Friday, June 30, 2006
Jesus fish was originally a pagan symbol associated with sexuality
For many pop-culture Christians, the "fish" decal on the back car bumper, or attached to a key chain or door is a symbol of their religion, and a feel-good statement about Jesus Christ. Early Christians used the fish as a recognition sign of their religion. It is also identified as the "Ichthus," an acronym from the Greek, "Iesous Christos Theou Uios Soter," or "Jesus Christ the Son of God, Saviour." Oxford English Dictionary (C.E.) defines "Ichthyic" as "of, pertaining to, or characteristic of fishes; the fish world in all its orders."
But contemporary Jesus worshippers might be surprised, even outraged, to learn that one of their preeminent religious symbols antedated the Christian religion, and has its roots in pagan fertility awareness and sexuality. Barbara G. Walker writes in "The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects," that the acronym pertaining to Jesus Christ was a "rationale invented after the fact... Christians simply copied this pagan symbol along with many others." Ichthys was the offspring son of the ancient Sea goddess Atargatis, and was known in various mythic systems as Tirgata, Aphrodite, Pelagia or Delphine. The word also meant "womb" and "dolphin" in some tongues, and representations of this appeared in the depiction of mermaids. The fish also a central element in other stories, including the Goddess of Ephesus (who has a fish amulet covering her genital region), as well as the tale of the fish that swallowed the penis of Osiris, and was also considered a symbol of the vulva of Isis.
Paris Hilton refused discount at Hilton hotel
Paris Hilton has been denied a discount at her own chain of hotels.
During a live interview on a Scottish radio station, the heiress tried to
reserve a room in her own name at the Glasgow Hilton but the booking clerk
refused to give her the corporate rate.
He told the 'House of Wax' star: "There is no discount I can initiate, I'm
afraid".
Instead, he offered the hotel heiress a standard queen-sized room the full
rate of $310 per night.
Another Group Rejects Charity from Hooters
Some of L.A.’s most buxom babes will strut their stuff next month to benefit stray animals, but the city of Los Angeles said Tuesday it is pulling out of the controversial Hooters for Neuters bikini contest. …
“It’s become controversial and offensive to enough people that we’re at a tipping point,” Ed Boks, general manager of animal services, said late Tuesday. “We’re done with the event. …
Woman Fired Because Her Bust Is Too Big
A dancer with the hit Broadway show "Movin' Out" has been fired from the cast, and she says it's because her breast size naturally grew from a C cup to a D cup. Alice Alyse, who was an ensemble dancer on the show's national tour, says her growth spurt occurred while she was on leave last year with an injured big toe and is not due to breast implants or weight gain, reports The Washington Post. She claims it was genetic since her mother developed later in life, too.
When Alyse returned to work after her toe healed, she need new bras sewn into her costume. That's when the trouble started. Alyse claims in her $100 million lawsuit that she was sexually harassed, verbally abused and wrongfully dismissed. She is suing choreographer Twyla Tharp, the production stage manager and the show's producers, who have filed motions to dismiss the case or proceed through arbitration. "I lost my job for reasons that weren't my dancing," Alyse tells the Post. "When they hired me I wasn't flat-chested. I mean, a C means--ya got boobs."
So who is Alice Alyse? Trained as a classical ballerina, the girl who grew up with the name Alice Lewitzke once worked for the Miami City Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet before trying other forms of theater. Post writer Sarah Kaufman describes her this way: "Alice Alyse is quite plainly a bombshell, a knockout: She's slim, leggy and gorgeous, with long, dark hair and a great set of cheekbones. Also, she's stacked." And in the world of dance, having a large bust can be a ticket straight to the unemployment line, which is why many dancers have breast reductions.
9/11 police chief admits taking illicit gifts
A year and a half after his Homeland Security nomination sank over ethics questions, former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik pleaded guilty Friday to charges of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts while he was a top city official.
Kerik was convicted on a pair of misdemeanors in a deal that spared him any jail time. He instead was ordered to pay $221,000 in fines at the 10-minute hearing.
Kerik acknowledged accepting $165,000 worth of renovations on his Bronx apartment from a company attempting to do business with the city -- a New Jersey construction firm with alleged links to the mob. He also admitted failing to report a loan as required by city law.
