A couple of days' backlog

[cleolinda]

Fiji's military overthrows government.

Villanova U. locked down after shooting.

3 members of missing family found alive; father who went for help found dead.

E. coli in N.J. is linked to Taco Bell; Taco Bells in question used same distributor.

Ex-spy's death to be treated as murder.

Suspect in PlayStation 3 robbery killed. "A young man accused of robbing a fellow college student of two new Playstation 3 video game consoles was shot and killed — possibly while holding a game controller, his roommate said — by officers sent to arrest him." Isn't this the second fatality involved with a PS3? I love how no one wants to die over anything called a "Wii."

Abts becomes first female painter to win Turner Prize.

Archaeologists find mummified remains "of a doctor they believe lived more than 4,000 years ago and was buried along with metal surgical tools."

Neanderthals Were Cannibals, Study Confirms.

Prolific Polish actor Leon Niemczyk dies.

National Board of Review awards and top ten out (Eastwood again? Aw, hell).

Actor Rip Torn arrested in New York.

Andy Dick apologizes for using same slur as Richards, can't get anyone to care.

Breaking up for the holidays: Aniston & Vaughn have split, report says (meh); Murphy says he and Brown have split up (What? Who? Oh, Eddie Murphy and Scary Spice? My first reaction was so "Candice Bergen what?"); Lance Bass, Reichen Lehmkuhl said split (Awww, now I'm just sad. I was rooting for those two crazy kids).

Clooney's beloved potbelly pig Max dies. "George Clooney's beloved potbelly pig Max has died, Clooney's publicist said. He was 19. Max, who lived at Clooney's Hollywood Hills home, died 'peacefully' of natural causes on Friday, Clooney's publicist, Stan Rosenfield, said by phone Monday." Another thing I love: how Clooney's pig gets the same obituary template as every other deceased celebrity.

Stars of "Dreamgirls" upstaged by newcomer Hudson.

MPAA Kills Anti-Pretexting Bill. Basically, it killed an anti-fraud bill so it could trap pirates (arrrr).

Strawberry cocaine? Word on the street is that Lindsay Lohan particularly likes her Strawberry Quik.

Mayans excited, unsure on 'Apocalypto.'

Breakfast at Tiffany's gown sold at auction in London.

Brazil lauds film critics for trashing "Turistas."

U.S. alarmed by film on diamond trade.

Flatulence forces plane to land.

Iran blocks access to YouTube.com.

Lost being moved back an hour when it returns in February. Again. I don't know--I guess I'm okay with it because this way it won't get steamrolled by American Idol.

Man accused of faking retardation.

A picture of a Wet Panda.

Santa's Butt what?

Comments

[madam-rptr.livejournal.com]

re missing family and father found dead:

I was sad but then completey broken to tears after reading this:

Kim's wife, Kati, told officers that the couple made a wrong turn and became stuck in the snow. They used their car heater until they ran out of gas, then burned tires to stay warm and attract attention. With only a few jars of baby food and limited supplies, Kati Kim nursed her children.

My god.

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

For me, this is a local story.

He was told not to take that road, as it becomes impassible in winter. They went to the local tourism office in Roseburg, who advised them to take another route. While it is scenic in summer, it's a death trap in winter, as they sadly learned. Google Maps advises that route, and the office there has repeatedly asked them to put advisories on that map that the route is closed after October.

We've had several deaths like that this year, last year a whole family almost got wiped out but was luckily found (and then the parents sent to jail, turns out they were on the lamb).

[morgan-c-hoax.livejournal.com]

I swear, I half-expected the picture of the wet panda to be Christian Bale.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hee! I still haven't quite recovered from the PandaBale meme.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

My new band will be called Neanderthal Cannibal.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

O.O I went to Villanova.

[heero.livejournal.com]

I don't know, as far as I've seen, Wii fans seem to be a lot less rabid than PS3 fans, but when one company promises lots of units while the other one keeps cutting back, it makes sense.

The midnight Wii launch I went to was great. Everyone was calm and orderly, and when the first person came out with his Wii, we all applauded. Not tried to shoot him.

Sanity FTW!

[neveth.livejournal.com]

Also, I mean, if somebody killed someone else over a Wii, Nintendo would make such a SAD face at people! I'd just feel guilty! I mean, half of their whole image is "cute and safe and no real violence".

[phanatic.livejournal.com]

Villanova U. locked down after shooting

Wow, that's just about the most sensationalistic headline possible.

Some random prowler took a shot at a cop a few blocks away. This was in the very early morning. The university decided to open a few hours later. I'd hardly characterize that as a "lockdown."

[m4mitchell.livejournal.com]

Dude, I didn't know the Villanova incident had hit Yahoo news. I go to Bryn Mawr college, which is just a couple towns away, and we got an email about it this morning. Apparently, he's a "Black male, approximately 6' tall, wearing a knit cap, dark clothes. He should be considered armed and dangerous."

[phanatic.livejournal.com]

Which is an excellent reason why the last place he would go to is Villanova. A black man on that campus might as well be holding up a big neon sign with an arrow pointing at him.

[azzy23.livejournal.com]

Oh!! http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/12/06/cheney.daughters.ap/index.html

orly?

[hulamoth.livejournal.com]

hohoho! And I love the poll.

