jeaun.com

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Wow, never thought that would happen...

So, the United States is cutting some assistance to Israel to penalize Israel for the continued building of settlements and the security wall. I didn't know that this had already gone through. 290 Million isn't much of a dent in 9 billion though. We should be playing hardball, threatening at least half of it if not more to get them to stop building settlements and to build their wall along the green line. Any thoughts?

Fear and Guilt: The Everyman's Emotion

A friend of mine encouraged me to check this scary piece of work out. Be sure to listen to the mp3, but preferrably not at work or in front of young children.

It's disturbing, but I could see how it is affective. Fear and guilt? What great motivating emotions. Is this where the 'liberal agenda' is going wrong? Are we way off kilter to be employing rational, ethical principles and humanistic compassion as our selling tools? Ok, there's liberal guilt, but tell me it isn't easier to stomach feeling guilty about enjoying your soy latte and liberal arts education than this kid's monologue. Maybe we need to be working from further down the brainstem.

THE SECOND SIGN!!!

John Travolta saves students trapped in a lift. "Hey kids, it's JT, everything's cool."

Check his goddamn head after you rip it off. 666 is on there somewhere. Goddamn beast.

/crazy

The end is nigh...

Japan must be destroyed now. I know some of you may consider this harsh. We must nuke them out of existence. Don't get me wrong, I'm a dork, so I'm partial to anime, the kind that doesn't suck. They've given us Nintendo and giant robots and finally.......Sabrina Which as far as I can tell is a young guy who wears anime girl costumes around scaring small children.

The horror. The horror...

Look Ma, no arm

This inspiring story just goes to show that you too can become a star, if you just have the ambition and the dreams and the pluck to get your arm bitten off by a shark.

Yatta continues

Although it certainly doesn't top the awesome weirdness of japanese men in their leaf underwear, I think this fanimutation is rad: Yatta Economy Plus it's got Alan Greenspan!

Good news ...

... for all you Bloom County fans out there. Opus is returning in yet another Sunday-only strip.

This just in....

You can now bully people over the internet. Now what the hell has happened to kids these days. I remember being bullied and even doing a little bullying myself, but both I and those who bullied had the cojones to actually do it in person. Now, I'm not saying that a website can't be harmful to an adolescents emotional state, but this is silly. I see a world where the kids that are bullied make even better sites, say ones with Flash in em to make fun of the crappy bully sites.

/slow news day

China's evil plots

Evidently China is not our friend. While I'm not sure of China's feelings for us, they sure are scary in their old evil communist ways. You wouldn't expect them to make a baby toy for Wal-Mart that says "I hate you"
But then they go and do it, trying to subliminally make our children full of hate. What next? We must stop this red menace before it is too late!

heh heh

Speaking of Stupid People...

Brookfield wolf killed after visitor is attacked

November 14, 2003

A northern gray wolf was shot to death at Brookfield Zoo after it seized the arm of a woman who jumped a fence to reach into its cage, the first time in the zoo's 69-year history that an animal attacked a visitor, zoo officials said Thursday.

Cinnamon Bear, an 11-year-old wolf born and raised at the zoo, was shot once in the chest Wednesday by a zoo police officer after the 100-pound animal clamped down on the woman's arm--and refused to let go--when she apparently tried to pet him.

The animal was the last of the zoo's pack of northern gray wolves, dating to the mid-1950s, and was the only wolf on display at Brookfield Zoo, once a premier center for wolf research.

The unaccompanied woman, identified only as 40 to 50 years old, apparently hopped a 3 1/2-foot fence and reached through a second 10-foot chain-link fence to touch the wolf, who was in a favorite sleeping corner of the outdoor pen, officials said Thursday.

[read more in extended entry]

The wolf "had grabbed her arm and was tugging," said Stuart D. Strahl, the zoo's new director.

The incident took place about 1 p.m. in the zoo's remote northwest corner, on a cold and blustery day when total attendance was only about 1,100, said spokeswoman Sondra Katzen, who would not identify the woman. No other visitors saw the attack, she said.

A zoo photographer driving a golf cart along a nearby access road heard the woman screaming, hurried to the scene and called police, officials said.

A veteran officer arrived within two minutes and quickly determined that it would take too long to tranquilize the animal, Strahl said. The wolf would not release the woman's arm, so the officer drew his .45-caliber pistol and fired point-blank. The zoo maintains its own force of 15 deputized police officers and emergency personnel.

The woman was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in nearby Maywood for treatment of her injured forearm. Hospital officials would not release information about the woman, but Brookfield Zoo Police Chief George Hull said her injuries were similar to a severe dog bite.

"You can imagine a dog bite," Hull said. "This was a wolf bite."

Strahl said zoo staffers remained in shock Thursday.

"I've been working in zoos since I was a kid and I've never seen anything like this," he said. "We've never had a real attack at all. It's also rare that anyone would put their arm in a cage, much less that of a carnivore."

Cinnamon Bear had been moved to the conservation barn in the zoo's northwest corner, just south of 31st Street, a year ago when work began on a new Wolf Woods habitat. A group of five Mexican gray wolves, now in quarantine, will move into the exhibit in June.

