Thursday, June 21, 2007
Are you a PERV?
If you're a perv like me, and EVERYONE's got *SOME* perv in them.. check out my website We B Pervs.com!
Don't forget to also check out and join my We B Pervs MESSAGE BOARD! This is a great place to talk about what we all perv out there!
Sports Cards Beanie Babies on eBay
Now that May and half of June is over, it's time for me to start adding MORE cards and beanies to my eBay STORE. There's 30 listings for Beanie Babies right now with nothing priced higher than $5 and most under $3.00. ClICK HERE of click the blog title to check out the listings. There's close to if not more than 100 sports cards listed at this time.
S.C. Cops: Naked Couple Falls 50 Feet From Rooftop to Their Deaths
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Police on Wednesday were investigating how a naked couple fell 50 feet from the roof of a downtown office building to their deaths.
The bodies were found on the road by a passing cabdriver around 5 a.m. Wednesday.
Clothing was discovered on the roof, leading authorities to suspect the man and woman, in their early 20s, may have been having sex. Their identities were not released.
"It's too early to rule out anything," Columbia police Sgt. Florence McCants said, but McCants said a preliminary investigation didn't show any sign of foul play.
---
Sex on the ledge? That takes brains.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
New Siding, house & garage
Oh fucking boy! It's new siding time what a mess but there's a crew here just starting to take the old siding off the garage today. I may take some progress report pictures for my photo blog
so stay tuned.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Random clips from StupidVideos.com
I hadn't been to THIS website in a long time so I headed to stupid videos.com to see what they've had posted lately.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Paris in jail!
Fox News Article:
LYNWOOD, Calif. — Paris Hilton completed the first night of her probation sentence as morning arrived Monday in her new surroundings -- a Los Angeles County jail cell that will be her home for much of this month.
The 26-year-old hotel heiress worked the red carpet at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday afternoon, then traded her strapless designer gown for a jail-issue jumpsuit and a solitary cell.
Hilton entered the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood just after 11:30 p.m. to serve 23 days for violating her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case. She is due out on June 26.
Singleton said she and other inmates were asleep when Hilton checked in.
Around 7 a.m., they learned Hilton was there when they watched the TV news. To most of them, it was no big deal. "Oh, Paris, Paris, Paris. If you do the crime you've got to do the time," Singleton said.
Hilton surrendered after a surprise visit to the MTV awards.
"I am trying to be strong right now," she told reporters on the red carpet. "I'm ready to face my sentence. Even though this is a really hard time, I have my family, my friends and my fans to support me, and that's really helpful."
Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Hilton was easy to work with.
"Her demeanor was helpful. She was focused, she was cooperative," he said.
Hilton, accompanied by her mother, Kathy Hilton, surrendered at the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles just after 10:30 p.m. She was then escorted to the women's facility in Lynwood, where she was booked, fingerprinted, photographed, medically screened and issued an orange top and pants, Whitmore said.
Hilton's booking photo shows her wearing what appeared to be a V-neck shirt, eye makeup and lip gloss that highlighted a slight smile. Her blond hair was draped over one shoulder.
Sheriff's deputies had released a mug shot taken last year after Hilton was arrested by Los Angeles police. That photo showed her smiling, in full makeup and with her head tilted to the left, with her blond hair flowing over her bare shoulders.
The mistake was made because the sheriff's department and LAPD mug shots are in the same database, Whitmore said. "It was an inadvertent release."
Hilton, star of the TV reality series "The Simple Life," is being housed in the "special needs" unit of the 13-year-old jail, separate from most of its 2,200 inmates. The unit contains 12 two-person cells reserved for police officers, public officials, celebrities and other high-profile inmates. Hilton's cell has two bunks, a table, a sink, a toilet and a small window. She does not have a cellmate.
