(07-27) 02:33 PDT Providence, R.I. (AP) --

Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for
predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up
next to them during their final hours. His accuracy, observed in 25
cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen
someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live.

"He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand
when patients are about to die," said Dr. David Dosa in an interview.
He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday's issue of
the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Many family members take some solace from it. They
appreciate the companionship that the cat provides for their dying
loved one," said Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor of
medicine at Brown University.

The 2-year-old feline was adopted as a kitten and grew up in
a third-floor dementia unit at the Steere House Nursing and
Rehabilitation Center. The facility treats people with Alzheimer's,
Parkinson's disease and other illnesses.

After about six months, the staff noticed Oscar would make
his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses. He'd sniff and
observe patients, then sit beside people who would wind up dying in a
few hours.

Dosa said Oscar seems to take his work seriously and is generally aloof. "This is not a cat that's friendly to people," he said.

Oscar is better at predicting death than the people who work
there, said Dr. Joan Teno of Brown University, who treats patients at
the nursing home and is an expert on care for the terminally ill

She was convinced of Oscar's talent when he made his 13th
correct call. While observing one patient, Teno said she noticed the
woman wasn't eating, was breathing with difficulty and that her legs
had a bluish tinge, signs that often mean death is near.

Oscar wouldn't stay inside the room though, so Teno thought
his streak was broken. Instead, it turned out the doctor's prediction
was roughly 10 hours too early. Sure enough, during the patient's final
two hours, nurses told Teno that Oscar joined the woman at her bedside.

Doctors say most of the people who get a visit from the
sweet-faced, gray-and-white cat are so ill they probably don't know
he's there, so patients aren't aware he's a harbinger of death. Most
families are grateful for the advanced warning, although one wanted
Oscar out of the room while a family member died. When Oscar is put
outside, he paces and meows his displeasure.

No one's certain if Oscar's behavior is scientifically
significant or points to a cause. Teno wonders if the cat notices
telltale scents or reads something into the behavior of the nurses who
raised him.

Nicholas Dodman, who directs an animal behavioral clinic at
the Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and has
read Dosa's article, said the only way to know is to carefully document
how Oscar divides his time between the living and dying.

If Oscar really is a furry grim reaper, it's also possible
his behavior could be driven by self-centered pleasures like a heated
blanket placed on a dying person, Dodman said.

Nursing home staffers aren't concerned with explaining Oscar,
so long as he gives families a better chance at saying goodbye to the
dying.

Oscar recently received a wall plaque publicly commending his "compassionate hospice care."

Chicken Ranch

2007-08-04T20:14:00.001-07:00

(07-26) 15:57 PDT Painesville, Ohio (AP) --

A judge known for giving unusual sentences has ordered
three men who pleaded guilty to soliciting sex to take turns dressing
in a bright yellow chicken costume.

Painesville Municipal Judge Michael Cicconetti agreed to
suspend a 30-day jail sentence if they wear the costume between 4 and 7
p.m. Friday outside the court while carrying a sign that reads "No
Chicken Ranch in Painesville."

The sign and costume refer to the "World Famous Chicken Ranch," a prostitution house in Nevada where sex-for-money is legal.

Daniel Chapdelaine, 40, of Perry Township; Martin Soto, 44,
of Ashtabula; and Fabian Rodriguez-Ramirez, 29, of Painesville,
solicited sex from an undercover Painesville police officer earlier
this summer.

Cicconetti has used barnyard animals to dispense justice in the past.

He ordered a man who called a policeman a pig to stand next
to a live pig in a pen and hold a sign that read "This Is Not a Police
Officer." A couple who stole a baby Jesus statue from a manger were
sentenced to dress as Mary and Joseph and walk with a donkey.

Victoria Beckham's Saggy Baggy Elephant Pits

2007-08-02T03:37:00.001-07:00

<img src="http://www.awfulplasticsurgery.com/images/vicky_portrait.jpg">

The armpit. It scares me. I've been in a cadaver lab and seen less gross.

Awful Plastic Surgery: Victoria Beckham: Look at my half moons

From the International Federation of Competitive Eating

2007-06-10T11:09:00.000-07:00

Here are the records:

24" Pizza
7 1/2 Extra Large Bacci Pizza Slices
15 Minutes/ July 9, 2005
Richard LeFevre

16" Pizza
19 Slices/Three Brothers Pizza
10 Minutes/Aug. 12, 2006
Patrick Bertoletti

Armour Vienna Sausage
8.31 pounds Armour Vienna Sausage /Lowe's Motor Speedway Charlotte
10 Minutes/ May 28, 2005
Sonya Thomas

Asparagus
6.25 pounds Tempura Deep Fried Aspargus Spears/ Stockton Asparagus Fest
10 minutes/ Apr. 22, 2006
Joey Chestnut

Baked Beans
Six Pounds Baked Beans
One Minute, 48 Seconds
Don Lerman

Baked Beans, Long Course
8.4 Pounds Baked Beans/ 84 Lumber
2 minutes 47 seconds/ Aug. 7, 2004
Sonya Thomas

Beef Tongue
3 pound 3 ounces pickled beef tongue whole
12 minutes
Dominic Cardo

Birthday Cake
Five Pounds/ TripRewards 1st Birthday
11 Minutes, 26 Seconds/ May 10, 2005
Richard LeFevre

Bologna
2.76 Pounds Pork & Chicken Bologna/Eats of Strength
Six Minutes/May 6, 2006
Don Lerman

Brats
58 Johnsonville Brats / Brat Days
10 Minutes/ Aug. 5, 2006
Takeru Kobayashi

Buffet
5 1/2 pounds of buffet food
12 minutes
Crazy Legs Conti

Burritos
15 BurritoVille burritos
8 minutes
Eric Booker

Butter
7 quarter-pound sticks, salted butter
5 minutes
Don Lerman

Cabbage
6 pounds 9 ounces giant cabbage
9 minutes
Charles Hardy

Candy Bars
Two Pounds Chocolate Candy Bars
6 minutes
Eric Booker

Cannoli (tied)
26 large cannoli/San Gennaro Festival
6 minutes/Sept. 15, 2006
Timothy Janus

Cannoli (tied)
26 large cannoli/San Gennaro Festival
6 minutes/Sept. 16, 2005
Cookie Jarvis

Cheesecake
11 pounds Downtown Atlantic Cheesecake
9 minutes/ Sept. 26, 2004
Sonya Thomas

Chicken Nuggets
80 Chicken Nuggets
5 Minutes
Sonya Thomas

Chicken Wings, Long form
182 chicken wings
30 minutes
Joey Chestnut

Chicken Wings, National Buffalo Wing Festival
161 chicken wings, 5.09 lbs
12 minutes/ Sept. 5, 2004
Sonya Thomas

Chicken Wings, Short form
2 pounds, 2.5 ounces Hooter's Chicken Wings
5 minutes
Cookie Jarvis

Chicken-Fried Steak
6 11-ounce chicken fried steaks with country gravy/ Lone Star Cafe
12 minutes/ Nov. 2, 2003
Cookie Jarvis

