John Sez: The makers of this brew claim that is 32% alcohol; that’s more than enough to have a bottle knock you right on your ass. And the name is absolutely classic: Tactical Nuclear Penguin.

‘Nuff said.

Story from the BBC:

'World's strongest' beer with 32% strength launched

A controversial Scottish brewery has launched what it described as the world's strongest beer - with a 32% alcohol content.

 Tactical Nuclear Penguin has been unveiled by BrewDog of Fraserburgh.

A warning on the label states: "This is an extremely strong beer; it should be enjoyed in small servings and with an air of aristocratic nonchalance. In exactly the same manner that you would enjoy a fine whisky, a Frank Zappa album or a visit from a friendly yet anxious ghost."

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John Sez: Some interesting footage of a huge meteor coming down in South Africa. Or was it Dr. Evil returning to Earth in his giant Bob’s Big Boy?
 
 
John Sez: I’ve seen these stories popping for quite a few years now. Most often, they are reported on in very local news papers, investigated by people interested in UFOlogy, then decried as conspiracy theories by those who love to shout that term at the top of their lungs. This is one of the few times I’ve seen a story about this subject covered in national media, so I thought I’d share it.

Story from Breitbart:

Bizarre calf mutilations found on Colorado ranch

SAN LUIS, Colo. (AP) - A creepy string of calf mutilations in southern Colorado has a rancher and sheriff's officials mystified. Four calves were found dead in a pasture just north of the New Mexico state line in recent weeks. The dead calves had their skins peeled back and organs cleared from the rib cage. One calf had its tongue removed.

But rancher Manuel Sanchez has found no signs of human attackers, such as footprints or ATV tracks. And there are no signs of an animal attack by a coyote or mountain lion. Usually predators leave pools of blood or drag marks from carrying away the livestock.

Two officers from the Costilla County Sheriff's Office have investigated the mutilations but say they don't know what's killing the calves. "There's nothing really to go by," said Sanchez, who's ranched for nearly 50 years. "I can't figure it out."

A spokesman for the sheriff's office told The Pueblo Chieftain that investigators doubt a person butchered the calves because there is no blood at the scene. "I've butchered a cow before and I know what kind of a mess it leaves," Sgt. James Chavezsaid

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LEGGO MY EGGO...SERIOUSLY
John Sez: A warning to all you folks who have a hankering for those toaster crisped tasties known as EGGO waffles: stock up now, as you might be hard pressed to get your fix in the near future.

Two of the major plants that make the frozen yummies have closed down indefinitely – one due to storm damage and the other for a major overhaul. As a result, according to Kellogg, there will be a nation-wide shortage of EGGO waffles for the foreseeable future.

Just when I thought the world couldn’t get any worse.

Story from CBS:

Kellogg Warns of Eggo Waffle Shortage

Dear Kellogg: Leggo my Eggo!

Kellogg Co. says there will be a nationwide shortage of its popular Eggo frozen waffles until next summer because of interruptions in production at two of the four plants that make them.

The company's Atlanta plant was shut down for an undisclosed period by a September storm that dumped historic amounts of rain in the area. Meanwhile, several production lines at its largest bakery in Rossville, Tenn., are closed indefinitely for repairs, company spokeswoman Kris Charles said in an e-mail.

It will take until the middle of 2010 before shelves around the country are stocked at pre-shutdown levels, Charles said.

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John Sez: Although the title above sounds silly, it briefly sums up a situation which has been brewing in Danvers High School in Massachusetts.

Apparently, the story goes something like this:

School principal, Thomas Murray, came across some information on Facebook which led him to believe that his students had planned a conspiracy to ‘mass-meep’ in one part of the school building. Murray seemed to think that such an action could be a huge detriment to his school (wars have been started for less, right?), so he took immediate and decisive action and notified the parents (via automated phone message)of all students who attend his school that the punishment for uttering the dreaded syllable would be grounds for an immediate suspension.

In an interview with the Salem News, Murray said the matter should be a ‘wake-up call’ to parents about what their kids are up to on social networking sites; to that end he is planning a school forum for parents on the pitfalls of face book.

But wait, there’s more.

New York based attorney, Theodora Michaels, got wind of the story and sent the following letter to administrators at the school:

An open letter to Principal Murray of Danvers High School (MA):

Meep.

