Exercise Your Choppers

Get Up Offa That Thang!

Every bloggers favorite cranky Irish priest, Nazareth Priest with some odd contortions. I know Mars was close to the Earth this week and lots of bizarre stuff was happening-like my coffee maker broke and Vincenzo's coffee was "weird"-so maybe some astral projection explains what he's doing? I don't know why his order is stocking up on Jameson; St. Patrick's Day is quite a ways off yet.

What is HE doing?

a) Bringing in the sheaves
b) Kicking off the entrance procession
c) Waving the bees away
d) Being slain in the Spirit
e) I once caught a fish and it was THIS big!
f) Y.M.C.A.!
g) All of the above!
h) How many multiple choice questions is this, Cathy?

Porcupine Pie - Neil Diamond

For Cat Lovers

I swear this cat is part of both of my cats. I think this short film is hilarious.

You still have made a choice

So exercise your free will, go to the Fair and get some mini-doughnuts.

(Rush will be appearing at the Grandstand tomorrow night)

Soon

The Minnesota State Fair will begin and my appetite for cheese curds will be satisfied. I LOVE cheese curds. Don't talk to me about health. If you see me heading to the booth on Dan Patch Avenue get the h-e-doubletoothpicks out of my way. Save yourself. My Dad will testify to my obsession. As soon as I get in the gate I have to go to the cheese curd booth first and before I leave I hit it again.

The booth on Dan Patch is the best. The Food Building booth is horrible, the one by the Grandstand near Como gates is a poser.

Cathy's motto: "If you are going to eat yourself dead of a heart attack; go quality or go home" Words to live by. Yes, live! Tell your cardiologist to stuff it.

Love yas! Cath

Hump day Haiku

Old Dog, New Tricks
"And with your Spirit"
for me, a post Vat II kid
relearn responses

Don't miss it, don't even be late
Fair starts tomorrow
I could go every day
Pocketbook says "No"

Haiku Petition to rename Roach Center
Bishop Fulton Sheen
Our own seminary grad
Instead of "The Bug"

Kim Jong Il Gives Field Guidance to Chicken Farm

Pyongyang, August 24 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il gave field guidance to 927 Chicken Farm which set an example in implementing the WPK's policy on stockbreeding.

After going round a room devoted to the history of the farm, he went round the interior and exterior of the cozy farm nestled in the thick forest to learn in detail about technological updating of the farm and production there.

Very pleased to watch cases filled with fat chickens and eggs being churned out in an endless stream from conveyer, he expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the farm has radically changed its appearance and drastically increased the production...

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Yes, monkey-men from the earth's core want to sell you office products

"To celebrate company's 50th anniversary, 3M, the company that brought you the Post-It note, recently launched an innovative pop-up store in Tokyo. But the while the design is indeed futuristic, it's the sci-fi story behind the company's new mascots that will blow your mind.

3M's new mascots are three, cute as button, ape-human hybrid characters. Essentially taking a page from the Rod Serling epic "Planet of the Apes," 3M offers a back story on their site (in Japanese) that tells of another world beneath ours where monkeys evolved differently into tail-less monkey-men. Then, suddenly, three of these monkey-men fell through some sort of "warp hole," landed in our world, and now work for 3M."

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The President's Birth Certificate

Minneapolis will pay $165,000 to zombies

Minneapolis will pay seven people who were jailed after a street theater protest.

By RANDY FURST, Star Tribune 

The Minneapolis city attorney's office has decided to pay seven zombies and their attorney $165,000.
The payout, approved by the City Council on Friday, settles a federal lawsuit the seven filed after they were arrested and jailed for two days for dressing up like zombies in downtown Minneapolis on July 22, 2006, to protest "mindless" consumerism...

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Endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful

AN EVOLUTIONARY MANIFESTO:
A NEW HYPOTHESIS FOR ORGANIC CHANGE
by John A. Davison, Ph.D.

