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Weird News
My daily cycling through the normal news websites never ceases to surprise and sometimes even mortify. I think I'll share with you a few of these weird news stories.
I saw these three headlines on FoxNews.com today:
I can't really say that the first story is that big of a surprise. Millions of Cuban nationals and people of Cuban descent live in Miami and are hanging on every moment, waiting for the death of Fidel Castro. What caught me off guard, however, was that a city commission in in Miami is in charge of planning an event at the Orange Bowl stadium.
I remember when a few months back I initially heard of the discovery of the so-called "hobbits" - it was very intriguing. The story here is that they may be able to extract DNA from bones that are between 32,000 and 80,000 years old! It's incredible what science can do these days.
As for the final story, well, I'll just let you read the text:
A 12-year-old German boy who insisted he was a girl trapped in a boy's body convinced his parents that something had to be done, so they agreed to allow him to receive a series of hormone injections, making him the youngest sex-change patient in the world, according to published reports Monday.
Now 14, the boy, who went by the name Tim, has now become Kim – a blue-eyed blonde with a growing bust line who is allowed to wear make-up at weekends. Kim has no boyfriends at present but her parents say she is interested in what, now, is the opposite sex.
Her treatment, which has cost more than $40,000, is being funded by German taxpayers. Psychiatrists treating her say she was an ‘exceptional case – a person clearly in the wrong body’, even though the decision to grant her wishes when she was so young is still the subject of intense debate.
Her identity and medical insurance cards have been changed to her new name and sex. |
Okay, I'm not going to say much about this...but it is perhaps one of the most morbidly twisted surprising stories I've ever read.
Roller Coaster of the Day
In light of the apparent news that the SIX FLAGS CORPORATION is apparently disassembling some of the rides at the park in New Orleans, I felt it appropriate to feature some of the rides that were found at the infant park.
This is the final coaster from the shutterred New Orleans park and the only one which I never rode. It was located in the kiddie section of the park, themed after the famous Looney Tunes characters (obviously).
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
January 29, 2007
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Ask and Ye Shall Receive
Some of you (meaning Uncle Todd) have made it obvious to me that he actually reads my site and is just salivating for another update. So...here it is! Today's post will just be a random ramble.
[1] I've bee caught up with Saints fever the entire year and even moreso over the past few weeks. As proof, I purchased two shirts (one which reads "Who Dat" is big letters across the chest while the other is a gold shirt featuing the Saints' Louisiana logo). In addition, I added a "Who Dat" ringtone to my phone and burned even burned a Saints mix CD. Although I was definitely disappointed with the outcome of the Saints/Bears game, I couldn't be more pleased with this season.
[2] Kayla and I made a big purchase on MLK day...a new desktop computer! And I know that you kept telling me that I needed to get one from Dell, but Best Buy had a sale on an HP-Pavillion Media Center desktop featuring an AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor 4200+; 1GB DDR2 SDRAM; 250GB hard drive with a 17" LCD monitor and HP photo printer. So far, I'm pleased with it...it also came with a free upgrade to Windows Vista when the system is released.
[3] Issue three is more serious. Kayla and I recently had to renew our lease. Before renewing, we paid $620/month on a 1-year lease; earlier this month, the office left a flyer on our door stating the new rates. Now normally, for those of you that don't know, a longer lease term equates to a lower monthly payment. Hence, I was shocked to find out that they wanted $650/month for a 6-month lease and $765/month for a 1-year lease. That's right....they want to raise our rent by $145/month! And that's without making any improvements to the property...if anything, it's gotten worse over my 1 1/2 years living here.
The only explanation I have for the strange rates is that the 6-month leases will expire in July...the same time of year that many students at LSU and Southern are apartment hunting. This gives the complex the ability to almost force incredibly high rates in July. Needless to say, Kayla and I opted for the 6-month lease and are now actively searching for a new place: apartment, condo, townhome or house here in the Baton Rouge area. The only catch being that we must give our complex AT LEAST 60 days notice whether or not we intend to renew the lease.
Roller Coaster of the Day
In light of the apparent news that the SIX FLAGS CORPORATION is apparently disassembling some of the rides at the park in New Orleans, I felt it appropriate to feature some of the rides that were found at the infant park.
