milowent

Komen Founder Admitted in 2010 Memoir That Dropping PP Funding Would Be "Turning Our Backs" On Poor Women

2012-02-03T07:18:00.000-08:00

There is a huge and growing uproar this week over the Komen Foundation's politically-motivated decision to cut its funding for breast cancer screening to Planned Parenthood.

The decision could cut off the only access to breast health counseling available to poor women in some parts of the United States. An inflammatory claim to be sure, but the founder of the Komen group has told us that is exactly what may happen.

In 2010, Komen founder and Nancy Brinker published "Promise Me", a memoir of how the group was founded and grew, starting from the deathbed promise made to her sister, Susan G. Komen, who died of breast cancer in 1980.

In the book, she discusses how the Curves workout chain withdrew their support to Komen in 2004 due to Komen's grants to Planned Parenthood centers. Brinker is clear about why they refused to buckle to Curves' pressure:

"The grants in question supplied breast health counseling, screening, and treatment to rural women, poor women, Native American women, many women of color who were underserved--if served at all--in areas where Planned Parenthood facilities were often the only infrastructure available. Though it meant losing corporate money from Curves, we were not about to turn our backs on these women."

Until this week, apparently. Wow.

Brinker continues to make clear that Komen's PP funding has nothing to do with abortions, and that although they were sad to lose Curves' support -- "we remain focused on our mission."

Until now it seems. Ugh.

Book excerpt below

ETA 9:15am PST: Komen seems to be backing down today, but its a bit ambiguous. The admission by Brinker in 2010 above is important in any event.

Northeastern Quartersphere - Wikipedia

2012-01-25T16:45:00.000-08:00

Northeastern Quartersphere

This is the Wikipedia article for "Northeastern Quartersphere" as it appeared on January 26, 2012, shortly prior to its expected deletion as original research.

The terms Northeastern Quarter or Northeastern Quadrant or simply Northeast are sometimes applied to the portion of the Northern Hemisphere in the Eastern Hemisphere or vice versa. If it's lateral boundaries are based on the Prime Meridian, this region includes most of Asia and Europe, a large portion of Africa and some islands in Oceania. The Northeast covers about two fifths of the Earth's land surface area and hosts 75-80% of the world's population. It is the only quarter bounded by the Prime Meridian and Equator that is mostly land. The Northeast hosts about two fifths of the world's economic activity.
Eastern portion of Earth's Northern Hemisphere

Countries

* Europe
o If the Prime Meridian is used as the Western boundary, all except Portugal, most of the United Kingdom, much of Spain and France. If the 20th meridian west, then all of Europe.

* Africa
o If the Prime Meridian is the lateral boundary, then all of Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, most of Somalia, most of Kenya, most of Uganda, Southern Sudan, part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, parts of Gabon, parts of Equatorial Guinea, parts of Rio Muni, parts of Sao Tome and Principe, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Chad, most of Niger, part of Mali, most of Algeria, Libya and Tunisia are in this region. If the 20th meridian west is used, then all of Africa North of the Equator.

* Asia
o all except some portions of Indonesia.

* Oceania
o If Prime Meridian is used as the lateral boundary, then Palau, Guam, the Marianas Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, part of Kiribati and Wake Island. If the 20th meridian west is used as the boundary in the West and the 160th meridian east in the East, then only Palau, Guam, the Marianas, and the Federated States of Micronesia.

Bodies of water

* The Arctic Ocean in the Eastern Hemisphere,
* The Western portion of the North Sea, most of the Mediterranean Sea, and all of the Baltic Sea and Black Sea of the Atlantic Ocean,
* The Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean,
* The Eastern Bering Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Sea of Japan/East Sea, the Yellow Sea, East China Sea the South China Sea, the Philippine Sea, Sulu Sea, Celebes Sea, Gulf of Thailand and open ocean in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

ShayTards - Wikipedia article

2012-01-03T19:26:00.000-08:00

This is the wikipedia article for "ShayTards" as it existed on January 2, 2012, prior to its ridiculous deletion the following day.

ShayTards

ShayTards
Genre: vlogging, reality, comedy
Created by: Shay Butler
Starring: Shay Butler (ShayCarl/DaddyTard)
Colette Butler (Katilette/MommyTard)
Country of origin: United States
Language(s) English
No. of seasons 3
No. of episodes 1,053 (as of 01/02/2012)
Production
Location(s) California, Idaho
Running time Approx. 8 - 25 minutes
Production company(s) VLOG Entertainment[1]
Broadcast
Original channel Alt text
Picture format 720p HD
480p
360p
240p
Audio format MP3, AAC
Original run October 2, 2008 – Present
Chronology
Related shows Internet Killed Television
External links
Website

ShayTards is a web series which documents the lives of entrepreneur, actor, and Youtuber Shay Butler and his family on the SHAYTARDS Youtube channel. The ShayTards consists of himself, his wife (known by the pseudonym Katilette), their four children, their dog and various family and friends.

Contents

1 Background
2 Production
3 Recognition
4 Main cast
5 Related channels
6 References
7 External links

Background

After Shay and his wife, Colette, had their third child Shay became interested in YouTube, amazed at the content posted by other users. Shay started his own channel "ShayCarl" and eventually entered a contest hosted by Philip DeFranco. His video was featured by DeFranco and he started getting subscribers on this channel. Shortly afterward, he started the SHAYTARDS channel with the intention of dedicating it to weight loss. Approaching his 29th birthday, Shay wanted to do something special for the last year of his twenties and began filming daily vlogs of his life in Idaho every day for an entire year, becoming the ShayTards series. The family has now been uploading videos for over three years.

Along with Ben Donovan, Lisa Nova, Dan Zapplin, Ezra Cooperstein, and others, he founded Maker Studios, a company dedicated to making digital video content for YouTube.

Shay & Colette recently started a podcast called "When the Kids go to Sleep", which has once reached the top 10 podcast downloads on iTunes.[3][4]

Production

The show is currently filmed primarily in various locations throughout Los Angeles, California.[5][6][7][8]

The series started using personal video cameras by Flip Video, upgrading to a FlipUltra HD on June 11, 2009. On some occasions, other devices are used, such as the Canon Powershot SD3500 IS, Canon Powershot ELPH 300 HS and iPhone. The vlogs were originally edited by Shay himself; however, in its third year an editor, Youtuber BrettTheIntern, was hired. The vlogs are currently edited using Final Cut Pro on an Apple MacBook Pro.

The series begins each episode with a user-created fan video. The music for the theme song in these videos are composed by other Youtubers TeraBrite,[9] NicePeter,[10] OMGIsThatMyles[11] and Callie Moore[12] (sister of Katilette).
[edit] Recognition

The series is currently the 61st most subscribed, with over 1,000,000+ subscribers.[13] Top named celebrities & other YouTubers have been briefly featured and/or have fully appeared on the show including James Blunt (whose album, Some Kind of Trouble, features their youngest daughter in the cover artwork),[14][15] Dave Ramsey,[16][17][1] TJ Smith,[18] Perry Farrell,[19] Skrillex,[19] Ashton Kutcher,[20] Nathan Kress,[21] Adam Carolla,[22] BrettTheIntern,[23][24] Ray William Johnson,[25] KassemG, Smosh,[26] LisaNova, Sam Macaroni,[27] Philip DeFranco, and Charles and Alli Trippy.[28][29][30]

Shay was cast & minorly featured in No Ordinary Family.[31] Shay and Katilette were also featured as guests on the radio talk show/podcast The Parent Experiment, hosted by Adam Carolla's wife Lynette Paradise.[32] Clips of ShayTards were also featured briefly on a 20/20 television special called "Generation YouTube". He was also briefly featured on Last Call. [33][34]
[edit] Main cast

The family uses pseudonyms instead of their real names (for anonymity). The cast of the show consists of the ShayTards entire family and friends, primarily focusing on the immediate family:

Shay Carl - The head of the family.
Katilette (or MommyTard) - Shay's wife.
SonTard - The family's eldest child and son.
PrincessTard - The family's oldest daughter.
BabyTard - The family's youngest daughter.
RockTard - The family's youngest child and son.
Malachi - The family's dog, a great dane.

Related channels

The family has several accounts set up on YouTube, including:

ShayCarl (main channel)- ShayCarl's sketch comedy channel
ShayTards (vlog channel)- ShayCarl and his family vlog their daily life
ShayLoss - previously a weight loss channel (2010 - 2011), now an accountability channel on goal making/life decisions for himself.
iPhoneTard - One-take updates or merchandise giveaways.
Katilette (Shay's wife's channel, often Q&A videos)- She make skits and had a Q and A show on this channel
CaseyLavere (Shay's younger brother's channel, main videos being vlogs)- He vlogs on this channel
CarlieStylez (Shay's sister's channel, similar videos to those on the Katilette channel)
LoganMcKay55 (Shay's youngest brother's channel, also vlogging)- Logan vlogs about his daily life in Idaho.
WhenTheKidsGoToSleep (podcast channel) (also on iTunes)- Shay and Colette discuss personal issues/events in their lives when also giving advice to families etc.
HeyKayli (Shay's sister in laws channel, Casey's wife ) Kayli does tutorials on hair and cooking she also gives Mom advice.
HushinWithLavere (Casey's Hunting Channel)- Casey goes out and hunts for animals with commentary.
TheMomsView (Mom Channel) A channel about how it is being a mom with LisaNova, Katielette and more

References

^ a b "Kanaal van JP1lot". YouTube. Jul. 18, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "ShayCarl & ShayTards Homepage & Website". Shaycarl.com. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Kanaal van WhenTheKidsGoToSleep". YouTube. Oct. 24, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "iTunes - Podcasts - When the Kids go to Sleep by When the Kids go to Sleep". Itunes.apple.com. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Shay Carl Exclusive Interview: The Partners Project Ep. 3". Youtube. Dec. 30, 2010. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ Michael Humphrey (May 31, 2011). "Forbes Article on ShayCarl". Forbes. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Maker Studios Raises $1.5M For Creator-Founded YouTube Studio". News.tubefilter.tv. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFpBfcSMTD0.
^ "SHAYTARDS Intro Theme Song - Pop Punk Cover by TeraBrite". Youtube. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Shaycarl And The Shaytards Music Video (By Nicepeter)". Youtube. Jul. 1, 2010. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "SHAYTARDS Rap - OMGIsThatMyles!". Youtube. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "P. D. Effing Precious (A Shaytard theme) - Callie Moore". Youtube. Aug. 30, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ http://vidstatsx.com/v/SHAYTARDS
^ "Babytard Is Phamous!". YouTube. Nov. 2, 2010. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Shaytards Take James Blunt For A Ride!!". YouTube. Jul. 13, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "We'Re Debt Free!!!!". YouTube. Jan. 15, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Bravest Stunt Girl!". YouTube. Sep. 26, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Begging For Boobs?!". YouTube. Sep. 22, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ a b "Too Sexy For My Shirt!!!". YouTube. Aug. 6, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Ashton Tard!". YouTube. Jun. 14, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Shyness Face!". YouTube. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Adam Carolla Podcast!". YouTube. Sep. 15, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Steamin' Chokes!". YouTube. Jun. 20, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Did You Know That Kassem Likes Wolves?!". YouTube. Jun. 18, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Spin With Ray & Shay!". YouTube. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Giant Snake In Our Yard!". YouTube. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Exploding Castletard!". YouTube. Jul. 1, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Rocktard Has A New Girlfriend!". YouTube. Aug. 14, 2010. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Smart Baby!". YouTube. Dec. 23, 2010. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Dirty Sexy Feet!". YouTube. Aug. 9, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1822693/
^ "SHAYTARDS Blog • The Parent Experiment podcast with 2 special". Shaycarl.tumblr.com. Aug. 22, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "Generation YouTube - Can You Create a Career and Make Money on YouTube? - ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. Sep. 21, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.
^ "20/20 9/23: Generation YouTube Full Episode - 20/20 - ABC". Abc.go.com. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2011.

External links

SHAYTARDS - Main Youtube channel
Official website

I Laughed, I Cried! It Was Better Than Cats!

2011-12-20T05:36:00.000-08:00

I'm going to see it again and again!

In the 1980s, it was common for Broadway TV advertisements to include short testimonials from audience members who were uniformly WOWED by the show. These man-on-the-street reports slyly convinced the unwashed masses that we must immediately rush out to see the same play.

Here is a classic commercial from this genre from 1989, for Grand Hotel:

This advertising gimmick reached the height of absurdity around 1985-86 when a woman exiting some forgotten show made reference to the current Broadway blockbuster, "Cats". The woman exclaimed: "I Laughed, I Cried! It Was Better than Cats! I'm going to see it again and again!"

It was unintentional hilarity at its best.

On October 11, 1986, the new season debut episode of Saturday Night Live parodied the commercial with a fake advertisement for hypnotist "The Amazing Alexander". All the testimonials stated, verbatim, "I loved it! It was much better than Cats! I'm going to see it again and again!"

Here's the clip:

This was a very popular parody, and since it was broadcast nationwide, it has reached many who do not know of the inspiration for it.

Both the original commercial and the SNL parody have spawned countless sarcastic uses of "its better than Cats!!" since 1986. But the original commercial seems to be lost.

Where's the Original Commercial?

In various internet forums over the past 10+ years, various plays have been suggested as the source for the original commercial. The 1985 Broadway revival of "Singin' in the Rain" had poor critical reviews and probably wished for some of the Cats audience. It also played throughout the United States in 1986, and people have reported seeing the lost commercial outside the New York metro area, so its a good candidate. Other options include Sweet Charity, which had a 1986 Broadway revival, and "Man of La Mancha".

There are countless videos of 1980s commercial breaks uploaded to YouTube, but this commercial still proves elusive. (See, for example, this July 4, 1986 commercial block which has a commercial for Drood and the long-running A Chorus Line--but its not those!)

Somebody must have this recorded on a moldy VHS tape, somewhere! Can you find it and reap everlasting Internet fame?

Sources That Are Better Than Cats

Selected early uses of "Better than Cats" joke in media

1990: Alec Baldwin's upcoming role caused him to say: "I laughed I cried I loved it more than Cats!"
1990: Chicago Tribune review of Johnny Depp film "Cry Baby" reports that "I laughed; I cried; it was better than "Cats.""
1991: Student movie review is titled "I laughed, I cried - it was better than Cats"
1992: College guidebook has "School v. Cats" section of students comparing their school to Cats.
1993: Time Magazine article by Margaret Carlson on Clinton documentary opens with the phrase. "I laughed. I cried. Better than Cats!"
1996: Jenny McCarthy TV show is, you guessed it, better than Cats. At this point references to the phrase are everywhere in the press.

Past attempts of the Internets to determine origin of the phrase:

Better than 'Cats'(Snider Board, June 16, 2003, 2 page thread)
July 2007 blogpost and comments
July 2009 - Blogger asserts commercial was for "Man of La Mancha", currently unconfirmed

Occupy Marines - Wikipedia article.

2011-12-19T20:30:00.000-08:00

Occupy Marines
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Occupy Marines (stylized as OccupyMARINES) is a Facebook support group[1] that encourages non-active duty Marines to support the Occupy Wall Street movement.[2] Occupy Marines claims no affiliation with the United States Marine Corps, active-duty servicemembers or established U.S. veterans groups.

Contents

1 Origins
2 Mission
3 Funding
4 References
5 External Links

Origins

On October 24, 2011, CBS/AP reported that Occupy Marines formed "after videos circulated online" of Shamar Thomas, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, who confronted New York City police during an OWS march in Times Square on October 15, 2011,[2] yelling "Stop hurting these people, man! … How do you sleep at night? There is no honor in this!"[3]

Mission

The stated mission of Occupy Marines is to "support demonstrators with organization, direction, supply and logistics, and leadership."[2] [4] Active-duty servicemembers are prohibited by U.S. military law from joining the protests. For those who can join, Occupy Marines asked that they do not wear military dress uniform if actively participating in group activities, but instead advised a dress code outlined on the Occupy Marines website.[5]

On October 29, 2011, Business Insider reported that Occupy Marines requested the resignation of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, and reprinted Occupy Marines' demands for the resignation of Acting Police Chief Howard Jordan and the identification of Oakland police who engage protestors with excessive force.[6]

On October 31, ABC News quoted a spokesperson for a group calling itself "Occupy Marines Corps" [sic] as saying: "We will use any nonviolent means to convince law enforcement agencies to understand that brutality will only strengthen our resolve."[7]

On Nov. 11, 2011, a spokesperson for Occupy Marines was reported as saying: "As veterans we were led to believe [that] our service was to protect America's way of life abroad...We did not want to believe that our presence in the Middle East was to ensure an oil supply, or to deepen the pockets of the financial elites. Many…lost their life out there, and the suggestion that their sacrifice was for profits, or oil, is unbearable."[8]

Occupy Marines also called on veterans of other military branches to help "talk sense" to police and recruit them into supporting the Occupy movement.[5] Along with a newly formed online entity 'Occupy Police', Occupy Marines has been referred to as "staking out a new realm of metaphorical occupations" beyond the physical territories associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement.[3]

Funding

It was reported on Oct. 23, 2011, that the Occupy Marines website was credited as "proudly donated by The Pirate Party of New York," with a group referred to as Velvet Revolution proposed to act as fiscal sponsor to accept donations.[3] However, it was noted elsewhere on the same day that the website asked donors to wait until non-profit 501(c)(3) status had been achieved.[5]

References

^ Strauss, Gary and Rick Hampson (2011-11-2). "Former Marine's injury spurs vets to join Occupy movement". USA Today. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
^ a b c Morgan, David (2011-10-24). "Semper Fi: Non-active Marines called to 'Occupy'". CBS News. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
^ a b c Kane, Muriel (2011-10-23). "Occupy movement spins off OccupyMARINES and Occupy Police". Raw Story. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
^ Anderson, Jon R. (2011-11-18). "'Occupy' protests lure veterans". Marine Corps Times. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
^ a b c Johnson, Robert (2011-10-23). "Marines Are Calling In Reinforcements To Occupy Wall Street". Business Insider. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
^ "Reward Offered For Name Of Policeman Who Shot Veteran Scott Olsen In Oakland Protest". The Business Insider. October 29, 2011.
^ Wong, Kristina (2011-10-31). "Occupy Veterans Movement Growing Across U.S.". ABC News. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
^ Cravero, Paolo (2011-11-11). "Veterans Occupy Wall Street". The Nation. Retrieved 2011-12-15.

Note: Just deleted from Wikipedia, at least temporarily.

Update: 5am PST 12/20: It has been restored.

TIME Magazine Sandusky Riot Fuckup

2011-12-08T06:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, TIME magazine started posting their typical "here's the shit that went down in 2011" lists. Number 1 among the "Top 10 Sports Moments" was the Penn State-Sandusky child abuse scandal.

Accompanying the story is a YouTube video embed called "Penn state riot". But if you thought this is footage of Penn State students rioting when The Holy JoePa was fired -- you'd be wrong! Actually, its footage from October 2008 after Penn State beat Ohio State. The video was clearly uploaded on October 26, 2008--when Jerry Sandusky was still merrily molesting boys--and the top comment is very clear:

"Just so everyone knows, this video was made in 2008 after a win against Ohio State. This was 3 years ago."

Its also been called out in the comments to the TIME story, so presumably it will be quietly fixed soon and your unquestioned faith in TIME can return.

And your unquestioned lack of faith in "blogs" can return as well. Stay tuned for my next post, which will include footage of President Obama speaking on 9/11.

Straight Edge Sandusky?

2011-11-22T07:46:00.000-08:00

(High school photo of Jerry Sandusky)

Following up on my recent post asking about the possible role of Jerry Sandusky's father, Art Sandusky, in Jerry becoming a child molester, the Washington, Pennsylvania Observer-Reporter has posted new articles in a "Sunday Xtra" relating to Jerry's upbringing in that small town in southwestern Pennsylvania.

This, no doubt, is one of the most difficult stories the Observer Reporter has ever had to handle. Its a locally owned paper, not a part of one of the community newspaper syndicates, and there will be big pressures to not "stain" the town with this story, I am sure. These are pressures that Sara Ganim, a young crack reporter at the Harrisburg Patriot-News, who is getting rave reviews for her investigative reporting on the Sandusky scandal, doesn't have to cope with.

The most interesting recent Observer-Reporter story, Childhood friends wonder if they really knew Jerry Sandusky, speaks to numerous people who knew Jerry growing up, and notes the following nugget about Jerry's upbringing:

His friends say if there is one thing that seems odd, in retrospect, it might be this: Sandusky never dated in high school.

Those close to Sandusky remarked that the popular and handsome athlete was shy around girls and people outside of his circle of friends.

"Jerry was always kind of a loner," recalled Riggle. "He never dated in high school, and he didn't date throughout most of college. All he did was study in college. He didn't go out, didn't go to frat parties, while I was out doing things you were supposed to do as a college kid. It didn't seem odd at the time, but I remember in high school, we all had girlfriends, dated, went to dances, and Jerry was just never a part of that."

In fact, Sandusky always seemed to befriend those who were mentally challenged or who had a hard time making friends. It was a lesson, he wrote in his book, that he learned from his parents: "They taught me the meaning of respect to all people."

Well, being shy around girls and not dating is one thing. But what the article implies to me, but is completely silent on, is that Jerry Sandusky really had no interest in girls. As a star athlete and not unattractive guy, there's no question Jerry could have been dating if he wanted to. I also think that if Jerry expressed that he had interests in girls to his childhood friends, this would have come out in the article. There is no evidence that Jerry ever "dated" any woman other than his wife, Dottie, whose relationship appears to have been cultivated by Jerry's mother. So, the evidence to date suggests to me (not surprisingly) that Jerry Sandusky has never been sexually attracted to women.

Skimming the surface of some research, it appears that the causes of pedophilia are really that not well understood, though molestation as a child is considered to be a risk factor. Hypothesizing any link between homosexuality and pedophilia appears to be highly controversial, and I cannot pretend to understand the scientific and political debates about this without further inquiry. Logically, being homosexual has no connection to being sexually attracted to pre-pubescent children. But if sexual oppression can be a risk factor for pedophilia, even if Jerry was not molested as a child himself, and he found himself to be homosexual in a time and place where homosexuality was an abomination--as no doubt it was in Washington, Pennsylvania in the 1950s and 60s--could his repression have contributed to his development into a pedophile? There is a common sense appeal to that inquiry to me. It could be perhaps the most crazed argument in favor of gay marriage (i.e., if you're in the Clint Eastwood school on gay marriage, like me), but repression has consequences.

That being said, since I've done lots of speculation, I suppose its possible that Jerry Sandusky was just magically born as a pedophile. Maybe that's the way it works. Maybe he wasn't molested as a child, maybe he's not homosexual. But generally speaking, there are causes for the bad things that happen in the world, and not looking for them doesn't help.

Pizza Is Not A Fuckin' Vegetable

2011-11-18T12:20:00.000-08:00

See "Does Pizza Deserve To Be A Vegetable?" (Talking Points Memo, November 18, 2011)

No.

Pizza is not a fuckin' vegetable. Sure, I like pizza, my kids like pizza, but we don't confuse it with asparagus. The truth is that huge packaged food companies want to sell as much of their shit food to schools as possible, they don't care if kids get obese, in fact its the mission of these corporations to maximize profit, which means selling as much of their shit food as possible. They'd get pizza classified as a dessert, as a vitamin, as a fuckin' chichuahua if would sell more pizzas. If giving major $$ to congressmen will get that result, they will do it. That doesn't mean educators and Congress need to say "Sure, some concentrated tomato sauce mixed with sugar is a vegetable if you say so."

ITS NOT A FUCKIN' VEGETABLE.

via reddit:

Miss Gross Becomes Bride of Gerald A. Sandusky

2011-11-17T13:04:00.000-08:00

Miss Gross Becomes Bride of Gerald A. Sandusky (Washington Observer-Reporter, September 14, 1966)

Happened to run across this, its an article about Jerry Sandusky's marriage in 1966. At least its a more flattering picture of Dottie Sandusky than the recent one I saw. No revelations, though I suppose all the names in here are potential investigation witnesses.

Is Anyone Asking Whether Art Sandusky Was A Child Molester Too?

2011-11-17T06:55:00.001-08:00

Former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky has been serially molesting young boys for perhaps in excess of 30 years. The whole thing was covered up and not stopped by those who could have stopped it. It is one of the most disturbing news revelations of the year, and certainly one of the worst connected to college sports of all time.

In hindsight, most everything you read about what Sandusky did was creepy -- founding a charity in 1977 called "Second Mile" to ostensibly help disadvantaged local youth, he would shower gifts on certain young boys and take them to football games, slowly progressing if he could from touching them on the leg in the car to anally raping them in the shower. I'm not kidding -- go to the source and read the recent indictment -- its only 23 pages, you'll be best informed on this story if you just read it instead of news reports about what it says. Its a nightmare.

(From a Jerry Sandusky instructional video, completely unnecessary touching.)

One thing that intrigues me, and this is certain to be deeply probed soon in the press, is how Jerry Sandusky became a child molester. Was he molested himself as a child? That is not uncommon in child molester cases. As detailed in his 2001 autobiography "Touched", Sandusky's parents Art and Evie also ran a program for youths in Washington, Pennsylania. In fact, the family lived in the building--the Brownson House--where the program was run for many years. Art instituted football programs and a huge junior wrestling program. Wrestling? "We were just wrestling!" was one of Jerry's excuses when others happened across some of his unusual behavior, and its one of the few sports where an adult coach can arguably claim a legitimate reason to be physically close to a young person as a part of "coaching."

And yes, you have noticed, Jerry Sandusky's autobiography is called "Touched". In fact, how many children he "touched" through his charity seems to be the term of choice he used for many years to describe his work. The term is used about his parents' work too, as in this 1982 editorial in the Washington, PA paper, talking about how they "touched" the lives of thousands--the creepy detectors are going off for me again. It may be nothing, but someone better be looking into this. I am not saying Art Sandusky was a child molester--but its a logical investigative question that I hope is being asked. I don't feel right not putting the question out there, even though its an incendiary question. Is "Ol' Art rolling over in his grave" about the revelations about Jerry? Art and Evie moved to State College, PA to 'consult' on Second Mile in 1987, and Art did not die until 1996, during which time we are to assume Jerry was busy molesting kids.

1982 editorial about Art:

What turned Jerry Sandusky into a monster? A parent, a family member, someone in the community? He self-reports being very shy and awkward as a child. I suspect we'll find out what happened. And it won't be pretty.

Update 1:22 PST 11/16: This comment posted on Nov 13 on a local news affiliate story about Jerry's hometown defends Art against commenters who are speculating, like me:

"Mike – On the surface, you make a noteworthy point. The similarity is definitely notable. However, I come from a family that has had several generations who participated at the Brownson House on a regular basis. Many of us and countless friends and acquaintances have been around Art Sandusky (unsupervised) far too many times to count. I know for certain that I never heard a single person make a negative comment about Art. Art was an angelic, hard working and kind man who kept the kids busy and cared for them deeply. I can state with confidence that Art (and the Brownson) would never allow a child to get hurt.

The Brownson House is one of the few remaining places in Washington where the local youth can interact with their peers in a competitive, positive and safe environment. As for Jerry Sandusky, the case is troubling and the apparent truth will fully be revealed. The victims, assuming something terrible had taken place, do not deserve the agony they are experiencing. Likewise, the good names of Art Sandusky and the Brownson do not deserve any undeserved, unwarranted accusations."

Not sure this is really evidence, its just his opinion.

Update 11/22 8:57am PST: New post, Straight Edge Sandusky?

Black Flower in the White House (lyrics)

2011-10-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

Yes, here are the lyrics to song Muammar Qaddafi had commissioned in 2008 for his secret love, Condoleezza Rice.

Black Flower In The White House

You might be,
the U.S. Secretary of State
But you'd make,
a most attractive love-mate,

You're just a girl from Birmingham
I'm just a boy from Sirte
Why don't you pull down my pants
And check out my Libyan girth

Because I'm in love with...
A Black Flower in the White House
You know its meant to be.
Let's get together
...and strangle Dick Cheney

Come visit me at my palaces
It will just be you and me
Plus my scrapbooks filled with pics of you
and videos of Lockerbie

You denied my facebook request
You called me a Satanic pest.
But you know you want to put
Your cocoa butter skin against my hairy chest

Because I'm in love with...
A Black Flower in the White House
You know its meant to be.
Let's get together
...and commit crimes against Humanity

When I get you in the bedroom
You will not stray too far
The walls will be a shakin'
as we're screaming ALLAH AKHBAR

But what's this when I google you
Some people think you're gay?
But my 1,344 pictures of you
prove there ain't no way.

Because you're a ...
A Black Flower in the White House
Tell me you'll say "I Do"
And we'll say our wedding vows
...On an episode of The View.

Because I love you.