Sincerely,
Theodora Michaels

The response from the school was fast and furious. According to Ms. Michaels, she received a reply from Assistant principal Mark Strout which informed her that her ‘meep-mail’ had been forwarded to the Danvers Police Department. In an excerpt from an article about the meeping situation posted on her site, she mused:

“LOLwut? That simultaneously annoyed and amused me enough to write this article. (Plus, my train was late.)

First, apparently this school doesn't know how email works. If they don't like getting emails that say "meep" -- and I'm assuming they got others before they got mine -- it should be a simple matter for the school's IT person to set their email program to filter all external emails that say meep and send them straight into the trash. Then there'd be no need to even look at them, let alone reply to or forward them.

Second, apparently they don't know how the law works. I haven't researched Massachusetts law, but I'm assuming there's no law that would prevent me from sending a single, non-commercial email, containing a single nonsense "word" (but impliedly relating to their work as school officials) to adults at their publicly-posted work emails. And if there were such a law, it would not survive a constitutional challenge. So I don't understand the point of Mr. Strout's email, unless he's hoping to scare me into -- what, not emailing "meep" ever again? Or more generally not criticizing his performance as a school official?

Gee, I'm scared -- maybe the Danvers police will come to NYC to arrest me! I guess they'll also try to extradite people who (I'm guessing) sent emails from other countries. We can be charged with . . . what, first degree meeping? Yeah, good luck with that.

Third, and most important, Messrs. Murray and Strout don't understand human nature. People -- especially teenagers -- don't like following pointless rules. To the point where they'll go out of their way to rebel against them (and I took five seconds out of my busy day), even if said rebellion itself is rather pointless. I get nothing out of saying meep. But I will vigorously defend my -- and others' -- right to say it.”

To say that the whole thing seems absolutely and childishly ludicrous on its face would be an extreme understatement.

I fully understand that school administrators face a great many challenges on a daily basis, ranging from finances, human resource issues, academic issues, and so on. It’s not an easy ship to run, so to speak, and any successful school owes a great debt of gratitude not only to the teachers but to the administrators who oversee the process of education as well. I am also fully aware that sometimes a principal is required to make some decision which may proove unpopular with the student body; the principal is well within his bailiwick to do what is necessary to both protect his students (and teachers) as well as make sure that there is no disruption in the educational process.

With that being said, I am hard pressed to find any grounds to agree with the administrators of Danvers High School. With all the problems that a school can have – drugs, violence, academic underachieving, and so on – this apparently harmless high school prank has been blown way out of proportion. What this principal (who appears to be more than a tad over his head in his position or has a severe case of little-man syndrome, in my opinion) is doing is showing the students that the law of the land is made up of nothing more than arbitrary decisions by men in suits and ties with no questioning or recourse for any decisions made. That’s simply not the way it is or should be, both in or out of school.

And if the principal thinks that this conspiracy to meep is worthy of a lesson to parents on the pitfalls of their children’s use of social networking sites, then my reply is that the principals understanding of the possible dangers of the internet in general are woefully shallow and inadequate for him to make such a broad assumption. While I applaud the fact that he has taken it upon himself to utilize the same technology as his students in order to keep abreast of what is going on with the student body, I have to say that his conclusions are clearly indicative of someone who has only a slim grasp of real and serious concerns over teenagers and the web. And if he is using this argument simply to cover his ass, then he is intentionally marginalizing a subject which should be take very seriously by educators, school administrators, parents as well as students.

Additionally, concerning the threat of ‘law enforcement action’ against Ms. Michaels, this is a clear indication that the administrators are themselves hard pressed to defend their actions  and have to rely on an legally empty threats in order to cajole or frighten someone who decided to let them know that their heavy handed approach is more than a little uncalled for. Additionally, by sending this e-mail on to the local PD, time that could have been spent going after people who have actually broken a law is instead spent on, well, foolishness.

In the future the principal (and his staff) need to take a closer look at the potential aftereffects of their actions. While I don’t expect that a school administrator make all of their decisions with one eye behind them watching their own backs, this napoleon-like posturing (which seems to be little more than an exercise in “Look at me, look at me – I am in charge, look at me!”) has done nothing more than disrupt the student body, made the administrators involved look more like major power-mongering fools concerned with enforcing the respect of their station and less like serious minded educators who have the best interest of the school as their first priority, and have clearly set the stage for an adversarial ‘us vs. them’ attitude between the staff and the students – something that can only become a detriment to the education process for all concerned.