Chili
1 1/2 gallon Stagg Chili
10 minutes
Richard LeFevre

Chili Cheese Fries
8 lbs, 2 oz Wienerschnitzel Chili Cheese Fries at the Queen Mary
10 minutes/February 11, 2006
Sonya Thomas

Chocolate
1 lb, 15.5 oz Chicago Chocolate Hearts
7 minutes/Feb. 13, 2006
Patrick Bertoletti

Conch Fritters
45 conch fritters
6 minutes
Joe Menchetti

Corn Dogs
12 Fletcher's Corny Dogs/ State Fair of Texas
10 minutes/ Sept. 28, 2003
Richard LeFevre

Corned Beef & Cabbage
5.75 pounds Corned Beef & Cabbage
10 Minutes/ Mar. 16, 2006
Patrick Bertoletti

Corned Beef Hash
4 pounds of hash
1 minute 58 seconds
Eric Booker

Corned Beef Sandwiches
11 8-ounce Corned Beef Sandwiches
10 minutes/Jan. 11, 2006
Patrick Bertoletti

Cow Brains
57 (17.7 pounds)
15 minutes
Takeru Kobayashi

Crab Cakes
46 Phillips Crab Cakes/Baltimore Waterfront Festival
10 Minutes/ April 29, 2006
Sonya Thomas

Crawfish
331 crawfish
12 minutes
Chris Hendrix

Date Nut Bread
29 Chock full o'Nuts Date Nut Bread and Cream Cheese Sandwiches
8 minutes/December 20, 2006
Patrick Bertoletti

Deep-Fried Okra
9.75 lbs Deep Fried Okra/GoldenPalace.net at the Oklahoma State Fair
10 Minutes/Sept. 16, 2006
Sonya Thomas

Doughnuts
49 glazed doughnuts
8 minutes
Eric Booker

Dumplings
91 Chinese dumplings
8 minutes
Cookie Jarvis

Eggs
65 Hard Boiled Eggs
6 minutes, 40 seconds
Sonya Thomas

French Fries
4.46 pounds Nathan's Famous Crinkle Cut Fries
Six Minutes/ March 31, 2005
Cookie Jarvis

Fruitcake
4 pounds, 14 1/4 ounces Wegmans Fruitcake
10 minutes/ Dec. 30, 2003
Sonya Thomas

Gelatin Dessert
7 16-ounce portions
3 minutes
Steve Lakind

Grapes
8 Pounds, 15 Ounces Grapes/ Smirnoff Twisted V Wild Grape
10 Minutes/ Nov. 1, 2005
Cookie Jarvis

Green Beans, French Cut
2.71 Pounds Green Beans
Six Minutes
Crazy Legs Conti

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
47 grilled cheese sandwiches
10 Minutes/ June 10, 2006
Joey Chestnut

Gyoza
212 chicken and vegetable gyoza/Nisei Week
10 minutes/Aug. 19, 2006
Joey Chestnut

Ham & Potatoes
6 pounds of Easter Feaster meal
12 minutes
Cookie Jarvis

Ham, sliced
2 lbs, 10 oz. holiday spiral sliced ham
5 minutes/Dec. 15, 2006
Seaver Miller

Hamburger: Big Daddy Burger
9 pound cheeseburger/ Plaza Hotel Casino
27 minutes, 0 seconds/ Jan. 21, 2006
Sonya Thomas

Hamburgers
11 1/4 Burgers (1/4 pound) "Cloud Burgers"
10 minutes
Don Lerman

Hamburgers
7 Burgers (3/4 pound) "Thickburgers"
10 minutes
Sonya Thomas

Hamburgers: Krystals
97 Krystal Burgers
8 minutes/October 28, 2006
Takeru Kobayashi

Hamentaschen
50 traditional Purim cookies
6 minutes
Eric Booker

Horseshoe Sandwiches
6 lbs, 5 oz horseshoe sandwiches
12 minutes
Joey Chestnut

Hot Dogs
59.5 Nathan's Hot Dogs and Buns
12 minutes/ June 2, 2007
Joey Chestnut

Huevos Rancheros
7.75 lbs Huevos Rancheros
10 minutes/March 18, 2006
Richard LeFevre

Hutspot (potato-based "hotchpotch," or stew)
13 Bowls
10 minutes
Henry Hatau

Ice Cream
1 gallon, 9 ounces of vanilla ice cream
12 minutes
Cookie Jarvis

Ice Cream, Short form
1.75 Gallons Brooklyn Vanilla Ice Cream
8 minutes/May 26, 2006
Patrick Bertoletti

Jalapenos, Pickled
177 Pickled Jalapeno Peppers/Sky City Casino
15 Minutes/Aug. 26, 2006
Patrick Bertoletti

Jalapenos, Pickled, Short-form
247 pickled jalapeno peppers/State Fair of Texas
8 minutes/Oct. 8, 2006
Richard LeFevre

Jambalaya
9 Pounds Crawfish Jambalaya/ LuLu's Mardi Gras
10 Minutes/ Feb. 24, 2004
Sonya Thomas

Key Lime Pie
10.8 pounds Key Lime Pie
8 minutes/Mar. 21, 2006
Patrick Bertoletti

Kolaches
44 Cherry Kolaches/GoldenPalace.net at the Nebraska State Fair
8 Minutes/Sept. 2, 2006
Patrick Bertoletti

Lobster Rolls
41 Lobster Rolls in Boston challenge
10 minutes/Sept. 23, 2006
Takeru Kobayashi

Maine Lobster
44 Maine Lobsters (11.3 Pounds of meat) from the shell
12 minutes/ Aug. 13, 2005
Sonya Thomas

Matzo Balls
21 baseball-sized matzo balls
5 minutes, 25 seconds
Eric Booker

Mayonnaise
4 32-ounce bowls mayonnaise
8 minutes
Oleg Zhornitskiy

Meat Pies
16 six-ounce meat pies
10 minues
Boyd Bulot

Meatballs
10 pounds, 3 Ounces Meatballs/ Carmine's Restaurant at Tropicana Hotel Casino
12 minutes/ Dec. 3, 2005
Sonya Thomas

Mince Pies
46 Mince Pies at the Wookey Hole Big Eat in Somerset, England
10 minutes/Nov. 29, 2006
Sonya Thomas

Native American Fry Bread
9.75 Fry Breads
8 Minutes/October 28, 2006
Erik The Red Denmark

Onions
8.5 ounces Maui Onions (three onions)/ Whalers Village
1 minute/ Aug. 8, 2004
Eric Booker

Oysters
46 Dozen Acme Oysters/ Acme Oyster House
10 Minutes/ Mar. 20, 2005
Sonya Thomas

Pancakes
3 1/2 pounds pancakes & bacon
12 minutes
Crazy Legs Conti

Pasta
6 2/3 pounds linguini (no. 115)
10 minutes
Cookie Jarvis

Peas
9.5 one-pound bowls
12 minutes
Eric Booker

Pelemeni
274 Russian dumplings
6 minutes
Dale Boone

Pickles, Sour
2.99 pounds
5 Minutes
Cookie Jarvis

Pickles, Vinegar
2.7 Pounds Kosher Dills
Six Minutes
Brian Seiken

Pomme Frites
2 pounds 9 ounces of Pomme Frites
8 minutes
Cookie Jarvis

Pork and Beans (84 Lumber)
84 ounces of baked beans
1 minute 52 seconds
Dale Boone

