Only in France

A French pole vaulting champion has run naked with his pole through the streets of Paris and posted the video on the Internet, in an attempt to secure a new sponsorship deal.

If this happened in the States, he'd be on the Sex Offender List!

DRIVERS BEWARE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAM. DRIVERS BEWARE ON THE HIGHWAYS TODAY.......

60 ft. phallus

A teenager got away with painting a 60ft phallus on the roof of his parents' home for a year before his parents found out.

Andy and Clare McInnes did not discover their son's rude artwork until a helicopter spotted it on top of their home near Hungerford, Berks.
Rory McInnes, 18, climbed on to the flat roof of his parents' home and daubed the symbol using a tin of white paint, after watching a programme about Google Earth.
Web surfers can view detailed images from satellites using the Google software, enabling them to zoom in on their homes to see them from above.

This is priceless...

Russian candy bar ad

A Russian advertising company has been heavily criticized for creating a racist ice-cream advert featuring Barack Obama, SkyNews reported.
The advert for the Duet chocolate and vanilla bar shows Obama standing in front of the US Capitol Building with the slogan “The Flavor of the Week – Black in White.” The ad appeared at the Ads of the World website and spurred waves of protests, with one blogger asking, “Is the ice cream as tasteless as the ad?”
According to SkyNews, the Voskhod (Sunrise) company, which produced the advert, has defended itself, saying the image is not consciously or unconsciously racist, "We see nothing wrong with this... We believe pointing to race is not racism. With our ad we are celebrating the fact there is a black president in the White House."

I love the ears...

Yellow Snowfall in Russia

Scholars of an environmental research center are studying the yellow snow that covered a city in the Russian Urals region in mid March.
“The chemical analysis shows high concentration of manganese, nickel and iron, and occasional concentration of chrome, zinc, copper, lead, and cadmium,” the report issued by the Center for Ecological Monitoring and Control, and quoted by Interfax Tuesday says.
Such pollution is typical of metal industries' waste, the report adds.
At the same time, the yellow snow was brought to the Urals by a warm atmosphere front from over the Caspian Sea, which allows to accept a more cheerful explanation. The yellow color could appear after particles of soil from the Caspian Lowlands, not covered in snow at the time, were raised by an air current and got mixed with the snow.
However, it is also very likely that on its way from the Caspian Sea to the Urals, the snow took in toxic waste from industries located in Chelyabinsk and Bashkortostan.

I think if you read the ingredients label on Russian Vodka, you will find the the same concentration of elements...thus Russian Urine...my theory.

There she blows

A snowmachine trail glows like a white ribbon through the ash-covered snow in Skwentna (Alaska) Monday. The area received as much as a quarter of an inch of ash March 23, 2009, from the eruption of Mount Redoubt.

Only a few days ago, the Iditarod teams went through here...the trail would be easier to follow today if it all looked like this but am afraid that the ash would have been very dangerous on the dogs' respiratory systems. Thank God she waited to blow. If this eruption is like the last (1989), it will be rumbling for months.

Swiss watch to tell the future

New watch 'tells the future'
Swiss watch-makers have teamed up with Indian fortune tellers to design a watch that claims to predict the future.
The watch features a bedpan-shaped section which turns brown when "the s*** is about to hit the fan", claim the makers.
Swiss makers Borgeaud say the bedpan turns brown when dark astral forces are about to strike and will not clear until the bad omens have passed.
The watchmakers say it will warn anyone when misfortune is about to strike.
And they are predicting the limited edition watches - there are 500 for women and 150 for men which cost more than £1,500 each - will prove a hit with celebrities and even politicians.
"It could be a hit with politicians all over the world," said watch designer Chitra Subramaniam Duella.

I think something very similar and less costly was developed last century.

Ever heard of a mood ring???

Sheep Art

Welsh sheep farmers' sheep being herded into astonishing shapes on a mountainside.

Starving artist turned sheepherder?? or vise versa??

Finger Tech

Jerry Jalava has built a special prosthetic finger which contains computer storage for photos, movies and other useful files.
While the prosthetic looks like a normal finger Jerry can peel it back from the 'nail' and plug it into the USB slot on his computer using it as an additional hard drive.
The software developer from Helsinki lost his finger last summer after crashing his one week old Ducati Monster 696 motorbike.

Another CIA operative...

Two people will sleep better tonight

Is this a Polaroid picture or what?

