"Real Men of Genius"

[rinselberg]

By Marc Fisher, Metro columnist to the Washington Post
Thursday, April 26, 2007

When the neighborhood dry cleaner misplaced Roy Pearson's pants, he took action. He complained. He demanded compensation. And then he sued. Man, did he sue. Two years, thousands of pages of legal documents and many hundreds of hours of investigative work later, Pearson is seeking to make Custom Cleaners pay -- would you believe more than the payroll of the entire Washington Nationals baseball roster?

Pearson says he deserves millions for the damages he suffered by not getting his pants back, for his litigation costs, for "mental suffering, inconvenience and discomfort," for the value of the time he has spent on the lawsuit, for leasing a car every weekend for 10 years and for a replacement suit, according to court papers.

Pearson is demanding $65,462,500. The original alteration work on the pants cost $10.50.

By the way, Pearson is a lawyer. Okay, you probably figured that. But get this: He's a judge, too -- an administrative law judge for the District of Columbia.

I'm telling you, they need to start selling tickets down at the courthouse.

How does he get to $65 million? The District's consumer protection law provides for damages of $1,500 per violation per day. Pearson started multiplying: 12 violations over 1,200 days, times three defendants. A pant leg here, a pant leg there, and soon, you're talking $65 million.

Fisher concludes with:

In a closet of a lawyer's office in downtown Washington, there is a pair of gray wool pants, waiting to be picked up by Roy Pearson. "We believe the pants are his ... the tag matches his receipt."

View the column in the Washington Post




... to Beer Of The Day

[rinselberg]

Applicant for driver's license fails road test but gets a DUI - blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/...nse_road_test/


Could that next step up the career ladder get you in "over your head"? Explore this topic under the new post title An Inconvenient Promotion.

[rinselberg]

The minor league Chattanooga Lookouts beat the visiting Mississippi Braves 7-6 on Friday, but the fans (4240 in attendance) will remember Braves manager Phil Wellman's Vaudeville act long after they've forgotten anything else they saw that night.

Wellman was ejected in the bottom of the third after getting into it with the home plate umpire over some strike calls against Braves batters.

His tempermental stage exit was dramatic by any standard - a true "major league" performance.

YouTube has the video.

The Chattanoogan and the Chattanooga Times Free Press offer written accounts of Wellman's highly imaginative floorshow.

"This Bud's for you ..."



Who is this man? Find out at OptiBoard's Word Of The Day!

[rinselberg]

The newly opened Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky features a library of video clips to illustrate the Biblical story of creation, but there's one video that isn't being shown to visitors anymore - until or unless the museum's "powers that be" change their minds about it.

Records show that Eric Linden, who portrays Adam taking his first breath [in the Garden of Eden] in a [brief video clip] at the newly opened Creation Museum ... owned a website called "Bedroom Acrobat" [where he was pictured] ... alongside a drag queen, in a T-shirt brandishing [a] sexually suggestive logo.

Linden, a graphic designer, model and actor, also sells clothing for SFX International, whose mascot promotes "free love, pleasure and Thrillz".

The museum's operators, informed ... by The Associated Press of Linden's online [history], acted swiftly to suspend airing of the 40-second video in which he appears.

The [segment] is one of 55 [such video clips] featured on tours of the museum, which tells the Bible's version of [Genesis], that the [Earth and all of its creatures] were created [by God] in [a span of seven days that occurred] just a few thousand years ago.

"We are currently investigating the veracity of these ... claims of ... projects that don't align with the biblical standards and moral code upon which the ministry was founded," Answers for Genesis spokesman Mark Looy said in an e-mail ...

There are those who are casting a jaundiced eye on this new educational venue that's a short highway drive from the Cincinnati area.

Although the grizzled ghost of Charles Darwin casts no shadow on the grounds of Kentucky's Creation Museum, you can still find Darwin at the Laramy-K online forum under the new post title "Irreducible Complexity" is reduced by one.

Join the debate about Darwinian Evolution and Intelligent Design at one of these reputable venues ...

• OptiBoard: Intelligent Design vs. Evolution
• Laramy-K Optical: Was Charles Darwin "right" ..?

The banal awfulness of the Reliable Sources ...

MSNBC Countdown
Signs and Blunders
Louisville Courier-Journal online

[rinselberg]

Updated: 3:43 p.m. PT June 22, 2007

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - Two Army paratroopers are in jail, accused of selling drugs and body armor to an undercover FBI agent who also was offered a military Humvee and a 105 mm howitzer ...