Like other inmates in that unit, Hilton will take her meals in her cell and will be allowed outside the 12-by-8-foot space for at least an hour each day to shower, watch TV in the day room, participate in outdoor recreation or talk on the telephone. No cell phones or BlackBerrys are permitted in the facility, even for visitors.
It will be pretty stark for her, but it will be a step up from the general population.
Teresa Jones, 50, of Lancaster, who wasn't clear about what she served time for, called the jail "so filthy it's worse than skid row."
At check-in, jailers hand out a pamphlet on infections, which are common, she said.
"That place is hell, it's awful. Life is easy compared to this," Jones said.
The jail, a two-story concrete building next to train tracks and beneath a bustling freeway, has been an all-female facility since March 2006. It's located in an industrial area about 12 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.
When Hilton was sentenced May 4, the judge ruled that she would not be allowed any work release, furloughs or use of an alternative jail or electronic monitoring in lieu of jail.
Hilton's publicist, Elliot Mintz, said he spoke with Kathy Hilton after she returned from the jail.
"She told me it was very emotional," Mintz said. "She also said that she feels this will be a time when Paris will be able to think and reflect and to spend time alone to learn from the experience because in Paris' life she's never alone -- there's always a constant chatter around her."
Officers arrested Hilton in Hollywood on Sept. 7. In January, she pleaded no contest to the reckless-driving charge and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines.
She was pulled over by California Highway Patrol on Jan. 15. Officers informed Hilton she was driving on a suspended license and she signed a document acknowledging she was not to drive. She then was pulled over by sheriff's deputies on Feb. 27, at which time she was charged with violating her probation.
LYNWOOD, Calif. — Paris Hilton completed the first night of her probation sentence as morning arrived Monday in her new surroundings -- a Los Angeles County jail cell that will be her home for much of this month.
The 26-year-old hotel heiress worked the red carpet at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday afternoon, then traded her strapless designer gown for a jail-issue jumpsuit and a solitary cell.
Hilton entered the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood just after 11:30 p.m. to serve 23 days for violating her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case. She is due out on June 26.
Singleton said she and other inmates were asleep when Hilton checked in.
Around 7 a.m., they learned Hilton was there when they watched the TV news. To most of them, it was no big deal. "Oh, Paris, Paris, Paris. If you do the crime you've got to do the time," Singleton said.
Hilton surrendered after a surprise visit to the MTV awards.
"I am trying to be strong right now," she told reporters on the red carpet. "I'm ready to face my sentence. Even though this is a really hard time, I have my family, my friends and my fans to support me, and that's really helpful."
Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Hilton was easy to work with.
"Her demeanor was helpful. She was focused, she was cooperative," he said.
Hilton, accompanied by her mother, Kathy Hilton, surrendered at the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles just after 10:30 p.m. She was then escorted to the women's facility in Lynwood, where she was booked, fingerprinted, photographed, medically screened and issued an orange top and pants, Whitmore said.
Hilton's booking photo shows her wearing what appeared to be a V-neck shirt, eye makeup and lip gloss that highlighted a slight smile. Her blond hair was draped over one shoulder.
Sheriff's deputies had released a mug shot taken last year after Hilton was arrested by Los Angeles police. That photo showed her smiling, in full makeup and with her head tilted to the left, with her blond hair flowing over her bare shoulders.
The mistake was made because the sheriff's department and LAPD mug shots are in the same database, Whitmore said. "It was an inadvertent release."
Hilton, star of the TV reality series "The Simple Life," is being housed in the "special needs" unit of the 13-year-old jail, separate from most of its 2,200 inmates. The unit contains 12 two-person cells reserved for police officers, public officials, celebrities and other high-profile inmates. Hilton's cell has two bunks, a table, a sink, a toilet and a small window. She does not have a cellmate.
Like other inmates in that unit, Hilton will take her meals in her cell and will be allowed outside the 12-by-8-foot space for at least an hour each day to shower, watch TV in the day room, participate in outdoor recreation or talk on the telephone. No cell phones or BlackBerrys are permitted in the facility, even for visitors.