Pork Ribs
8.4 pounds pork rib meat/ Chinook Winds Casino
12 minutes/ July 16, 2006
Joey Chestnut

Pork, Pulled
9 Pounds, 6 Ounces Smoked, Pulled Pork/ Horseshoe Casino Council Bluffs
10 Minutes/ Sept. 16, 2006
Joey Chestnut

Pork, Pulled Sandwiches
23 pulled pork sandwiches
10 minutes/ Oct. 3, 2003
Sonya Thomas

Posole
109.75 ounces Posole/ Sky City Casino
12 Minutes/ Nov. 21, 2004
Carlene LeFevre

Pumpkin Pies
4-3/8 Entenmann's Pumpkin Pies
12 Minutes/ Nov. 22, 2004
Eric Booker

Quesadilla
31.5 4-inch Cheese Quesadilla
5 minutes
Sonya Thomas

Reindeer Sausage
28 Glacier Brewhouse Reindeer Sausage
10 minutes
Dale Boone

Rice Balls
20 pounds rice balls
30 minutes
Takeru Kobayashi

Shoo-Fly Pie
9.25 Pounds Shoo-Fly Pie/ Rockvale Outlets
8 Minutes/ June 24, 2006
Bob Shoudt

Shrimp
4 pounds 15 ounces spot shrimp
12 minutes/Sept. 22, 2006
Erik The Red Denmark

SPAM
6 pounds of SPAM from the can/ SPAMARAMA
12 minutes/ Apr. 3, 2004
Richard LeFevre

Steeplechase/Chowdown Championship
Pork burgers, Beef ribeye sandwiches, Turkey Legs, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Cupcakes/Indiana State Fair
August 19, 2006
Bob Shoudt

Steeplechase/Ultimate Eating Tournament
Shrimp, Pralines, Hot Dogs, Nachos, Gelato/Broadway at the Beach
10 minutes/ Apr. 22, 2006
Bob Shoudt

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
7.9 lbs Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
8 minutes/July 29, 2006
Patrick Bertoletti

Sweet Corn
34.75 ears sweet corn/ Sweet Corn Fiesta
12 minutes/ Apr. 29, 2007
Crazy Legs Conti

Sweet Potato Casserole
8.62 pounds/ NC State Fair
11 minutes/ Oct. 20, 2004
Sonya Thomas

Tacos
48 soft chicken tacos/ Zocalo Restaurant
11 minutes/ Sept. 29, 2004
Sonya Thomas

Tamales
51 Tamales/Old Town Lewisville/Dallas Tortilla & Tamale Factory
12 Minutes/Sept. 2, 2006
Timothy Janus

Tex Mex Rolls
30 Tex Mex Rolls/ GameWorks at Great Lakes Crossing
12 minutes/ Mar. 12, 2005
Richard LeFevre

Tiramisu
4 pounds tiramisu/ Verducci's Market
6 minutes/ Mar. 5, 2005
Timothy Janus

Toasted Ravioli
4 pounds toasted ravioli by Charlie Gitto's at Harrah's St. Louis
12 Minutes/ Nov. 20, 2004
Sonya Thomas

Turducken
7 3/4 pounds Turducken.com Thanksgiving Dinner
12 minutes/ Nov. 26, 2003
Sonya Thomas

Waffles
18.5 Waffles (8 oz.)/ Waffle House
10 Minutes, 23 seconds/ Sept. 3, 2006
Joey Chestnut

Watermelon
13.22 pounds Watermelon/ Brookville Community Picnic
15 minutes/ July 30, 2005
Jim Reeves

Whole Turkey
4 pounds, 12.8 ounces roast turkey meat/Thanksgiving Invitational
12 minutes/ Nov. 22, 2006
Patrick Bertoletti

Yikes.

2007-06-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

The Ten Worst Celebrity Boob Jobs

Mother's Day Gifts

2007-05-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

Saves time! Great Price!
Got a deer to process? Want to make some steaks and make Jerky of the rest?
Boy!! Will this save you some time!!
Tenderize all the steaks that you want and then switch out the blades and slice up the rest in narrow strips that are just perfect for marinating and dehydrating!!!
WOW!!!
Jerky Slicer

Toilet Paper Roll Holder/Ipod Dock

Holy Water Fonts

Why Sweden doesn't rock.

2007-04-03T14:25:00.001-07:00

Swedish couple fights for right to name their baby ’Metallica’
By The Associated Press

April 03, 2007

Metallica may work as a name for a heavy metal band, but a Swedish couple is struggling to convince authorities it’s also suitable for a baby girl.

Sweden’s tax agency rejected Michael and Karolina Tomaro’s application to name their 6-month-old daughter after the legendary rock band.

“It suits her,” Karolina Tomaro, 27, said Tuesday of the name. “She’s decisive and she knows what she wants.”

Although little Metallica has already been baptized, the Swedish National Tax Board refused to register the name, saying it was associated with both the rock group and the word “metal.”

In Sweden, parents must get the names of their children approved by the tax authority, which is in charge of the population registry and issues personal identification numbers, similar to Social Security numbers in the United States.

Tomaro, who has appealed the decision, said the official handling the case also called the name “ugly.”

The couple was backed by the County Administrative Court in Goteborg, which ruled on March 13 that there was no reason to block the name. It also noted that there already is a woman in Sweden with Metallica as a middle name.

The tax agency appealed to a higher court, frustrating the family’s foreign travel plans.

“We’ve had to cancel trips and can’t get anywhere because we can’t get her a passport without an approved name,” Tomaro said.

How is Keith Richard's still alive?

2007-04-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

LONDON (AP) - Keith Richards has acknowledged consuming a raft of illegal substances in his time, but this may top them all.

In comments published Tuesday, the 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist said he had snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine.

"The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," Richards was quoted as saying by British music magazine NME.

"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared," he said. "... It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."

Richards' father, Bert, died in 2002, at 84.

Richards, one of rock's legendary wild men, told the magazine that his survival was the result of luck, and advised young musicians against trying to emulate him.

"I did it because that was the way I did it. Now people think it's a way of life," he was quoted as saying.

"I've no pretensions about immortality," he added. "I'm the same as everyone ... just kind of lucky.

"I was No. 1 on the `who's likely to die' list for 10 years. I mean, I was really disappointed when I fell off the list," Richards said.

Plastic surgery disasters

2007-03-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

How did Jenna Jameson get from here:

to here:

It bears mentioning that she is only 33 years old.

How long until:

Anna Nicole Smith Dead at 39

2007-02-08T13:47:00.001-08:00

The roller coaster ride is over...

More fetishes.

2007-02-04T09:29:00.000-08:00

* Jeans fetishism: relating to jeans or denim, particularly worn by women but also by men.

* Corset fetishism: the practice of wearing a tightly-laced corset to achieve extreme modifications to the figure and posture and experience the sensations of a very tight corset. Those who practice tightlacing are called tightlacers.

* Pantyhose fetishism: is predominantly a relatively mild sexual fetish involving women's pantyhose. The fetish first commonly occurs in childhood (or less so) adolescence.

