Tux of Borg

I would do the matchups based on the coaches' poll. Number 20 plays number 1, number 19 plays number 2, etc...

I guess I'm in the minority because I prefer to spend Christmas away from my family. Yes, I miss my nieces opening up their presents, but that's it. I hate having meaningless conversations with family members I don't really know. Give me a beer and let me watch my football. I do participate in the giving of Christmas. I send packages to all my friends over seas and donate toys for underprivileged children. This year was easy because I was given a list of what each child wanted. Hopefully I didn't screw up and buy sucky toys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoRxRmZFzOI

Was it Jokers Wild Inc?

If anyone of us got into a position where things became chaotic or out of control by government forces. What would be your most valuable item? I'll say my 9mm.

My Webpage MADD cuts ties with Miss Teen USA Group was ‘disappointed’ by Katie Blair and Tara Conner’s partying LOS ANGELES - Mothers Against Drunk Driving said Wednesday that allegations of illegal underage drinking had led it to sever ties with 18-year-old Katie Blair, the reigning Miss Teen USA. MADD said it was “disappointed” by news reports of hard partying by Blair and Miss USA Tara Conner, who on Tuesday tearfully admitted drinking at New York nightclubs as a minor. Conner turned 21 on Monday. “In the past, MADD has teamed with Miss Teen USA to raise awareness about the serious and often deadly consequences of underage drinking. However, we do not feel, at this time, that Ms. Blair can be an effective spokesperson on underage drinking and will not ask her to represent MADD in future initiatives,” Heidi Castle, a spokeswoman for MADD, said in a statement. Miss Universe Organization spokeswoman Lark-Marie Anton said Blair’s crown also was safe. Anton said the company respected “MADD’s decision as much as we respect their work. We look forward to working with them in the future.” In a story Wednesday in The Billings (Mont.) Gazette, Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization, said “a lot of the stories” of Blair’s activities were unfounded. “I’m sorry that Katie got dragged into this,” Shugart said. “People just wanted to tell a story, and a lot of it is just to see the name of a particular club in the New York papers, whether it’s true or not.” Rosie O’Donnell, co-host of ABC’s “The View,” said on Wednesday’s show that Trump’s news conference with Conner had annoyed her “on a multitude of levels.” “... Left the first wife, had an affair, left the second wife, had an affair. Had kids both times, but he’s the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America,” the comedian-actress said to roars of audience laughter. “Donald, sit and spin my friend.” Trump didn’t immediately respond Wednesday to a phone call from The Associated Press seeking comment about O’Donnell’s remarks.

*bump* TI - What You Know

My Webpage Photo 1 Photo 2 Miss Nevada USA Loses Shirt, Then Title Racy Photos of Katie Rees Found on MySpace.com NEW YORK (Dec. 21) - Miss Nevada USA was stripped of her title Thursday after racy photos of her appeared on the Internet, pageant officials said. Some of the photos show Katie Rees, 22, kissing other young women, exposing one of her breasts and pulling down her pants to show her thong underwear at a party in Tampa, Fla. "Katie Rees has been relieved of her duties as Miss Nevada USA 2007," said Paula M. Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization, which owns the Miss USA pageant and others. Rees' dismissal comes two days after Miss USA Tara Conner was allowed to keep her tiara when she admitted underage drinking at New York bars and agreed to go into rehab and undergo drug testing. Pageant officials couldn't immediately provide a telephone number for Rees and said they didn't know when the photos of her were taken. Shugart made the decision to jettison Rees, but pageant co-owner Donald Trump supported it, said Miss Universe Organization spokeswoman Lark-Marie Anton. Trump, who co-owns Miss Universe with NBC, gave Conner a second chance after meeting with her Tuesday. Trump said Conner, 21, was a good person with a good heart and deserved to keep her title. "I think Tara is going to be the great comeback kid," Trump said during his televised announcement, with a teary-eyed Conner by his side. Apparently, there will be no comeback for Rees, whose reign was truncated because of the photos. Rees has appeared as Miss Nevada USA at charity events such as the Goodie Two Shoe Giveaway, at which underprivileged students received free shoes, backpacks and school supplies. Shugart said first runner-up Helen Salas will assume the title and compete at the next Miss USA pageant on March 23 in Los Angeles.