I don't know but it's the only picture I could find of Sebastian Schnuelle finishing

Second at the Iditarod.

see the man on the roof on the left? I thinks that's Anderson Cooper...

The winner, Lance Mackey, gets a new pickup, something like $68,000 AND a call from Gov. Sarah Palin. That would be enough to make me want to come in 2nd also.

Word has it that Sebastian might have won if he had stayed away from the green beer last night.

Anyway, I will sleep a full night after 10 of getting up every couple hours to check standings.

Nome sighting

Sometime today, these doggies will see Nome, and the end of the the Iditarod. I'm almost as sleep deprived as them...watching their movements for the last week and a half. No, it's nothing I would ever want to do. Too dang cold for me (when in Nome, I rented two parkas to wear over my coat and it was the day before summer solstice) and it would take too many pugs. It is said that it costs up to $100,000 to enter this race. The winner will probably not even recover the money he/she has put into it. It is definitely a tale of tragedy and triumph and is truly the 'last great race.'

Anderson Cooper's secret

Anderson Cooper is one of my favorite news guys over at CNN. Don't know why I found this piece of trivia so shocking but guess who his mother is...I would have never guessed. The CNN biography of Anderson does not even mention this...just when you think you know somebody...

From www.mentalfloss.com :

While a fair number of celebrities come from classic rags-to-riches stories, or at least Gap-to-Gucci stories, there are also some who were born into wealth and success. I’m not saying that they didn’t make it in their own right – I think our #1 spot on the list has certainly made his own name for himself. But the people on today’s Q10 definitely had some connections and privileges that the average person didn’t.
1. Anderson Cooper is Gloria Vanderbilt’s son, which definitely resulted in a privileged lifestyle: he was photographed by Diane Arbus as a baby, appeared on The Tonight Show at the age of three and modeled for Ford Models between the ages of 10 and 13. But life wasn’t all rosy: his dad died when he was just 10 and his older brother committed suicide by jumping out of the window of a 14th-floor apartment building when Anderson was just 21. He graduated from Yale and hoped to get his foot in the door at ABC just answering phones, but couldn’t even get that job. Eventually he landed a gig with Channel One as a fact checker and has been on the rise ever since.

Leprechaun sightings?

Please post any Leprechaun sightings.

Short family members don't count.

Traditional Green Waters

In an annual St. Patrick's Day tradition, the Chicago River has once again been turned a deep shade of green. The tradition dates back to 1962.

The lime Jell-O in the fishtank tradition dates back to 1978...Mr. Chabal was NOT happy.

Kells Well found

I think I have found the actual Kell Well. 5 km outside Kells, Ireland is Ciaran's Well. It seemingly has some mysterious power:From the Kells, Ireland, On-line website:

Different areas of the well have different curative powers. Drinking the water, as above, is said to heal ailments of the throat. Lower down the stream, the water is said to cure problems with the feet and ankles. Elsewhere there is a stream for healing backs.

I think we could claim the patent on this water...

Today's Red Lantern

The Red Lantern is the name given to the person in last place on the Iditarod. Rob Loveman gets the award today. I clicked on his picture and thought I was on a

Star Trek website. Is it just me or does Rob look strikingly like Jean-Luc Picard?
They might have something in common: Loveman is a nuclear physicist and I tell you what--he is very representative of the mushers in Alaska. Don't know why but I found it very interesting that most of the mushers not only have college educations but graduate and doctorate degrees. I truly wish the media would spend some time on the Iditarod and its personalities so we could learn what Alaskans are really like and rid us of the bad taste they left in our months with the whole Sarah Palin thing.

Time out on the Iditarod trail

Seems as though a bit of snow has stalled the action in Takotna, Alaska. A good time for Sebastian Schnuelle to pamper his dogs (think I am getting the picture on his hair care secrets). Patience is a virtue at this point as only a fool would brave the harsh elements of the interior during a storm. At this latitude, however, tonight's full moon is casting all kinds of moon shadows in the backyard. For the record, it is about 20 degrees colder tonight in Iowa than in Takotna...speaking of fools...

Ever had the feeling someone was looking at you?

See the man's face in the clouds? Close up below with greater detail. This was taken looking to the north in the California sky. I'm pretty sure he is watching the Iditarod race in Alaska...they must not have the internet up there.