* Second skin: the garment acts as a fetishistic surrogate for the wearer's own skin — a second skin (rubber, spandex, nylon, etc.).

* Navel Fetishism: a sexual fetish where an individual is strongly attracted to the human navel (also known as, and is referred to by most 'navel fetishists' as the belly button). Navel fetishism is often related to stomach fetishism (alvinolagnia).

* Spandex fetishism: a fetishistic attraction to people wearing stretch fabrics or, in certain cases, to the garments themselves.

* Stocking fetishism: a sexual fetish relating to women's stockings.

* Sock fetishism: relating to socks. Sock fetishists are sexually attracted by partners wearing socks, pictures concerning it or the object itself (well worn or brand new).

* Diaper fetishism: "Diaper lover" (or DL for short) is the popular term for a person who feels a strong desire to wear or use diapers without physiological necessity. This paraphilia is differentiated from infantilism in that those of the latter category are also focused with returning to babyhood in ways other than by wearing diapers.

* Latex, rubber, and PVC fetishism: the fetishistic attraction to people wearing latex, rubber, or PVC clothing, or in certain cases, to the garments themselves.

* Leather fetishism: the name popularly used to describe a fetishistic attraction to people wearing leather, or in certain cases, to the garments themselves.

* Mask fetishism: a desire to see a subject wearing a mask or taking off a mask. The mask may be a Halloween mask, a surgical mask, ninja mask, a latex mask, or any other kind of mask.

* Anesthesia fetishism: a very specific form of mask fetishism, as its most common point of focus is the mask placed over a patients face to administer inhaled anesthetics.

* Scuba fetishism: sexual arousal by scuba diving, snorkeling, or the wearing of diving equipment.

* Zentai skin tight suits: skin tight suits that cover the entire body.

* Parka fetish: Jacket fetishism in its "pure" form is most usually associated with padded nylon jackets though can be associated with leather jackets, particularly in association with Bondage (BDSM). Jacket fetishists are generally (but not necessarily) male and gay in the 20 to 45 age range.

* Boot fetishism: very closely related to shoe fetishism. Many of the same sexual appeals regarded high-heeled shoes apply to boots.

* Shoe fetishism: also known as retifism (after Nicolas-Edme Rétif), involves being fixated on shoes or other footwear to the extent it may interfere with sexual expression.

* Fur fetishism / Doraphilia: Fur fetishism is a fetishistic attraction to people wearing fur, or in certain cases, to the garments themselves. Doraphilia is a generic term for an attraction to fur, skin or leather.

* Panty fetishism: relating to women's panties. It can also involve printed or electronic material depicting exposure of panties, usually of a softcore nature.

* Silk/Satin fetishism: relating to garments or other articles made of silk or satin fabric. It is usually directed towards people wearing silk or satin, but it can also be directed towards the garments themselves.

* Transvestic fetishism: a sexual fetish for the clothing of the opposite gender.

* Breast fetishism: a pronounced fetishistic sexual interest in the female breasts, their shape, movement, and especially their size. Breast fetishism is the most common sexual fetish among men in American, European and Japanese culture.

* Breast expansion fetish: characterized by pronounced sexual fantasies involving a woman whose breasts enlarge, either gradually or suddenly, sometimes to gargantuan proportions. Breast expansion fetishism may manifest as a form of inflation fetishism.

* Ear fetishism: when you like ears too much.

* Freckle fetishism: the world's most normal and fantastic fetish. Everyone should pursue this fetish in earnest.

* Foot fetishism: points of attraction include the shape and size of the foot and toes, the texture of the skin, cleanliness (or lack thereof), state of dress (i.e., barefoot or clad in socks or nylons) and odor. Foot lovers may enjoy sniffing, touching, kissing, licking, sucking, and/or lovemaking with the objects of their affections.

* Hair fetishism: one becomes sexually aroused by, or is extremely fond of, human hair (usually cephalic); this may be of hair in general or different hairstyles, colors, texture, or sheen.

* Hand fetishism: sexual arousal from viewing, touching, and feeling another person's hands they are attracted to. Certain characteristics of the hand are often focused on such as size, palms, fingers, texture, fingernails, and color. Other hand fetishists are more focused on actions such as palming basketballs, handjobs, and comparing hands.

* Nose fetishism: (or nasophilia) is a paraphilia in which an individual is sexually aroused by the sight, touch, or often the erotic sucking of human noses.

* Ass/Buttocks fetishism: What? Butts aren't sexy?

* Body piercing: Popular at Lollapalooza.

* Dental braces fetishism: or Orthodontic fetishism, is a form of sexual fetishism where a person is sexually aroused by the sight, brushing, or feel of dental braces (particularly silver stainless steel braces, but sometimes retainers and headgear). They can be aroused by tongue contact with the braces, or by seeing semen ejaculated onto the braces (which is common in some pornography). Many are also aroused by the bright sparkle of traditional stainless steel braces. The rubber band colors can also stimulate a reaction in the person with the fetish. Some are aroused by seeing a woman's tongue touching her braces. All of these are fetishes mostly associated with males seeing braces on females.

* Eyeglasses fetishism: fetishistic attraction to people wearing prescription glasses or sunglasses, or in certain cases, to the act of wearing glasses or the glasses themselves.

* Glove fetishism: an individual is obsessed and fixated by another or oneself wearing gloves on their hands.

* Smoking fetishism: the fetishisation of the smoking of tobacco and marijuana.

* Amputee fetishism: attraction to disability. It is a fetish focused on amputations, generally of limbs.

* Medical fetishism: wherein the activities and paraphernalia of medicine are eroticised. Many observers believe that medical fetishism is the result of behavioral imprinting from childhood.

* Emetophilia (vomiting): an individual is aroused by vomiting or observing others vomit. When emetophiles put emetophilia into practice by actually vomiting, especially on a partner, it is called a Roman shower, after the supposed frequent induction of vomiting at Roman feasts.

* Fecal fetishism: or Coprophilia also known as 'scat' fecophilia, fecalphilia or coprolagnia, is the paraphilia involving sexual pleasure through human feces, or rather to its excretion. Coprophilia is the attraction to the smell, taste, texture or sights & sounds of the act of defecation as a primary means of sexual arousal and gratification.

* Erotic lactation: breastfeeding of an adult partner or re-lactation for primarily erotic or sensual reasons. Depending on the context other terms are used, such as adult suckling, adult nursing, adult breastfeeding, Adult Nursing Relationship (ANR), or nursing couple(s).

* Saliromania (messy/disheveled): involves deriving erotic pleasure from soiling or disheveling the object of one's desire, usually an attractive person. It may involve tearing or damaging their clothing, covering them in mud or filth, messing their hair or makeup.

* Sneezing fetishism: characterized by a person's interest, pleasure or sexual attraction to other’s sneezing, and/or a person’s own sneezing.

* Spitting fetishism: fetishistic attraction to spitting.

* Urolagnia (urine fetishism): (also known as urophilia or undinism) is a sexual fetish with a focus on urine and urination. People with urolagnia often like to urinate in public, or urinate on, or be urinated on by other people, and may drink the urine. The consumption of urine is urophagia. Some like to watch others doing these things. These activities are often described by the euphemisms "golden showers" or "watersports" (which should not be confused with water sports).