...having oral sex with his 15 year old girlfriend. Ga. Supreme Court rejects teen’s appeal in sex case 12/16/2006 ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia Supreme Court has turned down an appeal from a teen who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for having sex with a 15-year-old. In a ruling released Friday, the court denied a motion for reconsideration filed by lawyers for Genarlow Wilson, who was 17 when he and the 15-year-old engaged in consensual oral sex. He was sentenced for aggravated child molestation. Wilson’s case was one of two cases that were cited earlier this year when lawmakers passed a law that otherwise strengthened penalties for sex offenders, but reduced the penalty from a felony to a misdemeanor for some teenagers convicted of sodomy. Presiding Justice Carol Hunstein noted that in easing the penalties for teens, ‘‘the Legislature expressly chose not to allow the provisions of the new amendments to affect persons convicted under the previous version of the statute.’’ Hunstein added she was ‘‘very sympathetic to Wilson’s argument regarding the injustice of sentencing this promising young man with good grades and no criminal history to 10 years in prison without parole and a lifetime registration as a sexual offender because he engaged in consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old victim only two years his junior,’’ but said the court was bound the by limits set by the Legislature.

The NHL has put some legal presure on sopcast. I wouldn't be surprised if the NFL follow suit and sends out their own cease and desist letter.

Give him 20 years in an Egyptian run prison.

I woke my roommate up I was laughing so hard. Greatest SNL skit since Lazy Sunday.

Article and Photo Woman Tells Officer She Was Sold 'Bad Crack' PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. -- A North Carolina woman was arrested after complaining to a police officer that the crack cocaine she had just purchased wasn't very good, authorities said. Eloise D. Reaves, 50, walked up to Deputy Jeffery Pedrick at about 11:30 p.m. while he was working a call at a convenience store located at the corner of state Road 20 and state Road 21 in the Hawthorne area of Putnam County. According to police, Reaves told the deputy that a man in the parking lot had sold her bad crack. They said Reaves then took the crack from out of her mouth and placed it on the trunk of the deputy's patrol car, according to a WJXT report. Click here to find out more! Pedrick informed Reaves that if the substance tested positive for cocaine, she would be arrested. When the test came back positive, Reaves complained that it was wax and cocaine mixed, and that she wanted the deputy to make the man give her her money back. Reaves was arrested and booked into the Putnam County Jail and held on $1,504 bond, on which she was later released. Police said the man whom Reaves accused of selling the cocaine was contacted by Pedrick. He denied knowing Reaves and allowed the deputy to search him. The search revealed that he did not have any cocaine or money on him. Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

My Webpage 'No Santa' school teacher axed By ANDREW PARKER A PRIMARY school sacked a woman teacher for telling heartbroken nine-year-olds there is no Father Christmas. Parents were furious when tearful youngsters went home saying they had also been taught elves and fairies did not exist either. The supply teacher, in her 30s, had her contract terminated after complaints to the head. Mum Amanda Piovesana, 30, said her daughter was shocked to be told: “You are old enough to know there is no Santa or fairies. If you ask your parents they will also say there is no such thing.” Amanda said: “It’s taken away the magic.” The mum of another pupil at Boldmere Junior School in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, said: “Everyone is disgusted.” Head Diane Thomas-Wood confirmed: “We have followed up the matter with the agency.”

I thought we agreed yesterday that Cameron Diaz was going to be the hump girl of the day.

