Baby is sent through X-ray machine at LAX

From LATimes.com:

A woman going through security at Los Angeles International Airport put her month-old grandson into a plastic bin intended for carry-on items and slid it into an X-ray machine.

The early Saturday accident — bizarre but not unprecedented — caught airport workers by surprise, even though the security line was not busy at the time, officials said.

A screener watching the machine's monitor immediately noticed the outline of a baby and pulled the bin backward on the conveyor belt.

The infant was taken to Centinela Hospital, where doctors determined that he had not received a dangerous dose of radiation.

Lovely. Talk about having a "senior moment"!

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Man hits "tasty" seven-legged deer in his driveway

From Fond du Lac, Wisc. Reporter:

What has seven legs, male and female reproductive organs and nub antlers?

It sounds like a bad joke, but it's what Rick Lisko found in his driveway late last month.

Lisko hit the seven-legged nub buck while driving his truck through the woods along his mile-long driveway near Mud Lake, east of Waucousta in the Fond du Lac County town of Osceola on Nov. 22.

"It was definitely a freak of nature," Lisko said. "I guess it's a real rarity."

"And by the way, I did eat it," Lisko said. "It was tasty."

Ewww!!!

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Israeli Army Hates D&D

From Wired.com:

The fact of the matter is that when you're an Israeli soldier pinned down in a trench by Lebanese snipers, you really don't want to see your commander pull out his D20s and making his agility roll for dodge. That's not a Beholder you're facing there, Sarge.

The Israeli Army knows this. And that's why every D&D enthusiast who joins the Israeli army is automatically given a low security clearance and viewed as unrealiable, subpar soldiers.

Israeli officials view a fondness for Dungeons and Dragons as being indicative of a delusional mind, RPGers are out of touch with reality. "The game indicates a weak personality," one security official said. "One of the tests we do, either by asking soldiers directly or through information provided us, is to ask whether they take part in the game," he added. "If a soldier answers in the affirmative, he is sent to a professional for an evaluation, usually a psychologist." Also, a strip club.

ROFL! If the U.S. Army didn't let in Roleplayers, video gamers and comic book enthusiasts, let me tell you, they'd have no one. ;)

Actually, in the original article, the real beef wasn't with D&D, it was with Live Action Role Playing (LARP), but it's still funny.

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Investment Spam

More lovely spam. This is a great investment opportunity for hemp and cotton in Spain. Please!

Hemp & Cotton Company Ltd.

Dear possible representative,


This is hemp & Cotton Company Ltd. We collect hemp and cotton from Spain for production of textile and fabrics which we supply to our clients in the North American geographical region (United States) and Canada for cloth making.

Now are looking for some representatives over there who can help us receive payments from our customers. This wouldnt affect your present state of work though we are working on setting up some branches over there but for now we need someone who will be handling that aspect, We need people that are responsible and reliable.

Our main factory is located in London, United Kingdom where the hemp and cotton is needed for the manufacturing of fabrics, We are willing to pay $200 for any payment you receive and you can still keep your regular job while you work for us. All you will do is to receive payments from our customers over there.

To facilitate the conclusion of this transaction if accepted, do send us by mail promptly the following:

1.Your full name and full contact address.
2.Private phone number and email address.
3.Date Of Birth
4.What do you do for living presently?


ATTENTION: It wouldnt cost you any cent, you are to receive payments which will be sent to you from our business partners.

Please if you are interested please email us back to: betty.sales.manager@hotmail.com


Thanks for your time
Yours Sincerely,

Betty Wilson
Executive Manager


Contact Us Hemp and Cotton Ltd 2006 All rights reserved

Do legitimate businesses use Hotmail addresses to contact you? Didn't think so.

Stock Spam

I've been getting a lot of stock spam this fall. I hate that shit. Who would be ass enough to buy this stock? It's worth a fraction of a penny!

Andy Pettitte is headed back to the New York Yankees!

From Excite Sports News:

NEW YORK (AP) -Andy Pettitte is headed back to the New York Yankees.

Pettitte and the Yankees reached a preliminary agreement Friday on a $16 million, one-year contract, a deal that reunites the two-time All-Star with the team he helped to win four World Series titles.

Yay!!!! We should never have let Andy go in the first place!

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iPod Baby Onesie

That isn't my baby, that's someone else's baby, but how cool is that? An iPod onesie from iPodMyBaby.com!

I have to have it!







Also cute is iPodMyPhoto, but you ought to be able to do this yourself in Photoshop if you have patience. Or if you have a friend who has patience. ;) You submit your photo to them and they transform it into the look of an iPod ad for $19.95.

Search Continues for James Kim

From ABC News:

After being stranded in the wilderness for more than a week, three members of a California family are doing remarkably well.

Kati Kim, her 4-year-old daughter, Penelope, and her 7-month-old daughter, Sabine, should soon be released from Three Rivers Hospital in Grants Pass, Ore.

