An aerial view of housing developments near Markham, Ontario...a town located in the Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, Canada. All the neat, tiny boxes in a row.
Reminds me of Weeds on showtime...
| By Nick Davis BBC News, Ocho Rios, Jamaica |
 A good beach is seen as a valuable asset to hotels in Jamaica |
Police in Jamaica are investigating the suspected theft of hundreds of tons of sand from a beach on the island's north coast.
It was discovered in July that 500 truck-loads had been removed outside a planned resort at Coral Spring beach.
Detectives say people in the tourism sector could be suspects, because a good beach is seen as a valuable asset to hotels on the Caribbean island.
But a lack of arrests made since July have led to criticism of the police.
'Complex investigation'
The beach at Coral Springs, in Jamaica's northern parish of Trelawny, was 400 metres (1,300ft) of white sand. The 0.5-hectare strand was to form part a resort complex costing US$108m, but the theft of its most important feature has led to its developers putting their plans on hold.
Illegal sand mining is a problem in Jamaica; the tradition of people building their own homes here means there is a huge demand for the construction material. However, the large volume and the type of sand taken made suspicion point towards the hotel industry.
 |  There is some suspicion that some police were in collusion with the movers of the sand  Mark Shields Deputy Commissioner of Police |
The disappearance was deemed so important that the Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, also took an interest in the theft and ordered a report into how 500 truckloads of sand was stolen, transported and presumably sold.
Three months on, and with no arrests or charges in the case, the main opposition People's National Party have suggested that some people now think there has been a cover up.
But the deputy commissioner for crime at the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Mark Shields, insisted this was not an open-and-shut case.
"It's a very complex investigation because it involves so many aspects," he told the BBC.
"You've got the receivers of the stolen sand, or what we believe to be the sand. The trucks themselves, the organisers and, of course, there is some suspicion that some police were in collusion with the movers of the sand."
Police said they were carrying out forensic tests on beaches along the coast to see if any of it matches the stolen sand.
freshome.com — We all know that one of the easiest ways you have to light a dark corner in any room or add some atmospheric lighting to your living-room area, is to place your choice of lamp. In today article you can see 40 of the most creative lamp designs that you can find on the internet these days. So let’s begin ….
From advertising pork faggots to a 'Swingometer' star's dreams of glory... Here the author of a new book about how James Bond conquered the cinema screen reveals a host of surprising facts about the franchise.
Swiss actress Ursula Andress had to have her voice dubbed by Monica Van Der Zyl for her iconic role as Honey Ryder in Dr No because producer Albert R. Broccoli thought Andress sounded like 'a Dutch comedian'.
Before New York actor Joseph Wiseman was cast as Dr No, screenwriters thought the character a little antiquated and Fu Manchu-like, so they briefly considered making the evil scientist a monkey instead.
Daniel Craig in Casino Royale - the only Bond movie with no dancing women in its opening sequence
Gert Frobe's performance as Goldfinger was made all the more memorable because this highly respected German actor spoke very little English and did not understand a word of the script. Before shooting the classic golf match scene, neither Frobe nor Connery had ever played the game before.
Halle Berry was delighted to be a 'Bond babe'
Goldeneye actress Izabella Scorupco demanded that she be called a 'Bond Woman' because she thought the term 'Bond Girl' was demeaning. But seven years later, in 2002, the Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry, above, said that she was delighted to be described as 'a Bond babe' when she starred in Die Another Day.
Harold Sakata, who portrayed Oddjob in Goldfinger, later reprised the role in a US television advertisement for cough mixture in which he inadvertently karate-chopped someone's house to the ground.
President John F. Kennedy was a huge fan of From Russia With Love. So was his assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.
Bond's CIA friend Felix Leiter has been portrayed by seven actors, more than 007 himself. Perhaps the best known is Hawaii Five-O's Jack Lord who appeared in Dr No.
Actors put forward for the Bond role in the late Sixties included Michael Jayston (who now stars in ITV's Emmerdale), and the young Timothy Dalton, who was just 22 in 1968. In the Seventies, United Artists executives suggested Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds for the role.
Just before he got the Bond role, male model George Lazenby was due to star in an advertising campaign for roll-on deodorant. The Bond producers bought up the adverts to protect the 007 image.
Crabs were scrapped from Dr No
Spartacus star John Gavin was signed up for the role of 007 after George Lazenby quit, but he was paid off when Sean Connery decided to return one more time for Diamonds Are Forever.
Connery told an interviewer in the Seventies that he never missed a Carry On film. He also confided that he had read only two of Ian Fleming's Bond novels and that he considered Fleming 'a snob, but terrific company'.
Throughout the Seventies and Eighties, the Bond crew would always take lunch together at the Pinewood studios canteen; but alcohol was banned after two second-string actors became the worse for wear and held up an afternoon shoot.