It will be pretty stark for her, but it will be a step up from the general population.
Teresa Jones, 50, of Lancaster, who wasn't clear about what she served time for, called the jail "so filthy it's worse than skid row."
At check-in, jailers hand out a pamphlet on infections, which are common, she said.
"That place is hell, it's awful. Life is easy compared to this," Jones said.
The jail, a two-story concrete building next to train tracks and beneath a bustling freeway, has been an all-female facility since March 2006. It's located in an industrial area about 12 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.
When Hilton was sentenced May 4, the judge ruled that she would not be allowed any work release, furloughs or use of an alternative jail or electronic monitoring in lieu of jail.
Hilton's publicist, Elliot Mintz, said he spoke with Kathy Hilton after she returned from the jail.
"She told me it was very emotional," Mintz said. "She also said that she feels this will be a time when Paris will be able to think and reflect and to spend time alone to learn from the experience because in Paris' life she's never alone -- there's always a constant chatter around her."
Officers arrested Hilton in Hollywood on Sept. 7. In January, she pleaded no contest to the reckless-driving charge and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines.
She was pulled over by California Highway Patrol on Jan. 15. Officers informed Hilton she was driving on a suspended license and she signed a document acknowledging she was not to drive. She then was pulled over by sheriff's deputies on Feb. 27, at which time she was charged with violating her probation.
Monday, May 14, 2007
What the HELL? 10 month old with Gun Permit
Fox News.com:
In Illinois, you're never too young to own a gun.
That's what one father found out, when he registered his 10-month-old son for a Firearm Owner's Identification Card.
Daily Southtown columnist Howard Ludwig registered his son —- Howard David Ludwig, nicknamed "Bubba" — online after the child's grandfather bought him a gun shortly after the baby's birth. Ludwig chronicled the road to gun ownership in a story that appeared in the Southtown on Sunday.
"Anyone who wants to own a firearm or purchase a firearm needs a FOID card," Ludwig told FOX News. "I applied for one of these for my son. Now ironically he can’t buy a gun until he’s 18 years old, but if he wants to own one -- which he does thanks to Grandpa -- he needs one of these cards anyhow."
The ID card, complete with a photo of the tot, allows the child to own a firearm and ammunition, and legally transport an unloaded weapon, even though Bubba has yet to learn how to walk.
“Not only did I have his birthday on there, it had a picture of him giving a toothless grin," Ludwig said. "It asked for his weight, which I listed at 20 pounds, and his height, which is 2 feet, 3 inches.”
The only tricky thing was getting his son, who has yet to learn how to write, to sign his John Hancock.
"He can’t quite sign his name yet, so I just put a pen in his hand," Ludwig told FOX. "He made a scribble in the appropriate box and that came superimposed at the bottom of the card."
Officials say that while it's rare to issue a FOID card to minors, it's not illegal.
"There is nothing in the FOID Act or any of the rules that says anything about age restrictions," Lt. Scott Compton, of the Illinois State Police, told the elder Ludwig.
Bubba got his ID card a few weeks after his father sent in the application and $5 fee.
"It’s pretty rare that anyone would need a FOID card at 10 months, but the fact that they’re issuing them I think is pretty interesting as well,” he said.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Me eBay Sale!
In my eBay sports card store, I'm having a huge sale until July 1st! You go to my EBAY STORE and buy as many items (cards or beanie babies or whatever) and only pay the shipping on the 1 highest s/h rate! I'm running this sale because of the USPS postage increase which starts May 14th.
Click on the blog title to go buy some cards or other.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
De La Hoya/Mayweather
THIS fight was BORINGGGGGGGGG.. I'm glad I only watched it on Paltalk instead of buying the PPV. De La Hoya really didn't land enough punches to make the fight interesting.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
De La Hoya / Mayweather prediction
Just making my 9th round De La Hoya win prediction now, about 5 and half hour before the Main Event of the biggest boxing match is many years starts!