Jenna Rose - Wikipedia

2011-10-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

This is the Wikipedia article for Jenna Rose as it existed on October 14, 2011. It is possible that it will soon be deleted, so I am posting here to preserve the content.

Jenna Rose
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jenna Rose Swerdlow (born September 28, 1998) is an American singer, actress, and dancer who gained media attention with her single "My Jeans". After the video went viral on YouTube and received 14 million views, Swerdlow is considered a semi-"viral star".[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Career
o 2.1 Music
o 2.2 Acting
* 3 Recognition
* 4 Discography
o 4.1 Singles
* 5 Filmography
* 6 See also
* 7 References
o 7.1 Addititional references
* 8 External links

Background

Jenna Rose Swerdlow was born September 28, 1998, in Long Island, New York.[7] She was raised in Baldwin, New York and relocted with her family to Dix Hills, New York in 2005.[5] She began performing at age 2,[5][3] and received private vocal training at age 8[1] Starting with community theater and moving on to regional productions and Off-Broadway, she has performed in over 18 plays, including principal roles in “Ragtime” and “The Miracle Worker”, as well as the title role in the new Off-Broadway play, “The Odella Williams Show”.[1] She was a finalist in Got Talent?, A Long Island talent competition, as well as the NY Knicks Kids Talent Search.[1]

Career
Music

In a 2009 , it was reported that Swerdlow was being coached by Billy Joel's sax player Richie Cannata,[8] and that Richie's son Eren Cannata wrote and produced three singles for her: Sweet Melody, The Remedy, and Spotlight[citation needed]. Since then, Swerdlow has collaborated with different songwriters, producers and choreographers, to record songs and music videos.

When a 12-year-old 7th grader at West Hollow Middle School in October of 2010, Swerdlow's first music video, My Jeans, which features a rap by Baby Triggy,[9] was posted on YouTube.[3] The video became a viral video, garnering over a million views and bring Swerdlow media attention.[2] My Jeans was panned by Youtube viewers,[10] earning her as of September 8th, 2011 26,355 "likes" and 295,189 "dislikes" for the video.[3] Detractors find fault not only with Swerdlow's song, but with her clothes, the shape of her mouth, and the video's production values.[5] The video nevertheless continues to be the center of various Internet jokes and parodoy videos,,ref name="Herald"/> with the original video reaching over 14 million views as of early September,2011.

Despite negative reviews of My Jeans, Swerdlow followed up with songs O.M.G in March 2011,[11] and recorded the song Don’t Give Up, dealing with "haters",[6] in April 2011.[6] Swerdlow and her parents claim the song O.M.G. deals with cybercritics and cyberbullying,[3] Though covered by media, these subsequent songs failed to meet the levels of interest that her original viral video, however both display similar negative ratings, and have been panned by critics.[6] Toward the video O.M.G., PerezHilton.com stated [sic] "The video is hyper-sexualized, uber-creepy and if you really want to talk about jacking swag, not one dance move wasn't pulled from another video circa 1998."[12]
Acting

Swerdlow has made several film and television appearances. The most recent of these following upon her internet music releases. She was featured in the recent documentary Actor, directed by Roberto Serrini, as well as the film Mouse House and the TV pilots for Family Practice and Which Way. She has also appeared in television, radio & Internet commercials for Sketchers, Jello and Canon.

Recognition

In February 2009, the town board of Huntington, New York recognized Jenna Rose Swerdlow for her contributions to the performing arts community.[13]

Subsequent to the release of "My Jeans" Swerdlow has been interviewed by news networks, has been written of in several newspapers, and has performed live in concert at the Westbury Music Fair.[6]

A comparison is made between Swerdlow and Rebecca Black,[9] as both teens produce videos that fall into the same genre of bubblegum pop, are "slammed by critics as being too provocative", and both receive less-than-favorable feedback from the public.[6][5]

Discography
Singles
Title
2009 "Sweet Melody"
"The Remedy"
2010 "Spotlight"
2011 "My Jeans"
"OMG"
"Don't Give Up"

Filmography
Year Title Role Note
2010 Family Practice Child Patient TV series - Episode: "Hood Cat"
Mouse House Jessica
Which Way Lilith TV series
2011 Caroline of Virginia Young Caroline
Actor Herself documentary

See also
Audio a.svg Music portal

References

1. ^ a b c d Forman, Karen (March 3, 2011). "Jenna Rose Swerdlow Making a Name for Herself". Patch. http://halfhollowhills.patch.com/articles/jenna-rose-swerdlow-making-a-name-for-herself. Retrieved October 09, 2011.
2. ^ a b Rachel Senatore (March 21, 2011). "Dix Hill teen's music vid joins the list of LI's viral videos". Newsday. http://www.newsday.com/long-island/towns/long-island-now-1.1732330/dix-hill-teen-s-music-vid-joins-the-list-of-li-s-viral-videos-1.2774963. Retrieved October 09, 2011.
3. ^ a b c d e Whitehouse, Beth (March 22, 2011). "Dix Hills girl's YouTube music video a hit". Newsday. http://www.newsday.com/news/dix-hills-girl-s-youtube-music-video-a-hit-1.2774956.
4. ^ Glenn Gamboa (March 22, 2011). "The Jenna Rose / "My Jeans" phenomenon grows". Newsday. http://www.newsday.com/long-island/towns/long-island-now-1.1732330/dix-hill-teen-s-music-vid-joins-the-list-of-li-s-viral-videos-1.2774963. Retrieved October 09, 2011.
5. ^ a b c d e Chris Connolly (May 19, 2011). "Love me, hate me, know my name". Herald. http://www.liherald.com/baldwin/baldwin/stories/Love-me-hate-me-know-my-name-,32878. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
6. ^ a b c d e f Ryan Bonner (April 22, 2011). "Jenna Rose to Play Westbury, Releases New Song". Patch. http://halfhollowhills.patch.com/articles/jenna-rose-to-play-westbury-releases-new-song. Retrieved October 09, 2011.
7. ^ "Resume". Jenna Rose website.
8. ^ Jenna Rose & Richie Cannata - News 12 interview. [Television news]. Long Island, New York: News 12. http://musiclessonvideos.net/georgebenson/watch-video/7XJ492u_ziI/SRVMOE/channel-12-interview-with-jenna-rose-swerdlow.html.
9. ^ a b Daphne Livingston (April 26th, 2011). "Jenna Rose: Long Island’s Rebecca Black “My Jeans” “O.M.G.” [Video"]. Long Island Press. http://www.longislandpress.com/2011/04/26/jenna-rose-long-island%E2%80%99s-rebecca-black-%E2%80%9Cmy-jeans%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%9Co-m-g-%E2%80%9D-video/. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
10. ^ Glenn Gamboa (March 22, 2011). "Dix Hills girl's 'My Jeans' spawns videos". Newsday. http://www.newsday.com/long-island/dix-hills-girl-s-my-jeans-spawns-videos-1.2776619. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
11. ^ staff (March 24, 2011). "Dix Hills girl to debut new song". Newsday. http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/dix-hills-girl-to-debut-new-song-1.2781031. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
12. ^ Perez Hilton (March 28, 2011). "O.M.G…Jenna Rose Is Back!". PerezHilton.com. http://perezhilton.com/2011-03-28-jenna-rose-my-jeans-fame-new-video-omg. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
13. ^ "Councilman Cuthbertson Recognizes an Up and Coming Star". City of Huntington. February 26, 2009. http://town.huntington.ny.us/newsdetails.cfm?id=1428. Retrieved October 12, 2011.

Addititional references
* Bonner, Ryan (April 22, 2011). "April 22: Earth Day, Good Friday, Jenna Rose". Patch. http://halfhollowhills.patch.com/articles/april-22-earth-day-good-friday-jenna-rose.
* Lindner, Amanda (July 12, 2011). "Fireman Fair, Graduate School And Jenna Rose". Patch. http://halfhollowhills.patch.com/articles/july-12-fireman-fair-graduate-school-and-safari-art.
* Forman, Karen (March 26, 2011). "Here is Jenna Rose's Newest Video: OMG". Patch. http://halfhollowhills.patch.com/articles/jenna-rose-to-appear-on-tv-friday-morning.
* "'She Got Talent' Contest 2009". Leisure & Sports Review. March 28, 2009. http://www.lasr.net/travel/videos.php?JENNA+ROSE-SHY-GOT+TALENT+CONTEST+2009&VideoID=316406.

External links

* Official website
* Fan website
* Jenna Rose Swerdlow at the Internet Movie Database

* 1998 births
* Living people
* People from Long Island

Tomas Transtromer WHOOOHOOOO NOBEL PRIZE FTW!!!

2011-10-06T09:51:00.000-07:00

SO I just saw that this Swedish poet that I am sure few outside Sweden have ever head of, Tomas Transtromer, has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Apparently he's been in the running for some years to win (though I see some crap about how Bob Dylan was the favored candidate to win? GOOD GRIEF NO. Dylan's Friday was a classic, but its not THAT GOOD.)

It seems hard to find any of Transtromer's poems amidst all this reporting, however, which seems a pity since he presumably won because the poems are good. So I will post one I found via Google Books: (more: "The Great Enigma" (2006 ed.))

Alone "Ensamhet")
by Tomas Transtromer
from Bells and Tracks (Klanger Och Spar)
1966

I.

One evening in February I almost died here.
The car skidded sideways on the ice, out
onto the wrong side of the wrong. The approaching cars---
their lights--closed in.

My name, my girls, my job
broke free and were left silently behind
farther and farther away I was anonymous
like a boy in a playground surrounded by enemies

The approaching traffic had huge lights.
They shone on my while I pulled at the wheel
in a transparent terror that floated like egg white.
The seconds grew--there was space in them--
they grew as big as hospital buildings.

You could almost pause
and breathe for a while
before being crushed.

Then something caught: a helping grain of sand
or a wonderful gust of wind. The car broke free
and scuttled smartly right over the road.
A post shot up and cracked--a sharp clang--it
flew away in the darkness.

Then--stillness. I sat back still in my seatbelt
and saw someone coming through the swirling snow
to see what had become of me.

II.

I have been walking for a long time
on the frozen Ostergotland fields.
I have not seen a single person.

In other parts of the world
there are people who are born, live and die
in a perpetual crowd.

To be always visible---to live
in a swarm of eyes---
a special expression must develop.
Face coated with clay.

The murmuring rises and falls
while they divide up among themselves
the sky, the shadows, the sand grains.

I must be alone
ten minutes in the morning
and ten minutes in the evening.
---Without a program.

Everyone is queuing for everyone else.

Many.

One.

(The poem in Swedish is here. You can hear Transtromer reading the entire poem, in Swedish, here. And April 2009 English commentary on the poem here)

Kolbrin Bible - Wikipedia

2011-10-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

This is the text of the Wikipedia article for "Kolbrin Bible" as it appeared on October 3, 2011. Its likely to be deleted, but I thought it would be useful for people needing quick confirmation that the Kolbrin Bible is not authentic/is a big fat hoax, etc.

Kolbrin Bible
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kolbrin Bible (also titled as The Kolbrin) is a text which purports to be a collection of ancient texts of Egyptian and Celtic origin. Used in support of 2012 apocalyptic theories, it is widely regarded as spurious.

Structure and supposed origins
The Kolbrin Bible comprises eleven books. The first six books are said to be scribed by Egyptian writers shortly after the Exodus, and is called the "Bronzebook". The last five books are collectively called "Coelbook" or "Kailedy" and are said be authored by Celtic priests written around the time that the New Testament was being created.[1] Supposedly these texts were kept at Glastonbury Abbey and the first section transcribed to bronze sheets, allowing them to survive the fire of 1184 which the text's publishers allege was set to destroy these and other heretical texts.[2] The texts are then alleged to have been transmitted through a series of owners, including one John Culdy in the early 1300s, eventually being entrusted to "a small religious group in England" and thence to the Hope Trust, "of which little is known."[2] Finally the texts are claimed to have ended up in the hands of the Culdian Trust, formed in 1980; they claim that the current version of the text was produced by "an elderly man from the Hope Trust" around 1992, working from the original texts.[2]

At present three editions of the material are available. A hardbound edition is published in association with the Culdian Trust in two volumes, titled The Kolbrin and The Gospel of the Kailedy;[3] the same group also presents an on-line edition.[4] A softcover edition is published by Your Own World Books, ostensibly edited by one Janice Manning and with versification by Marshall Masters.[5] The connections between the various versions are obscure. The website www.kobrin.com first appears in the Internet Archive in 2004; the first reference on that site to the Culdian Trust does not appear until October of that year; the Culdian Trust website doesn't appear until February 2005.[6][7] Given the 2005 publication date of the Manning/Masters edition it might be presumed that it is derived from the other edition.

Claims and analysis
The first mention of this text is apparently in James McCanney's Atlantis to Tesla - The Kolbrin Connection, a self-published work which he put out in 2003.[8]. McCanney is, among other pseudoscientific interests, a proponent of Planet X apocalyptic theories. An early edition of Masters's version specifically lists several passages from "The Book of Manuscripts" (the fifth section of the text) in support of these claims. The text also attempts to support British Israelism as well as providing apocryphal teachings of Jesus.

Whether this was the intent of writing the text is again unclear. The text has not received a lot of critical attention but sites outside the pseudoscientific/new religion realm point to its lack of provenance and dubious history[9] and suggest that it is a hoax or at least apocryphal. One critic suggests Glenn Kimball as a possible author;[10] in 2006 Kimball published an article on the Kolbrin texts and was associated with Masters's edition of the text.[11]

References

1. ^ "Introduction". The Kolbrin Bible, 21st Century Master Edition.
2. ^ a b c "The Culdian Trust Kolbrin Manuscripts". http://www.thekolbrin.com/. Retrieved 2011-09-25.
3. ^ "Culdian Trust Publications". http://www.thekolbrin.com/buy-it. Retrieved 2011-09-25.
4. ^ on-line edition
5. ^ Manning, Janice, ed (2005). The Kolbrin Bible: 21st Century Master Edition. Your Own World Books.
6. ^ "The Kolbrin - thekolbrin.com: Oct. 28, 2004". Internet Archive. http://web.archive.org/web/20041028021306/http://www.thekolbrin.com/.
7. ^ "The Culdian Trust: Feb. 5 2005". Internet Archive. http://web.archive.org/web/20050205222414/http://www.culdiantrust.org/.
8. ^ "jmccanneyscience.com home page: July 24, 2003". Internet Archive. http://web.archive.org/web/20030724060852/http://jmccanneyscience.com/.
9. ^ e.g. "The Kolbrin Bible". crystallinks.com. http://www.crystalinks.com/kolbrin.html.
10. ^ Hughes, Paul. "Q&A — The Kolbrin "Bible"". apologetics.com. http://www.apologetics.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=400. Retrieved 2011-09-25.
11. ^ Kimball, Glenn (July 12, 2006). "The Kolbrin Bible". ufodigest. http://www.ufodigest.com/kolbrin.html. Retrieved 2011-09-25.

Skip Inabinett: Fucking Loser Homophobe

2011-08-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

Potomac Falls woman removed from son’s Boy Scout troop, Loudoun Times (August 24, 2011)

This guy is a sad piece of shit, getting the well-loved and active assistant den mother of a boy scout troop removed because he figured out she's a *lesbian*. Good grief.

I know the boy scouts have a constitutional right to exclude people who are gay from their group, notwithstanding the fact that the founder of boy scouts may have been a latent homosexual. The KKK are also allowed to exist, but I don't support them either.

Marcus Bachmann - Wikipedia article (now deleted)

2011-07-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

Marcus Bachmann

Born 1956
Nationality American
Education Ph.D. in clinical psychology
Alma mater Union Graduate School
Occupation Therapist/counselor
Employer President of Bachmann & Associates
Known for husband of Michele Bachmann
Religion Christian

Marcus David Bachmann (born c. 1956) is an American therapist. He is the founder and President of Bachmann & Associates, a self-described Christian counseling clinic.[1] He is the husband of United States Representative Michele Bachmann, whom he married in 1978.[2] He describes himself as the "strategist" of her campaign for president.[3]

Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Views
* 3 Bachmann & Associates
* 4 References
* 5 External links

Background

Bachmann's parents came to the United States from Switzerland in 1950[4] and took up residence on a farm in Buffalo County, Wisconsin, which his family still owns.[4][5][6] He met his wife at Winona State University, where they worked on Jimmy Carter's 1976 Presidential campaign.[2] In 1988 Bachmann graduated from CBN University, now known as Regent University, with a master of arts in community counseling.[7] He wrote his thesis on how day care “may increase the insecurity” of infants, which included a biblical perspective.[7] In 1995 he received a Doctor of Philosophy with a concentration in clinical psychology from the Union Graduate School.[7] His dissertation expanded on his master's thesis, and explored the effect of day care on children 48 to 60 months of age.[7]

Views

Bachmann is a Christian. He left the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, a conservative branch of Lutheranism in 2011 after not attending for a couple of years.[8][9] The New York Times reported that together with his wife, he now attends Eagle Brook Church,[10] a non-denominational Baptist congregation.[11]

Ken Avidor, who writes for the blogspot Dump Bachmann, created by the former head of a local gay Republican group, posted audio in which Bachmann seems to describe gay people as "barbarians" in a 2010 interview with the Christian radio show Point-of-View."[8] Bachmann stated that the audio was doctored, and that he was actually comparing children to barbarians.[12] Avidor disputed that he doctored the audio, and the Point of View program did not have an archive of the original interview.[13][14]

Bachmann & Associates

Bachmann's Lake Elmo Christian counseling clinic has attracted attention. He describes it as "distinctly a Christian counseling center" and is quoted as saying, "We have 27 Christian counselors, Christ-centered, very strong in our understanding of who the Almighty Counselor is, and as we rely on God's word and the Almighty Counselor, we have the opportunity to change people's lives."[15] Alex Luchenitser, staff attorney for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called its receiving of state and Medicaid funds unconstitutional, saying "It's wrong for the government to buy clinical services that include submission to God or proselytization."[16][17]

In July 2011, a hidden-camera investigator with Truth Wins Out went undercover at the clinic, claiming that he was a committed Christian who wished to become a heterosexual. At the same time, testimony surfaced from a former patient at the clinic whose parents had sent him there when he came out to them. Both reported that the clinic's staff practiced reparative therapy, a practice repudiated by the American Psychological Association, which attempts to turn homosexuals into heterosexuals.[18][19][20] In a 2006 interview, Bachmann denied that his clinic tries to convert people from gay to straight. "If someone is interested in talking to us about their homosexuality, we are open to talking about that," he said. "But if someone comes in a homosexual and they want to stay homosexual, I don't have a problem with that."[21]

References

1. ^ Bachmann & Associates homepage; accessed July 15, 2011
2. ^ a b Weekly Standard: From Waterloo To The White House, Matthew Continetti, National Public Radio, June 28, 2011; accessed July 15, 2011
3. ^ "Congresswoman Michele Bachmann tests presidential waters". cleveland.com. March 24, 2011. http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2011/03/congresswoman_michele_bachmann.html. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
4. ^ a b Michele Bachmann's husband in unwanted spotlight, Patrick Condon, Associated Press, July 15, 2011; accessed July 16, 2011.
5. ^ Marcus Bachmann: Campaign Spouse, James Hohmann and Byron Tau, Politico, July 4, 2011; accessed July 16, 2011
6. ^ Bachmann's spouse Marcus: valued strategist or liablity?, Joe Kimball, MinnPost.com, July 5, 2011; accessed July 16, 2011
7. ^ a b c d The Education of Marcus Bachmann, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, July 18, 2011; accessed July 19, 2011
8. ^ a b Michele Bachmann’s husband shares her strong conservative values, Jason Horowitz, The Washington Post, July 5, 2011; accessed July 19, 2011
9. ^ Michele Bachmann left controversial church before campaign, Brian Montopoli, CBS News, July 15, 2011; accessed July 16, 2011
10. ^ Stolberg, Sheryl Gay (July 16, 2011). "For Bachmann, Gay Rights Stand Reflects Mix of Issues and Faith". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/us/politics/17bachmann.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&sq=bachmann&st=cse&scp=1. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
11. ^ Merritt, Bob. "Who We Are". http://www.eaglebrookchurch.com/pages/page.asp?page_id=37038. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
12. ^ Marcus Bachmann says audio of him comparing gays to barbarians was doctored, Andy Birky, The Minnesota Independent, July 15, 2011; accessed July 19, 2011
13. ^ Doctored Marcus Bachmann Tape? Nope, Says Blogger Who Posted It, Evan McMorris-Santoro, Talking Points Memo, July 15, 2011; July 19, 2011
14. ^ Blogger Who Posted Marcus Bachmann’s ‘Barbarians’ Remark: ‘I Didn’t Doctor a Damn Thing’, Dan Mira, New York, July 15, 2011; accessed July 19, 2011
15. ^ "Bachmann’s Christian counseling clinic receives state funds". Minnesota Independent. June 10,2010. http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2010/06/07/bachmann’s-christian-counseling-clinic-receives-state-funds. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
16. ^ Michele Bachmann's husband accepted over $137,000 in Medicaid payments, Christine Roberts, The New York Daily News, June 29, 2011; accessed July 16, 2011
17. ^ Bachmann’s Christian counseling clinic receives state funds, Andy Birkey, The Minnesota Independent, June 4, 2010; accessed July 16, 2011
18. ^ The Truth Behind Marcus Bachmann’s Controversial Christian Therapy Clinic, Mark Benjamin, Time.com, July 15, 2011; accessed July 16, 2011
19. ^ Bakst, Brian (July 12, 2011). "Clinic tied to Bachmann questioned over therapies". Associated Press. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jDxVgLyjH-QB3gUNXyCPPAifjsfg. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
20. ^ Blake, Mariah (July 8, 2011). "'God Has Created You for Heterosexuality': Clinics Owned by Michele Bachmann's Husband Practice Ex-Gay Therapy". The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/article/161883/%E2%80%98god-has-created-you-heterosexuality%E2%80%99-clinics-owned-michele-bachmann%E2%80%99s-husband-practi. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
21. ^ "Michele Bachmann Clinic: Where You Can Pray Away the Gay?". ABC News. July 11, 2001. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/michele-bachmann-exclusive-pray-gay-candidates-clinic/story?id=14048691. Retrieved July 24, 2011.

My Screengrabs of Nikki ("Betty") and Mari ("Veronica") Tweets

2011-06-23T13:56:00.001-07:00

For hardcore (pun intended?) weinergate enthusiasts.

UPDATE 6/29 9:55pm PDT: Soundbitten blogpost on "Weinerology" is extremely comprehensive, including more detail than this post does, by far ...

Here are the screengrabs I took around June 2 (whenever Mike Stack's yfrog cache was discovered) showing all tweets in google cache made by Marianela (aka Veronica). The cache in google dated from May 16, and showed a total of 17 tweets starting from May 13 and going through May 14, and no subsequent tweets after May 14 until the cache was made.

If you have no idea what any of this stuff is, you are blessed, go enjoy your life. :-)

Reverse chronological list of tweets from/mentioning @starchild111 (Betty / Nikki Reid) that I have compiled, the oldest are at the bottom. Some of these are copy and pasted from text posting of the tweets previously posted by patterico awhile back (i think during Hunt for Ethel). No doubt most of @starchild111's actual tweets are missing, as you see replies to her in this compilation. Also included are screengrabs from Google cache from May 14 and May 27 which show the # of followers/followed by Nikki.

UPDATE 6:30am PDT 6/29: A cache of the starchild page from 4/11/01: here

UPDATE 3:55pm PDT: The screenshots shared by a phantom here and elsewhere soon after NYTimes revealed that Betty and Veronica are fake include a number of apparent screenshots of Nikki tweeting at @patriotusa76 and others defending AW following her. These tweets (maybe 10 of them?) date from May 16 and 17, assuming they are legitimate. I will not include full caps here, but here are links 1, 2, 3, 4. Interesting some of these screenshots apparently date from May 17-18, so someone thought they were interesting at the time.

Update 3:40pm PST: I forgot about this other cache found for @starchild111 on twitter found that purports to date from 1/1/2011 and shows Nikki as "Jenay" starting to tweet on August 14 (2010?) Its been claimed that this may actually a prior account that was closed before new account was opened by "Nikki"

UPDATE 6:35am PDT 6/29: The subsequent discovery of a cache from 4/11/01 of the starchild111 twitter account clearly shows that this is the same account. here

Anthony Weiner Is Fucked

2011-06-06T05:57:00.000-07:00

Assuming Andrew Breitbart's promise of more compromising photos today pans out, say goodbye to Anthony Weiner. (update: did i mean goodbye? not from congress though! most surreal press conference in world history!)

At 6am EDT, Breitbart released a teaser post promising "photographs, timelines, and other clarifying details" from someone Weiner carried on communications with online, very recently. (Perhaps Dan Wolfe in drag, but that's yet to be seen.) Apparently we will be spared the Full-Weiner Treatment, though: "we will not be releasing all of the material because some of it is of an extreme, graphic nature."

At 8am EDT, the first pic came.

The URL title to the Breitbart's post includes "0800-edt", suggesting to me that Breitbart has a series of timed posts he is prepared to pummel us with today. And the title of the "me" image btw, is "IMG00256-20110505-1608.jpg" which matches with the supposed picture-taken date of May 5. I also noted that the 800x600 resolution of this photo and the exif data matches the minimal exif data of the dicktweet photo. In other words, the existence of this photo further supports the argument that weiner did post the dicktweet on May 27.

Breitbart's posting so far says this woman had come forward to them over a week prior to the appearance of the dicktweet. But timing is everything, and now that Weiner has explicitly denied sending the dicktweet, I don't see any way out of this for him. Having online affairs is one thing, but the coverup is always what makes the indiscretions fatal. And the proverbial "pics or it didn't happen" defense of the internet is evaporating.

Though I like a lot of Weiner's politics, and hoped he had been hacked, one cannot ignore evidence like this. That's what global warming deniers do. I pushed getting the evidence to see the posting source of the dicktweet, and when it was confirmed to be tweetdeck, I knew the hacking theory was in trouble. But things seem to have gotten much worse than that.

I guess after Chris Lee and Antony Weiner (and Larry Craig and David Vitter and Bill Clinton and ....) we need to ask ourselves - how many politicians are out there that can be SO FUCKIN STUPID! Probably more than we can imagine.

My only caveat: Breitbart is not reliable. He will spin what evidence there is. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not delusional.

UPDATE 10:19am EDT: Breitbart posted pic #2 at 10am EDT. The alleged subject line of the email was "Me and the pussys." Exif data matches the earlier pic, file name is IMG00165-20101119-2106.jpg suggesting pic taken on November 19, 2010.

I also don't like this:

UPDATE 1:26pm EDT: Post #3 from Breitbart at 1:19 EDT shows a shirtless weiner.

