The WTF changes their name

Evidently the WTF has changed their name to the TFW.



I wonder why?

This reminds me of the WGA, the "World Canadian Bureau" . . .



Thanks TYWKIWDBI

Raising guinea hen chicks

Here at Burleson Ranch we insist of having a flock of Guinea Hens at the ranch for several reasons.

Foremost, they are pretty, and Janet chose a flock of Lavender colored-Guineas to constantly patrol the pastures.



They are diligent critters, constantly patrolling the ranch, seeking out bugs and insects to eat.

We also keep Guineas for health reasons.

- Guinea Hens spend all day eating mosquitoes and ticks - Guinea hens are better than any insect repellant,

- Guinea hens make great watchdogs – They emit an ear-splitting screech to alert about intruders

If course, there is also a downside to having Guineas:

- Guinea hens are dumb as rocks - They will attack somebody 50 times their size to protect their chicks.

- Guinea Hens are very loud - Guinea hens will screech when strangers approach, very annoying.

- Guinea Hens taste like crap – They call them Guinea Foul for a reason, they taste like what they eat. Bugs. On ly French people eat them.


Baby Guinea Hen chicks (keets)

Making Keets

We have some new additions at the ranch, four new Guinea Hen chicks. Technically, freshly hatched Guinea Fowl are called “Keets”:



Guinea Hens are very secretive, raising their chicks deep in the woods, and we have seen them hatch dozens at a time.

At night, they roost in our barn for safety. They have over 40 horses to choose from for room-mates, both large and small:


Guinea Hens are choosey about who to stall with

Our Guineas chose the stallion stall, and our good natured stallion (Dude) has become quite attached to his new protectorates.



He even lets the chickens sit on his back, not too macho, but he does not seem to care:


Tha Dude likes his poultry friends

We suspect that most of the babies would up as fox and snake chow, but the flocks of Guineas are great parents, closely protecting their chicklets.



They circle their Keets, constantly watching and protecting them from predators:



For now, they are treasured babies, but as soon as they are weaned, things will change:



Guinea Hens are very territorial, and multiple make Guineas will lead to giant noisy turf battles, with these screeching hens chasing each other all around the ranch.



Thanks to Jen Stanley (Jen3) for taking these great photos!

How to build a curved wall from glass blocks

I’m still reeling from an huge estimate to build a glass block external wall, specifically a curved shower wall made up of glass blocks.



Curved glass block walls are stunning (see images here), but setting the glass blocks in not inexpensive.

This link explains the process of making a curved glass block wall.

This video explains how to make a curved wall of glass blocks:



Once you have installed a curved glass block wall, you can use lighting for spectacular visual effects:

The last words of condemned prisoners!

This weird study shows the preferences for the last meals of convicts awaiting their executions:


Last meal trays – collect them all!

And now we see this page now has some quoted last words of Texas prisoners who are about to be executed. I like these last words:

“Is the mike on?”

“Tell everyone I got full on chicken and pork chops.”

“I appreciate the hospitality that you guys have shown me and the respect, and the last meal was really good”

The authority of Cruise ship captains

This post is about an issue whereby a cruise ship captain booted-off a passenger for allegedly being disruptive, while the passenger claims otherwise.

The central question is about the absolute authority of a sjips's captain, and whether or not a captain can kick somebody off of a cruise ship without any hearing.


Does a ship captain have absolute authority?

By design, trains, planes and ships have a clear commander who has the full power of law and must be obeyed.

A ship’s Captain, just like an Airline Captain, has supreme authority and broad powers to do whatever is in the best interest of the safety of the ship and its passengers.


Captain Crunch at leisure

Under Maritime law, a ship’s Captain can do just about anything that they want, including marrying passengers, imprisoning passengers without a trial.

Up until the 20th century, a ship’s Captain had the legal right to flog unruly crewmembers!


Captain Obvious

As I understand basic Admiralty law, the legal status of the passenger has no bearing on the duties of the ship’s Captain.

After all, how could it be any other way?

Oh Captain, My Captain

A Ships Captain on a large ship may have full responsibility for the safety of over 8,000 passengers, and it’s neither reasonable nor workable to expect the Captain to enforce the rights of the citizens of sovereign countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.

