Apparently things are even more disturbed in the case of the canadian beheading extraveganza than I thought. Take a gander at the news report out today:

TORONTO, Ontario (AP) -- A police officer at the scene of a grisly beheading on a Canadian bus reported seeing the attacker hacking off pieces of the victim's body and eating them, according to a police tape leaked on the Internet Saturday.

In the tape of radio transmissions, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer refers to the attacker as "Badger" and says he is armed with a knife and scissors and is "defiling the body at the front of the bus as we speak."

On the tape, which lasts about 80 seconds, officers continue to detail the attacker's movements until one reports, "Badger's at the back of the bus, hacking off pieces and eating it."

Vince Weiguang Li, 40, faces second-degree murder charges for the slaying of a 22-year-old man, whom friends and family identified as Tim McLean. Police have not confirmed the victim's identity.

Holy dog shit, batman. Things must be even worse up in the great wide north than here as far as the economy goes. Hell, at least we're not starting to eat one another yet. Well, unless you mean in the figurative sense and that takes place in just about any ghetto in the country.

Maybe it's time to schedule a couple of airlift food drops so those crazy Canadian whackjobs don't have to resort to cannibalism. You can almost see the reasoning behind the nut's action though. I mean, the victim's name was McLean. Wasn't that some sort of burger put out by McDonalds a few years ago? In this health conscious age where everyone is watching their cholesterol level, who wouldn't be worried about fat content?

I have to say, I'm also a bit confuzzled about the police naming the guy 'Badger'. I'm not quite sure we're talking about the same animal here. It's that small little beaver-like critter that looks like a fat ferret, right? I mean, if I saw some psychopath stab the fuck out of someone, sever his head, and then go to town like it were an all-you-can-eat buffet, I'm not sure if 'Badger' would be the first synonymous animal to come to mind. All I can think is that either the first cop on the scene was a fatuous moron or there's some species of crazed canadian badger heretofore unknown to those of us south of the border.

Poll #1234484
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

This news story has.....

Other:

So I finished the Odd Thomas books a couple of days ago and I'm not sure exactly what I think. Overall, I liked the first book quite a bit and I liked the last book as well. It's the two in the middle that are giving me some serious issues. The basic plot runs like this, a guy named Odd Thomas has the ability to see dead people. In fact, he's accompanied everywhere he goes by the ghost of Elvis (well, up until the end of the third book where Elvis leaves and Frank Sinatra tags in). In addition to being able to see the dead, he can also see...well, the best comparison is to those little black crawly things in Dead Like Me who kill people. He calls them Bodocs. I think that's how it's spelled. One of the obnoxious things about listening to books instead of reading them is it's really hard to figure out the spelling of some words. Anyway, Bodocs don't actually kill people. They just tend to stick around whenever there's going to be a mass casualty event and munch on demonic popcorn and cheer.

As you can imagine, because of these two abilities, he tends to get into all sorts of crazy issues. The most endearing part of the character is that despite his special abilities, he is preternaturally down to earth. It'd be hard to write up a more humble, self-effacing, average Joe sort of character. He even calls every single person 'sir', which I find sort of fascinating. I thought about it a few days ago and realized that I've never called anyone sir in my life. At least, when I wasn't affecting a military posture for a gag. I don't think I can call someone sir or ma'am. It's just not wired in me and would stick in my craw. It somehow seems sort of degrading to go around 'sir'ing people. I have no problems with being polite but that just seems to take things a step too far.

Anyway, my problem with the middle two books is that they both seem to spend a lot of time running around in circles. I get to the end with this feeling that not much of anything has really happened and yet a huge amount of wordage has been spent. The timeline for both books stretches less than a day each. Actually, it's probably more like 12 hours, if that. There's a lot of internal monologue and sometimes you just wish that something more would happen. The most recent book, Odd Hours, is the first that seems to have started a multi-book plot arc, which was about time. Things were getting a bit too episodic for my tastes and I was hoping for something bigger.