RAGBRAI to overnight in Chariton

I have been tracking the Iditarod teams through the Alaskan wilderness on the internet (go Sebastian-he's now in 3rd place)-they all have GPS units on their sleds. It is very interesting to see how everyone is doing as I have a few favorites (based on bad hair). I am now proposing to the RAGBRAI committee that they supply all bikers with GPS units and track them through Iowa (or at least through Lucus County) so I can watch the progression of the group via the internet. I hear Betty is looking for a 'curly fries' vending trailer for outside the office. Rest assured, no one will leave Chariton without an Iowa Realty water bottle!

No time for hair care on this race!

Sebastian Schnuelle

current leader of the Iditarod

If he wins (and he's

my second favorite), I'm going

to email him and ask him to go

on RAGBRAI (mushing dogs of course).

He looks like he'd

be a real fun guy to hang out with

and I bet he would fit in well with the

folks from south of hwy 34.

He can stay with Betty when they go

through Chariton.

Mushing Time!

If Lori was still in Anchorage, she'd be recovering from a wild day of opening ceremonies

Iditarod style!

I'm pulling for a wildcard, Kim Durst, from Deb's neighborhood, Blairstown, NJ, USA

Official start is Sunday. Keep track on www.iditarod.com.

Don't ask me about basketball, football, or baseball---I have no idea who plays, when they play or where they play but 15 years ago, I met Susan Butcher, the first woman to win the Iditarod. She is now deceased but her offspring (dogs) belong to the woman I am rooting for. Let's hope Redoubt volcano doesn't decide to erupt for a few days...the ash could be fatal for the pups.

Another Cemetery Ghost

Look closely in the circle...I'd say a Civil War Vet

This was posted to www.coasttocoastam.com by a listener:

I took this photo, I believe in 1991, at Maple Park Cemetery located in Springfield, Missouri. It was a cold fall day, just after an ice storm. I took the photo with a Canon Pelix 35mm. I was scanning my old photos, and for the first time got a good close up view of several pics I took in the cemetery that day. In the first view I could hardly see the figure standing near a headstone in the upper right of the photo, but as I zoomed in the figure became much more visible. It really creeps me out... I thought I was alone!

this is not the zoomed up photo...you couldn't get the cemetery affect on that one!

Pretty in Pink-dolphin style

Charter boat captain Erik Rue, 42, photographed the animal, which is actually an albino, when he began studying it after the mammal first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA.
Capt Rue originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side.
He said: "I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter.
"It was absolutely stunningly pink.
"I had never seen anything like it. It's the same color throughout the whole body and it looks like it just came out of a paint booth.
"The dolphin appears to be healthy and normal other than its coloration, which is quite beautiful and stunningly pink.
"The mammal is entirely pink from tip to tail and has reddish eyes indicating it's albinism. The skin appears smooth, glossy pink and without flaws.

"north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA" - geographically challenged Britons writing this

Suddenly, my eyelids feel heavy

A Chinese man pulled a car by a rope attached only to his eyelids for more than five metres.

Yang Guanghe, 35, of Guizhou was cheered and applauded at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Guangzhou as he towed the VW car.
Yang, who weighs only seven stone, said he had been practicing the stunt for more than 10 years.
"At the beginning it was a bit painful, but gradually I got used to it," he told the Guangzhou Daily newspaper.
"I just want to know what the limit is of the weakest link in the human body."

Beware, the IRS is everywhere

A man pulled into the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel [Cookeville, Tennessee] and parked... he happened to look to the left and saw he was being watched...

Reminds me of H.R. Puffinstuff, a cartoon from my childhood, where the trees were alive.

Happy 15th Birthday, Jordan

Happy Birthday, Jordan. Enjoy your day.

Mystery Compound in desert

Feb 23, 2009. Over the past five months, this "compound" has taken shape out in the central Arizona desert, in the middle of nowhere near Blackwater and Sacaton Arizona, along the dry Gila River. It looks to be about a quarter mile long by an eighth mile wide. It has razor wire all around it, power lines run to it and about half of it is cleared of vegetation. It is in an inhospitable and inescapable area of the Sonoran desert. The closest small towns would be about 10 miles away in any direction. You'd be lucky to walk one mile in the summer heat there. April to November temps are commonly well above 100F. Summertime temps are routinely 120 F or even higher. Could this be for Guantanamo Bay detainees? Coming civil unrest? Illegal aliens? Mortgage defaulters?

Hummmm...interesting. If this started some 5-6 months ago...I think that would correspond with the T Boone Pickens energy commercials. I think it's going to be a windfarm.