Bond girl reject: Julie Christie
Among those who have composed Bond songs that were never used are Pulp (with Tomorrow Never Dies) and Alice Cooper (who made his own idiosyncratic version of The Man With The Golden Gun). Pulp also recorded a breathy cover version of All Time High, the opening song from Octopussy.
Boxer Muhammad Ali visited the Pinewood set of The Man With The Golden Gun and was so excited that he promised to dedicate his next fight to the film's villain, actor Christopher Lee. Ali duly did.
In the original Dr No novel, Honey is threatened with being eaten alive by crabs. This was also going to happen in the film, but the idea was abandoned because the live crabs that had been flown over for the scene had been put in a freezing cargo hold and could barely summon the energy to move.
Julie Christie was originally considered for the part of Domino in Thunderball but producer Harry Saltzman turned her down because he thought her bust was not ample enough.
Producer Harry Saltzman was often taken aback by the Bond songs. Paul McCartney's Live And Let Die was initially considered outlandish; eight years previously, Dionne Warwick's Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was vetoed as the opening song for Thunderball; and Shirley Bassey's raunchy rendition of Diamonds Are Forever prompted Saltzman to shout that the song was obscene.
The influence of the Bond films is so great that Nasa was thrilled to let 007 give the world its first view of the Space Shuttle in Moonraker - two years before the launch of the real thing.
Among the surprisingly literary screenwriters of Bond movies have been Roald Dahl, who wrote the script for You Only Live Twice, and George MacDonald Fraser, who wrote the screenplay for Octopussy. The author of A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess, wrote a putative script for The Spy Who Loved Me, but the only element retained from his version was the submarine-gobbling supertanker.
Roger Moore starred in a double-decker chase in Live And Let Die
At the Royal premiere of Moonraker, the scene where Drax sets his dogs on doomed PA Corinne made Prince Philip leap from his seat and cry: 'Don't go into the woods, you stupid girl!'
For the double-decker bus chase in Live And Let Die, new 007 Roger Moore was trained at Chiswick bus depot in West London. Staff there told him that if Bond didn't work out, he was more than welcome to a job.
For her role in A View To A Kill, American star Tanya Roberts insisted on having a crate of shampoo and beauty products shipped over from California.
In The Living Daylights, Dalton makes his romantic pounce on Kara (Maryam D'Abo) in the same Viennese ferris wheel from which Harry Lime looked down in the classic thriller The Third Man.
Composer John Barry provided the most iconic scores for Bond, racking up the music for 11 films. Younger pop acts idolised him, though he described A-ha, who performed The Living Daylights title song, as 'a pain in the a***'.
Bond audition: Peter Snow
Many were puzzled by the title Die Another Day. The phrase came from the poem cycle A Shropshire Lad, by A. E. Housman: 'But he who fights and runs away/lives to die another day... '
Many of the spectacular St Petersburg scenes in GoldenEye were filmed by the side of a canal near Watford.
Jane Seymour was cast in the role of tarot priestess Solitaire in Live And Let Die after producers saw her in the BBC shipping saga The Onedin Line. Roger Moore kept his socks on during his love scenes with Seymour.
For The World Is Not Enough, the production team were initially denied permission to film a boat chase on the Thames in front of the real MI6 building. Shrewdly, they contacted the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Then they got the go-ahead from no less than Foreign Secretary Robin Cook.
Garlic: Diana Rigg
According to Press reports in 1968, Diana Rigg was paid twice as much as co-star George Lazenby for On Her Majesty's Secret Service. There were also rumours that they were at war and that she deliberately ate garlic before their love scenes. Rigg said this story began when, during lunch, she joked: 'George, I'm having garlic, so I hope you are too.'
Though the Soviets loathed Bond - they invented a Bulgarian literary equivalent in the Sixties who defeated 007 in a straight battle - they greatly admired producer Albert R. Broccoli. In the Seventies, he was invited to Moscow for talks on producing a blockbuster there but it never materialised.
In 1968, among the many candidates who auditioned to succeed Sean Connery was Peter Snow, the gangling BBC TV presenter famous for his General Election swingometer. One reason he did not get the job was, apparently, that he was too tall. Snow has said that, in any case, he might have been better cast as Q.
Following Quantum Of Solace, only two more original Fleming titles are left, both from 007 short stories: Risico and The Hildebrand Rarity. Try getting a song out of that.
Casino Royale was the first Bond film in which dancing women did not feature in the opening title sequence.
The director of Casino Royale, Martin Campbell, directed episodes of the comedy Minder in the Eighties.
In GoldenEye, Bond and Natalya hunt down villainous Trevelyan in the Caribbean and end up in a pretty little resort called Guantanamo.
There was some embarrassment at For Your Eyes Only's Royal premiere, which was used as a fundraising event for the Year of the Disabled. The film featured as its opening scene a villain in a wheelchair being picked up by Bond's helicopter strut and then being dropped down an industrial chimney.
