Say it out loud! I'm black and I'm PROUD! [Yahoo News/AP]

Poor Kooshi, he just keeps gettin' dissed by his neighbors and now The Man.

An Israeli cat has been banned from circulating freely in the stairwell of a suburban Tel Aviv apartment building, apparently because its jet black color was frightening the residents.

Kooshi, a 7-year-old mixed breed shorthair, has a midnight black coat and green sparkling eyes.

Its owners were told by municipal veterinarian Jonathan Even-Zor of Rishon Letzion they had to cradle the cat when descending the building's staircase [~] or risk having it impounded.

"This is a black cat that on its way downstairs occasionally passes through the legs of building residents, some of whom are afraid of the cat, quite possibly because of its black color," Even-Zor wrote to Dan and Ariel Morganstern.

The Man be tryin' to keep Kooshi down, but the Brother ain't havin' none of that shit.

Fight the POWER!!!!!

11:49:03 PM     leave/read comments []

We done had a possum stop by the birdfeeder!

Big one, too. At least as big as Bob.

Wish I'd gotten a better photo- he had this great face- white with little round grey ears and a grey nose. Not afraid of my flashlight nor the flash from the camera, but he (or she- hard to sex a possum at a distance and at night) scooted off as soon as I opened the door. Maybe next time.

11:32:42 PM     leave/read comments []

Secret Energy Haunts Coral Castle. Did the eccentric genius who built the massive roadside attraction tap into a mysterious power that allowed him to move multi-ton blocks of coral single-handedly? The world may never know. Michelle Delio reports from Homestead, Florida. [Wired News]

Wow, how amazing is this homebuilt Florida private pyramid? Hella amazing.

It's not just a cool artifact, it's construction was practically magic.

he massive coral slab door at the entrance to the castle is so perfectly engineered that it can be swung open with just a light, one-finger push.

The entire castle complex, which looks like a combination fortress and ancient temple, was constructed of huge coral blocks, many of which exceed five tons. Leedskalnin built the castle and everything in it by himself over 26 years -- using tools he made from scavenged junkyard parts.

Leedskalnin was no burly giant of a man. He stood 5 feet tall and weighed around 100 pounds, according to Coral Castle guide Ray Ramirez, who has spent the past two decades trying to figure out just how Leedskalnin managed to pull off this engineering feat.

The builder worked after sundown and didn't tell anyone how he moved the massive block of coral or how he engineered them to work flawlessly with each other.

I'm just gonna go with magic, because any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic. And I like magic.

9:06:19 PM     leave/read comments []

BoingBoing has alerted us to more Corporate Asshattery:

Dell won't help customers remove spyware. Dell has issued a memo to its tech-support staff, telling them not to help Dell customers remove spyware from their systems, because it "may conflict with user license agreements of other applications installed on your system." I.e., Dell has decided that its duty to its users is superceded by its duty to upholding "contracts" that you "sign" when you click on the I Agree button after downloading this app or that, contracts in which you promise to allow spyware to be installed on your machine, and promise not to try to remove it. Nice one, Dell.

This means we do not take callers to download.com or doxdesk.com, nor do we recommend spyware removal programs, nor do we advise callers on the use of spyware removal programs. This includes using phrases "We don't support the removal of spyware, but I use..."

Link

(via /.) [Boing Boing Blog]

5:49:21 PM    

German cannibal tells of fantasy. A man accused of killing and partly eating another man, who allegedly volunteered for his fate, goes on trial. [BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition]

Worst. Blowjob. Ever.

The victim, 43-year-old Bernd-Jurgen Brandes, answered the advert in March 2001.

Mr Meiwes told investigators he took Mr Brandes back to his home in Rotenburg, where Mr Brandes agreed to have his penis cut off, which Mr Meiwes then flambéed and served up to eat together.

Teen guilty of 'body parts' murder. A teenager is convicted of murder in the savage killing and dismembering of a 14-year-old schoolboy. [BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition]

Couldn't these kids just get drunk, screw and chunder like the rest of the world?

During the trial, the jury was told that Adam Morrell, 14, suffered more than 280 injuries to his body during an assault that lasted hours in November 2002.

He was then killed and his body chopped up and wrapped in plastic bags. The bags were found scattered around Loughborough in Leicestershire.

How about we introduce the kids to Herr Meiwes and send them off on a weenie roast?

4:57:38 PM     leave/read comments []

Our pal Adam done went and got himself a vasectomy.

Here's a tip for Adam or anyone else considering a vasectomy: After the big snip, whatever you do, don't go whitewater rafting. And for Ghod's sake, if you do and you, you know, open the sack accidentally, don't wash it out with vodka and tape it back together with duct tape. You'll regret it. Trust me on this.

3:11:19 PM     leave/read comments []

Mile High Lies [ From Democrats.org]

The Bush administration is so reflexively mendacious that they lie about things that don't even matter, just to spiff up a story.

The Bush White House has a curious habit of embellishing their accounts of the President's activities. Recounting President Bush's trip to Iraq this past week, White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett told journalists of an unexpected encounter between Air Force One and a British Airways flight. Now, British Airways pilots say the incident never happened.

Oh for Chrissake. Hey kids, this isn't a Georgetown cocktail party, it's like, you know, The Government and all.

2:03:35 PM     leave/read comments []