But their ordeal isn't over. A search continues for Kati's husband, James Kim, who left his family two days ago to look for help.

On Monday afternoon, rescuers found three members of the Kim family on a rugged, snow-filled road where their Saab station wagon had been stuck for more than a week.

This story is very troubling. I remember James Kim from the technology reports he used to do on Tech TV (before they became G4 TV and started catering solely to teen video gamers). He used to go on and on about his wife and kids in a very mushy way that was a bit much, but seemed genuinely sincere. You’d think that someone so into his family would’ve been more careful about driving in unfamiliar territory (regardless of who was actually driving).

It’s also very sobering to think that there are still places where you can’t get cell phone coverage and if you get lost, you might not be found in time. The only good part of the story is that the mom was able to keep the two girls alive by breastfeeding them, though if it hadn’t have been for the 7-month-old, you’d have to assume the mom wouldn’t have been lactating and the 4-year-old might not have made it.

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"Tweener" Involved in Fatal Accident

From TMZ.com:

Law enforcement sources from the Beverly Hills Police Department tell TMZ "Prison Break" star Lane Garrison was behind the wheel when his SUV crashed into a tree, killing one of the occupants.The accident occurred Saturday night in Beverly Hills. Sources say one of the passengers, a 15-year-old girl, was in critical condition and has a relative who works for the city of Beverly Hills. One source says the 17-year-old boy who was killed went to the local high school which is presumably Beverly Hills High.

We're told Garrison was not arrested or booked after the accident. Typically, after a "K" car crash injury -- police jargon when someone is killed -- cops will ask the driver to submit to a voluntary blood-alcohol test.

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The Autograph Man

There's a funny article on Slate.com about a pitcher who's catching up on his fan mail this off-season -- 15 years late. The author of the article is one of many people who contacted the pitcher, Don Carman, when he was a little kid and was surprised to hear from him so long after the fact.

As it turns out, I am not Carman's only recent correspondent. In October, a Philadelphia TV station reported that Doug Ferraro, 23, received an autographed card from Carman in response to a letter that he had mailed out 16 years before. This was now a legitimate mystery, so I called Carman in Florida to find out what happened.

"My wife told me it was time to clean the garage," Carman said. "So, I started digging through the stuff and found a box behind my tools. I opened it up and saw it was a bunch of fan mail, 200 to 250 letters." For Carman, this was a slight embarrassment. During his career, Carman had worked diligently to sign and return every one of the two or three letters he received each day. Judging from the date of Ferraro's card and the price of my stamp, he must have gotten our batch of letters some time in 1991, the year he left the Phillies for the Cincinnati Reds. "That year was the year I moved; I got a different house," he said. "I even remember putting them in the box, because it was unusual for me to do that. I thought I'd watch a football game and leisurely do them. It never got done."

Carman could hardly bear to throw the letters away. But at age 47, he didn't have the enthusiasm to pick through them, either. So he paid his son Jackson, who is 8 years old, $4 to open and sort them. Then they sat down together, with Jackson, who never saw his father play, marveling at the rapturous odes inside. ("Dear Mr. Carman: You are my favorite baseball player. … ") At first content with merely signing the cards, Carman got caught up in the spirit and started writing notes to the now-grown kids. He lugged the envelopes down to the Naples post office, where he discovered that most of them included 25-cent stamps. "I told the postman I needed 250 10-cent stamps, and 250 4-cent stamps, and he just looked at me like, 'What are you doing?' "

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X-Men illustrator dies in Superman pajamas

From CNN.com:

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) -- Wearing Superman pajamas and covered with his Batman blanket, comic book illustrator Dave Cockrum died Sunday.

The 63-year-old overhauled the X-Men comic and helped popularize the relatively obscure Marvel Comics in the 1970s. He helped turn the title into a publishing sensation and major film franchise.

Cockrum died in his favorite chair at his home in Belton, South Carolina, after a long battle with diabetes and related complications, his wife Paty Cockrum said Tuesday.

At Cockrum's request, there will be no public services and his body will be cremated, according to Cox Funeral Home. His ashes will be spread on his property. A family friend said he will be cremated in a Green Lantern shirt.

At Marvel Comics, Cockrum and writer Len Wein were handed the X-Men. The comic had been created in 1963 as a group of young outcasts enrolled in an academy for mutants. The premise had failed to capture fans.

Cockrum and Wein added their own heroes to the comic and published "Giant-Size X-Men No. 1" in 1975. Many signature characters Cockrum designed and co-created -- such as Storm, Mystique, Nightcrawler and Colossus -- went on to become part of the "X-Men" films starring Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry.

Cockrum received no movie royalties, said family friend Clifford Meth, who organized efforts to help Cockrum and his family during his protracted medical care.

I didn't really like his artwork, but definitely not the way one wants to go out.

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