Whenever I read a book about someone with an ability like a two-edged sword, I always wonder if I would be willing to have it. Frankly, I don't see many upsides at all about seeing fucking dead people all over the place. I'm not usually a timid person, but I do have a well-developed startle response and it's not fun. Still, that would be balanced out by having absolute knowledge that there is an afterlife of some sort. Wouldn't that be a bonus to know that there is life after death? Actually....is it?

Poll #1223526
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Would you want to know for sure if there were life after death?

I thought I'd try to be a bit topical today. I was just looking through CNN and saw that the Portuguese police are finally going to close the case on Madeleine McCann. Frankly, it's probably well past time since they've been beating that dead horse for ages. There hasn't been a lead that's provided any new information in at least a year. I followed along pretty closely in the early days of the investigation and I'm still with those who say the parents did it. As much as movies and thriller novels would like to make us think otherwise, strangers don't usually walk into other people's homes and wander off with their children. The fact that the parents just happen to have left a freaking three year old and a pair of two year olds by themselves in a house so they could go out drinking with friends just tells you that something's not quite kosher. Seriously, who the fuck does something like that anyway?

The real kicker as far as I'm concerned is that no body was ever found. That really does suggest that whoever offed the kid had plenty of time to plan and dispose. I've never bought those assertions that some ring of pedophiles kidnapped her for use in their toddler sex rings. I mean, there are craploads of kids out there and probably poor parents willing to sell them to you. You'd have to be a complete idiot to swipe the kid of a tourist if you wanted to get away with the crime. Even if it were some sort of impulse snatch and grab, it's just hard to believe that you could dispose of the body so well in a short period of time that it's never found without any sort of planning. My personal theory is the kid kicked the bucket, likely through overdose or child abuse, and the parents pitched her into the ocean with a fisher price anchor tied around her neck. I have no good evidence for that idea but there's just no possibility of this being a stranger abduction and murder. The police supposedly found faint traces of her blood in the house. What kinda freak who just happens to walk past a house wanders in, kills/bloodies a kid, cleans up after themselves, and then carries the body out the door with them?

In the end, we'll never know exactly what happened. It's like the John Benet Ramsey case all over again. It's odd, but in that situation I believed the parents had notta to do with it. I dunno why exactly but something about the McCann's just give me the willies. I just don't like them nor find them trustworthy in any way. At least with all this publicity we can be pretty sure they won't kill their remaining kids. Well, not without an airtight alibi ready anyway.

Poll #1217143
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Who killed/abducted Madeleine McCann?

I ran across a couple of similarly bizzare news stories over the past few days and it got me to thinking. First though, here are the stories:

Stockton Man Beaten -- With His Own Artificial Leg

STOCKTON, CA - Police are looking for three suspects who attacked an elderly couple early Wednesday evening and used an unusual weapon to attack them -- the man's artificial leg.

Ma Khamchai, 66, and his wife, 62 year-old Noi were walking near their Lindsay Street home when they were confronted by two women and a man who demanded Noi's purse.

Ma fought back, kicking at his attackers, but in the scuffle his artificial leg came off. The robbers then used the leg to beat the couple.

Man hurls hedgehog at teen, pays fine

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A New Zealand man accused of assault with prickly weapon — a hedgehog — has been fined by a court and ordered to pay most of his fine to his teenage victim.

Whakatane District Court was told Thursday that William Singalargh picked up the hedgehog and threw it several yards to hit a 15-year-old boy in the North Island east coast town of Whakatane on Feb. 9.

Police told the court the creature had hit the victim in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks. The teen did not need medical treatment.

It remained unclear whether the hedgehog was dead or alive at the time of the attack, but Senior Sgt. Bruce Jenkins said earlier that it was dead when collected as evidence.

So, if you had a choice would you rather be beaten by your own artificial leg or have a, possibly living, hedgehog hurled at you hard enough to break the skin?