The plea bargain allows Kerik to continue his new career as a security consultant in the Middle East.
Prosecutors had considered bringing felony bribery charges against him based on allegations that in exchange for the renovations he helped the company, Interstate Industrial Corp., seek business with the city.
Racist mayor abuses office
Tennessee officials are taking the rare step of trying to remove a small-town mayor accused of frequently using racial slurs, including the n-word, and targeting Hispanic drivers for tickets because they are "mostly illegal anyway."
District Attorney General John W. Carney filed the 17-page complaint this week after more than 500 of Coopertown's nearly 3,000 residents brought a petition to him.
The complaint accuses Mayor Danny Crosby of frequently using racial slurs since his election in 2004. In one instance, the complaint said Crosby swore in a new police officer on Martin Luther King Day and said, "Happy James Earl Ray Day," a reference to King's assassin.
Crosby, 52, who has denied the allegations and said he will fight the ouster effort, declined to comment to The Associated Press. He now has 20 days to file an answer to the complaint.
In an interview with The Tennessean, Crosby said the allegations were "full of garbage and lies."
Teen Who Cut Off Corpse's Head To Make Bong Sentenced
A Vermont teenager has been sentenced to prison for breaking into a tomb and cutting the head off a corpse. Nickolas Buckalew, 18, of Morrisville, Vt., pleaded guilty to two charges. One was a felony count of intentionally removing or injuring a tombstone. The other was a felony charge of intentionally disinterring and carrying away the remains of a human body. Buckalew was sentenced to between one and seven years in prison and was given credit for serving 14 months while awaiting trial.
On April 8, 2005, Buckalew broke into a tomb, opened the lid of a casket and cut off the head of a corpse. He stole eyeglasses and a bow tie from the dead man. He then wrapped the head in plastic bags and took it home, The Caledonian-Record reported.
The teen reportedly told friends that he planned to leave the head outside to dry and would then bleach it, a police affidavit said. The witnesses said his plan was to turn the skull into a bong -- a pipe generally used to smoke marijuana. Buckalew went to an apartment where some of his friends were and told them that he had chopped off the head because he was bored, according to The Caledonian-Record.
Transvestite Gang Terrorizes New Orleans
Robyn Lewis, owner of Dark Charm fashion and accessories for women, represents the first line of defense for the Magazine Street shop owners. She is the first to see them come strutting in their pumps down St. Andrew Street, the bewigged pack of thieves who have plagued the Lower Garden District since May.
Like an SOS flare, Lewis grabs her emergency phone list and starts calling.
“They’re coming,” she warns Eric Ogle a salesman at Vegas, a block down Magazine Street. Ogle, who was terrorized by the brazen crew two months earlier, alerts neighboring Winky’s where manager Kendra Bonga braces for the onslaught.
Soon every shop owner in the 2000 block of Magazine Street has been alerted.
Sarah Celino at Trashy Diva eyes the door, ready to flip the lock at the first sight of the ringleader’s pink jumpsuit and fluorescent red wig.
Down at Turncoats, where the fashion-happy gang once made off with more than $2,000 in merchandise, store manager Wes Davis stands ready.
Davis said it wasn’t supposed to be like this. They survived Hurricane Katrina’s Category 3 winds and the ensuing looters. They reopened despite the long odds of doing business in a devastated city. The last thing the Magazine Street shop owners expected to threaten their survival was a crime ring of transvestites.
“They’re fearless,” said Ogle. “Once they see something they like they won’t stop until they have it. They don’t care, they’ll go to jail. It’s really gotten bad. You know it’s ridiculous when everyone on the block knows who they are.”
Things I've learned from my boys
The following came from an anonymous Mother in Austin, Texas.
Things I've learned from my Boys (honest and not kidding):
1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.
2.) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.
3.) A 3-year old Boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.
4.) If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.
5.) You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
6.) The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
7.) When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh", it's already too late.
8.) Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.
9.) A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old man says they can only do it in the movies.
10.) Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old Boy.
Full List Here
Things I've learned from my Boys (honest and not kidding):
1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.
2.) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.
3.) A 3-year old Boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.
4.) If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.
5.) You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
6.) The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
7.) When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh", it's already too late.
8.) Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.
9.) A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old man says they can only do it in the movies.
10.) Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old Boy.