PREFACE

This work represents an elaboration of material presented by
the author in courses offered here at the University of Vermont,
especially Biology 255, The Comparative Physiology of Reproduction
and Biology 202, Quantitative Biology. It is my hope that this
treatise will reach not only the professional biologist but all others
who realize how little we really understand concerning the history of
life on this planet. I have assumed little in the way of background
and I have defined most technical terms as they appear. The basic
ideas put forth here were first published in 1984. I hope that this
expanded and more completely documented treatment will reach a larger
and more receptive audience.

My own background is in General and Developmental Physiology which
is to say that I am interested in how things work. Like others before
me, I have come to the realization that Darwinism simply does not
work. That conclusion has led to a series of questions which I pose
and attempt to answer. Answering one question often leads to asking
another. Only by asking questions is one compelled to provide
answers. I employ that approach throughout this presentation.

Among those questions are the following: Is evolution finished?
Is sexual reproduction incapable of supporting evolutionary change?
Is selection, natural or artificial, incapable of producing new life
forms? In contrast to the Darwinian view, has evolution proceeded by
means of leaps (saltation) rather than gradually through intermediate
forms? Is there an alternative to Darwinism which, unlike that
hypothesis, is compatible with all the facts revealed by paleontology,
embryology, cytology, taxonomy, physiology and genetics? Do internal
factors have a role in evolution? Is evolution irreversible? Is the
individual, rather than the population, the instrument of evolutionary
change? Are there laws governing evolution? Is there compelling
evidence that evolution (phylogeny), like the development of the
individual (ontogeny), involves the release or derepression of
preformed information? Finally, the most controversial question
of all: Has evolution been guided? With the exception of the last
question, to which no certain answer will probably ever be given,
I will answer yes to each of these questions.

MORE - includes link for download of entire paper

Sunday Dinner at Amentior

Mush and Milk

China Launches First Willing Manned Mission Into Space

$71,623 to study how monkeys are affected by cocaine: stimulus money at work

From Hank:

"Harry Reid says “no one can do more” for Nevada. But Nevadans had no idea Harry’s plan of “more” meant spending millions on coked-up monkeys and exotic ants! Even worse, he’s doing all this while our state is ravaged by the worst foreclosure rate and highest unemployment rate in the nation.

Here’s what Harry Reid counts as “stimulus . . . "
$71,623 To Study How Monkeys Are Affected By Cocaine . . . $71,623 To Study How Monkeys Are Affected By Cocaine . . . $71,623 To Study How Monkeys Are Affected By Cocaine . . .  “The Coburn-McCain report takes issue with stimulus spending on projects like one that entailed research on how cocaine affects monkeys. The Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center was awarded $71,623 to study what the report calls, ‘Monkeys Getting High for Science.’”

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The Great Pudding Pop Wars of 1982...

From Branded in the 80s:

"Thinking about some magical food moments from my past I can't help but immediately gravitate towards the splenderferious invention that graced America's freezers in 1982 (by my best educated guesstimates), the Pudding Pop.  Sure, there are other frozen treats that I love, Screwballs, Otter Pops, and Slurpees, but sucking on a pudding pop was like having a symphony in your mouth and it always played the theme to Star Wars.  Seriously though, there was something magical about the smooth, velvety texture of a good pudding pop that other treats (Fudgsicles and ice cream bars) just couldn't match..."

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Devotions Meme

Joe tagged the "The Monkey Squirrel at the Keyboard at Amentior" - we weren't totally sure who this was, so here is Swissmiss' list:

Mum of Six tagged me ages ago for this and I was too busy with all my devotions to get to it until now. Yup.

My Five Favorite Devotions

1. Chaplet of St. Philomena
2. Rosary
3. Novena to the Poor Souls in November
4. Divine Mercy
5. Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Posted by Swissmiss

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old rancher, whose hand was caught in the gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Obama and his role as our president.

The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Obama is a 'Post Turtle..''

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him, what a 'post turtle' was.

The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle.'

The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. 'You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, he's elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put him up there to begin with.'

Hump Day Haiku

(Substitute Hump Day Haiku Host Ninja Monkey):

Blessed mother, pray
to Jesus for all the world,
pray to Him for us. 

Source:  Catholic Online

A 'big favor' from Brett Favre

By Kevin Seifert

(ESPN) ...Ultimately, Longwell said, "we asked him to do it for the guys."

