One of these days..

I must go to the Lebowskifest; heck... I already have the right shirt all I need to do is grow out the goatee and buy somd baggy, stripey pants.

One way of summarizing "The Big Lebowski"...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Lebowski

Obviously getting payola from Campbell Soups, Inc..

"Mexican chicken" that freatures cans of three different kinds of "Cream of X" soup? Does this constitute an ethnic slur?

My new favorite cat picture

Now **that's** a laser!

How can I not want a laser that can pop balloons, heal open wounds, melt plastic and... best yet... light people's smokes at a far distance? Feel the milliWatts!

Edjimication

It's odd, but...

... watching this shrimp run on a treadmill is kinda relaxing.

Stem cells create tumours, says expert (The Austrailian)

Prof Sherley, from Boston's Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), today said scientists had failed to reveal problems with embryonic stem cells that would prevent them being used in humans.

The unique feature of embryonic stem cells that allowed them to turn into any cell of the body, known as pluripotency, created a problem when researchers injected them into tissue, Prof Sherley said.

“When you put them in an environment where they can grow and develop, they make lots of different kind of tissues,” Prof Sherley said.

“This tumour formation property is an inherent feature of the cells.

“And all you have to do is simply inject them into an animal tissue – this happens at very high efficiency.

“And although some might say we can solve the tumour problem down the road, that's equivalent to saying we can solve the cancer problem and we may, but that's a long time coming.”

Prof Sherley said the tumours, called teratomas, were generally considered benign, but it was possible they could metastasize or produce chemicals such as enzymes and cytokines that affect other parts of the body.

Prof Sherley said many scientists agreed with his views but were too scared to speak out over concerns it could affect their funding and reputation.

(For rest, see article.)

Why the insistence on *embryonic* stem cell research?

First Things has has some good information on stem cell research lately. Here's a snip :

The truth about the technical challenges and scientific hurdles for embryonic stem-cell (ESC) therapies is finally getting out. The truth, of course, is that there are no human embryonic stem-cell therapies even in clinical trial, let alone ready for therapy, and there have been no major treatment models in animals, either. Adult stem cells, however, have already been successful in treating more than seventy different diseases in actual human beings.

Readers of First Things are well aware that the main objection to current methods of embryonic stem-cell research is that they involve the destruction of living human embryos, that is, human beings at the embryonic stage in their lives. This is a principled objection to the direct and intentional killing of human beings.

There is no principled objection to stem-cell research, not even to embryonic stem-cell research, provided that methods that do not destroy embryos are pursued. In fact, the May 2006 issue of First Things ran an article by E. Christian Brugger explaining and defending one such method, Altered Nuclear Transfer—Oocyte Assisted Reproduction (ANT-OAR), which has received broad support from the pro-life intellectual community. There are also techniques to dedifferentiate (reprogram) an adult somatic cell back to a state of pluripotency (in other words, to convert it directly to an embryonic-like stem cell). In both these methods, no embryos are created, no embryos are destroyed. All citizens could in good faith support these methods of producing embryonic-type (pluripotent) stem cells.

(Follow link for rest)

Relative Sighting!

Apparently, my cousin, Matt is at least 80% "hot".

Walk to School Month (apparently)

For a sacrastic view of Walk to School Month, see the National Review.

Anniversary! 16 Years of Blogging!

This blog started sixteen years ago this month!

Time flies.

Not to early for Christmas Shopping...

... or so my local Walgreens would have me believe.

Anyhoo, surely someone would like the horse head pillow, Imagine them, reliving their favorite scene from The Godfather!




Also, you could use this to frighten Very Stupid People.

We both know who I mean.

Cats Performing Shakespeare!

"Haggis crisps" are a LIE!!!

Apparently, "Haggis crisps" is just a cutesie name some farmers in Scotland coined for their "high end" 'tater chips. Gurr...

Funniest Political Video in a While....

... unfortunately, some crybabies have set it up as restricted, so you might need to ste up an account on YouTube in order to view it. (Such restrictions are generally only for extreme violence or extreme sexual content, not for "objectionable" political views.) Anyhoo, makes some serious fun of Madeline Albright for having made the Clinton administratioons deal with Kim Jong Il. The video was made by David Zucker (maker of the Naked Gun series)... he wanted Republicans to use it as a commercial this election. No takers, apparently.

Too bad, really.

Here's a direct copy, in case YouTube plays nice and unrestricts it :

Up on the Habanero Charts...

I'm now ranked #18 of 44 on the Habanero Hamburger "Hall of Flame". If I double the number of burgers I've eaten, I still won't crack the top 10. But I'd be close. Hmm. Maybe if they have regular Pirate nights at the Prince of Wales?

Adding to my "To Try" List

First, there seems to be a new line of habanero chips on the Japanese market, from Tohato. Click the link for some flash animation with disturbing music. At times it's a bit like Klingon opera. Sigh. Again with the Klingons? Anyhoo... here's what they look like :



My pledge to you, O reader of pointless blogs, is that I will be scouring the local Asian supermarkets for these things. Heck, the bags look very halloweenish. Maybe I should carve habanero peppers this year, if I can find little candles. That would a trick. Or is it treat? Hurm.

Next, there is a candidate for adding... while looking up the Tohato products, I found mention of a little thing called "Haggis crisps". Can these really be chips taht are haggis flavored? Or, dare I speculate... made from haggis?