The problem is that many Americans still act like Americans while at sea, not realizing that they have left their American Civil Rights at the dock.

There is no right to free speech, no rights to stay onboard, no rights at all as American's know them.

The long arm of the DOJ

Cruisers expect that American cruises fall under American law, and I wonder if that’s a reasonable assumption. If a cruise ships primarily serve Americans (over 51% of paying passengers) and/or dock at American ports, then they should fall under US law.

Janet and I were invited to Washington to speak with the US Department of Justice last year, and I told them that I think that the DOJ needs to regulate cruise ships that serve Americans, just as the DOJ did when they ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act (the ADA) applies to cruise ships at sea.

Sadly, some American’s forget that they lose their First Amendment rights to free speech when they board a cruise ship, and that can get them into a heap of trouble, as New York teacher Mark Jacobs found out the hard way.

Jacobs is one of the hundreds of people who are concerned about possible impropriety by cruise ship auctions, especially the allegations that they take advantage of trusting old people by selling them crappy “investment art” at prices that are far above retail.

But is it true, or is it just a well orchestrated smear campaign?

After all, the cruise lines say that a full 25% of onboard ship revenue is from art auction sales. It’s also possible that any unregulated industry is likely to abuse their authority, just look at what happened with unregulated banks.



This summer, a Royal Caribbean passenger named Mark Jacobs (a teacher at the Longview School in Cortlandt Manor, New York) says that he became concerned about a cruise ship art auction. Evidently, Mr. Jacobs mistakenly thought that he had the right to warn his fellow passengers about several pending class-action lawsuits against the cruise ship art auctions.

Mark paid the price for being a whistleblower, being unceremoniously booted off of the ship by Captain Aladin Hafez:

“Jacobs says his only offense was downloading information about an art auction business run onboard the ship that has been the subject of numerous lawsuits alleging unfair business practices, and then passing around a one-page fact sheet about the company to fellow passengers . . .

the police come to take me off the ship," Jacobs said yesterday in his Cortlandt home. "And all I did was distribute information.”


Mark Jacobs faces Norwegian police for engaging in free speech

Hero or Zero?

This article confirms that the Royal Caribbean Staff Captain (Captain Aladin Hafez) exercised his absolute right to kick anyone off of the ships for any reason (or no reason) whatsoever.



It appears that Royal Caribbean is within their rights under Maritime law, but Mr. Jacobs disagrees:

“I'm in conversation with a number of lawyers, considering what sort of legal remedies I might have and seeing if I might become involved with one of his ongoing lawsuits or a different one.It certainly would be nice to recover the money that I lost.

But more to the point it would be nice for people to know that Royal Caribbean is supporting these very questionable claims and practices by Park West and that people who are going on these cruise ships thinking they’re spending a couple of thousand for the ship itself then may end up in something much more expensive, thinking that they're making investments and in the end losing a great deal of their money. “


Mark Jacobs gets the old heave ho

Leave your Civil Rights at the dock

It sounds like Mr. Jacobs forgot about Scandinavian communism, and that countries with socialist regimes have a very different opinion about personal rights. It’s also a safe bet that Captain Aladin Hafez is a foreigner who may be unfamiliar with freedom of speech and the rights to due process that Americans take for granted.

The other sides of the coin

There are two sides to every story, and in this case, we have three sides to this tale.

Royal Caribbean’s response suggests that Mr. Jacobs did far more than just hand out flyers, they say that he acted in a disruptive manner, and that he continued, even after being warned that the Captain of any ship has the absolute right to boot him any passenger, for any reason, or for no particular reason at all:

"Various guests reported to the ship's staff that Mark Jacobs was disrupting the onboard art auction by distributing a flyer to guests.

The ship's Hotel Director and Staff Captain met with Mr. Jacobs and explained that his behavior was inappropriate and in violation of the guest conduct policy.

In addition, they explained that failure to act in accordance with the policy could result in removal from the ship at the next port of call.

Mr. Jacobs continued to be uncooperative and difficult, which resulted in a decision to disembark him the following day in Oslo, Norway, the next port of call."