And here, based on what he said Wednesday, is what quarterback Brett Favre heard:

"[They] were like, 'Hey, if you could do us one favor. And that's a pretty big favor.'"

Awesome.

Brilliant.

Just beautiful, really.

I mean this in all sincerity, with no malice and (almost no) sarcasm: Only Favre could manipulate that recruiting mission into a no-lose situation for himself. That's essentially the message Favre conveyed Wednesday during his return-to-Minnesota news conference. He will play not because of his reported $16.5 million salary, not for a chance to enhance his NFL records or to prove he can play at age 41.

This season is a "favor" for the players with whom he spent five months of his 20-year NFL career, an attempt to give it "one more try" to help them win a Super Bowl. Favre, in fact, used the word "favor" six times in 33 minutes. And if it doesn't work out? It was just a favor, anyway.

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Serbia using testicle cooking competition to lure tourists

TOURISM chiefs in Serbia are hoping their annual testicle cooking competition will do for the region what whisky did for Scotland. 


(News.com.au) The Testicle Cooking World Championship in Ozrem takes place for the seventh time this year and is open to cooks from all over the world.

Dishes, said to have aphrodisiac qualities, are made from the testicles of animals including bull, wild boar, horse, shark, ostrich, kangaroo, donkey, turkey, goat, reindeer and elk.

Pictures: the world's weirdest food

Organisers admit they rarely get chefs from abroad, but they are hoping the festival will start to attract international visitors to sample the food.

"The importance of a recognisable brand to sell a region cannot be underestimated,'' festival organiser Ivo Mokovich said.

"Look at how many people go to Scotland because of the whisky or how many people know Switzerland because of their cheese and chocolate.

"We are now hoping that the many famous and varied dishes that we have created in the region will become world-famous.''

The cooking contest starts on August 27.

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The Lord's Prayer

Are We Giving Robots Too Much Power?

Swiss Miss Pudding Bars

Leadership Conference of Women Religious outgoing rite

From the National Catholic Reporter via Father Z:

• Sister Act

Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream.....

I had a dream early this morning that was interrupted twice and I went back to it both times. In my dream I was in the gym at St. Joan of Arc (where they have their "mass") and Archbishop Nienstedt was speaking about appropriate liturgy (yeah, appropriate) and then he called me up for something and I responded to him in Latin (yeah, REALLY weird)-everyone else was sitting. What was really odd was there were 3 priests off to the left of Archbishop Nienstedt. They were sitting together, in the plastic chairs they have at SJA, like the priests/deacons do at St. Agnes. The priest closest to the Archbishop in that cluster of 3 was Bishop Piche-which is odd because he'd usually be sitting alone as Bishop. The priest on the other side I could not make out. But, the priest in the middle was Father Z and he was smiling. All three priests had birettas on. Father Z had green vestment on for Ordinary Time.

The priest who sits in the middle is the celebrant which is usually the primary priest of a parish.

I was joking with Father Z when I met him that I'd pay real money to see him as priest of St. Joan of Arc. He laughed pretty heartily.

Weird

or is it??? Bwah-ha-ha!

Note: Vincenzo got his creative program on and imaged my dream. He put the dream in the Church itself; NOT the gym. The gym is where the main "masses" are held on Sunday. The Church is reserved for two brief family "masses" about 1/2 hour in to the main gym "mass" (yeah, I know). Anyway, I was going to ask V to change this image but then I realized that no way would Father Z allow a Mass to be in a gym when there is an actual Church! Also, I rememebered how much "levitating Jesus" still creeps me out. Ray would not list this, uh, crucifix among his favorites. The pagan broomstick cross in the gym is pretty bad too. I'm trying to think which is worse. Why am I rambling???

Girl Raised From Birth By Wolf Blitzer Taken Into Protective Custody

Drudge: Mystery - White House West Wing Covered in Tarp

Blondie Vs. The Doors

Nervous Monkeys Lend Clues to Childhood Anxiety

By Jon Lentz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have identified two parts of the brain linked with severe anxiety in young monkeys, and they suspect these same areas may also play a role in children who develop anxiety disorders, offering new promise for treatment.

