Monthly Archive for May, 2008

“Podemos Con Obama”

I can’t understand a word these people are saying. Via D Dog on the gchat 1s and 2s.

Bob Dole on Scott McClellan

I’ve been meaning to write something on Scott McClellan’s book and I suppose I’ll get around to it at some point but in the mean time Jonathan Martin has a copy of a pretty remarkable email former Senator Bob Dole sent to McClellan (via):

Bob Dole yesterday sent a scalding email to Scott McClellan, excoriating the former White House spokesman as a “miserable creature” who greedily betrayed his former patron for a fast buck.

In an extraordinary message obtained and authenticated by Politico, Dole uses his trademark biting wit to portray McClellan as a classic Washington opportunist.

“There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don’t have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues,” Dole wrote in a message sent yesterday morning. “No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, and spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique.”

Michael Marshall, Dole’s spokesman and colleague at the Alston Bird law firm, confirms the message came from the former senator and presidential candidate. “Yes, it is authentic,” Marshall wrote in an email.

“In my nearly 36 years of public service I’ve known of a few like you,” Dole writes, recounting his years representing Kansas in the House and Senate. “No doubt you will ‘clean up’ as the liberal anti-Bush press will promote your belated concerns with wild enthusiasm. When the money starts rolling in you should donate it to a worthy cause, something like, ‘Biting The Hand That Fed Me.’ Another thought is to weasel your way back into the White House if a Democrat is elected. That would provide a good set up for a second book deal in a few years”

Dole assures McClellan that he won’t read the book — “because if all these awful things were happening, and perhaps some may have been, you should have spoken up publicly like a man, or quit your cushy, high profile job”

“That would have taken integrity and courage but then you would have had credibility and your complaints could have been aired objectively,” Dole concludes. “You’re a hot ticket now but don’t you, deep down, feel like a total ingrate?”

He signs the email simply: “BOB DOLE”

Tell us how you really feel Senator.

Early candidate for craziest story of the year

Via The Cooler on gchat:

A homeless woman who sneaked into a man’s house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing.

Police found the 58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man’s closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki Itakura from southern Kasuya town said Friday.

The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.

One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar. However, when they arrived they found the door locked and all windows closed.

“We searched the house … checking everywhere someone could possibly hide,” Itakura said. “When we slid open the shelf closet, there she was, nervously curled up on her side.”

The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man’s house about a year ago when he left it unlocked.

The closet is part of a Japanese-style room, one of several rooms in his one-story house where the man lived alone — or so he had thought.

Police were investigating how she managed to go in and out of the house unnoticed, as well as details of her life inside the closet, and if she had taken anything else besides food.

She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and apparently even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman “neat and clean.

Little slide show of pictures from a flyover of an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon. Can’t imagine what was going through those people’s minds when they first saw the plane.

What are YOU doing here?

Talk about bad timing:

BEING a burglar is at best a risky job but two Melbourne men arrested last week were shocked to find police inside a house they had just broken into.

The detectives were in the middle of a drug raid and were just as surprised when they greeted the thieves, during the attempted midnight burglary at the house in Melton, 45km west of Melbourne.

Armed with search warrants, the officers had swooped on the property that was allegedly being used for illegally growing hydroponic cannabis, and arrested a man in his 20s living there.

After the burglars broke in through a window and saw the police, they ran off but were caught and arrested a couple of days later, Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Cassidy said.

One wonders how they could have missed the police cars outside?

via

Onion on movie renting past

I can’t imagine Blockbuster is too happy with this

via

Weird little “Miracle Fruit”

This sounds strange/cool:

CARRIE DASHOW dropped a large dollop of lemon sorbet into a glass of Guinness, stirred, drank and proclaimed that it tasted like a “chocolate shake.”

Nearby, Yuka Yoneda tilted her head back as her boyfriend, Albert Yuen, drizzled Tabasco sauce onto her tongue. She swallowed and considered the flavor: “Doughnut glaze, hot doughnut glaze!”

They were among 40 or so people who were tasting under the influence of a small red berry called miracle fruit at a rooftop party in Long Island City, Queens, last Friday night. The berry rewires the way the palate perceives sour flavors for an hour or so, rendering lemons as sweet as candy.

The host was Franz Aliquo, 32, a lawyer who styles himself Supreme Commander (Supreme for short) when he’s presiding over what he calls “flavor tripping parties.” Mr. Aliquo greeted new arrivals and took their $15 entrance fees. In return, he handed each one a single berry from his jacket pocket.

“You pop it in your mouth and scrape the pulp off the seed, swirl it around and hold it in your mouth for about a minute,” he said. “Then you’re ready to go.” He ushered his guests to a table piled with citrus wedges, cheeses, Brussels sprouts, mustard, vinegars, pickles, dark beers, strawberries and cheap tequila, which Mr. Aliquo promised would now taste like top-shelf Patrón.

The miracle fruit, Synsepalum dulcificum, is native to West Africa and has been known to Westerners since the 18th century. The cause of the reaction is a protein called miraculin, which binds with the taste buds and acts as a sweetness inducer when it comes in contact with acids, according to a scientist who has studied the fruit, Linda Bartoshuk at the University of Florida’s Center for Smell and Taste. Dr. Bartoshuk said she did not know of any dangers associated with eating miracle fruit.

Makes me want to try it, or at least hit up one of these parties. You can buy it here, if you are feeling adventurous.

Firefox is hoping to set the Guinness World Record for Most Software Downloaded in 24 Hours with the release of Firefox 3.

Oprah audience freaks

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

Despite the impression from the video, Oprah’s ratings are down 7% on the year. Video via.

Quote of the Day

Four words you don’t want to hear in space: “The toilet is broken.”

NY Times article on the International Space Station’s toilet problems. via