* Wet and messy fetishism: sexual fetishism whereby a person becomes aroused when substances are deliberately and generously applied to the naked skin, or to the clothes people are wearing. Messy substances can include whipped cream, mud, shaving foam, custard, pudding, chocolate sauce, Japanese-style lotion, oil or gunge/slime, etc. Wet substances are mainly water but can also include other liquids such as fruit juice or milk).

* Foreskin fetish: characterised by intense sexual urges involving (in this case) the male foreskin.

* Muscle fetishism / sthenolagnia: (related to female muscle growth) defined as 'sexual arousal from demonstration of strength or muscles'.

* Suit and Tie fetishism: a fetishistic attraction towards men wearing business and/ or formalwear (or photos or video of men in such clothing, or the objects of clothing themselves), and also men who get aroused when they themselves are in such clothing. Generally, the fetish and arousal first appears in adolescence, but many men report having arousal from seeing other males in a suit and necktie (or from wearing one themselves) from pre-school age.

* Anaclitism: involves deriving adult sexual arousal from objects that one was exposed to as an infant.

* Aquaphilia: also called hydrophilia is a term used to describe a form of sexual fetishism which involves images of people swimming or posing underwater, and sexual activity in or under water. Some subsets of this category are underwater glamour, breathholding, underwater fashion (models posing underwater, often while fully clothed), scuba fetishism, rubber (people in skin-tight rubber wetsuits), simulated or fantasy drowning (often incorporating asphyxiation), mermaids, and underwater sex.

* Fruit fetishism: the use of fruit or vegetables for sexual gratification.

* Macrophilia: the sexual attraction to larger people. Macrophilia has two main forms: the shrinking of self and the enlargement of others.

* Paraphilic infantilism: the desire to wear diapers and be treated as a helpless infant.

* Pregnancy fetishism: also known as maiesiophilia, is a sexual fetish for women who are or appear pregnant.

* Robot fetishism: (also ASFR or technosexuality) is a fetishistic attraction to humanoid or non-humanoid robots; also to people acting like robots or people dressed in robot costumes.

* Schoolgirl uniform fetish: in which someone enjoys dressing in the typical uniform of a schoolgirl, or someone derives sexual pleasure from viewing others dressed in this manner.

* Stuck fetishism: This usually involves the subject being immobilized in some way, in a situation the he or she finds undesirable which leads to the subject struggling to escape the situation.

* Transformation fetish: in which a person becomes sexually aroused by descriptions or depictions of transformations, usually the transformations of people into other beings or objects.

* Yiff: a slang term widely used by the furry fandom for the sexual fetishism involving furries.

I am going to spend all day posting about sexual fetishes.

2007-02-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

* Abasiophilia: love of (or sexual attraction to) people who use leg braces or other orthopaedic appliances

* Acousticophilia: sexual arousal from certain sounds

* Acrotomophilia: love of (or sexual attraction to) amputees

* Agalmatophilia: sexual attraction to statues or mannequins or immobility

* Algolagnia: sexual pleasure from pain

* Amaurophilia: sexual arousal by a partner whom one is unable to see due to artificial means, such as being blindfolded or having sex in total darkness. (See: sensory deprivation)

* Andromimetophilia: love of women dressed as men

* Apodysophilia: desire to undress, see also nudism

* Apotemnophilia: desire to have (or sexual arousal from having) a healthy appendage (limb, digit, or male genitals) amputated

* Aquaphilia: arousal from water and/or in watery environments, including bathtubs or swimming pools

* Aretifism: sexual attraction to people who are without footwear, in contrast to retifism

* Asphyxiophilia: sexual attraction to asphyxia; also called breath control play; including autoerotic asphyxiation; see medical warnings

* Autogynephilia: love of oneself as a woman (also see Blanchard, Bailey, and Lawrence theory for discussion on controversy)

* Biastophilia: sexual pleasure from committing rape

* Celebriphilia: pathological desire to have sex with a celebrity.

* Coprophilia: sexual attraction to (or pleasure from) feces

* Crush fetish: sexual arousal from seeing small creatures being crushed by members of the opposite sex, or being crushed oneself

* Dacryphilia: sexual pleasure in eliciting tears from others or oneself

* Dendrophilia: sexual attraction to trees and other large plants, popularized by the movie "Superstar" with Molly Shannon

* Diaper fetishism: sexual arousal from diapers

* Dwarf or 'midget' fetishism: sexual attraction to little people

* Emetophilia (a.k.a. vomerophilia): sexual attraction to vomit

* Ephebophilia (a.k.a. hebephilia): sexual attraction towards adolescents

* Eproctophilia: sexual attraction to flatulence

* Exhibitionism: sexual arousal through sexual behavior in view of third parties (also includes the recurrent urge or behavior to expose one's genitals to an unsuspecting person, known as indecent exposure)

* Faunoiphilia: sexual arousal from watching animals mate

* Fetishism: is the use of non-sexual or nonliving objects or part of a person's body to gain sexual excitement. Examples include:

Balloon fetishism -- breast fetishism -- bike fetish -- foot fetishism (podophilia) -- fur fetishism -- leather fetishism -- lipstick fetishism -- medical fetishism -- panty fetishism -- robot fetishism -- rubber fetishism -- shoe fetishism -- smoking fetishism -- spandex fetishism -- dental braces fetishism -- transvestic fetishism (see below)

* Forniphilia: sexual objectification in which a person's body is incorporated into a piece of furniture

* Frotteurism: sexual arousal from the recurrent urge or behavior of touching or rubbing against a nonconsenting person

* Galactophilia: sexual attraction to human milk or lactating women (incorrect term)

* Gerontophilia: sexual attraction towards the elderly

* Haematophilia: sexual attraction involving blood (either on a sex partner/attractive person or the liquid itself; not to be confused with haemophilia, a genetic disorder of the blood)

* Harpaxophilia: sexual arousal from being the victim of a robbery or burglary

* Hematolagnia: sexual attraction to blood

* Homeovestism: sexual attraction towards the clothing of one's own gender

* Hybristophilia: sexual arousal to people who have committed crimes, in particular cruel or outrageous crimes

* Infantilism: sexual pleasure from dressing, acting, or being treated as a baby

* Katoptronophilia: sexual arousal from having sex in front of mirrors.

* Klismaphilia: sexual pleasure from enemas

* Lust murder: sexual arousal through committing murder

* Macrophilia: sexual attraction to larger people and large things (including larger body organs such as breasts and genitalia)

* Maiesiophilia: sexual attraction to childbirth or pregnant women

* Masochism: is the recurrent urge or behavior of wanting to be humiliated, beaten, bound, or otherwise made to suffer

* Microphilia: sexual attraction to smaller people and things of smaller size

* Mysophilia: sexual attraction to soiled, dirty, foul or decaying material

* Necrophilia: sexual attraction to corpses

* Necrozoophilia: sexual attraction to the corpses or killings of animals (also known as necrobestiality)

* Nepiophilia: the same as infantophilia sexual attraction to children between the age of 0 - 3 yrs.

* Pedophilia: sexual attraction to prepubescent children (British spelling: paedophilia)

* Phalloorchoalgolagnia: sexual arousal by the experiencing of painful stimuli being administered to the male genitals.