Nervous monkeys in the study showed heightened brain activity in the amygdala and anterior hippocampus, a team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health reported on Wednesday in the journal Nature...

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Amentior Review: The Hoff Strikes Back!

A Cranky column that may become regular if I gave a rip about culture enough to review it!

The Hoff Strikes Back

How about that weird commercial on Comedy Central advertising "The David Hasselhoff Roast?" For the record, yes, Dean Martin is dead.

The commercial shows The Hoff in a combination of the car wash scene in "Cool Hand Luke" and his reality clip from 3 years ago showing him shirtless and drunk on the floor trying to eat a Wendy's hamburger. The commercial spot shows Hoff rubbing the car with his hamburger and then sobbing and eating it. I thought it was funny and gave me hope that The Hoff may one day be big as big in Pennsylvania as he is in Germany. Honestly, what do you want? Hamlet soliloquy's from this guy?

Vincenzo however was outraged. "D--- waste of food and sacrilege to that cool car! A cow sacrificed himself for that ----!" Before you can yell "Thank you Pamela Anderson!" Vincenzo said he was hungry and left to forage the jungle.

Amentior scale overall: No bananas
David Hasselhoff: Completely bananas

US Man Discovers He Has Pea Plant Growing In His Lung

Ron Sveden, a retired teacher from Brewster, Massachusetts in the US was astonished to discover that what he thought was a tumor growing in his lung was actually a plant that had sprouted from an inhaled pea.

75-year old Sveden said he was told the pea seed had split and sprouted in his lung. It was about half an inch long (about 1.25 cm), which "is a pretty big thing", he said according to a news report from NBC...

Read More

h/t to Joe

Hump Day Haiku Huh?

I see Vincenzo couldn't stand it anymore and raided some quality haiku from Patrick Madrid. Well ok, then, but I was feeling inspired! Perhaps, the, *cough* quality of these haikus will force Swissy to come back faster than intended!


No Summer Loving
Swimsuit Will Not Stretch On Me
Dog Days Are Here Now

I know. It brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it?!

Hump Day Haiku

Swissmiss is away so here are some Haikus from Patrick Madrid:

Parochial Memories

With surprising strength,
Sister’s ruler smashed down hard
on my fifth grade hands

New Tricks for Old Dogmas

Anathema, sit!
I told my little, brown pooch.
He did. Good doggie

Travails of an Elder

When I genuflect
my knees make a funny noise
they did not used to

Want Ad in Milwaukee
Unemployed church renovators
looking for work
we don't do (stained-glass) windows

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"I'm currently being held prisoner by the Russian mafia..."

"Incidentally, this blog gets spammed with a lot of comments from spambots, advertising various dubious links. That's why I have it hold comments for my approval on all posts older than two weeks. The other day I got a spam comment that I almost wanted to approve. It said, 'I'm currently being held prisoner by the Russian mafia and being forced to post spam comments on blogs and forum! If you don't approve this they will kill me. Please send help!'

I probably would have approved it if it hadn't been accompanied by some rather inappropriate ads." - Green Girl

• A game that made me waste my time

Co-pilot Putin helps put out Russia's wildfires

Reuters Pictures

By LYNN BERRY
 MOSCOW (AP) - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin climbed into a firefighting plane Tuesday and dumped water on two of the hundreds of wildfires sweeping through western Russia and cloaking Moscow in a suffocating smog...

The stunt was classic Putin. In past years, he has copiloted a fighter jet, ridden a horse bare-chested in Siberia and descended to the bottom of Lake Baikal in a mini-sub. Just last month he drove a Harley Davidson motorcycle to a biker rally...

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Sharpie Liquid Pencil writes and erases like a pencil, dries like a Sharpie

By Nilay Patel posted Aug 9th 2010 3:02PM

Doesn't look like we've ever covered a pencil on Engadget before, but this is just too nifty to pass up: the Sharpie Liquid Pencil uses liquid graphite to write like a pen, erase like a pencil, and eventually dry like a permanent marker. Sharpie's blog says the Liquid Pencil go on sale in September, but Office Depot has a $5 two-pack with six erasers in stock online now -- and we were charming enough to snag an early review sample...

