DeLaWho? DeLaWhat? DeLaWhere?

Taken from BBC

Frustrated chimp takes up smoking

Feili smokes at her zoo in Henan, central China, August 24,2004

Sexual frustration has driven a mild-mannered chimpanzee to take up smoking and spitting, according to China's Xinhua news agency.

Feili, 13, has turned from a "gentle girl" into a "shrew", said Liu Bing, the director of her zoo in Zhengzhou, central Henan province.

Mr Liu said Feili's partner at the zoo was 28 years her senior, and was unable "to meet her sexual demands".

Feili was not addicted to nicotine, he said, but was just imitating tourists.

However, she does appear to be quite keen on smoking - and has been known to resort to desperate measures to get what she wants.

Xinhua reported that Feili became excited when she saw a visitor light up a cigarette, and grew impatient when they showed no sign of giving it to her.

It quoted one boy visiting the zoo as saying: "Just now a tourist threw a cigarette butt to just outside the cage - she tried to get the butt with a stick."

For the past week and a half or so, I have wandered around the great state of Ohio and down into Kentucky as well. It was quite a way to send off the summer. On Thursday, my father and I drove out to Hebron, OH. With my friends wedding quickly approaching on Saturday, I stopped by Granville and had a filling breakfast at Aladdin before heading off to Cincy to stay with my friend Zach. That friday night, Zach and I visited some of his friends at Xavier. Tagging along was Zach's friend from high school, Sam. The next morning Zach and I drove back down 71 to Grove City to attend our friend's wedding. It was a weird and joyful sensation to see one of my friends of a similar age. Some of my friends commented that seeing a fellow 20 year old getting married made them feel immature...I disagree...I think we simply are at different points in our lives. You cant constantly compare yourself with others. The end of the wedding signaled the real fun...a reception and the subsequent hotel party. After a confusing and fun night, Zach and I made our way back to the Nati. Sunday...the day usually associated with rest was...well, used for just that. Our weary bodies needed rest. By this time, I was edging closer to the 1 K mark on my odometer for the trip. On Monday, we visited a couple of Zach's friends at UC, with Sam (this second trip sprung the series of "The Zany Adventures of Sam, Zach, and Ivan"....What will they do next?) The next two days brought on two amazing and opposing landscapes. Tuesday night, using Zach's connections...we found our way into the Pavilion, a bar up on Mount Adams in Cincy. Famous for it's patio overlooking the Cincinnati and over the River to Kentucky. It was an amazing nighttime skyline view of Cincy. The next day, we (Zach, Sam, and I) drove down to Morehead in Appalachians of Kentucky. On the trip down to Morehead, we made a right on Best Pal Lane on our way to Arby's. Morehead was in the middle of nowhere...and it was amazing. With the guidance of Zach's friend, we hiked on a short trail through Daniel Boone National Forest and scaled a rock up to the summit where an amazing view of the Appalachians awaited us.

The rest of the week was spent in amazement of the beauty of Kentucky.

Below are a lot of pictures...I had trouble choosing

If you want larger versions then leave a comment beneath the picture that you desire.

Appalachia

Appalachia

Best Pal Dr.

Appalachia

Appalachia

I'm So Fly

Appalachia

Sam scaling the Rock

Appalachia

Appalachia

Appalachia

Appalachia

Appalachia

I am in the middle of a week and a half long journey that began in Delaware...passed through PA, WV, OH, and KY. I am currently in Cincy after attending a friend's wedding in Grove City. It has been a great trip thus far. I will elaborate in a later post...but the road is calling me...

The NCAA denied Jeremy Bloom's request to play football at Colorado while accepting endorsements to support his skiing career. This is proof yet again of the NCAA twisted rules and inability to make a rational and sensible decision about someone that they should be proud of. Bloom, who is a world champion freestyle skier and wide reciever and kick off returner at Colorado, should be the face of the NCAA, mixing success with academics. I just hope that this isnt an indirect punishment of Colorado, who was and still is embroiled in a sex scandal.

Full story at ESPN.com

Dick Cheney, resident croony, pitbull, and thug of the Bush Administration, has started attacking Kerry yet again. This time it was in reference to Kerry's statements to a convention of minority journalists

"I believe I can fight a more effective, more thoughtful, more strategic, more proactive, more sensitive war on terror that reaches out to other nations and brings them to our side and lives up to American values in history."

As Jon Stewart of the Daily Show pointed out..."Now which statement do you think Cheney attacked....More: effective, thoughtful, strategic, proactive, or sensitive...You got it sensitive.

Dick responded to Kerry's statement with these biting words:
"America has been in too many wars for any of our wishes, but not a one of them was won by being sensitive."
AND

"President Lincoln and General Grant did not wage sensitive warfare, nor did President Roosevelt, nor Generals Eisenhower and MacArthur."

