Gentle Songs

The songs I have with gentle in the title:

1. A Gentle Dissolve - Thievery Corporation
2. A Gentle Place - Clannad
3. Gentle Arms of Eden - Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer
4. Gentle Breeze - David And Steve Gordon
5. Gentle On My Mind - Dean Martin
6. Gentle Rain - Houston Person
7. Gentle Slumber - Midori
8. Gentle Soldier of My Soul - Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer
9. Gentle Soldier Of My Soul - Diane Ziegler

Oddly, only one version of "Gentle On My Mind, and Dino really jazzes it up.

Weekend Open Mic

Welcome to another WOM.

Counting Toilets

Let's see what's topping the news at World Nut Daily: Big Brother asks: 'Do you have a flush toilet?'

The federal government is forcing 3 million Americans to disclose sensitive, personal information about finances, health and lifestyle in a 14-page survey - including questions about availability of household flush toilets and difficulty with undressing and bathing.

The 2009 American Community Survey, an annual supplement to the decennial Census, asks about residents' personal relationships and whether a home has hot and cold running water, a flush toilet, bathing facilities, appliances and phone services. It also asks how many rooms are in a home and what vehicles are used at each household.

Outrageous! And to think that this has been going on since 1940.

Cookies Vs. Torture

Interesting: Cookies, not torture, convinced al Qaeda suspect to talk, FBI interrogator says.

The practice of torturing suspected terrorists received fresh blows Friday after a magazine reported that a key al Qaeda suspect offered useful intelligence after receiving sugar-free cookies.

Ali Soufan, a former FBI interrogator, revealed in an article being released in June that Osama Bin Laden's bodyguard opened up about the 9/11 terror attacks only after being offered -- sugar free cookies.

Bin Laden lieutenant Abu Jandal is a diabetic, Soufan said, and wouldn't eat sugar cookies he'd been offered.

"Soufan noticed that he didn't touch any of the cookies that had been served with tea: 'He was a diabetic and couldn't eat anything with sugar in it,' Time's Bobby Ghosh wrote. "At their next meeting, the Americans brought him some sugar-free cookies, a gesture that took the edge off Abu Jandal's angry demeanor.

"We had showed him respect, and we had done this nice thing for him," Soufan told Ghosh. "So he started talking to us instead of giving us lectures."

The seemingly absurd report calls into question the efficacy of the Bush administration's so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques." A 2005 memo by a Bush administration official revealed that CIA interrogators had waterboarded alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 183 times in one month.

Mancow has already volunteered to eat some cookies on the air.

Note: The image here shows some random sugar-free cookies. They are not the cookies that were part of the enhanced interrogation.

Bebot

A $1.99 iPhone app: Bebot.

Touching the screen causes the robot to move and make sounds controlled by your movements. Play it like a musical instrument, or just have fun watching the robot and making sounds with your fingers.

Features 4-finger multitouch polyphony, multiple synthesis modes, user-definable presets and scales, tweakable synth settings and effects, and more!

Here's a demo:

(via Reality Carnival)

Pig Stabbed On New Years Eve

Found at Suicide Food: Frohliches Neujahr.

Now this is how you ring in the new year! You load up one of the Campbell's Soup kids with a tray of champagne, jam a knife and fork in the pig's back, and start celebrating!

We won't begrudge anyone their New Year's bubbly, but we do question the propriety of the stuck pig. Stabbed, he trots gaily from the kitchen, his wounds nothing more than handy slots for the silverware.

Scientology Banned From Wikipedia

Here's what happens when you don't play nice: Wikipedia bans Church of Scientology from site.

WIKIPEDIA has banned members of the Church of Scientology from contributing to articles in a bid to stamp out biased information.

The site's administrators allegedly decided to impose the ban after finding members of the church were changing articles related to Scientology to promote their interests.

It is the first time Wikipedia has placed a ban on such a large group.

According to evidence found by Wikipedia, multiple users with known scientology IP addresses had been "openly editing (Scientology-related articles) from Church of Scientology equipment and apparently coordinating their activities".