Sir Richard Branson's 'blink and you miss it' cameo in Casino Royale was apparently excised from the copy of the film screened on British Airways flights.
• Sinclair McKay is the author of The Man With The Golden Touch - How The Bond Films Conquered The World, published by Aurum Press at £18.99. To order your copy at the special price of £17.10 with free p&p, call The Review Bookstore on 0845 155 0713.
By Mikki Halpin and Victoria Maat
So, your crush on the bass player from Vibrating Sandbox has finally died a whimpering death and you're wondering where to go from here. All the sinister dudes are either dating a series of interchangeable high-school riot girls in baby doll dresses and an overdose of manic panic, or permanently shacked up with some bitter old lady who pays all the bills. Which will it be, a wifely prison or a humiliating one night stand? Into this void of potential mates comes a man you may not have considered before, a man of substance, quietude and stability, a cerebral creature with a culture all his own. In short, a geek.
They are generally available.
Other women will tend not to steal them.
They can fix things.
Your parents will love them.
They're smart.
While they are often into alternative music, geek dudes tend not to go to shows too often. Instead you'll find them hanging out with their friends, discussing the latest hardware revolution or perfecting their Bill Gates impressions. You know how some people wear t-shirts with their favorite bands on them, thus showing that they went to certain shows? Well, geek dudes wear t-shirts with the logos of different software companies on them, thus showing that they are up on the latest, um, releases. A small, though convivial, rivalry may be detected here amongst the geek dudes. Try wearing one yourself and see if he strikes up a conversation. Of course the best way to meet a geek dude is through the Internet. All geeks harbor a secret fantasy about meeting some girl in cyberspace, carrying on an e-mail romance in which he has the chance to combine an activity he is comfortable with, computing, with one he is very uncomfortable with, socializing. To many geek dudes, cyberdating is just an advanced form of some kind of video game, but they are frustrated by a lack of players. Their lack is your strength.
You might notice that these men harbor some strange ideas about how the world works and some particularly strange ideas about women. There is a reason for this. Because they've had limited interpersonal experience, geek dudes must look elsewhere for behavior models. Lacking a real world social milieu, geeks often go through a transference stage with
such narratives, and try to model their interactions on them. Thus, certain media images and themes come to have an overly cathected, metaphorized reality to them, while the rest of us view such programming as mere entertainment. Case in point, our next topic...
If you're not up on your Star Trek, you can forget about getting or keeping a geek dude. And I'm not just talking vintage-era Captain Kirk and Spock either. You've got to be up on your The Next Generation, your Deep Space Nine, your Babylon 5. Armed with your own knowledge of Federation policies, you can better gauge when and how to act. The sexual politics of Star Trek are pretty blunt: the men run the technology and the ship, and the women are caretakers (a doctor and a counselor). Note the sexual tensions on the bridge of the Enterprise: the women, in skin tight uniforms, and with luxuriant, flowing hair. The men, often balding, and sporting some sort of permanently attached computer auxiliary.
This world metaphorizes the fantasies of the geek dude, who sees himself in the geeky - but - heroic male officers and who secretly desires a sexy, smart, Deanna or Bev to come along and deferentially accept him for who he is. If you are willing to accept that this is his starting point for reality, you are ready for a geek relationship.
Of course, catching that geek guy is only half the battle. Keeping him by your side is another story altogether. I was privileged to speak with Miss Victoria Maat, who not only got herself a geek guy but was also clever enough to marry him just a few short months ago. She interrupted her newlywed bliss to give us a few tips on the care and feeding of a geek man: Geeks are sensitive and caring lovers and husbands. If you can hang with the techno-lifestyle, they make the best mates. They are the most attractive people, not flashy or hunky, but the kind who get cuter and more alluring over time (I told you she was a newlywed). Definitely give geeks a chance.
Geeks tend towards packaged, junk foods since they prefer to work and think and aren't all that into cooking for themselves. Make sure that your geek understands that you are not merely a replicator, and provide him with home cooked food. A batch of chocolate chip cookies will let him know that you love him. You do have to monitor your geek for weight gain; however, remember that most of their days are spent sitting and staring at a monitor.
The geek dude has long work habits and tends to bring his work home with him. He seems permanently connected to his hard disk. You must at least appear interested in his work. Generally, a solid understanding of the computer is a must; if you cannot master this, you should at least be able to talk the talk. Remember most geeks are anal and they get stressed about details which appear insignificant. Be understanding, put on your best Deanna Troi face (see above) and empathize. To relax, geeks love to play the latest computer games. Let him play Myst or Chuck Yeager's Air Combat for hours if he
wants to. Act concerned if he's stuck or has just been ambushed by three MiGs. My geek loves to try to help people on the Internet who say that they are stuck in Myst. He comes up with clever riddles instead of directing them point blank. Geeks also like to go to sci-fi and Japanese animated movies, again, a basically harmless vent for your man.