PatriotUSA76 tweets which reference sex scandal (raw)

2011-06-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

ezradulis

@patriotusa76 was NOT the first person to accuse Weiner of a sex scandal. He RTed a friend quoting a blog: http://yfrog.com/h32ownp Monday, May 30, 2011 1:51:29 PM via TweetDeck Retweeted by patriotusa76 and 5 others

@Stranahan @goatsred It was falsely reported that I first said there was a scandal with Weiner. Not true. Go back and look at our timelines Sunday, May 29, 2011 11:21:40 PM via web in reply to Stranahan

@Stranahan There was a tip sent to someone in our group about a scandal. @goatsred reported. We all covered it. We had no names. Sunday, May 29, 2011 11:16:00 PM via web in reply to Stranahan

@NewsSpies is also now reporting on @goatsred Update on Powerful NorthEastDem in Pics/Cheating Scandal. Looks more & more like @RepWeiner Thursday, May 12, 2011 6:52:37 PM via web

MT @goatsred Update on Powerful NorthEastDem in Pics/Cheating Scandal-Sources say the girl is a teen. Not undera... http://bit.ly/kRUF0S Thursday, May 12, 2011 6:39:48 PM via twitterfeed Retweeted by patriotusa76 and 1 other

MT @goatsred Update on Powerful NorthEastDem in Pics/Cheating Scandal-Sources say the girl is a teen.>>@RepWeiner or @cbrangel is it you? Thursday, May 12, 2011 6:46:41 PM via web

MT @goatsred Update on Powerful NorthEastDem in Pics/Cheating Scandal...girl is a teen>>@RepWeiner or @cbrangel, now we know it's not Frank Thursday, May 12, 2011 6:41:23 PM via web

MT @goatsred Update on Powerful NorthEastDem in Pics/Cheating Scandal-Sources say the girl is a teen.>>@RepWeiner or @cbrangel is this you? Thursday, May 12, 2011 6:40:12 PM via web

MT @goatsred Update on Powerful NorthEastDem in Pics/Cheating Scandal-Sources say the girl is a teen. Not underaged>>@cbrangel is this you? Thursday, May 12, 2011 6:38:59 PM via web

RT @goatsred Update on Powerful NorthEastDem in Pics/Cheating Scandal-Sources say the girl is a teen. Not underaged>>@RepWeiner is this you? Thursday, May 12, 2011 6:36:19 PM via web

MT @goatsred Update on Powerful NorthEastDem in Pics/Cheating Scandal-Sources say the girl is a teen. Not underaged>>@cbrangel is this you? Wednesday, May 11, 2011 8:30:57 PM via web

MT @goatsred Update on Powerful NorthEastDem in Pics/Cheating Scandal-Sources say the girl is a teen. Not underaged>>@RepWeiner is this you? Wednesday, May 11, 2011 8:29:43 PM via web

goatsred

Update on Powerful NorthEastDem in Pictures/Cheating Scandal--Sources tell me that the girl is a teenager. Not underaged. Wednesday, May 11, 2011 8:19:00 PM via TweetDeck Retweeted by patriotusa76 and 1 other

@redrivergrl @Merreee1 @tamale102280 @goatsred I know how @RepNeedleDick loves a good scandal @RepWeiner Wednesday, May 11, 2011 5:14:25 PM via web in reply to redrivergrl

@vocalist69 Rumor that top rightwing blog has sexscandal pics of high profile Dem congressman, NE region. @RepWeiner, Frank, or @cbrangel Wednesday, May 11, 2011 3:08:11 PM via web in reply to vocalist69

Rumor (via @goatsred) top 5 RightWing blogger has sexscandal pics of "big time" Congressman>@RepWeiner are you next Chris Lee? @redrivergrl Wednesday, May 11, 2011 2:21:19 PM via web

Rumor (via @goatsred) top 5 RightWing blogger has sexscandal pics of "big time" Congressman>@RepWeiner are you next Chris Lee? @Merreee1 Wednesday, May 11, 2011 2:20:50 PM via web

Rumor (via @goatsred) a top 5 Right-Wing blogger has sex-scandal pics of "big time" Congressman>>@cbrangel are you the next Chris Lee? Wednesday, May 11, 2011 2:20:04 PM via web

Rumor (via @goatsred) top 5 RightWing blogger has sexscandal pics of "big time" Congressman>@RepWeiner are you next Chris Lee? @tamale102280 Wednesday, May 11, 2011 2:19:31 PM via web

@redrivergrl Rumor that a top right-wing blog has sex scandal pics of Dem Congressman, high-profile. Hoping it's Weiner, Frank, Rangel LOL Wednesday, May 11, 2011 1:43:18 AM via web in reply to redrivergrl

@Merreee1 @redrivergrl @gk68 @goatsred @tamale102280 @mikemadden59 @jihadihunter No blog has come out with it yet. A rumor so far. Wednesday, May 11, 2011 1:30:09 AM via web in reply to Merreee1

@Merreee1 @redrivergrl @gk68 @goatsred @tamale102280 @mikemadden59 @jihadihunter that a top right-wing blog has pics of Dem in sex scandal Wednesday, May 11, 2011 1:17:01 AM via web in reply to Merreee1

Rumor (via @goatsred) a top 5 Right-Wing blogger has sex-scandal pics of "big time" DEM Congressman>> @RepWeiner are you this Congressman? Thursday, May 05, 2011 10:14:11 PM via web

Rumor (via @goatsred) a top 5 Right-Wing blogger has sex-scandal pics of "big time" Congressman>>@cbrangel are you the next Chris Lee? Thursday, May 05, 2011 6:49:59 PM via web

Rumor (via @goatsred) a top 5 Right-Wing blogger has sex-scandal pics of "big time" Congressman>>@RepWeiner are you the next Chris Lee? Thursday, May 05, 2011 6:49:16 PM via web

Rumor (via @goatsred) a top 5 Right-Wing blogger has sex-scandal pics of "big time" Congressman>> @cbrangel are you this Congressman? Thursday, May 05, 2011 6:36:45 PM via web

Rumor (via @goatsred) a top 5 Right-Wing blogger has sex-scandal pics of "big time" Congressman>> @RepWeiner are you this Congressman? Thursday, May 05, 2011 6:34:07 PM via web

goatsred

A big bomb about to burst: Rumor on the Right Coast is that a" big time" Congressman was caught with a mistre… (cont) http://deck.ly/~10j0Y Thursday, May 05, 2011 6:26:26 PM via TweetDeck Retweeted by patriotusa76 and 2 others (Full tweet at link says: "A big bomb about to burst: Rumor on the Right Coast is that a" big time" Congressman was caught with a mistress .There are pix and a top five Right-Wing blogger has them.")

RT @goatsred Rumor..a "big time" Congressman caught with mistress There are pix & a top 5 Right-Wing blogger has them>>@RepWeiner is it you? Thursday, May 05, 2011 6:31:21 PM via web

Weiner's Tweet History - never tweeted a yfrog pic from Tweetdeck

2011-06-02T08:29:00.001-07:00

The Summary: Weiner has never posted pics on his twitter via Tweetdeck, yet was only posting from Tweetdeck on the evening of May 27.

The Blather: Obviously, #Weinergate is all the rage right now, and I've made some comments on blogs and twitter about the potential that Weiner's yfrog was "hacked" via their "private" email system, which Cannonfire has ably been investigating. Its a possible explanation, at the very least. Rachel Maddow explained the theory fairly well last night. Yfrog has now (at least temporarily?) disabled posting via email. (See this analysis on Little Green Footballs for more info.)

So, this is not a HUGE REVELATION POST!!!111 but I wanted to note some observations about Weiner's twitter history, which would make it inconsistent for him to have made the infamous dicktweet on May 27 himself. Its not absolute PROOF of anything, but I wanted to share for those interested.

According to all tweets currently appearing on Weiner's twitter page, he has tweeted 478 times since his first tweet on October 25, 2009 (he didn't actually start being active on Twitter until August 2010, but he sent a single tweet in October 2009).

Weiner's history shows he has tweeted links to yfrog pictures 7 times (excluding the now deleted tweet.). On six of those occasions, he did so by posting "via Twitter for Blackberry". (4 times on May 5, 2011; once on November 3, 2010, and once on September 26, 2010.) On the other remaining occasion (on 2/25/2011) he posted "via Yfrog."

Weiner has never posted a yfrog link via any other Twitter posting option. However, his tweets on the evening of May 27, the first of which came no more than a few minutes after the dicktweet, all came from "Tweetdeck." It would be odd (though not impossible, granted) for Weiner to send a pic "via Twitter for Blackberry" at the same time he was on Twitter via Tweetdeck. TweetDeck is a desktop application, and though there are Android and IPhone versions of it, there is no Tweetdeck app for Blackberry available yet.

What about the dicktweet, you say? Where was that tweeted from? Well, we do not know! There is no existing or known screen cap of that tweet (UPDATE: See below). Twitter user @patriotusa76 retweeted the dicktweet maybe 3 minutes after it was posted, but has not produced a screencap. (He did screencap the yfrog page, but that doesn't say how the pic got onto twitter.) And Tweetcongress' feed showing the dicktweet, which many saw as the story started to spread (multiple screencaps exist), does not display how tweets it reposts are posted. So we don't know how the dicktweet was posted right now.

So, it would be interesting to see where the dicktweet was posted from. If "via Twitter for Blackberry," it would be odd that Weiner was apparently on tweetdeck around the same exact time. And the EXIF information on the dickpic which has been shared suggests the pic was taken on a blackberry, but didn't match the same EXIF information that weiner's other yfrog pics do (because weiner's pics identify his BB as a model 9650, the EXIF information on the dicktweet doesn't identify the BB model.)

Other random info: Of Weiner's 478 tweets, 208 are "via web", 107 are "via Tweetdeck" (first used 8/18/2010), and 74 are "via Twitter for Blackberry." And in the scary department, @PatriotUSA76, the sole person to see the original dicktweet, has used the word "Weiner" in 571 tweets since joining twitter in January 2011!

ETA 12:33 EDT: I see the Smoking Gun may have more stuff up right now that may shed light on tweet source. Hopefully I didn't just waste 30 minutes on this blogpost. haha.

12:47 EDT: The Smoking Gun has all the screencaps which @PatriotUSA76 sent by email to Breitbart. However, the timeline cap he sent is using the "new twitter" which does not show where a tweet was sent from - arrgghhh -- the "old twitter" does contain this information.

Oddly, his timeline screen cap shows the dicktweet sent "25 minutes ago" - does twitter automatically update that timing on your screen? I thought the dicktweet was deleted within a few minutes? Is this weird?

From Wikipedia: User:Colonel Warden/RIP

2011-05-17T05:59:00.000-07:00

* Black Kite
* Claritas
* Codf1977
* Collectonian
* Dalejenkins aka Drawn Some
* Firefly
* Gavin Collins
* Jack Merridew aka User:Gold Hat, User:Davenbelle, &c.
* Kurt Weber
* Le Grand Roi des Citrouilles
* Otto4711 aka Are You The Cow Of Pain?
* Pilotbob
* Polargeo aka Seenock
* Proabivouac
* Ratel
* Rlevse
* The Fat Man Who Never Came Back
* TTN
* Verbal
* Wageless
* Wolfkeeper

Explanation for wikigeeks: I really have no idea what this is, but a list of wikipedia nicks doesn't really do anything. But wiki editors seem quite upset about it, it is causing lots of drama. I may update this post if I dig into this more. See

tamtampamela (God is so Good!) is a HOAX people!

2011-03-14T22:05:00.000-07:00

YouTuber "tamtampamela" is rising up the charts due to her recently posted video, GOD IS SO GOOD!!! (March 13, 2011, currently 421,329 views), where she praises God for the Japanese earthquake/tsunami as sending a message to atheists.

Her current oldest video dates to January 2010, and she's been posting similar over-the-top-evangelical-whackjob videos for the past year. Ones like this make it pretty obvious that she's can't be for real:

"Simple Ways to Remember Simple Teachings"

She claims she learned this song in Sunday school, "Revelation, Revelation, 21:8, 21:8, liars go to hell, liars go to hell, burn burn burn, burn burn burn!"

What is the purpose of the hoax? To expose the ridiculousness of Christians who believe the Bible is literally true and use it for hateful purposes.

Her youtube channel also has a list of quotes such as ""If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being. - --Jerry Falwell" She also wears internet-cool t-shirts in some vids, in-jokes that a real bible girl would never know about.

Lastly, "TamTamPamela" also is a poster at the Landover Baptist Church website, which is a spoof forum about Christianity. She recently changed her username to "Sister Pamela" but its the same person.

same post with new username (prior image came from a google cache):

There's little question her performances are pretty brilliant and will dupe many people. Some say she went over the line with the tsunami video - what do you think?

ETA 4:30am Pacific, 3/15/11: I understand that Pamela posted a coming out video, which is already gone because she closed her account.

Random youtuber repost of original God Is So Good screed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP-sSeqPywI
Tamtampamela's admission video repost: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBZMCtIXjIA
Another forum she trolled: Christianchat.com thread (May 2010)

Wikipedia: Deletionists Delete Article About Deletionists

2011-03-07T13:31:00.000-08:00

A little over a year ago, the well-known comic book, etc. writer Peter David published a column in Comic Buyer's Guide magazine discussing the nonsensical recent deletion of the Wikipedia article on actor Kristian Ayre. As a result, the wikipedia entry on Ayre was restored. A scan of the Peter David article itself (which is not otherwise online, Comic Buyer's Guide is primarily a print-only publication) was also uploaded to wikipedia with the express consent of Mr. David.

This was apparently fine for a year, until last month someone decided wikipedia didn't really have appropriate permission to hold a scan of the article, and ultimately deleted it despite being informed that the author clearly had authorized its use. Oh the irony.

Now Mr. David has joined the deletion review discussion. If every such discussion on wikipedia wasn't so damn wordy, it would be hilarious.

A quote from Mr. David:

This is Peter David, the author of the piece in question, speaking. Since I post infrequently, I don't have the hang of the various codes and such required, so I apologize in advance if there are elements to this post that are missing, but the content should be clear nonetheless. While I appreciate irony as much as anyone, I feel compelled to point out that I could not have been more explicit in giving broad and total freedom to distribute the article in question as much as humanly possible. For individuals here, now, to try and seize on some aspect of Wikipedia bylaws in order to delete an article critical of Deletionists seems remarkably self-serving and--as the Church Lady would say--conveeeeenient.

Useful links

Ultimately, this episode illustrates a scenario not uncommon with any large organization, especially one with with a bunch of engineers, where technicalities in rules get elevated in importance far above their purpose and substance. While this doesn't seem like a bad thing in theory (we don't want people justifying murder on a whim), it can sometime lead to disastrous results when common sense is ignored. Here, the world will not end, I suppose, but the drama was unnecessary.

Sad Christine O'Donnell

2010-10-29T09:51:00.001-07:00

So you probably know that yesterday Gawker posted an anonymous story (and paid for it) about some twenty-something's one sad drunk night with O'Donnell three years ago on Halloween. It comes complete with a photoset of pictures of O'Donnell, who was dressed as a ladybug.

Pretty much across the board, commentators are slamming the story as beyond the pale. By doing so, of course, they greatly popularize the story. But they really have no choice but to say something, because they know everyone is going to read it. News sources far and wide have jumped on and reveled in the ridiculous revelations about O'Donnell in the past two months: that she campaigned against masturbation in the 90s (despite having a slutty period in college), that she "dabbled" in witchcraft, that she lied about her education on her resume, etc. (Her wikipedia entry, with over 120 sources cited for all these revelations, is proof of this feeding frenzy.)

So why is this Gawker story suddenly going too far? Perhaps because it reveals that while everyone is amused by O'Donnell, and everyone has tacitly agreed up to now that its ok to make fun of her without limit, the story shows she is really just another lonely fucked up person on this planet (Is she any of you in that way?). The story reveals her as someone lonely for companionship, so much so that she has to go show up announced at the apartment of someone she barely knows, and convince them to come to a halloween party with her. Then she drinks heavily to lower her inhibitions. Then she gets into bed with him at the end of the night, and clearly makes herself more vulnerable by seeking sexual companionship. Yeah, without fucking, but she didn't take off her underwear for no reason. Apparently Mr. Loose Lips' tongue wasn't working that well that night. You can tell the guy is a total douchebag -- which makes the fact that Christine sought him out for affection even more sad.

When we made fun of her for everything else, she was still a person. The fact that this story starkly reveals her humanity makes the until-now mirthmakers in the media uncomfortable.

O'Donnell has no chance of being elected to the Senate; she was never qualified in the first place--that's why Karl Rove slammed her. The fact that some Tucker Max-clone (real name here--the guy was pretty easily identified with tried and true internet sleuthing/stalking techniques) decided to make a few bucks off her, when journalists everywhere are already earning money at her expense is hardly shocking.

O'Donnell has apparently responded to the Gawker piece as a "misogynist" attack. But the truth is that candidates should leave what people do in their bedrooms alone, and so should everyone else. When you open that door, it never closes. Don't blame Gawker for that. They say everything is fair in politics, but Christine O'Donnell is not a politician. That's why people are uncomfortable.

Smurf Communism - wikipedia article

2010-10-15T11:23:00.001-07:00

This is the Wikpedia article on Smurf Communism as it appeared on December 15, 2005. A discussion of its deletion from Wikipedia follows after.

Smurf Communism refers to a set of theories about the economic and political system in The Smurfs, a popular comic book and animated series originally created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo. According to various observers, many of whom have written essays published on the Internet, there are many parallels between communist ideology and practices and the way of life depicted in The Smurfs, particularly within the American animated television series.

Appearance

Papa and Brainy [image]
Karl Marx [image]
Papa Smurf [image - hint: papa and karl have similarities...the image below is not from the original article, but one I dug up:]

The theories usually begin by citing what seem to be uncanny aspects of Smurf characters' appearances. Papa Smurf has a wide beard, which some feel looks like Karl Marx's. He also wears red slacks and a red cap, displaying the color of International Communism. Despite the society's communal nature, Papa Smurf does have the ultimate authority, often overruling Brainy Smurf when he oversteps his boundaries. In several episodes when Papa Smurf is not present, the Smurf Village's utopian system destabilizes entirely.

Brainy Smurf, like Leon Trotsky, has round spectacles. There the similarities more or less end, although some see parallels in their position in society. Like Trotsky who felt his intellectual theories of Communist society were superior, he seizes power in several episodes when Papa Smurf is away. Some argue that Brainy was alone in his willingness to question the ideals of 'Smurfism'. This is not supported by the comics, where he definitely does not question the ideals of Smurfism, as he considers himself the strongest supporter or even the disciple of Papa. The rebellion as seen in the King Smurf story is not initiated by Brainy but by an unnamed Smurf.

Nonetheless, Brainy's ideas and remarks at times get him into trouble from Papa Smurf and his peers. He is often isolated, ridiculed or even physically ejected from the village for his never ending rants and condescencion.

Clothing

Leon Trotsky [image]

Brainy Smurf [image]

The Smurfs wear standard clothing (with the notable exception of Papa Smurf): a simple white Phrygian cap and white slacks. Each smurf has minor accessories that differentiate them from each other. This systematic uniform is argued by some as a representation of the largely uniform style of attire dominant in several early periods of the Soviet Union and The People's Republic of China, including the "Mao suit". On the other hand, standard clothing is common in many isolated communities, and is also common in representation of other mystical creatures like dwarfs and gnomes..

Analogy of capitalist forces

Even though the evil wizard Gargamel and his loyal feline worker, Azrael, are argued to represent an analogy of the forces of capitalism, it would be more correct to say that they represent the forces of reaction. In fact Gargamel desires to capture the Smurfs in order to turn them into gold through a magical process of boiling. His greed drives him to great lengths in what is said to be a parallel of the Cold War and its extreme stuggle. The capitalistic forces want to devour socialism, as the West wanted to do to the USSR and its allies according to Cold War propaganda. Gargamel can be seen as a pure capitalist; he wishes to turn everything into a commodity -- including the individuals of a living society.

Gargamel forces Azrael, his ginger cat, to do almost all of the laborious and dangerous activities in his various plots to catch the Smurfs. Azrael can be seen as the lumpen-proletariat, being exploited by Gargamel, the reaction. Azrael is uncomplaining, or, since he has no voice (i.e. class-consciousness), is metaphorically unable to complain. He cannot negotiate his wage--he eats whatever he is given by his master.

Gargamel could be seen as the physical stereotype for capitalism: a man, totally consumed by greed. Some have noted classic Anti-Semitic stereotypes in Gargamel's appearance: a large hook nose and a bald pate, except for the dark bushy hair sprouting over his ears. The name Azrael also has clear Semitic origins. This could allude to Communism's demonization of rich Jewish antagonists in Russia and the Soviet Union (an ironic practice considering that Marx was Jewish). A particularly strong message on this analogy is conveyed in the story of the creation of Smurfette. Intitially, it is Gargamel who creates Smurfette - a duplicitous creature with short, black hair and a larger nose - as a ploy to capture the Smurfs. When Smurfette is later transformed into a "good" Smurf, this transformation is highlighted by Smurfette becoming a blonde with long hair and a much smaller nose which could be considered Aryan traits.

Economics

The Smurfs live in an egalitarian utopia. Each smurf has a particular skill and each performs tasks for the benefit of the community. There is no system of monetary exchange or even barter in the Smurf village. The village is under a planned economy, under the leadership of Papa Smurf, and to some extent, Brainy Smurf.

The food in the Smurf Village was stored away in mushrooms the minute it was harvested and then equally distributed to all the Smurfs throughout the year. No one "farmer smurf" sold his crop to one smurf or another. It was understood that the crop was for the entire Smurf population, not for the sale or profit of one Smurf alone - an example of collective farming.

In the Smurf Comics, Finance Smurf introduced a short-lived system of monetary exchange, based upon the gold standard. He introduces the system after he is exposed to capitalism by trekking to a town in order to retrieve some medicine. He is portrayed as being logically short sighted; the system he introduces leads to corruption, poverty, malnutrition, and general discontent. In addition, the monetary system increased the danger to the village, as Gargamel wished and tried to seize the Smurfs' stockpile of coinage.

Culture

Each member of the community is a Smurf, and each has Smurf as a suffix to their own name; this can be seen as analagous to the use of "comrade." The Smurfs have a tendency to use the word 'smurf' as a prefix or suffix to many sentences. This could be seen as an identity to create a strong group identity or a way to eliminate influences from other cultures. This is similar to what was practiced under Soviet Russia.

With the exception of Smurfette, the Smurfs are completely male. Smurfette herself was created by Gargamel using magic in one episode - she was sent in as an evil force to corrupt and infiltrate the other Smurfs. Upon reaching the village, Smurfette had stiff black hair. Using a spell, Papa Smurf broke Gargamel's hold on Smurfette and she became one with the Smurfs--only now she had blond hair. The Smurfs sometimes do treat Smurfette as an object of attraction, but the majority of the time they grant her respect and place her at an equal level. The society must struggle to prevent the potential decadence created by the female allure. Soviet communism also battled the conflicts between the ideological proclamation of women's rights and the potential downsides to a Western-style sexual liberation. On the other hand, feminist commentators has sometimes decried Smurfette's peculiarly idle and image-obsessed presentation on the show.

Smurf society was almost completely male and there was almost no population growth. Like most children's shows of the time, sex and reproduction was something that was simply not discussed. Some views of history claim records show the most sucessful communes are ones that stay small in population. This is aimed to conserve resources, reduce social conflict, and maintain a high standard of life on an egalitarian scale. Smurfs only found problems with each other due to individual character faults: Brainy's aloofness and condescending attitude, Vanity's obssession with his own apperance, etc.

Smurfs are very open to each other's differences. Yet with these differences, there are few cases of taunting at others' expense due to difference in lifestyle. This reinforces the ideals of acceptance in some visions of communistic and utopian socities.

A true Marxist is an atheist. There is no mention of God in Smurf comics, and there is no Priest Smurf. There are only forces of nature and physics, and these are represented metaphorically by the characters of Mother Nature, Father Time, and through man-made creations such as Clockwork Smurf. Of course, there is also magic, as practised by Papa, Gargamel, Balthazar and others, but it is simply another tool that occurs in nature and has physical properties that can be tapped into with the right know-how.

Criticism and difficulties

Marxism is traditionally based on class struggle. It also involves a dialectic of previous systems ending through their own internal contradictions. There is no evidence the Smurfs had a previous system or that it ever had classes. Hence, unlike historical Communist states like the USSR, there is no evidence that the Smurfs formed out of a revolution or an evolution from a previous system.

The Smurf Village could also be argued to be actively anti-revolutionary or static in nature. Unlike Stalinism or Maoism, large scale societal change is usually discouraged. Handy occasionally tried to introduce elements of industrialization, but these were usually rejected. Most Communist regimes strongly encouraged industrialization as in China's attempted Great Leap Forward or Stalin's Electrification.

Papa Smurf could also lack the authority or punitive capability of most historical Communist leaders. There are no real police or prisons in Smurf village. Judging by the reaction to King Smurf the Smurfs could be argued to reject any authoritarian or totalitarian systems. In the cartoon series Brainy declares himself King Smurf.[1] On the other hand, his disapproval of authoritarian rule does not argue against some form of libertarian socialism or Smurf society representing Communist evolution in its final ideal form.

While the Smurfs' rituals and holidays may not fit Western notions of theology, they do have similarities with animistic religion. As in animism there are spirits of nature and forces that must be placated or reverenced. For example, we see the "dance of a 100 Smurfs" which must be done to avoid potential misfortune. Of course, the Smurf universe is one in which magical forces are known to exist, and in this context it is possible that rituals such as the dance do, in fact, ward off bad luck.

A final difficulty is that the Smurfs seem uninterested in exporting their ideals to other peoples. Despite disdain for living under a monarchy, the Smurfs, in fact, have cordial relations with several feudalistic nobles. In fact the Smurfs were introduced in a Medieval series as helpers for a knight named Johan and his squire. These feudalistic characters are not judged as reactionaries as would be consistent with most Communist theories. Instead the Smurfs are generally friendly to them and are uninterested in fomenting any revolt of the peasant or working classes.

Other circumstantial (or coincidental) points

Communism fell in Russia around the time that The Smurfs were lost from tv syndication and comic publication.
Some websites have argued that "Smurf" is an acronym for "Socialist Men Under Red Father" or "Soviet Men Under Red Father" as a further argument to strengthen Smurf Communistic theory. This theory is apocryphal, as the word Smurf originally came from "Schtroumpf", an invented French word comparable to the English "watchmacallit."
It is not uncommon for animators and writers to introduce subtle adult themes in children's shows, like with Disney's frequent use of sexual symbolism.

See also
Karl Marx
Communism
Capitalism
Utopia
Smurfs
Characters in the Smurfs

References
Communist Smurfs
Socio-Political Smurfs [now dead link, but archived here]
Better Dead than Blue [now dead link, available on internet archive here]
The Smurfs were Communists!
Socialist Smurfs [now dead link, available on internet archive here]
The Theory of Smurfian Communism
Smurfs: Aryan Puppets or Harmless Cartoon Toys?
"Sister" on the Sidelines: "The Smurfs" and the Antifeminist Backlash on Saturday Morning (primarily discussing the anti-feminist depiction of Smurfette, but also making some novel observations about the "socialist utopia" of the Smurfs)

Analysis of deletion, for wikigeeks only

The article was created on September 19, 2005 by editor Larsinio, and was only a few weeks old when first nominated for deletion. In that October 2005 deletion discussion, which approximately 70 editors participated in, the article was kept in a landslide. (See deletion discussion.) The discussion allows a fascinating comparison to be made between the average views of wikipedia editors five years ago as compared to today. The editors overwhelmingly voted to keep the article, and many just because they thought it was an amazing piece of work. Only a very few editors raised the issues that would immediately nuke such as article today, e.g., "C'mon guys, this is transparently a personal essay. Sure, it is amusing as hell but is it enyclopedic? No. --Maru"

After that resounding victory for both Ayn Rand style individual accomplishment and the little blue marxists, however, the article remained in danger. The article was moved from "Smurf Communism" to "The Smurfs and communism", surely for some ridiculous but earnest reasons, and was re-nominated for deletion in February 2006. (See Deletion discussion). Again, it was overwhelmingly kept, though fewer editors participated (about 40).

Fast forward one year and eight months to October 2007.

Up for a deletion a third time, this time the Smurfs could not escape the deletionist Gargamels. (See deletion discussion). Only about 14 editors participated in the discussion, and there was not a single keep vote--the best the article could garner was a few suggestions to merge the article elsewhere. It appears that the type of editor who fancied or at least tolerated articles like this in the past had mostly departed the project by this point. In addition, the enactment and enforcement of Wikipedia policies and guidelines such as the policy against original research and the notability guideline clearly had become much more effective at this point.

During its heyday, however, the Smurf Communism article was widely enjoyed and cited on the internet. E.g, noted wikipedian and inclusionist Andrew Lih (May 25, 2006)

WTF is the "Faith and Flag Alliance"?

2010-09-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

Amongst all the craziness that has come out about Christine O'Donnell this month, I've noticed that in a number of her past TV appearances (2007-08 at least) she was reported to be part of, or President of, the "Faith and Flag Alliance." The title is used on Fox News clips, for example, to apparently give her some reason to be on TV as a commentator. But I can find no evidence of this group having any existence beyond Ms. O'Donnell. (Of course, prior to that, O'Donnell was the president and founder of S.A.L.T., her anti-masturbation group. It is also unclear how many members SALT ever had, there is some evidence it had a few members.)

The very name "Faith and Flag Alliance" screams out like some kind of demand to repeal the First Amendment.

* Google news archives hits for "faith and flag alliance" currently yield one result, to a transcript of a March 2008 appearance on Fox News.

Just more ridiculous stuff.

Song of the Day - Into It. Over It. - Summerville, SC (2010)

2010-09-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

Holy smokes, this guy is intense. The "band" is actually one guy (the mid-20s Evan Weiss), who runs with a sub-culture of young punk pop bands that I know little of (he was previously with the little-known and most-ridiculously-named-band-ever "Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start"). But this tune crosses over into a modern day version of melodic Husker Du mayhem (screaming "standing on a soapbox, but no one wants to listen, come on man its 3 a.m.") It deserves to be more than a niche gem.

Nettleton Middle School Declares President Obama Is White

2010-08-27T06:18:00.001-07:00

I ran across this story on Gawker last night, reporting that at Nettleton Middle School in northeast Missisippi, class officer elections are segregated by race! (The story was first broken by mixedandhappy.com on August 25, see here, then picked up yesterday by Gawker and The Smoking Gun. For a local report ~~radio report by wbci.com~~ by wcbi.com also dated Aug 26, see here.)

UPDATED 12:44pm PDT: School district has reversed the student election policy, scroll down to bottom for updated info.

Here's the real flyer they distributed to students:

W.T.F.!?!?!?!