Sunday, April 01, 2007
It's WRESTLEMANIA Time!
It's Wrestlemania time! Wrestlemania 23 is in Detroit tonight.
The matches for this huge event:
World Heavyweight Champion Batista vs. Undertaker
WWE Champion John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels
Battle of the Billionaires
Money in the Bank Ladder Match
ECW Originals vs. New Breed
Women's Champion Melina vs. Ashley
Kane vs. The Great Khali
United States Champion Chris Benoit vs. MVP
My picks to win, in opposite order.
Chris Benoit
Great Khali (because they're pushing him on tv it seems, not because hes' good)
Ashley (Playboy cover.. duh)
ECW New Breed win, Vince hates ECW
Money in the Bank Match...I expect 'Mr. Kennedy' to come out on top.
Vince McMahon will have HIS head shaved
John Cena defeats HBK, but I doubt it'll be a 'clean' victory.
Undertaker goes 15-0 at Wrestlemania.
Just my thoughts on tonight. Those are the 8 listed matches.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Fox News: British Airways Moves Dead Passenger to First Class Seat
LONDON — A first-class passenger on a flight from Delhi to London awoke to find the body of a woman who had died in the economy cabin placed in a seat near him, British Airways said Monday.
The economy section of the flight was full, and the cabin crew needed to move the woman and her grieving family out of that compartment to give them some privacy, the airline said.
The first-class passenger, Paul Trinder, told the Sunday Times newspaper that he was sleeping during a February flight from India and woke up when the crew placed the dead woman in a seat at the end of his row.
"I didn't have a clue what was going on. The stewards just plonked the body down without saying a thing. I remember looking at this frail, sparrow-like woman and thinking she was very ill," the newspaper quoted Trinder as saying. "When I asked what was going on, I was shocked to hear she was dead."
British Airways said in a statement that about 10 passengers die each year in flight and that while each situation is dealt with on an individual basis, safety is paramount.
"The deceased must not be placed in the galley or blocking aisles or exits, and there should be clear space around the deceased," the statement said. "The wishes of family or friends traveling with the deceased will always be considered, and account taken of the reactions of other passengers."
Because there was space in the first class cabin, that "allowed the family members traveling with the deceased some level of privacy in their grief," the airline said.
"We apologize to passengers in the first cabin who were distressed by the situation -- our cabin crew were working in difficult circumstances and chose the option that they believed would cause the least disruption," the statement said.
David Learmount, a former pilot and cabin crew member who now writes about the aviation industry for Flight International magazine, said that each airline has to deal with the relatively rare situation on an individual basis. He said that diverting the flight would be an unusual move, and that the captain would be consulted before the crew acted.
"Personally, I think they did the thing that was the best thing to do," he said. "Really, you want as much as possible to isolate the person.
"It's an isolated incident. It's not as if it happens every day, but you do have to take in people's sensibilities when it does happen."
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Cabela's in Cloquet? Finally?
Cabela’s considering four Carlton County sites for retail store
Jane Brissett Duluth News Tribune
Published Saturday, March 17, 2007
Four places in Carlton County are under consideration as sites for a new Cabela’s store.
Pat Oman, economic development director for Carlton County, said Friday that he’s been working with a search firm, Cresa Partners, for a year to find a location for the outdoor retailer. Cabela’s and Cresa officials are expected to visit the four Carlton County locations within the next two to three weeks. A decision probably will be made about a week later, Oman said.
Cabela’s seems to be seriously interested in building a store in the area, presumably because of the traffic to the northern reaches of the state where people participate in outdoor activities, and also to catch Canadian traffic, according to Oman. “They’re certainly going all-out to gather information,” he said.
“We do know we’re sort of on the short list,” Oman said. There is at least one site outside the county on that list, too, but Oman said he didn’t know where it is.