A 105 millimeter howitzer? Sounds kind of suspicious to me. Is that how you "pimp your ride" in North Carolina ..?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19374544/



Could that next step up the career ladder get you in "over your head"? Explore this topic under the new post title An Inconvenient Promotion.

[chip anderson]

Strange fact:
Charles Darwin believed in God (Yeah the one Moses believed in) he also believed in creationism, just thought the bibical account too simplified. Wrote that he deeply regreted publishing his findings as it might cause some not to believe in God.
Chip;)

[rinselberg]

[youtube]PLjUlVoVWNI[/youtube]

Kent Couch lifts off from his Stop'N'Go gas station in Bend, Oregon on July 7 in a lawn chair tied to 105 helium balloons. He traveled at altitudes reaching 15,400 feet, covering 193 miles, before landing 9 hours later in a field outside of Union, Oregon.

Video runs 04 min 30 sec and includes sound and footage shot from nearby passenger plane.

Brandon Wilcox, owner of Professional Air, which charters and maintains planes at the Bend airport, said Thursday that Couch definitely did it. Wilcox said he flew a plane nearby while Couch traveled, and a passenger videotaped the flying lawn chair.

Credit: TV.com ...

Whether Couch will take a third trip is up to his wife, and Susan Couch said she’s thinking about saying no. But she said she was willing to go along with last weekend’s trip. “I know he’d be thinking about it more and more, it would always be on his mind,” she said. “This way, at least he’s fulfilled his dream.”

Complete report online at MSNBC, CNN and LiveScience.

The Official Kent Couch Cluster Balloon Web Site




OptiBoard's panel of experts tries thinking "outside of the box" about the threat of international terrorism. Join the discussion at It's a start and Wrong route to stop terrorism?

[rinselberg]

Talk about "needing a smoke" ... a high speed police chase ended in Phoenix on Tuesday after the suspect stopped at a gas station, ran inside, waved a $20 bill at the clerk saying "keep the change" and emerged with a pack of cigarettes. The police, being cautious, were not close enough to end the chase at that point. The suspect got back into his pickup and sped away. After a few more minutes the suspect pulled over and surrendered without further incident.

It's clear from the video that the suspect wasn't smoking as he emerged from the vehicle to surrender.

The report doesn't say if he tried to smoke during the chase.

News story with video:
http://www.kpho.com/news/13747193/detail.html

[rinselberg]

Attempted exorcism ends in man’s death
Police use stun guns on grandfather seen choking 3-year-old girl

Updated: 4:32 p.m. PT July 29, 2007
PHOENIX - Officers responding to a report of an exorcism on a young girl found her grandfather choking her and used stun guns to subdue the man, who later died, authorities said Sunday.

The 3-year-old girl and her mother, who was also in the room during the struggle between [the 49-year-old grandfather] and officers, were hospitalized, police said. Their condition was unavailable.

For the complete MSNBC report with video:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20027027/


Phoenix again? See the post just one back from this one ... Another Darwin Award winner here, for sure ... I never saw The Exorcist (Can you believe that? OK, it is Rinsel, afterall ...) but I wonder if there isn't some lingering influence from that movie(?)

[MOVEL]Are you reading more posts and enjoying it less?[/MOVEL]

Mission . Soundtrack . RealMenOfGenius . RadioFreeRinsel

[DragonLensmanWV]

Strange fact:
Charles Darwin believed in God (Yeah the one Moses believed in) he also believed in creationism, just thought the bibical account too simplified. Wrote that he deeply regreted publishing his findings as it might cause some not to believe in God.
Chip;)

Even more curious:
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/darwin.html

[DragonLensmanWV]

[youtube]PLjUlVoVWNI[/youtube]

Kent Couch lifts off from his Stop'N'Go gas station in Bend, Oregon on July 7 in a lawn chair tied to 105 helium balloons. He traveled at altitudes reaching 15,400 feet, covering 193 miles, before landing 9 hours later in a field outside of Union, Oregon.

Video runs 04 min 30 sec and includes sound and footage shot from nearby passenger plane.





Credit: TV.com ...



Complete report online at MSNBC, CNN and LiveScience.

The Official Kent Couch Cluster Balloon Web Site





OptiBoard's panel of experts tries thinking "outside of the box" about the threat of international terrorism. Join the discussion at It's a start and Wrong route to stop terrorism?

They confirmed it was really possible on Mythbusters also, even though it was really known that it had occurred.