Many geeks extend their work friendships into what they jokingly refer to as RL (Real Life, also known as "that big room with the ceiling that is sometimes blue and sometimes black with little lights"). The greatest thing about your geek's buddies is that you can feel secure in setting them up with your girlfriends. They may feel awkward around females at first, so don't overwhelm them. In time they will come out of their shell and realize that you are into the same things they are.
I thank Victoria for the above advice. I must say that when she read my draft of the piece, before writing her section, she asked her husband which one he thought she was more like, Deanna or Beverly. Howard, the devil, immediately replied that he had always thought Victoria was actually most like Ensign Ro Laren, a cute character with a slight authority
problem who is always had trouble (this is fairly apt). This exchange is interesting for several reasons:
1.Howard had already thought about who she was most like.
2.He could summon up characters from seasons past with ease.
3.Victoria actually knew who he meant.
4.Folks, I think this marriage will last.
Because they have been so abused and ignored by society, many geeks have gone underground. You may actually know some and just haven't noticed them. They often feel resentful, and misunderstood, and it is important to realize this as you grow closer to them. Don't ever try to force the issue, or make crazy demands that he choose between his computer and you. Remember, his computer has been there for him his whole life; you are a new interloper he hasn't quite grasped yet Geek dudes thrive on mystery and love challenges and intellectual puzzles. Don't you consider yourself one? Wouldn't you
like a little intellectual stimulation or your own? We thought so.
This looks like a standard Wi-Fi box, but it's operating at peak efficiency and includes a set of features which extend the range and add extra tools.
Most routers run a variant of Linux. There's typically a set of hardware interfaces and a simple web server running on top of a generic Linux kernel, with the routing, filtering and Wi-Fi management running as separate processes. If you want to see this in action, you'll find your router may already offer a back-door debug mode which gives you Telnet access to the file system. For example, for a Netgear DG384G the command is http://[local ip address]/setup.cgi?todo=debug, where the [local IP address] number is the LAN's IP address. Put this line into a browser with the router's IP number, and you'll get a terse message saying 'Debug Enable!'
You can now use the Windows Telnet tool to have a look inside the router's file system. Select 'Run' from the Start Menu, and type 'telnet [local ip address].' You should see a DOS window with a prompt. Type 'ls –l' to see a list of files. Unfortunately, you can't use Telnet to copy these files and the built-in BusyBox shell – the command line interpreter – doesn't include an editor. This means you can explore the directory structure using 'cd' and 'ls', and view files using 'cat.', but you can't change anything.
The time consuming answer is to download the source from the manufacturer and start working to customise it yourself. You'll find that the features will usually have been bolted together from some generic free open-source tools, such as the BusyBox shell we mentioned earlier. Proprietary code is there to keep the various parts working together and to add specific hardware drivers. Even so, customising the code from the ground up is an ambitious job and if you get it wrong you may end up bricking your router.
If you're feeling brave the hacking community can offer various pre-written customisation projects for you to experiment with, as well as forums and support which will help you get started. Openwrt (http://openwrt.org) offers the best range of hardware support, but many models are still classified as WIP – Work in Progress. Openwrt is flexible, but not friendly. While it's possible to write your own scripts to add features, the development model isn't straightforward. Setup isn't simple, either. However, if you're used to Linux you won't find it too daunting – it's no harder than setting up other Linux tools.
The most popular router by far for customisation is the LinkSys WAG54G series. Like all routers, this has developed through a range of variants and updates. Also, like all other routers, this has often meant that only the box has remained similar – the circuitry and chipsets used in various models are completely different, so check the model and version number carefully before trying to flash some custom firmware.
If you have one of the variants you have a choice between a selection of projects, including freewrt (www.freewrt.org/trac), ddwrt (www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv3/index.php), openwrt and Tomato (www.polarcloud.com/tomato). Tomato adds the widest range of extensions and options, including static DHCP, which can speed up network connections, and the ability to add bridging features, so that you can use multiple routers to extend range. If you want the most powerful possible router for the least cost, it's worth buying a WAG54G model just so you can install these features on it. You'll get high end professional options for the cost of a much cheaper unit– and that can't be bad.
XArp can't stop ARP attacks, but you'll be warned immediately if it detects one
There are lots of tools around to help people carry out ARP-related exploits and if a malicious, Wi-Fi enabled neighbour decided to find out more about your network, this could be an effective way to do it.
The good news is that there are some defences out there. The bad? They can be costly and don't always deliver the protection you might expect.
ARPDefender is a good example. It's a solid-state security appliance that you simply connect to your network, then leave to look out for ARP poisoning attacks. It would be excellent if not for the fact that it costs almost £300 and, even if it does detect an attack, will do little more than make an entry in your system logs.
