Now Look Here

The Sultan's Elephant
"Created by theatrical magicians Royal de Luxe, it was an extraordinary experience for everyone who saw it. The majestic elephant and the little girl giant captured the hearts and minds of thousands of Londoners and visitors, and will live in our hearts and minds for years to come." -- text from The Sultan's Elephant website
The Sultan's Elephant appeared in Calais from September 28 to October 1, and in Le Havre from October 26-29 2006.

It's A Thin Line Between "Tongue Twister" and "Ball Buster"

"This is the true joy in life -- the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."

-- George Bernard Shaw

Ramey:
(addressing a group of professional military officers) Are you a Feminist? Oh...WRONG question. I should have asked 'are you a Father?' When your daughter loses her job to a clearly less-qualified man, you will discover YOU are a feminist.

Now, I like testosterone. Every home should have some. But it becomes damaging as a man gets older. I'm trying to help men live longer, although I'm not sure all of them deserve it.

Yussef:
Did you hear about the Muslim strip club? It features full facial nudity!

What do you say to a Muslim woman with two black eyes? Nothing! You told her twice already!

Because You Can't Make Goat Cheese With A Woman
Sudanese Man Takes Goat Bride After Roll In The Hay

A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his wife, after he was caught having sex with the animal. The goat's owner, Mr. Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders. They ordered the man, Mr. Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr. Alifi.

"We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr. Alifi said. Mr. Alifi, Hai Malakal in Upper Nile State, told the Juba Post newspaper that he heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe with his goat.

"When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?', he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up." Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case. "They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife."

Stolen almost entirely word for word from BBC News

Lancelot Link: Mindless Saturday Morning Fodder... Or The Window Into Our Primoridal Selves?

Mounting evidence suggests that human beings are hard-wired to appreciate music. Now researchers want to know why our ancestors evolved music in the first place.

Researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute, for example, have scanned musicians' brains and found that the "chills" that they feel when they hear stirring passages of music result from activity in the same parts of the brain stimulated by food and sex.

As evidence mounts that we're somehow hard-wired to be musical, some thinkers are turning their attention to the next logical question: How did that come to be? The benefits of our affinity for food (nutrition) and sex (procreation) are easy enough to explain, but music is trickier.

Some suggest that music originated as a way for males to impress and attract females. In many bird species, for example, males sing to impress females. Depending on the species, females will tend toward the males with the broadest repertoire or the most complex or unique songs.

The foremost defender of that model today is GeoffreyiMiller, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico. Miller argues that in prehistoric communities, singing and dancing might have worked-as they do today in some Native American cultures -- as proxies for hunting and warfare. The ability to come up with imaginative melodies and rhythms would connote intelligence and creativity, and the long, arduous dances would be proof of one's endurance-the sort of traits that a choosy female would like to see in her offspring.

Even today, Miller argues, music retains some of its old procreative roots. Looking at 6,000 recent jazz, rock, and classical albums, Miller found that 90 percent were produced by men, and that those male musicians tended to reach their peak musical production around age 30, which he notes, is also the peak of male sexual activity.

Miller points in particular to the example of JimiiHendrix. Miller has written that, despite dying at 27,iHendrix had "sexual liaisons with hundreds of groupies, maintained parallel long-term relationships with at least two women, and fathered at least three children in the United States, Germany, and Sweden. Under ancestral conditions before birth control, he would have fathered many more." To Miller, it was Hendrix'sistatus as a music-maker rather than his fame or charisma that gave him this sexual allure.

Edited from the article byiDrakeiBennettifor the Boston Globe. Read it here in its original, expanded form

Compassion, Mercy, Charity... In Action.
Priest Admits Madonna Bomb Hoax

A 63-year-old Dutch priest has confessed to making a hoax bomb threat in an attempt to stop a concert by US pop star Madonna, prosecutors say.

Her mock re-enactment of the crucifixion in one of the scenes offended some Christians during earlier shows in Italy and Germany. But the concerts in Amsterdam went ahead as planned on Sunday and Monday. A city official said the priest was arrested soon after making the call because he used his home phone. Emergency services quickly traced the number.

Edited from BBC News