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Woman starts fight over chicken nuggets

(BBC) Some people take their food seriously - but no one more than one customer at a fast-food outlet in Toledo, Ohio.

Melodi Dushane was so frustrated that she couldn't order chicken nuggets - because the restaurant was serving breakfast - that she attacked the member of staff.

On the surveillance video, Dushane, 25, appears to get out of her car and hit the drive-through employee in the mouth.

Seconds later it seems she smashes the window before driving off.

She was arrested and faces vandalism charges.

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When Ushers Attack!

Tell me if this has happened to you...

You are visiting a parish for the first time and then it's time for the Offertory/Collection and here come the ushers down the aisle and you feel that moment where you think "I wonder how they do it here" Here are a few simple steps to ensure that you will not screw it up and have the usher say "No, No, No, Give me that back!" and pretty soon you are engaged in an arm wrestling match with a 75-year old man in a 30-year old suit as you destroy the historical practice of the Offertory as it has been practiced in the parish since it was founded.

Step 1: Observe what the ushers are using for the collection.

If small baskets, watch closely to see if the basket is passed thru the pew and if the person on the end turns and starts it thru the next pew. This is what I call the "Baptist School"

If they are the long handled baskets that the usher uses to sweep 1/2 the row watch that thing so you don't get wacked in the body part when the usher pulls it back

If a deep wicker basket, look for the Baby Moses inside, his sister is supposed to be watching him.

Step 2: Observe if there are slots in it that mean the .50c you usually throw into a visiting plate is going to fall to the ground and reveal to everyone what cheap so-and-so you really are.

You can afford to travel and eat out but apparently giving to the Church was not in your budget. If you persist and it falls out, I'd leave by the side door after Mass as no one wants to meet you anyway.

With these basic rules we can all live in peace and harmony together! Have a happy summer!

Nazareth Priest on Pilgrimage

• Sacra Domus Nazarena

Two Fat Ladies Cook Again!

Eating this will ensure that "Biggest Loser" will keep quality programming off the TV for decades to come. I heard even the Minnesota State Fair wouldn't consider it-mostly because the presenters failed to stick it!

Monkey Saves Puppy, But Not From China Explosion

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Winston Churchill 'feared panic' over Second World War RAF incident

From The Telegraph:

"The former Prime Minister allegedly banned reporting of the “bizarre” incident, off the east coast of England, for half a century amid fears disclosures about unidentified flying objects would create public hysteria.

He is said to have made the orders during a secret war meeting with US General Dwight Eisenhower, the then commander of the Allied Forces, at an undisclosed location in America during the latter part of the conflict.
The claims are contained in thousands of pages of declassified files on UFOs, released on Thursday online by the National Archives..."

More

Guatemalan Flight's Data-Recording Parrot Holds Clues To Crash

The Spork of the Gods

One utensil for both forking and spooning Made from super strong titanium Threatens job security of your other utensils

From Think Geek:

"Every mythic hero normally has an equally mythic weapon. Zeus had his thunderbolts. Thor had his hammer, Mjolnir. King Arthur had his Excalibur. Frodo and Bilbo had their Sting. Rhydderch Hael had his Dyrnwyn. King Kong had his bananas…you get the idea. It's time for you to join the ranks of the heroes and heroines of lore as you wield your own legendary weapon in your battle against a very powerful foe: hunger.

The Titanium Spork is ready for the challenge. Titanium is known for its great strength, corrosion resistance, and light weight, which makes this spork a valuable asset around feeding time. Imagine how much more food you could shovel in at your local buffet if you didn't have to worry about the strain of picking up a heavy fork or spoon. Your food consumption can become the stuff of legends. Even just holding the Titanium Spork in your hand, you can feel its power. It is perhaps the greatest gastronomic invention since lickable wallpaper.

Hunger, beware - your end is near!"

• The Spork of the Gods
• Useless Kitchen Stuff for Morons

Wife Learns Of Husband's Disney Wedding On Facebook

CLEVELAND -- Dread of the unknown hung in the air as Lynn France typed two words into the search box on Facebook: the name of the woman with whom she believed her husband was having an affair.

