That's right. November 12 is Exploding Whale Anniversary Day. It's a day we sit back and reflect upon the fact that the best laid plans can go awry, and that explosives can't solve EVERYTHING.

Want more? Looky here. And pray your local governmental officials aren't this ... uh ... efficient.

CJ

Yeah. This one just bears reading.

God's a Terrorist!

CJ

The Schrammie: Messing with the Maasai

By Ken Schram

Watch the story I didn't know you can get a degree in rampaging political correctness from the University of Washington.

Seems all you need is the right tutelage.

So, would professor Stephanie Camp and master's candidate Catherine Claiborne step out of those hallowed halls of learning for a brief moment and venture into the real world?

Seems Misses Camp and Claiborne have got it into their overly-educated heads that the Woodland Park Zoo is using people of color to accessorize their African Savannah exhibit.

The two misses maintain the zoo's Maasai Journey is deliberately associating African people with animals, and African Americans with animalism.

And what prompted this dubious epiphany?

Click Here To Find Out.

My own commentary?

I cannot BELIEVE the unmigtigated BUTTINSKYNESS of these two supposedly educated, rational adults. My god and goddesses. No wonder my African-born coworkers think Americans are a bunch of clueless meddlers. I'm inclined to agree more every day!

CJ

So. There's this story on the news right now. They've discovered that women purchase more consumer electronics than men. So? The response to this? More 'women friendly' products are coming to the market.

Waitafookinminit.

Why do they need to be 'women friendly' if women are already buying more of them than men? Does that make FUCK sense? Or am I just overly annoyed at nothing?

Very nearly having a nervous breakdown due to the stress of the stupidity caused by the lack of forsight on the part of my supervisor....

Apparently Everett got all Orange County on our asses. Something I didn't know till I got home after my usually 25 minute bus ride turned into over an hour.

That's when DSO informed me of the day's fun and games. Apparently after a high speed car chase (precipitated by a violet carjacking of some little Mazda), the heros of our tale wrecked in the Everett Mall parking lot, ran through the foodcourt (and almost ran down two latter-day wannabe gangergirls). They then got into a tussel with the cops outside our local cinema, carjacked another car, and drove all the way to Mill Creek...so they could have a shootout with the cops at Fred Meyers. Oh joy.

*rolls eyes here*

CJ

I've got two for you today.

First off, the firefighters in Braintree, MA, apparently mistook the address and managed to burn a house in a practice burn...that wasn't the right house. Apparently the homeowner is very forgiving; the house was undergoing renovations due to a previous fire.

Also, in a similar vein,

Our local Komo TV 4 news just let out this profile; you know, things to look out for:

Children who are:

-13 to 17 years old
-Socially awkward/Get good grades
-Missing flamables like gasoline
-Burn and/or melted plastic

Oh no. These kids aren't going to do the next Columbine or Federal Building. They're apparently making homemade flamethrowers...and now not only are the smartest of them informed HOW it can be done...but it's one more reason to persecute the bright humans.

*facepalm*

CJ

I gots some sleep. Mmm. Sleep. And I even slept in 'late', considering I've been waking up at 4 freaking 30 every day for the past 3 weeks. I have to say that I am not a fan of the wildly alternating day-night cycle, even after living here 10 years. I can't sleep once the sun's been up a while. That means, in the winter? I'm asleep on my feet until the sun comes UP. Bleargh.

But this morning, I'm feeling pretty good. Sure. We're up a narrow creek with finances, stuff needs repairing, the dog's all gimpy, and DSO's health has been shaky at best this week.

But I still feel pretty good. Oddly, I've been in a mood to write rituals...and have two sitting here. They'll probably never see the light of day, but they feel good, and it's a good exercise, I suppose, in creative writing.

*pause*

Great. So. Just saw a news story about Portland, OR. I guess that during the Rose Festival Parade, people have traditionally gone down, used tape to mark off prime areas, and declared those spots 'there'. So now, a group of vigilante tape-removers, jealous that people have been marking spots for more than a week, have detaped the areas. Only the West Coast could have a RIOT come to fruition over a freaking parade. Gads. Definately an entry in the dumber than thou department.

*unpause*

I've been exercising more, with laps around my block when I get home in the evening. Hopefully, that will alleviate some of my inner stress, and I won't look like a beached whale come FoL. I'll still be pasty-white, but not so jiggly.

*pause*

Goodness Gracious. Hansa died. The elephant at WPZ. Oh man. That's awful. I remember seeing her when she was just a few hours old! I worked at WPZ as a ticket taker that summer, and the keepers were keeping everything hushhush. I mean, EVERYONE knew Chai was due to deliver, but it was quite the pleasure and surprise when she was born. The media hadn't even been alerted yet, when they let everyone who was on opening crew 'sneak' down and peek at her for a few seconds...

We were just at the zoo a month ago, and decided against going to see her...the kids weren't that interested in seeing the elephants. I feel sort of...well. I missed the opportunity.

I wonder what will become of the others; I know this is going to send the animal activists into a frothing frenzy.

*unpause*

Well, that last news story sort of took the wind right out of my sails.

Think I'll go have some hot cocoa and snuggle the dog.

CJ

I just can't help it. This is just TOO much!

CLEARWATER, Fla. - A high school senior acknowledges he went too far when he mooned a teacher. But he thinks the decision of school officials to send him to a new school for the rest of the year was too harsh, so his family is suing.

Tyler Tillung, 18, mooned a teacher "suddenly and without thinking about the consequences" in February, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday. The teacher had declined to let him into a Feb. 21 school lip sync show that was full. He was suspended for six days and reassigned to a new school.

But the teen wants to graduate with his Palm Harbor University High class in six weeks and complete his final season on the varsity baseball team, the lawsuit said.

"We're talking about his graduation," said Tillung's lawyer, B. Edwin Johnson. "That's an important event in a guy's life. ... This kid deserves a break."

School Board Attorney Jim Robinson said administrators stand by their decision.

"Without knowing the allegations, we're confident in the administration's position on this case," Robinson said. Palm Harbor principal Herman "Doc" Allen described the mooning as "disgusting" and the teacher as "traumatized."


My own thoughts on the matter?

The persons who should be pointed and laughed at here are the principle, who thinks that seeing a naked ass on a teenager smarty pants is disgusting. And the teacher who was traumatized. For the LOVE of all the GODS at once...a naked ass should send a delicate Victorian flower into hysterical fits...not a modern teacher. *rolls eyes here*

CJ