The administrators were concerned the edits were "damaging Wikipedia's reputation for neutrality".

Read all about it at Wikipedia.

When Cats Fly

News from China: It's just a cat with furry wings.

Animal experts have been left baffled by the fluffy white moggy, who was born normal - but began growing wing-shaped appendages on either side of his spine when he was just a year old.

Some experts believe the bony 'wings' are in fact a freak mutation - a Siamese twin growing inside the kitty. Others think the mutation may be genetic, caused by chemicals during his mother's pregnancy.

(Thanks Gary)

Advice From Angels

Got a problem, seek out Angelic Advice.

Here's an example of a question that can be answered by angels:

About 2 months ago I decided to start my own prayer request website. I had felt a calling for a while to be a prayer intercessor. Within a few days began to have a strong pain in the lower right side of my body. I thought at first that my arthritis was getting worse, but instead I was diagnosed with a ruptured disk in my lower spine. I cannot walk without help, I cannot work, I cannot even bathe without help. I believe I came under demonic attack because I was trying to obey God. I keep my faith strong and God has been with me through this. Any advice?

Webby Car

Something you don't see every day: Thousands of marauding caterpillars trap car in silky web.

This is the sight that greeted one unlucky motorist when he returned to his vehicle in Rotterdam. Under a giant silk cocoon created by an army of caterpillars, the shape of a Honda is just about visible.

The car was mistaken as food by spindle ermine larvae, which had already begun to strip a nearby tree of its leaves.

New Flyer Image For Black Cab Of Tucson

Yesterday, Black Cab of Tucson got lots of marketing help. Today, I received the art for their new flyer.

If you ignore the major copyright violation, it's very nice!

Related: Nighthawks.

Who Owns GM?

This is getting very confusing. According to this article:

U.S. taxpayers soon may own 72.5 percent of a General Motors that's no longer a publicly traded company, according to regulatory filings by the carmaker Thursday and details released by the Obama administration.

According to George Harrison:

The pope owns 51% of general motors

So when did the pope sell off his shares?

Priestess Can’t Give Letter To Obama

A small bit of drama today: Kicking & Screaming: Journo Dragged From Near AF1.

A reporter for a small newspaper was forcibly removed from a press area near Air Force One shortly before President Barack Obama arrived at Los Angeles International Airport to depart California early Thursday.

Airport security officers carried the woman away by the feet and arms as she protested her removal.

She later identified herself as Brenda Lee, a writer for the Georgia Informer in Macon and said she has White House press credentials. The newspaper's Web site says it is a monthly publication, and a Brenda Lee column is posted on it...

Lee said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that she wanted to hand Obama a letter urging him "to take a stand for traditional marriage."

She said she asked a Secret Service agent to give the president her letter, but he refused and referred her to a White House staffer. Lee said she refused to give the staffer the letter.

"I said, 'I'll take my chances if (the president) comes by here,'" said Lee, who identified herself as a Roman Catholic priestess who lives in Anaheim, Calif. "He became annoyed that I wouldn't give him the letter."

Lee, who was wearing what she described as a cassock, said she protested when she was asked to leave.

Here's a link to her column: The Bird's Eye View. And an example of her journalistic writing:

Miss California was striped of her title as Miss California when she was asked her views on same sex marriages and she stated that in her view marriage was between a man and a woman. The newspapers reported the truth at first. They changed the story and said that she lost the title because she had brest [sic] implants.

At some point the American public will realize that gays are taking over and that there is no freedom of speech for heterosexuals or Christians.

Need A Banjo?

If you've been wanting to buy an open back banjo, here's a great deal I found at Banjo Hangout: Used Ramsey Special.

Ramsey Special 11" pot for sale Very good condition. Stewart Compensated Bridge , brass capo spike . Very nice TKL Hardshell case. This is a nice instrument but I thought I'd play it more than I do. I'm a guitar player first and just don't have the time. $800.