Click. And there it was, the stuff of nightmares for any spouse, cuckolded or not. Wedding photos. At Walt Disney World, no less, featuring her husband literally dressed as Prince Charming. His new wife, a pretty blonde, was a glowing Sleeping Beauty, surrounded by footmen.

"I was numb with shock, to tell you the truth," says France, an occupational therapist from Westlake, a Cleveland suburb. "There was like an album of 200 pictures on there. Their whole wedding..."

France, 41, was not completely blindsided by her Facebook discovery, which happened in January 2009. That fall, she had grown suspicious when her husband began taking frequent business trips, even leaving the day the couple's newborn son came home from the hospital. Once, she found his passport at home when he was supposed to be in China for business.

His attorney, Gary Williams, issued a statement Tuesday saying his client is asking a family law court to declare that his marriage to Lynn was "void since its inception."

"While it appears that John and Lynda France were both under the impression, once upon a time, that they were married, the fact of the matter is that their marriage was never legally proper," Williams wrote, "and, therefore, it does not actually exist."

Lynn and John France were married in July 2005 in a seaside wedding on Italy's Amalfi Coast, having organized the event through Regency San Marino, which coordinates weddings for couples looking to get hitched in Italy. On the company's website, Lynn is still the first radiant bride whose portrait appears in a gauzy veil, the brilliant blue sea behind her.

If that wedding was a fraud, it was news to Lynn.

"If that were true, then he's lied to the IRS," Zashin says. "He's lied to insurance companies. Banks."

In June 2009, against the advice of her attorneys, Lynn France dropped divorce proceedings when her husband came home and persuaded her to reconcile.

"I just wanted to believe the good when he came to me and said, `Let's reconcile, I love you,"' she says. "You want to give somebody a second chance."

But three months ago, Lynn says she was cleaning the sink when her husband took the couple's 2-year-old son out of her arms and said he was going to give him some milk. Minutes later, she heard the car running.

"He threw them in, no car seats, no nothing, and took off," she says.

She hasn't seen her sons since. John France had taken them to Tampa, Fla., where he currently lives with his new wife and, according to his attorney, is seeking custody of their children.

Lynn France called 911, but as in most parental custody disputes, little could be done. She is in contact with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children and has a team of attorneys preparing for a court fight. Authorities have told her not to attempt to take back the children forcibly.

For Lynn, the only glimpse of her children now comes, ironically, from the same Facebook page where she found those fairy-tale wedding photos.

Until the day she can see her children again, Lynn France says she continues to text her husband, pleading with him to bring the children back to Ohio.

"The only way I've been able to see my children is on her Facebook page," she says. "It's stranger than fiction to watch this woman living my life..."

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This Evening's DA Question

True story: Saw a friend headed into the Chapel for Confession. I was just on my way out, my Absolution concluded. I said "Hey, how ya doin?"!

Yep, I'm in the Tiki Room all week!

Today only at Ax Man

We were just talking about Ax Man and now there's a coupon/groupon for it. I just bought two myself!

I dare you

to tell Dolph Lundgren, Sly's nemesis, that he's wearing pink shorts...and no socks. Talk about not ready for Mass, he's not ready for the street.

Except of course that he could kill you if you looked at him a little crazy.



I really like Dolph, who's a really smart dude, except he's Swedish and my dad's German side of the family has had a dislike of Swedes for centuries. Two words: Gustavus Adolphus.

"Lundgren was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1957.

He began as a weightlifter in Stockholm weightlifting club, ranking 3rd in the Sweden Junior national weightlifting championship. Lundgren holds the rank of 3rd dan black belt in Kyokushin karate. He won the European championships in 1980 and 1981 as well as a heavyweight tournament in Australia in 1982. He was also captain of the Swedish Kyokushin karate team, and was a formidable challenger at the 1979 World Open Tournament (arranged by the Kyokushin Karate Organization) when he was only a green belt. In addition to Kyokushin karate, Lundgren has also studied fencing, boxing, judo, Gōjū-ryū, and taekwondo.