It’s interesting that the auction house has yet another version of the events, and they don’t claim that Jacobs was being disruptive! Rather, they claim that Mr. Jacobs’s father attempted an extortion scheme against them, alleging that the elder Mr. Jacobs was tried to rob them of $600:

"What Really Happened

Earlier during the cruise Mark Jacobs’ father had approached the onboard auctioneer and demanded $600 worth of free transfers to the airport for him and his family.

He told the auctioneer that if he did not receive the transfers he would tell auction attendees that Park West was selling fake artwork and doing fake bidding."


Mark Jacobs’ father (middle photo, left)
is accused of an extortion attempt against cruise ship art auction

So, who is telling the truth here?

When faced with conflicting accounts of an event, I always apply the "common sense" rule.

It’s like Judge Judy says “If a story does not make sense, then it’s usually not true.”


A lovely Judge Judy tattoo

If it doesn’t make sense, it’s usually not true

There are some aspects of these conflicting reports that don’t make sense to me:

• It’s doesn’t make sense why the elder Jacobs was not forced to disembark the ship along with his son, something that you would expect from somebody caught in an attempted extortion demand.
  
• It’s also doesn’t make sense why there are no reports of a multi-zillion dollar lawsuit against the art auctioneer for libel and defamation against the elder Mr. Jacobs.
  
• It does not make sense that the art auction house is screaming that they are the victim of a cybersmear campaign. Lawyers don’t take-on expensive class action lawsuits for no reason.
  
• It doesn’t make sense that Mark Jacobs did not know that he has no American Civil Rights while at sea. After all, the flyer that he printed was made specifically to warn auction bidders that US Law does not apply on the high seas.
  
• It does not make sense that Jacobs’ lawyer would send a “cease and desist” letter to Royal Caribbean, saying that a ship’s Captain has no right to disembark him.
  

However, it does make sense to me that many things that are illegal in America are A-
OK on the high seas.

Where from here?

As of 9/11/09 there are six class-action lawsuits pending against cruise ship art auctions, alleging all sorts of unsavory things, and hopefully the judges will get to the bottom of these issues soon.

If these cases are settled out of court with no admission of wrongdoing, the public will know what’s up, but for now they are only allegations.

The auction houses, in turn, allege that all of the Plaintiffs are just meanies who are starting a cyber-smear campaign against them for no reason other than buyer’s remorse.

As to the lawsuits that prompted Mr. Jacobs’ actions, let’s hope that the courts tell us the truth about the veracity of these claims.

Horse Abscess Treatment

Dr. Chris O’Malley has finally completed his master book Horse 911, an indispensible book on how to keep your horse alive until the Vet Arrives.



Chris is an accomplished Vet, and here he shows how to drain a painful chest abscess in a horse, a result of a snake bite.

Cleansing an abcsess of bacteria and puss is an important procedure to facilitate healing. The horse was sedated and given a local block before draining the abscess and the horse made a quick and uneventful recovery due to Dr. O'Malley's talented medical intercession.

Beware, this abscess video is truly revolting, and it cannot be unseen!

Seriously, if you have a weak constitution, don't press the play button.

Name popularity plotted over time!

This fun web site allows you to see first name popularity since 1880, all in real-time.

Try entering a few letters and see this impressive “flare” GUI:



This uses the “flare” technology, quite cool.

Also, check out this site using flare, for plotting job occupation popularity since 1850.

Giant airplanes

It’s fun to see artists renderings of what the future of aviation would look like, this 1890’s picture is surreal, right out of Jules Verne:


An 1890's vison of the future of aviation

This web page has a great list of giant concept aircraft, monster airplanes that never got off of the ground. I like this one, a flying 5 star hotel:



It has a giant bar and lounge and I love the windows on the leading edge of the wings:



And the Russian commies built some ridiculous huge aircraft, this one, the Rusky K7 giant airplane.



This looks severely underpowered like the Spruce Goose, I'm suprised that it could fly . . .

Buzz Aldrin punches moon landing denier

Old Buzz did America proud, punching the lights out of this moon landing denier kook, Bart Sibrel.