AND

"A 'sensitive war' will not destroy the evil men who killed 3,000 Americans," he said. "The men who beheaded Daniel Pearl and Paul Johnson will not be impressed by our sensitivity."

AND

"As our opponents see it, the problem isn't the thugs and murderers that we face, but our attitude. Well, the American people know better. ... Those who threaten us and kill innocents around the world do not need to be treated more sensitively. They need to be destroyed."

I am tired of this administration's never back down and take no prisoners approach. (Well, maybe its wiser to take no more prisoners, since we seem to have trouble treating them humanely.) This approach comes off as American cockiness and superiority...one of the things that the world isnt a big fan of right now. However, Bush too said something about sensitivity and the war on terrorism, as pointed out by Phil Singer, a spokesman for the Kerry campaign, when he pointed out that Bush once said America should be "sensitive about expressing our power and influence."

Others have spoken out against Cheney's comments and the Bush campaign tactics including ten senior military officials and retired general Wesley Clark. The military officials issued a statement saying "George Bush and Dick Cheney have chosen to take their campaign to the gutter. We call on President Bush and Vice President Cheney to stop the irresponsible personal attacks and tell us where they want to take the country." The group was led by retired admiral William Crowe, who was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. In June, Crowe signed a statement criticizing Bush's Iraq policy. Clark issued the following statement, "Today, Dick Cheney took the lowest road in politics — it was a cheap shot unworthy of the office of vice president."

I am glad that people are not letting Cheney's comments and spinnery slip past. If you want to know more about the Bush Administration's spinabilities, check out Spinsanity and their recently released book All the President's Spin

Portions of article from USA TODAY

for more Republican thuggery check this story out: Kerry office vandalized with 'Bush rules' message

I am sure that everyone has heard that New Jersey Governor, Jim McGreevey, resigned from his position in NJ's gov't because he is gay and had an extramarital affair with a man. While, I think there is a lot more behind his resignation than his sexual orientation...there is one thing that continues to leave me bewildered.

The thing that leaves me puzzled about this situation is the appearance of his second wife by his side, holding his hand and such. I would imagine that it is a difficult situation for both of them especially when explaining the situation with their children. However, the way that he holds up their hands as they walk out seems awkward and unusual. My only guess is that they want to keep an image of what people are typically comfortable with...a man and a woman together. Maybe, the thought is that seeing the two together will make the public reactions slightly less intense...I don't know....If anyone has a logical explanation for the situation, leave a comment.

His To-do list, robbing a bank may have just slipped John Sarver's mind because his schedule is just so packed. I don't know about anybody else, but my to-do list usually consists of wake up, take shower, wash self, brush teeth, apply deoderant, shave, etc., just so I can cross things off. I guess he already crossed those activities off his list earlier in the day.

In other news...I am going to be reviewing Shyne's new album sometime in the near future...

Creating the groundworks for a growing panic among once seemingly rational human beings. If big hurricanes hit Florida...the news teams are on top of it, with Hurricane Center '04...Helping You Out b/c they are on YOUR SIDE. With the two most recent hurricanes/tropical storms just making landfall earlier today down in Florida, the news teams warn us the residents of the Mid-Atlantic of the possibility that the storms are headed our way, bringing heavy rains and maybe some strong winds....(GASP)...This is when true human lunacy and panic sets in and prompts people to make the trek down to their local grocery stores and hoard large amounts of Chips Ahoy, Lays, Wheat Thins, Ritz, etc. People turn into bumbling panic-ridden idiots, who I half expect to mutter..."I love lamp" or "I pooped a hammer". It is as though people think that the world as they know it is coming to a wet, windy end and they must have cookies and crackers on hand in order to survive. God forbid the heavy rains prevent us from having cookies and milk after a meal....What will we do? If indeed one of the tropical storms finds its way up the Atlantic coastline and brings some nasty weather with it, I imagine these people huddling inside eating their cookies and crackers because they have nothing else to do. If we lived in Florida...I would understand a certain level of panic...but we live in Delaware...where the weather is pretty much average (with the exception of the rainy summer we have had). In most cases, the storm will creep up the shore and fade off into the ocean before it causes any "damage". Yet, people still crowd their local grocery stores in order to stock up with the essentials. The same blind panic occurs when the threat of a blizzard hits the airwaves. Home De Pot and other similar stores become the targets of the news zombies who need to buy a snow shovel (since they threw last year's snow shovel out, thinking that they would have no need for it....in the future) and 10 tons of salt. It is as though we are lab rats being tested...we keep on falling for the media contrived news...they just want to see how dumb we are. Personally, I dont trust much of what the news says...because they have doctorates in the art of sensationalism.

This all leads to a bigger point...other than the potential conspiracy involving the gov't, the big corporations, and news teams nationwide...and that point is, do I really have faith in the American people when many of them fall into such a panic about rain and wind....I don't want them voting in the next election, they are not in touch with a rational reality.