There is free software to monitor ARP traffic for suspicious signs. ARPDefender runs one of these, in fact: ARPWatch. Unfortunately, these tend to be dated, or focused on Linux users. There's very little for Windows.
Your own router or software firewall may have some kind of ARP protection. It's worth checking the documentation or set-up screens to find out, but don't expect too much. Agnitum Outpost Firewall Pro comes with something called Smart ARP Filtering, for instance, where an ARP reply is only accepted if that system has sent a request. It's a step forward, but the program will still accept the first ARP reply and it doesn't know if that's from one of your systems or an attacker. You're still at some risk.
It turns out that one of the best ways to protect a small or home network is to ensure your wireless adapters use WPA or WPA2 encryption. And do so properly, which means using a long passphrase that doesn't only include dictionary words (even WPA is useless if your passphrase is 'passphrase'). As long as hackers can't intercept your traffic and inject their own, you're safe.
This doesn't apply to larger business networks, though, as there's always the possibility that a rogue employee (or someone with access to a network PC) could launch an internal ARP attack. You'll need something to monitor ARP traffic, looking for suspicious packets. A security appliance like ARPDefender is one answer and the software monitor XArp is another. See below for details.
Use XArp to detect ARP poisoning
The big security companies have little to offer in the way of ARP-specific protection, but Christoph P Mayer has stepped forward to fill the gap. His XArp tool does an excellent job of detecting attacks and is well worth the £20 price tag if you have a large network to protect.
1. After installation, XArp will run and monitor your network in the background. Right-click its red icon and select Show to launch the program.
2. The Status indicator shows if you're under attack. The IP address list shows if there are any suspiciously new devices connected to your network.
3. Increase the security settings and you've got more chance of detecting attackers. Experts can click View > Advanced for details of what's going on.
4. XArp works across our network on XP and Vista systems. It can't stop ARP attacks, but you'll be warned immediately if it detects one.
Three recommended network defences
1. AntiARP
AntiARP is a Chinese program that claims to be a 'professional defence' against ARP spoofing and attacks. The site gives little information, but the program itself may be worth a look.
2. Capsa
This network analyser alerts you to a sudden flurry of ARP requests, or that you've had more ARP replies than requests. Useful, but neither necessarily indicates an attack.
3. PromiScan
ARP attacks are only one way to intercept traffic. A hacker could also use a sniffer program to read packets of data without sending their own, but PromiScan can detect these dangers and warn you about them.
First published in .Net magazine, Issue 181
Sarah Palin took a break from the campaign trail to appear on "Saturday Night Live" in two skits, where she watched Tina Fey (as Sarah Palin) in a skit about Palin's first press conference alongside SNL honcho Lorne Michaels. Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg also made appearances in the opening sketch.
Later in the show, she popped up during Weekend Update. Scroll down for Palin dancing in her seat to an Alaskan rap song.
WATCH:
Watch 5 other sketches from the show here, including Mark Wahlberg confronting Andy Samberg backstage more from Weekend Update, and Sarah Palin at backstage at SNL.
PREVIOUS FEY SKETCHES:
Tina Fey as Sarah Palin With Hillary Clinton
Tina Fey as Sarah Palin With Katie Couric
Tina Fey as Sarah Palin in the VP debate
Tina Fey talks about Sarah Palin's voice to David Letterman
PLUS:
Mark Wahlberg says he didn't find Andy Samberg's impression funny
Mark Wahlberg threatens to beat up and track down Andy Samberg
WASHINGTON - Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for president on Sunday, criticizing his own Republican Party for what he called its narrow focus on irrelevant personal attacks over a serious approach to challenges he called unprecedented.
 | Video |
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‘Transformational figure’ Oct. 19: Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell endorses Sen. Barack Obama for president. |
Powell, who for many years was considered the most likely candidate to become the first African-American president, said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he was not supporting Obama because of his race. He said he had watched both Obama and his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, for many months and thought “either one of them would be a good president.”
But he said McCain’s choices in the last few weeks — especially his selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his vice presidential running mate — had raised questions in his mind about McCain’s judgment.
“I don’t believe [Palin] is ready to be president of the United States,” Powell said flatly. By contrast, Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, “is ready to be president on day one.”
Powell also told NBC’s Tom Brokaw that he was “troubled” by Republicans’ personal attacks on Obama, especially false intimations that Obama was Muslim and the recent focus on Obama’s alleged connections to William Ayers, a co-founder of the radical ’60 Weather Underground.
Stressing that Obama was a lifelong Christian, Powell denounced Republican tactics that he said were insulting not only to to Obama but also to Muslims.
“The really right answer is what if he is?” Powell said, praising the contributions of millions of Muslim citizens to American society.
“I look at these kind of approaches to the campaign, and they trouble me,” Powell said. “Over the last seven weeks, the approach of the Republican Party has become narrower and narrower.”
In an interview Sunday on Fox News, McCain said he was not surprised by the announcement.
