News of the Weird

[FrankZappa]

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The distillers of Sweden\'s Absolut vodka have withdrawn an advertisement run in Mexico that angered many U.S. citizens by idealizing an early 19th century map showing chunks of the United States as Mexican.

The billboard ad has the slogan "In an Absolut World" slapped over a pre-1848 map showing California, Arizona and other U.S. states as Mexican territory. Those states were carved out of what had been Mexican lands until that year.

Although it was not shown in the United States, U.S. media outlets picked up on the ad, and after a barrage of complaints, Absolut\'s maker said on Sunday the ad campaign would cease.

Defending the campaign last week, Absolut maker Vin & Spirit said the ad was created "with a Mexican sensibility" and was not meant for the U.S. market.

"In no way was this meant to offend or disparage, nor does it advocate an altering of borders, nor does it lend support to any anti-American sentiment, nor does it reflect immigration issues," a spokeswoman wrote on Absolut\'s Web site.

"Instead, it hearkens to a time which the population of Mexico may feel was more ideal," she wrote.

Absolut\'s blog cite has received more than a thousand comments since the ad campaign was launched a few weeks ago, with many calling for boycotts of the Swedish company.

"I have poured the remainder of my Absolut bottles down the sink," one blogger wrote.

A war between Mexico and the United States from 1846 to 1848 started with Mexico\'s refusal to recognize the U.S. annexation of Texas and ended with the occupation of Mexico City by U.S. troops.

At the end, Mexico ceded nearly half of its territory to the United States, forming the states of California, Nevada, Utah and parts of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming.

Mexicans remain sensitive about the loss and the location of the border. At the same time, the United States is fortifying barriers to keep out undocumented Mexican migrants.

Some Mexicans use the term "Reconquista" (reconquest) to refer to the growing presence in California of Mexican migrants and their descendants.

France\'s Pernod Ricard is taking over Absolut vodka, one of the world\'s top-selling spirit brands, after buying Vin & Spirit from the Swedish government at the end of March.




source

[phirehead]

"I have poured the remainder of my Absolut bottles down the sink," one blogger wrote.

Blasphemy.

[FrankZappa]

yea, that\'s like those idiots that were boycotting frances\' being in the war on terror (remember freedom fries?) by purchasing expensive bottles of wine and champagne and pouring it down the sewers. Hey dumbass, if you still buy it they probably don\'t care what you do with it!

[FreeSpirit]

The Simpsons\' Yanked From Venezuelan TV
10 hours ago

CARACAS, Venezuela — D\'oh! A Venezuelan TV channel has yanked "The Simpsons" off the air because it may be inappropriate for children. Taking its place: "Baywatch Hawaii."

Televen TV station spokeswoman Elba Guillen said Monday that the decision to hand over the daily 11 a.m. time slot came after the National Telecommunications Commission received complaints from viewers.

"It had to be taken off," Guillen said. "They consider it to be a series that isn\'t appropriate for that time because it isn\'t appropriate for children."

The regulatory agency didn\'t specify which elements of the program were deemed offensive, but said showing the animated cartoon series at that hour could violate national regulations prohibiting "messages that go against the whole education of boys, girls and adolescents."

Guillen said it is up to Televen\'s management whether "The Simpsons" may be shown at another time of day.

"Baywatch," which features bikini-clad bombshells and musclebound hunks working as lifeguards on the Hawaiian coast, has been running in the 11 a.m. slot since Friday.

The station has not received any complaints about that show, General Manager German Perez Nahim told the Venezuelan newspaper Ultimas Noticias in its Friday editions. Perez was out of the office Monday and could not be reached for comment.

"We are hoping it will continue to have a good rating, because \'The Simpsons\' worked very well — so much so that it had the highest levels of viewership for that morning timetable in the history of the channel," Perez said.

[tyzack]

A Venezuelan TV channel has yanked "The Simpsons" off the air because it may be inappropriate for children. Taking its place: "Baywatch Hawaii."

Wow.

You have to remember where this is a country in which the owners went on strike, not the workers.

[Dweasel Weasel]

But seriously, Absolute sucks anyway.  Kettle One doesn\'t need billboards in Mexico.