Brandy and Dondi Springer, who recently moved to the area, found out about the policy when their daughter got excited about running for class "reporter" but found out that that position was set aside for black students. The daughter was encouraged to run for president, however, since that is a whites-only job. In fact, all the president positions are set-asides for whites. (Ya see -- we already have a black president, Obama! Get it? Har har har. You know someone had to have been making that joke down there in Nettleton.)

Brandy couldn't believe what her daughter was told was true, but she found out it was, as the flyer proves.

Brandy is Italian and Dondi is African-American. Her oldest daughter is white, and her youngest two kids are biracial. When she asked what category they would fall in, she was told, to "go by the mother’s race b/c with minorities the father isn’t generally in the home.”

W.T.F.1!?!?!!?!!?!?!!? (However, this helpful rule proves that President Obama is not the first black president. But now he's eligible to run for 6th grade president again!! YAAY!!!)

Apparently, Brandy was also told that "a city court order is the reason why it is this way." This surprises me because the US Departments of Justice and Education have made clear that segregating class positions like this is illegal. As stated in 2004:

As a new school year begins, we write to advise you of a recurrent issue that we have encountered involving extra-curricular activities: the allocating of awards or honors on the basis of race. We have found, for example, that some school districts have racially separate Homecoming Queens and Kings, Most Popular Student, Most Friendly, as well as other superlatives. We have also found that school districts have assisted in facilitating racially-separate proms. Indeed, our attorneys have been made aware of several examples of these types of activities as recently as last year.

These practices are inconsistent with federal law. The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the Department of Education will act promptly to remedy such violations where they occur, through litigation if necessary.

So, the school district has put out a release saying they are examining their policies, which is a very good sign, under the hastily added link for "media satements" (sic), see here:

"Student elections have not yet been held at Nettleton Middle School for the 2010-2011 school term. The processes and procedures for student elections are under review. We are reviewing the origin of these processes, historical applications, compliance issues, as well as current implications and ramifications. A statement will be released when review of these processes is complete."

So its a good thing that the school district is "examining" policies that violate U.S. law, I suppose. I really wonder how long this has been going on. (Nettleton, by the way, is not too far south of Fulton, home of Itawamba Agricultural High School, which just this year barred lesbian student Constance McMillen from attending its prom with a same-sex date, and then created a fake prom to shuttle her off to, resulting in major legal problems for the district.)

The school district's handbook has come off their website. But here is page 52, however, which provides for separate black and white homecoming queens!

W.T.F.!!@#?!??!?!??!??! Its always intriguing to find blatant violations of law in your kid's student handbook. Makes you wonder what else is being taught.

Sigh.

Other commentary on this controversy:

Blacks Clearly Unfit to Be President, TheSoftCheese.com (Aug. 26, 2010), "It’s interesting that school principal Van Ross (pictured) is African-American."
nettleton 0, facebook 1, liturgyoutside.net (Aug. 27), "there were several jarring aspects to the paper not the least of which is the erroneous expectation that a child is either black or white."

ETA 10:33 am PDT: MSNBC has the story with an interview of Mrs. Springer, also posting the homecoming policy!

ETA 10:38am PDT. Brandi Springer reports on facebook: "Brandy Springer MSNBC just sent me an email the school board is having an emergency board meeting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RIGHT NOW about a minute ago"

ETA 12:44 pm PDT: The school district has eliminated the policy, which reportedly stood for at least 30 years, see here.

Here is the press release:

Media Statement
After being notified of a grievance regarding upcoming student elections at Nettleton Middle School, research was conducted that evidenced that the current practices and procedures for student elections have existed for over 30 years. It is the belief of the current administration that these procedures were implemented to help ensure minority representation and involvement in the student body. It is felt the intent of these election procedures was to ensure African-American representation in each student office category through an annual rotation basis.

It is our hope and desire that these practices and procedures are no longer needed to help ensure minority representation and involvement. Furthermore, the Nettleton School District acknowledges and embraces the fact that we are growing in ethnic diversity and that the classifications of Caucasian and African-American no longer reflect our entire student body.

Therefore, beginning immediately, student elections at Nettleton School District will no longer have a classification of ethnicity. It is our intent that each student has equal opportunity to seek election for any student office. Future student elections will be monitored to help ensure that this change in process and procedure does not adversely affect minority representation in student elections.

Thank you

Superintendent

Russell Taylor

I could have bet they would have said this. What about the homecoming court, though?

Michael Enright (filmmaker) - Wikipedia article

2010-08-26T22:18:00.000-07:00

This is the text of the wikipedia article for Michael Enright as it appeared maybe an hour ago. Various iterations of the same article have been serially deleted from Wikipedia today, even a deletion discussion was rapidly aborted.

Michael Enright (filmmaker) is an American film student.

==Childhood and education==

Enright grew up in [[Brewster, New York]]1 and is 2007 graduate of Brewster High School. Enright studies film at the [[School of Visual Arts]] in Manhattan.1 As a film student, he arranged to be embedded with the First Battalion, Third Marine Regiment in Afghanistan by working as an upaid intern with the online video company, Worldwide TV. He joined the marine unit on April 5, 2010, in Helmand Province. He departed on May 10. Although there were no casualties while Enright was with the unit, there had been 5 men killed shortly before he arrived.1

==Embedded with troops in Afghanistan==

==Taxi incident==

Enright was arrested on August 25, 2010 and charged with a hate crime after attacking a New York City taxi driver.1 According to the taxi driver, Ahmed Sharif, Enright inquired whether he was Muslim and offered him the traditional Arabic greeting, “salaam aleikum,” ( “peace be upon you.”)1 He enquired whether Mr. Sharif was observing Ramadan, then began ro curse and slashed Sharif's face with a knife, saying the he, Enright, had to stop the King of Saudi Arabia at a checkpoint.1

Arresting officers believed that Enright was inebriated.2 Enright told the police that he had begun drinking at 2pm, 4 hours before the attack.1 According to the New York Times, Enright has been in counseling for alcohol problems.1

==Public response==

The attack drew wide public attention because it occurred in the midst of a national controversy over the construction of the Cordoba House mosque.1

==References==
1. "Man in Cab Stabbing Showed Zeal for Veterans,", Ray Rivera, Aug. 26, 2010, New York Times.
2. "Rider Asks if Cabby Is Muslim, Then Stabs Him,", N. R. Kleinfeld, Aug. 25, 2010, New York Times,

Analysis of deletion (for wikigeeks only):

At least four versions of a Michael Enright article were created in the last 24 hours. Each were rapidly deleted. A deletion discussion aimed to have a discussion on the subject was also rapidly closed. The theory behind the deletions it that Michael Enright is only famous for something bad, and only one event, and that these kinds of articles "disparage" the subject. I disagree in this case because I have found that in cases like this, the subject's wikipedia article is usually the least biased source of information out there, because it is so highly watched, etc., by wiki editors while its a big news event. Without a wiki article, googlers will be directed to any number of wacko blogposts that are much more biased, less comprehensive, and likely inaccurate.

The Truth About The Burlington Coat Factory Mosque

2010-08-12T07:58:00.000-07:00

The shrill prejudice and idiocy regarding the "Ground Zero Mosque" (Park51) and calls to destroy our Constitutional guarantee to freedom of religion by banning all mosque building in the United States, because all mosques are alleged terrorist training centers, is driving me crazy. (Of course, a recent two-year scientific study showed that mosques actually deter the creation of militants. But we can't let scientific inquiry, a foundation of America's preeminence in the world, get in the way of ignorant prejudice anymore, can we?)

To clear up the most popular misconceptions, assuming facts matter to you:

1. Its NOT at Ground Zero. Many people are totally misinformed on this. Its actually a few blocks (2.5 blocks) away from the Twin Towers site. In Manhattan, every block is like its own city. The site, at 51 Park Place, used to be a Burlington Coat Factory. In the below map, using a 1997 photo of lower manhattan from Google Earth, you can see marked the former locations of where WTC1 and WTC2 stood, and the planned location of "the mosque" on Park Place (marked "Burlington Coat Factory"). You can't even see 51 Park Place from Ground Zero, nor vice-versa. Also on the map is the location of Masjid Manhattan, which is just to the north. This is an existing mosque which has been open since 1970 (should it also be stopped??). And, lastly, also marked is the location of New York Dolls, a strip club. As far as I'm aware it has not been redubbed the "Ground Zero Stripclub."

Current view of planned site for Park51:

2. Its not a mosque. "The Ground Zero Mosque" (actually called the Cordoba House, but later renamed Park51 after the crazies started coming out) is not really a "mosque" at all. It is meant to be a 13-story community center, like the YMCA (modeled after the 92nd St Y in Manhattan in fact), though it certainly will contain a decent sized worship/prayer space. But it will also have a restaurant, a pool, a basketball court, child-care center, and a 500-seat performing arts center.

3. Manhattan's local government has approved the construction of this muslim community center. You know, local government? The concept of self-governance? Democracy? You heard of that? E.g., on August 3, the City's Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 9-zip to deny an effort to declare the Burlington Coat Factory a historic landmark. Prior to that, the project was approved by Community Board 1 , which is a 50 member body of local citizens who make recommendations for the neighborhood where Park51 will be built. The 12-member Financial District committee of the Board (the World Trade Center was the heart of the financial district) unanimously approved it. The Community Board also subsquently approved it, 29-1 on May 25, 2010 (with 9 abstentions).

In attendance at the vote approving the center was the mother of Mohammed Salman "Sal" Hamdani, a police cadet and EMT who died at the World Trade Center on 9/11, medical bag by his side. Yeah, Sal was a devout Muslim.

Much of the controversy over the "Ground Zero Mosque" comes from people who do not reside in Manhattan and do not pay a penny in NYC taxes. They get stirred up by folks who want to spread hatred, like Mark Williams, the recently-fired racist Tea Party leader who said Park51 will honor "the terrorists' monkey god." Meanwhile, the people who want to build Park51 actually bought the property, which was always private property. It is not "sacred ground," it is not subject to eminent domain. (Note, conservatives and liberals rightfully went crazy when the US Supreme Court upheld a taking of private property in Kelo in 2005, so its crazy to argue that it would be proper here to try to stop the project.)

Total nutjobs destroyed the Twin Towers on 9/11, and other nutjobs abused Islam to convince them to do it. Ignorance and intolerance is the source of terrorism. Sadly, many of those opposing Park51 are unwittingly being swayed by the same ignorance and intolerance. I think Sal deserves better.

Fake Conservative Chicks on Twitter, Example #1

2010-08-09T13:04:00.000-07:00

OK, I know there are fake twitter accounts out there all over the place, but this one was so absurd it I just had to call it out.

I recently have added a number of twitter followers, courtesy of my current top-rated tweet for the #tcot hashtag right now, "top conservatives on twitter" - for a tweet noting, quote, "prop 8 calif. federal judge was appointed by that crazy liberal Pres. George HW Bush!!! #tcot #prop8." I know, I'm a master of English prose, right?

Anyway, one of these new followers is an alleged conservative chick, LaurieT333. With a suitable avatar photo of a fairly attractive young female, "Laurie" describes herself as "Raised in horseback country. I'm a conservative girl who can shoot, vote, and think for myself - which pisses off liberals."

The most intriguing thing about LaurieT333 is that she never sleeps. Just scrolling back through her posts in the last few days, she just keeps posting and posting with never a break of more than 2 or 3 hours. She never posts a personal opinion about anything, just a conservative talking point with a link to some crazy article.

Below is a sample of her tweet posting times for Fri-Sat August 6-7, 2010 (all times are Central Standard Time, or Eastern Daylight Time). She often posts a number of tweets at a time, but this clearly shows that LaurieT333 has no time to sleep, eat, shit, or do any of the fun things most attractive young American females are doing when the rest of us ugly geeks are arguing politics on the internet. And even so, the rest of cannot tweet nonstop.

Its so pathetic that some conservative operative groups have to resort to such blatant hoaxing. No doubt LaurieT333 gets a good smattering of conservative dudes to follow her (she has 280 followers so far, and its a relatively new account it appears). It's like Twitter blow up dolls, go figure.

I would love it if someone could track down the source of the avatar photo, like Media Matters did in the bizarre Kevin Pezzi episode last week (scroll down to the "astroturfing" section of that link to see what I am referring to).

How many of these fake conservative twitter accounts are there? If the expose of the right-wing scheme to corner Reddit that came out last week is true, I bet there are tons.

Sat Aug 6
23:59
22:14
21:24
21:17
20:44
20:18
19:21
19:18
19:06
18:47
17:50
17:48
17:14
17:05
16:50
16:19
15:48
15:24
14:47
14:16
13:46
13:17
12:53
12:44
12:15
12:01
11:51
11:45
11:20
10:15
9:57
9:14
8:14
7:46
7:24
6:13
5:14
4:55
2:28
1:48
1:27
0:52
0:27

Fri Aug 6
22:45
22:15
21:46
21:21
18:59
18:47
18:16
17:48
17:16
16:58
16:45
16:17
15:49
15:28
15:16
14:56
14:52
14:24
14:00
13:50
13:33
13:22
13:04
12:54
12:51
12:20
11:52
11:29
11:16
10:58
10:31
9:58
9:45
9:21
8:57
8:18
7:56
6:19
4:30
4:15
1:47

Thurs Aug 5
23:57

Crissy Moran - wikipedia article

2010-06-21T06:15:00.001-07:00

This is the wikipedia article on Crissy Moran as it appeared prior to its deletion on June 20, 2010.

Crissy Moran
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crissy Moran

Born December 22, 1975 (1975-12-22) (age 34)[1]
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.[1]
Other name(s) Chrissy Morgan, Chrissy M., Chrissy Moran, Crissy M[1]
Occupation Film actress, Former porn actress
Years active 1999-present
Official website

Crissy Moran (born December 22, 1975)[2] is an American former pornographic actress. She began working in adult entertainment in 1999, and since 2001 had performed in over 40 adult films.[1][3][4] In 2006, she became a Christian and quit working in the sex industry. After retirement, she began speaking out and appearing in national media projects addressing the harms of pornography, human sex trafficking, and the exploitation of women and children.[5]

Contents
* 1 Adult film career
* 2 Mainstream film career
* 3 Anti-pornography advocacy
* 4 References
* 5 External links

Adult film career
Moran's career in the sex industry began in the fall of 1999 with her first pornographic photo shoot.[2][3][6][7] At the time, she was working at a local Hooters restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida. However, she felt that the environment became degrading and she began seeking employment elsewhere. She left Hooters and began working in a variety of other jobs which included a local retail store, the County Clerk of Courts, and the Supervisor of Elections office.[3]

One day, after posting bikini photos of herself on the Internet,[2][6][7] she received email responses that led to her modeling in Miami and Los Angeles for Playboy and Hustler,[8] She found greater financial success through establishing her own online pornography site.[3][4] After moving to California, she eventually performed in over 40 mainstream porn films.[3][4] In late 2005, Crissy received new breast implants.[9]

It was reported that Moran was making nearly $15,000[5] each month through her work in the porn business, along with receipts from her successful Web site. However, in October 2006, she became a Christian and announced that she was leaving the sex industry.[3][4][6][10]

Mainstream film career
Prior to her retirement from the porn industry, Moran had a role in Nick Palumbo's theatrically released NC-17 horror film Murder-Set-Pieces (2004).[11]

In 2008, Moran appeared in the short dramatic film Oversold, which was a modern adaptation based on the Biblical story of Hosea and Gomer, in which she plays the leading role.[6][12] Director Paul Morrell had approached Moran, originally wishing her to be a consultant for the adult business side of the story. But after discussing the project with her, he realized she would be perfect in the lead role.[13]

In 2009, Moran had a role in another Paul Morell project, the indie horror film Filth to Ashes, Flesh to Dust,[14][15] which took the best elements of 70s and 80s slasher films and gave it a modern twist.

In 2010, Moran appeared in the documentary, Exxxit: Life After Porn,[16][17] which is an exploration into the personal side of the six billion dollar a year pornography industry. Other participants included Asia Carrera, Nina Hartley, Mary Carey, Houston, Randy West, Richard Pacheco, John Leslie, Amber Lynn, Seka, Raylene, Luke Ford, Bill Margold, Shelley Lubben, and Sunset Thomas. In their own words, over a dozen men and women who have retired from the porn industry, recounted their life and times in the business, and how it's led to where they ended up afterwards.
[edit] Anti-pornography advocacy

Moran currently lives in the Los Angeles area. While she left the sex industry in 2006, pornographic photos and videos taken during her time working in the adult entertainment industry continue to remain online. Although efforts to date have been unsuccessful, Moran continues to attempt to have her photos legally removed from these Web sites established by past boyfriends and business partners.[5][10]

In April 2010, Moran began working with Shelley Lubben and the Pink Cross Foundation as they set up a booth and distributed materials during the Adultcon Adult Entertainment Show in Los Angeles. Materials distributed included educational materials for individuals working in the porn industry that addressed various topics such as STDs, Cal OSHA laws, and contractor vs employee law. Religious materials distributed included Bibles, books, and various Christian literature.[18]

In addition to working with the Pink Cross Foundation, Moran has also serves on the Advisory board of Beauty from Ashes Ministries[19] and assists with local outreaches organized by Harmony Dust and Treasures Out of Darkness.[20]

References
1. ^ a b c d "Crissy Moran". Internet Adult Film Database. . Retrieved 14 June 2010.
2. ^ a b c Daniels, Tripp (June 1, 2003). "Crissy Moran - Full Metal Beauty". Adult Video News (avn.com). Retrieved 14 June 2010.
3. ^ a b c d e f "She quit porn industry and turned to Christ". The Florida Times-Union (Morris Communications). December 3, 2007. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
4. ^ a b c d Cosmopolis (December 27, 2007). "Crissy Moran – Patrónka porna?" (in Slovak). Magazin (magazin.atlas.sk). Retrieved 14 June 2010.
5. ^ a b c ABC News Nightline: "Is There Life After Porn for the Stars?"
6. ^ a b c d Frisbie, Annie Young (February 11, 2009). "Porn Star No More". Christianity Today (christianitytoday.com). Retrieved 14 June 2010.
7. ^ a b "Crissy Moran, una mala que vio la luz" (in Spanish). El Argentino. elargentino.com. January 29, 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
8. ^ Rimet, Martin (November 28, 2006). "Crissy Moran quitte le porno pour...la religion" (in French). MAXIvip. maxivip.fr. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
9. ^ Moran, Crissy (October 30, 2005). "Boobs healing nicely and new puppy". Crissy Moran 2005 official blog. Crissy Moran. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
10. ^ a b "Crissy Moran". The Insider (CBS Entertainment). Retrieved 14 June 2010.
11. ^ John Willis, Barry Monush, ed (2006). SCREEN WORLD. 57 (illustrated ed.). Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 186. ISBN 1557837066. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
12. ^ Luke Price. "Former Porn Star Sees Film As Vehicle For Telling Story". OversoldTheMovie.com. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
13. ^ "Interview With Paul Morrell on Oversold, Starring Crissy Moran". Christian Movie. christian-movie.com. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
14. ^ "Trailer Debut: Filth to Ashes, Flesh to Dust". Dread Central. Dread Central Media, LLC. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
15. ^ "Filth to Ashes, Flesh to Dust Unveils Serial Killer Purge in this Clip". 28 Days Later Analysis. 28DLA.com. May 13, 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
16. ^ Goldberg, Matt (June 9, 2010). "Exxxit: Life After Porn". Collider. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
17. ^ "Exxxit: Lust, Labia Trimmings, And The Lasting Stigma Of Porn". Jezebel. Gawker Media. June 11, 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
18. ^ Moran, Crissy (April 7, 2010). "Adultcon This Weekend - Please Read :-)". Chrissy Moran Myspace. Chrissy Moran. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
19. ^ Beauty from Ashes Ministries
20. ^ Guardian Angel Article

External links
* Crissy Moran at the Internet Movie Database
* Crissy Moran at the Internet Adult Film Database
* Beauty from Ashes
* Pink Cross Foundation
* Treasures Out of Darkness

Analysis of deletion - for wikigeeks only
This article was nominated for deletion on June 12, 2010, and deleted on June 20. The editors participating in the discussion voted 10-6 to keep the article, but the closing administrator essentially disregarded whether there was consensus to delete the article or not (which is the governing criterion) and decided it should be deleted. This happens among wikipedia admins squeamish about sex-related articles. The amount of news coverage of this woman is far beyond what many folks on wikipedia need to pass muster. E.g., if Crissy Moran was, say, a chef instead of a former-porn-star-turned Christian, this article would never be deleted.

In fact, this is the 3rd time this article was nominated for deletion. The first nomination, back in June 2006, resulted in a strong keep, with most editors voicing an opinion that the article be retained. A second nomination, in January 2007, failed to garner a single editor in favor of deletion. This time, however, despite numerous additional sources being added to the article, and a majority of those participating voicing that it should be kept (with valid rationales), someone who wanted to delete it, deleted it.

50 Cutest Child Stars: All Grown Up - wikipedia article

2010-06-16T05:58:00.000-07:00

This is the text of the wikipedia article for "50 Cutest Child Stars: All Grown Up", as it appeared on June 4, 2010, prior to its deletion on June 11, 2010.

50 Cutest Child Stars: All Grown Up
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

50 Cutest Child Stars: All Grown Up
Genre: Documentary
Written by Ethan T. Berlin, Bob Stone
Directed by Dan Riley
Presented by Candace Cameron Bure, Keshia Knight Pulliam
Narrated by Candace Cameron Bure, Keisha Knight-Pulliam
Country of origin United States
Language(s) English
Production
Executive producer(s) Gary Socol
Producer(s) Sherri Hoke, Andrea Rothstein
Editor(s) Noah Harald, Matt Kimball
Running time 120 min
Production company(s) E! Entertainment Television
Broadcast
Original channel E!
First shown in November 12, 2005

50 Cutest Child Stars: All Grown Up is an American television special that first aired on E! in 2005.[1][2]

Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Response
* 3 Countdown
* 4 References
* 5 External links

Background

The special was hosted by Candace Cameron Bure[3] and Keshia Knight Pulliam,[4] both of whom appear on the countdown. It has been rebroadcast periodically,[5][6][7][8] including by Star! in Canada.[4]

Response

In 2006, the Toronto Star published their own list in response to the special, referring to it as "Seven Cutest Child Stars: Not Grown Up Yet, But When They are This is What Will Happen".[4] Dakota Fanning is named on both the E! special and the response article.[4] Sloan Freer wrote in The Observer that the list was "veg-out, no-brainer viewing" which contained "plenty of debatable selections to shout at the TV about - especially when you get to the top spot, which frankly I think is a cheat."[9] The Sunday Mail criticized the list for including "American stars only".[10]

Countdown

Number Star(s)
50 Cast of The Facts of Life
49 Erin Murphy
48 Chad Allen
47 Natalie Portman
46 Neil Patrick Harris
45 Sean Astin
44 Sara Gilbert
43 Nicole Eggert
42 Tina Majorino
41 Cast of Saved by the Bell
40 Fred and Ben Savage
39 Jaleel White[4]
38 Tia and Tamera Mowry
37 Danny Bonaduce
36 Jason Bateman
35 Jonathan Taylor Thomas
34 Lacey Chabert
33 Amanda Bynes
32 Thora Birch
31 Rick Schroder
30 Michael Fishman
29 Lindsay Lohan
28 Hallie Kate Eisenberg
27 Melissa Gilbert[10]
26 Emmanuel Lewis[10]
25 Candace Cameron Bure
24 Gaby Hoffman
23 Leonardo DiCaprio
22 Lance Kerwin[7]
21 Lukas Haas
20 Tatyana Ali
19 Frankie Muniz[10]
18 Ross Malinger
17 Raven-Symoné
16 Elijah Wood[10]
15 Rodney Allen Rippy
14 Kirsten Dunst
13 Soleil Moon Frye
12 Kirk Cameron
11 Keshia Knight Pulliam[4]
10 Jonathan Lipnicki
9 Dakota Fanning
8 Gary Coleman
7 Haley Joel Osment[10]
6 Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen[10]
5 Alyssa Milano
4 Henry Thomas
3 Drew Barrymore[10]
2 Macaulay Culkin[8]
1 Bart, Lisa, and Maggie Simpson[10]

References
1. ^ Riggs, Thomas (2007). Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television, Volume 72. Thomson Gale. p. 172. ISBN 9780787690458. http://books.google.com/books?id=bOJkAAAAMbook1AAJ&q=50+%22cutest+child+stars%22+%22all+grown+up%22&dq=50+%22cutest+child+stars%22+%22all+grown+up%22&hl=en&ei=9nEITMEegaw1rOSEtgQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ.
2. ^ Slezak, Michael (November 21, 2005). "Is Rudy Huxtable the world's cutest child star?". Entertainment Weekly. http://popwatch.ew.com/2005/11/21/e_names_worlds_/. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
3. ^ De Leon, Kris (August 2, 2007). "What Are They Up To? Full House's Candace Cameron". Buddy TV. http://www.buddytv.com/articles/full-house/what-are-they-up-to-full-house-8989.aspx. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
4. ^ a b c d e f Arpe Pretty, Malene (2006-01-07). "Child Stars". The Toronto Star: p. K02.
5. ^ "Today and Tomorow". The Hour. November 28, 2005. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xhIhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PXUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6329,3977714&dq=50+cutest+child+stars+all+grown+up&hl=en. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
6. ^ "50 Cutest Child Stars: All Grown Up". Lawrence Journal-World. December 8, 2007. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9XMyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kucFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5531,6775260&dq=50+cutest+child+stars+all+grown+up&hl=en. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
7. ^ a b Goodings, Scott. "Thursday - Pay TV". The Age: p. 46.
8. ^ a b "Digital Highlights - Saturday January 21". The Daily Telegraph: p. 25. 2006-01-18.
9. ^ Freer, Sloan (2007-09-09). "Pick of the Day". The Observer: p. 24.
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Top TV". The Sunday Mail: p. G27. 2006-09-17.

External links

* 50 Cutest Child Stars: All Grown Up at the Internet Movie Database

Categories: American television specials | E! network shows

Analysis of deletion (for wikigeeks only)

Some people hate Gary Coleman.

Fuck BP on Youtube ("Friend BP on Youtube?!!")

2010-06-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

I just noticed this add for BP ("Friend BP on Youtube: Visit BP's page on youtube for latest gulf spill video updates. www.youtube.com/BPplc") Apparently BP has been spending big money buying up search terms and on youtube to direct people to their own narrative of their monumental fuckup oil spill. (see link, e.g.,: 1) Note that the video linked in the above graphic is rated 1 out of 5 stars, haha, BP is paying to spread their own bad publicity.

WHAT THE FUCK!

So if you stumble across one of these "Friend BP on Youtube" ads, please do not friend BP. Instead, type whereever you can find to type it "FUCK BP ON YOUTUBE"

As a corporation, BP committed a grevious fuckup in running a grossly negligent drilling operation, which led to a disaster which they completely underestimated the risk of. The liability to which BP has exposed itself it enormous, so like any huge corporation, it is fighting for its life. BP may well no longer exist within 2 years, if they are not shielded like a welfare mama from having to pay for actual damage the spill caused.

FUCK BP.

Do not "Friend BP on Youtube" BP is not your friend. It is not a good corporate citizen.

Debrahlee Lorenzana - wikipedia article

2010-06-14T06:04:00.000-07:00

This is a copy of the wikipedia article on Debrahlee Lorenzana as it appeared prior to its deletion on June 14, 2010.

Debrahlee Lorenzana (born 1977) is a financial-services professional who was sacked from her banking position at the Chrysler Building branch of Citigroup in New York City in 2010 after she was allegedly warned repeatedly that her clothes were too distracting, tight, and inappropriate.[1] In turn, Lorenzana filed a lawsuit against Citigroup alleging that she was fired "as a result of the shape of her figure, such clothes were purportedly 'too distracting' for her male colleagues and supervisors to bear."[2] The suit was referred to arbitration instead of a jury trial under her employment agreement.[3]

Citigroup has stated that "Ms. Lorenzana has chosen to make numerous unfounded accusations and inaccurate statements against Citibank and several of our employees. While we will not discuss the details of her case, we can say that her termination was solely performance-based and not at all related to her appearance or attire. We are confident that when all of the facts and documentation are presented, the claim will be dismissed."[4]

Lorenzana subsequently found employment with JPMorgan Chase.[5] Lorenzana has reported receiving pressure from her new employer to stop publicizing her dismissal from Citibank.[6]

Lorenzana's story made international news in June 2010, raising discussions about lookism.[7]

[Milo adds: Subsequently, it was found, that Ms. Lorenzaza appeared in online videos of a few years vintage touting breast implant surgery, where much mirth was made of her comments that she wanted to be like a Playboy Playmate, and "tits on a stick." Because, you know, lots of guys love breast implants, but most guys on the internet are unlikely to ever mate with a woman as attractive (if somewhat misguided, perhaps a bit ditzy, and probably a bit lonely) as Ms. Lorenzana.]

