Thursday Thirteen

13 News Items that have intrigued Urban Daddy today...



1. 3,000-year-old beehives unearthed in Israel. I'm not sure what about this story intrigues me more, that there were bees 3000 years ago in the "Land of Milk and Honey" or that someone digging was able to identify them as being beehives... How often do you see 3000 year old beehives that you can identify these ones. What did the architects do? Say, hey lets call, Joe, he knows what a 3000 year old beehive looks like.


2. Tenor Luciano Pavarotti dead at 71. Sorry to hear that... Heaven will sound better.


3. Fred Thompson announces candidacy for president – Ice T to be his VP if elected.


4. Early adopters sour over iPhone price cut – Hmmm, sounds like the iPod video problem UrbanMummy had, when she bought the iPod and they lowered the price the next week and came out with a newer design. Nice of the staff to let her know. at least in this case, all the iPhone owners will be receiving a $100.00 credit. I guess it's too late to ask for a credit from the iPod video... Oh well. We'll know to ask next time.


5. Not enough for luxury. $2 million may become the new benchmark for a fancy home in Toronto. Geez. I'll take 2 please.


6. Food additives make children behave badly - Britain’s food watchdog is warning all parents today of a clear link between additives and hyperactive behaviour in children. Research for the Food Standards Agency has established the “deleterious effects” of taking a mixture of artificial extras that are added to drinks, sweets and processed foods. It has led the FSA to issue the advice to parents who believe their children to be hyperactive that they should cut out foods containing the E numbers analysed in the study. But the FSA has been accused of missing an opportunity to protect children and all consumers by failing to impose a deadline on manufacturers to remove additives such as Sunshine Yellow and Tartrazine from their products.


7. Facebook, the hugely popular social networking site, risks provoking anger from its users by opening up details of individuals to the web at large. A new public search feature will soon mean that basic Facebook user profiles — carrying names and photographs of the site’s members — are accessible through search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Hmmm. Good thing I removed all access.



8. Osama Bin Laden arises from the ashes to criticize the British PM's. Who the hell is this guy and why would anyone listen to him anymore? He is a murderer, and a big coward who has resorted to hiding in caves in Afghanistan to avoid capture. Real hero. Brave, brave man. At least Saddam Hussein hid in a well in his own country. Osama bin Jackass has to hide in the rough terrain of a giant sand box called Afghanistan... Respected leader? HA. Big fucking loser, is more like it. I do, however like the fact that his own cave has a nice dressing room in it that allowed him to dye and trim his beard and touch up his complexion. Want to look good to the terrorists he is instructing. Idiot!



9. Major League Baseball officials will investigate reports linking St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel and Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Troy Glaus to performance-enhancing drugs.
The New York Daily News said that Ankiel received a 12- month supply of human growth hormone from a Florida pharmacy in 2004. Sports Illustrated's Web site reported Glaus -- the Most Valuable Player in the 2002 World Series for the Anaheim Angels -- got multiple shipments of steroids from the same supplier. Damn. All this from that idiot Chris Benoit. Hey, if you do the crime you do the time. Send a message to kids who look to these athletes as role models and suspend or fine all these guys for life! Well except Glaus, he's a Blue Jay now. But if he ever gets traded to the Yankees or Red Sox, then it's life. :)


10. The big joke that are the Ontario Liberals have released an election platform that promises big spending initiatives, including billions more on education and health. $14.7 billion, actually. Without raising taxes, or should I say, by telling voters they will not raise taxes but doing it anyways... the Liberal way. Oh! And don't forget the promise of a holiday in February... Oh joy! And free beer for everyone... Desperate times call for desperate measures, eh Dalton?


11. Some girl from some Disney production called High School Musical II or something like that had nude pictures "leaked" onto the Internet. Oh joy! Another role-model in the making. Move over Lindsay and Britany.



12. The parents of a British girl whose disappearance sparked a four-month international search were declared suspects by Portuguese police Friday, their lawyer said. Looks like these 2 pieces of work, both doctors, were found to have traces of blood in their rental car that matches to that of their daughter. Give me a break. Jail awaits these 2 if all the evidence is true. How could they?!? Let alone the act, how could they waste the time of all the locals and their friends looking for this girl if they knew where she was all the time.



13. Federal Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion yesterday leapt to the defence of ideological mentor - and former Canadian Prime Minister - Pierre Trudeau, slamming former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney for his attack on the deceased Liberal icon. Mulroney criticized his former nemesis for his pacifism and opposition to conscription during the Second World War and for wearing a Nazi arm band while Jews and other religions were being murdered in Germany and Poland. But thank goodness the Liberals have this dim light-bulb called Dion, as he said, "That's what he was saying when Mr. Trudeau was alive, now that Mr. Trudeau is no longer around, he wants to revisit what he said? He should argue with himself." Yes, Stephane, he should argue with himself... HUH? What? Errr, ok. Seeking to clarify his position, the Liberal leader said, "If he (Mulroney) is unfair for all the personalities as he has been to Mr. Trudeau, nobody will read his book for very long." Yup. You got it. Bang on Stephane. Whatever you meant to say.

I dread the day this guy becomes PM. Corrupt party. Incompetant leader.