“I’ve always admired and respected General Powell,” said McCain, who cited the endorsements he had received from former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, James Baker and Lawrence Eagleburger. “We have a respectful disagreement.”
Bolstering Obama’s international credentials
Obama said in an interview airing Monday on NBC’s TODAY that he welcomed Powell’s support and looked forward to discussing what role, if any, Powell might have in an Obama administration should he be elected.
“Here is what I can say for certain: He will have a role as one of my advisers. He has already served in that function even before he endorsed me,” Obama told NBC’s Matt Lauer. “Whether he wants to take a formal role — whether there’s something that’s a good fit for him — I think is something that he and I would have to discuss.”
Powell, a retired Army general who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the first President Bush before becoming secretary of state in the current administration, is one of the most highly decorated military officers of modern times and an admired figure in both parties. The Obama campaign is likely to cite the endorsement as an answer to critics and undecided voters who have questioned the foreign policy credentials of Obama, a first-term senator whose national experience amounts to four years in the Senate.
Powell said a major part of his decision to turn his back on his own party was his conclusion that Obama was the better option to repair frayed U.S. relations with allies overseas.
“This is the time for outreach,” Powell said, saying the next president would have to “reach out and show the world there is a new administration that is willing to reach out.”
In particular, he said, he welcomed Obama’s president to “talk to people we haven’t talked to,” a reference to Obama’s controversial statement that he would be open to direct diplomacy with Iranian leaders.
“I think that [Obama] has a definite way of doing business that will serve us well,” Powell said.
Won’t campaign for Obama
As recently as a month ago, Powell said that electing an African-American president would be “electrifying” for the world but that he remained undecided. The unsteadiness of the Republican campaign in recent weeks, especially on the economic crisis, went a long way toward pushing him off the fence, he said.
“It isn’t easy for me to disappoint Senator McCain as I have this morning,” said Powell, who emphasized that he would not campaign for Obama because of his admiration for McCain’s long record of service in the military and in Congress.
But as he examined both campaigns in the last few weeks, he said, he became “concerned” that “in the case of Mr. McCain, he was a little unsure how to deal with the economic problems.”
“Every day, there was a different approach,” he said, adding that he also “would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court.”
McCain would be a good president, Powell said, but Obama is “a transformational figure” who would be an “exceptional” leader.
“I truly believe that at this point in America’s history we need a president who will not just continue ... basically the policies we have followed in recent years,” he said. “We need a president with transformational qualities.”
For that reason, he said, “I will be voting for Barack Obama.”
Once again we're taking time to celebrate the one tradition common to all cultures: gathering in large groups to participate in utterly pointless and often mind-bogglingly dangerous sports.
All it takes is a lot of bored males and, more often than not, alcohol.
Where:
Cotswolds, England
What is it?
Shin Kicking is part of the Cotswold Games, a four hundred year-old tournament that claims to be the oldest Olympiad in the world, and, because of the absence of synchronised swimming, it may also have a valid claim to be the best.
There's rarely a sport more perfectly summed up by its name. Shin Kicking is a contest between two fighters as to who can knock the other down by the simple, honest method of kicking the shit out of one another's shins.
If you cause your opponent to fall, you earn a point. Bouts are won on a best-of-three basis, the winner going through to the next round. Call us unadventurous, but we think we'd probably throw the fight immediately after some hairy, beefy, rosy cheeked English farmer demolished our wizened, malnourished shins with one swing of a sheep-shit covered boot.
Competitors are allowed to cram hay down their pants to try and protect their shins, but what with hay having the protective qualities of a soggy tissue, we can't picture it doing much good.
Origins:
The Cotswold Games began in the early 1600s when a local attorney called Robert Dover organised the games a protest against the rampant growth of Puritanism. Because if anything is going to make those prudes lighten up it's the horrific breaking of another man's shins.
Interesting Fact:
In the games early days, duelling was an event. In one fight between Sir German Poole and a Mr. Hutchinson, Poole sliced off three of Hutchinson's fingers before Hutchinson even drew his sword. Hutchinson responded by slicing off Poole's nose, and the gruesome turn of events probably short-circuited plans to combine the events by strapping knives to contestant's shoes during the shin-kicking event.
Where:
Belgium, though there are clubs in Brazil, Germany, Spain and Kuwait, among other places.
What is it?
Bossaball is a variant of volleyball, but with elements of soccer, gymnastics and capoeira (a Brazilian martial art) thrown in. All of it is played on a souped-up bouncy castle, producing something which is mind-blowingly awesome. Seriously, why isn't this shit in the Olympics?
The game is played on an inflatable volleyball court, and in front of the net on each side is a round trampoline so players can get some serious height when spiking. Teams are comprised of three, four or five players, one of which must be on the trampoline (the attacker), whilst the other four must set the ball up for the attacker to spike. And of course everyone is bouncing around and giggling the whole time.