Cresa Partners has been scouting locations in the Northland for months. In January, Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson said Cabela’s had looked at sites in Duluth.
The Carlton County sites all are on Interstate 35. They are:
* In the Moose Lake area.
* Near the Carlton exit.
* Near the Cloquet exit.
* Near the Esko exit.
In some cases, the company is looking at several properties in the same area.
Thomson Town Board Chairwoman Ruth Janke said that the parcels under consideration in the Esko area are privately owned.
Cabela’s is looking for at least 20 acres on which to build a 100,000-square-foot store, which would be Minnesota’s fourth Cabela’s store, Oman said.
Company officials are moving quickly to make a decision, he said. “They’re considering this a top priority,” he said.
Cabela’s officials did not return phone calls from the News Tribune on Friday.
Oman said he was told Cabela’s is looking for a minimum of 20 acres, visibility from the interstate, easy access off the freeway, traffic volumes that would justify the location and an available workforce. He said he is unsure how many people the store would employ, but noted that the stores have full- and part-time jobs and offer full benefits.
The Thomson Town Board is in favor of the store locating within its boundaries, Janke said. “It would be a great help for our tax base. We don’t have much. We’re kind of a bedroom community,” she said.
Cabela’s is a unique retailer and people travel long distances to shop at its stores. “As much wildlife museums and education centers as retail stores,” is the way Cabela’s Web site describes the outlets.
The Owatonna store was the second-most popular tourist attraction in Minnesota in 2005, with 4.5 million visitors, according to the Department of Employment and Economic Development. The Mall of America in Bloomington was the top draw.
The largest Cabela’s in the state is the 185,000-square-foot Rogers outlet. The Owatonna store is 150,000 square feet and the East Grand Forks store is 60,000 square feet. No state currently has four Cabela’s stores.
Cabela’s reported $2.06 billion in total revenue last year. The company has 18 stores open and is growing aggressively, with 12 stores under construction. It is headquartered in Sidney, Neb. It began as a mail-order company and does a large catalog and Internet business.
Monday, March 05, 2007
My Pictures Blog
I've created another blog, this one for all the pictures I take. Check it out, I call it The View Through My Lens
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Fudge! Fjuckby, Sweden, Will Keep Its Name
The residents of Fjuckby are doubly cursed.
Their name is rude in both English and Swedish, and now Sweden's Institute of Language and Folklore refuses to allow the town to revert to the more genteel name of Fjukeby, the Local reported Tuesday.
Only a fourth of the village's 60 residents voiced support for the name change, so the institute refused to allow the change.
"There should not be any doubt at all that, as a result of relatively new associations, the pronunciation and spelling of the place name 'Fjuckby' today arouses ridicule, teasing and hilarity in the general public," resident Katrina Flensburg wrote in a letter to the institute.
"This regrettable fact engenders feelings of weariness, embarrassment and conditioned shame among villagers, who are often forced against their will to take a tiresome 'defensive stance' with regard to the name of their home town," she continued.
Looks like Fjuckby will continue to be the butt of all the jokes.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Cloquet Lumberjacks triumph in Johnson’s return
News Tribune article, Cloquet Lumberjacks defeat Elk River, head to section finals Thursday:
Lumberjacks triumph in Johnson’s return
BY RICK WEEGMANNEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER, Duluth News Tribune
Published Sunday, February 25, 2007
OK, so maybe it wasn’t quite Kirk Gibson limping to the plate in the World Series or Willis Reed lacing up his sneakers for the NBA finals, but Tyler Johnson’s unexpected appearance in the Section 7AA semifinals Saturday had the same effect for the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys hockey team.
Though admittedly playing tentatively in his first game back since breaking his collarbone against Hermantown on Feb. 1, Johnson scored the game-winning goal with 1:17 remaining in the third period as the Lumberjacks beat Elk River 3-1 at the DECC to move within one victory of the Class AA high school state tournament.
