Sorry, Sir, but no bathing suits are allowed in the hotel lobby.

This clip appears to have originated on Israeli television. The humour is quite different from that seen in North America.

Giant Spider Stalks Liverpool

(Story from the BBC)

Liverpool city centre was brought to a standstill as thousands of visitors turned out to catch a glimpse of La Princesse, the 50ft (15m) spider.

Crowds packed the streets to follow the mechanical beast on its walkabout from the Cunard building through the city.

And although the rain eased for part of the day, onlookers were still soaked by huge jets of water from her abdomen.

The £1.5m Capital of Culture event, operated by French company La Machine, was continuing on Sunday.

La Machine's 37-tonne beast has generated headlines around the world, and culture bosses say they have been delighted with her impact.

Mike Doran, of the Liverpool Culture Company, said: "I've never seen the city centre look so busy. It is reminiscent of when Liverpool brought the European Cup back."

There was some disappointment earlier on Saturday when crowds turned up outside the Cunard building expecting a show which never materialised.

Spider to reawaken

Nicky Webb, a director of Artichoke - the company producing the show - blamed the mix-up on cultural differences and said the French artists never intended to stick to a schedule.

She said: "For them the story is a piece of magic. They want the spontaneity of things not running according to our British clockwork... it doesn't work like that with a show like this."

Nevertheless, show organisers said La Princesse would once again reawaken on Sunday afternoon.

La Princesse was unveiled to the public on Wednesday morning, hanging from a redundant office block next to Lime Street railway station.

She was woken in a hail of fireworks and smoke at 1130 BST on Friday, before striding up and down in front of the arena in front of a cheering crowd.

Later on Friday night she took a dip in the Mersey in front of an estimated 20,000 people.

The spider is made out of steel and poplar wood and is operated by up to 12 people strapped to her frame.

In May 2006, the company's Sultan's Elephant drew an estimated one million people to the streets of London.

I need your help again

Within the past 18 hours, the forces of negativity seem to have descended upon me again.

On Sunday, September 14, at 11:30 AM, there will be the unveiling of the tombstone for my father.
Last night,I was talking on the phone to my brother in Toronto about the details of the unveiling, and this didn't exactly put me into a cheerful mood. So I walked over to Tim Horton's to cheer myself up. When I got back, I noticed that there were posters hung up in the apartment building. Starting at 11:00 AM, on Sunday, September 14, they were going to exterminate the apartment building for cockroaches, and would all the tenants please clean off the kitchen counters and remove everything from them. Wonderful!The janitor had just sprayed boric acid powder over everything this past Monday. And now it's happening again during the unveiling. And how will my cat cope with it?

But that was not the worst of it. There was a knock on the door this morning. It was the landlord. He wants me to move out. He seem to feel that my messy housekeeping is creating a refuge for the cockroaches, and that's why they can't get rid of them. He was even offering me money and help in moving for me to be out by October 1 (two weeks from now). After I've been living here since 1992. Fat chance! So I feel like I'm back where I was a few months ago. Deeply mired in all sorts of shit. The only thing I can think of to do now is to start throwing out as much junk as possible, in the hope that it will either get the apartment cleaner, or at least improve the chi (qi) enough so that some doors will open for me.

So what I'm asking for is any help any of you can provide in the form of advice, prayers, spells, etc. Maybe there is some detail that I am missing in this situation. Thank you.

Nuns arrested for forcible conversion in Christian school

http://www.crusadewatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=834&Itemid=67

Monday, 30 July 2007

source: Haindava Keralam, July 29, 2007 BHUBANESWAR: Two nuns in Mayurbhanj district were arrested on charges  under Sections 323 (causing simple hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 (forcibly attempting conversion) of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act on Saturday, Reports Times news network Sister Mary (60) and Sister Prema (63) were accused of attempting to forcibly convert the girls studying at Bijay Sadan, a Catholic residential school in Baghamara.  The arrests were made after Sarojini Murmu (12) and Anjana Behera (10) complained that they were compelled to participate in prayers against their wish. They also accused the nuns of "physically and mentally torturing" them when they refused to sing the hymns. As usual Father Isaac of the Catholic Diocese in Balasore, rushed to Mayurbhanj. He said the charges were "cooked up". Mayurbhanj SP S K Singh Singh and the additional district magistrate conducted inquiries after they received an FIR on July 25. "The complaint was prima facie true," the SP said.  The issue came to light after Murmu, a Class IX student, and Behera, a Class VI student, ran away from the school hostel on July 13. However, the school did not inform the parents and approached the police only after the parents came to know about their children leaving the hostel.  These incidents are only tip of the ice berg and many Hindu kids are falsely indoctrinated in majority of Christian schools all over the country. Police authorities of other states also should follow the way of Orissa Police and make sure such criminals are bought infront of law.

 

FOX Attacks Obama Like Kerry

This video helps dispel the illusion of a "free press". It shows Fox News attacking John Kerry before the 2004 election and Barack Obama before the upcoming one. Notice how both attacks, although 4 years apart, make identical comments about both Kerry and Obama, as if the comentators were in both cases reading from the same script.

Life in a "Democracy"

Amy Goodman: Why We Were Falsely Arrested

[Amy Goodman and other journalists were arrested and attacked by police in St Paul, Minn, for covering demonstrations there during the Republican National Convention. She is the producer/ editor/ newscaster/ anchor for the radio/TV program carried nationally by Pacifica stations and others, "Democracy Now!" She will be one of the headline speakers at the action-gathering on November 23 in New York City, "Jews Uniting to End the War and Heal America," sponsored by The Shalom Center and the Workmen's Circle/ Arbeter Ring.  One "Heal America" aspect the gathering will address will be precisely the narrowing of civil liberties that is often justified as a "defense" measure.