Poll #1197115
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

I would choose....

I normally wouldn't trust you lot to tie your own shoes without pitching over (especially after that whole watermelon fiasco) but since there's no one else about, I need your opinion. There was recently an icon thread in a community where someone filtched a bunch of those Mr Men and Little Miss covers and made icons out of the lot. Now, I'm sure you've noticed that I've had my own Mr Grumpy for quite a while now. I liked some of the others that were posted and I'm trying to decide if I should upgrade to the new Mr Grumpy.

The one I have right now is the one I remember from when I was a kid. At some point someone no doubt thought that the illustrations could use a bit of touchup and the more recent printings are different. What I'd like for you lot to do is pick which Mr Grumpy you think I should go with.

As for my own personal take on it....I like the newer, brighter colors of #2, but he looks like he's constipated rather than pissy. #1 is a bit faded and pedestrian in comparrison, but I can just imagine him saying 'And what the fuck do you think you're doing, asshat?' and that's spiffy.


....Grumpy #1...........Grumpy #2

Poll #1187153
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which userpic do you prefer?

Is it wrong that I automatically assume that any non-black person with dreads is a fucking tool?

Poll #1187007
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

So?

By the way, the correct answer to the last question was honeydew, you rejects. Honeydew, damnit. You should have just voted the way I was voting and then you could be sure you'd be right. Just like chocodiablo did.

Watermelons are spiffy, for sure, but they just can't beat a sweet and chilled honeydew. So refreshing. So crisp. Mmmmmmmm.

Poll #1182287
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

King of Melons

( Read more... )

It's amazing some of the stuff that's being sold on Amazon nowadays. An errant search led me to a page that's probably going to drill holes in my subconscious for a bit. I figured that there's no reason I should suffer alone so I've decided to share.



Now, is that freakish or am I just a little behind in the times? If you click on the picture, it'll take you to the item page over at Amazon. Only $17 for a pack of 4 and it qualifies for Free Super Saver Shipping. Woooo. Better place your order fast because there are only 5 packages remaining.

Frankly, the damn thing looks pretty darn scary to me, like something out of a horror movie. I wouldn't be surprised if something like this made an appearance in one of the Saw films. God knows I'd freak if I saw someone wearing one of these anywhere near me. Then again, I'd probably freak either way because it'd mean there was some whacky nekkid guy approaching me. So maybe I'm just not the right person to assess this.


Poll #1161279
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

If you saw a man wearing this approach you for coitus you would think....

Eh, I just realized that since this 'content strike' started at midnight GMT, that it's already more than 2/3rds over from an EST perspective. If I just make entries every hour, I'm not sure that would really be enough to have an impact. So I figure I'll just toss one off whenever I feel like it instead.

Lets start it off with a poll.

Poll #1158133
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

I am choosing to....

Hat tip to kahvi

Haiku2 for henwy
bondage eh bondage homosexual rape scene wtf apparently what
@ aboutmylife.netadvogato.orgblogger.comblogs.gnome.orgblogspot.comdeadjournal.comgreatestjournal.cominsanejournal.comlivejournal.commyspace.comspaces.msn.com
Created by Grahame

Right after doing this meme, I was surfing around online and stumbled across what is apparently a longrunning argument. I figured I would poll the field.

Poll #1151695
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Do you think Snagglepuss is gay?

Poll #1138033
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

It is always better to be....

* Hey, if you have a grenade, you don't need f'ing super powers.

What fates impose, that men must needs abide;
It boots not to resist both wind and tide.

-William Shakespeare (Henry VI)

Alrightly, so here's that entry I promised when I was pondering to myself on the voice post yesterday. What sparked the thought in my head was a song on the radio that I had never heard but liked right from the start. It had one of those chipper and melodic tunes that I almost always like on a first impression, regardless of what the lyrics are. In fact, I don't end up paying that much attention to lyrics most of the time for music, at least not without extreme repetition. For some reason, I have a hell of a time deciphering them sometimes. I still remember running across rap when I was a kid and realizing that as far as my abilities to comprehend, they might as well have been speaking Swahili.

