on second thought … MERRY CHRISTMAS! 
They Must Have Skipped Science Classes…
Posted on December 19, 2006 ·
SPRINGTOWN, Texas — One teenager was killed and another was injured today when a crude oil storage tank exploded as the pair used a lit match to try to look into the tank, authorities said.
Sad. And stupid. 
Concert for Diana – Interview with the Princes
Posted on December 12, 2006 ·
Britain’s Prince William and Prince Harry will mark the 10th anniversary of their mother’s death with an event to celebrate her life.
The Concert for Diana on 1st July 2007, which would have been Diana’s 46th birthday, will be one of the first events to take place in the new Wembley Stadium. Tickets go on sale in a few hours; video of the interview with Prince William and Prince Harry here.
Update (12/12): Quite predictably, tickest have sold out, in a few hours 20 minutes.
Four-year-old Sexual Predator
Posted on December 10, 2006 ·
“How dare a 5–year old child comfort her kindergarten classmate after she fell on the playground? Shameless children! Of course their Commander teacher had to discipline them. Somebody please pinch me, wake me up… this can’t be happening, I must be having a bad dream!” – this is what I wrote in April, reacting to this Boston Herald story.
Little did I know … here’s chapter 2:
“Bellmead, TX – Damarcus Blackwell’s four-year-old son was lining-up to get on the bus after school last month, when he was accused of rubbing his face in the chest of a female employee.
The principal of La Vega Primary School sent a letter to the Blackwells that said the pre-kindergartener demonstrated “inappropriate physical behavior interpreted as sexual contact and/or sexual harassment.” “ (full story on wbir.com)
Utter nonsense. Anyone who accuses a four-year-old of sexual harrasment (especially against an adult, what’s more, a teacher) really-really has no business being in childrens’ education.
Update: This commenter on another blog says it better than I do:
“You might want to think about how appropriate it is to have a teacher that has issues with toddlers hugging her. Someone who could feel sexually asaulted by a hug from a small child has big issues that need to be dealt with by a profesional. Not exactly the person you want teaching small children.”
Update #2: As said as this story is, I can’t help but find some reddit comments hilarious:
“what’s next? arresting babies for inappropriate sexual contact for breast-feeding??”
“If this father has formal school board documentation of inappropriate sexual contact involving his four-year-old he should ask the local police to arrest the teacher’s aide for child molestation and sue the school board for exposing his child to the molester and then continuing to employ her.
And of course, the school board can’t really deny the evidence – they’re the ones insisting on keeping it.”“You know I have to say the teacher’s aid is really playing with fire. Last I checked any kind of sexual encounter with a kid, even if it was initiated by the kid — is potentially a felony.”
Superhuman – Subhuman
Posted on December 7, 2006 ·
Coincidence? Editorial intent? Two very different stories follow each other in the SF Chronicle. James Kim’s dramatic effort to find help for his stranded family is called superhuman by many. Paul Kedrosky finds a way to “humanize” the superhuman:
“Superhuman, perhaps, but also the kind of prodigious effort the parent of any young child can understand.”
But what would the parent of any young children think of the next story:
“Chazarus Hill Sr., 27, repeatedly used a belt, his fists and switches to assault his son, Chazarus “Cha Cha” Hill Jr., who underwent a “very painful and slow death” after suffering contusions and internal bleeding.”
Why? The 3-year-old made mistakes identifying numbers and letters on flash cards. No, you don’t have to be a parent to be shocked speechless by this – just human. Which this so-called father isn’t.
Things to Avoid If You’re Planning an Embezzlement Scheme
Posted on December 5, 2006 ·
- Do not call your company VaporTech. In fact do not call it Vapor-anything.
- Do not lease a Ferrari and a Mercedes at the same time
- Do not hire a former prosecutor as a corporate officer.
Full story at the SF Chronicle.
Paul and Ringo Together Again
Posted on December 3, 2006 ·
There is no English source yet, jut this Italian language interview in the La Repubblica, but if it says what I think it does, the remaining two Beatles will perform together again. Here’s a rough Google translation, but frankly, it only proves the point I made several times: machine translation is way too unreliable yet.
It provides entertainment value, though.. here are a few gems:
“Of sure I will salt on the theater box with Starr. Perhaps a lot soon”
“On purpose of concerts, it does not believe has arrived the moment launch a beautiful message playing with its ancient partner Ringo Starr, the only one remained of the clamorous adventure?
“Yes, the task, is in agreement, and it she is also Ringo. We have said many times to make it, indeed, was in order to happen in the last one tour of Ringo, the slid year, but it has not been possible because I was engaged elsewhere. But of it we speak often, it would appeal to to us very, and of sure it will happen, perhaps also a lot soon”.”
Oh, well, machine translation still has room for improvement… but back to The Concert, I know how to make it full (well, sort of).. having (a) Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr play together:
Dhani Harrison did a decent job playing at “The Concert for George”, and both Sean and Julian Lennon are musicians in their own right ….
Tags: beatles, the beatles, beatle, john lennon, paul mccartney, george harrison, ringo starr, dhani harrison, sean lennon, julian lennon, concert, music, machine translationm google, google translation
I’m Black and May Be Flying You One Day
Posted on November 29, 2006 ·
My gmail account exploded with spam. After marking hundreds of emails as spam, the gmail filter starts working better again – I still have to comb through for false positives.
Today I found a gem.. it really made me laugh:
“Thank you for contacting the Organization of Black Airline Pilots, Inc. Professional Pilot Development Program.”
Hilarious. Almost as good as the job profile I received earlier. 
The New York Times’s Foolproof Way of Alienating Readers
Posted on November 27, 2006 ·
Nobody likes surveys, but sometimes we care enough to do them. But who in their right mind wants to be interrupted in the middle of an an article, flipping between pages? That’s what the NYT is forcing, rather aggressively: articles are broken up to small pages, then clicking on “Next” brings up the survey, instead of page 2 of my story.
How many times do I have to say no? Apparently the NYT decided to ignore readers’ wish to opt out:
Click the “Yes, I’ll take the Survey” button at right to begin — you will not be recruited for this survey again after that. If you opt not to participate, click the “No Thanks, Take Me to My Destination” button. You won’t be recruited for the survey again for 24 hours.
The ONLY way to get rid of the annoyance is to say YES, otherwise they will keep on bothering you every single day. That’s ridiculously aggressive. The New York Times sure knows how to alienate readers.
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