* Pictophilia: sexual attraction to pictorial pornography/erotic art

* Plushophilia: sexual attraction to stuffed toys or people in animal costume, such as theme park characters

* Pyrophilia: sexual arousal through watching, setting, hearing/talking/fantasizing about fire

* Retifism: sexual arousal from shoes

* Sadism: sexual arousal from giving pain

* Schediaphilia (aka Toonophilia): love (or sexual arousal) to cartoon characters/situations. It's said that "toonophilia" is a minor part of some "soft porn" comics, adult magazines and publications depicted cartoon characters in sexual positions and practices

* Sitophilia: sexual arousal from food

* Somnophilia: sexual arousal from sleeping or unconscious people

* Spectrophilia: sexual attraction to ghosts

* Telephone scatologia: being sexually aroused by making obscene telephone calls

* Teratophilia: sexual attraction to deformed or monstrous people

* Transformation fetish: sexual arousal from depictions of transformations of people into objects or other beings

* Transvestic fetishism: is a sexual attraction towards the clothing of the opposite gender (also known as transvestitism)

* Trichophilia: love (or sexual arousal) from hair

* Urolagnia: sexual attraction to urine

* Vincilagnia: sexual arousal by bondage

* Vorarephilia: sexual attraction to being eaten by, and/or eating, another person or creature

* Voyeurism: sexual arousal through watching others having sex (also includes the recurrent urge or behavior to observe an unsuspecting person who is naked, disrobing or engaging in sexual activities, see peeping tom)

* Xenophilia: sexual attraction to foreigners (in science fiction, can also mean sexual attraction to aliens)

* Zoophilia: emotional or sexual attraction to animals

* Zoosadism: the sexual enjoyment of causing pain and suffering to animals

Checking out the Golden Globes

2007-01-20T08:20:00.000-08:00

Britney

2007-01-14T07:37:00.000-08:00

Angelina Jolie possibly host to symbiont.

2007-01-12T09:06:00.000-08:00

What is living inside her arms?

Photos by Shawna Mouser

2007-01-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

Click me.

My good friend Shawna Mouser!

OMG I <3 The Misfits soooooo much!!!

2006-11-17T21:03:00.000-08:00

He's bringing sexy back for reals!

Is Your Hobby or Pastime Cause for Alarm?

2006-11-05T07:35:00.000-08:00

I spent all day yesterday in New York City at the WFMU Record Fair where my boyfriend was trading antiquated vinyl slabs with music enthusiasts the world over. After researching gatherings such as this, and the Renaissance Faire, the Star Trek auction, comic conventions, Chiller Theatre, and the fanaticism these fringes of society attract, I’ve been inspired to ask the following question:

Is your obsession becoming a problem?

I have constructed a unique mathematical equation in the form of a survey that can determine if your hobby or pastime has moved beyond “enthusiast” and into the realm of “obsessive compulsive”. This test can be used to diagnose an unhealthy level of devotion in individuals, as well as indicate where on the general scale of dorkdom your particular interest falls.

This highly effective equation can determine the OCD danger levels in any of the following: Comic collectors, bloggers, record nerds, film students, Larpers, dungeon masters, Yankees fans, born again Christians, anglophiles, Trekkies, Freemasons, rock collectors, cyberpunks, Puerto Rican Vampires, and geeks, nerds, and dorks of every variety.

1. How many hours per week do you spend pursuing your hobby?

A few on the weekend? +10 points
All day Sunday plus any free time you have during the week? +25 points
Only the ones you’re awake for? +50 points

2. How much money do you spend on your hobby?

More than you probably should? +10 points
More than you care to admit? +50 points
More than food? +100 points

3. How much physical space does your hobby take up?

A separate room in your house? +50 points
A separate wing? +100 points
A separate house? +500 points

4. Does your hobby require you to learn:

A second language? +50 points
A dead language? +100 points
A made-up language? +500 points

5. While enjoying your hobby, do you wear a special wardrobe?

Yes, but it also passes for regular street clothes. +10 points
Yes, and it’s one that shouldn’t be worn to the grocery store. +50 points
Do you wear it to the grocery store anyway? +100 points

6. How far have you traveled to pursue your hobby?

Other states? +50 points
Other countries? +100 points
Other dimensions? +500 points

7. Does your hobby require you to purchase any special equipment without which it wouldn’t exist?

An electronic system of some sort (computer, gaming system, stereo, etc.)
+50 points
A 20-sided die? +100 points
Fangs and spooky contact lenses? +1000 points

8. Does your hobby require you to purchase any of the following items:

Extra shelving? +50 points
Mylar or UV protective glass? +100 points
Lucite and a third-party grader? +300 points

9. Have you ever said any of the following sentences:

“Is this pressing in mono or stereo?” +50 points
“Does this tunic make me look fat?” +100 points
“Help me paint these numbers on my enormous gut.” +200 points

10. How does your significant other feel about your hobby?

We enjoy it together. +10 points
They tolerate it at best. +50 points
My mom says I’m special. +1000 points

Now tally your points to find out where your particular obsession falls on the following scale:

50-200 points. Garden Variety Slacker.
The highest functioning of the nerds. Not quite in danger, but not quite normal either. You can hold down a job.

200-350 points. Substantial Subculture Supporter.
You have a tendency to drone on and on about your particular interest, but you do have some friends who will listen. Your personal hygiene could use some attention.

350-500 points. Full-time Left of Centerist.
You spend a lot of time pouring over catalogs that no one else subscribes to. "Loser" might be too strong a word, but "Winner" doesn't quite fit either.

500-750 points. King Retard.
You're in serious danger of dropping out of society completely. People stare at you and you should probably be medicated.

750+ points. 5th Level Paladin with +2 Longsword.
You do not exist in society as we know it. Even you know you're out of control, but you're powerless to stop yourself. You subscribe to several newsgroups and have user names on multiple message boards. You might need to be institutionalized. Seek help.

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-29T10:03:00.000-08:00

BOOOOOO!!!

2006-10-29T09:25:00.000-08:00

More Pete Burns

2006-10-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Guess who was in Dead or Alive!

2006-10-08T09:07:00.000-07:00

Your pick:

A little bird told me about Christina Ricci's boobs

2006-10-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

Click here for NSFW pics of the boobs, the tattoo, and the clearly visible breast-reduction/lift scars.

And one more, just for kicks:

Sources: Vegas Magazine, pinkisthenewblog.com, and wwtdd.com.

Bad Priests

2006-10-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

DELRAY BEACH — Two former pastors of St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church have been accused of misappropriating $8.6 million from the church during the past 42 years — spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on real estate, travel, gambling and female companions.

Detectives called former priests John Skehan and Francis Guinan "professional money launderers" who repeatedly skimmed money from collection plates, stashing the cash in "secret slush funds."

Skehan is alleged to have put nearly $1.6 million in four bank accounts in cash, donation checks written by congregates, donated stock sales from the building fund and bequeathed money. Guinan allegedly continued putting cash in the bank accounts when he succeeded Skehan as pastor in 2003, taking an estimated $400,000.