It got me to thinking about the competing parts of my nature. Here I am, someone who is more likely than not to be singing the oscar meyer weiner song or christmas tunes in July and it dosen't really fit the darker parts of my personality which often seem to predominate. So what made me a grumpy and bitter person and in some parallel universe, could I have turned out to be sunny and chipper all the time? Am I simply geneticly predisposed to feeling blah, or have the events of my life shaped me irrevokably into who I am?

Now, I've always been a nature over nurture person. As a previous research scientist sort of person, it's hard not to be. I've seen large chunks of the scientific evidence and everything down to things like correlation suggest that we are controlled far more by our genes than our environment. It makes me wonder if there could have been any circumstance under which I'd be a completely different person. Maybe if I had been popular, or maybe if I had been really talented in something highly valued, maybe if I had more friends or better friends, maybe if I had the love of a good woman, or maybe if I hit the lotto or was Donald Trump's only heir. Or, perhaps you think that what causes my bitterness is that I've had too much in this life. Would I have been a better person if I had been born destitute? If I had been an orphan? If I were a hermit in the mountains? Who are we, really, at the core of who we are?

Poll #1133013
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Do you think that given different circumstances, that I could have been a person with a happy and chipper nature?

If 'Yes', what change do you think would have made the most difference?

Iron Eagle is on A&E and I'm absolutely ecstatic. I absolutely love this movie. I feel like it's tattooed into my bones at some pavlovian level. Some songs on the soundtrack immediately gets my blood pumping and I feel this near uncontrollable urge to drop bombs on camels and dirka-dirkas. To this day, whenever I hear one of them on the radio while in the car, I instinctively speed up and start weaving in and out of traffic pretending I'm on some sort of bombing run. If there were cannons or lasers mounted on my car, there would be twisted heaps of burning metal all over the parkway or turnpike.

Specificly, the songs that get me going each time are:

Adrenalin - Road of the Gypsy
Queen - One Vision
King Cobra - Iron Eagle
Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It
Eric Martin - Eyes of the World
Rainey Haynes - Old Enough to Rock and Roll

I just really wish I could zip around in a fighter jet dropping hot flaming death. In preparation for that oppertunity, I think I should nip a copy of the soundtrack just in case. It would be pretty frakking awful if all of a sudden I got the oppertunity to fly a fighter jet or some such and didn't have the right music to go along with it. After searching around a bit, I found the Iron Eagle soundtrack avaliable at a lot of different places but it turns out it's not complete. There are at least three pivotal songs missing, the last three on the list. Twisted Sister is easy enough to find and so was Eric Martin after a bit of searching, but the only place to get Rainey Haynes's contribution is her personal website where she's selling the cd for $15. Is it worth paying $15 for a single song for nostalgia purposes? Ecspecially knowing that I don't listen to music much at all and would probably only listen to it a dozen times or so at best.

Poll #1120938 Iron Eagle
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Should I buy the CD just for one song?

If 'Other', please elaborate:

Welp, I sold the extra Western Digital My Book on ebay. I listed it with a BIN price of $114.95 which might have been a bit low given the fact that someone snapped it up within a couple of hours. It's always hard to know exactly where to set your prices for things like that and I've had enough of auctions for the time being. The whole uncertainty of it all is driving me bonkers. I might have ended up earning an additional $10 or so by putting it up for auction but this ends up saving me a bit of stress and since I can mail it tommorrow when some of the Wii's go out, also saves me another trip to the post office. That's worth at least a few dollars right off the bat.

Anyway, the $20 I charged for shipping should come close to covering both fees and the actual shipping costs so things are pretty copacetic on that front. No muss and no fuss.