One of my friends from Denison is getting married on the 21st of August. So, I am heading back out to Ohio a week or so before school starts up again. I am excited to go back to school, but I am also excited to be heading back to Ohio, since it is such a key state in this year's upcoming election. Presidential candidates rarely make the trip to the great state of Delaware during the election season....and when they do...they're gone before you can say "Electoral College". I exagerate slightly, I vaguely remember sticking my hand out to shake future President Clinton's hand when he made an appearance in the First State. So, it is going to be a new experience having the candidates touring the surrounding areas. I know that Logan's Lurch is deeply entrenched in the Ohio campaign news as he struggles to change Ohio from Red to Blue...(No worries my vote is coming).

Sidenote: I really wish Rage against the Machine was still together...there was nothing like Zach De La Rocha's politically charged lyrics set to the throbbing drums and screeching guitars of Rage...damn,

Try this new browser, king of kings and much better than IE...and an improvement on Netscape: Firefox 0.9.3. It is a flexible browser which is easy to navigate and has a simple, but genius browser extension system. Some cool extensions include All-In-One Gestures (control your browser with gestures, not clicks), tabbrowser extensions (enhance tabbed browsing), ADBlock (Block all web ads), EditCSS (rearrange your site-or someone else's-in real-time), needlesearch (use multiple search engines at the same time), MOZILLA Amazon Browser (customize your amazon.com interface), Checky (check your website's compatibility), BlockFall (tetris game), SpiderZilla (Download entire websites to your hard drive)....etc...etc....(list courtesy of article in MAXIMUM PC which was given to me by the one who verges. There is even a integration with Blogger...give this a try.

drunkards in dance

I have not been that active with my blog recently...however, on saturday I went down to the Riverfront to enjoy a day of blues with my dad and some family friends. It was a day filled with some great music especially that of legend Magic Slim and his band the Teardrops...check out the pictures below.

Magic Slim with Lil' Slim (the mysterious 10-year old harmonica wunderkid)

Magic Slim

Happy Birthday to Magic Slim

Happy Birthday to Magic Slim

Magic Slim and the Teardrops

Well it has been almost a three weeks since I purchased the new Roots album "The Tipping Point" and it is still my primary listening choice...which for a music junky like myself whose job involves a lot of driving...is quite a feat. The raw energy that explodes on the album still excites me and peaks my interest. The album has also brought their older albums back into the rotation...not because I am yearning for their older sound because I feel unfufilled by their current album. Quite the opposite, I am reminded of some of their older stuff and I want to compare the sounds of the past to those of the present. With my handy dandy iPod in hand I have meshed all of albums together into one random shuffled playlist of their music. Listening to it as a continuous piece of work, not just a collection of Number One hits, has been exciting and revealing. I see a lot of similarities in The Tipping Point with earlier albums Do You Want More?!!!??! and Illadelph Halflife. But, I also see growth. It has become quite clear why they are the creme de la creme of the hip hop scene musically and lyrically. Hooray the Roots.

Although my wallet would be quite alright with a similar turn of events....

From the Onion:

Lifelong Love Affair With Music Ends At Age 35

CLEVELAND, OH—Sam Powers' lifelong passion for music ended this past weekend, when the 35-year-old camera-store assistant manager realized that he no longer derives pleasure from listening to and acquiring new music.

"It's always sad when something you thought would last forever ends, but I simply don't have the energy to put into it anymore," Powers said Monday. "I'll always love music, but it's not going to be at the center of my life anymore. My priorities have changed, I guess."

Powers said he realized the love affair, which began in 1979 when his brother introduced him to the first Van Halen album, was over Saturday. While preparing spaghetti at his home, Powers chose silence over a TV On The Radio album his friend had burned him. (read on...)

Courtesy of Logan's Lurch: a commentary on the evils of big record companies and the money that they steal from their artists and why you shouldnt feel guilty about downloading music...

If You Feel Guilty About Downloading Music, Read This...
Having worked in record retail and studied the machinations of the music industry for quite a while, I have one determined, for myself, one rule about downloading... The bigger the label the better it is for society to download illicitly from it. Now, many of you may disagree, but major labels just think commodities are commodities and if they were selling shoes rather than CDs it wouldn't really matter. On top of that, musicians are often given the worst contracts in the world to sign and they do. Before you blame their decisions let's remember that many of the people who sign them a) are anywhere from 18-22 year old kids who are at a severe disadvantage to the team of lawyers who have composed the contract and, even if they have an agent, all too often they are better at booking clubs than distinguishing the difference between "mechanicals" and "synch rights". If you don't know what I just wrote, then welcome to the jungle. So, this leads me to B): Musicians don't get legal training, even in college. This may be changing a little, but very little at that. (read on...)