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…and we can all sleep easier knowing that Al and Jesse are watching over us. I still think the skewering was wrong, not because I like the old fart but because no one, especially not Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, should be able to control when someone loses their job. Free speech took it in the shorts over a poor taste comedy bit not unlike what we hear daily on the radio and, as a result, we’ve all lost part of our right of free speech. 

Well, not everyone; rappers and black comedians still have theirs.

Davey sent this photo of a radial engine motorcycle built by JRL Cycles taken at the 2006 annual EAA Fly-in in Oskosh, WI.

For more images of this attention getting machine, visit Mark Forman’s site. I especially like the pyro background added in Photoshop on one of his images.

Kristine Eubanks admits to conspiracy and tax evasion in scheme that defrauded customers of more than $20 million.

According to the Associated Press, the satellite TV show host has pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from an investigation into bogus artwork sold through televised auctions that defrauded customers of more than $20 million. Kristine Eubanks, 49, of La Cañada Flintridge pleaded guilty Monday in a Los Angeles courtroom to one count each of conspiracy and tax evasion. She faces up to 10 years in prison when she is sentenced September 24, prosecutors said.

Eubanks’ husband, Gerald Sullivan, 51, pleaded guilty April 2 to one count each of conspiracy and failing to file tax returns. He faces up to six years in prison at sentencing in September. Authorities said the couple acknowledged duping more than 10,000 customers through their “Fine Art Treasures Gallery” show which aired on DirecTV and Dish Network. The couple also said they rigged auctions by creating false and inflated bids for art and jewelry sold during the live auctions, prosecutors said.

Nearly $4 million and various pieces of artwork were seized when the couple were arrested.

It’s just another example of how important it is to buy art from galleries you know and trust.

Joining the growing family of iTunes plug-ins, The Filter is a free program that works like your own personal DJ by automatically creating playlists from your library and syncing them to your iPod. Selecting just a few songs directs the program to analyze your picks, scan your library and generate a mood-matching mix. The time-saver will even compile data on your musical tastes to recommend new music it thinks you might like.

Available for Mac, Windows and select Nokia mp3-enabled phones as a free download.

Via Cool Hunting

Apparently Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter have created a pilot for a conservative news spoof…

Here’s a bit of automotive history you car buffs may or may not know, compliments of Mike… 

I got this from Jack and Joe…

The subject comes up from time to time and recently the question was again posed : If your house was on fire and your family and pets were safe, what things would you want to save?

It got me thinking that I should prepare a list in case, God forbid, I find myself confronted with such an emergency. I doubt I’d have the wherewithal to evaluate priorities, so a list I’d given some prior thought to would certainly come in handy.

Everyone’s first answer, I’d wager, is “photos” and the same thought immediately crossed my mind. Fortunately, I keep our prints and slides in one drawer (and a closet shelf) while the rest are digitally stored on an external hard drive. Note to self: Off site storage!

While I ponder my choices and prepare my list, I thought it might be a good exercise for you as well. So let me know - you can use “comments” to this post or email - which things you’d want, more than any others, to save and why. I’ll post the replies (first names only.)  

                Pig GrillTraeger Industries of Mt. Angel, Oregon, perfected the wood pellet barbeque grill and has gained a following for even temperature grilling of virtually any kind of food. Dawn took one look at one of their two custom grills and decided it would look great on our back deck. Those of you that know her will have no difficulty recognizing her choice.

On the other hand, I explained, we already have a built-in grilling station. We’ll see if logic prevails…

Although most of us would probably affirm that superstition’s role in Western culture is now a much diminished one, more a source of amusement than anything else, there are still those who allow  their trepidation over particular days or dates to prevent them from engaging in their choice of activities. We may make jokes about Friday the 13th and only kiddingly instruct loved ones to exercise greater care on that day, but those who suffer from a fear of the number thirteen (triskaidekaphobia) or a fear of Friday the 13th (paraskevidekatriaphobia) may genuinely feel limited by the rumored potential for ill luck connected with the date.

Superstitions regarding Friday the 13th are not nearly as old as most people tend to think. The belief in Friday the 13th as a day on which Murphy’s Law reigns supreme and anything that can go wrong will go wrong appears to be largely a 20th century phenomenon. (The claim that the Friday the 13th superstition began with the arrest of the final Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques Demolay, on Friday, October 13, 1307, is a modern-day invention.)

These days, however, one is unlikely to get so much as a free latte out of the day. Sanguinity comes at a price.

For more information on the origins and history of Friday the 13th, try here and here.

Don’t you just love the fact that Al Sharpton is leading the Imus lynch squad? There’s a certain irony, of course, in that Sharpton is America’s most successful racist, having personally incited the lynchings of eight people, not counting the half dozen whose lives were ruined by Tawana Brawley’s lies…

And the whole country must be wondering how it’s okay for black comedians and rappers to rag on nappy headed hos while Imus has to be hung for it. Chris Rock, I’m sure, isn’ t amused by this circus and I for one can’t wait to see how he deals with it in his next stand- up.

Snoop Dogg was interviewed the other day and “clarified” the confusion saying, as near as I could make out, that “ho” and “nigger” and “nappy headed” are terms around which blacks are brought up, so they’re okay for them to use, whereas whites can’t appreciate the black experience (in so many words). And besides, says Mr. Dogg, rap and stand-up are “art” while what Imus does isn’t…

This is undoubtedly an embarrassing moment for most black Americans, one of many inflicted on them by Sharpton and Jackson and their misleadership of the civil rights movement. I’m not a Don Imus fan by any means, but I’m tired of watching him lick Sharpton’s boots. So he’s suspended from syndication by MSNBC - I’ve heard conflicting reports as to how long - Who watches MSNBC anyway? Who freaking cares? I’m “offended” by pretty much everything Sharpton says. I want a public apology and I want him fired!

There, I’ve said all I’m going to say on the subject.

Ah, childhood…

Do you know where your children are?

Another Randall Munroe ‘toon…

Little Jimmy was four years old. One day he was bugging his mother, so she said to him, “Jimmy, why don’t you go across the street and watch the builders working? Maybe you’ll learn something.”

Jimmy was gone about two hours. When he came home, his mother asked him what he learned. Jimmy replied, “Well, first you put the goddam door up, and when the son-of-a-bitch doesn’t fit, you have to take the friggin’ thing back down. Then you have to take a hair off each side and put the mother-humper back up…”

Jimmy’s mother was outraged and exclaimed, “You just wait till your father comes home, young man!” And she sent him to his room.

When Jimmy’s dad got home, Mom told him to ask Jimmy what he’d learned across the street. Jimmy told his dad the whole story. His dad said sternly, “Jimmy, I want you to go outside and get me a switch!”

“Screw you,” Jimmy said, “that’s the electrician’s job!”

Via Cranium