Ducks Caught In The Wind

An incredible manifesto

Friends, I am delighted to share with you an incredibly moving manifesto from a Bishop in the Anglican Church regarding the subject of homosexuality. Wow. Click here to read it.

If only everybody was so minded...

Something to reflect upon in these days of war

I just received this via email. I couldn't find it at Snopes, so I'm assuming for the moment that it is a true letter penned by an actual Holocaust Survivor, in which case, I think it makes for compelling reading.

>>> Begin forwarded message:

 Subject: FW: A Holocaust Survivor's View on Islam


-----

This is one of the best explanation of the Muslim terrorist situation I have read. His references to past history are accurate and clear. Not long, easy to understand, and well worth the read. The author of this email is Dr Emanuel Tanay, a well-known and well respected psychiatrist.

A Holocaust Survivor's View on Islam
A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. 'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.'

We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march... It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honour-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.

The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.
And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:

Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts -- the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on! Let us hope that thousands, world-wide, read this and think about it, before it's too late.

Butts Arrested in Boob Murder

This is the strangest news headline I have ever seen...
I know murder is horrible and shouldn't be funny, but
even though it's a terrible thing, you have to admit the
headline is odd and... well, funny. Poor Samuel Boob.

BUTTS ARRESTED IN BOOB MURDER

POTTER TOWNSHIP, CENTRE COUNTY - Police have arrested a third person in connection with the murder of Samuel Boob.

Boob was shot and killed at his home in Potter Township, Centre County, on the morning of August 23rd, 2009.

Kermit Butts, 26, of Madisonburg, is accused of driving the suspected killer to and from the crime scene on the morning of the killing. He was charged with aggravated assault and assisting a murder suspect and placed in the Centre County Prison.

Police believe that Butts drove Ronald Heichel to the Boob home and picked him up later in the day on August 23rd, 2009. Police believe Heichel shot Sam Boob twice with a shotgun and killed him. Heichel was charged with 1st degree murder.

The victim's wife, Mirinda Boob, is accused of working with Heichel to have her husband killed. Police say they have text messages that were sent between her and Heichel, proving that the two were working together to kill Samuel. She has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder.


SOURCE

2-year-old boy smokes 40 cigarettes a day...

This 2-year-old Sumatran boy smokes two packets of cigarettes (that's 40 fags!) a day. He began his puffing when he was 18 months old, but his dad, Mohammad Rizal, is not worried because he thinks his son, young Ardi, "looks healthy".

"He cries and throws tantrums when we don't let him smoke. He's addicted," the father said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, I understand that we should cut this kid some slack because he must be bored growing up in a small fishing village with no Nintendo, broadband, cable and iPhone, but this is ridiculous. I would never let my 2-year-old smoke more than one pack a day.

.

School's Webcam Espionage

School allegedly uses students' laptop webcams for espionage, lawsuit ensues

By Ross Miller


Hold onto your butts, kids, we've got a doozy of a story. Let's take this one slow: a class-action lawsuit has been filed in Pennsylvania accusing the Lower Merion school district of "unauthorized, inappropriate and indiscriminate remote activation" of webcams in laptops issued to students, without prior knowledge or consent. The tale begins when Assistant Principal Lindy Mastko of Harriton High School informed a student that he was "engaged in improper behavior in his home"; the suit alleges that when pressed for details, Mastko told both the boy and his father that the school district could remotely activate the webcam -- a capability that is apparently being used.

The school district has yet to respond to the accusations, so at this point we've only got the plaintiff's side of the story -- for all we know this kid took a picture of himself and somehow accidentally uploaded it on the school network. Then again, some purported Lower Merion students just emailed Gizmodo and claimed that their MacBooks' green webcam lights went on at random times, but they were told by IT support that it was just a technical glitch. Holy alleged invasion of privacy, Batman, this could get mighty interesting. PDF of the complaint available below.

Update: The Lower Merion School District superintendent Christopher McGinley has issued an official response on its website, acknowledging "a security feature intended to track lost, stolen and missing laptops." Going further, he says the district " has not used the tracking feature or web cam for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever" but that the matter is "under review."

Boing Boing, WHYY

Lawsuit (PDF), Gizmodo


ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Obesity Competition

To honour International Women's Day, a shopping mall
in Shenyang (in China's Liaoning Province) held an
obesity competition.

I am amused (and horrified) by the fact that of all
the ways to celebrate women, the organizers picked
excess fat and a reduction in life expectancy...

A rather graphic TV advertisement

Apparently, the British have got the right idea. In the local newspaper at home in Tasmania, they're debating the merits of showing this ad on Tasmanian television. I say DO IT! This ad frightens the willies out of me, and I don't text while driving! The next time you're a passenger in a car and the driver pulls out their phone, demand that they stop the car and let you get out to walk! Tell them that you're not prepared to ride in a car driven by a suicidal maniac.

Ever yours,
PAMMY

Belgian Teen Sues Over 56 Star Tattoos On Face

A Belgian teenager has been left with 56 stars inked on her face after allegedly falling asleep in a tattoo artist's chair.

Kimberley Vlaminck, 18, claims her father paid for her to receive three stars near her left eye.

But the teen says she fell asleep while her dad ate ice cream outside, before awakening to discover half her face covered in 56 black stars.