To register for this gathering or to support it even if you can't come, click to  --

https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/602/t/7445/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=3732  ]
 
ST. PAUL, Minn. By Amy Goodman -- Government crackdowns on journalists are a true threat to democracy. As the Republican National Convention meets in St. Paul, Minn., this week, police are systematically targeting journalists. I was arrested with my two colleagues, "Democracy Now!" producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, while reporting on the first day of the RNC. I have been wrongly charged with a misdemeanor. My co-workers, who were simply reporting, may be charged with felony riot.

The Democratic and Republican national conventions have become very expensive and protracted acts of political theater, essentially four-day-long advertisements for the major presidential candidates. Outside the fences, they have become major gatherings for grass-roots movements -- for people to come, amidst the banners, bunting, flags and confetti, to express the rights enumerated in the Constitution's First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Behind all the patriotic hyperbole that accompanies the conventions, and the thousands of journalists and media workers who arrive to cover the staged events, there are serious violations of the basic right of freedom of the press. Here on the streets of St. Paul, the press is free to report on the official proceedings of the RNC, but not to report on the police violence and mass arrests directed at those who have come to petition their government, to protest.

It was Labor Day, and there was an anti-war march, with a huge turnout, with local families, students, veterans and people from around the country gathered to oppose the war. The protesters greatly outnumbered the Republican delegates.

There was a positive, festive feeling, coupled with a growing anxiety about the course that Hurricane Gustav was taking, and whether New Orleans would be devastated anew. Later in the day, there was a splinter march. The police -- clad in full body armor, with helmets, face shields, batons and canisters of pepper spray -- charged. They forced marchers, onlookers and working journalists into a nearby parking lot, then surrounded the people and began handcuffing them.

Nicole was videotaping. Her tape of her own violent arrest is chilling. Police in riot gear charged her, yelling, "Get down on your face." You hear her voice, clearly and repeatedly announcing "Press! Press! Where are we supposed to go?" She was trapped between parked cars. The camera drops to the pavement amidst Nicole's screams of pain. Her face was smashed into the pavement, and she was bleeding from the nose, with the heavy officer with a boot or knee on her back. Another officer was pulling on her leg. Sharif was thrown up against the wall and kicked in the chest, and he was bleeding from his arm.

I was at the Xcel Center on the convention floor, interviewing delegates. I had just made it to the Minnesota delegation when I got a call on my cell phone with news that Sharif and Nicole were being bloody arrested, in every sense. Filmmaker Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films and I raced on foot to the scene. Out of breath, we arrived at the parking lot. I went up to the line of riot police and asked to speak to a commanding officer, saying that they had arrested accredited journalists.

Within seconds, they grabbed me, pulled me behind the police line and forcibly twisted my arms behind my back and handcuffed me, the rigid plastic cuffs digging into my wrists. I saw Sharif, his arm bloody, his credentials hanging from his neck. I repeated we were accredited journalists, whereupon a Secret Service agent came over and ripped my convention credential from my neck. I was taken to the St. Paul police garage where cages were set up for protesters. I was charged with obstruction of a peace officer. Nicole and Sharif were taken to jail, facing riot charges.

The attack on and arrest of me and the "Democracy Now!" producers was not an isolated event. A video group called I-Witness Video was raided two days earlier. Another video documentary group, the Glass Bead Collective, was detained, with its computers and video cameras confiscated. On Wednesday, I-Witness Video was again raided, forced out of its office location. When I asked St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington how reporters are to operate in this atmosphere, he suggested, "By embedding reporters in our mobile field force."

On Monday night, hours after we were arrested, after much public outcry, Nicole, Sharif and I were released. That was our Labor Day. It's all in a day's work.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Besides Goodman, speakers on November 23 include Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Rabbi David Saperstein, Donna  Lieberman of NYCLU, Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights, former Congresswoman Liz Holtzman, Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin,  Penny Coleman, author  of  Flashback: Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, Suicide and the Costs of War  -- and many others.

Doing the Mashed Potato

In the early 1960's, in the wake of a dance craze called the Twist, there were a whole bunch of copycat dances that influenced the younger generation for about 5 years or so. One of these dances was called the Mashed Potato. In truth, I never actually learned how to do it, and I don't even remember what it looked like. But I still remember the name.

By the mid-1960's, all these dances had faded into oblivion. That whole scene had begun to look increasing trivial and irrelevant in the wake of such things as the Kennedy Assassination, the Vietnam War, and finally "Tune in. Turn on. Drop out." Last week, however, an e-mail that I received brought the Mashed Potato back into my memory.

Dear Yahoo! Mash member, Thank you for trying out our Mash Beta service. We hope you had fun with it. Please note that we will shut down Mash on September 29, 2008. As a result, your current profile on Mash will no longer be available. We strongly recommend that you return to http://mash.yahoo.com and copy the content that you wish to save onto a separate document. For a list of FAQs, please refer to the Mash Help Page. Thanks for trying out Mash! Matt Warburton Yahoo! Community Manager

Yes, Virginia, after only being around for a year or so, Yahoo Mash was closing down on September 29. After this date, Yahoo Mash will be as dead as the Mashed Potato dance is. It just shows you how much dedication Yahoo has to it's own products.

Anyways, here is a memorial of my Yahoo Mash profile. Many thanks to the Fireshot Firefox screenshot extension for being able to help me pull this off.