[Gordo]

I find the Absolut ad hilarious.. Makes me want to purchase a bottle and chug it while strattling the half-ass wall the government is building, throw the empty on Texas-soil and do a south-bound salsa dance.  This country straight O\'Doyled Mexico. I love the false pride displayed by so many citizens and how they bitch about the exploitation they too support in some way many times a day.

[tyzack]

PETA offers $1 million for creation of test tube chicken
NORFOLK, Va.

An animal rights group wants to keep chickens alive and clucking by offering a $1 million prize for the creation of real poultry meat that could be mass-produced in a laboratory.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it is looking for commercially viable "in vitro chicken" -- taking stem cells and growing them into poultry flesh, presumably without the feathers and bones. The process would eliminate the need to kill chickens for their meat, the group says.

The outspoken group based in Norfolk, Va., says on its Web site that the prize would be awarded to the first people who create such a product in a large quantity and successfully sell it at a competitive price in at least 10 states before June 30, 2012.

Soylent Green, anyone?

[jocelyn]

But seriously, Absolute sucks anyway.  Kettle One doesn\'t need billboards in Mexico.

*Ding ding!*

Absolut is terrible.

Though it is Ketel, not Kettle.

[jocelyn]

Dutch Government Seeks To Ban Magic *********

While dried magic ********* are illegal in the Netherlands, fresh ********* can still be bought openly in so-called "Smart Shops".
Reuters photo: archive The Dutch cabinet has proposed a ban on the sale of all hallucinogenic "magic" ********* because they could induce life-threatening behaviour.
A bill will now pass to the Dutch parliament, where a majority of lawmakers are expected to back a ban after a teenage French girl who had eaten ********* died jumping from a bridge in 2007.

While dried magic ********* are illegal in the Netherlands, fresh ********* can still be bought openly in so-called "Smart Shops".

Posters in Smart Shops outline the effects the ********* have and whether users are more likely to feel chatty or exhilarated, for example.

"The use of ********* can produce hallucinogenic effects which can lead to extreme or life-threatening behaviour," the health ministry said in a statement late on Friday after the cabinet decision.

In February the Dutch association of Smart Shops (VLOS) promised tighter self-regulation and noted the majority of ********-related incidents involved young tourists to Amsterdam mixing ********* with alcohol and cannabis.

Figures from the Amsterdam emergency services show there were 55 call-outs for ********-related incidents in 2004, a figure which had more than doubled by 2006 to 128, with the majority of youngsters involved coming from Britain.

The VLOS said sales of ********* rose by 20 percent last year, while the number of accidents experienced by users rose by a smaller percentage.

In recent years the Netherlands has looked to shed its "anything goes" image and has tightened laws on drug use and prostitution.

"If they succeed with this ******** ban then I am sure they will try to ban things like cannabis as well. This is part of a wider trend," said Freddy Schaap of the VLOS.

Link

[tyzack]

Dutch Government Seeks To Ban Magic *********

While dried magic ********* are illegal in the Netherlands, fresh ********* can still be bought openly in so-called "Smart Shops". A bill will now pass to the Dutch parliament, where a majority of lawmakers are expected to back a ban after a teenage French girl who had eaten ********* died jumping from a bridge in 2007.

Link

Today a young man on acid thought he could fly and jumped off a building. What a tragedy.
...What a fucking moron. If he thought he could fly why didn\'t he start from the ground? You don\'t see ducks taking the elevator to the top floor.

-Bill Hicks

[jocelyn]

:lol:

Bill Hicks, though sometimes really obnoxious, definitely has a few gems.

[Me!]

DAISETTA, Texas (May - Regulators continued monitoring a massive sinkhole which has swallowed up oil field equipment, poles and some vehicles since surfacing just outside the southeast Texas community of Daisetta.

There were no reports of injuries or of any homes being damaged early Thursday.

Investigators with the Texas Railroad Commission were checking pipelines in the area and trying to determine if any regulations have been violated, said agency spokeswoman Ramona Nye.

Officials with Texas Natural Resources and Conservation were monitoring air and water quality. So far, no pollutants have been detected.

"Right now we\'re not concerned about any kind of explosion or any kind of hazard," said Tom Branch, coordinator of the Liberty County Office of Emergency Management. "We are monitoring some other things around the area to make sure everyone\'s OK."

Power provider Entergy cut electric lines Wednesday to prevent power from being cut off in the town.