[Update October 28 2010: This article appears to remain quite popular. As a quick update, in late September 2010 it was reported that Lorenzana had rebuffed requests to appear in Playboy and on reality TV shows, and was uncomfortable with the huge amount of attention placed on her, though she hoped her experience served as an example for others to stand up for their rights.'Sexy banker' Debrahlee Lorenzana has no interest in fame, Playboy - just wants to be an example (NY Daily News, 26 Sept 2010) And, like clockwork, in October 2010, a group of female Citigroup employees filed suit against the company for discrimination, and news reports cited to Lorenzana's case as a related prior event.Sex And The Citigroup: Women Sue US Bank (Sky News, 15 Oct 2010); Citigroup accused of discrimination (Telegraph, 14 Oct 2010)]

Contents

* 1 Awards
* 2 References
* 3 External links
* 3.1 Videos

Awards

* In April 2003, the Municipal Credit Union named Lorenzana its sales rep of the month.[8]

References

1. ^ Pressler, Jessica (6/2/10 at 1:20 PM). >"Debrahlee Lorenzana Can't Help It If She's Not 'Short, Overweight,' and Boring Like the Other Women at Citigroup -- Daily Intel". New York. . Retrieved 5 June 2010.
2. ^ Dwoskin, Elizabeth (Tuesday, Jun 1 2010). "Is This Woman Too Hot To Be a Banker?". The Village Voice. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
3. ^ "Arbitration clause won't allow 'too hot' ex-employee to sue Citibank". Sify. 2010-06-05 15:20:00. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
4. ^ Casserly, Meghan. "Debrahlee Lorenzana: Is the ex-Citibank employee Victim or Villain?« Work in Progress - Forbes.com". Forbes. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
5. ^ "You'll pay if you ax bank babe". New York Post. June 8, 2010. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
6. ^ "Bank girl faces being fired from latest job for talking about dismissal from Citigroup for being 'too sexy'". Daily Mail. June 8, 2010. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
7. ^ Jen Doll & Elizabeth Dwoskin (June 7, 2010). "Debrahlee Lorenzana Story Goes Global, Viral, Crazy". The Village Voice (blog). Retrieved June 8, 2010.
8. ^ Bennett, Jessica (June 04, 2010). "Too Hot in the Workplace? It Can Cost You Your Job. - Newsweek". Newsweek. Retrieved 5 June 2010.

External links

* Too Hot for Citibank?, Village Voice Picture Slideshow

Videos

* Debrahlee “Too Hot For Citi” Lorenzana Explains Why She Wanted To Be “Tits On A Stick”, DealBreaker
* Banking beauty Debrahlee Lorenzana had two boob jobs, wanted to be stacked like Playboy Playmate, Daily News (New York)
* Discovery Health Catches Debrahlee Fever (Video), Daily News (New York)
* Suit: Woman Fired From Citibank For Being 'Too Sexy', PIX11 video
* Too Hot to Work?, CBS
* Could Dressing Too Sexy Get You Fired?, Fox 2 KTVI

Analysis of Deletion (for wikigeeks only)

This is the sort of article that when I hear about the underlying news story, I go see whether a wikipedia article has been created, and I frequently find that it is nominated for deletion. This story received incredible amounts of press attention, though no doubt its because of the titillating content and the numerous photo galleries for which the attractive Ms. Lorenzana posed. Sex sells. The article was nominated for deletion on June 7. While the number of votes for deletion and retaining were equal, suggesting that the normal rule of "lack of consensus" and "default to keep" would apply, the closing administrator chose to delete because he found the "deletion arguments more persuasive" which simply means he applied his opinion and deleted it. This does not shock me, because a number of wikipedia editors are squeamish about articles like this, despite the fact that the press appears to find such stories highly notable. In these cases, some wikipedia administrators are reluctant to "close" the deletion discussion and make a call either way, and then the editor who does decide to finally do it is likely to be in favor of deletion.

This is not disimiliar to the story of Rachel Uchitel, which I have written about before. Uchitel's article was deleted in December 2009, but recently reappeared, only to be renominated for deletion within one hour. But I often stumble across instances of previously deleted articles that were later recreated. As of right now, the English wikipedia is growing at a rate of 1087 articles per day. Outside of unverifiable articles, hoaxes, vandalism, attacks, and spam, anything of interest to more than a few people returns in the long run. In fact, this just recently happened to Donna Simpson, who I also wrote about. Her article, once deleted, has now returned, and survived her 2nd deletion nomination. So, have no fear, Mr. Lorenzana and Ms. Uchitel (if deleted again) won't be gone forever.

Itawamba "Private" Prom was Continuation of School Sponsored PROM - BREAKING NEWS

2010-04-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

So if you are reading this you probably have heard all about how Itawamba High School held a "secret" "private" prom on Friday April 2, 2010, and did not invite gay classmate Constance McMillen, who was instead directed to attend a fake decoy prom attended by only 7 students, including 2 learning-disabled ones.

Yes, very horrible. But there's also WORSE proof that the "secret" prom was the school prom all along.

So ... on facebook I see classmates and parents of the bigoted students defensively saying crap like "Constance got to go to the 'prom', she can't complain" and refer to the real prom as a "party". Example:

Of course that was posted on a "prom 2010" photo folder.

Well, as you probably know, the "private party" line is a COMPLETE LIE. The Secret Prom was the REAL PROM all along. And Constance was intentionally excluded from it in violation of the US Constitution. When NMisscommentor first broke the story about the secret prom, he noted, "Meanwhile, there’s a rumor that school officials were directly involved in setting up the “fake” prom."

This rumor seems to be true.

On February 5, 2010, Itawamba students were sent a flyer explaining the rules for the prom and that the theme was MASQUERADE:

(Note also that dates MUST BE of the opposite sex.)

After they claimed to cancel the official prom to avoid Constance from attending, a federal judge ruled that that act violated the Constitution. But he didn't require the school to reinstitute the prom because he was told a private prom was being planned that ALL students could attend. In fact, however, USAToday reported that Constance would not be permitted to bring a same-sex date or wear a tux to it (which is what the federal judge already had said was discrimination). Well, they ended up "cancelling" that prom too after claiming Constance was "one hour" late trying to buy a ticket for it.

Then, about a day after that "private" prom was "cancelled," a new prom was announced to be held at the local country club. But what really happened is that the real prom moved somewhere else, and Constance was directed to go to the fake prom. (Whether or not she knew there was another real "party" going on, its clear she was not invited to it.)

And at the secret real prom, guess what the theme was and what decorations they used?? Yep -- Masquerade!! They used all the decorations intended for the original prom! Could it not be any clearer that this was intended to be the continuation of the original prom?

ETA 9:45pm PDT 4/8/10:2nd pic

This, it seems to me, in addition to being sicker than sicker, is a direct and unbelievable breach of what the school district promised the federal judge.

Constance WAS NOT invited to the real prom - she was segregated and sent to a decoy prom. And they laughed their asses off at her, while "Masquerade 2010" went on.

Sick sick sick.

* * *
ETA: 6:40am PDT 4/9 (another facebook comment showing continuity of proms leading to the secret prom):

* * *
ETA 2:15pm PDT 4/9 Here's some more info, this is a bit odd. Its some local forum posts in MS which seem to initially deny that any secret prom took place, but there are some references to a "birthday party". Then there are pics from the prom with people pointing to an old greek/roman bust. I know this many be loony but could this be the "birthday party" guest of honor (i.e., a cover story for the prom). I wish someone would just tell me what that bust was for!

ETA 7:53 PDT 4/9: Best info I can gather is that there is no "birthday-bust" connection. A private informant tells me: "that little man in the pictures is this tradition at the school. Every year a senior steals the little man, and takes it somewhere with them and takes pictures with it. Something silly!"

REPOST: What Happened At Constance McMillen’s Prom - from nmisscommenter

2010-04-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

What Happened At Constance McMillen’s Prom

(reposted from http://nmisscommentor.com/2010/04/04/what-happened-at-constance-mcmillans-prom/ - the nmisscommentor website was down earlier today due to traffic overload - as of 1:35pm PDT i am removing the full post now that's it back up)

Here’s the news, from a source I view as extremely reliable. The prom the school district promised at the country club in Fulton was a ruse. Only seven kids, Constance, and her date showed, and at the same time, everyone else held a “real” prom at a secret location out in the county.

FULL ARTICLE: http://nmisscommentor.com/2010/04/04/what-happened-at-constance-mcmillans-prom/

* * *
From Earlier, when the original source was down:

nmisscommenter (Tom Freeland) is on twitter at http://twitter.com/NMissC and has posted:

# NMissCommentor readers: My hosting service is overcapacity due to hits from the Constance McMillen story. Am working on some solution. (circa 9am PDT)

# Well, NMC readers, upped blog server capacity by 1/3- best I can do quickly- but w/ links from Gawker & Perez Hilton you'll need patience. (circa 10am PDT)

# My blog isn't dead, but it's still sleeping. (circa 10:50am PDT)

* * *

ETA 12:12pm PDT: MSNBC Report http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36178446/ns/us_news-life/

ETA: 12:57 PDT: the Gawker Post on this story has been updated with a note that at least once prom-goer at Itawamba Agricultural High School has posted prom pictures on their facebook. This does check out---I doubled checked and found that if you peruse Itawamba Agricultural High 2010 profiles on facebook, there are many profile pics for the students which are clearly of prom dresses/couples.

ETA: 1:09 PDT NE Miss Daily Journal article confirms details.

ETA: 1:33 PDT nmisscommentor blog is coming back up, please read the full post there...

Haggard's Law - wikipedia article

2010-04-05T06:14:00.000-07:00

Haggard's Law
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, as it existed on March 28, 2010 (prior to its deletion on April 5, 2010)

Haggard's law is an Internet adage or epigram named after Pastor Ted Haggard that is typically stated as: "The louder and more frequent one's objections to homosexuality are, the more likely one is of being a homosexual.".

It is used as either a purely sarcastic musing that people whom are strongly objective of homosexuality are more likely to engage in homosexual activities, or in a reflection of the probability based on the numerous public scandals[1][2][3][4] of famous figures in the opposition of homosexuality and homosexual behavior.

History

The Internet adage made it's first published appearance in an article[5] written by Dennis DiClaudio of Comedy Central fame [in March 2010] and is named after American evangelical preacher Ted Haggard. It was created after and is reference to a scandal[2] involving prostitute and masseur Mike Jones who alleged that Haggard had paid Jones to engage in sex with him for three years and had also purchased and used crystal methamphetamine[6]. Although he denies using the methamphetamine or having sex with Mr. Jones, the scandal has caused many to view Pastor Haggard being extremely hypocritical about his spoken views, as he was known to publicly preach against Homosexuality[7].

Original quote by author Dennis DiClaudio:

Haggard's Law –
The likelihood of a person harboring secret desires to engage in sexual and/or romantic activities with members of the same sex is directly proportional to the frequency and volume of said person's vocalized objections to homosexuality.[5]

The "law" is more generally used to reference extreme hypocrisy in public figures whom lead the moral opposition of homosexuality and then whom come to find out engage is homosexuality or homosexual behavior.

See Also

* Homosexuality
* Ted Haggard
* Association fallacy
* Internet adage

References

1. ^ Florida State Representative Accused of Offering to Perform Oral Sex Claims Innocence, Fox News, July 27, 2007
2. ^ a b "Haggard admits 'sexual immorality', apologizes". MSNBC. 2006-11-05. Retrieved 2010-23-03.
3. ^ US anti-gay rights senator Roy Ashburn comes out, BBC News, March 8, 2010
4. ^ Former GOP Chief Pleads Guilty To Deviant Conduct, WLKY June 12, 2008
5. ^ a b DiClaudio, Dennis. "Haggard's Law," Please Add It to Your Lexicon, Comedy Central, New York, 23 March.
6. ^ "Haggard admits buying Meth". MSNBC. 2006-11-03. Retrieved 2010-23-03.
7. ^ "Pastor will shut down controversial kids camp". 2006-11-08. Retrieved 2010-03-23.

Also (added by me):
*Stereodax - Haggard’s Law, a Oct 29, 2008 blogpost declaring a coinage of the term.
*March 4, 2007 blogpost defining term as "Haggard's Law: that which a conservative is speaking against most strongly is that which the conservative will inevitably be found to be guilty of."

Analysis of Deletion (for wikigeeks only)

So, believe it or not, this article was appropriately deleted from wikipedia. The article appears to have been created sometime around March 23, 2010, based on an online article from earlier in the month trying to coin and/or cement the existence of the term. (It has been on urban dictionary since March 5, 2010.) On April 5, 2010, it was nominated for deletion, and was speedily deleted in about 30 minutes, on the grounds that it was a neologism, "with a side order of common sense." Yes, its true that not every cool term someone thinks up should immediately be the subject of a wikipedia article. Otherwise wikipedia would be filled with terms that no one uses except in some random and briefly popular blog entry. The same thing goes for articles about drinks or drinking games that people make up during some recent drunken binge, which is attempted quite often.

Haggard's Law got only about 200 views during its existence, despite the folksy truth it espouses. (See Reaction Formation and Is homophobia associated with homosexual arousal? (abstract), both mentioned in the comments to the original Comedy Central article. And Latent homosexuality and The lady doth protest too much, methinks. from wikipedia.)

Donna Simpson (world's heaviest woman to give birth) - wikipedia article

2010-03-25T10:39:00.000-07:00

This is the Wikipedia article for Donna Simpson (world's heaviest woman to give birth) as it appeared on March 23, 2010, slightly prior to its deletion.

Donna Simpson holds the Guinness World Record for the world's fattest mother.[1][Milo notes: Technically, some press reports in March 2010 said she had only applied for the record, though many press sources claimed she already has the record.] When she gave birth by cesarean section in 2007, she weighed 530 pounds. The delivery required the assistance of 30 hospital staff.[2]

She is now attempting to attain a weight of 1,000 pounds.[3][2]

In 2010 at the age of 42, Simpson was living in New Jersey, and was eating 12,000 calories per day in a deliberate attempt to gain enough weight to reach 1,000 pounds. Her $750 weekly food bill was being funded by a website where men pay money so they can watch her eat.[2] As of March 2010, she weighed 600 pounds.[4][5] She is 5 feet 4 inches tall.[6]

Despite getting around on a mobility scooter, Simpson claims that she is healthy.[7]

Simpson's favorite food is sushi.[3]

References
^1 The super-sized 43st mother who is determined to become the world's fattest, Mail Online4, March 15, 2010
^2 a b c World's fattest mom, San Francisco Chronicle, March 15, 2010
^3 a b NJ woman attempting to become world's fattest lady, The New York Post, March 15, 2010
^4 New Jersey Woman Aiming to Become Fattest Woman in the World, New York magazine, March 15, 2010
^5 1,000lb Woman's Fans Pay To Watch Her Eat! (Video), The Young Turks (March 17, 2010), Retrieved March 18, 2010
^6 "Little 'n Large: THE world's fattest woman meets the world's smallest". The Sun (newspaper). February 18, 2010. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2858127/Worlds-fattest-woman-meets-worlds-smallest.html. Retrieved March 16, 2010. ("Donna stands at 5ft 4in", and photo of Simpson with Jyoti Amge)
^7 Quest to become world's fattest woman, The Press, March 15, 2010

* * *

Analysis of Wikipedia's deletion, for wikigeeks only:

This article was nominated for deletion from wikipedia on March 15, 2010. The article was very new, as it had just been created in the wake of a juggernaut of press coverage about Ms. Simpson. This is really not unusual -- whenever you see some odd person all over the newspapers, go to wikipedia and see whether they have an article. Chances are they they either (1) have an article already nominated for deletion, (2) there is evidence that an article existed which is already deleted, or (3) the name redirects to some other (hopefully related) page.

The primary argument in favor of deletion of Ms. Simpson was "BLP1E" which means, in English, that the article is a biography of a living person who is known for one event. However, it is worth noting that wikipedia has tons of articles on people who are known for nothing other than an alleged world record. Robert Earl Hughes, for example, was the heaviest human during the 1950s, and who I remember well via old Guinness books I read as a kid. Other than being a nice guy who just happened to be really huge, there's not much to say about him. But loads has been written about him--not much different than Donna's Simpson's case today. Unless you romanticize the past. Thus Mary Toft, who claimed she gave birth to rabbits in 1726 causing a flurry of press at the time, has a long wikipedia article, and Donna Simpson does not. I am sure the Mary Toft story was as unseemly in 1726 as Donna Simpson is in 2010. But that doesn't mean Wikipedia shouldn't cover it.

Interestingly, a number of casual editors piped in during the deletion discussion of Ms. Simpson to say she should be kept, but the "deletes" had their way on this one. The wikipedia malcontents over at Wikipedia Review were in favor of deletion as well. Of course, Donna Simpson herself was clearly trolling for press coverage, as she is a member of an erotic website featuring large women, and more attention means more paying subscribers. Its very unlikely that she really intends (or could) attain 1,000 pounds. But I am sure she welcomed the press frenzy. The article was quite popular during its brief existence:

One day you will recall Donna's story and press frenzy and try to google for it, but I guess you won't find it on wikipedia. You will, however, find a massive article on Balloon Boy.

UPDATE June 14, 2010: Donna lives! A new wikipedia article on Donna Simpson was created on May 22, 2010, and was nominated again for deletion, but this time it survived as a "keep". How does one explain wikipedia's change of heart? Simply that different people showed up at the deletion discussion this time.

Martin Dudziak - Wikipedia article

2010-03-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

Martin Dudziak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, as it appeared on March 17, 2010, prior to its deletion.

Martin Dudziak is an American scientist with academic and research background in quantum physics and biophysics. He has been inventor or co-inventor of technology and applications in areas of complex systems, quantum theory and emergent critical processes including sensor and response systems in the CBRNE area, particularly with respect to infectious diseases, their diagnosis and mutation tracking.

Contents

* 1 Personal and academic background
* 2 Career background
* 3 Professional summary
* 4 Publications, references, credentials and other background information
* 5 Additional background and activities
* 6 External links

Personal and academic background

Martin was born in and grew up in Buffalo, New York. He attended and graduated from Mt. St. Joseph's and Canisius High School. Entering Colgate University at age 17, he completed his dual-major BA in two years, noting later that "If I had to do it over again, I would have not rushed through college in order to develop better long-term social relationships."[citation needed] Martin received his master's and doctoral degrees from Johns Hopkins and The Union Institute and University respectively. He received his PhD in theoretical and computational physics in 1993, with David Bohm (Birkbeck College, Univ. of London, Basil Hiley (also Birkbeck/London) and David Finkelstein (Georgia Institute of Technology) and Kevin Sharpe (unique as a PhD in mathematics and an Episcopal divinity degree) among the members of his doctoral committee.

Career background

Martin has worked for a number of corporations and universities including Intel Corporation, ST Microelectronics, Battelle laboratories, Medical College of Virginia(MCV), VCU, Martin-Marietta (now Lockheed-Martin) and Silicon Dominion. Since 2002 he had been working for TETRAD Technologies Group, Inc. which has been renamed and restructured as TETRADYN (TETRAD Dynamics), a private company based in Richmond, Virginia.

Professional summary

At MCV (VCU Medical Center) Martin established one of the earliest nanotechnology labs with NSF (National Science Foundation), DOE (Dept. of Energy), Jeffress Trust and Whittaker support. This was the Molecular Engineering and Biocomputing Lab (MEBC); Martin was a member of the faculty within the Biomedical Engineering Dept. (then headed by Dr. Richard Freer, subsequently founder and CEO of Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc.). He has concentrated individually on quantum networks and multi-soliton models applied to investigating quantum field effects in macroscopic including biological systems. His NSF-supported work in chaotic solitons was said (by NSF) to be the first such NSF-funded project conducted with active participants from and in former Soviet Union major physics centers (in particular, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR).

Martin's theoretical work has been and remains mainly in areas of quantum relativity and quantum gravity based upon solitonic field models and draws upon the work of Finkelstein, Segal, Selsnick, Skyrme, and also Markopoulou, Smolin, Wilczek, & Witten. In the late 1990s he became more active in applications, namely using these models as well as mutual information and inverse methods, drawn principally from medical imaging and subsurface sensing, for problems in distributed sensing and detection. The "NomadEyes" architecture incorporates the same into large, pseudo-random networks of sensors and communicators. This has demonstrated applicability in fields as diverse as biosensing and also counterterrorism and, more broadly, for the extension of knowledge acquisition, discovery and learning to problems involving emergent, critical events and (mathematically) catastrophic properties. This work came to be focused upon both prediction and response to large-scale emergent and emergency events.

After 2002 Martin's research and focus led to the co-founding of TETRAD Technologies Group, now part of TETRAD Dynamics (TETRADYN). and the development of the NomadEyes architecture for amorphous distributed sensing and situation awareness. The NomadEyes architecture was first designed in 2003 and has been copied and/or integrated as a basis for a number of projects by others at MITRE Corp., University of Pittsburgh, and Institute of Defense and Homeland Security (e.g., Local Eyes, Red Cell, others). NomadEyes has been designed to work with ordinary cellular phones and "COTS" (commercial off-the-shelf) technology for both military, homeland security and personal, civilian use.

One application, incorporating MEMS and nanoscale technology related directly to Martin's work in the early 90's and refined by collaborators and colleagues, and known as CEBIT (a family of sensors) includes sensing and detection of explosives of IEDs (improvised explosive devices, such as have been employed by terrorists and insurgents throughout the world). This has involved collaboration with scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Army EDRC (Vicksburg, MS), Vanderbilt University and other institutions.

Martin's focus on PCR-based diagnostics and mutation detection and tracking for infectious diseases occupies the main activity presently of his work and that of TETRADYN (TETRAD Dynamics). The CRAIDO (Community Rapid Response for Infectious Disease Outbreaks) is a reconfigurable labstation for both mobile and stationary uses in public health epidemic and pandemic situations. This work has been recognized in particular by other scientists at CDC, Vanderbilt, UT, ORNL, MSSM, UNC and other other institutions.

Publications, references, credentials and other background information

Information can be found in various journal publications and conference proceedings, or through colleagues at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (in which Martin serves as a Fellow since July, 2009).

Additional background and activities

Martin's philosophical education and background has contributed to his involvement in a number of social-service and humanitarian-educational projects such as the Lincos Project, Digital Nations, Sano y Salvo, Futures Gateway, and EcOasis, projects that were initiated and/or co-sponsored by corporations including Intel when Martin was therein employed, and with support by AIHA, Eurasia Foundation, USAID, CENAT, and NIH. He is a founding member of the board of the Institute for Innovative Study (IIS). (This institute is presently (2009) in the process of being established in North Carolina.) Martin is active in the sustainable energy and materials field, principally with a focus upon bioprotection and containment/response for infectious diseases within human and animal populations and within good supplies.

Martin is also a writer of poetry and short fiction and an artist (painter) who has exhibited and participated in contemporary art performances in Europe including Moscow in 2002-2004.

With the exception of the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, none of the organizations Dr. Dudziak claims to be a board member of, seem to exist. While his credentials are credible, it appears that much of his associations are utter fabrications.

External links

* [1]http://tetradyn.com/
* [2]http://library.tetradyn.net/
* [3]http://chips.tetradyn.net/
* [4]http://podlab.tetradyn.com/
* [5]http://instinnovstudy.org/
* [6]http://nomadeyes.com/
* [7]http://c4ads.org/

* * *

Analysis of deletion (for wikigeeks only):

The above bio article of Martin Dudziak was deleted from Wikipedia on March 18, 2010 after a unanimous deletion dicussion - 8 votes to delete, and none to keep.

Probably the main problem with this article is that it had no citations to any newspaper or any other independent sources. Its unverifiable in wikipedia lingo. Dr. Dudziak may well be a successful person, but there's no way to verify most of what's in the article except through Dr. Dudziak. And, though I don't have access to the article history, there's a good chance Dr. Dudziak contributed to his own article, and maybe even created the whole shebang. Many people don't know that wikipedia frowns upon such activity, thinking wikipedia must be some kind of alternate LinkedIn where you can put whatever you want on your "profile."

Alas, Dr. Dudziak even came by after this article was deleted to decry his deletion:

The claims made by the various commenters in this article are totally unsubstantiated.

It is very interesting that this has all come up following a serious set of internet hacks and attacks by some persons in and around Charlotte, NC.

Each of the comments made below, marked ### [here the good doctor is referring to markups he made on various editor's comments], standing for "DISPUTED WITH DOCUMENTED EVIDENCE" is coming from someone who, from all investigations, has: (a) no professional knowledge or experience in the scientific field [uh, this is wikipedia, where "anyone" literally can edit?] (b) no professional knowledge or experience of Martin Dudziak in his prior work, employment, accreditation, etc. (c) no evident familiarity with my published and conference-presented work [because there is no published press coverage on it, apparently, which is why tons of perfectly nice academics are not on wikipedia.] (d) no evident basis for making any of the criticisms hereby made.

Personally, I believe this is part of a series of personalized attacks made to discredit me personally and professionally by a small set of individuals who simply "have an axe to grind" and should not be allowed to serve as Wikipedia editors.[Conspiracies rarely ensue around articles like this, but conspiracy theorists do.]

The matter is simple - at http://tetradyn.com/professormd are, among other files, references, with contacts. These include former colleagues, employers, employees, and friends. Who knows Martin Dudziak better? Professionals in universities, companies, government agencies, or the persons who have made these comments here below? You, the reader, be the judge, for yourself, but this looks very suspicious, and particularly with respect to the dates of these comments, all in March, 2009, and almost all on 11.March.2010. That in itself should be very interesting to any clear-headed, objective reader. You may want to read the Special Public notice at http://tetradyn.com for some further enlightenment.

Thank you, Dr. Martin Dudziak

Well, for now, Dr Dudziak's article is preserved here, though I am happy to remove it upon his request.

2004 LaSalle County, Illinois earthquake - wikipedia article

2010-03-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

2004 LaSalle County, Illinois earthquake
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, as it appeared on February 18, 2010

Date: June 28, 2004 01:10:51AM America/Chicago (2004-06-28T01:10:51Z)
Magnitude: 4.2 Mw
Depth: 5 km (3.1 mi)
Epicenter location: 41°26′35″N 88°55′37″W / 41.443°N 88.927°W / 41.443; -88.927
Coordinates: 41°26′35″N 88°55′37″W / 41.443°N 88.927°W / 41.443; -88.927
Countries or regions affected: United States
Tsunami: none
Casualties: none

The 2004 LaSalle County, Illinois earthquake was a 4.2 magnitude earthquake that occurred on June 28, 2004 at 01:10:51 a.m. CDT (06:10:51 a.m. UTC) and affected Northern Illinois. Its epicenter was located 2 miles (3.2 km) S of Prairie Center, 8 miles (13 km) E of Troy Grove, and 8 miles (13 km) NNE of North Utica, and could be felt as far away as Olive Branch, Mississippi.[1]

The earthquake was the first in LaSalle County since September 1972. It occurred 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) beneath the surface in a structure associated with the Sandwich Fault Zone. It was not connected with the New Madrid Fault farther south, which has been linked to the Midwest's most serious earthquakes. No fatalities were reported, yet thousands of people were startled and awoken in the middle of the night. Three nearby nuclear power plants — LaSalle, Quad Cities, and Dresden — issued low-level alerts, but no damage was found.[1]

See also

* List of earthquakes in the United States

References

1. ^ a b "Magnitude 4.2 - ILLINOIS". United States Geological Survey. 1 February 2010. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/eqinthenews/2004/uskgad/. Retrieved 16 February 2010.

External links

* USGS Earthquake Poster - Poster of the affected area, including historical data and Generalized Seismic Hazard

* * *

Analysis of Deletion (for wikigeeks only):

This article was deleted from Wikipedia on March 7, 2010 pursuant to a deletion discussion here. Eight editors (counting one unsigned comment from an IP address editor) voted to delete, and 4 voted to keep. Unfortunately 3 of those keep votes are from the same person, editor "Funandtrvl", which no one seemed to mention. It appears the article was improved before it was deleted, but the google cache version I was able to locate pre-dates those changes. The frequent-keep voter noted that she had added a "source that stated that it was the first earthquake in that county in 123 years, almost to the day", and also observed, "I still don't understand why everyone wants to delete the earthquake articles, but to keep 109,000+ association football articles, that seems to be okay. I can see everyone's priorities are sports, not science."

Perhaps not true! Oddly enough, at the same time this article was deleted, Wikipedia decided to keep its article on the smaller but more recent 2010 Illinois earthquake (which measured 3.8 vs. 4.2 for the 2004 quake). According to that deletion discussion there was a "substantial consensus for notability and keep(ing)" the article!!