House of Pain - Faster Pussycat

The Top 10 Saddest Songs in the World The Verve's hit 'The Drugs Don't Work' has been named the saddest song in a new scientific study. An expert in physiology and music analysed physical reactions to a number of rock and pop songs and deemed the 1997 track to be the saddest ahead of 'Angels' by Robbie Williams. The study, sponsored by Nokia UK, measured heart rate, respiratory response and skin temperature to find the saddest songs. "A slow tempo song like The Verve's 'The Drugs Don't Work' slows down the heart compared to most of the other songs and compared to white noise - in other words, it works like the emotional state of sadness. 'LDN' by Lily Allen was declared the happiest song in the study, followed by Abba's 'Dancing Queen' and REM's 'Shiny Happy People'. The Top 10 Saddest Songs: 1. The Verve - The Drugs Don't Work 2. Robbie Williams - Angels 3. Elton John - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word 4. Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You 5. Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U 6. Will Young - Leave Right Now 7. Elvis Presley - Are You Lonesome Tonight? 8. Christina Aguilera - Beautiful 9. James Blunt - Goodbye My Lover 10. Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees

I think we have a hump girl of the day nominee. Cameron Diaz

Not a fan of current events?

My Webpage Cameron Diaz has come up with a recipe for happiness, and it involves having sex. All the time. She told the Sydney Morning Herald: “Sex is the most amazing stress reliever. I actually think it’s the best thing for everything! I think it should be 100 per cent part of everyone’s life on a day-to-day basis. We’d all be a lot happier! I love being physical, I love to get my heart-rate up and I love sweating. Sex is undoubtedly the best way to do that!”

My Webpage Six Convicted for Infecting 426 Children With HIV By Lamine Ghanmi, Reuters TRIPOLI (Dec. 19) - A Libyan court sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death on Tuesday for deliberately infecting hundreds of children with the virus that causes AIDS, provoking a chorus of Western condemnation. The ruling, the latest episode in what experts say has been a deeply politicized case, could be a setback for Libya's efforts to improve ties with the West. The children's families at the trial hailed the ruling as a welcome act of defiance of the West. "Justice has been done. We are happy," said Subhy Abdullah, whose daughter Mona, 7, died from AIDS contracted at the hospital in the town of Benghazi where the medics worked. "They should be executed quickly," Abdullah told Reuters after the guilty verdicts were announced by Judge Mahmoud Haouissa at the end of a seven-month retrial of the case. In Bulgaria, Polina Dimitrova, a daughter of one of the nurses, Snezhana Dimitrova, told Reuters: "This is such a disgrace. I simply cannot believe such injustice can be done." The six were accused of infecting 426 Libyan children, more than 50 of whom have since died, with HIV at a hospital in Benghazi in the late 1990s. The medics had denied the charge and their defense lawyer said they planned to appeal against their latest conviction. They were first found guilty in a 2004 trial and sentenced to death by firing squad. But the supreme court quashed the ruling last year, citing unspecified failings in the case, and ordered a retrial. European Union Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini said he was shocked and disappointed by the ruling. Amnesty International condemned the decision. Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin said: "The decision is deeply disappointing. The Libyan court did not take into consideration all the proof of the nurses' innocence." Western analysts have said the case is embroiled in power politics and forecast a solution could take many more months. Some analysts suspect Libya is likely to keep the six as bargaining chips until talks yield a financial payout from the international community to appease the children's families. Haouissa did not say how the six should be executed but Libya's preferred method is a firing squad. Relatives of the children attending the hearing broke down in tears at the verdicts, shouting: "God is greatest." Referring to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, relatives shouted: "Go ahead, our falcon, in defiance of the West." The six sat calmly as the verdicts were announced. "The verdicts will change nothing. we are innocent," the Palestinian doctor, Ashraf Alhajouj, told Reuters from behind the bars of the dock. Luc Montagnier, a French doctor who first detected the HIV virus, has said the infections were first present in the Benghazi hospital in 1997, a year before the medics arrived. The case has hampered oil producer Libya's rapprochement with the West, which moved up a gear when it abandoned its pursuit of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in 2003. Washington backs Bulgaria and the European Union in saying the medics are innocent. Tripoli has demanded 10 million euros ($13.11 million) in compensation for each infected child's family. Bulgaria and its allies have rejected this, saying a payout would admit guilt. But they are trying to arrange a fund for treatment at European hospitals for the children. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has reason to free the six, analysts say, because it slows Tripoli's normalization of ties with the West after decades of being an outcast. But freeing the defendants would put the focus on alleged negligence and poor hygiene in Libyan hospitals, which Western scientists say are the real culprits in the case. The EU's Frattini, who has sought greater cooperation with Libya on migration control, said: "My first reaction is great disappointment. I am shocked...I strongly hope that somehow the Libyan authorities will rethink this decision."

