wierd, awesome, and weirdly awesome (nsfw)

i had a really terrible weekend and i still don't know what to think about it. and if a dog is the point of reference, i am sicker than it. i can't remember a time i had a case of the flu this bad. and worse to know, i got my damn flu shot for the first time a few months ago. i guess i got a new strain of bug, lucky me.

anyway, enough crybabying. it's sharing time. the internet is a birthplace of weird. and these three sites are more examples. please, enjoy or be disturbed or some combo of both:

http://arianeb.com/dateariane/default.htm: virtual one night stand: the game
http://www.lasagnacat.com/: garfield the movie, but not that movie
http://www.fatalfarm.com/tvthemes.html: our favorite tv show intros, fatal farm style

trouble in bungalow paradise

a hundred yards or so from my house (yellow circle), there's a collection yard owned by the largest property management company in NWA, which is surrounded by a big wooden fence. at 1AM this morning, i was sitting on the couch when i heard heard sirens approaching. i got up when i heard a car race by my house faster than i'd ever heard a car drive down our narrow little street.

so, as i looked out our kitchen window, i saw and heard a sequence that passed before me in a matter of seconds: a police car racing behind, a loud crash, a second even louder crash, and then the sound of wheels spinning, like the car had hit something that suspended it and the wheels kept burning. some gun shots followed. and there were suddenly several police cars around my street and they were using flood lights to look into people's homes and yards. they were there for an hour.

when the sun rose, i walked over to the collection yard. it was clear that part of the fence had been driven through and the building behind it had been hit by what had to have been the car, but the car wasn't there. karl called the police to find out what happened later in the afternoon. all they could tell him was there was a chase and the man escaped and fled without being caught. i'm still kind of stunned over it all, especially because we really never see or hear stuff like that in this quiet little neighborhood.

i'm anxious to hear if the guy was ever caught and i'm glad he didn't hit our car, parked on the street.

"i wanna sink to the bottom with you"

cullen and sarah, friends of mine and friends of kelly, made national news today with their somewhat unusual proposal. they're both good people and i wish them the best. congratulations!

to see the short news clip, click here.

WHAT A LOAD OF GAY

Melissa: we tied the last game. that's the first time that's ever happened to me. you must have been holding a letter worth six points?
Karl: I WAS AHEAD 10 POINTS AND HAD A C LEFT. YOU PLAYED A 4-POINT WORD AND THEN NOW ITS "DRAWN" WHAT A LOAD OF GAY
Karl: FUCK YOU YOU CHEAT SOMEHOW
Karl: well ok i guess you don't
Karl: but still, i am going to domi-crush you on this one
Karl: that's a combination of dominate and crush btw
Karl: which of course is an acronym for "by the way"
Melissa: i heard you get an extra 50 pts. if you spell out "crybaby"
Karl: you did not just say that to me

who let the clueless, pandering white dude out?

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA -- Mitt Romney was greeted warmly by a largely African-American crowd at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Parade in Jacksonville. He shook hands with several dozen parade-goers and even hugged a few of them.

Only one woman was noticeably annoyed by the former Massachusetts’ governor’s presence.

“Mitt Romney, go home!” she yelled. “You’re delaying the parade.”

As he posed for a picture with a group of young people, the typically old-fashioned Romney was relaxed enough to quote from a popular hit single from a few years back.

“Who let the dogs out?” he called out, as he stood there beaming in his shirt and tie. “Who! Who!”

a bay bay

there's nothing like the surprise of this song as a ringtone going off in your office behind you as you're greeting your department head in the morning.

have a good laugh, karl. one good prank deserves another.

debunking email myths

a few characteristics of my present life result in my receiving A LOT of conservative and/or stupid forwarded emails every week.

although i work in "liberal" academia, there's very little progressivism in my department. and arguably, i think its my department's scientific philosophy that makes it one of the most conservative of higher education. on top of that, i'm also in the middle of the country with rural on all sides of me, in a state that most would still consider to be "the south." and then, include the fact that my mom is a tv evangelical enthusiast, republican voter and you soon understand why i receive so many emails declaring obama an islamist terrorist and swiffer products as dog killers.

it's irritating and the little enjoyment i can get out of it comes with replying occasionally with some factual opposition.

some of the debunking links i've shared below are oldies that everyone's aware of and then some of them might not be. and then you may know of good ones that i don't have here (and in that case, please share).

www.sourcewatch.org: wikipedia-like site that allows users open-review of various organizations.
www.snopes.com: love this one and use it almost daily. note: interesting that clinton and obama are the only presidential candidates with negative items in the top 25 widely circulated email myths.
www.opensecrets.org: one of the best sources on political donations (who gives, who gets, and how much).
www.ripoffreport.com: one of the more widely used open complaint sites on vendors, documenting specific instances of fraud.
www.junkbusters.com: less a verification source and more just smart how-tos on riding your life of spam and scam.
www.guidestar.org:info on non-profit funding and spending