Officials had planned to leave Cinnamon Bear in his pen at the park's edge for the rest of his life, said Ann Petric, the zoo's curator of mammals. His last living brother died two years ago, and he had at most only a few years left to live. Wolves in captivity can live up to 15 years, while wild wolves typically live 6 to 8 years.

It's exceedingly unusual for wolves--captive or wild--to attack humans, experts said.

"This is a rare thing. It is really an unfortunate incident all around," said Jane Ballentine, spokeswoman for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. "Wolves being what wolves are, they are generally skittish. The wolf was probably startled and surprised and was defending his territory from this `intruder.'"

Though Brookfield Zoo has not had previous animal attacks, it has had its share of close encounters.

In August 1996, a female gorilla rescued a 3-year-old boy who fell into the ape pit at the zoo's Tropic World Asia exhibit. In 1969, a group of polar bears escaped from their pen across a flooded moat and headed straight for a nearby marshmallow stand. The bears were quickly rounded up and returned to their enclosure. [bolded because this is my favorite part of the article --lw]

In Wednesday's attack, it would have been very difficult for zoo officials to persuade Cinnamon Bear to let go, said Rolf Peterson, an expert on wolf behavior who has studied wolves at Brookfield Zoo. He said wolves' jaws don't lock, but they have an instinct to hang on.

"Wolves are not built to let go of things they want to hang on to. A person cannot pull the jaws of a wolf apart. You are not going to be too successful beating it over the head," said Peterson, a professor of wildlife biology at Michigan Technological University in Houghton.

Brookfield Zoo, under former director George Rabb and his wife, Mary, became a leading research center in the 1960s and 1970s for studying wolves and their behaviors.

"They were one of the pioneers of wolf research in this country. They discovered the mating strategies in wolves," said Erich Klinghammer, director of the Wolf Park near Lafayette, Ind., where some of Cinnamon Bear's descendants live.

"They did some of the original work on wolf social behavior and, until this day, it is considered keynote work," said Susan Lindsey, director of the Wild Canid Survival and Research Center, a wolf conservation, reproduction and research center in Missouri where Brookfield Zoo obtained its pack of Mexican wolves last month.

Lindsey said that Cinnamon Bear's age may have contributed to the way he reacted to a stranger's arm.

"Old animals, just like old people, don't have all their faculties. There is the likelihood that it couldn't see or hear or smell anymore," she said. "Any of those things would cause the animal to be startled. I assume that it has never been touched like that."

Your momma so fat!!!

Your momma so fat, she needs 22 firefighters to get her out of her house
Ok. I know. Another fat post. But this is what I'm talking about. This woman is suing the public housing authority because they're taking too long in adjusting her *PUBLIC* housing unit to her 772 pound frame.

Personal responsibility is dead, because she rolled over and killed it and never even noticed.

/flameon

not possible.

Ahem.

You forgot me.

The REAL plan

I corrected the labels.. and found a few more folks

Blah...

It's snowing the first snow of the year here in Ann Arbor.

Looks like the motorcycle's in the garage for the season. :(

Hey Everybody Look How Fucking Cool Win Is

From the frontpage of dismembermentplan.com (thanks sam)

without shitty looking photoshop

There might be a concert!!!

They Might Be Giants is playing the Vic theatre here in Chicago on Friday, December 5th. Anyone interested in coming with me? All you TMBG haters just pass this thread over.

Jumping Ship

Well, the recent economy numbers released (by whoever releases numbers) are looking hopeful. People are starting to raise their heads a little and look around. Its not unlike the quiet just after an artillery barrage... right before everyone crawls out of their holes and starts running like hell.

This article talks about how ready everyone seems to be to quit their job. I can say from experience that this is definitely the case. I've held several jobs in the last couple years and at every one of them, well more than half the employees wanted to jump ship, and about half of those were actively looking.

There's going to be a nasty drag on productivity for employers. I hope it costs those sons of bitches a ton of money when everyone quits!

I'm not bitter... nooooo...

Japanese weirdness

Incredible weirdness

I haven't a clue what this is..... but it made me laugh.

Is this what happened to Britney?

I refuse to subscribe to the NYT online because I get it every day, so I can't post a link--sorry. There was an article in the paper on Monday (11/10/03) about home schooling, and I would be interested in hearing what everyone has to say about it. There was a surprising lack of information in the article, although I think that it is probably difficult to study the things that critics of home schooling usually cite; for example, it would be hard (and not at all lucrative) to measure levels of social ineptitude in grown individuals who were home schooled as children.

I am pretty sure that there were a few Grinnellians who were home schooled, yes? Does anybody know anyone who was home schooled?

So about that Matrix review

I saw it. I liked it. Much better than the 2nd one, no obvious problems. The action scenes are great, lots of eye candy, but the best part of the film is the beginning.

Neo is in this train station that's somewhere between the Matrix and the real world. He encounters this family waiting for the train. It's just awesome in terms of the conversation and contrast in terms of the visual elements of the scene. I give it a 8/10 overall but most people would find that too high.