*** UPDATE *** UPDATE *** UPDATE *** My Webpage Holdout stuns jurors, forces retrial in puppy death By D.L. BENNETT The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 12/16/06 One juror simply refused to consider whether two brothers were guilty of hogtying a small puppy with duct tape and stuffing it live inside a searing hot gas oven. And, that was enough to save Joshua and Justin Moulder — at least for now. The two brothers, 17 and 19 respectively, faced up to 85 years in prison if convicted on all 11 counts. Instead, Friday the jury found them not guilty on one charge and reported it was hung 11-1 on the others. A retrial was instantly set for Jan. 3. The brothers have been in custody since the Aug. 21 incident. They were returned to Fulton County Jail after the jury's decision. The lone holdout juror left prosecutors, other jurors and the animal advocates who flocked to the trial shocked, bitter and angry. "When they won't even deliberate, it's insane," said District Attorney Paul Howard. "It's really bad that someone would come to a jury deliberately to sabotage a case." Prosecutors, Howard said, would push in January for state lawmakers to pass a law allowing for non-unanimous jury decisions. Beth Haynes of Atlanta, one of the six women on the jury, said the case had holes in it but jurors spent time going over the details and resolved that the two brothers were guilty of the horrific charges against them. One woman, Haynes said, immediately said she wouldn't convict on any charge and refused to budge over two days of deliberations. During testimony, prosecutors in detail explained how the 13-pound, mixed-breed puppy thrashed about inside a gas oven — bouncing its nose, tail, back and feet against the searing metal in a futile attempt to escape. "I cried in the first hours of testimony," Haynes said. "I'm just tired and disappointed now." Stephen Young of Atlanta, the jury foreman, said he was "sick to my stomach" by the jury's inability to convict two young men. "There's not one iota of doubt in my mind they are guilty," Young said. "That's what's so disappointing. I feel like we totally failed the system.' Young described the charges the jury debated as "unbelievable. I can't even fathom who would put a dog in an oven to cook." The case drew interest from animal activists across the country and beyond. Howard received more than 1,600 e-mails from people who mostly applauded him for taking the animal cruelty case seriously. All the charges came from an Aug. 21 rampage at the Englewood Manor apartments in Atlanta. Prosecutors said the young men broke into the newly refurbished center and trashed it — destroying computers, breaking windows, splattering paint around, knocking water fountains off walls and eventually putting duct tape around the snout and legs of a puppy and shoving it inside the center's gas oven. The jurors acquitted the two brothers Friday on one of four child cruelty charges. That charge sprang from a young girl who told prosecutors the Moulders showed her the dog in the oven. But, in court she said she didn't go inside the center and never saw the dog. Chesta Drake, one of the animal lovers who spent the past week in the Fulton courthouse, fought back tears. "I'm stunned," Drake said. "I just don't understand. It was just such a blatantly cruel thing. Now, there's no closure." Not everyone had that reaction. Defense lawyers Timothy Owens and Kevin Schumaker won a partial victory. Their clients weren't convicted. "I've said from the outset the state was overreaching on this case," Owens said. When the verdict finally came, the brothers' father, Jody Horsley, was the only member of their family remaining in court. "I'm happy that things came out better for them," Horsley said.

Don't root for the dolphins to win... root for the Jets to lose. See, that's a lot easier.