Deniers are weird people, mentaly deficient folks who see ridiculous conspiracies lurking behind every major world event.

They are the 21st century Luddites, flat-earth jerks!

What was this idiot thinking, calling a USAF fighter pilot a liar? Those are fighting words, impugning the personal integrity of a gentleman . . .

As an Air Force brat, I grew up around USAF pilots, and trust me, this is what you can expect if you dare to call an Air Force fighter pilot a coward!

Recursion in nature

This is too weird, take the time to watch it, truly “nested” eggs:

Upside down dogs!

At last, a web site devoted to upside down dogs.

All I can say is, it’s about time . . .

Scientists uncover genetic basis for Christianity

Too funny:

Using a fecal enema!

I’m hearing that AMA medical students are now learning about a gross new treatment technique, the “fecal enema”, taking other people’s poop and injecting it up your rectum!

I wish Sigmund Fraud were still alive, I want to understand this fascination with shoving stuff up your butt. I can understand how Andy Kaufman, desperate to save his life from cancer, paid some Mexican to squirt coffee up his butt (the coffee enema),


Good to the last drop – the coffee enema

But it crossed the line after people started using butt-pipes to introduce gerbils into their colons:


Some queer folks enjoy a gerbil enema

Call me old fashioned, but I don’t approve . . .

Origin of a Feces

Given that the fecal enema involves injecting someone else’s poop up your anus, how does one go about finding a donor? Is it a romantic thing?

“My Dear, I love you so much that I want your bacteria to recolonize my intestines”

This page describes a fecal enema as a “Fecal Colon Flora Replacement”, and it says that you need to seek out baby crap:

“To avoid getting any unwanted parasites or any other disease, you choose a feces from a very healthy, unvaccinated, breastfed baby”

It’s said that fecal enemas are being used to recolonize your intestine with “good” bacteria, but why use a fecal enema for this?

In the olden days, a quick trip to Taco Bell would suffice to recolonize the bacteria in your gut.


Captain Enema spreads the word

But it gets stranger, there is a United States Patent on using poop to treat mental disorders!

Using fecal enemas to treat mental disorders

This sounds positively 17th century, but according to US Patent 7307062, we see that fecal enemas are being used to treat mental disorders.

That’s right, kids with Autism and being injected with feces from other children. The patent says the poop, suspended in a saline solution and injected into the anus, can help kids with autism:

“Qualitative and quantitative analysis of stool specimens from four children with autism revealed a complete absence of peptostreptococcal species. Peptostreptococcal species typically account for 10% of the total organism present in the microflora.

These children subsequently responded favorably to treatment with vancomycin, but relapsed within two weeks of discontinuance of the antimicrobial therapy. Two of these children were subsequently retreated with antimicrobials and then immediately administered a probiotic fecal enema.

Antimicrobial therapy was reinitiated to reduce the numbers of offending bacteria in the intestinal tract. 50 mg of donor stool was collected from a healthy sibling, homoginized with 500 ml of saline and administered as a rectal enema.

In both cases, the children's behavior remained substantially improved over baseline for several months after discontinuance of the antimicrobial treatment.”

Jeez, since when is treatment with poop patentable?

German Giant rabbits for sale

This article is interesting, a new fad, breeding ginormous rabbits, bunnies that grow to the size of dogs!



Take a minute to watch this video, you can see them weigh these giant bunnies, 8.8 kilo's, about 20 pounds. They are called Grey German giants:



I gotta get me some of these rabbit monsters:



This person sells giant rabbits in England:



Look at the feet on this giant rabbit:



I wonder if they taste good?

Best of all, giant rabbits are not expensive, you can find them for sale for only $75 each.

Profanity filter: Profane word list

- This entry is for those seeking a profanity word list for computwer programs -

The first profane word list I ever saw was embedded inside Eliza, the MIT computer program (written in BASIC), which pretended to be a psychotherapist!

Whenever an end-user entered a “dirty word” the program would respond “My my, I’m not accustomed to such language!”



In my work building computer systems that accepted freeform command input, I discovered that end-users will routinely enter dirty words to see what happens and they squeal like little piggy’s when the system respond to profanity!