He graduated from the Royal Institute of Technology. He has a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Sydney (1982). He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983, but he quit after two weeks to pursue acting. He speaks more than five languages: Swedish, English, German, French, Spanish, some Japanese, and some Italian. Lundgren completed his mandatory military service in Sweden at the Amphibious Ranger School. During his service at the elite marine unit (Kustjägarna), he suffered an injury which had him reassigned and separated from his unit."

Gosh, the Governor's job is available again. I hope we learned our lesson from the last time we elected a crazy movie tough-guy. However, I'd take pink shorts over a pink boa any day.

Three suns in the sky or UFOs?

 

"Look! UFOs are coming!" With that cry, citizens of Leshan City saw a peculiar sight in the sky around 10 p.m. on July 26, reported by Sichuan Online.


Three round illuminated discs shined in the sky, lasting for more than 10 minutes before disappearing.


Professor Wang Sichao, from Purple Mountain Observatory of Chinese Academy of Science, said the identity of those discs still can't be determined before comprehensive analysis.


Wang explained that formation of a mock sun could be influenced by many respects, including directions of ice crystals in sky, the number of ice crystals and the number of cirrus clouds. Those ice crystals are just like prisms that could cause sunshine to bend and form a circle around the sun. However, the situation was not adequate enough in Leshan to form this phenomenon, according to Wang.


He added that the identity of those illuminations could not be confirmed after analyzing other witness reports and pictures from different locations.




By Wang Hanlu, People's Daily Online

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Hump Day Haiku

The Wicked Witch is melting

Temps piping hot here
not counting solar flare-ups
apocalypse now


All together now

B-days for the kids
cake and ice cream this weekend
the count down begins


Mass dash confusion

Stylin' Catlick Ray
wishes modesty prevailed
tramps of Babylon

Cathy's Star Wars Screen Test

• Yo Chewbacca

Japanese Game Show

Minnesota Zoo Animals Enjoying the Snow

Stallone Admits He Was Considered for 'Star Wars'

by Matt McDaniel

He was a scrappy underdog from Philly who got a shot at the heavyweight title. He was also a Vietnam vet out for justice. He was even a truck driver turned professional arm wrestler. But he missed his chance to be a stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder.

In a recent question-and-answer session with the readers of Ain't-It-Cool-News, Sylvester Stallone opened up about the roles he has played in his career, plus a few that he didn't. Most notably, he revealed that he was actually considered for the role of Han Solo in the original "Star Wars."

 Stallone was asked by a fan to confirm that he had answered a casting call for the character, and he replied, "Yes as a matter of fact I did and it didn't meet with much approval since when I stood in front of George Lucas he didn't look at me once..."

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Street Style: Catholic Edition

Deep Curtsy to LarryD who recently waded into the deep without a life jacket (Who needs one? He's got the Sacramentals!)with his post about proper attire, or lack therof, at Holy Mass.

Friends and the rest of you, many of you know that appropriate attire at Mass is a topic near and dear to my heart.I've ranted and cranked about it many times. I think I've heard just about every story there is. My all time favorite is: "What if someone is just passing by and decides to come back to the Lord?" Now, if that's true we should all give praise to God at this very minute because apparently 3/4 of the nave is full of poor souls who were just passing by the Church and suddenly decided to go to Mass! Thanks Be to Jesus!

Give me a break.

As I see the same folks week after week Mass after Mass pretty much wearing, really not wearing, the same summer "I'm heading to the bar-b-que/beach/lake after Mass" attire I'm not buying it.

Anyway, I want to introduce a new subject. Those of you who dress appropriately at Mass, what do you wear when you are not at Mass? Do you dress like a slut, a pimp, a slob as soon as Father is not looking? Be honest. How can people keep custody of their eyes and avoid sin when they are slobbering after you or saying "Good God, on what planet did she think that looked good on her?"

I think we should model our Catholic Faith at all times. We should always strive to dress appropriately; whether in Church or out of it.

That said I want to take a moment, with the help of Vincenzo, to give an example of what not to wear. Yes, his Catholicism is in full effect, but, well, Ray, I'm sorry. You know I love you but this is too much...

Disclaimer: Ray just happened to be standing near the Basilica when a certain Parade passed by. This image is in no way a statement of his sexuality. Love the hat, babe!

I'm leaving town.