Delray Beach Detective Thomas Whatley was waiting for Skehan on Wednesday night at Palm Beach International Airport as he returned from Ireland, where he owns a cottage and pub and where he vacations during the summer.

Skehan, 79, was remorseful during his interview with detectives early Thursday, admitting to some of the misappropriations while trying to justify some of the good he had done over four decades at the church, Whatley said.

He was charged with grand theft over $100,000, a first-degree felony. He is being held in lieu of $400,000 bond in the Palm Beach County Jail.

Guinan, meanwhile, is on a cruise in Australia.

The 63-year-old Port St. Lucie resident called investigators Thursday and said he knew there was a warrant for his arrest.

"These guys lived the life they told everyone else not to live — and they lived it on everyone else's dime," police spokesman Jeff Messer said. "And one of the seven deadly sins is greed."

The news stunned the 4,000-member parish, which is attended by some of the most prominent people in the city's business and political circles.

Skehan has "done so much for the church," said Dr. Joy Rohrer, a Delray Beach dentist who was married by Skehan 21 years ago. "He's looked at as an idol. He's done tremendous things for the church and the school. Everybody who knows him just loves him."

At Thursday's 5 p.m. Mass, a priest sent by the Diocese of Palm Beach read a statement issued by Bishop Gerald Barbarito. His voice cracked as he said he was too emotionally charged to say anything more.

During the Mass, a church priest said, "We are perplexed, some of us by things we hear, some of us by things we see. This teaches us that all is vanity."

Earlier Thursday, Barbarito said the diocese had cooperated with authorities during the investigation. Barbarito also said he authorized an investigation into the finances at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Palm Beach Gardens, where Guinan served until he was transferred to St. Vincent's.

Guinan and Skehan are on administrative leave and cannot act as priests until the criminal investigation is completed, Barbarito said.

Guinan resigned and retired during the investigation, Barbarito said, adding that he had already started the process to remove Guinan.

Barbarito also said that independent of this matter, he had begun biennial audits of the financial matters of every church, school and mission in the five-county diocese.

Diocese Chief Financial Officer Denis Hamel, who helped police with the investigation, said, "This is truly a sad day for our diocese as we contemplate the possible breach of trust that so many worked so hard to achieve and maintain."

The investigation started more than a year ago when a parishioner sent an anonymous letter to Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer about Guinan's removal from the church and an internal audit being done by the diocese.

"As a longtime parishioner, I am concerned that the information found from this audit will remain a secret within the church, hence no criminal charges will be brought if the suspicions are found to be true," the parishioner wrote in a letter dated April 29, 2005.

Whatley and special agent John Marinello of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement were assigned the case in June 2005.

Whatley interviewed several former St. Vincent church employees, one of whom told him that Guinan had an "intimate" relationship with his former bookkeeper at St. Patrick's Church and gave her nearly $50,000 between March and December 2004.

The money was used in part to pay her American Express bills and her son's tuition at Cardinal Newman High School, according to a police report.

Another employee told Whatley that she and her mother received greeting cards containing $1,500 cash from Skehan after she refused to help the diocese with the investigation. Skehan told her he was proud of her and that the diocese was corrupt, according to the report. He also offered to pay her legal fees "if ever needed."

An accounting firm hired by the diocese to conduct a forensic audit revealed that during Skehan and Guinan's tenures at St. Vincent, more than $8.6 million was misappropriated from the church to "slush funds" controlled by Skehan and Guinan, records show.

Skehan used $134,075 to pay for his alleged lover's expenses, gave $11,688 to family members and used another $268,630 for personal expenses, including car payments, dental work, property taxes, credit card payments and condo association fees, according to the report.

On Wednesday night, detectives searched a safe in Skehan's home on church property at 607 N.E. Eighth Avenue, confiscating about $200,000 in commemorative coins and $39,000 cash. Skehan moved into the home after Guinan left the church in September 2005.

"What you had is one priest who did a lot of good for the church over 40 years... and another priest that came in after retirement who went ballistic with the funds," Whatley said.

Skehan's attorney, Ken Johnson of Palm Beach Gardens, said his client is "presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty" and said he would not "try the case in the media as the Delray Beach Police Department has done."

"I have reviewed the probable cause affidavit, and it looks like the numbers total about $325,000 to my client, and how they came up with $8.6 million is completely not explained at all," Johnson said.

West Palm Beach attorney Michael Salnick, who represents two former St. Vincent employees, said his clients talked to detectives because they observed irregularities in how money was handled.

"They were in a very difficult position, but certainly were not going to fall prey to any manipulation by Father Skehan and Father Guinan," Salnick said. "They were raised in a family where telling the truth and doing the right thing is most important."

This is not the first scandal to shake the Diocese of Palm Beach in recent years. The diocese lost two consecutive bishops in sex scandals. In 1999, Bishop J. Keith Symons left in disgrace after admitting to molesting altar boys earlier in his career.

Symons was replaced by Bishop Anthony O'Connell, who left in 2002 after admitting that he had coaxed a seminary student to lie naked with him in bed during the 1970s.

The diocese also has had its share of financial scandals.

Robert Schattie allegedly embezzled $400,000 from the diocese during the 1990s but the diocese did not press charges and persuaded Schattie to pay back the stolen money gradually.

Ed Ricci, a West Palm Beach attorney and outspoken critic of the diocese's handling of recent scandals, said he wasn't surprised by the theft.

"There's a long history, in my judgment, of them doing an atrocious job of auditing their finances," Ricci said. "There is no transparency in the Catholic Church on how finances are handled."

Voice of the Faithful, a Catholic-run nonprofit in Massachusetts, just launched a campaign for financial accountability in Catholic churches.

Spokesman John Moynihan said misappropriation of funds is nothing new, citing the recent five-year prison sentence of a New Jersey priest who stole more than $2 million from five parishes. "It's been happening for years and they are just now being uncovered," Moynihan said.

St. Vincent's, at 840 George Bush Blvd., is the only Catholic church in eastern Delray Beach. Among its worshipers are Police Chief Larry Schroeder and School Board Chairman Tom Lynch, a former Delray Beach mayor.

Its private school, kindergarten through eighth grade, has a waiting list.

Delray Beach Mayor Jeff Perlman, whose wife is a member of the congregation and whose two stepchildren attend the school, said he fielded numerous calls from residents who were frustrated and disappointed in the well-known former pastors.

"I just can't believe the amount," Perlman said. "Father Skehan has been part of the community for decades. This is going to have big reverberations."

Those reverberations struck even the Delray Beach Police Department. Several officers are members and some of their children attend the school.

"The allegations against them involving this grand theft is sinful," said Amos Rojas, FDLE special agent in charge. "These two individuals really betrayed not only their own church and their parishioners but those people that they were really ordained to help — the ones who can't help themselves."

From PalmBeachPost.com

Employee Charged With Trying To Poison Boss

2006-10-01T00:11:00.000-07:00

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- A University of Miami employee is charged with trying to poison his boss with liquid mercury fumes in an act of revenge.

Coral Gables police said 58-year-old Robert Friedlander sprinkled the substance in the cubicle of Albert Williams because he was upset about a written reprimand issued for cursing.

Williams suffered a rash, fever, swelling of the joints and dizziness. He spent three days in the hospital.