"My father wanted to pay because in our family everyone has a tattoo," the Telegraph reported Ms Vlaminck as saying.

"When he started to tattoo me, I did not feel pain and I fell asleep. I awoke as he tattooed me on the nose and I saw what he had done.

"I cannot go out on to the street, I am so embarrassed … I just look ugly, a freak, mutilated."

The family is seeking $18,400 in damages to pay for laser removal of the "nightmare" inking.

But Rouslan Toumaniantz, who operates The Tattoo Box in the southeast city of Courtrai, claims he was only fulfilling his client's wishes and is demanding payment of $87 for the work.

"She was awake all the time," he said.

"I did not hypnotise or dope her, as they say — it was with agreement.

"No way could I have tattooed so many stars on her face against her will."

The artist said there was only conflict once Ms Vlaminck's shocked father saw the full extent of the tattoos that his daughter had requested.

SOURCE

Creepy But Cool #1

Chinese Giant Salamander

Angler Fish

Angler Fish

Axolot

Axolot

Look at those eggs... And the tiny, tiny Betic Midwife Toad that laid them.

Bullfrogs

Cane Toad

Darwin Frog

Giant Squids

Abandonned Places

There's a lovely little community on livejournal that I flicked through about five months ago when they were on spotlight. However, I remembered these photos later when a colleague was talking about a music video he made when he was a DJ. It was in an abandoned mental hospital and had some creepy interesting things there.

Anyhow, the photos that I recalled were these ones, for a Russian hospital.

Creepy.


(link updated 16 June 2009 19:17 GMT. I missed off the l from html)

World's Funniest Commercials 2006

Worst Blowjob Ever

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

ANZAC DAY

I know the times on this blog are a bit screwy, but today, April 25, is ANZAC DAY in Australia.

ANZAC Day is celebrated in Australia on 25th April every year

in rememberance of the lost lives of our fighting forces in all wars.

Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

LEST WE FORGET.

The Good, The Bad and The 90s

So after seeing PJ & Duncan (a.k.a. Ant and Dec) on that previous video Pam posted, I started thinking about all the good and bad music tha emerged from the 90s (mostly bad). I thought I'd start a little project in which we all post the songs we grew up with in the 90s. These songs aren't the songs YOU personally listened to and loved, but the ones you heard when you turned on the radio, the ones you danced to at every party, the ones you knew the lyrics to even though you despised them, and most of all, the ones that remind you of all the trauma and fun you had as a kid and teenager in that era.

I'll start off with my playlist and in the comments, list the songs that also apply to you. Then, think about the songs I did not have in mine, but that also shaped your 90s experience, and put them in your playlist!

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

If any of the tracks don't work, it's because Mixpod killed them and not because I didn't test my playlist before posting it. I don't know why but there are certain musicians who don't seem to want their songs used in this manner, so only remixes and live versions of their songs can be found. When someone uploads the original, it gets deleted rather quickly. Not sure if I picked any such songs...

There are two versions of 'Missing' by Everything But The Girl in my playlist because if I had to pick ONE SONG of the 90s that encapsulates the decade for me, it would be 'Missing'. The first version is one of the remixes, and the second version is the original track. I'm rather annoyed because Mixpod does not seem to have the specific Todd Terry remix of the song that I'm after, as that's the one that was the most popular at my school.

Oh and in case "Close To You" by Fun Factory did not sufficiently blow you away, here is another version of the song, complete with extra rapping. It is a fine masterpiece of a music video if I do say so myself. I mean, those sweet 90s dance moves. How will you ever pick your jaw off the floor and recover from the amazement?

HELPFUL MIXPOD TIPS

1. To create a playlist, go to Mixpod.com. You will find that hundreds of options pop up after you key in the title of a song. Which oh which will you select? Well, I have found that the songs that are NOT uploaded to Youtube load faster (they usually have a picture of a blank silver CD next to them, as opposed to the Youtube music, which has different colourful images). Of course, not all the blank silver CD tracks load equally fast so you usually have to play a few to see which loads the best. The fastest ones have loading bars that zoom to the end quite quickly. If a song seems to pause every few seconds when you play it due to the slow loading speed, it is best to pick another one (unless it just so happens that your own internet connection is extremely slow, and thus, all songs load slowly as a result).

2. Sometimes, a track doesn't have any versions with the blank silver CD icon, and all the versions are slow-loading Youtube ones. It's up to you but personally, I just wind up chucking out the song coz if it's going to take forever to load when I play the Mixpod, I get frustrated.

3. When you are customising your Mixpod, go to "Settings" and nix the autoplay, because if all our Mixpods autoplayed, our blog would be in trouble.

LOVE,

NATALIE

P.S. Wow. I actually managed to use all 5 blog categories in one post!

Goateesaver

The Goateesaver by Scott Bonge

I saw the words 'goatee' and 'save' in the same word and thought: uh oh, no good can come out of this. Scott Bonge does not disappoint.




"Tired of the constant struggle every morning trying to get your goatee to look perfect? Goateesaver revolutionizes the way you shave and trim your goatee. Goateesaver can be customized to your face in seconds, with three easy adjustments. Just slide it over your mouth and shave to get the perfect look that women will admire and men will respect."
- Scott Bonge

It gets better.
There is a VIDEO!

- Natalie