More Wikipedia Weirdness From Petraeusworld

In followup to yesterday's post about how Paula Broadwell's wikipedia page was edited in January 2012 to hint she was having an affair with General Petreaus, I stumbled across this post at Boing Boing a few hours ago with another interesting wikipedia find:

About two weeks after the Broadwell edit, on February 6, an editor from an IP address associated with the United States Central Command made an edit to the entry for Arcadia University to add Jill Kelley to its list of notable alumni. (Kelley is the Tampa woman to whom Broadwell later sent reportedly threatening emails) The edit read:

Jill Kelley, amateur ambassador and chess player

A few days later ", B.S.C." was added after Kelley's name as a mocking suffix of her degree by the same editor. The addition remained, unnoticed, for months! It was only removed a few days ago, after the scandal broke. The ambassador reference, of course, is a joke about Kelley's unofficial (read: made-up) "social liaison" status for MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa -- which is where the US Central Command is headquartered.

Reviewing the editing history of this IP address a bit further, I also noticed that seven minutes after the first Arcadia edit, the same person edited the wikipedia entry for ambassador to add:

"Occasionally, in some cultures, people can self-appoint themselves as "''ambassador''" by simply writing it to thier bio."

This is obviously another crack about Kelley. The edit remained for 10 days (someone helpfully corrected the misspelling) before it was removed as "preposterous".

Wikipedia Speculation About Petraeus Affair - 10 Months Ago

The day after Paula Broadwell appeared on The Daily Show in January 2012 to promote her book "All In" about General David Petraeus, a very brief wikipedia page was created for Broadwell by a new editor who appears to be a Daily Show fan. Within one hour of creation, an anonymous editor (IP address 64.101.72.113, their only edit ever to wikipedia) edited the page to add:

"Petraeus is reportedly one of her many conquests."

This was removed about an hour later by an infrequent editor (DSutton) with the commentary "Remove libel / vandalism." No attempt was made to re-add the information. About a month later, the article was speedily deleted as not showing how Broadwell was "notable". After deletion, this editing history was hidden from public view until after a new article on Broadwell was created on November 9 when news of her affair with Petraeus broke.

Hard to know whether this anonymous editor had real knowledge, or was just reacting to Broadwell's awkward interview on The Daily Show, but it appears no one commented on the video of Broadwell's interview at the Daily Show website (posted the day after her appearance) until the story broke, at least based on the comments that are currently available.

ETA 2:07 PT 11/12: Thanks to LGF for linking me and confirming the info. He could not trace the IP either.

ETA 8:53pm PT 11/13: New post: More wikipedia weirdness

Deadline for Todd Akin To Drop Out of Race And Save The GOP's Future

Paul Ryan - Ayn Rand Lovefest

Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as his VP candidate has caused Wikipedia traffic on the "Ayn Rand" article to go thru the roof.
From 5,026 views on August 10, the day before the nomination, to more than 10 times that many the following day. This is more than double the average number of daily page views than the Barack Obama or Lagy Gaga articles normally get.

Orville (cat) - Wikipedia Entry

Below is the Wikipedia entry for "Orville (cat)" prior to its deletion on June 12, 2012.  A brief discussion of its deletion follows at the bottom.

Orville is a cat who was converted into a radio-controlled quadcopter and renamed Orvillecopter. After Orville was killed in a car accident, his owner, Bart Jansen,^[1] collaborated with Arjen Beltman to create the "half cat, half machine." Orvillecopter based on Lotus T580, had his first test flight on March 9 2012.^[2]
Orville was named for the aviator Orville Wright.^[3] Jansen has said he did this to pay tribute to his pet.^[4]
The Orvillecopter was exhibited at the KunstRAI art festival at Amsterdam RAI Exhibition and Convention Centre in Amsterdam in early June 2012.^[5]

Reactions

Paddy Johnson commented that deceased pets have been used in art before, calling it "sort of a European flavor of art making."^[6] Katinka Simonse, a Dutch artist known as TINKEBELL, killed her cat Pinkeltje and made it into a purse.^[6]
Graffiti reading "Kill the animal killers" and "Shame" was written on the RAI convention center.^[7] The Dutch Party for the Animals condemned Orvillecopter and will send letters of complaint to KunstRAI organizers and RAI.^[7][8] Organizer Liesbeth Hemelrijk defended Jansen to the Los Angeles Times, "Even though artist Bart Jansen loved his cat when it was still alive and cared so much for it that he turned it into art after it was run over by a car, people declare him the worst person in the country."^[7]
The American People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called Orvillecopter "a macabre way to honor a beloved family member."^[6]
Due to the international attention, Orvillecopter's asking price has been raised from £8,000 (€12,500) to €100,000.^[9][10]