Top-seeded CEC (22-3-2) faces defending section champion Grand Rapids (16-7-4) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the DECC in a rematch of the 2006 final.
Johnson, a senior center who entered the game during a power play in the first period, was playing a regular shift by the time he picked up a loose puck near his own blue line, raced down the ice and wristed a shot past Tony Seibert to break a 1-1 tie.
“I was nervous. I was real tentative because I didn’t know what to expect when I got hit,” Johnson said. “But right now, I’m good to go.”
Senior forward Sever Lundquist scored his second goal of the period eight seconds later to sew up the come-from-behind win.
“Hockey’s a game of mistakes,” Elk River coach Tony Sarsland said. “They made plenty and we didn’t finish. We made two mistakes [and they capitalized].”
Johnson, the 2006 News Tribune Player of the Year, said he didn’t know he would play until shortly before game time. Coach Dave Esse, after consulting Johnson, his parents and orthopedic specialists, decided his star player was ready for action.
“If the game was tight or we were behind, he was going in,” Esse said of the Colorado College signee. “I would never jeopardize a player for one game. Tyler’s got his whole career ahead of him.”
But the sixth-ranked Lumberjacks were in need of an offensive spark. They had scored just 21 goals in the eight games since Johnson’s and other players’ injuries. Senior forward Riley Roe also returned Saturday, but the time off messed up the Lumberjacks’ line combinations.
“Since Christmastime, we’ve played every combo possible,” Esse said. “Not because we wanted to, but we had no choice because of injuries and sickness.”
CEC went 5-1-2 during that span, thanks to solid goaltending by Reid Ellingson. Ellingson was stellar again Saturday, posting 27 saves, but was caught off guard when Brandon Martell’s slap shot beat him up high at 11:33 of the second period.
The Elks (17-9-1) lost the lead when Lundquist pounced on the puck at the Elk River blue line and fired a well-placed shot past Seibert at 5:47 of the third period.
That set the stage for Johnson’s late-game heroics.
“It’s that second chance you get. You’re told your season is over because you broke a collarbone, but you always want that one opportunity to come back to play again,” Johnson said about returning to the ice. “And that’s what it was.”
Johnson’s teammates were confident he would come through.
“He’s a great player,” said Lundquist, who scored an insurance goal with 1:09 left on a nice feed from Justin Jokinen. “We play hard with or without him, but he’s one of those kids that every time he gets the puck there’s a chance it’s going in the net.”
Elk River 0-1-0—1
Cloquet-Esko-Carlton 0-0-3—3
First period — No scoring.
Second period — 1. ER, Brandon Martell (D.J. Foss, Mario Brant), 11:33.
Third period — 2. CEC, Sever Lundquist (Peter Allen), 5:47. 3. CEC, Tyler Johnson (David Brown, Justin Jokinen), 15:43. 4. CEC, Lundquist (Jokinen), 15:51.
Saves — Tony Seibert, ER, 23. Reid Ellingson, CEC, 27.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Former Celtics great Dennis Johnson dies
AUSTIN - Dennis Johnson, the star NBA guard who was part of three championship teams, died today at 52.
``He is deceased and is in our building. He will be autopsied,'' said Mayra Freeman, a spokeswoman for the Travis County medical examiner's office.
Johnson, a five-time All-Star and one of the great defensive guards, played on title teams with the Boston Celtics and Seattle SuperSonics. He had been coaching the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League.
Johnson played 14 seasons, retiring after the 1989-90 season. He was the NBA Finals MVP in 1979 with Seattle, with his other titles coming with Boston in 1984 and 1986.
He averaged 14.1 points and 5.0 assists. When he retired, he was the 11th player in NBA history to total 15,000 points and 5,000 assists. Johnson made one All-NBA first team and one second team. Six times he made the all-defensive first team, including five consecutive seasons from 1979-83.