/dorking out

Nolan show tonight

Nolan will be lowering the curtain on their "Great American Let's Go Broke By Being Rockstars" 2003 Tour tonight in Chicago. We will be playing at the Wise Fools' Pub, 2270 N Lincoln, in the heart of that infernal beast, the Lincoln Park bar stretch. Show starts at 8, and we are down for much partying afterwards with anyone who is unemployed and/or doesn't mind calling in to work hungover tomorrow.

Secondly, why no Matrix reviews? Not that I've seen it or even really care that much, but it's always fun to watch you guys nerd out.

Finally, a little human interest story confirming something we already knew.

Joe Bartender

I'd like to reopen the door to discussion of online personals sites by way of announcing that I've finally bitten the bullet and posted a profile WITH PICTURES. Of course, the only reply I've received was from someone who read my profile BEFORE I added photos. Story of my fucking life.

Onion personals, "bigthree1978." I now open myself to all biting criticism.

Who Wants To Be A First Lady?

Dennis Kucinich suggested that Fox have a reality show to find him a first lady. Al Sharpton finally has a little competition in the Funniest Candidate category.

Who Wants To Be A First Lady? The text is below if you don't like admitting your age to the Post.

Could Kucinich Be the Next 'Bachelor'?

By Dana Milbank
Sunday, November 9, 2003; Page A04

Talk about Fear Factor.

Presidents of the United States often request television time for major addresses. At Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate held by Planned Parenthood, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (Ohio) suggested a new twist on this tradition: a reality show to help him find a first lady.

"As a bachelor, I get a chance to fantasize about my first lady," he ventured. "Maybe Fox would like to sponsor a national contest or something. . . . I would certainly want a dynamic, outspoken woman who was fearless in her desire for peace in the world, for universal single-payer health care and for a full-employment economy. If you're out there, call me!"

Rival Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) observed that this was history's "first presidential personal advertisement." The Web site PoliticsNH.com, taking Kucinich at his word, began a "Who wants to be a First Lady?" competition. And the first SWF has already applied: Gina Marie, 33, a brunette from New Jersey who works at a sheriff's office and promises she would provide the "partnership that our president deserves."

It's a pity that Kucinich probably won't be around to liven up next year's presidential debates. The dates for those sober affairs were set last week: Sept. 30 at the University of Miami, Oct. 8 at Washington University in St. Louis and Oct. 13 at Arizona State University. The vice presidential candidates will face off Oct. 5 at Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University.

Opinions?

I think Ron Popeil is an economy-sized douchebag.

What do you think? Am I wrong? I usually am.

(I know, this isn't as socially responsible as many jeaun.com topics, but it seemed important to me, for some reason.)

Anybody know about this?

So evidently, news corporations can lie outright, blatantly with knowledge and it doesn't matter. Ok, maybe this is obvious but I'd really not to have a court ruling in their favor. Evidently, the FCC says it's only a "policy"?

So my work has a sexual harassment "policy". In that they totally take all claims seriously and they have serious repercussions. You know, policy?

I don't get it. Maybe I'm off on a rant here, but I thought that a hallmark of conservatives was personal responsibility. Am I wrong here? So how then are these personally responsible conservatives totally against the idea of regulation when it is totally obvious that companies (which are not people) can't be personally responsible for themselves by their very nature?

Well, I guess it doesn't really matter. I for one, welcome our new? nah, not so new corporate overlords.

Oh yeah, and before you get upset cause it's from a lefty website Chris, I'll get some more links in a bit.

The Moon had to be good for something.

What Energy Crisis?

Too bad people will probably think this man is crazy.

Now that's a slow news day

Those pesky Russians. Now they're after that big Russian oil company for.....letting rabbits have unprotected sex Can the world please end now?

A Picture's worth a Thousand Words

president bush's diverse group of advisers on women's affairs observing the signing of partial-birth abortion bil:.

I don't know how many of you all knew Marc Bunnell, but he was a friend of mine and a close friend of Phil Moore. He dated Luftig for a while, and his parents lived in the brownstone next to cedar house. He died Saturday in a skydiving accident. He had moved to Tucson, AZ to pursue his love of skydiving and had recently taken on a job with a skydiving outfit. What fucking shitty news. I will miss him very much.

Burn those scientists, they're witches!

You gotta hand it to nutjob conservative christians: At least they're thorough and totally about "staying on message". Evidently, those pesky scientists at the NIH keep studying AIDS and sexuality. (NYTimes Reg. Required)

Best Quote: "What makes us unique among all the conservative groups," she said, "is that I believe we truly represent the body of Christ."

And we all know God fearing christians know it's their right to stop other people from having or understanding sex. What the hell is this?

Is there anyway to stop ideological nutjobs (and this goes for both sides) from destroying the very concept of objectivity, not just in the labs, but say, oh, I don't know, in the offices of journalists all over?
I think I'll stop reading the news now. Thank you for your time.

Got a little more free will than you can handle?

I thought this was pretty interesting discussion about the legal ramifications of suing God.

You might get to heaven just long enough to get bitch-slapped before you're tossed ass-first into a pit of fire if you do it, but maybe it's worthwhile if you're headed there anyway.