The game is over when a team reaches twenty five points, or when the bigger boys come along and throw everyone off so they can play.
Origins:
The game was invented a few years ago in Belgium, making it the first good idea to come out of the country since the Trappist Monks realized worshiping God was much more fun when you're drunk off your ass.
Interesting Fact:
The name comes from Bossa nova, which is a style of Brazilian Music, and Bossaball officials are known as samba referees. They officiate the game, but also provide the soundtrack with drums, turntables and microphones, an innovation we think would improve many sports (golf most of all).
Where:
Anywhere jaw-dropping stupidity can be found.
What is it?
Freestyle Walking and "Free Running" seem to be sports for people who bought the clothes to dress like Bam Margera, but didn't have any money left to buy a skateboard. So they go jumping off rails and fences using only their feet.
You can buy special shoes called Soap Shoes with hard soles meant to make it easier to slide along a rail before slipping off and destroying your nuts.
There are other offshoots like FMX or Foot Motocross, which is an extreme sport where people do BMX bicycle stunts the, er, bike. So, again, FMX is just running around and jumping.
Origins:
Freestyle Walking was developed by Illinois residents Brian White, Brandon Kennedy, Tom Mottier and Mike Rempert in 1995 as a means of self-expression and creative interaction with one's environment. Everyone else just called it walking stupidly.
Interesting Fact:
Experts expect the sport to die out in just one generation, as repeated rail nut-crushings have rendered virtually all participants sterile.
Where:
Yorkshire, England
What is it?
Imagine, if you can, standing in a barn in a small village on the moors of North Yorkshire, in England. In the barn, there are a lot of dour looking Gentlemen standing around you, glowering, drinking ale and smoking pipes. Oh yeah, you're shirtless, and your trousers are securely tied around your ankles. There's a fellow in front of you holding two ferrets. These two small, carnivorous, weasel-like beasts with sharp claws and teeth are squirming, and they look both pissed off and really, really hungry.
Then, the fellow with the ferrets gives you the nod. You pull your trousers out, and he throws the ferrets in, pulling your belt tight afterwards.
That's basically the idea of this. It's referred to as "keepin' 'em down" and Ferret Leggers have to keep the two thrashing, angry ferrets down their trousers for as long as possible. When the Ferret Legger can't take any more, they whip their trousers down, freeing the Ferrets, and spend the next few weeks trying to piece together their shredded pride. And genitals.
Organized events seem to have petered out before the era of YouTube videos, but fortunately you can still find some enthusiasts participating in the privacy of their own homes.
The current world record is held by a Yorkshireman called Reg Mellor, who kept two ferrets down his trousers for five hours and twenty six minutes back in 1981. No one dared ask him why.
Origins:
We have no idea, nor do we really want to find out. All we know is that it was popular in the early 1900s, and rallied again in the 1970s. Currently Yorkshire and Scotland are both arguing as to who invented the sport first, hopefully each accusing the other.
Interesting Fact:
The sport appears to be illegal in Great Britain, which is the only place where it is played. We suppose the authorities must turn a blind eye because, really, what can they do to punish a guy who's already had a ferret attack his testicles?
Where:
Sussex, Kent
What is it?
A game of dexterity, skill and terrifying amounts of booze, a mixture that we've always found to end in absolute happiness. According to the Friends of The Lewes Arms pub, one venue where the game is played, the rules of the game are impenetrable and the result is always contested. They say that because the competitors are always roaringly drunk by the time the game ends.
Two teams play the game. One member of a team, the flonker, stands with a beer-soaked rag on a stick whilst the other team links arms and dances around him, a practice known as girting, for reasons apparent to only those who have spent their adult life drinking ale.
The flonker spins around in the opposite direction to the others and has to fling the rag at them. The girters have to dodge the rag. Points are scored if the rag hits someone, but if the rag misses, the flonker has to drink a chamber-pot's worth of beer.
The game is over when four rounds are finished, or when everyone is so drunk that any movement might cause them to vomit noisily or urinate uncontrollably. Points are deducted if anyone is sober enough to remember their gender at the end of the game.
Origins:
Dwile Flonkers claim that the game was invented either in the nineteenth century or sometime in the middle ages. Sober people say it was invented in the 1960s by a bunch of people with too much time on their hands.
Interesting Fact:
As with most English rural sports of questionable origin, dressing up like an idiot is a requirement.
Where:
Switzerland
What is it?
Some claim it's a cross between baseball and golf, but in reality it only has a passing similarity to either. The game is played by teams of up to eighteen on a very long, straight field. A launcher, a curved metal ramp, is at one end, by which a player stands. He smacks a small rubber projectile, the hornuss, from the launcher with a long, bendy stick that looked like a fishing rod.
The hornuss can reach speeds of two hundred miles an hour, and can fly for up to three hundred yards. It zooms off straight towards the members of the other team, who are all standing on the field waving placards and wearing helmets.