Friedlander is a specialist with the school's collections department. Williams is the department's associate director.

The arrest came after a five month investigation. Investigators are trying to determine where Friedlander got the mercury.

Friedlander is facing a charge of felony battery. He was released from jail Thursday on $5,000 bond.

School officials did not immediately return a telephone call.

Doctor Claims He Travels Back In Time To Heal

2006-10-01T00:07:00.000-07:00

State Health Officials Not Buying It

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An Ohio chiropractor who claimed to treat patients using time travel has surrendered his license to practice.

State regulators had been investigating Dr. James Burda of Athens, who said he could take care of anyone, anywhere by reaching back in time to when the injury occurred.

Burda said he discovered the skill six years ago when he hurt his own foot while driving. He said he gave the pain a command to stop and it went away.

He said he doesn't use force to realign bones, but he uses his mind to manipulate the body. But if that doesn't work, he said he travels back in time to fix the problem. He calls the practice Bala-Keem. State medical officials call it malpractice.

Burda's Web site offered long-distance healing service for $60 an hour.

Burda said that his practice is beyond chiropractic, and is beyond what "they understand." He said that anything that's beyond what people don't understand scares them.

The Ohio State Chiropractic Board accused him of being unable to practice due to mental illness. Now, in a written statement, Burda acknowledges his form of treatment was not acceptable.

Escaped Hamster Interrupts Jet Flight

2006-10-01T00:05:00.000-07:00

INNSBRUCK, Austria (AP) -- It wasn't "Snakes on a Plane," but an Austrian Airlines jet made an unscheduled stop Friday after a passenger sneaked a hamster aboard and the rodent escaped. The flight from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to the southern Austrian city of Graz made a stop in Innsbruck so officials could search for the hamster and make sure it didn't gnaw through any wiring, the airline said.

It said the flight was diverted after a passenger notified the crew that he had brought a hamster aboard and had lost track of it. Passengers were ordered off the plane, and some were taken by bus to Graz. It was not immediately clear how many people were aboard.

By midafternoon, a search of the aircraft still had not turned up any sign of the hamster, authorities said.

Austrian Airlines said the jet would remain grounded until the hamster was found "because it can't take off that way for safety reasons."

Kate Moss is doing well

2006-09-27T17:08:00.000-07:00

Camel toads

2006-09-26T21:59:00.000-07:00

How gay are you?

2006-09-24T21:12:00.000-07:00

In the late 1940's and early 1950's a sex researcher by the name of Dr. Alfred Kinsey and his colleagues published two books called Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female based on the study of human sexuality. These works are also known as the "Kinsey Reports."

One of Dr. Kinsey's most well known theories is the "Heterosexual/ Homosexual Rating Scale," which rates a person's homosexuality or heterosexuality on a 7-point continuum.

Keep in mind, however, that it is normal for a heterosexual person to have thoughts, dreams or even fantasies about members of the same sex as it is for homosexuals to have thoughts about heterosexuals.

Thus, your "score" may not be a perfect 6 or 0.

How are gay are you?

0- Exclusively heterosexual

1- Predominantly heterosexual, only incidentally homosexual

2- Predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual

3- Equally heterosexual and homosexual

4- Predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual

5- Predominantly homosexual, only incidentally heterosexual

6- Exclusively homosexual

Are you on the down-low?

Green stars and yellow clovers!

2006-09-21T09:20:00.000-07:00

From The Superficial:

According to Ireland's Daily Mirror, Michael Jackson has been looking into buying an estate on the Emerald Isle, and is supposedly interested in opening up a - wait for it - leprechaun-inspired theme park.

"Michael is deadly serious about this idea," a source told Ireland's Daily Mirror. "He loves the whole idea of leprechauns and the magic and myths of Ireland. It would cost around 500 million Euros [about $635 million] to do. He's always wanted to open his own theme park and he thinks Ireland is the perfect place and it will all be built around the leprechaun theme." The cash-strapped singer reportedly is meeting with businessmen to raise money for the park. There are regular sightings of the reclusive singer in Ireland, and one newspaper there has set up a Wacko Watch Hotline for readers to phone in sightings.

Because if America won't accept your insane ideas why not just ship 'em over to Ireland? There they at least drink enough the idea might work. And here? Well here we just make gross generalizations about other cultures.

Pretty ladies

2006-09-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

I see mug shots

2006-09-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

What's wrong with coasting? Coasting is great!

2006-09-18T21:57:00.000-07:00

A widow rented a rotary dial telephone for 42 years, paying what her family calculates as more than $14,000 for a now outdated phone.

Ester Strogen, 82, of Canton, first leased two black rotary phones — the kind whose round dial is moved manually with your finger — in the 1960s. Back then, the technology was new and owning telephones was unaffordable for most people.

Until two months ago, Strogen was still paying AT&T to use the phones — $29.10 a month. Strogen's granddaughters, Melissa Howell and Barb Gordon, ended the arrangement when they discovered the bills.

"I'm outraged," Gordon said. "It made me so mad. It's ridiculous. If my own grandmother was doing it, how many other people are?"

New Jersey-based Lucent Technologies, a spinoff of AT&T that manages the residential leasing service, said customers were given the choice option to opt out of renting in 1985. The number of customers leasing phones dropped from 40 million nationwide to about 750,000 today, he said.

"We will continue to lease sets as long as there is a demand for them," Skalko said.

Benefits of leasing include free replacements and the option of switching to newer models, he said.

Gordon said she believes the majority of people leasing are elderly and may not realize they are paying thousands of dollars for a telephone.

Skalko said bills are clearly marked, and customers can quit their lease any time by returning their phones.

Strogen says she's not a big fan of her new push-button phone.

"I'd like to have my rotary back," she said. "I like that better."

2006-09-18T11:01:00.001-07:00

Halloween is coming!

2006-09-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

Don't be left out of the fun! Here are some of my Halloween costume suggestions!

Winner:

Sexy, sexy, sexy:

And for you and the love of your life:
Ahh...romance!

Nothing says "party" like religion:

YUMMY:

I'm thinking of going as this one:

Sheep Effing

2006-09-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

From The Smoking Gun:

While performing a security check early Wednesday at a Santa Barbara park, sheriff's deputies noticed an auto near the locked gates. As seen below, a handwritten note left on the Toyota Sienna indicated that the owner had encountered engine trouble. However, probers noted in a subsequent report, "when a vehicle is parked in that area it usually means the occupant(s) are trespassing" on the property, known as the La Purisima Mission. Turns out that was apparently the case again, according to a sheriff's report detailing events leading to the arrest of Alfred Stevens, a 69-year-old Huntington Beach resident. We'll let you discover what led investigators to charge Stevens with animal cruelty, weapons possession, and trespassing (all of which are misdemeanors). As detailed in an inventory form, deputies seized, among other pieces of evidence, a .357 Magnum, a coffee can filled with feed grain, and a bottle of Bertolli extra virgin olive oil, which, as the property sheet notes, is "rich and fruity." Which seems just about right.

This is particularly interesting to me because it's taking place in my hometown. The Mission was the site of many a class trip for a young Vanessa Cheatwood.

bestinshowradio.com

2006-09-17T11:15:00.000-07:00