Johnson was born Sept. 18, 1954, in Compton, Calif. He played in college at Pepperdine and was drafted by Seattle in 1976. Johnson was traded to Phoenix in 1980 and Boston in 1983.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Teen Can't Shake Hiccups After 3 Weeks
My ISP's news report today had this headline:
Teen Can't Shake Hiccups After 3 Weeks
Friday, February 16th, 2007 at 1:43pm
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.
For more than three weeks, despite medical tests and home remedies, a teenager has been hiccuping. A lot.
In fact, Jennifer Mee is hiccuping close to 50 times a minute, stopping only when she's sleeping.
The 15-year-old has had blood tests, a CT scan and an MRI since the fits started Jan. 23. Drugs haven't worked. Neither has holding her breath, putting sugar under her tongue, sipping pickle juice, breathing into a paper bag and drinking from the wrong side of a glass.
And, yes, people have tried to scare them out of her.
According to the National Institutes of Health, hiccups can be triggered by anything from spicy foods to stress, and they can start for no reason at all. They're caused by involuntary contractions of the diaphragm, which causes the vocal cords to close briefly, making that distinctive sound.
It's painful, Jennifer told NBC's "Today" show Friday, trying to talk through her hiccups. She said the rapid contractions hurt in her back and chest.
Jennifer's mother, Rachel Robidoux, turned to a newspaper for help, but the suggestions of hundreds of readers have failed.
"I'm just looking for some answers where somebody's gone through this," Robidoux told the St. Petersburg Times. "At this point, we're willing to do anything."
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Kansas School Board Repeals Guidelines Questioning Evolution
Fox news article from today, click on title to go see it.
TOPEKA, Kansas — The Kansas state Board of Education on Tuesday repealed science guidelines questioning evolution that had made the state an object of international ridicule.
The new guidelines reflect mainstream scientific views of evolution and represent a political defeat for advocates of "intelligent design," who had helped write the standards that are being jettisoned.
The intelligent design concept holds that life is so complex that it must have been created by a higher authority.
The state has had five sets of standards in eight years, with anti- and pro-evolution versions, each doomed by the seesawing fortunes of socially conservative Republicans and a coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats. Moderate Republicans captured two seats from conservatives last year, paving the way for Tuesday's 6-4 vote.
The board Tuesday removed language suggesting that key evolutionary concepts — such as a common origin for all life on Earth and change in species creating new ones — were controversial and being challenged by new research. Also approved was a new definition of science, specifically limiting it to the search for natural explanations of what is observed in the universe.
"Those standards represent mainstream scientific consensus about both what science is and what evolution is," said Jack Krebs, a math and technology teacher who helped write the new guidelines. He is also president of Kansas Citizens for Science.
The state uses its standards to develop tests that measure how well students are learning science. Although decisions about what is taught in classrooms remain with 296 local school boards, both sides in the evolution dispute say the standards will influence teachers as they try to ensure that their students test well.
The board's conservative minority said the new standards will limit the information students get about evolution.
"There seems to be a pattern," said board member Steve Abrams. "Anything that might question the veracity of evolution is deleted."
Many Kansans harbor religious objections and other misgivings about evolution. The Intelligent Design Network presented petitions with almost 4,000 signatures, opposing the standards the board eventually adopted.
There have been debates or legal battles in several other states over evolution and the intelligent design argument, but none has inspired comedians' jokes or parodies like Kansas' ongoing battle has.
Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" had a four-part "Evolution Schmevolution" series in 2005, and hearings that year drew journalists from Canada, France, Britain and Japan.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat re-elected last year, cited embarrassment caused by the board's past decisions on evolution as a reason to strip it of its power to set education policy.
Charles Darwin, the British naturalist who proposed the theory of evolution, was born 198 years ago Monday.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
7 days till Daytona 500!
Finally, it's NASCAR season again! Daytona 500 is in less than 7 days now! Go JR.
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