References

1. ^ "Overreden kat omgetoverd tot vliegende helikopter - OPMERKELIJK - PAROOL". Het Parool. 4 June 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
2. ^ Orvillecopter first flight march 9 2012.MOV - YouTube
3. ^ Suzannah Hills (2012-05-06). "Cats away! Artist turns his dead pet into flying helicopter after it is killed by a car | Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
4. ^ "Bart Jansen's Helicopter Cat On Display At Kunstrai Art Festival In Amsterdam | Strange News | Sky News". News.sky.com. 2008-06-23. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
5. ^ "Dutch artist turns dead cat into remote-controlled helicopter, dubbed ‘Orvillecopter’". NY Daily News. 2012-06-04. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
6. ^ ^{a b c} Popkin, Helen A.S.. "Dead cat copter: Art or 'macabre' pet send off?". MSNBC. Retrieved June 05, 2012.
7. ^ ^{a b c} Orvillecopter, the stuffed helicopter cat, sparks global outrage - latimes.com
8. ^ Veel kritiek op maker helikopterkat tijdens KunstRAI - KUNST - PAROOL
9. ^ A Dead Cat Flies. But Is It Art? - Forbes
10. ^ Orvillecopter rises: value of cat-helicopter increase tenfold

Additional sources

"Dutch Artist Shocks with Dead Cat Helicopter". Der Spiegel Magazine. 6/5/2012. Retrieved June 05, 2012.

Deletion Analysis:

This article was deleted on June 12, 2012 after the closing of a deletion discussion which began on June 4. Essentially, its just another entry in the ongoing Wikipedia Wars over when something of brief popularity should be covered by an Everlasting Encyclopedia. There's no question that all or most of the content in the article could be verified with reputable news sources. Is the quantum of human knowledge somehow demeaned if Wikipedia does not include an article on the Orvillecopter? Interestingly, the deletion discussion (aside from my ridiculous poem in it) was fairly rational, and seemed to recognize that silly things like Orville CAN become encyclopedic, as long as people keep mentioning it over time. For fun:

"Hot Problems" - Yes, Of Course Its Fake

UPDATED 4/19: See updates at bottom for identities of who is behind the video.



This showed up on YouTube on April 15 and went viral on Tuesday after Huffington Post and other websites pimped it as the "next Rebecca Black".

Of course, this one is fake though.

It has some connection to CalState-Northridge film geeks. I may update this further, but just wanted to post to confirm for anyone who cares - yes, its fake. Fascinating though, that HuffPo and others posted it without caring that it was fake -- they just wanted to pretend it might be real, because that's more fun, I guess (and guarantees more ad impressions).

Here's some tweets I recently had with someone else confirming it:


As of April 17, when the story first broke, "OldBaileyProductions" which uploaded the video to youtube, had other videos on its channel, related to film projects at Cal-State Northridge. These were all quickly removed as the vid took off, and the channel reworked to be about "Double Take" the band (which "band" has no facebook, twitter, or other presence online at the moment.)

Just after OldBailey uploaded the video though, it did post on another video a joke about its new bad video. The post says "Come check out my page if you want to get a fucking laugh at the new artist 'Double Take'!!!" (The comment was made on the Lexi St. George video -- Lexi is a post-Rebecca Black creation by ARK Music Factory).


OldBailey has some connection, I'm not sure what, to Alex Goyette, who posts funny parody vids on Youtube as well, under the JouleTheif channel. On one old JouleTheif video, OldBailey posts that Alex is his roommmate.

ETA 9:42am PDT: Fuse has spoken with "OldBailey Productions." This confirms the CalStateNorthridge connection again.

ETA 11:10am PDT: One of the girls' (alleged, not proven yet) moms posted on the Fuse article:


ETA: 12:19pm PDT - It is now is clear I should mention that two of the original tags on the video (later removed as of late April 17) were "Drew G*****" and "Lauren W*****" - probably the names of the girls.

Yes, it is. Since they appear to be minors I will not post any additional information about them.


ETA 5:30am PDT 4/19 - The song is finally up on itunes now.


ETA 4/17 5:50am: Old Bailey Productions is probably a guy named Connor Abrams (at least he used to be a big part of it). He has videos up on other sites like this one credited to Old Bailey. He's from the same hometown and high school as the two girls in the vid.

ETA 4/17 6:04am: And Connor Abrams of Northridge, CA currently has a soundcloud account as "oldbailey", clearly he has the ability to record similar music.


ETA 6:15am PDT: Here's a radio interview the girls (Lauren and Drew) did this morning: kiss92.5. The girls don't admit its fake, but clearly they imply its a joke. It might have been more fun if they claimed it was real.

ETA 4/19 10:56am PDT: The girls did interviews with MTV and CNN this morning, based on their new twitter account @DoubleTakeMus1 (which I can verify is real, despite it looking new and fakey.)

YouTube Song of the Day: La Sera - Break My Heart

Youtube link
Mp3 available at Stereogum

La Sera is the solo-project of Katy Goodman of Vivian Girls. I shall never tire of perfect two minute punky post-Pixies/Blake Babies/Beach Boys/Buzzcocks female-fronted compositions. I share only the best ones with you, dear friends. Now LISTEN. OR ELSE. Upload to your mp3 player, roll down your car windows, put it on, and drive somewhere. Anywhere. Of course in 2 minutes you probably can't make it very far, but you get the idea.

