Thursday, May 01, 2008
Genius of the DayA man has been accused of attempting to pass a $360 billion check, which he claims was given to him by his girlfriend’s mother to start a record business, Fort Worth police said.
Charles Ray Fuller, 21, of Crowley, was arrested on April 22 on an accusation of forgery, police said.
Police responded to a report of a man attempting to pass the check about 4 p.m. that day at the Chase bank in the 8600 block of South Hulen Street, Fort Worth police Lt. Paul Henderson said.
The personal check was not made out to Mr. Fuller and when the bank contacted the check owner, the woman said she did not write a check for $360 billion.
He sounds like a typical politician for these times. Spending other people’s money with no concern for the consequences.
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Tuesday, April 29, 2008
SeasteadingA group of people are looking for others to create cities in the sea. Sounds like the plot of a James Bond film. But I can understand people being dissatisfied with thw way things are on land.
Having lived on islands more than once (Hawaii, England) you can’t look for paradise where people are.
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Sunday, April 20, 2008
Disneyland 1956A family filmed their trip to Disneyland in 1956 and the father edited it together in 1995 and narrated it.
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Afghan IdolHow Afghanistan’s version of American Idol is helping to change their culture to a more tolerant one. Like I’ve said before, as inane as shows like American Idol seem, they actually have a positive impact on society by bringing people together.
PermalinkNowhere is the revolutionary impact of the show more evident than in the success of Sahar, the first woman to have made it to the final five. That is quite an achievement for an ethnic Pashtun from Kandahar, a stronghold of the Taliban, where women are traditionally kept behind closed doors. Religious leaders have condemned Afghan Star for allowing women to perform in public, and some have demanded it be taken off the air. But the hundreds of thousands of votes that have poured in for Sahar suggest that many Afghans are ready for change. “It is no longer possible for one man to say that we can’t have this music,” says Murtaza Mohammadi, 24, a waiter in one of Kabul’s restaurants. “Our votes prove that it’s part of our culture, and no one can stop it.”
Sahar had never sung before joining some 2,000 aspirants to compete for the title, and her performance, while it has improved over the past four months, remains wooden. What has struck a chord with voters is her raw courage in defying conservative strictures simply to be here. “Her singing skills are not as good as the guys, and the assumption was that she was going to fail fairly quickly,” says Saad Mohseni, a director of the company that owns the show. “But I think people wanted her to win. They all realized how difficult it was for her to pick up from Kandahar, and we all want to root for the underdog. For her to get so much support is quite phenomenal. This season of Afghan Star will do more for women’s rights than all the millions of dollars we have spent on public service announcements for women’s rights on TV.”
Sunday, March 23, 2008
The Fall of the JacksonsAn interesting article in the NY Post about how the Jackson clan is impoverished. This part is especially interesting.
The King of Pop used his vast power and influence to prevent his siblings from plying the trade that led to such mega-hits as “I Want You Back,” “The Love You Save” and “ABC.”
Jackson, riding high in the music world, signed his brothers to his personal record label, MJJ, and refused to release any of their music.
“Michael’s mission was to make sure his family was broke, and he accomplished that through the industry, which mostly kowtowed to him,” said Bob Jones, former longtime director of communications for Jackson and the author of “Michael Jackson: The Man Behind the Mask.”
“We were always ordered by Michael to keep his family away from his offices and out of his business,” he said. “He hated them. He wanted them broke. Michael even refused to allow Jermaine, who had come over to Europe to see one of Michael’s concerts about a decade ago, to guest on ‘I’ll Be There.’ Jermaine was devastated.”
I used to see them around Encino, Ca when I lived there. I was waiting for my car at a car wash on Ventura Blvd, and sat next to Randy as he was waiting for his. I also saw Joe Jackson in the supermarket one time, buying some antacids. He was in front of me in line. And, of course, I’ve met Michael Jackson as I recounted on my old blog a few times. That was an interesting story.
Anyway, this family is rather sad. When you read teh whole thing, you realize Michael may or may not be a crazed pedophile, but he is certainly a creep. But he learned it from Dad, because the Jackson family has run several charity shows where they kept all the money and didn’t pay any of the bills..
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Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Social Media in the 90sNow this is nostalgic. Never thought I’d say that about the 90s. It wasn’t my favorite decade overall. (The first half was all right, I suppose)
By the way, people were doing phone phreaking as early as the 1970s. I remember learning about it on high school.
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Monday, February 18, 2008
Quote DuJourPermalinkI love Whole Foods talking about lobster and clam cruelty, when people are being fucked to death, kidnapped, starved, bombed. [The grocery chain recently stopped selling some live shellfish on the grounds that the practice is inhumane.] There is so much cruelty to humans—so much cruelty to animals—in this world. And people are worried about a fucking mollusk. Unbelievable.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Home Theater Set UpNow this is what I’m talking about!
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Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Parkour SoccerPermalink
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Improvisation
What to do when you’re short on money. People in poor countries use what they got. Like this family in Laos who used unexploded munitions for furniture.
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