The other team has to biff the hornuss out the air my hitting it with a placard. But because of the hornuss' small size and quick velocity, it's very hard to spot, leading to lots of comical running around with oversized wooden placards until someone sees the hornuss flying straight at their soft, pink, squishy flesh. At this point they panic and fling their placard up into the air and run away. And then whole thing starts again.
Points are scored if the hornuss hits the ground without having being stopped by a placard or someone's face.
Origins:
Hornussen was developed in the early seventeenth century. It's unclear whether it was invented as a sport or, as a minority claim, as a method of warfare. All we can say is if the latter is true, it's probably for the best that the Swiss have sat out every major war since.
Interesting Fact:
The name derives from the German word for hornet, because of the buzzing noise the hornuss makes as it flies through the air. We would have thought a better name would be "Meine Hoden!" for the inevitable cry a player makes when he fails to spot the hornuss until impacts his balls.
Where:
The Alps, though it has spread to the US.
What is it?
Skibobbing is a winter sport, in which competitors go down very steep snowy hills on a bike on skis. So it's like skiing, which itself can be pretty dangerous, only multiplying the danger by a magnitude of stupid because the bike doesn't appear to have any way of stopping.
We've watched videos and it appears the only thing to do on a skibob is to go really, really fast until you either run out of hill or crash. It would not surprise us in the slightest if the creator of the sport was an undertaker in a small Alpine town who fancied some extra business.
Origins:
The modern skibob stemmed from a patent made in 1892 by an American called John Stevens. Stevens patented the idea of a bicycle where the front wheel was replaced by a ski.
We imagine his last words were "hey guys, look at this thing I made! Check out how cool I look!"
Interesting Fact:
Skibobbing became popular in the 1950s when they were used as transport across the Alps, possibly as an effort to steal the 'Most Retarded Way of Crossing the Alps' trophy from Hannibal.
Where:
Turkey
What is it?
Not to be confused with sports like bear wrestling, in which a man with huge balls goes up against a bear, camel wrestling is a Turkish sport in which two male camels slug it out. The Tulu Camels are specially bred for the competition, and decked out with bells and colourful ornamentation. They're then sent into the ring with another camel to do battle over a hot camel-babe in heat.
The results are usually highly amusing.
Camels can win by either making their opponent fall, scream or gallop away in a comical leg-flapping manner. Trainers try and install carious fighting methods in their camels. These include wrestling from the right or left, tripping the other camel or one camel trapping the other's head against its chest and then sitting down. A camel's grasp of advanced fighting practices is notoriously poor, however, and thus it seems they just clatter around, banging into each other until one topples over.
Origins:
Camel wrestling has been popular in the Aegean region of Turkey for centuries. No one quite knows when it began, though some speculate it has been around since the caravan and nomadic periods. We think that it began when two camel traders got bored and likely drunk.
Interesting Fact:
Because of the presence of a camel-babe, the male camels often get incredibly aroused, which culminates in a lot of viscous spittle and excitable urine being sprayed around the arena. For some reason, ringside seats never sell that well.
If you can draw and think like a child and want $50, head to the forum and show us The Presidential Election As Drawn By a 5 Year-Old.
Or, if you didn't follow the link in the intro, check out last year's The 10 Most Insane "Sports" From Around the World.Al Franken can draw an almost perfect map of the United States freehand from memory while answering questions about health care and cracking jokes about the Red States. How impressive is that?
Franken auctions off his drawings at the end of each fundraiser. Is this a sign of desperation or genius?
[The idea] stems from a bar bet Franken made some years ago in which he claimed to be able to name all fifty states.
When he got to the end, the count was only 49, and there was no way to remember which state he had accidentally skipped. So he decided to learn how to draw a map of all 48 states so he could keep track. Source: Greg Laden
I guess that's better than the Beer Pong for Chastity fundraiser I came up with.
If you're not familiar with Franken's politics, here are some classic Franken quotes to help you catch up:
"[G. W. Bush's] pro-air pollution Clear Skies Initiative is designed to clear the skies of birds." - The Truth (with jokes)
"No Child Left Behind is the most ironically named act, piece of legislation since the 1942 Japanese Family Leave Act." - in response to the 2004 SOTU address
"During the Reagan Administration, Bob Dole was present at a ceremony that included each living ex-president. Looking at a tableau of Ford, Carter and Nixon, Dole said, 'There they are: Hear No Evil, See No Evil and Evil.'" - Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot
"If you put the two Bushs together in their over seven years of their two presidencies, not one new job has been created. Numbers do not lie. If you extrapolated from that, if the Bushs had run this country from its very beginning to the current time, not one American would have ever worked. We'd be hunter-gatherers." - in response to the 2004 SOTU address
"I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me."
- (as Stuart Smalley)
Source: Al Franken Sense
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