I have a Ramsey banjo like this, but with a 12" pot. And I paid a lot more than $800 for it. Mine is really a well-made instrument, and sounds great. Ramsey is a very well-respected maker, and this seems like an incredibly low price for one. I'd snatch it up in a second, but I've grown partial to 12" pots.

I'd get rid of the arm rest, and install a skin head. If it's still available tomorrow, I just might buy it anyway.

Historic Banjo-Related Marriage

News you won't find in the mainstream press -- or even the tabloids: Strategic Marriage Will Consolidate Power Within Single Banjo Sovereignty.

After lengthy negotiations between their two camps, banjoists Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn have agreed to marry one another, advancing their long campaign to unify the progressive and old-time banjo empires under a single sovereign ruler.

The carefully calculated union aims to create one insurmountable banjo juggernaut whose historic domain will span old-time, bluegrass, jazz, fusion, European classical, African and Chinese styles.

While strategic considerations were clearly primary, sources close to Fleck and Ms. Washburn also indicate that the future bride and groom "barely detest each other at all," which may have facilitated the negotiations somewhat.

"Historically that factor has also been relevant to the viability of such arranged marriages of power," said a K. Scharf, a Yale historian...

According to aides close to both parties, the marriage offers the prospect of a male heir who would carry on the Fleck-Washburn banjo empire into future generations, securing a legacy of greatness.

Said fiddler Casey Driessen, "Three words: Holy. Banjo. Emperor."

Shown here is Abigail -- the only one of the two who's worth looking at.

Phone Songs

Tonight, we'll be discussing songs that have phone or telephone in the title. I have these, which would make a nice playlist:

1. As Soon As I Hang Up The Phone - Loretta Lynne and Conway Twitty
2. Atomic Telephone - The Spirit of Memphis Quartet
3. Broken Telephone - The Be Good Tanyas
4. Hanging on the Telephone - Blondie
5. Hold The Phone - Hank Penny
6. Juke Box and the Phone - Lattie Moore
7. Just Me And My Telephone - John Lee Hooker
8. No One Answers The Telephone - Jimmy Morello
9. On The Phone With My Sister - Catie Curtis
10. Phone Booth - The Robert Cray Band
11. Sax O Phone - Fresh Lab
12. Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand - Primitive Radio Gods
13. Telephone Angel - Son Seals
14. Telephone Answering Tape - Steve Goodman
15. Telephone Blues - Eddie Gorman and His Group
16. Telephone Is Ringing - Pee Wee Crayton
17. Telephone Road - Steve Earle
18. Telephone Song - B.B. King
19. Telephone Song - Melvin Taylor
20. The Telephone Girl - Doc Watson & David Holt
21. You Never Phone - Loudon Wainwright III

Money In A Computer

This happened in St. Louis, Missouri: Best Buy employees find cash inside computer.

The recession has many people going to great lengths to protect their money, but apparently the bank and even the space underneath the mattress wasn't good enough for one St. Louis area resident.

Employees at a Best Buy store in South County discovered about $10,000 cash inside a computer tower Monday night, St. Louis County police said.

Employees found the money inside a computer that had been dropped off for repairs at the store at 7017 South Lindbergh Boulevard. Best Buy staffers called police, who ran a background check on the owner and checked the serial numbers on the bills stashed inside the tower.

A background check revealed nothing suspicious about the computer owner, and the bills were not counterfeit or stolen, police said. The owner of the computer -- and the cash -- was able to reclaim his money.

I wonder what's the minimum amount of found cash that prompts a call to the police?

Note: The image here is just random cash. It's not the cash left in the computer.

Heads For Beer Butt Chicken

If you like to cook beer-butt chicken on the grill, this should make it a more festive occasion: Ceramic Drunk Chicken Heads.

Dress up your beer butt chicken with our new ceramic drunk chicken heads! Just pop them on top of your chicken before cooking or you can even add them to a store bought rotisserie to dress it up!

They are (from left to right):

• The Bug-Eyed Chicken - perhaps he is wondering where the beer can went?
• Southwestern Chicken from South of the Border complete with Sombrero and mustache!
• The Malibu - one Cool looking chicken

$14.95 each.