News

PETA crazies are at it again, this time over Groundhog Day.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it’s unfair to keep the animal in captivity and subject him to the huge crowds and bright lights that accompany tens of thousands of revelers each Feb. 2 in Punxsutawney, a tiny borough about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. PETA is suggesting the use of an animatronic model.

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Lots and lots of bad jokes about iPons, MaxiPads, and so forth now that Steve Jobs has announced the brand new iPad.
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Miscellaneous

The case of the "autistic" girl (misnomer, for the girl has Asperger's syndrome, not classic autism) being handicuffed and arrested following an altercation at an elementary school when she was asked to remove her hoodie in order to attend a Christmas party is bizarre, to say the least.

Assuming the parent's account of what happened is accurate, and that is a BIG assumption (and I don't take parents' claims as gospel), the whole thing should not have happened. What in the hell is the big deal about a child wearing an article of clothing she happens to favor? It doesn't matter if the girl has a disability; a lot of kids have attachments to clothing and the like. To me it was simply stupid on the part of school staff to make an issue of it. If she had been in my class, I'd have ignored the hoodie and let her participate. If the girl had engaged in any unacceptable behavior prior to the party, her mother should have been notified and the girl picked up.

However, one would need to know what actually led up to the girl's outburst besides the costume deal. And the fact the girl was violent meant the school HAD to do something. From the report, it sounds like the girl had a history of this behavior.

Some confuse the issue and claim the girl was justified in lashing out; however, the fact she lashed out and threatened staff
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Does he or doesn't he?
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A dog ate an inauguration ticket.

It reminds me of an old Timex ad where a dog swallowed a watch, digested it, and the damned thing kept running even after it had been swallowed, digested, and pooped in the yard.
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Miscellaneous News

Apple's Steve Jobs may have to have his pancreas removed.

I didn't know a person could live without one; apparently he would have to take insulin for the rest of his life if his pancreas is taken out:

obs had a procedure similar to a Whipple operation, which involves removing parts of the pancreas, bile duct and small intestine, after he was diagnosed with a rare type of pancreatic cancer in 2004. A potential side effect of this procedure is that the organ has to be removed to prevent pancreatic leak, and the patient has to be kept alive with insulin to regulate blood sugar, said Robert Thomas, head of surgery at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.

“You might have to take the rest of the pancreas out,” said Thomas, 66, who first performed the Whipple procedure more than 20 years ago. “You’re on significant doses of insulin, and it’s not easy to manage. The person has the risk of severe diabetes.”

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Obituaries

Apple founder Steve Jobs, 53, didn't die, but that didn't stop the Bloomberg business wire from publishing his obituary by accident, with blanks for his age and cause of death included.

Jobs can read his obituary here.

The funniest obituary ever was the Bob Hope obituary by Vincent Canby--published several years after Canby died.
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Writer and activist Del Martin, 87, has died, just a couple of months after she and partner Phyllis Lyon became the first gay/lesbian couple in California to be married.

She was one of the early pioneers in GLBT rights.
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Yet Another

robber baron proves he is a fucking moron:

Apple CEO Steve Jobs suggested at a recent education event in Austin that schools change their management structure, allowing principals to reward effective teachers with higher salaries and get rid of ineffective teachers. He compared the job of a school principal to that of a CEO, saying, "What kind of person can you get to run a small business if you told them, when they came in, they couldn't get rid of people they thought weren't any good in the first place?"

I'd like to know how Jobs and the asshole who wrote the article they define "ineffective teachers"? They can't; they depise tenure and every single thing about civil service, a service which came about to get rid of cronyism and favoritism, i.e., corruption in government.

I hate these pricks who despise education.