h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

That Mokawk saint story is quite distressing
on so many levels. Not the least of which is
the quite plausible 'glorification' of her scar
tissue via some medical or maturation process
we will never figure out so long as it is being
dismissed as mythical god magic of some sort.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Montreal area the
mob is gradually decimating rival gangs:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2011/12/18/laval-shooting-bar.html


~jwf~

I agree, ~ jwf ~. The story about Kateri Tekakwitha is pregnant with troubling associations/implications/connotations. I find myself deeply saddened by it and at the same time deeply() uplifted. Whatever we may think of her world view (as we imagine it), surely sainthood would have been an honour beyond her wildest dreams. I expect the people of Kahnawake are have some pretty conflicting feelings this evening.





and one can't help but wonder if the timing has anything to do with the reputation of the Church now that the history of the Residential Schools is so well known.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16253205

Government finally cotton on to something the "loony libs" have been saying for years. HMRC make stupid statements to try and absolve themselves of blame.

This is sad. Former Miss Venezuela dies of breast cancer aged 28

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/20/miss-venezuela-dies-breast-cancer

A Jack Daniels branding iron... What could possibly go wrong, I wonder?

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/bourbon-branding-brain-snap/story-e6frg153-1226224707250

And here's the vid - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T40xPIq_Qxs

What a .

I sat open mouthed in disbelief that he would be stupid enough AND that there was another person in the world stupid enough to do it to him. AND that they both live in the same country!

PP

That post seems the perfect introduction to this news story:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/tv-hosts-dine-flesh-front-studio-audience-article-1.994098

Two TV-hosts eat each others cooked flesh.

the "cannibalism" story: meh It seems sort as big a deal as chewing each other's nails or, dare I say, oral sex. I don't particularly want to watch those on television, either.



And, the branding story: idiotic? certainly.

But . . .


it's just one point on a spectrum of mutilation which includes circumcision, female genital mutilation, penis perforation, sub-incision, ear- and other bit-piercing, tattoos, tooth filing, breast implants, liposuction . . .

I've never understood why anyone would want to mutilate themselves or allow themselves to be mutilated by others or want to mutilate others, but it seems to be pretty normal human behaviour.

I wouldn't do any of it, myself.




And I don't understand why others do it, from tattoos and piercings on up. They all strike me as equally idiotic.

Buy a Satellite dish and get a gun for free http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370953/Buy-gun-free-Radio-Shack-Montana-offering-free-firearm-sign-Dish-Network-TV.html
Buy a Solar Panel and get a gun for free http://consumerist.com/2010/06/buy-solar-power-system-get-free-gun.html
Buy a car and get a gun for free http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7416120.stm
Buy a truck and get an AK-47 for free http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8134804/Buy-a-truck-get-a-free-AK-47-used-car-dealership-launches-unusual-promotion.html

Was the Lacoste Elysée Photography Prize censored?

http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2134127/lacoste-elysee-photography-prize-censored

" Five Polish soldiers were killed Wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded in eastern Afghanistan . . .

It was the deadliest single attack for the Polish military in Afghanistan"

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/12/21/5-polish-troops-killed-in-east-afghanistan/?test=latestnews#ixzz1hBMoEfU0

Ref post 12570
I guess it depends what society deems a norm.
My wife does not have pierced ears and I got her a pearl necklace and earrings for Christmas.
However the earrings were for pierced ears so I took them to the leading jeweler in the area and said can you rework these pearls into ear clips so my wife can wear them. After checking a manual for a couple minutes he said sorry- can't do that.
And every pair of earrings I see on display are for pierced ears.
I ended up throwing the pearl earrings in the trash outside the jewelry store and just wrapping the necklace.

"can't do that."

Trans: I can't be bothered and wouldn't be able to charge you enough to make it worth my while.

Welcome to Kim Jong Il's creative writing Workshop 101 .

http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/12/20/writing-for-commies-7-tips-from-kim-jong-ils-1986-treatise-on-literature-2/#learn-to-write-the-kim-jong-il-way

Ouch!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-16288257

"A juror who pretended he was sick so he could go to a West End musical has been jailed for two weeks.

Matthew Banks, 19, told officials at Manchester Crown Court he was ill but he had actually gone to London to watch Chicago. Judge Martin Rudland labelled the student "frivolous" and ordered he served a 14-day sentence at a Young Offenders' Institution."

Paraguay bans ships from the Falkland Islands.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16280613

That'll be Paraguay the landlocked South American country then?

Difficulties in Pakistan - Military no longer support Civilian Government http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16217679

Woman swallows felt tipped pen and when it was removed from her stomach 25 years later it still worked.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-16301186

They don't make them like that any more. After a week in the back of my desk drawer I usually have a useless stick of plastic!

PP