What's new in profanity?

I noticed that the definitions of profane words lists have changed. Words that were once included in nasty word lists have been removed, and new words have entered the realm of profanity!

Dropped from profanity list – Words like SOB, bitch, bloody and bastard are not as offensive as they once were.

Added to profanity list – We also see some ne profane words like “buttpipe”, a word that refers to the apparatus used by Homo’s when “Gerbilling”, the process of inserting a live rodent into your rectum.



Also we must note that profanity is context sensitive.

Today, coders use regular expression syntax to detect profanity, but nothing beats a profane word list because it contains all deliberate mis-spellings.

Anyway, here is a list of profane words for 2009, a dirty word list to be used as a word filter input for forums and chat and discussion rooms, often as a profanity detection subroutine.

It’s kind of fun to peruse the list of unacceptable words:

arsehole
assfuck
assfucker
asshat
asshole
ass-hole
assholes
assholes
ass-holes
assmonkey
assmunch
assmuncher
asspacker
asspuppies
assranger
british
bumblefuck
bumfuck
cameljockey
canadian
carpetmuncher
clogwog
cockblock
cockblocker
cockcowboy
cockknob
cocklicker
cocklover
cocknob
cockqueen
cockrider
cocksman
cocksmith
cocksmoker
cocksucer
cocksuck
cocksucked
cocksucker
cock-sucker
cock-sucker
cocksuckers
cock-suckers
cocksucking
cock-sucking
coolie
cornhole
crotchjockey
crotchmonkey
cumjockey
cumquat
cumqueen
cumshot
cunnilingus
cunntt
cunt
cuntfuck
cuntfucker
cuntlick
cuntlicker
cuntlicking
cunts
cuntsucker
darkie
darky
datnigga
dickforbrains
dickhead
dickless
dicklick
dicklicker
dripdick
dumbfuck
dyefly
european
facefucker
faith
fannyfucker
fastfuck
fatfuck
fatfucker
fckcum
felch
felcher
felching
feltch
feltched
feltcher
feltcher
feltchers
feltches
feltching
feltching
fingerfood
fingerfuck
fingerfucked
fingerfucker
fingerfuckers
fingerfucking
fistfuck
fistfucked
fistfucker
fistfucking
footaction
footfuck
footfucker
fourtwenty
freakfuck
freakyfucker
freefuck
fuc
fucck
fuck
fucka
fuckable
fuckbag
fuckbuddy
fucked
fucked
fuckedup
fucker
fuckers
fuckface
fuckfest
fuckfreak
fuckfriend
fuckhead
fuckher
fuckin
fuckina
fucking
fucking
fuckingbitch
fuckinnuts
fuckinright
fuckit
fuckknob
fuckme
fuckmehard
fuckmonkey
fuckoff
fuckpig
fucks
fucktard
fuckwhore
fuckyou
fudgepacker
fugly
goddamnmuthafucker
goldenshower
handjob
headfuck
heeb
hindoo
holestuffer
honger
hosejob
hymie
iblowu
intheass
jackoff
jackshit
japcrap
jebus
jeez
jerkoff
jigaboo
jiggabo
jiggy
jijjiboo
jimfish
junglebunny
kaffer
kaffir
kaffre
kafir
kanake
kigger
kike
kinky
kissass
kkk
knife
knockers
kock
kondum
koon
kraut
kum
kumbubble
kumbullbe
kummer
kumming
kumquat
kums
kunilingus
kunnilingus
kunt
kyke
lesbain
lesbayn
lesbian
lesbin
lesbo
lez
lezbe
lezbefriends
lezbo
lezz
lezzo
liberal
limey
limpdick
lovejuice
lovemuscle
lucifer
luckycammeltoe
mocky
mofo
moky
mothafuck
mothafucka
mothafuckaz
mothafucked
mothafucker
mothafuckin
mothafucking
mothafuckings
motherfucked
motherfucker
mother-fucker
motherfuckers