As for the Wii's, I still haven't received payment on one of the auctions and it's starting to grate on my nerves. WTF is with some people and their inability to pay promptly? It's ecspecially irksome since they got a pretty good price for the bundle, certainly far than a good chunk of the other auctions I've seen. You'd think they'd happily pay up just in the hopes that I don't end up changing my mind about selling it to them and wanting to receive it by Christmas.

I also got an email off of Craig's List the other day. It had purportedly been from someone inquiring about the Wii's. Since I had listed a pretty high price there and added to the issues with the person who hadn't payed yet, I was more than happy to entertain the idea of selling it locally instead. I sent back a quick message that stated the bundle was still avaliable and that I was willing to meet at some 3rd party location in order to swap it for cash on delivery. Today I received the following email in response.

> Hello ,
I received your email regarding the enquariy. If you
want to sell it now im willing to offer $580.I can
pay you right now with a USPS POSTAL MONEY ORDER ,I
won't be able to come look at it,due to the nature
of my profession, and there short notice traveling
jobs, I had to leave town and will be back in a week
or two so i'll forward your details to my client to
make the my payment payable to you in order not to
delay. Can i have your contact info with phone
number to proceed with payment.It will be sent to
you via UPS courier.It will be picked up by the
freight forwarding company as soon as you confirm
cleared funds and all documents will be signed by
them.

Thanks
Scott

Fucking scaming assholes. Here's a clue, asshat, get someone who actually speaks and writes English fluently to draft these ridiculous messages for you and maybe you shouldn't offer to pay more than I was actually requesting.

At this point, I'm thinking seriously of stringing this jackass along for a while and seeing how things turn out. If nothing else, I've never seen a fake USPS money order before and that might be sorta spiffy. Of course, I'm sure things will get far more convoluted almost immediately.

Alrighty, lets put it to the masses:

Poll #1100175
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Should I respond to the scammer and play along just to see what happens?

If 'Other', please elaborate:

Poll ends Wednesday morning, at which point I will either respond to the email or chuck it into the trash.

Update: Looks like the vote is 'No' by a 5 to 4 margin with most people feeling it's unwise to dick around with Nigerian nutjobs who have your home address. All this does is remind me that I should go out and buy myself a shotgun or something.

Welp, it looks like the police report about that myspace suicide is now avaliable, though in a roundabout fashion. CNN unwittingly provided the info in their video piece about the story. Apparently those morons there never considered the fact that someone could just hit pause on the video, take a snapshot and then read the documents.



All of this is courtesy of Blue Merle who did the legwork.

Here's her transcript of what you can make out in the picture if you squint a little:

In reference to their daughter's suicide, Drew explaind she wanted to "just tell them" what she did to contribute to the Meier's daughter's suicide. She instigated and monitored a "my space" account(<---blurred) which was created for the sole purpose of communicating with Meier's daughter. Drew said she, with the help of temporary empoyee named "Ashley", constructed a profile of "good looking" male on "my space" in order to "find out what Megan (Meier's daughter) was saying on-line" about her daughter. Drew explained the communication between the fake male profile was [?aimed? illeg] at gaining Megan's confidence and finding out what Megan felt about her daughter and other people. Drew stated she, her daughter, and Ashley all typed, read, and monitored the communication between the fake male profile and Megan. Drew went on to say, the communication became "sexual for a thirteen year old." Drew stated she continued the fake male profile despite this development.

According to Drew "somehow" other "my space" users were able to access the fake male profile and Megan found out she had been duped. Drew stated she knew "arguments" had broken out between Megan and others on "my space". Drew felt this incident contributed to Megan's suicide, but she did not feel "as guilty" because at the funeral because she found out "Megan had tried to commit suicide before."

Drew explained the neighborhood had recently found out her involvement in Megan's suicide and her neighbord have become hostile to toward her and her family. Despite the recency of the suicide and several neighbors recommending she not confront the Meier family (especially on Thanksgiving), Meier stated she and her husband attempted to contact the Meier family three times, "banging on the door" although Mr Meier had already told them to leave.

