DESTROYING MY ART

Smokey And The One Armed Bandit

Michael Wiley lost both arms and part of a leg in an accident when he was 13, in 1980, but it never stopped him from fulfilling his lifelong dream of being notorious!

"According to court records, Wiley has stolen a car, kicked a state trooper and attacked his wife headfirst. He is awaiting trial on separate drug and illegal-driving charges. He faces up to five years in prison.

Most Ford Explorers have automatic transmissions, though several people say Wiley is perfectly competent with a stick shift.

"He is one of the best drivers I've ever seen in my life, " said Lee Michie, a longtime acquaintance. "But he's the worst person I've ever met.""

LINK - St. Petersburg Times Story

Gravity Sucks

"A five-year-old boy who survived miraculously after falling nine floors was probably playing on a mountain bike when he toppled over the balcony railing, police said Thursday."

As you can see - he left one hell of a Wile E. Coyote outline in the ground.  Lucky bastard (or as the saying goes "Luck is probability taken personally."

LINK - Toronto CTV

I Love Ironic Protesters

The Danger Map

Looking for a place NOT to go on vacation?  Then check out The Havaria Informational Systems - ALERT MAP.  At a glance you can see hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, plane crashes, biological outbreaks, nuclear emergencies and so much more.  Creepy and cool at the same time.

LINK - The Alert Map

Sad Clowns

Gunman Kills 2 Clowns In Columbian Circus
This is not really funny except that the article never bothers to call them anything other than "clowns."  Not victims, people, or even a name.  Just clowns

(Thanks: Josh)

Too Tall Or Loco?

Headline of the week:

I WON'T BE HAPPY UNTIL I LOSE MY LEGS

21st Century Vigilantes

My coworker Kevin recently discovered that a casual friend whom he knew for years in New York, turned out to be a complete scam artist.  And thanks to the website "Players and Psychos" his victims were able to share information and coordinate a profile on the charmer.  Brian Ellington's story is pretty entertaining and telling about the future of on line revenge/justice.

P&P offers a way for jilted lovers to air their dirty laundry (even if it's not verified - as far as I can tell.)  I'm sure there will be a libel lawsuit in their future!

(Thanks: Kevin)

LINK - Players & Psychos

Big Bite Natsuke "Gal" Sone

Japanese power eater Gal Sone is a freak of nature.  At first glance she appears to be a cute, blonde, japanese girl 5'4" and 98 lbs.

At closer inspection, she's the Japanese female eating champion.  She's regularly appeared on Japanese TV "most notably a weekly Wednesday morning contest with Nobuyuki "The Giant" Shirota, runner-up in Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2004. On July 11, 2006, Sone ate 6kg of curry in 23 minutes (Shirota required 14 minutes) In another telecast, the "Gal" consumed 40,000 calories in several restaurants."

She's been know to eat up to 20% of her body weight. In the video below, she only eats 7 kg (15.5 lbs.)  But just look at the bowl.  Holy shit!

LINK -  Wiki Article

Please, Just Call Me George...

In 1796, after having served two terms as President of the United States, George Washington wrote what has become known as his Farewell Address, outlining the young nation's situation and the challenges it would face. Problem is, it's written in that fancy-pants late 1700s language, making it hard for modern readers to understand, much less make it all the way through.

Lucky for us, a hardworking blogger has translated the speech into the vernacular. It's worth a read, and amazing to see how many things Washington got right, and how many of the things he specifically warned about have come to pass.

LINK - xkcd blog

Thanks - Frank

Hog Love

I'm not a vegetarian, or a food prude, but you must read the incredible article in Rolling Stone by Jeff Tietz.  His investigation into Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the world.  With 27 million hogs "processed" last year alone, you can expect quotes like:

"The area around a single slaughterhouse can contain hundreds of lagoons, some of which run thirty feet deep. The liquid in them is not brown. The interactions between the bacteria and blood and afterbirths and stillborn piglets and urine and excrement and chemicals and drugs turn the lagoons pink."  And, "Concentrated manure is my first thought, but I am fighting an impulse to vomit even as I am thinking it. I've probably smelled stronger odors in my life, but nothing so insidiously and instantaneously nauseating. It takes my mind a second or two to get through the odor's first coat. The smell at its core has a frightening, uniquely enriched putridity, both deep-sweet and high-sour. I back away from it and walk back to the car but I remain sick -- it's a shivery, retchy kind of nausea -- for a good five minutes. That's apparently characteristic of industrial pig shit: It keeps making you sick for a good while after you've stopped smelling it."  He talks about workers stinking of pig effluvium for 3 months after they quit.

The information in this story is so incredibly disturbing, and ethically wrong, I think I'm through with Ham forever.

(FYI - The OJ picture has nothing to do with the story, it's just the funniest Pork photo I have.)

LINK - Rolling Stone Article