La Sera's second album, "See the Light" was released this week.

Do Asian Women Have Sideways Vaginas?

No.

Ah, the power of the Internets! Just when you think you've heard of every possible sexual slang term or depraved fetish that could ever exist, you learn a new one. Earlier this week, the parody of Pete Hoekstra's racist "debbie spend it now" ad revealed to me the claim that Asian or Chinese women have "sideways vaginas."

O RLY?

I mean who hasn't heard about vaginas with teeth, but -- sideways vaginas? And even though its been the subject of internet speculation since as far back as 1993--making it ancient already, and remains an important topic for the pathetic yahoo answers crowd, its quite an authentically old myth.

A video clip with a sideways vagina joke:


UC-Santa Cruz professor Judy Yung has written that the rumor dates back at least to the 1850s. It may have arisen from the interface of the Chinese with the English, who took over Hong Kong in the 1840s. British writer Colin Watson, writing in 1971 about the treatment of Asian subjects in English crime stories, noted "the widespread belief that the labial plane of a Chinese vagina was horizontal instead of vertical and consequently less prized by native sensualists." Apparently, you could titillate British audiences with stories of white women and their superior vertical vaginas being kidnapped for exploitation in the Chinese brothel market.

A 1970 erotica study opines that the myth is "American folklore" that has persisted because Chinese-Americans were historically segregated from the general American population. In other words, because men were unable to regularly sample Chinese vajayjays in the name of science or otherwise, American men were forced to conclude the rumor must be true. However, since many American men in the military served in Asia between WWII and Vietnam, the myth may have been kept alive as an obvious joke. Certainly the joke seems to have been fairly well spread among American men by the 1940s.

The exact reason why the idea of the sideways vagina was invented is unclear. Intense investigation of internet speculation suggests two theories (1) Asians have "slanted" eyes, so someone suggested that Asian vaginas are slanted as well; and (2) Asian women are generally smaller and thus have smaller and "tighter" vaginas, and somehow this makes them sideways for no clear reason.

Cracked magazine suggests that sailors visiting Asia probably came up with it, since they already believed manatees were really hot mermaids. And considering the problems of having sex with mermaids, I guess sailors must be really fucked up to come up with these things. Probably just extremely horny, actually.

Today the sideways vagina legend has become solely the stuff of humor. In a 2001 Saturday Night Live skit, Alex Baldwin played on a number of well-known Chinese stereotypes, and exclaimed, "I know the womenfolk have sideways vaginas! But underneath their scales, they're just like you and me."

And then there's this joke I picked up in my researches:

A man picks up a Chinese hooker, and as she's taking him upstairs, he asks, "Is it true Oriental women have a horizontal vagina?

She looks at him and says, "Why, do you play harmonica?"

So there you have it. If you don't believe me, google up some asian porn.

References
1. Yung, Judy. Unbound voices: a documentary history of Chinese women in San Francisco, p. 136 (1999)
2. Edwardes, Allen et al. The cradle of erotica:
a study of Afro-Asian sexual expression and an analysis of erotic freedom in social relationships, p. 44 (1970) ("American folklore has the has the Chinese vagina "sideways". In the United States, Chinese-Americans remain for the most part self -segregated and their women will seldom have anything to do sexually with a non-Chinese male. Thus, by want of opportunity to put it to the test, the legend of the sideways' vagina is maintained.")
3. Watson, Colin. Snobbery with violence: English crime stories and their audience (1971)
4. Flox, AV (6 July 2007). The Sideways Vagina, Blackheart Magazine
5. Alt.sex (November 1993 thread). Oriental vaginas
6. Snopes.com (February 2006 thread).Sideways vaginas
7. Snopes. com (March 2007 thread). Asian Sexuality Rumors
8. Yahoo Answers (2010 thread). Is it true that Chinese girls have horizontal vaginas?
9. straightdope.com (March 2004 thread). Where Did The Belief That Asian Women Are 'Sideways' Originate? (worthwhile comment: "but I've run across the concept in fiction from the 1940s (artfully relayed so that they convey the idea without being gross and explicit). Those sources treated it as an old joke, and an obviously ridiculous one. I don't think any of these took it at all seriously, or intended it as racist")
10. The Amazing Ben. The Sideways Vagina Song (March 2010) (the only known song dedicated to sideways vaginas)

Something You Knew Must Be Coming By Wednesday

Controversial Racist Pete Hoekstra Ad - watch more funny videos

Also, its, educational, as I never heard of this slur before.

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

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.

ETA: 1:11pm PST: Thanks to John Green, Little Green Footballs, Shoq and all who have retweeted, reposted, facebooked, etc., this story.

Northeastern Quartersphere - Wikipedia

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

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!

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.

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

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?

(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

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

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?

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)

Yes, here are the lyrics to the 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.