Man. This woman is going to get her fucking head kicked in. I'm surprised there isn't a lynch mob outside her door at this very minute with torches and nooses non-racially offensive yet threatening paraphenalia.

The whole 'sexual' allusion is just repulsive and God only knows what that actually entailed. This woman is a real piece of work. I'm surprised the girl's dad didn't just respond to their banging on the door with a shotgun blast. If it were Texas, it'd likely be legal to boot. I absolutely love those castle laws. Every state should have them. It sorta figures that Jersey would be without one. Fucking hippie wankers in the state legislature.

Overall, I'm still a bit amivalent about this case and I'll tell you why. Reading about it, it's hard not to feel incredibly horrified and feel that Lori Drew is fucking scum. I'm just not sure what exactly is the facet which makes it so clear. I've told many people online to 'choke on a cock and die' or the equivalent over the years. If one of those soft-brained rejects had then gone and hanged themselves would I be culpable legally or morally for their death? If not, then what makes my suggestion that someone go fornicate themselves and expire less problematic than what Lori Drew did in this case.

Hmmm. Lets answer this with a poll. Let the Wheel of Morality turn, turn, turn. Tell us the lesson that we should learn.



Poll #1090624
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What was the one or most major reason for Lori Drew being culpable for the death of Megan Meier?

If 'Other', please elaborate here

On a sidenote, for every movement, there's always a counter-movement.

I'm sort of on the fence about whether I want to try a Christmas¹ gift exchange whozit for LJ this year. I'm usually a big fan of secret Santa whozits, though my particpation in the last few has netted me some questionable items. Seriously, who the hell still gives out magic 8-balls in this day and age? The girl was Swedish though, and a bit of a flake to boot so many she thought it'd be cool and kitchy.

Anyway, since there's no way to work out a secret Santa on LJ and have it work (after all, most of you on the f-list don't know one another and I wouldn't want to see anyone else ranomly screwed by not getting something), I was thinking of just doing a straight up gift exchange. Basically, I send you some god awful piece of junk you loathe and you return the favor. I figured I'd try to get a headcount of how many people would be interested to begin with and then use that to establish some sort of ground rules as to $ limits and the like.

Poll #1088324
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

I would be interested in participating in a christmas gift exchange

¹: Being an individual who celebrates: Jewmas, Kwanza, Festivus, Boxing day, or any other similar holiday does not exclude you from this program. Simply substitute 'Christmas' with your holiday of choice.

I got my candy exchange package from minxy_baby in the mail today and it's spiffy as hell. Look, it's all Canadian'y with the froggytalk on the wrapper and the weight in grams. I ended up sending her a book instead of candy. I think I got it a while back from one of those sissy gift exchanges at Christmas time. It was a book of stupid American facts, and I think it came from a Canadian to begin with so it's sort of right and fitting that it returns there.

One thing's for sure, these candy bars are too good to eat. I feel like I should use them for some larger purpose. I had been thinking about an icon of some sort, but I don't have any specific ideas at the moment. I wonder if it's possible to spell out anything interesting with the candy bars and then animate the results. With only three, it'd require some pretty deft editing though. Anyone else have any interesting ideas?

Poll #1085369
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What should I do with the Oh Henry! Oh Canada! bars?

Any interesting icon ideas?

Poll #1084299
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Should my next entry be....

If, other:

So I jotted off a little anti-hippie rant on another journal and it sort of got me to thinking. Almost everyone feels superior to other people in some manner. It's how a lot of us manage to get through the day with a good opinion of ourselves and you find that's true no matter what sort of person we're talking about. Even the most thick-witted troglodyte without any form of redeeming quality feels they excel over the rest of humanity in something. So in what way do you feel you are better than the rest of humanity?

Poll #1081211
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

In what way are you superior to most everyone else