My Webpage ***UPDATE*** Puppy torture compared to BTK killings Jury to begin deliberations Thursday in animal cruelty case By D.L. BENNETT The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 12/13/06 An animal expert detailed the final ghastly moments of a three-month old puppy as it thrashed around in a searing hot gas oven gasping for air. Dr. Melinda Merck used four dozen grisly photos of the oven as well as the tiny puppy's burned body as she walked jurors slowly through the dog's painful death. "This darker area is the blood after it's been baked," Merck testified as she pointed to a dark spot on the oven wall. Merck's testimony Wednesday concluded the prosecution's case against Joshua and Justin Moulder, two brothers on trial for animal cruelty and other charges in Fulton County Superior Court. She said the young dog would have been gasping for air inside the hot oven because the duct tape on its muzzle left only a tiny passage free. One nostril was partially exposed, she said, but likely only by the puppy scraping its nose against the hot oven door. Her cross examination will begin shortly after 1:15 p.m. Then, defense lawyers Timothy Owens and Kevin Schumaker get their turn. Both have previously said they plan to present few witnesses. If so, the jury could begin deliberating tomorrow. The brothers face a who litany of charges from a violent spree on Aug. 21. Police say they broke into and trashed the community center at Englewood Manor apartments in Atlanta. They also say the Moulder brothers took a three-month old mixed-breed puppy bound its muzzle and paws with duct tape, dumped beige paint on it and stuffed it live into a hot oven. The case presented by prosecutor Laura Janssen has moved along two paths. On one, prosecutors have laid out the damage done to the center and the torture and death endured by the puppy. On the other, they've tried to tie the Moulders to the scene. With only sketchy physical evidence, the strongest tie to the scene comes from several neighborhood children who say the Moulders not only committed the crimes but showed off their work. Defense lawyers noted the children's testimony varied widely and was filled with contradictions. Merck on Wednesday told the jury two people would have likely been needed to subdue the puppy. And, she went into great detail about the injuries it received thrashing about inside the hot oven as well as the terror it would have felt.

My Webpage Spurrier's Wife Cited for NCAA Violation By PETE IACOBELLI COLUMBIA, S.C. — It's one thing for South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier to read the riot act to an assistant coach for breaking NCAA rules. It's a whole different matter when the offending person is your wife. Spurrier said Friday that his wife, Jerri, unknowingly violated NCAA rules by sending handwritten notes to families of players who had signed with the Gamecocks. It's something she had done for years, wishing the newest players well as they got ready to join the ball coach's teams. She kept up the practice when her husband took over the Gamecocks in November 2004. "She's done it every year in the past. This year's it's a violation, I guess," Spurrier said. The infraction, which the university classified as a "Level II" secondary violation, was among eight secondary violations the school reported that took place between July and December. Two other incidents involved the football program, according to the school. On July 27, an academic department improperly certified degree applicable hours to two student-athletes in football and men's basketball. Then on Nov. 29, the school said a football assistant called a prospective athlete during June and July when such calls could not be made until Sept. 1. The later violation was classified as "Level I," meaning it will go from the Southeastern Conference office to the NCAA enforcement staff for review. South Carolina is currently under a three-year NCAA probation for violations that occurred when Lou Holtz was coach from 1999-2004. Spurrier said the offending assistant, defensive line coach Brad Lawing, had not been on the road recruiting since the end of the season. "A lot of his recruiting responsibilities had been taken away in the last month or so," Spurrier said. Lawing, in his first season on Spurrier's staff, did not want to discuss the violation after practice. Spurrier, known as a head coach who does not tolerate NCAA improprieties, said he made sure Lawing knew not to repeat his mistake. "I don't think he will," Spurrier said. Spurrier characterized Lawing's actions as "careless, lazy, bad decision, whatever." "We don't operate like that," Spurrier said. "It should not happen again." All secondary violations will be sent to the SEC office. The more serious, "Level I" violations then go to the NCAA enforcement staff. The "Level II" violations are turned in to the NCAA at the end of the academic year. Of the rest of South Carolina's reported violations, two involved the volleyball team, and one each involved men's soccer, women's basketball and equestrian. Six of the eight transgressions were categorized as "Level I" while a volleyball student-athlete making free phone calls on an athletic department phone joined Jerri Spurrier as a less-severe, "Level II" violation. Spurrier was asked why anyone might turn in the Gamecocks for a simple note from his wife. "It's easy to turn somebody in. I got turned in for talking to a kid at a high school during a junior recruiting period," Spurrier said. "I did say hello to him, but I didn't give him a recruiting speech. "So anybody can turn anybody in just like anybody can sue anybody in America," Spurrier said.