(Thanks to Constitutional Law Scholar, Jonathan Turley, for bringing attention to this story)
 
 
John Sez: An amazing piece of video. BIG pats on the back to the people on the train platform who did their best to flag the oncoming train that there was someone on the tracks, and a HUGE kudos to the train conductor for her quick actions – give that woman a raise.
 
 
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Have you seen this man in your dreams?
John Sez: I came across this site recently which, if the claims are true, is simply mind-blowing.

This blurb is from the site thisman.org:

“In January 2006 in New York, the patient of a well-known psychiatrist draws the face of a man that has been repeatedly appearing in her dreams. In more than one occasion that man has given her advice on her private life. The woman swears she has never met the man in her life.

That portrait lies forgotten on the psychiatrist's desk for a few days until one day another patient recognizes that face and says that the man has often visited him in his dreams. He also claims he has never seen that man in his waking life.

The psychiatrist decides to send the portrait to some of his colleagues that have patients with recurrent dreams. Within a few months, four patients recognize the man as a frequent presence in their own dreams. All the patients refer to him as THIS MAN.

From January 2006 until today, at least 2000 people have claimed they have seen this man in their dreams, in many cities all over the world: Los Angeles, Berlin, Sao Paulo, Tehran, Beijing, Rome, Barcelona, Stockholm, Paris, New Dehli, Moskow etc.

At the moment there is no ascertained relation or common trait among the people that have dreamed of seeing this man. Moreover, no living man has ever been recognized as resembling the man of the portrait by the people who have seen this man in their dreams.”

 Really weird, no?

 In any case, I can say that I personally have not dreamed of this man - but I do have reoccurring nightmares about small, pixie–like beings, with blue hair and breath like Fluffanutter who are trying to tell me some great secret but all I manage to remember is their whispering about an apocalypse, stinky tofu, and something about the Kaiser’s underwear.

If this is not a hoax and what is purported on their site is true, then one has to wonder why so many people are dreaming of this man and exactly why does he keep showing up in their night-time visions.

(Click here to go to thisman.org for more info)
 
 
John Sez: Sometimes, when you are blessed with a name which is somewhat uncommon, when you see your moniker in the news you have to double check to make sure they aren’t talking about you. So, just in case anyone is curious, this is not ME. This is HIM. Not ME-HIM, just HIM-HIM. Capice?

Story from the BBC:

Robber had 'crisis of conscience'

A man who threatened a customer while robbing a shop in Belfast has been sentenced to seven years.

John Crumley, 22, of Lagmore Grove in Dunmurry, was one of two men who robbed Clifton Street petrol station in north Belfast in November 2008. Belfast Crown Court heard that within minutes of that robbery, the men entered a shop on the Antrim Road and held an imitation gun to a man's head. Crumley will spend four years in prison and three on probation.

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John Sez: After all that has happened, including potential contempt of court charges against ‘capt’ Michael for not turning over documents ordered by the AG, this seems like a complete travesty of justice.

My gut feeling is that someone with some power or money pressured the AG to drop this case.

Story from AP (posted on local CBS site):

Montana AG Drops Jail Investigation

MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press Writer

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) ― Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock has dropped his investigation into a California company following its attempted takeover of an empty Montana jail.

The company, American Police Force, had missed a Monday deadline to provide documents sought by Bullock's office after revelations that company founder Michael Hilton had a lengthy criminal background.

But because American Police Force has pulled out of its bid to take over the 464-bed jail in rural Hardin, Bullock said Tuesday he was ending the investigation.

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John Sez: It’s understandable that town hall meetings get a bit hot on some subjects. But when you are a highly educated adult addressing an 11 year old with the purpose of, “I wanted that kid to lose sleep that night”, not only do you lose any creditability you might have, but you also prove your worth as a human being.

Story from the Daily Herald:

Ugly battle has librarians in Oak Brook turning to Teamsters

Telling her mother that she wanted to come to the aid of a library under attack, 11-year-old Sydney Sabbagha stood at the podium before the Oak Brook village board.

"I used to go to the library knowing there were people there to help me find a book. Now there is no one to help me," Sydney said solemnly. "It will never be the same without the people you fired."

Sydney nestled back into her seat, but that didn't stop 69-year-old criminal attorney Constantine "Connie" Xinos from boldly putting her in her place.

"Those who come up here with tears in their eyes talking about the library, put your money where your mouth is," Xinos shot back. He told Sydney and others who spoke against the layoffs of the three full-time staffers (including the head librarian and children's librarian) and two part-timers to stop "whining" and raise the money themselves.

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