[rinselberg]

REUTERS
Updated: 2:54 a.m. PT Aug 8, 2007
MOSCOW - A crocodile survived a fall from the 12th floor of a Russian apartment block after making an escape bid from a window, emergency services said on Wednesday.

Diving out of the window has become a habit for the crocodile, called Khenar, with concerned neighbors saying it was the third time it had used that method to escape ...


Yo' Ivan! Time to lose that walking leather factory ... or find a ground floor apartment.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20172999/

[rinselberg]

"Snakes On A Plane" - it's not just a movie!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/...n3159296.shtml


Must be "reptiles month" ... see the post right before this one.



Who's your prehistoric Daddy? See the latest rinselberg™ T. rex production ...
http://www.optiboard.com/forums/show...8&postcount=12

[rinselberg]

Max: Well, how do you like this, 99? The Craw, one of the great master criminals of all time, working in a Chinese laundry.

The Craw: No, Mr. Smart. Operating a chain of Chinese laundries across the nation where KAOS agents receive and pass on stolen information.

Max: A spy network.

Bobo: The spy network is just a front. The real money is in the laundry.

CONTROL's alluring female Agent 99 and doofus Agent 86 (Maxwell Smart) confront The Craw and his criminal sidekick Bobo in an episode of "Get Smart", TV's celebrated comedy spy series, that aired from 1965 to 1970.

Fast forward to this:

"Hezbollah-branded" tee-shirts, key rings, coffee mugs, cigarette lighters and pencil cases (just some of the recent offerings) for sale at Hezbollah "gift shops" in Lebanon, like the one in Baalbek. And oh yes - items may be paid for with U.S. currency.

Just two days ago, Hezbollah's Internet Division rolled out its new flagship retail product, "Special Force 2", a first-person video game based on the Genesis 3D video game engine. The object of the game, which can be played in Arabic, English, French or Farsi (Iranian), is to use simulations of the weapons that Hezbollah militiamen used in the 2006 conflict to "target and destroy" simulated Israeli tanks, aircraft, helicopters and warships. Points are accumulated by "neutralizing" Israeli Defense Force personnel. Uh, make that simulated Israeli Defense Force personnel



The new video game was revealed at a swag party for journalists in one of south Beirut's solidly Shiite neighborhoods. And what was the swag? According to MSNBC, journalists received free "Sheik Nasrallah" scent tags. Hang one from the rearview mirror for that "new car smell".

Personally, I find these reports rather encouraging. Maybe they'll get taken with the idea of selling merchandise for a profit to the point where they would be loathe to see good business disrupted by the inconveniences of yet another war ...


Sources:
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archi...16/320076.aspx
http://www.reuters.com/article/techn...070816?sp=true
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4ktvNztwsY

[rinselberg]

And today's nominee is Colonel-General Alexander Rukshin, a deputy chief of the Russian military’s General Staff - or an unidentified someone at Russia's Channel One television station, who came up with this gem:

Commenting on a recent test by the Russian military, which claims to have developed the world's most powerful non-nuclear bomb, Russia's Channel One TV said the new weapon, nicknamed the "dad of all bombs," is four times more powerful than the U.S. "mother of all bombs." "The tests have shown that the new air-delivered ordnance is comparable to a nuclear weapon in its efficiency and capability," said Colonel-General Rukshin.



Say how'dya'do to "Dad" ... Channel One / AP.

Unlike a nuclear weapon, the bomb doesn’t hurt the environment, [Rukshin] added.

Doesn't hurt whose environment ... I think I'm taking the NIMBY attitude on this, if you know what I mean ...


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20730691

[chip anderson]

Mon Sep 10, 5:35 PM ET


ERIE, Pa. - An Erie cancer researcher has found a way to burn salt water, a novel invention that is being touted by one chemist as the "most remarkable" water science discovery in a century.
ADVERTISEMENT

John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn.
The discovery has scientists excited by the prospect of using salt water, the most abundant resource on earth, as a fuel.
Rustum Roy, a Penn State University chemist, has held demonstrations at his State College lab to confirm his own observations.
The radio frequencies act to weaken the bonds between the elements that make up salt water, releasing the hydrogen, Roy said. Once ignited, the hydrogen will burn as long as it is exposed to the frequencies, he said.
The discovery is "the most remarkable in water science in 100 years," Roy said.

[rinselberg]

[youtube]4kKtKSEQBeI[/youtube]

John Kanzius demonstrates his innovative "salt water burning technology".

For more:
http://green.yahoo.com/index.php?q=node/1570


Thanks to OptiBoard's Chip Anderson for the "scoop".