How is this possible?! Let's see.... Of the eight delete voters for the 2004 quake, six also opined in favor of deleting the 2010 article. One didn't comment, and one voted to keep the 2010 article (but delete the 2004 article), apparently under the theory that the latter article could become a repository for all Illinois earthquakes. And in addition, a few other editors, who had not commented on the 2004 quake, chimed in with "keep" votes (in addition to the two editors who voted to keep both articles).

This is how things often work on wikipedia - whether an article nominated for deletion stays or goes depends on which random editors happen upon the deletion discussion and comment. The decisions are often made based on the opinion of 10 or less editors, out of the roughly 40,000 editors who make at least 5 edits per month. That's not to say 10 editors aren't enough to make a reasoned decision for the good of the Wikipedia project in some cases, but in anything other than an obvious delete (hoaxes, vandalism, attacks, spam, and unverifiable articles), or obvious keeps (episodes of Ugly Betty), the outcome can be dreadfully haphazard.

Footnote: At the same time as the above examples, Wikipedia decided to keep an article on the 2010 Eureka (Calif.) earthquake and ax one on the 2009 Inglewood earthquake. In short, Earthquake prediction itself is easier than deletion prediction.

YouTube Song of the Day - Carnival Art - Ray's Jesus (1992)

2010-03-05T21:02:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edVPrkWPb8Q

So, this tune is from a college radio tape from mid-1992. On the beaten up cassette on which I recorded this song, I had written down the name as "Raise Jesus" instead of "Ray's Jesus" and I wasn't really sure of the band's name either. "Carnival?" This made tracking down the tune quite difficult. Anyhoo, eventually I figured out the band was probably "Carnival Art," and from there I finally found the song.

The band actually released two major label albums (in 1991 and 1992), as well as an EP in 1992 called "Holy Smokes" from which this tune comes. They also had a few videos, one of which had a brief cameo on Beavis & Butthead once (this is the sort of bizarre tidbit that the internet preserves everywhere), and you can find those videos on YouTube too. "Carnival Art" is pretty much forgotten beyond that, except for the fact that bassist Brian Bell's next band was Weezer, and the "Weezerpedia" is so freakin' thorough that it has decent coverage of this band as well.

The force behind Carnival Art was a guy named Michael P. Tak, aka Michael Petak, who also released a solo album around 1994, after Carnival Art broke up. In the 2000s, Petak has done a lot of work on cartoon shows, as this blogpost and its comments revealed. (He's on IMBD: Michael Petak). One always wonders what happens to old "rock stars," little do you realize they may influence your kid's musical tastes (a good thing in this instance).

Anyway, Ray's Jesus, the song, is a driving two-guitar alt. rock assault, a bit of punk, a bit of twang, with lyrics recasting the story of Jesus among a crazed trailer-trash family.

"Ray was the son of a sanitation architect
Thought he was Jesus or so I was told
Lived in a room with his brother in a discotheque
His name was Judas and his feet were always cold

Mother Mary was card-carrying virgin
A psycho meter maid who worked for the Lord
She said her sons were Immaculate Conception
The doctors say it was a laboratory job."

While the song title may just be a funny pun, I'd like to think its possible that its a tribute to the 1961 film King of Kings, directed by Nicholas Ray. Like the song, King of Kings was a retelling of the Christ tale much different than the Bible version (e.g., Barabbas is Judas's bud). Analysis of the film often refers to the depiction of Jesus as "Ray's Jesus." Nicholas Ray was also director of the 50s teen angst classic Rebel Without A Cause. Whether my theory is accurate or not, I'll stick with it. Better than learning it was just a title they came up with when they were stoned.

Mp3 - Ray's Jesus - Carnival Art

TMI on Wikipedia

2010-03-05T12:25:00.000-08:00

Wikipedia user pages, i.e., the home page that each wikipedia editor has as their own little calling card, can be fountains of information. They often contain "userboxes", which are, well, little boxes which contain extraneous information of all types. One editor, for example, tells the story of his love life using userboxes.

This editor shall remain unidentified, unless any ladies would like to meet him, just leave a comment and I'll pass on your info to him.

YouTube Song of the Day - Nuno Bettencourt - Crave (1997)

2010-03-03T06:19:00.000-08:00

Nuno Bettencourt - Crave (1997)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHgR1IFSlr4

So at home I have an unorganized collection of tapes with songs recorded off various college/rock radio stations. This collection runs through about 1999, when mp3s started to replace college radio as the primary source for finding out about cool music. While I attempted to record the name and artist of every song, many of the song titles are guesses and artist names blank. Digital Kids of Today cannot appreciate that it actually used to be difficult to find out what a song was, as you would inevitably miss the DJ rundown of what the songs were sometimes (if they even gave a rundown, and didn't screw it up). So I pulled out the old walkman the other day and plugged it into the now common "aux" input for mp3 players in the car, with a tape labeled "2/97-3/97". These tapes have tons of artists I have never mentioned in my song of the day entries, because even I hadn't ever tracked them down. But the internet of 2010 is so comprehensive, and google so all-powerful now, that many can be identified and shared.

So, this 1997 song is a catchy rock number that is mostly alternative rock, but harder a la Red Hot Chili Peppers (without the funk) or Soundgarden (but not truly grunge). I was bit disturbed and intrigued to learn that the song (called "Crave") is by Nuno Bettencourt, well known to hair metal fans as the guitarist of Extreme, purveyors of 1991 mega ballad hit More Than Words.

I mean, you cannot ignore the hair metal look:

Anyway, apparently Extreme broke up in 1996 because Nuno wanted to go solo, and he released his 5 year labor of love, Schizophonic. (Incidentially, Extreme's singer was/is Gary Cherone, better known as "that other Van Halen singer who sucked").

You cannot ignore the Hair on Schizophonic either, but Nuno as Marilyn is definitely not hair metal:

Anyway, apparently Extreme fans are divided about Schizophonic due to it being a departure in style. I sampled a few of the tracks, but only Crave, the track on that 1997 radio tape, resonated with me. The song is not obscure to people who knew Nuno, but I never knew who this was, and never heard the song on the radio again. The album was not a huge hit, and today Nuno is reunited with Extreme, back in the rut he tried to emerge from, it seems.

(More song of the day entries on the anchor cove forum here)

The fall of the united states - Wikipedia article

2010-03-01T20:23:00.000-08:00

So, as of late, I've posted the full text of some Wikipedia articles which have fallen prey to the Deletionist League. But as a matter of fact, even I agree that some things don't belong on Wikipedia. But some things do deserve preservation on the Internet, somewhere. In that spirit, I present to you the soon to be deleted article, "The fall of the united states." This article was created by editor "Kyle Ferris" on February 23, 2010 (his sole contribution to date). It was proposed for deletion seven minutes after its creation, and two other editors endorsed this proposal within the following twelve minutes. Watch for it to be cited on a future edition of Glenn Beck's show.

The fall of the united states

The fall of the United States of America is a theory that has been given thought by some professors and scientists. Although many of them simply say this because they are anti-american, the fall of the United States within the next 20 years is a concrete possibility.

One theory is the economic depression that has gradualy worsen over the years. If this crisis deepens, the United States might "blow up" from the inside out, much like the Soviet Union did. If the United States does this, then the entire world will suffer a huge worldwide depression and it may take many years for the world to get back on its feet.

Another theory is another civil war. Much like the one from 1861-1865, politicians from the different states will slowly begin to become more fed up with the decisions that the country is making. If this continues without the government seeking appropriate compromises, the United States may have a second civil war. People across the nation will take sides and fight each other until a final victor is declared. Although it would eventually end, it would leave the nation extremely weakened, and a rival country such as China or Russia might invade and conquer the remains of the United States.

Another theory is the United States following in the footsteps of the Roman Empire. The people of ancient Rome gradualy became less involved in the unity of the empire and more involved into their own "creature comforts". With enemies becoming more daring along the borders, wars became increasingly harder to win. This led to more Roman soldiers dying, and less wanting to sign up. Towards the twilight of the Empire, generals fought multiple civil wars against each other to declare themselves emperor, which gradually left the state very weakened. One last blow from a strong nation is all that it took to leave the Roman Empire to crumbles. See any relations beetween this and the United States?

Although these are possibilities, one should not worry themselves. It is pretty unlikely that the United States of America, a nation still so young, would deteriorate so fast and so sudden. It is almost a fact that the United States will EVENTUALLY fall, but probably not in this century.

Mermaid problem - Wikipedia article

2010-02-26T17:59:00.001-08:00

Mermaids at Play, 1886, by Arnold Böcklin

This is the wikipedia entry for the "Mermaid Problem" as it appeared from Google cache on February 17, 2010. It was deleted from Wikipedia on February 25, 2010. See Deletion discussion.

Mermaid problem

The Mermaid problem is an observation occasionally mentioned in literature,[citation needed] concerning the difficulty of having sexual intercourse with a mermaid. Although mermaids are commonly depicted as beautiful, variably nude,[citation needed] and enticing, a man attempting to have sex[citation needed] with one would be thwarted by the typical portrayal of the creature: a fish from the waist down, with no vagina.[citation needed] More generally, it can also be a joking reference to the unusual sexual interest[citation needed] many non-human characters seem to have with humans in fantasy or science fiction, and potential physical issues therein. A reverse mermaid, or a mermaid with the fish half on top and human legs is typically referred to as a "Merfish".[citation needed]

Contents

* 1 Mythical biology
* 2 Historical perspective
* 3 Examples
* 4 See also
* 5 References

Mythical biology

If the mermaid were biologically a fish below the waist, theoretically they would reproduce as most fish do, by external fertilization, requiring a human male to deposit his seed underwater onto her eggs. (The confusion is further compounded by the fact that mermaids are usually depicted with a navel and breasts,[1] which would suggest placental vivipary rather than ovipary.) However, this situation is sometimes rectified by portraying mermaids as having genitalia more similar to dolphins than fish. Since most mermaid sightings observe that the mermaid has a human upper body, complete with breasts, and a navel, we must therefore assume that the mermaid is in fact a mammal. The "fish" part below the navel must then be more akin to that of a dolphin, with the sexual organs being similar to that of a dolphin. The female dolphin has one slit in its lower belly, which contains both the anus and the vagina. Hence, making mermaid-human sex (as depicted in many myths, legends, and stories,) perfectly biologically possible.[2] Another theory is that mermaids have the ability to change into human form, e.g. the fishtail splitting into two legs when it dries, and again turning into fishtail when the legs touch with water. A prominent example of this is the Touchstone Pictures film Splash where the Mermaid character Madison, portrayed by Daryl Hannah, transforms into human form and sustains a romantic and sexual relationship with Allen Bauer, portrayed by Tom Hanks, while retaining many of her undersea habits and mannerisms. A French idiom, finir en queue de poisson (to end with the tail of a fish), makes reference to this difficulty; it refers to a promising start that ends in disappointment. It originates from a line in Horace's Ars Poetica: Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne (the beautiful woman ends in a fish's tail).

Historical perspective

Interestingly this was not always an issue. In the past it was not uncommon for a mermaid (actually a medieval siren or melusine) to be portrayed as having a split tail, with a vagina located (or merely implied to be) between the two parts. H. P. Lovecraft's short story "Dagon"[3] and the logo of the American coffee chain Starbucks are examples of this. In the original version of the logo the mermaid is shown spreading her tail apart up to her head. While this has been cropped out, and the drawing in general slightly reworked over the years, her tails are still visible around the edges.

Examples

In the Futurama episode "The Deep South", Fry befriends and romances a mermaid from the lost sunken city of Atlanta. He later has his hopes dashed after attempting sex with a very confused partner, who expected sex more typical of a fish. As he runs away from Atlanta he laments, "Why couldn't she have been the other kind of mermaid, with the fish part on top, and the lady part on the bottom?"[4]
The other kind of mermaid.

In the Red Dwarf episode "Better than Life", the Cat solves the same problem while playing a virtual reality game when he dates a mermaid with exactly that physical description. When ship's mainframe Holly notes "Somehow I'd imagined she'd be a woman on the top and a fish on the bottom," the Cat replies "No, that's the stupid way around!" Coincidentally, Craig Charles (who plays the character David Lister on Red Dwarf) also plays the title role in the Channel 4 sitcom Captain Butler, who is enticed to wed a mermaid but reconsiders as he finds out he has to be transformed into a half-man-half-fish hybrid with the "fish half on top".

The poet/songwriter Shel Silverstein made this problem the centerpiece of his humorous song "The Mermaid", about a sailor who is warned against falling in love with a mermaid, which he proceeds to do. The lyrics read in part, "From her head to her waist she was my taste but the bottom part was a fish." The song ends with the sailor dejected after being dumped by his new mermaid love, but finding consolation when "her sister swam on by, and set my heart awhirl / For her upper part was an ugly old fish but the bottom part was girl!"[5] The song is covered on the Great Big Sea album The Hard and the Easy. The album's cover features a "reverse mermaid" with an enticing pair of crossed legs in high heels, with the upper body of a fish. The back artwork shows a regular mermaid.

Another example of a reverse mermaid is a surrealist painting by René Magritte which depicts a mermaid with a fish torso and woman's legs which has washed up on shore.

The folk song "The End of the Tail", a parody response to the Meg Davis song "Captain Jack and the Mermaid", hinges on this issue of a mermaid's lack of traditional female parts.

In season 27, episode 1, of Saturday Night Live, a sailor (played by Will Ferrell) crash landed on an island and met a mermaid, played by host Reese Witherspoon. He wanted to know who her parents were and was confused about her being half woman half fish. The mermaid then introduced her father who sang about how he has "had sex with a lot of things" and about her own fish genitalia, grossing out the sailor. The father also addresses his view: "It's no crime to hump a fish".[6]

In the Family Guy episode "Lois Kills Stewie," Lois Griffin is saved after being gunned down on a ship at sea and falling overboard by a merman whom Lois describes as "kind of the reverse of what you'd expect a merman to be," being that he had the upper body of a fish and the legs of a man, his loin covered with a seashell. He offers to make love to her, but she turns him down due to his awkward appearance; the merman "puts a huge hole in [her] logic" by saying that having a man's lower body is the only way he can have a penis.

The webcomic Penny Arcade also makes a joke on this subject when Gabe remembers his younger "Undersea adventures" or, rather, his attempts at having them. The comic closes with him asking Disney's Little Mermaid "Where the hell is your vagina?"[7]

In a short story called "The Fisherman and his Soul" by Oscar Wilde a man falls in love with a mermaid and goes to live with her under the sea. After wisdom and wealth fail to entice him back to land, he returns to see the beautiful legs of a dancing girl.[8]

A simple joke goes along the lines of a fisherman catching a mermaid, but deciding to let her go. His assistant asks "Why?" to which the fisherman replies, "How?"

P. C. Cast wrote of this particular problem in her novel "Goddess of the Sea" from her Goddess Summoning series. Within, the mermaid in question does have sex with a merman, though it is never fully explained.

In Piers Anthony's novel Mercycle, a race of merfolk who are the genetically modified descendants of normal humans appear. Although they appear to have a standard tail, the tail is actually divided in two in a structure closely based on human legs.[9] In the standalone novel Mute, Anthony described a mermaid whose tail began at her knees. And In the Xanth series mermaids only appear as mermaids when they are in the water, turning into humans when they go on land.

In a short story by Francesca Lia Block titled "Mer", from her book Nymph: Nine Erotic Stories, the mermaid and the main character share a fulfilled sexual relationship through the use of oral sex, eliminating the necessity of a vagina.[10]

The third and fourth installments of the adult film series Talk Dirty To Me feature mermaids who look to have sex with human men. In both films, the mermaids' tails automatically appear when the mermaids are in water, just like in the mainstream film Splash. When they are dry, however, the mermaids are able to change their tails to legs and back, at will.

In the mythos of contemporary poet Paul Shepard, the 'mermaid problem' is not regarded as a problem at all, but as the mermaids' essential significance. In his The Siren Idea, Shepard's antihero narrator claims that an unnamed rival "invented" mermaids. This is presented as an act of plagiarism, derivative of the narrator's previously formulated "Principal of Impenetrable Beauty, [...] proving the sublimity of unconsummatable [sic] lust." [11]

Alice Munro's story "Too Much Happiness" [12] includes a reference to a Russian mathematician attempting to solve the "mermaid problem" with mathematical theories.

In the episode "The Laughing Fish" of Batman: The Animated Series, there is a gag referring to this where The Joker seems to be flirting with Harley Quinn by asking her to "be [his] little mermaid." He then puts a giant fake fish head over her head, to which Harley responds, "You're really sick, you know that, boss?"

See also

* Cecaelia
* Lamia

References

1. ^ University of Michigan. The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany. Volume 15, Series 1. Wm. H. Allen & Co.. p. 54. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZWN3-payo_8C&pg=PA54&dq=mermaid+navel#PPP4,M1. Retrieved 2008-02-24. "Every other Mermaid that has been described, was human-shaped to the waist, usually with a navel, though in one instance without."
2. ^ Mermaids In bbc.co.uk
3. ^ Lovecraft, Howard P. [1923] (1986). "Dagon". in S. T. Joshi (ed.). Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (9th corrected printing ed.). Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. ISBN 0-87054-039-4. Definitive version
4. ^ Transcript of The Deep South episode, of Futurama, In Internet Movie Script Database (IMSDb)
5. ^ "The Mermaid" in Playboy and Shel Silverstein CD I'm So Good I Don't Have to Brag
6. ^ synopsis of Episode 1 and trancsript of "The Little Mermaid" Sketch of Season 27, In Saturday Night Live Transcripts
7. ^ Mysteries Of The Deep from Penny Arcade! webcomic
8. ^ Transcript of "The Fisherman and his Soul" by Oscar Wilde (1888)
9. ^ Anthony, Piers (1992). Mercycle. Ace. ISBN-978-0441525621. See also Mercycle on Amazon.ca
10. ^ Block, Francesca Lia (2003). Nymph: Nine Erotic Stories. Circlet Press. ISBN-978-1885865434. See also [1] on Amazon.com
11. ^ Shepard, Paul. Premier Draft: the Siren Idea. Rag Bony Press. New York, 2008.
12. ^ Munro, Alice (August 2009), "Too Much Happiness", Harper's Magazine

List of the occult secret societies - Wikipedia article

2010-02-12T13:03:00.001-08:00

This is Wikipedia's page for "List of the occult secret societies" as of right now:

As you can see, the relevant text is, "This page is a partially complete list of the occult secret societies that have received coverage in a few sources due to allegedly being secretive in nature and also allegedly being interested in the occult."

And then, the LIST IS EMPTY. That's how Secret they are!!

Mostly it ended up this way due to a vibrant deletion debate. The page was created on January 23, 2010 by editor "Denso 90 vn", who included these groups in the list: Templars, Rosicrucianist, Masons, Hospitaller, Teutonic Knights, and Golden Dawn. The content was improved slowly, and the article was nominated for deletion on February 7. Then, as the deletion discussion progressed, the list was whittled down by various editors, until the very last alleged occult alleged secret society still on the list, Skull & Bones, was removed. It should be noted, however, that on October 19, 2004, a letter writer to the Ellensburg, NY Daily Record revealed that "both George Bush and John Kerry are members of the occult secret society, Skull & Bones."

Valhalla Vineyards - Wikipedia article

2010-01-04T21:12:00.001-08:00

Valhalla Vineyards

Location Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Appellation North Fork of Roanoke AVA
Founded 1994
First vintage 1998
Key people Debra Vascik, winemaker
Varietals Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Norton (grape), Sangiovese, Viognier, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Chardonnay, Malbec
Website http://www.ValhallaWines.com
Tasting Open to the Public

Valhalla Vineyards is a vineyard and winery located in the North Fork of Roanoke American Viticultural Area in Roanoke County, Virginia. James and Debra Vascik founded Valhalla Vineyards in 1994.[1]

* 1 History
* 2 Awards and recognition
* 3 References
* 4 External links

History

In 1994, Valhalla began planting its vineyards, which sit on twenty-one acres of converted peach orchard in Roanoke County.[2] The vineyards were originally a Peach orchard. Construction on the winery building and wine cave began in 1996. The winery's first vintage was in 1998 and released in 2000.

Valhalla is one of two Virginia vineyards to process its grapes underground.[3] The vineyard uses a "gravity flow"[4] aging system in which grapes are pressed through holes in the roof of the winery, which is set into the hillside. The goal of this pump-free process is to prevent damage to the grapes.[5]

Awards and recognition

In 2009 Valhalla vineyards has placed in the Virginia Wine Association Governor's Cup (a peer tasting sponsored by the Virginia wine industry) three times, capturing bronze medals for a 2002 and 2006 vintage wine and a gold medal for a 2001 vintage wine. Of the 231 wines enter in 2009, Vahalla vineyards won its 3 medals along with 130 other Virginia wines.[6] At the 2001 Atlanta International Wine Summit, a 1998 vintage wine from Valhalla Vineyards was named "Best wine of the east coast".[7]

References

1. ^ "Wine Spectator: The American Way of Wine". winespectator.com. . Retrieved 2009-12-27.
2. ^ "Roanoke Times: Taking a bite out of profits". highbeam.com. . Retrieved 2009-12-27.
3. ^ "Neurosurgeon turns mountain orchards into winery". The Associated Press Wire, October 19, 1998.
4. ^ "Wine Spectator: The American Way of Wine". winespectator.com. . Retrieved 2009-12-27.
5. ^ " Breaking Away to Virginia and Maryland Wineries, by Elisabeth Frater. books.google.com. . Retrieved 2009-12-27.
6. ^ "Virginia Wine Association Governors Cup 2009 Winners". vawine.org. . Retrieved 2009-12-27.
7. ^ "Wine growers: state wine harvest best in years". The Associated Press Wire, November 27, 2001.

External Links

* Valhalla Vineyards official website
* Valhalla Vineyards at Appellation America

***

This page was deleted from wikipedia today, via a long and tortured rationale. Almost always, a lengthy rationale for deletion means that there was really no pressing need to eliminate the information from easy access.

---

Update March 3, 2010: I should mention that this page was eventually restored after a long and extremely tortured deletion review in late January 2010, where it was concluded that there was no actual consensus to delete the article in the first place. This puts the article in a kind of purgatory-type status, where it might be nominated again for deletion in the future, because we don't want children harmed by it, you know.

Shaycarl - Wikipedia article

2009-12-28T17:44:00.000-08:00

(Deleted today by Wikipedia)

Shaycarl (birth name: Shay Butler) is a comedian and YouTuber,[1] producing videos for his three YouTube channels, ShayCarl, Shaytards and ShayLoss.

As of 21 December 2009 Shaycarl has two places in the 25 most subscribed entertainment channels on YouTube: Shaycarl is 13th, with Shaytards also in the top 25. He has over 550,000 subscribers between all three of his YouTube channels. In 2009, Shaytards won the "Best YouTube Channel or Personality" category of Mashable's Open Web Awards.[2]

Career

Shaycarl was an evening DJ for radio station KFTZ in Idaho when video blogger Philip DeFranco held a contest for which Shaycarl posted a video response. DeFranco saw the video and decided to promote Shaycarl's content, boosting the number of views for the Shaycarl channel.

He left KFTZ during the summer of 2009 to move to Los Angeles, to enter into business with other YouTubers in a video platform known as TheStation.

Shaycarl is a YouTube partner with Shaycarl and Shaytards. Since March 5, 2009, he has posted a video each day to Shaytards documenting everyday occurrences in his life. As of 26 December 2009 he has created 297 of these videos.

He also created a ShayLoss channel where he vlogs occasionally about his efforts to lose weight. He discusses his raw food diet and invites others to discuss their own diets via video response.

Besides making videos for his own channels, Shaycarl can be seen on the live broadcasting site BlogTV, where as of 21 December 2009 he had 193 live shows and 234 recordings. In November 2009, Shaycarl appeared in a flash mob which used Midi Mafia's PHamous as a backing track. Shaycarl has three children with colette his wife, "sontard","princesstard" and "babytard". Colette anounced on shays Vlog that she is pregnent with a Child"tard" number four!. the kids names are Gavin,Avia and Emmi.

References

1. ^ Munio, Adam (September 27, 2008). "YouTubers can offer something to fit all". The Daily Star. http://www.thedailystar.com/lifestyles/local_story_271041505.html?keyword=secondarystory. Retrieved December 21, 2009.
2. ^ Cashmore, Pete (December 16, 2009). "Open Web Awards 2009: The Winners". Mashable. http://mashable.com/2009/12/16/open-web-awards-2009-50-winners/. Retrieved December 21, 2009.

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Wikipedia's deletion rationale: paraphrase: he sorta meets our rules, but the new york times (or whoever) has not sucked shaycarl's dick yet and done a profile on him yet.

Rachel Uchitel - Wikipedia article

2009-12-08T07:56:00.001-08:00

Here is the exact text of the Rachel Uchitel article on Wikipedia as it read at 6:33am GMT on December 8, 2009. (Below that is an explanation for why I posted it here).

Rachel Uchitel

Rachel Uchitel (born 1975)[1] is a nightclub manager who has managed the VIP section of "some of the most successful clubs in New York".[2] In 2005-06, she was the VIP hostess at Tao in Las Vegas.[3][4][5]

Uchitel graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1996 with a degree in psychology.[6] She spent five years after college as a news producer in New York for Bloomberg television.[7]

Family

Her fiance, investment banker James Andrew O'Grady, was killed in the September 11 attacks of the World Trade Center.[8] A few days later, she appeared on the front page of the New York Post holding a picture of O'Grady.[9][7] [10][11] Uchitel and her fiance's family subsequently debated the disposition of his estate.[12][8]

In 2004, she married Wall Street trader and childhood friend Steven Ehrenkranz.[13] Their marriage lasted four months.[14]

Uchitel is the granddaughter of Maurice Uchitel, who was a restaurant and nightclub owner in the 1950s and 1960s, including the El Morocco club.[15][16]

Tiger Woods

In late 2009, The National Enquirer published a story that alleged that Uchitel had had an affair with Tiger Woods, which she denied.[17] She later scheduled a news conference to discuss Woods' alleged affairs, but she and her attorney Gloria Allred cancelled due to "unforeseen circumstances".[18]

References

1. Tiger Doesn't Owe Us An Explanation, Fox Sports, November 30, 2009.
2. Industry Insiders: Rachel Uchitel, VIP Diva, Black Book, November 30, 2009.
3. Strip hot spots reap harvest from bottle-service tables. Las Vegas Review-Journal, January 8, 2006.
4. Xazmin Garza (December 22, 2005). A How-to Manual On What To Wear, Getting In And Getting Noticed (Or Not). Las Vegas Review-Journal. . Retrieved December 7, 2009.
5. Stefanie Cohen (September 10, 2006). Face of Loss Bets On Love In Vegas. New York Post. Retrieved December 7, 2009. ("Once a planning editor at Bloomberg Television, Uchitel has now transformed herself into the VIP door hostess at the see-and-be- seen nightclub Tao.")
6. Clynton Namuo (December 5, 2009). UNH grad is twist in Tiger's tale. New Hampshire Union Leader. . Retrieved December 7, 2009. ("Rachel Uchitel, who graduated from UNH in December 1996 with a degree in psychology ...")
7. a b Rachel Uchitel: Tiger Woods' Alleged Mistress, Time, December 2, 2009.
8. a b Shaila K. Dewan (January 22, 2002). No Dress, No Vows, and Less Status in Grief. The New York Times. . Retrieved December 7, 2009.
9. Rachel Uchitel and Steven Ehrenkranz, New York Times, December 12, 2004.
10. 9/11 - the terror attacks that changed the world. Bild. September 11, 2009. . Retrieved December 2, 2009.
11. Leslie Vryenhoek (June 6, 2003). The danger of mourning strangers. Toronto Star. . Retrieved December 7, 2009. ("The image of Rachel Uchitel making an emotional plea as she searches for her fiance in Manhattan was used in newspapers worldwide.")
12. Who is Rachel Uchitel?: A brief biographical timeline of Tiger Woods' alleged mistress". The Week. November 30, 2009. . Retrieved December 7, 2009.
13. Russell Goldman (December 1, 2009). Rachel Uchitel, Tiger Woods' Rumored Girlfriend, 'Felt Very Lost' After 9/11". ABC News. . Retrieved December 7, 2009.
14. Bill Zwecker (December 1, 2009). 'Man-crazy' Uchitel. Chicago Sun-Times. . Retrieved December 7, 2009.
15. (May 7, 2000). Maurice Uchitel, 88, Owner of El Morocco. The New York Times. . Retrieved December 7, 2009.
16. Stephanie Cohen et al. (December 5, 2009). Dad of slain WTC beau says Rachel's not girl he knew. New York Post. . Retrieved December 7, 2009.
17. Image gurus to Woods: Go public like Letterman, AP (via Google News), December 1, 2009.
18. "Thursday's Sports in Brief: Golf". Associated Press, by Sports Illustrated. December 4, 2009. . Retrieved 07 December 2009.
(this reposting is intended to be in accordance with wikipedia's licensing policies. this is a copy of a now-deleted wikipedia article and all credit goes to authors of article and wikipedia)

Deletion Status (for those with an interest in wiki geekdom)

On December 8, 2009, the Rachel Uchitel page was deleted from Wikipedia following a "deletion discussion." If you don't follow wikipedia, the process here is that any editor can nominate pages for deletion that they believe shouldn't exist. (You can see that discussion here.) The deletion decision is now up for what's called a "deletion review" (think of this as like an appeal of a prisoner on death row, except the prisoner is already dead subject to resurrection by the wikigods), where people will hem and haw over whether the deletion was appropriate. You can see that here. A lot of this, in this case, has to do with protecting the reputation of a "living person" (BLP = biography of living person in wikispeak). However, it is impossible to surf the internet without running into stories about Ms. Uchitel, many of which are drama-fests and probably more damaging than the fairly neutral article that many wikipedia editors had jointly created. Not having a page on wikipedia is not going to help Ms. Uchitel.