Sunoco, which manufactures petroleum and petrochemical products, secured two 6-inch crude oil pipelines near the sinkhole that had started to leak Wednesday, said Lester Edwards, hazardous materials coordinator for Liberty County.

Television news footage showed a tractor, some oil field equipment and some telephone poles falling into the sinkhole as it grew near Daisetta, which has a population of around 1,000 and is located about 60 miles northeast of Houston.

The sinkhole was believed to have grown to at least 600 feet long and 200 feet deep by Wednesday night.

Farm-to-Market Road 770 was closed to traffic and vehicles were being diverted to FM 834 over concerns the pit could spread to the roadway.

Officials are trying to determine what prompted the sinkhole near the Liberty County community. But its history as a once booming oil town might be to blame.

The ground might have caved in because of the collapse of an old salt dome where oil brine and natural gas are stored underground, officials said. Daisetta sits on a salt dome, one of the most common types of traps for oil.

Sinkholes are rare and often take up to two weeks to stabilize, said Geoffrey Paine, a geologist and geophysicist with the University of Texas.

[derickw]

COME ON NOW.... STOP IT ALREADY

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080509/ap_on_re_us/18_kids

LITTLE ROCK - It\'s a happy Mother\'s Day for an Arkansas woman — she\'s pregnant with her 18th child.
ADVERTISEMENT

Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year\'s Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins.

"We\'ve had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us," she said, laughing.

The Duggars\' oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.

The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children — whose names start with the letter J — are home-schooled.

Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.

The new show looks at life inside the Duggar home, where chores — or "jurisdictions" — are assigned to each child. One episode of the new show involves a "jurisdiction swap," where the boys do chores traditionally assigned to the girls, and vice versa, Duggar said.

"The girls swapped jurisdictions, changing tires, working in the garages, mowing the grass," she said. "The boys got to cook supper from start to finish, clean the bathrooms," among other chores.

Duggar said she\'s six weeks along and the pregnancy is going well. She and her husband, Jim Bob Duggar, said they\'ll keep having children as long as God wills it.

"The success in a family is first off, a love for God, and secondly, treating each other like you want to be treated," Jim Bob Duggar said. "Our goal is for each one of our children to be best friends, and everybody working together to serve each other makes that happen."

The other Duggar children, in between Joshua and Jennifer, are Jana, 18; John-David, 18; Jill, 16; Jessa, 15; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; Jeremiah, 9; Jedidiah, 9; Jason, 7; James, 6; Justin, 5; Jackson, 3; and Johannah, 2.

___

On the Net:

Duggar family Web site: http://www.duggarfamily.com

Discovery Health site: http://health.discovery.com/convergence/duggars/duggarfamily.html

[davepeck]

COME ON NOW.... STOP IT ALREADY

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080509/ap_on_re_us/18_kids

LITTLE ROCK - It\'s a happy Mother\'s Day for an Arkansas woman — she\'s pregnant with her 18th child.
ADVERTISEMENT

Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year\'s Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins.

"We\'ve had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us," she said, laughing.

The Duggars\' oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.

The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children — whose names start with the letter J — are home-schooled.

Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.

The new show looks at life inside the Duggar home, where chores — or "jurisdictions" — are assigned to each child. One episode of the new show involves a "jurisdiction swap," where the boys do chores traditionally assigned to the girls, and vice versa, Duggar said.

"The girls swapped jurisdictions, changing tires, working in the garages, mowing the grass," she said. "The boys got to cook supper from start to finish, clean the bathrooms," among other chores.

Duggar said she\'s six weeks along and the pregnancy is going well. She and her husband, Jim Bob Duggar, said they\'ll keep having children as long as God wills it.

"The success in a family is first off, a love for God, and secondly, treating each other like you want to be treated," Jim Bob Duggar said. "Our goal is for each one of our children to be best friends, and everybody working together to serve each other makes that happen."

The other Duggar children, in between Joshua and Jennifer, are Jana, 18; John-David, 18; Jill, 16; Jessa, 15; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; Jeremiah, 9; Jedidiah, 9; Jason, 7; James, 6; Justin, 5; Jackson, 3; and Johannah, 2.

___

On the Net:

Duggar family Web site: http://www.duggarfamily.com

Discovery Health site: http://health.discovery.com/convergence/duggars/duggarfamily.html