Of the coasters at Six Flags New Orleans, this is the one I will miss the least. Not because it sucked, actually because there is an identical coaster here in Baton Rouge (and at many other parks around the country). The ride packs a high thrill factor into a very limited amount of space, inverting riders six times through a traditional loop and a cobra roll both forwards and backwards.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
January 22, 2007
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An Apple a Day...
 Today, Apple Computer did what many people longingly expected the company to do: INTRODUCED THE iPHONE. I've looked at the pictures online. Personally, in my opinion, this device will revolutionize the cell phone industry.
Not only is the device a typical cell phone, it is also a digital camera/iPod/wireless web browser/PDA. Big deal? So what? My phone can already get on the Internet....NOT like this one. It features a Safari web browser and allows users to view the same web pages they would from home. And what if the text is too small on the device's screen? You can actually zoom in on any section of a page.
Still not sold? The device is also a full iPod - supporting music AND video files! And, my favorite feature, the device fully supports Google Maps. That's right...no need for those fold-up terrors (are you reading this dad?).
Oh yeah, did I mention that this is all done with a device that boasts only 1 button? That's right....it features a touch-screen that comprises the vast majority of the device's surface. The display automatically brightens and dims based on the lighting of the surrounding environment through the magic of an ambient light sensor (also saving power). The display switches from potrait to landscape thanks to an accellerometer. The device also has numerous other features, too many to mention on here.
If you're anxious (or just interested) to see more....CLICK HERE and scroll down about a fourth of the way down (9:41 am on the list).
Roller Coaster of the Day
In light of the apparent news that the SIX FLAGS CORPORATION is apparently disassembling some of the rides at the park in New Orleans, I felt it appropriate to feature some of the rides that were found at the infant park.
This coaster is the Muskrat Scrambler, a wild mouse type of coaster that is more fun than it looks. Riders feel as though they're going to fall completely off the track and, although the drops are the steepest, fastest or biggest, it gave riders thrills equal to any other ride in the park.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
January 9, 2007
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New Year...Same 'Ol Stuff
Well, Happy New Year to those of you I haven't already talked to. I'm finally back to posting after 2 week hiatus...blame that on Christmas and shopping. But...I'm back and that's all that REALLY matters.
Kayla and I had a really good time Sunday night at Carl's chatting, eating, drinking, watching the Packers tear up the Bears and, of course, the explosives. Already I have ideas as to how we can make next year's Petit Pyrotechnic Extravaganza an impressive show. It will definitely include more Bling, Bling and Matrix fireworks as well as new things that we have yet to try. I look forward to the challenge!
As for football...you HAD to know it was going to come back to that eventually...the playoffs start and we actually have a reason to WATCH! I got to thinking last week about the amazing season the Saints have going right now and how no one in their right mind would have predicted anything close to this. That being said, I also thought about the weekly power rankings updates that Uncle Todd has been giving on THE PETIT PAGES all season and was curious about the Saints' movement in the rankings.
Well, I took the main two ranking lists - SI.com and ESPN.com - and made what I believe to be a good graphic representation of the Saints' movement through both lists. Also, I put together a week-by-week complete ranking for the entire league according to both lists.
Also, I created a line chart that best graphically represents the team's weekly movement in both ranking lists. Hope you enjoy it and find it as interesting as I did...and, before you ask, YES! I had a TON of time on my hands last week.
CLICK HERE to get to my NFL Power Rankings site.
Roller Coaster of the Day
In light of the apparent news that the SIX FLAGS CORPORATION is apparently disassembling some of the rides at the park in New Orleans, I felt it appropriate to feature some of the rides that were found at the infant park.
Today's coaster was one of the latest additions to the park after Six Flags took over. The chain is known world-wide for theming of rides based on DC Comics characters as well as its use of prominent Warner Brothers cartoon characters. After taking over, the park added an entire section themed after DC Comics characters. This is the Batman-themed coaster; the picture shows the ride in the background with some of the theming (most notably the Batmobile) in the foreground. The coaster is an inverted steel coaster and is a mirror image of the original coaster of the same name.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
January 2, 2007
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