sacred bird » culture

now where’s that dingo?

180 — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:38:51 +0000

of course i’m referring to that movie with meryl streep where she proclaimed “the dingo ate my baby” in the movie a cry in the dark about missing baby azaria chamberlain. american tourist jean barnard would have been happy to have had a dingo to whisk away the toddler that she claimed screamed so loud in her ear that the three year old loud speaker made her ears bleed and caused permanent damage. according to the story in time magazine, barnard sued qantas for negligence and failing to protect passengers. of the incident, settled out of court, qantas said “Plaintiff’s injuries, if any, were caused by the arbitrary and volitional act of a three-year-old child. Flight attendants cannot predict when children aboard an aircraft are about to scream. There is no evidence that the child was screaming in the terminal, or on board the aircraft prior to the particular scream which allegedly caused the damage.”

barnard has no love for this kid, she said “The pain was so excruciating that I didn’t even know I was deaf” and in emails she is said to have written “I guess we are simply fortunate that my eardrum was exploding and I was swallowing blood…Had it not been for that, I would have dragged that kid out of his mother’s arms and stomped him to death.”

i’m sure she meant that in the nicest of ways.

[time, photo via djabonillojr.2008, azaria chamberlain story]

princess leia on a nyc subway

630 — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:33:27 +0000

this is what it would’ve looked like if star wars had taken place in 2010, nyc

limiting the advancement of one colored person

180 — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:22:52 +0000

the national association for the advancement of colored people (n.a.a.c.p.), the champion of civil rights can now take responsibility for the limiting of one colored person named shirley sherrod. ms. sherrod, up until yesterday, worked for the department of agriculture. she was forced to resign because a video of her giving a speech about the perils of racism was edited to look like she was a racist. in reality in the speech she gave last winter to the n.a.a.c.p. ms. sherrod explained that her work more than two decades ago with a white farmer taught her overcome her discriminatory beliefs and made her realize that there was no place in the world for racism in editing, it was made to look like she was denying service to or was providing a lower level of service based on the fact that the white farmer was white.

the n.a.a.c.p., wanting to look good, called her out and said something about a yardstick and civil rights. fox news, wanting to look like, fox news, wanted to make her, the government, and the n.a.a.c.p. look bad. and the federal government, wanting to look decisive, pressured her to resign and so she did.*

fast forward less than 24 hours and the real tape revealed that she was making an anti-racism speech. secretary of agriculture vilsack has called her back and offered her her new job. i’m guessing she’s going to look for employment elsewhere.**

* it’s got to be said that the feds acted faster on firing this poor lady than they did fix the oil spill.

** one that offers mutual respect and common civility.

[nytimes, naacp pledge]

song name not to be changed

630 — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:43:04 +0000

the young men’s christian association, also known as the ymca, is going through a little rebranding. they’ve decided to drop the “mca” and just go with the Y, as they’ve been commonly called for years. said kate coleman, the chief marketing officer said “It’s a way of being warmer, more genuine, more welcoming, when you call yourself what everyone else calls you.”

it’ll be a sad thing 10 years down the line when the kids singing and dancing to the village people’s “ymca.” song don’t know where the song came from. but then again, I’m not sure it really matters the members of the group in their outfits – the cop, the cowboy, etc

[foxnews.com]

last chance for beer with a smoke

180 — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 23:07:05 +0000

this year will be the last year to grab a beer with a smoke at the world famous oktoberfest because bavaria is going smoke-free in 2011. 61% of the people of bavaria have voted to ban smoking in all bars, cafes, and restaurants starting in 2011. this is bavaria’s second go-round at the effort according to the article in time. apparently, they passed it before and no one enforced it, so, the voters exercised their rights and voted out the politicians that were partial to the tobacco industry.

of course, not everyone is happy about the change “The new Bavarian law imposes the toughest restrictions on smoking in Germany — and has left bar owners fuming. Some Bavarian pubs and restaurants that have tolerated smoking up until now complain that they’ll be hit hard by the new rules and could face bankruptcy.”

i’m thinking, if the french can do it, the germans will be fine.

[time photo via roberto_junho details about oktoberfest 2010]

he’s finally landed a magazine cover

630 — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:09:04 +0000

since that acting and playgirl thing didn’t work out, levi johnston is back with bristol palin and they’re engaged (again). apparently the couple reconnected when working out a custody plan for their son and have kept their engagement a secret, even from mom sarah palin.

the palin family issued a statement saying that bristol is “ultimately in charge of determining what is best” and that they “pray that, as a couple, Bristol and Levi’s relationship matures into one that will allow Tripp to grow up graced with two loving parents in his life.” doesn’t sound like they’re welcoming him back with open arms but at least sarah palin isn’t waiting at the door with a shotgun.

[us magazine, liberland]

another jobs report

180 — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:47:19 +0000

here’s the list of the 8 lowest paying jobs in the u.sa. according to data collected about national averages . interesting, the list of jobs used to be summer jobs for youngins but the article says that the jobs are now “are survival jobs for midcareer folks who have been downsized.” courtney cox probably got paid more per hour to be in bruce’s video the back in 1980 when the video was made. next time you’re doing anything that involves entertainment, your house, or putting something in your mouth, remember this.

food preparation and service (includes fast food): $8.71/hour

dishwashers: $8.81/hour

cashiers: $9.15/hour

hosts and hostesses: $9.23/hour

amusement park attendants: $9.57/hour

movie ushers and ticket takers: $9.43/hour

farm workers: $9.51/hour

personal and home care workers: $9.75/hour

[msnbc]

apparently, it’s not that hard to fly a plane

630 — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 02:12:07 +0000

or so colton harris-moore, aka the barefoot bandit, will probably tell you. just 19, he was caught by the police in the Bahamas today for a string of crime across the states including stealing several planes throughout the two years he was on the run. he was reportedly barefoot when taken in by police, like he often was when he committed his crimes. strangely, harris-moore has also become a little of a hero for what his mother has called victimless crimes (stolen property and burglaries). he has over 70,000 facebook fans and you can find “Fly, Colton, Fly” t shirts in seattle, where he is originally from. rumors are that his mother is in talks to sell his story to Hollywood. hopefully, she’ll get him a deal that includes shoes.

[nytimes]

it’s over, he’s decided

630 — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 02:00:33 +0000

now we can go back to obessing about other things like kitten videos on youtube. in case you missed it, lebron james announced he’s headed to miami. i can go into all kinds of analysis of why this is or isn’t a good choice for him but since he’s said his main decision factor was to win, he’s likely made the right choice. what do you think about his choice?

tehran makes ‘the fonz’ cool

180 — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 07:24:44 +0000

the iranians are in the news again. this time, they’ve released a set of approved haircuts for men, an alternative to the soon to be illegal decadent western haircuts like the mullet. according to time magazine “You’re in the clear if you have a short, conservative haircut – and you can use hair gel, just not a lot. The government is even cool with side parts and Elvis-style poufs. But if your hair is long, spiky, or be-mulleted, beware. And don’t you dare think of plucking your unibrow.” if you get busted with one of the hair don’ts, you’ll get your hair cut the first time and fined the second time.

and like lindsay lohan, you’ll probably get sent to jail the third time.

[time]