In the meantime (the deletion review will likely run for 7 days, through December 15), this source of information that was likely to be the least biased and best summary piece about the subject will be gone from the internets. And people are looking for this information. In fact, over 180,000 viewers in the past week (not counting mirrors that copy the page):

Stats via http://stats.grok.se/

The wikieditor who originally created the Rachel Uchitel page blogged last week about the difficulties he faced trying to get an accurate article about Ms. Uchitel on wikipedia. His original attempt was deleted without any discussion, then reinstated before further deletion drama began.Ass Clown "Editors" Killing Wikipedia (Bonzerwolf, Nov. 29, 2009).

Article chronology:
*Nov. 28 - Creation
*Nov. 29 - Deleted. Re-created and re-deleted.
*~Nov. 30 - Recreated
*Dec. 1 - nominated for deletion
*Dec. 8 - deleted
*Dec. 8 - deletion review begins

I'm not going to engage in a huge discussion on Wikipedia deletionism here, I mostly wanted to preserve the article and document the debate to date.

ETA 12/10 2am GMT: Just FYI, a blogpost from the wikipedia admin who deleted the article: Coffee's Thoughts: Politics at Deletion Review. It would be uber-inside-wiki-baseball to explain my problems with this, its just interesting to see he seems pretty miffed that people are questioning his outcome. wiki editors, for the most part, are pretty serious about their work, which is one of the reasons the project has prospered.

ETA 12/10 5am GMT: noticed a forum thread discussing this deletion: " 'The result was no consensus to keep, default to delete.' " That's so retarded. The default should be keep. Onus should be on the deletionists to make a solid case for deletion. So fucking retarded."

ETA June 14, 2010: Someone recreated Ms. Uchitel's article on June 12, 2010, it was very soon renominated for deletion. So far, its looking like it will be deleted again.

ETA June 21, 2010: The article was kept as there being "no consensus" to delete! Oh well, there go all the hits my blog was getting. :-)

Drudge, Beck, Limbaugh Hate America, Want It To Fail

2009-10-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

What the fuck are these stories about Drudge, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh savoring the elimination of Chicago from the selection of the 2016 Summer Olympics site? Just because Obama tried to lend some support to it?

Its pathetic.

Obama is not America, yet these clowns apparently think it to be the case, so they want to destroy it. America, that is.

You can debate the extent of economic benefit or detriment caused by hosting an Olympics, but its an honor for any city that is chosen to showcase itself to the world. Was Limbaugh pulling his hair out in distress when Atlanta and Salt Lake City, those well-known liberal cities, were awarded an Olympics? (Atlanta's win was announced in September 1990, when elder Bush was prez, and Salt Lake City during Clinton's first term).

Obama didn't lose; America lost. Is it a big deal that we lost the 2016 Olympics bid? No. Personally, I assumed Rio was going to win since South America has been snubbed so long. But rooting for America to lose is pathetic.

-----------

Weekly Standard (they edited it out the !! and cheers part, but other sites got screenshots):

Drudge. Nice little Obama-as-Messiah reference, no? (That's the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio.)

Hot Air. Calls it comedy gold that the CNN anchor is suprised when Chicago gets voted out. Apparently, he should have exclaimed "America is pwned motherfuckers!"

Not everyone on the right is an idiot however; they just don't have much influence:

Joe Scarborough: "what we saw from some conservative corners regarding the President's failed Olympics bid was just plain stupid."

See also Conservatives Revel In America's Olympic Defeat (Talking Points Memo)

Like minded thought from MSNBC's David Shuster:

Evan Ratliff Is Alive and Well And Living In ...

2009-08-23T23:57:00.000-07:00

Argentina. OK, maybe not. But an interesting story and game, nonetheless.
>Author Evan Ratliff Is on the Lam. Locate Him and Win $5,000.

World Hungers For Maria Belen Shapur Pictures

2009-06-25T09:21:00.001-07:00

As Allahpundit notes via twitter, "Maria now number two search on all of Google, "mark sanford mistress photo" number three http://is.gd/1dacF

NOTE: As of 9:50am PT, 12:50pm ET, (ETA: 11:30am PT, 2:30pm ET - still nothing) no credible (or even possibly credible) pictures have emerged of Maria Belen Shapur. Do some work and check again later people! I do promise to update this blogpost with a link when the pics inevitably emerge.

ETA 6pm PT 9pm ET: was suspected, but not her: http://newsbizarre.com/2009/06/maria-belen-chapur-photo-mark-stanford.html

This now claimed to be her: http://gawker.com/5302724/this-is-actually-mark-sanfords-lover-according-to-the-folks-down-in-argentina

(See also No photo found yet, news report (12:48pm ET))

It amazes me how many spam website links already pop up for those searches. Trust me, the first pics won't show up on do-me-dentalwork.cz. or xxxargentineporn.com, despite your wildest dreams. These sites which all append "PHOTO" to their titles to make you click on them are not legitimate.

This is a picture that is not of Maria Belen Shapur:

The Revolution Will Be Devoid of Comments

2009-06-08T07:11:00.000-07:00

Sunday's NY times has a silly article about how .. gasp .. most blogs don't bring fame and fortune.

Blogs Falling in an Empty Forest (kudos to whoever titled that).

According to a 2008 survey by Technorati, which runs a search engine for blogs, only 7.4 million out of the 133 million blogs the company tracks had been updated in the past 120 days. That translates to 95 percent of blogs being essentially abandoned, left to lie fallow on the Web, where they become public remnants of a dream — or at least an ambition — unfulfilled.

Talk about random comments being portrayed as unrealistic expectations:

"To be honest, I would love a book deal to come out of my blog,” she wrote. “Or I would love for [my blog] to give me a means to be financially independent to continue pursuing and sharing what I love with the world.”

But the greatest sin of the article is its failure to quote from the Sprites fantastic song "I started a blog that nobody read"

.. I started a blog which nobody viewed
It might be in cache
The topics include:

"George Bush is an evil moron"
"What's the story with revolving doors?"
"I'm in love with a girl who doesn't notice me"
"Nobody hates preppies anymore"

And silly NY Times articles like this (though this is chump stuff, its no classic like the Man Date) are guaranteed to elicit lots of commentary from the unpaid blogger horde!

From the "blog herald", Blog Bashing: New York Times On Orphaned Blogs

It is an inane article bordering to sensational journalism, masking itself in NYT’s legacy. I’m sorry, but this is just stupid... Want to start blogging? Consider this first:
* Blogging does not equal financial freedom by itself, although you can make money.
* You will likely not make money.
* The money you might in fact make will probably not cover your Starbucks bill.

This is why I do not patronize Starbucks. That free wi-fi is a scam!!!

Carrie Prejean Probably Was Jailbait (17) In Sideboob Picture

2009-05-06T09:35:00.001-07:00

the one sentence summary: Confirmed pic of Carrie Prejean at age 17 suggests that she really is jailbait in the reported noodz.

ETA 5/11: Scroll to the bottom for updated information.

Original Post: One of the biggest meaningless news stories of the week is that topless pictures of Miss "I fear the gayz" California Carrie Prejean have emerged. Carrie, however, has stated that she was 17 when these pictures were taken, as TMZ and other sources are citing. So only one partially nude sideboob pic has emerged to date, as first posted by gossip site The Dirty. (And I'm already feeling a bit dirty writing about this subject...)

Many others, however, doubt the underage claim, and think it may be a ploy to prevent release of the other pics, which are promised to be more revealing. These people cite the eternal defense of statutory rapists ("she told me she was 18 when i picked her up at the middle school"), believing there is no way she was under 18.

Carrie turned 18 on May 13, 2005. Apparently Victoria's Secret first said that the pink undies in the released pic were not made by them before 2006, but then backed down and said they couldn't confirm who manufactured said undergarments. So the debate continues.

It appears that Carrie's first pageant appearance was at the Miss Vista (California) pageant on April 16, 2005 - a month before she became street legal -- where she was 2nd runner up. (Grijalva crowned Miss Vista 2005 - North County Times, April 18, 2005). I am sure pics of that exist somewhere, but I haven't found any. (I mean, if a beauty pageant happens and no one takes pics, did it really happen?)

However, the local Vista, CA paper ran a story on Prejean on December 4, 2004 -- five months before her 18th birthday -- about a food drive she did. With a picture. See the comparison:

While this isn't definitive, I'd say they are a pretty good match. The confirmed pic of 17-year old Carrie does look a lot like Sideboob Carrie, so her claim that these pics are underage could well be true. Plus, her hair is much blonder in recent pics. And I don't think that you can tell from the sideboob pic that it was taken after her recently installed fake boobs, as some have argued. I do wonder if she was really a "model" when the topless pic was taken though, it doesn't look professional at all.

What does all of this have to do with Prejean's ill-fated statement at the Miss USA pageant? Beats me. Its just another example of the modern internet rule that when someone gets famous (conservative or liberal), the dirty laundry is coming right around the corner.

ETA 5/11/09 7am PDT: There is a report on TMZ this morning that questions the under-18 claim made by prejean. It an anonymous tip from one of her "former pageant sponsors" (what's that? a sugar daddy?) that says Carrie sent him one of the topless pics after Jan 6, 2009 asking "if she was in good enough shape for the Miss USA Pageant." Jan 6 is the day Carrie apparently got her boobs done.

The information on TMZ is too sketchy to evaluate. I think the last few days have shown that Prejean and/or her handlers are not afraid to make stupid claims (like that the second sideboob pic released is not really her body but a photoshop job? COME ON!), so her claim that she was 17 when the pics were taken is still up for debate. But how did Prejean "send" this pic to her "former pageant sponsor"? Do kids send pics by any way these days other than email? And if so, where's the email? TMZ hedges on giving out too many details.

Digg link to this post

ETA: Dec 11, 2009: In light of the revelations last month that Carrie Prejean was age 20 when the nude videos about her were made, where she again insisted she was 17, I think that casts great doubt on my suggestion above that she really may have been 17 when the semi-nude photos were snapped. Its still possible, but Prejean cannot be seen as credible on pretty much anything at this point.

Webkinz World: The Next Athens/Seattle?

2009-04-17T10:55:00.001-07:00

I am always on the lookout for good new music, and have corrupted (I hope) my youngins with my love of indie pop/rock and good old "college rock". But when my 5 year old asked me to make him a CD with the song "Where Did You Get Those Stripes", and said it came from Webkinz.com, I steeled myself for some horrific abomination of children's music.

But, actually, the song is pretty darn good! Its a sweet little roots rock influenced number, with cute lyrics about the "Alley Cat" Webkin that is being pushed this month on the site.

(If you are already complaining about the blatant commercialism involved here, I would remind you that The Monkees debuted 43 years ago, so this is old hat. At least there is no Miley Cyrus connection.)

Whoever wrote/performed the thing understands how to do a good ol' rock and roll tune that still sounds fresh. Its also, by far, the most viewed video posted by Ganz (the Webkinz people) on YouTube, with over 150,000 views. And the comments are overwhelmingly positive both on youtube and scattered around the internet by pre-tween internet users and surprised stay-at-home moms.

Watch out Williamsburg, here come the Webkinz hipsters!

And for you mp3 and ipod lovers, here you go (right click to download):

Webkin z - Where Did You Get Those Stripes.mp3

(Note: mp3 links are for listening purposes only for a short time. If you’re an artist or label who wants a song taken down, please email at milo_went (at) yahoo.com)

Strangerlove: Omegle.com Wedding Engagement!

2009-04-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

I just found this posted on a dating website message board -- apparently the phenomenally popular new internet chat service omegle.com has already produced its first serious love connection - resulting in a wedding engagement!

The Sequel You Never Wanted: Evolution of Dance 2

2009-01-13T10:19:00.000-08:00

Evolution of Dance 2 is now UP!

OMG!

If you are a mild follower of YouTube and internet video, you may know that for over two years, Judson Laipply's Evolution of Dance, an "overlong mollycoddle mime dancing sketch", reigned as the most viewed video ever on YouTube. (Until beaten by Avril Lavigne. No comment on that.)

Well, on Monday, the "long awaited" Evolution of Dance 2 appeared, and debuted on The Today Show?!. (See Today show video - witness the crowd of .... 20!?)

WHY OH WHY is this claptrap getting press!?!?!

The video was released to the public late Sunday evening and now has about 1.1 million views, probably mostly curiousity seekers from the press coverage. Its hard to imagine it that could ever rival the 109 million views of its predecessor. The first installment hit YouTube in April 2006, when YouTube was a tiny place with a dearth of good content. It made the most viewed list, which was not a hard feat at the time, considering that one of the top channels was a booty-shaking-all-the-time chick called sexxiebabe23. Then it stayed on the most viewed list by some strange gravitational force. (E.g., NewViewer: "Hmm, I wonder what the most viewed video ever on this youtube thing is?" -click- "OMG! MY EYES! MY EYES!" View counted as viewer fumbles to close browser.)

I'm sorry, but Evolution of Dance 2 is crap.

Its inoffensive crap, but nothing noteworthy. The only positive thing I can say is that Judson Laipply gets credit for squeezing every last drop out of this "phenomenon." More power to him. Evolution of Dance DVDs, t-shirts, fast food franchises, the possibilities are endless.

As the amazingly snarky folks at youtube reviewed say:

...how many times can you go to the well of “goofy white dude in an Orange Crush T-Shirt doing booty-shakin’ moves to retro jams” before it gets old? Turns out the answer is once. You can go to that particular well exactly once. Because after that, it just comes across as tired, uninspired and, frankly, kind of annoying.

So my recommendation: RUN AWAY FROM YOUR KEYBOARD NOW! But like 2girls1cup, many will be unable to resist.

YouTube's Battle For Supremacy, But Youth Wins

2008-09-23T07:34:00.000-07:00

So, there is a currently a huge battle underway on YouTube to be the #1 most subscribed channel. Smosh, who has been #1 since April 2007 -- an eternity in Internet time -- is currently just barely ahead of nigahiga and Fred. And checking the actual subscribers counts on the channels themselves (which are usually more up to date than the chart excerpted above), Smosh's lead is down to just over 700 subscribers.

(Smosh fans say: Oh noez!)

Now, it might be noted that this unholy threesome appeal to a lot of teens and kids who are more than able and willing to game subscriber numbers, at least when they are not hacking Sarah Palin's email. But, to their credit, these video creators also consistently get huge viewcounts on their vids, and I haven't seen any evidence of cheating.

When Smosh bypassed lonelygirl15 as the #1 most subscribed channel 17 months ago, it only took just over 91,000 subscribers to edge out Bree. Smosh now has well over five times more subscribers. Yet the lonelygirl15 channel stalled and never exceeded 115,000. YouTube is fickle like that, as its stars of yesteryear (anyone remember Geriatric1927?) are being replaced by more youth-oriented content, which itself is becoming semi-professional as these stars reel in some cash.

See also: YouTubeStars' Top 100 Chart

ETA 9/24/2008 11pm PT: Nigahiga just edged smosh sometime in the last 10 minutes, nigahiga has 531,009 to smosh's 531,006.

Official YouTube chart updated:

Kenny from YouTube stars comments: "Thanks for the links to our blog and the Top 100 Chart! My guess is that Nigahiga will pass Smosh in the next week and then Fred will move to #1 in the next few weeks. Will be interesting to watch and see!"

And over at Smosh.com, the fans brush away the tears:

... I have never seen a Smosh video that didn't make me at least snicker. SMOSH IS BETTER.

The problem is that everyone knows about NigaHiga at schools... And yet when I mention Smosh people are like "who now?" It's like "WTF how'd you find out about NigaHiga then...

i ownz ensurantz compinny?

2008-09-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

I feel very unknowledgeable about the true import of what is going on in the US economy this week ... wade in if you dare ...

So the news is telling me that the Fed finally decided to bail out AIG. I assume most people have not heard of AIG until recently, but it is one of the top 25 companies, in size, in the entire world, and the largest insurance company in the U.S. (not sure who is bigger worldwide, but AIG is one of the biggest).

And in return for a line of credit up to $85 billion, the Federal Reserve Bank now owns 79.9% of AIG. The press releases don't say it quite this way -- but we have nationalized this company. what the hell is going on?

Among the questions that occur to me is why Chapter 11 bankruptcy (a reorganization bankruptcy - you keep operating subject to bankruptcy law protections from creditors, like the airlines have done many times) was not acceptable for AIG?

Do we get to fire those in charge of AIG now, and take back their surely huge corporate bonuses, or cut their salaries?

according to one article, one analyst says this "not a nationalization because the Fed does not intend to run AIG. The Fed will get a profit on this, which it should." so, we own 80% of AIG, but don't intend to have any say in how it is run?

Is this like the (much smaller) 1979 bailout of Chrysler, which this conservative org. article from 1983 lambasted?

I am trying to figure out how these recent government decisions from people supposedly dedicated to the free market (including the retaking of Fannie and Freddie) are not socialism. (opinion piece here from unvetted source - "the New American?" - that seems to agree) McCain can say nationalized insurance for health care would be bad, but we just nationalized the largest insurance company we have!

ETA: Even that idiot Jonah Goldberg at The Corner doesn't seem enthused about the buyout.

Update: Andraluvs2sing Has Balls

2008-06-18T07:43:00.001-07:00

In my last post, I laid out the evidence that andraluvs2sing (aka Andra Hoelsted) was fictional viral marketing for something. And it was.

After Andra resolved in the last week to do something about this alleged teacher taking advantage of her friend, she dropped the bomb yesterday captured above: "We accidentially cut off our teachers nuts."

Whoa! You gotta laugh at that. Also up is Andra's latest youtube video, a trailer for the movie "On The Doll", which deals with amazing things such as detached nuts, apparently.

In fact, the deballing clip is online, if you dare to learn that testicles can indeed be removed "accidentally":

The movie has a YouTube Channel, with trailers posted. (Some have inflated view counts using the same techniques that Andra used.) According to the wikipedia page for the movie, a surely unbiased article written by the director, On the Doll is:

a very dark and intense dramatic feature film directed and written by acclaimed music video director Thomas Mignone [who has directed a huge ass number of heavy metal type band's videos.] .... The film's title comes from the phrase "Show me on the doll where you were touched" often asked of young children who have been the victims of sexual abuse. "On The Doll" has a limited theatrical release in the United States, as well as a continuously growing popularity upon its DVD and online release due to several unexpected and highly graphic scenes.

Oh, and it was released on DVD yesterday. (Handy link to amazon, only $26.99). What a coincidence!

Presumably facebook, kari sweets, and illumistream were recruited to help promote the movie. Maybe the gal who plays andra is in the movie? I don't know.

So, some kudos are due to Thomas Mignone and his crew for a well-planned hoax. Uh ... I mean viral marketing campaign. It didn't go super-viral like the Wii Fit Girl (which wasn't planned viral marketing anyway), but most of these attempts to go viral don't spread that far anyway, or at least its hard to measure their effect.

Andraluvs2hoax: Another fake viral video thingie

2008-06-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

So, I stumbled across Andraluvs2sing today, aka Andra Hoelsted, aka the latest youtube fictional / fake / hoax floating around the internet. Not that I really get riled up about these faux 'next big things.' In fact, I find them fascinating. But I wonder what the purpose of this one is.

Andraluvs2sing started her youtube channel on April 23, 2008. She posted, that same day, a video of her purportedly singing as a youngster. It has 23,000 views and 1 comment, and the functionality to see where external links to youtube are coming from is disabled. Hmmm ....

Andra's next three vids show that she's a very poor guitar player, but a very attractive young woman. Practicing A New Song has already racked up an impressive 292,743 views, but only 26 comments (and again, any external links data is disabled.) But one commenter explains the high view count: "this video is showing automatically on facebook, that's why!"

Although Andra is hawtt, surely this video wasn't featured by facebook on its merit.

Then, a la lonelygirl15, Andra starts some drama. On May 16, she posted a 21 second clip "does your teacher act like this with students?!!". This purports to show some questionable behavior of one of her teachers in a car with a fellow female student. Of course, she wants youtubers advice on what to do. This vid currently has 695,814 views & 121 comments, a suspicious ratio. In the comments, a few people do smell a fake, though most of the others are trying to give Andra advice.

Um, tell the principal? Have a threesome? Which one will get more youtube views?

So, about a week later, Andra posted a vid of advice she received from another young beauty, a Kari Sweets. "Kari Sweets Advice LEAVE COMMENT!". Whaaa? apparently Sweets is a "minor internet porn starlet" of the Maxim type (i.e., not 100% nude). And while its not only odd that some Internet-famous chick would post a video response to this girl's car stalking video, its also very odd that Andra posted it on her own channel, instead of this appearing on some channel claiming to be Kari Sweets' youtube channel (if she has one). (There's also another video of Kari talking about the situation on some other youtube channel.)

Then, yesterday (june 5), youtube channel illumistream, which is a commercially done production that has been having great youtube success lately by posting short videos of "sex advice" with hawtt thumbnails, also posted the same kari sweets video that Andra did, calling it "Not Your Average Sex Celebrity Tape" (except with a lurid thumbnail added).

Illumistream's Video Description: The Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian sex tapes became Internet sensations -- but this isn't THAT kind of sex tape. Kari Sweets takes a break from her on-line modeling career to give some advice to Andra Hoelsted on her unfortunate situation.
The whole story broke when Andra told everything on her blog, http://andraluvs2sing.wordpress.com. Watch the video to get Kari's perspective - and support Andra's friend by visiting the blog:
http://andraluvs2sing.wordpress.com

Surely that's enough for anyone to realize its a hoax.

But, like any good fictive viral story, Andra's faux existence is not confined to youtube. She also has a wordpress blog, which is telling the story of her attempt to become a successful musician. This involves her realizing she can't play guitar for shit, but luckily she has met up with some guitarist ... do i smell a band forming?

And, of course she has a facebook, and a myspace, and even a digg account, where her only submission has been to digg this Amazing New Female Artist ... well, golly gee, its digging herself!

The backstory among these sites gives her full name as Andra Hoelsted, of Charlotte, North Carolina. The pictures you can find on her myspace / blog / digg are all very professional looking (and never have anyone else in them other then her).

So, its another another fictional viral thingie. But why? And who's the girl?

UPDATE - June 18, 2008: See new post, its marketing for a movie called "On the Doll."

Ten Lonely Songs About Chocolate And Girls

2008-05-16T13:10:00.001-07:00

Behold the musical video presentation above of "Ten Lonely Words" by Julie Ocean. This song kicks ass. Play it at the beach, in the car, in your prison cell (HI MOM!), or whereever you are.

I had a dream that I heard this on the radio after that 'shawty got low' drivel.

Buy their debut album "Long Gone And Nearly There"! (Julie Ocean's that is, not Flo-Rida's). It's on emusic, among the other usual places.

Star Jones and Tsunamis

2008-04-23T13:32:00.000-07:00

Big news today.

Star Jones is getting divorced. OMG! (if people even know who she is). (Defamer.com: No Reason Yet Given In Star Jones's Divorce From Gay Husband.)

Star Jones reminds me very much of the internet pre-YouTube.

On December 26, 2004, you may recall that a large earthquake rocked the Indian Ocean, causing a tsunami responsible for many deaths from flooding in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, etc. It was a terrible tragedy, one for which Indian Ocean countries (as opposed to Pacific Ocean countries) were ill-prepared.

Places struck by the tsunami included Phuket, Thailand, a resort area frequented by many Europeans. A number of vacationers took videos of the event as it happened, and they started to appear online soon in the days following the disaster.

I found watching these riveting for some reason. I knew it was kind of "wrong", but I also wanted to understand in some small way how it happened and the fear people must have felt. People a world away from me in many ways, but still, as John Green would say, there is no them, there are only facets of us.

But there was no YouTube.

It was difficult to locate and stream these videos, and some sites crashed from the traffic. While we take it for granted today that video of any disaster or mishap will be on YouTube, this is the first time I recall such widespread distribution (though straining the internet) of tragedy footage.

Some of those videos I recall now appear on youtube:

Another One. A Third One.

So, back to Star Jones. Star Jones reminds me of all this because a few days after the tragedy, she talked on the View (the morning U.S. talk show) about how she had just been in the area -- like a month before -- for her honeymoon. The wedding had been highly publicized by her, and she was milking that wedding for all it was worth. (Apparently 3 years.)

As The Daily Show reported at the time: "Star Jones is eternally grateful that God chose to spare her life in exchange for those of 160,000 others in Sri Lanka and Indonesia."

And whaddya know. The first video ever posted on youtube arrived on April 23, 2005. Three years ago today. Star Jones probably arranged for it.

That's Impossible!, or, I Can't Believe It Was A Hoax!

2008-04-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

The collective inability of the internet to engage in critical thinking was proven true again for the 453,342nd time, with a story that Yale student Aliza Shvarts was all set to debut her "art project" consisting of serially inseminating herself and then inducing abortions over a nine month period. And it only gets worse and more bizarre from there. The untold angle is that the Yale Daily News was completely duped by this young woman, and deserves its fair share of the blame/credit.

Its all over the internet, of course, and I made a long forum post on the controversy at Anchor Cove.

Let's Kill Cats

2008-03-04T07:41:00.000-08:00

Since blogs are often the offhand personal observations of their authors, its not surprising to see that any mildly interesting article that shows up in the New York Times on a given day is certain to spawn a few short sentences with a link on random blogs. What you might blurt out while sipping your morning coffee ("hmm, oil is more expensive now than velveeta, volume wise") becomes Blogposts that NEED to be shared with the world.

Just goes to show how many Important Blogger Types read the NY Times. That's really sad, though. I mean, the NY Times is just one of many hundreds of fine world newspapers.

Why don't people go all crazy for today's article in the Rapid City Journal (South Dakota, USA), "Legislator, lion advocate disagree on value of killing cats". Just the title alone should cause snarky and witty commentary across the blogosphere. NY Times-centric bloggers be damned!

Don't Forget Diet Coke

2008-02-27T09:54:00.000-08:00

Via Virginia Heffernan's NY Times' Medium Blog, I was led to the amazing research being done at Stuff White People Like.

According to NPR, which is SOOO on the list, the blog (created by white Toronto-to-LA transplant Christian Lander) has created some controversy. Not sure what the controversy is, but some white people are probably dicussing it down at the local Whole Foods while looking over the wine selection.

Self-important white people and many others comment on the story:
Grits&Eggs Blog (Feb.3) (comment says: "I was in an anti-racism training the other day and the white people got really upset when we started talking about "white culture".); Only Baggage You Can Bring Blog (Feb. 13) (sporting the very white titled: "So hilarious you'll wee in your pants"); Wired (Feb. 16) (first major press); Outside The Beltway Blog (Feb. 18) ("Unbearable Whiteness of Blogging"); LAIst (Feb. 19) ("Amazingly, even though the first post went up on January 18th, they're already up to 1,376,177 hits."); Utne Reader (Feb. 20); Kayne West Blog (Feb. 22) ("I am 1 of 2 blacks of the hundred's of white folks in my department. AND THIS SHIT IS SOOOO TRUE."); San Francisco Chronicle (Feb. 23); LA Times (Feb. 25) ("By last week, he was averaging 300,000 daily hits."); The Assimilated Negro (Feb. 25, interview).

Oh, and Mr. Lander's Amazon Reviews page reveals that, apparently, white people like the movie "Pootie Tang."

Just The McFacts

2008-02-18T21:36:00.000-08:00

The above picture comes from the bag which comes with a McDonald's Happy Meal. Apparently these bags contains McFacts, without the pesky need for a McFact Checker.

The bag, as you can see, says "Up & Up: You can jump 6 times higher in space!"

WTF? Obviously this refers to the MOON, not space. In space, you could jump forever, and there is no "UP"! How do screwups like this happen? Someone, presumably thought, "oh, space sounds cooler than the moon, let's put that in there! Who cares if that's right!"