Wesley Willis
My cousin and I send each other a lot of cds through the mail. He lives in denver and i live in wichita and we are always trying to find new fucked up bands. I was recently going through a batch of discs he sent me and i came across 1 by Wesley Willis the first words that came to mind were What in the fuck is this. So i did a little research and i found this article.
When you're listening to the radio, do you ever stop to think about how few songs are played by obese schizophrenic black musicians from the streets of Chicago? I know that I think about this all of the time. The airwaves are cluttered with alternative rock, rap, and R&B; meanwhile, the "obese schizophrenic" musical genre is severely underrepresented. That's why everyone should start calling their local radio station and requesting songs by Wesley Willis.
Wesley Willis is 6 foot 5, weighs between 300 and 350 pounds, and likes to greet people with a headbutt. Shortly after he made his first album, he was diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia, and he now claims to have "schizophrenia demons" in his head that take him off of his "harmony joy rides" to put him on "torture hell rides".
Never heard of Willis before? Until recently, no one had. He lived on the streets of Chicago, homeless, selling his city landscape line drawings and playing music on his late 80's Casio keyboard from K-Mart. After saving for a while, he pulled together the money to cut a few albums, and suddenly his musical career took off. Willis was "discovered", and is now an artist under Dino Paredes and the major record label American Recordings. He has released at least 20 albums as a solo artist and with his punk rock band, the Wesley Willis Fiasco, and has over 400 songs in circulation.
Falwell on the "moral perverts" in Hollywood:
From Falwell's June 25 sermon at the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he serves as senior pastor:
FALWELL: Illicit sex today. Today the world has gone sex crazy. Illicit sex has become the downfall of many in the Bible. Movie stars not married to each other, having babies and making headlines all over the world as though they were doing some great thing. Big deal! Just another moral pervert. And for them to become heroes for our kids. My wife and I will be married 49 years the next anniversary. And don't, don't ever be proud of sin. You know, you almost got to be a homosexual to be recognized in the entertainment industry anymore. Ellen [Degeneres], and all the rest. I love them, pray for their souls, but they're immoral. And the Hollywood scene -- five and eight and 10 marriages -- not something to be emulated.
NBA Player Watching Porn, Drunk Before Crash
Timberwolves center Eddie Griffin was drunk and masturbating when he crashed his luxury SUV into a parked Suburban outside a store in Minneapolis, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by the man whose Suburban was hit in the crash.
WCCO-TV obtained copies of 911 calls and store surveillance video of the incident, along with an accident report the police submitted to the state, reports WCCO-TV's Caroline Lowe.
Several of the 911 callers that night said Griffin was drunk. One witness said Griffin told him he was watching pornography in a DVD player mounted on the dashboard of his Cadillac Escalade SUV when he struck a Chevy Suburban parked on University Avenue Southeast.
The location where Griffin crashed is located a couple miles from the Target Center where Griffin had played with his team several hours earlier.
Abed Hassuneh, who is the brother of the victim, said Griffin told him, "That he was masturbating himself going down that street. That's how the accident happened because he was not paying attention. He's paying attention to that video and all of a sudden he's shoveled somebody's car on the top of the sidewalk."
Operation removes lightbulb from anus
Fateh Mohammad, a prison inmate in Pakistan, says he woke up last weekend with a glass lightbulb in his anus.
Wednesday night, doctors brought Mohammad's misery to an end after a one-and-a-half hour operation to remove the object.
"Thanks Allah, now I feel comfort. Today, I had my breakfast. I was just drinking water, nothing else," Mohammad, a grey-beared man in his mid-40s, told Reuters from a hospital bed in the southern central city of Multan.
"We had to take it out intact," said Dr. Farrukh Aftab at Nishtar Hospital. "Had it been broken inside, it would be a very very complicated situation."
Mohammad, who is serving a four-year sentence for making liquor, prohibited for Muslims, said he was shocked when he was first told the cause of his discomfort. He swears he didn't know the bulb was there.
"When I woke up I felt a pain in my lower abdomen, but later in hospital, they told me this," Mohammad said.
"I don't know who did this to me. Police or other prisoners."
The doctor treating Mohammad said he'd never encountered anything like it before, and doubted the felon's story that someone had drugged him and inserted the bulb while he was comatose.