[rinselberg]

The Darwin Awards "salute the improvement of the human gene pool by honoring those who accidentally remove themselves from it ..."

What do you get when you combine a rattlesnake "enthusiast", a few friends, a few beers, nothing better to do and a pet rattlesnake?

A Darwin Award!

Not quite. "Close, but no cigar", as the saying goes. Prompt medical intervention saved this Oregon man's life - better for him, not so good for the ever-evolving human genome.

The Portland resident put his pet rattlesnake inside his mouth to demonstrate how "safe" he felt in the snake's company. The snake bit his tongue. Doctors say he received enough rattlesnake venom to kill him 10 times over.

Tucson's Fox 11 News has the story - and the video! If you'd like to go straight to the video, try Philadelphia's NBC 10, which played more smoothly on my rig (Mac, Safari, DSL ...)

You can also play the video via MSNBC.

Caution: It's not pretty.

[rinselberg]

My OptiBoard "Real Men of Genius" posts owe their inspiration (needless to say) to the celebrated Bud Light "Real Men of Genius" radio spots.

Today's selection speaks for itself!

[gemstone]

Doesn't hurt whose environment ... I think I'm taking the NIMBY attitude on this, if you know what I mean ...


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20730691

A GREEN bomb. But Not Norman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUBfw...related&search=

[rinselberg]

Al Qaeda's Number Two ready to "Meet The Press" ...

Like me, I'm sure you're filled with questions for Al Qaeda deputy dog Ayman al-Zahwahiri: Why are you so p*ssed off? What's your next diabolical plot? Where can a Predator deliver a little present to you right now? And what's up with that big ol' splotch on your forehead?

Well, now here's your chance to ask 'em all. The public, "have been asked to send in their questions for the terror network's second in command, which he will then answer in an online interview next month," Australia's News.com informs us ...

December 17, 2007
Noah Shachtman; Wired.com




"Ask Ayman" is the latest Internet venture from Al Qaeda.

I couldn't find the website where, according to the reports, anyone could submit a question to what Al Qaeda is calling an "open meeting with individuals, organizations and media outlets". But if you post your question Wired.com states (in truth or in jest, I know not) that they will try to forward it. You can see what readers have already posted after the story.


What's more fun than a barrel of fatwas? How about OptiBoarders weighing in on the CIA waterboardings of terror suspects . . . "Git" some here.

[rinselberg]

Remember the Blue Man Group..? They were in vogue several years ago. Like a revved-up mime troupe. Stage performances. TV spots for Intel and some of the other big names in consumer products.

Meet the real Blue Man: Paul Karason (left).



About 14 years ago, Karason started treating his various ailments by drinking colloidal silver--silver, in a liquid suspension--after reading about it in a magazine ad. When he put it on his face to treat a severe case of dermatitis, his skin turned blue. The condition, called "argyria", is a result of the silver concentration in his skin. The silver has reacted with light, much like the silver compounds used in various photographic films.

The FDA banned the sale of over-the-counter silver cures in 1999. Karason, however, is still drinking a cocktail of silver suspended in distilled water, which he makes at home using electrolysis and metallic silver. He figures he can live with his blue looking skin longer--or at least, better--than with the ailments that he believes his silver remedy is curing him of.

For more, including additional photos and video, see the MSNBC Today Show on line; also Baltimore's WMAR ABC2 NETCAST.

[rinselberg]

Jazz pianist Yosuke Yamas(h)ita--there's supposed to be an "h" in that last name, but OptiBoard's naughty word censor doesn't like it--plays a "hot" keyboard arrangement at a beach setting in Japan. He was showing his appreciation for an old grand piano that he no longer uses. Yamas(h)ita did the same thing as a stunt for a movie in 1973.

Select ("click") the photo for video and soundtrack of what is (understandably) a fairly brief performance.


Credits: Japan Today; BBC News.

[chip anderson]

It's not a new trick Jerry Lee Lewis did this in 1956. Made him an instant rock star.

Chip

[jediron1]

Jazz pianist Yosuke Yamas(h)ita--there's supposed to be an "h" in that last name, but OptiBoard's naughty word censor doesn't like it--plays a "hot" keyboard arrangement at a beach setting in Japan. He was showing his appreciation for an old grand piano that he no longer uses. Yamas(h)ita did the same thing as a stunt for a movie in 1973.

Select ("click") the photo for video and soundtrack of what is (understandably) a fairly brief performance.


Credits: Japan Today; BBC News.

I like one Jimi H. did at Monterey Pop when he lite his guitar on fire! I believe it was Monterey.