[moondroplette.livejournal.com]

funny...is a wet panda the same thing as a red panda? because it sure looks like it.

[savvygal.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure it is...maybe they got the name wrong? Because Wikipedia's never heard of a "wet" panda.

[brainchild129.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, Old Kingdom mummies. I've actually been reading a bit about ancient Egyptian medicine as part of my lapis lazuli research. It makes sense that they would bury him with so many figurines, as they believed that the image of particular gods (as well as the materials they were made from) were just as powerful as any medicine or operation. As you imagine, I geeked out a little over the story.

(also, did you see the link at the bottom about how they are excavating St. Paul's sarcophagus at the Vatican?)

Finally, to the Beyonce getting upstaged story: BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, the schadenfreude is strong in that story, and such an event is well-deserved.

[lotusbiosm.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing that you already know about Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org) (and if you don't, then hey, more linkspam for everyone!). While looking for audiobooks there, I found a link to LibriVox (www.librivox.org), where volunteers read books in the public domain. I haven't had a chance to listen to the ones I downloaded yet, but they have all kinds of works, including fiction, non-fiction, children's lit, poetry and drama.

[chocolat-violet.livejournal.com]

RE: Since when has Eddie Murphy been dating Scary Spice?
I heard about the breakup on the radio yesterday morning. I don't care whose kid Mel B is having, just as long as the father supports him/her. And his ex-wife had FIVE of Eddie's kids?! I hope she got a good settlement.

RE: Taco Bell
I always knew there was something icky about their food.

[pistolharris.livejournal.com]

Is 'embarrasment' the official term for a large collection of linkspam? Because if it isn't, it should be.

[mustang-bex1126.livejournal.com]

like a gaggle of geese, heard of cattle, murder of crows? btw this list rules
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/animals/vocabulary/128.html

[green-queen.livejournal.com]

Of course they have to refer to Jennifer Hudson as an overweight unknown, she couldn't just be a unknown. *eyeroll*

[bardintraining.livejournal.com]

Agreed. The overweight part threw me off because I was looking at the photo alongside it and thinking "...the hell? Rosie's hardly an unknown..."

[mysticowl.livejournal.com]

The AP was attempting Monday to locate representatives for Bass and Lehmkuhl. Bass had been represented by publicist Ken Sunshine when he made his announcement in July that he is gay, but a representative of the firm said it no longer represents the singer.
Even representatives need representatives... does no one speak for themselves anymore?

[hulamoth.livejournal.com]

on the U.S. alarmed by film on diamond trade. thing. The article says "U.S. officials, worried that a new Leonardo DiCaprio film about the trade of "conflict diamonds" to finance African warfare might misinform the public, say international efforts to combat the illicit commerce have been successful." and that "Some human rights groups say, however, that illegal diamond trade still is fueling conflict around the world." - yes, some HR groups do indeed.

Amnesty International is encouraging people to see it. They even put out a 55 page educational supplement to the movie (http://www.amnestyusa.org/education/pdf/bd_curriculumguide.pdf?tr=y&auid=2200274).

[somewhatmoot.livejournal.com]

wii humour

http://www.morphinenation.com/?archive=380

[paranoidgrl.livejournal.com]

Man accused of faking retardation.

Chicken pot chicken pot chicken pot piiiiiiiie.

[thyroyalmajesty.livejournal.com]

OMFG FIRST THOUGHT I HAD WHEN I HEARD ABOUT THIS.

I'm going to see David Cross's standup in a week. I asked my boyfriend if he thought Cross would kick me out for singing that as he walked out onstage.

[lilgoala.livejournal.com]

The Assistant Attorney in that fake retardation case is named Norman Barbosa. That is kick-ass.

[thyroyalmajesty.livejournal.com]

I interned at TechTV a few years ago. While I didn't know James Kim well, I'd see him in the halls, or when he'd come onto my show (The Screen Savers) to do segments. He did a lot of digital picture segments on his daughter, which now is just heartbreaking. As a TechTV alum, I'm on a mailing list, so I've been following this story before it hit the news. My heart just sank every time I got a new email about it -- then it rose when they found Kati and the kids -- them plummeted down again when I got an email that just said: "They found him." There were no more details -- I checked Yahoo!, and indeed, the headline said that they'd found his body.

Aside from whether or not James and his family should have taken that road, or how that could have been prevented -- I'm definitely now stocking my car with an emergency kit. Of course, the best way to avoid getting stranded is to not take those dangerous roads in the first place, but it couldn't hurt.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Re: The Cheney thing

"Love can't replace a mother and a father."

That's my new favourite "wait, did they *really* say that" line. Wow.

[hulamoth.livejournal.com]

Report: California Construction Pollution kills 1,100 in '05 (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061206/us_nm/construction_california_pollution_dc)

[r-a-black.livejournal.com]

Another killing related to the PS3? How many times this year am I going to have to say "What the fuck is the world coming to?"

The rest of the news is pretty funny, though.

Or else, they will die.

[aki.livejournal.com]

Movie parody linkspam for you: March of the Engineers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpe3KpWjCmA). Nerdy, yes, but overall, very well done. The music makes it.

[ellamista.livejournal.com]

@_@ So much linkspam. I think I'm in heaven...