mother-fuckers
motherfuckin
motherfucking
motherfucking
mother-fucking
motherfuckings
mufflikcer
mulatto
muncher
munt
muthafucka
muthafucka
muthafucka
mutha-fucka
mutha-fucka
mutha-fucka
muthafucker
mutha-fucker
muthafuckers
mutha-fuckers
muthafucking
mutha-fucking
mutherfucker
muther-fucker
mutherfuckers
muther-fuckers
mutherfucking
muther-fucking
nastyho
nastyslut
nastywhore
nigga
niggah
niggards
niggard's
niggaz
nigger
niggerhead
niggerhole
niggers
nigger's
niggor
nigguh
niggur
niglet
nignog
nigr
nigra
nofuckingway
nook
nookey
nookie
noonan
nooner
noons
nude
nudger
nuke
nutfucker
ontherag
orgy
osama
payo
pearlnecklace
peckerwood
pendy
phuk
phuked
phuking
phukked
phukking
phungky
phuq
pi55
picaninny
piccaninny
pickaninny
piker
pikey
piky
pimp
pimped
pimper
pimpjuic
pimpjuice
pimpsimp
pindick
piss
piss
pissed
pisser
pissers
pisses
pisshead
pissin
pissing
pissoff
pisstake
piss-take
pissy
pocha
pocho
pocketpool
pohm
polack
pom
pommie
pommy
poo
poon
poontang
poop
pooper
pooperscooper
pooping
poorwhitetrash
popimp
porchmonkey
pornprincess
pric
prick
prickhead
pricks
primetime
pronk
prostitute
protestant
pu55i
pu55y
pube
pubic
pubiclice
pud
pudboy
pudd
puddboy
puke
punkass
punk-ass
puntang
purinapricness
puss
pussie
pussies
pussies
pussy
pussy_ass
pussy-ass
pussycat
pussyeater
pussyfucker
pussylicker
pussylips
pussylover
pussypounder
pusy
quashie
queef
quickie
quim
raghead
redneck
reefer
reestie
refugee
reject
remains
rentafuck
rimjob
roundeye
rump
russki
russkie
sadis
sadom
samckdaddy
sandm
sandnigger
scag
scallywag
scat
schlong
screwyou
scrotum
sexy
sexymoma
sexy-slim
shag
shat
shav
shawtypimp
sheeney
shhit
shinola
shit
shit_head
shitcan
shitdick
shite
shiteater
shited
shited
shiter
shiters
shitey
shitface
shitfaced
shitfit
shitforbrains
shitfuck
shitfucker
shitfull
shithapens
shithappens
shithead
shit-head
shithouse
shiting
shitlist
shitola
shitoutofluck
shits
shitstain
shitted
shitter
shitters
shitting
shitty
shooting
shortfuck
sixsixsix
sixtynine
sixtyniner
skankbitch
skankfuck
skankwhore
skanky
skankybitch
skankywhore
skinflute
skum
skumbag
slideitin
slime
slimeball
slimebucket
slopehead
slutting
slutty
slutwear
slutwhore
smackthemonkey
snatch
snatchpatch
snigger
sniggered
sniggering
sniggers
snigger's
snot
snowback
snownigger
sob
sodom
sodomise
sodomite
sodomize
sodomy
sonofabitch
sonofbitch
sooty
spaghettibender
spaghettinigger
spank
spankthemonkey
sperm
spermacide
spermbag
spermhearder
spermherder
spic
spick
spig
spigotty
spik
splittail
spooge
stagg
stiffy
strapon
stupidfuck
stupidfucker
suck
suckcock
suck-cock
suckdick
suckmyass
suckmycock
suck-my-cock
suckmydick
suckmytit
swallower
taboo
taff
tang
tantra
tarbaby
tard
hicklips
timbernigger
tinkle
tit
titbitnipply
titfuck
titfucker
titfuckin
titjob
titlicker
titlover
tits
tits
tittie
titties
titty
tnt
towelhead
trisexual
tuckahoe
twat
twat
twats
twobitwhore
unfuckable
upskirt
uptheass
upthebutt
vibrator
wab
wank
wank
wanked
wanker
wanker
wankers
wanking
wanking
wanks
whacker
whash
whigger
whiskeydick
whiskydick
whitenigger
whop
whorefucker
wigger
wop
zigabo
zipperhead

WWII VD Posters!