Others have noted this problem in the past. ( June 2006 blogpost, Jan 2007 blogpost 1, Jan 2007 blogpost 2 - the comments on this last one say don't make a big deal over a typo! Oh, yeah, I'm sure that's a valid excuse on the AP Physics exam as well.)

OK, so this error has been publicly noticed on the internet for over 18 months. But apparently McDonald's sees no reason to correct blatant errors being presented to children as scientific fact. And don't think kids don't absorb this stuff either. Sometime in the future, they will spout out this McFact, not knowing where it came from, and be very confused to be wrong. They will then question their entire knowledge base. In a few years, some will no longer think they are "college material." But, hey, McDonald's will be hiring!

Proving Scientology Wrong

2008-02-11T05:49:00.000-08:00

So, I have been a bit intrigued, to say the least, about the recent protests by the group "Anonymous" against the Church of Scientology. It all got stirred up after the recent crazed video of Tom Cruise promoting Scientology started spreading across the internet, with Scientologists making copyright infringment claims to stall its viral spread on YouTube. "Anonymous" then posted some heavily viewed videos on YouTube promising retribution on February 10. News stories from mainstream media, including The Economist (Jan. 31), National Public Radio (Feb. 7), Newsweek (Feb. 8), and elsewhere, stirred an increasing frenzy.

Then, yesterday (Feb. 10, 2008), starting in New Zealand and Australia and continuing around the world, protesters turned out at Scientology church locations. Often whimsical, but sprinkled with serious foot soliders and serious messages, Anonymous simply proved what everyone pretty much already knows: Scientology is a joke.

That's why signs that said "Honk if you hate Scientology" or similar at protests were quite popular around the world. For example, in Boston:

The curtains of the Scientology building at 448 Beacon St. were drawn during most of yesterday's protest, but a video camera sticking out of a top floor window filmed the protesters as they begged motorists to "honk if you hate Scientology." Many drivers responded to the signs, creating a deafening roar with cars, taxi and fire trucks horns.

And Los Angeles:

The protests were peaceful and colorful, with music and chanting (often: "Religion is free -- No Pay Per View" -- a reference to an alleged tiered system whereby the religion's adherents must pay money to gain spiritual clarity). A near constant stream of horn honks provided the background noise as cars passed the Scientology center on Sunset Boulevard and continued as the mob moved to the so-called Celebrity Center on Hollywood Boulevard. At least one ambulance and several fire department vehicles honked as they passed.

In most every city, Scientology tried to retaliate by having their lackeys photograph and video protesters, most of whom were wearing disguises. But that kind of heavy handedness doesn't impress young internet-generation types. They are jaded to all that, and now all these scientologists snapping pictures are themselves now in pictures all over the internet.

Personally, I enjoyed some of the very creative signs that folks came up with:

See also: WikiNews Photo Gallery and Site by Site Summary

There are also videos all over youtube from the protests. Here's an amusing early one from Sydney where the crowd cheers "Hubbard's a Wanker":

More ridiculous is the fact that Scientology was "rick rolled" at many of the protests. Like in Washington, D.C.:

See also London Rick Roll; Seattle Rick Roll. (This is beyond crazy. Mocking Scientology with Rick Astley. There is an even less known version of this tactic featuring Will Smith's Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Craziness!)

So what does all this mean for Scientology, if anything? In many ways, this Anonymous protest was simply just a worldwide flash mob. A big in-joke. But, on the other hand, I would think that future potential Scientology members are going to hear about this protest. They will see the videos of people protesting around the world and endless cars honking their support -- these honkers are the normal people in this world. The people who won't get off the couch to do much of anything, and are just busy living their own lives, but they know bullshit when they see it. Maybe some of the future recruits will decide to stay away when Tom Cruise beckons.

Will Scientology lose its tax exempt status? Will it be destroyed? Doubtful. But will the CoS be unable to prove to anyone that its even remotely cool to think Scientology is legit? Very possibly.

As a larger matter, the ability of thousands of people to quickly organize without any recognizable leadership and pull off a worldwide protest like this is truly amazing. Think of what good could be done in the world if the everyday folks of the internet generation spent a few hours a month on such causes. Amnesty International's main weapon to fight human rights abuses is simply letter writing -- letting governments know that people notice what they are doing and don't like it. And sometimes, it works. Imagine what Anonymous can accomplish with their drive, snark, and the occassional Rick Roll.

The Interregunum Ends / Music Prevails

2007-11-20T06:38:00.000-08:00

Soooo...

I used to discuss other subjects on this blog. I can't really even recall what they were, though I suppose you can find it in the archives. But it's music for now. Videos (with accompanying mp3s when available) for the songs you must have to make your soul complete.

The Go! Team - Doing It Right

Doing it Right is from Proof of Youth, the 2nd album from Brighton, England's Go! Team, released this past September. Not a huge departure from 2004's Thunder Lightning Strike, its still an awesome mix of indie and dance sensibilities with unbridled joy to get you groovin'. And my 7-year old son pronounced it his new favorite song yesterday. I think the schoolyard-sounding sing along part won him over.

You can download an mp3 of Doing It Right here, courtesy of the fine mp3 blog Can You See The Sunset From The Southside.

Links of Note:
Go! Team on wikipedia.
Official Band Site
The obligatory band myspace page
What Pitchfork told you to think about Proof of Youth (Rating 7.2)
What PopMatters told you to think

---

ETA: 2/11/2008: Well, I can see I have no inspiration to really be an mp3 blogger. Scratch that idea.

Goodbye

2007-08-21T23:59:00.000-07:00

I'd rather Bree had left defiantly.

"Don't leave the key underneath the mat for me, cause I won't be coming back around here."

LG15 Season One Finale Tomorrow (Friday Aug 3, 2007)

2007-08-02T10:47:00.001-07:00

The "new art form" has a new twist: It's 12 videos in 12 hours. It starts tomorrow, Friday August 3 at 8am Pacific Time (that's 11am East Coast US Time, and 4pm London).

Most people who read this blog may possibly know about lonelygirl15, so I'm not going rehash any of that here. Here is a "recap" (read: "psuedo movie trailer") that was released yesterday. It's a slick 7-minute "what's happened so far" kinda thing.

Prediction: I'm gonna be sad when Bree's head gets chopped off by the Order and rolls right into her Logitech Orbit Webcam.

Also intriguing is the fact that the finale is going to be appear exclusive on Myspace. Myspace, you say? Doesn't lonelygirl15 show up on youtube? Or is it revver? Or is that lonelygirl15.com? Yes, all of that is true. But apparently the finale is going to myspace. NewTeeVee has the story.

Thoroughly Post-Modern Bree?: How to Watch Lonelygirl15 Now

2007-07-15T21:51:00.000-07:00

After taking a sabbatical from Lonelygirl15, Terryfic returns in this guest blog to find that he now views Bree & Co. through a delightful new lens.

by Terryfic

It’s July, and Lonelygirl15 has enchanted me all over again.

But not quite to the point that I’m ready to break out into song.

After a long break from watching LG I have now finally caught up, and despite swearing up and down when I left that I was done with the show for good and that a simple break wouldn’t allow me to enjoy the show again, I have to say – LG15 is the very model of a popular YouTube auteur.

I’m not sure if my break simply reset my fan cycle, and after a few more weeks I will again grow frustrated and disheartened with the show. Or it could just be, that in my summer entertainment-starved state (where I find myself enjoying Dr. Who far too much) my expectations are so low that LG seems wonderful again.

But I think the big difference was my realization that LG isn’t a mystery or drama as it is usually billed: it's a comedy.

As a pure drama it is slow, frustrating, and nonsensical. It would be difficult to argue it wasn’t a complete failure.

As a comedy it is quick witted, snappy, ironic, comically absurd and at times oddly informative.

I rejoined LG at episode 148 – Beach Bum. This was shortly after Jonas was tied up and before Aunt Alex entered the show. About five videos into where I started watching again was the video where Bree goes off and trains with Tachyon. I think it was this video that cemented the idea of LG as a comedy rather than a drama. In it Bree constantly jokes about not being cut out to be a ninja and in general doesn’t take the situation very seriously. She suddenly reminded me of a very post modern character, the kind of person that grew up watching action movies and is aware of how absurd her life has become. The show actually started to remind me a little bit of Bottle Rocket.

Once I changed my point of view about the show and looked at it as a post modern comedy, a lot of my previous gripes suddenly disappeared. It just started to become more and more amusing that the characters didn’t seem to do anything to help their situation or conversely, despite the cryptic clues and ridiculously complex storyline, their only plan of action was to just run in guns blazing with no real plan at all. Jonas and Bree go sight seeing while ‘Action’ Dan (the only one that ever actually does anything) breaks into Alex’s place while joking about it. This all built up to the comic genius which was the kidnapping of Jules, easily one of the funniest episodes in the history of the show. The scene where DB is vlogging and Jules is tied up in the background caused me to almost fall out of my chair laughing.

My new point of view allowed me to not only ignore the absurd, insane actions and motives of the characters, but I began to revel in them. Even the grand question of why are they still making videos suddenly no longer became a problem. LG was a great example of our new post modern technoculture where people no longer write personal correspondence, but instead write mass correspondence. Conversations that use to be private are now done openly via MySpace comments and such. It has even been known for criminals to continue to post on their blogs even while fleeing from the police. I remember how Adrian Lamo famously continued to blog even while the FBI was chasing him for hacking the New York Times. LG has just taken this to its comically absurdist conclusion by still vlogging despite it putting them in obvious danger.

The big problem I see LG facing is the fact that it has become a show without a star. In my opinion Bree was the only character that was able to consistently make captivating solo vlogs. Daniel, Jonas, Sarah and Taylor are all supporting cast, and it looks like the lead has left. I enjoy the ensemble videos, Daniel and Jonas have great chemistry and I Know What Boys Like shows Sarah and Taylor can work quite well together too. But I think the show will always struggle without a strong lead character to rally around.

After all, there is a reason it is called the Breeniverse.

----

Wow. Thanks to Terryfic for reordering my lg15 world. I can't imagine that at least of some of Terry's observations weren't the product of intentional acts on the part of the Creators. And maybe most of them. However, the Creators haven't been able to let us know, or found a way yet, to explicitly signal to us what they are doing. Maybe they haven't realized it themselves, just as many of us have been stuck in the rut of Bree's bedroom. But Terry's new world order recasts many things long thought to be low points in the Breeniverse, like Bree taking Jonas to the vet for treatment of a major wound to his hand. That makes no sense if you hold lg15 to a standard of strict reality, but in terms of Pulp-Fictioneseque surreality, its actually kinda cool.

The Bree Drought: Will It Reach Biblical Proportions?

2007-05-21T05:57:00.000-07:00

The last Lonelygirl15 video to feature Lonelygirl15 herself, a.k.a. Bree, a.k.a. actress Jessica Rose, was What the F*@k??? on May 11, 2007. On that day, Bree voluntarily got into a car with the Order. Today is May 21, so it has been 10 days without a sign of Bree.

Breeologists, take note. This is remarkable for at least one reason: it is the longest absence of the show's star ever. The previous longest gap was nine days -- and that was WAY back last summer -- from Grillz on June 25, 2006, until My Parents Suck on July 4. And no videos were released inbetween these two videos. My Parents Suck was the 1st lg15 video to be widely viewed on youtube (and the legend goes that this is when Creator Greg Goodfried called up Creator Miles Beckett and told him it was time for him to quit being a doctor), so its not like too many people took special notice of this drought from the possibly-real Bree at the time.

The creators of lonelygirl15 have indicated before that they intend the show to carry on even if (or when?) Jessica Rose gets too big for her britches and moves on to hollywood stardom. But, were that to happen, it would also be a testament to the success of their creation.

To fill the Breegap, we have new lg15 characters in sisters Sarah and Taylor joining the cast. And they aren't bad actresses AT ALL (in fact, Alexandra Dreyfus (Sarah), and Becky Kregoski (Taylor) both appear quite talented in my opinion). However, their actual connection to the PLOT (whatever that is) is exceedingly thin.

Basically it goes like this: Taylor is a soccer-playing teen located somewhere in the vicinity of Zavalla, Texas, with a faux-emo sex-crazy older sister named Sarah. Taylor vlogged a few times about soccer and an intriguing weird competitive thing between her and her friend Sam (who we never saw) that also involved the influence of Taylor's strict mother. Then, out of the blue, Taylor also told Bree that she thinks she remembers playing soccer against Jules(or Julia), who Nikki Bower had previously suggested (with absolutely no evidence) was likely the New Girl for the Ceremony. (see this prior post for more details on that.)

Following me so far?

So, of course, Bree Daniel and Jonas drive from California to Texas to meet Taylor (and Sarah) at a park, and then proceed to find Julia with their help. Then, the crew kidnaps Julia and ties her up, because that of course is the best way to convince someone that their religion is bad and that they may be picked to do The Ceremony (whatever that is). Then Julia escapes, then they find her near a dumpster (despite houses being all over the place), and then the Order found them (of course), and took Julia. And Bree went with them, but we don't know why (of course).

So, while your head is spinning from all that, you can watch this cute vlog from Taylor and Sarah, called I Know What Boys Like.

The answer, by the way, is Bree. But we'll make do with Sarah and Taylor in the meantime. And if you are pining for Jessica Rose, let's hope you don't have to wait until the July 27th premiere of I Know Who Killed Me (which hopefully is not the title of future Bree vlog, either).

One Year Ago

2007-05-14T07:17:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, a milestone was passed. It has been one year since the Lonelygirl15 account was created on youtube. Of course, "Bree" did not post any videos on May 12, 2006. "Her" first video did not appear until later that month, and Jessica Rose did not protray Bree in her first vlog until June 16, 2006. To me, June 16 is the real first "anniversary" of Bree and Lonelygirl15. But I haven't posted anything in over two weeks. So there you go.

And for readers who didn't know, here is a list of critical links for lonelygirl15 fans:

LG15 Today Blog. With a wink and a smile, LG15 Today always brings you the latest and greatest in daily lonelygirl15 news. Such as the identity of Sarah, played by 21-year old actress Alexandra Dreyfus. Sarah is a new character on lg15, who we now know is not jailbait in real life, thanks to LG15 Today.
LGPedia. The LGPedia is the official, fan-authored, encyclopedia of all things Lonelygirl15. If you are interesting in learning the basic plot of the show so far, check out The Story So Far .... Of, if you want the full story of how the Creators of Lonelygirl15 were discovered, check out Down the Rabbit Hole: The Hunt For Bree.
The Official Lonelygirl15 Forum. The official forum for discussion of the show. Note that discussion of individual videos takes places in two places. First in individual threads of The Videos subforum of the forum, and also in the Comment Board, which simply means the main page of the site, which also allows comments to be made below each posted video. While the forum and comment board have some overlapping members, they have their own distinct in-jokes and cultures. Members of the comment board are usually easygoing souls who get drunk on slurpees and grape nehi (don't ask), and use the word "meep" repeatedly (really, don't ask). Members of the forum include fans from all generations and inclinations, from the very devoted, to the very critical.
The Children of Anchor Cove Forum This is the primary unofficial forum for discussion of lonelygirl15, as well as other internet episodic series including Prom Queen and Brotherhood 2.0. Anchor Cove was originally formed in September 2006 when early fans of lonelygirl15 left that show's original and failing "phorum", and made a place of their own. This proved helpful when the official forums failed multiple times in light of the intense media exposure which accompanied the "outing" of the Creators of Lonelygirl15. The "Children of Anchor Cove" was the title used by the creators of Lonelygirl15 for their original casting call. Sometimes referred to an "Rancor Cove," the Cove includes a nucleus of early lg15 fans and later adoptees who enjoy absurdly advanced and sometimes harsh discussion of lg15 and other shows. Myself and other Covians are patiently waiting for the convergence of internet video, television, and human DNA. No, it does not involve the Hale-Bopp comet.

Smosh Takes YouTube Throne: Google Demands Refund

2007-04-26T01:00:00.000-07:00

Dateline .... 1am ET...April 26, 2007:

April 26, 2007 will go down as a very sad day in the history of internet video. Or at least in the history of lonelygirl15. Barring a minor miracle, sometime in the next few hours, Lonelygirl15 will step down from her YouTube throne. Bree, which reached the top spot on YouTube as the most-subscribed channel of all time in September 2006 (displacing the fiery Geriatric1927), will have yielded the top spot to, umm .... Smosh.

What is Smosh? Here is a random blogpost from a few months ago:

(Smosh has) the most discussed video (on Youtube at the time), which is as well ranked as the second most viewed video (of all time) on YouTube, had received a massive total of 22721 comments (as of Nov 2006). These numbers continue to increase everyday and definitely show the popularity of the video.

Nothing exceptional or world-changing occurs in this video though! It is simply two guys, known on YouTube as “Smosh”, parodying the Pokemon Music Video in their bedroom with a lot of exaggerated gestures and funny faces. However, in the YouTube community, this video is a revelation! 'NeoInvader' exclaims, “Legends Pure Legends”, while another remarks, “God, their facial expressions are priceless.”, and some even go further commenting that they have watched the videos a thousand of time “You guys are my heroes!”

I picked that very random blogpost to quote because everyone I can find coherently commenting on Smosh will say something similar. Yes, Smosh is two 19 year old guys from somewhere in the United States who make, well, frankly, not-funny comedy clips. And I don't mean not funny in a bad Saturday Night Live skit kind of way. Well, maybe I do. Time Magazine did dub them the SNL of youtube, in part for their "unswerving, unwinking commitment to idiocy." Like the bad SNL skits at 12:45am that just won't end. But worse.

But quality is of no great importance on YouTube. So, it doesn't make a difference what Smosh uploads, it WILL get hundreds of thousands of views, slavish praise from its fanbase, and perhaps even featured by youtube (the holy grail of exposure). In fact, if one of the Smosh guys made a video of the other one taking a dump ("whew, that smells dude!"), it would no doubt get half a million views. See pic above.

"Aren't Funny, Milo?! How can you honestly say they aren't funny? They won an award for being funny, you hater!"

Yes, yes, yes. Last month, Smosh won the YouTube award for best comedy video in the "First Annual Rigged YouTube Awards." This event was created for more YouTube press, but it was also a chance for the mainstream media to shine its light on the best youtube had to offer. Right?

Well, the spotlight was a little harsh for Smosh:

The Boston Herald (March 28, 2007) wrote:

Best Comedy: “Smosh Short 2” by Smosh - Apparently, YouTube is devoid of comedy. Two teens from California created this, and well, we don’t care how they do it in California.

And an upstate NY paper (March 27, 2007):

YouTube viewers selected seven "winners" for the inaugural YouTube Video Awards recently. For results, go to www.youtube.com/ytawards. Smosh Short 2: Stranded video by Smosh won best comedy when it clearly did not deserve a nomination. It just wasn't funny. "Mixed Nuts" and "Completely Uncalled For"; which finished in second and third, were clearly more comical.

And an Australian rag (March 28, 2007):

Like any awards show, YouTube's were not without controversy. At least one winning video drew the ire of readers and led some to question the competition's legitimacy. Smosh Short 2: Stranded, the winner of the 'best comedy' award, was swamped with negative comments. Some users even went as far as to accuse the creators of stuffing ballots and paying YouTube for the award.

And the NY Times (link now dead) wrote:

Whew, that smells dude! Get off youtube you emo freaks!

OK, so maybe some people (read: smoshkoshb'goshlovers) will disagree with those assessments. But I just don't think its funny. But I'm not one of those people who say "get off of youtube," one of the most ridiculous taunts I've heard since the third grade. I just don't understand their appeal. I'm not going to begrudge anyone who truly finds it funny. I just won't trust their recommendations.

So, What Did Bree Do Wrong?

How could this happen? A few months ago, Lonelygirl15 had a healthy lead over smosh in subscribers. And almost double the number of any other channel on youtube. But, starting sometime in late February, Bree's new subscriptions started to dry up, while Smosh's started to take off. This latter event struck me as suspicious, frankly, but I have no concrete evidence of any cheating.

A number of theories have emerged for why Bree's popularity has stalled or declined:

1. Quality of the Plot: Many speculate that the decline in bree's popularity has to do with the decline in the quality of the plot. Bree took Jonas to the Vet. OK, I generally agree that there has been a decline. But Smosh's quality, well we already discussed that. But Smosh's fans exalt Smosh and bash lg15.

2. Bree's 15 minutes expired. Possible. Though it was much longer than 15 minutes, and its far from over just because Smosh is taking the throne tonight. Bree reigned atop youtube for seven months. That is an ETERNITY in internet time. Plus, numerous lg15 videos in the last few months still have received very respectable view counts.

3. The youtube timewarp: For awhile now, Lonelygirl15 videos have been released on the official Lonelygirl15.com website for a period of time before hitting youtube. The gap started at maybe a few hours. But in the last few months, the gap kept widening until youtube was about 8 videos behind. One might think this would drive more lg15 fans to the official site, but that doesn't seem to have occurred. Instead, core fans started going to the official site exclusively, thus leaving lonelygirl15 on youtube devoid of her biggest protectors. Every big youtuber needs its defense force. So the youtube comment threads for lg15 were overtaken by hatred.

4. People don't like watching episodic video online. This theory is that people would rather watch skateboarding mishaps, 85 ft. basketball shots, or just one-off funny videos on youtube, instead of an episodic series like lonelygirl15. Well, its true that youtube and its clones will always be a place where you can track down 30-second classics like "Girl Poops Pants." But that doesn't mean that an episodic series cannot develop a fanbase. Youtube, however, does next to nothing to foster episodic content. Its design and focus elevates individual videos over series. The new series on Myspace, PromQueen, seems to be having some success in least in part because of Myspace's commitment to developing an audience. YouTube doesn't do that. But it might share ad revenue sometime in the next century.

So, Google paid $1.65 billion for Smosh. And everything else on youtube; Montgomery Mini-Mall commercials, people lighting farts on fire, you name it. And don't get me started on the #3 alltime subscribed channel, miaarose. Um, can Google still get a refund?

Edited to Add, June 9, 2008: This post apparently falls high in Google searches about Smosh. You'll see some people in the comments are upset that I don't like Smosh. Hey, I'm not saying you are not allowed to like them, Tweens Of America. But think for yourself, decide what YOU like. The rest of us are allowed to shake our heads and mutter things about dentures and such if we want.

ETA: Sept. 23, 2008: Is Smosh going down?

Attack of the Breeclones!

2007-04-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

The biggest news in Lonelygirl15 world this week is the proliferation of potential Brees, currently descending upon the Breeniverse like a biblical horde of locusts. But, instead of devouring whole crops in front of horrified settlers, this horde is just a bunch of young girls. But one of these girls is the "new girl" chosen by the Order for the dreaded Ceremony. OMG! (Disclaimer: EVERYONE believes The Ceremony should be dreaded, though we have no idea what it is. You must accept that fact, kind readers.)

(Oh, and lots of potential new girls? Yes, yes, many of us see parallels to Buffy Season 7 cropping up, but hopefully all these girls won't be descending on the Breebunker anytime soon for resistance training with Bree or the unseen-character-formerly-known as-Tachyon.)

So, to briefly recap how this development came up, in The Perfect Beach (April 13), a beautiful day for the lg15 cast at a Mexican beach was interrupted by a visit from The Order. Under the duress of Jonas' new gun, Aunt Alex let this zinger slip:

"They don't need you anymore, Bree. ...They have another girl!"

Oh My! Then, on April 16, Nikki Bower posted a video called The Ceremony Girl where she claims to have located this alleged new girl, aka CallMeJules24 on youtube, or Julia. While Julia's two videos to date are clearly suspicious and emit at least some faint lg15 canon smoke, Nikki B. has never been confirmed as canon by the Creators. In fact, when this blog identified the actress who plays Nikki B. back in January 2007, Nikki made the following comment on the official lg15 forum:

Just for the record, I am not canon. I am a fan just like all of you. While I do have anonymous sources and tipsters, I am truly investigating as one of you would.

So, with that backstory, it was not clear from Nikki's video whether or not miss jules was intended to be official or what. Could the world continue revolving with such tension?

Apparently not. Speculation evaporated the next day when Bree posted a video called New Girl which (1) referred to Nikki B. for the first time (and a reference by Bree is how Gemma and Jonas were first canonized), and (2) speculated about whether Jules is the new ceremony girl or not--and Bree needs our help to figure it out, people!!!

So, anyhow, along with Julia, crack lg15 sleuthers have identified a plethora of other suspicious videos from more young girls who appear to be candidates for lg15 canonhood/the Ceremony (shiver!). Some people like this, because they don't like Jules and hope someone else becomes a more established character in the cast. But some people like it because it is total enjoyable pandemonium to see all these girls (and note, most of them do appear to be under 18) vying to potentially become part of the lg15 cast.

Luckily, the LGPedia has compiled a list of all the candidates so far with useful links to videos, myspaces, and the like. Some of these girls are likely fanfiction, others are uncertain. Aside from Jules, Soccerstar aka Taylor seems to be a good candidate to be a production sanctioned by the Creators. Perhaps the Creators will choose "the new girl" based on fan input? It's an intriguing idea, at the very least.

Who will be the new girl? Stay tuned.

Break out your Alphaville CD: It's time for PromQueen

2007-03-30T05:55:00.000-07:00

PromQueen is a new internet video series produced by the folks who brought us SamHas7Friends. But this time, instead of producing a very slick show for only $50,000 -- they are backed by Michael Eisner, former Disney head honcho, and his new internet-video venture "Vuguru." (By the way, don't you love names like this -- you know some marketing dude dreamed that up. "It like 'guru', and 'vu' like 'views'! Ka-ching! Success is inevitable!").

The show is set to debut on April 2, but press releases yesterday hint that episodes will debut about 12 hours earlier on the show's myspace. So set your clock for 7pm ET (GMT -4) on April 1. And its not like it will take up a bunch of your time. Like SamHas7Friends, PromQueen will run for 80 episodes of 90 seconds each. It's an intriguing format that is perfect for today's ADD teens and average internet viewers. Adding some interactivity, each of the characters already have their own myspaces, ready to befriend you. I mean, who doesn't want to be "top friends" with lead PQ babe "Nikki"? Who cares if you're a 45-year old inmate and its illegal to be her Myspace friend.

In short, PromQueen is the first big-budget attempt to recreate lonelygirl15's success. That's a big deal. But the camera shots will be more like traditional TV; this is not a fictional vlogging experiment like Lonelygirl15. In fact, Eisner seems irritated by that knee-jerk press analogy. From a Wired interview:

WN: OK, then, how close is it to Lonelygirl15?

Eisner: (exasperated sigh) It isn't close to that at all -- that's one person talking into the camera. This is a story-driven, character-driven emotional mystery.

WN: You really balked at the comparison to Lonelygirl. Why?

Michael Eisner: Hey, I balk at any comparison to anything. It's creative content -- saying that it's like something is usually the kiss of death. I never even thought of either of those two (shows). Really, that's the first I've heard of a similarity with the two. Prom Queen is like what it is.

Profound, Eisner. We won't compare it Family Ties, either. So, tune in. Let's see whether this thing flies. They already got sponsors and product placements it appears. All they need is Alphaville's "Forever Young" playing and some warm Zima, and they got it made.

P.S. If you want to discuss PromQueen in depth as it unfolds (and who doesn't yearn to be an internet video analyst a la Chuck Klosterman, who has spent more time deconstructing Saved By The Bell than any person alive), be sure to check out the Anchor Cove forums. The show will also have its own official forum up in a few days.

Brotherhood 2.0: Unholy Child of NPR and YouTube

2007-03-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

Brotherhood 2.0 just may be the most entertaining vlogging experiment of all time. On December 31, 2006, Brothers John Green (an award-winning author of young-adult novels) and Hank Green (head of ecogeek.org) took a pledge (perhaps written in blood, but I am not sure about that) to cease all text-based communication for the year 2007. Instead, they have been posting videoblogs daily, trading off each weekday. And if a brother fails to meet his daily posting obligation, or forgetfully writes to the other brother (as John heinously did done once by way of a cc email), some sort of crazy punishment is imposed.

The results are entertaining, often quite funny, and always intelligent. While vlogging is not new, the Brothers Green infuse it with new life. They take the vlogging format--something primarily developed and defined by the youth culture at youtube---and combine it with the intelligence and rigor of your typical NPR (National Public Radio in the U.S.) All Things Considered fare. Yes, its the unholy child of NPR and YouTube, and its great.

Here's a random episode, where on February 21, 2007, John compares M.T. Anderson's novel Feed to the concept of having a whole Wikipedia in your brain.

All the videos (and most of the comments by the audience) are available at http://www.brotherhood2.com, as well as on their Vlogbrothers channel at YouTube.

The popularity of the series has already inspired Brotherhood2.0 fan and notable YouTuber Terryfic to create a tribute video to the show in the style of the opening credits of an 80's sitcom. If that doesn't intrigue you to start watching, I don't know what will.