Venereal diseases were Rampant overseas in WWII, with European and Asian whores offering themselves for as little as a chocolate bar, infecting our American servicemen with their skanky whore diseases.



Check out all of these funny VD posters from WWII, many available for sale on eBay.







Personally, I would have used a VD poster that reminded guys where VD originally came from:

Cool photorealism paintings

Photorealism is a labor intensive art form where the art is meant to look like a photograph.

You can buy original photorealism paintings on eBay.

And see, here for some other cool examples of photorealism.



Lots on manual labor goes into making good ohotorealism, a real craft:



Personally, I thinlk that photorealism is a safer way to invest in art because even though the artist many never become famous, the painting is hundreds of hours of labor, and hence will always retain some value.

The people behind the voices of the Simpsons:

After attending the prestigious Family Guy Live reading at Carnegie Hall, I enjoy watching the artists voice their cartoon characters.

The first famous voice cartoon character I knew of was Alan Reed, the voice actor who lent his voice to Fred Flintstone. My uncle was his piano tuner, and it was great fun just hearing him talk! He did not do any voice theatrics; he really talked like Fred Flintstone . . .

Here is Alan in action, It’s real clear that did Fred Flintstone’s voice:



It’s kind of funny, given that The Flintstones was meant to be the cartoon equivalent of The Honeymooners, hence, Fred Flintstone is Jackie Gleason.

If you have ever watched the Simpson’s on TV, you will love this video!

I did not know that Mr. Burns and his assistant Smithers are voiced by the same person!

And the lady who does Bart Simpson’s voice is a real trip:



I never knew that Moe and Apu were the same person’s voice.

Playing with rare earth magnetic balls

Check this out, Buckyballs. It looks like a very cool toy for grownups:



You can order buckyballs here, looks like fun for only $30 a pop.

I ordered some, and if they are as fun as they look, I’ll probably buy a few dozen to give away as gifts!

Mental illness in cats

Cats are prone to all sorts of mental disorders and neurosis, everything from paranoid schizophrenia to obcessive compulsive disorders.

This is hilarious, a whack-job cat



Reader feedback:

This is a Bengal cat, they do this by instinct.

The Aristocrats joke – as told by Eric Cartman!

The joke “The Aristocrats” is a standard launch pad for comedians. The intro and punch line are standards, but the middle part of the Aristocrats joke gives a comedian a chance to be as raunchy and disgusting as they possibly can.

See here for videos of famous people telling “The Aristocrats” joke.

Watch this one, by the twisted genius Trey Parker of South Park, the king of raunch . . . .

WARNING – Contains naughty words and vulgar suggestions

Breaking 80 in golf

A large part of my job these days is entertaining clients and playing in IT manager golf tournaments.

I’m co-sponsoring this golf tournament next week, all designed to meet with my clients and customers.

All young executives need to know how to play golf these days, and I think that golf lessons should be a part of the AACSB MBA curriculum.


Ready to break 80

I’m stoked, my golf game is better than ever before. I can pound a driver over 260 yards, sink 20 foot putts, and I’m now ready to take my golf game to the next level, golfing in the 70’s.

Golf scores are asymptotic to par, the closer you get to par, the longer it takes to improve:


It takes many years of golf practice to break 80

For me, I spend about 50 hours to take a stroke off my game, but if I play every day for the next two years I have a shot at breaking 80. According to Brad Clayton, my talented golf coach, here is what I need to do to break 80:

- Walk the links – I own three golf carts (we play at several courses), but they stay garaged, as I walk 4.5 miles every day to improve my game, and my stamina.

- Practice - I invested in a nice private driving range and practice green so that Janet and I can practice daily at home.



- Visualize your play – Run through your round in your mind, re-playing each hole. You will be amazed at how well that helps . . .

- Lose 100 pounds – I must get more flexibility, so I’m going to lose 10 pound in the next 14 months. I’m naturally skinny anyway:


Beneath my flab lies a skinny physique

I like a challenge, and this should be a good one, getting fit and breaking 80 at golf . . .

See my tips here, how to break 80 in golf.