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(via ABCnews) Furry Convention keeps Mets awake.

PITTSUBURGH — Playing an afternoon game, the Mets might be a little tired because of The Furries.

The Mets, who played in Pittsburgh for a weather make-up game on Thursday, stayed at the same hotel as the Furries Convention.

Lots of Mets players were Tweeting that they could not get any sleep due to people dressed as furry animals running around the hotel.

Anthrocon Chairman Dr. Samuel Conway said many of the thousands of people attending the conference will dress as their favorite characters.

“We expect 500 and 600 of them this year and they”ll be wandering about. If you see a large raccoon on the streets of Pittsburgh don’t be alarmed, it’s just us,” Conway said.

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Not a hoax. Not a dream. NOT an imaginary story, True Believers.

(via Earth Times) Xanten, Germany – A bolt of lightning struck a re-enactment of Roman times in Germany on Saturday, injuring 13 people. Thousands of people from Germany and the Netherlands had gathered amid the excavated ruins of the Roman town of Colonia Ulpia Traiana on the lower Rhine to see 400 performers act roles as Roman soldiers, gladiators and tradesmen.

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They offended the Gods, yo. I mean, shit. That is pretty much exactly what happens when you piss off Roman Gods. None of this “turn you to salt” crap. No. Lightning bolt to the face.

The report doesn’t mention if anyone was turned into a goat, nor did it confirm reports of a voice saying “Take it, fuckers,” from the sky. Oddly, however, bystanders can confirm a nearby body of water rising up in the shape of a man and clearly saying “Booyah!”

Kodak ends KODACHROME film prduction after 74 years. First Poloroid and not this. Kodak expects current supplies to run out sometime this fall. I mean it isn’t like I’m sentimental about “I remember when we had to use quills” but film was cool. Typewriters were cool. Maybe I’m part luddite. Luddite-light. Lightdite. Lite-bright? Whatever it is I am there ya go. No more Kodachrome.

Also, don’t forget Paul Simon:

Holy crap. So, NYers, did you hear (and you can go see NY1 and so on for details, I don’t have links on hand heard it on the radio – but now links below, wheee) that the MTA has a second “doomsday” budget? They’re soft-threatening that if they don’t get money it will mean not only a second fare hike (behind the one that is already planned to $2.50) but also more cuts in service.

And by “cuts in service” we apparently now mean “possibly shutting down late night service.” Head of the MTA said “nothing is off the table” and also apparently said he has a plan to fix everything but that it was secret.

Commence outrage.

This was, of course, a political move. From the NYT:

” Asked if he would consider shutting down the subway late at night to save money, he said, “One can’t say that anything is off the table.”

He said that he had not discussed an overnight shutdown with the president of New York City Transit, Howard H. Roberts Jr., and that there were strong arguments for maintaining all-night service.

A transportation authority spokesman, Jeremy Soffin, later clarified those remarks, saying, “We are not actively studying a nighttime shutdown of the system.” He said running fewer trains at night was a more likely option.”

And from 2nd Ave Sagas (good blog btw):

“It all comes back to those 468 stations. The system simply wasn’t designed to stop. There’s nowhere to store all of the rolling stock; the cost of securing the system would be immense; and the cost in labor or time in shutting down and starting up the system basically negates — and is generally believed to outweigh — the cost savings of a shut down.

Of course, that’s hardly good news. The MTA can roll back subway service to two trains an hour on nearly every line from 2 a.m. to, say, 5 a.m. It doesn’t even need to add complementary Night Owl bus service. It will make taxis a more alluring alternative and will add significant time to off-hours workers’ commutes. In other words, it’s a second Doomsday.”

Back in 2005 I made two posts. I have merged them into one, for today and reposted them:

NEW YORK (AP) — Irked by the success of the nationwide Day of Silence, which seeks to combat anti-gay bias in schools, conservative activists are launching a counter-event this week called the Day of Truth aimed at mobilizing students who believe homosexuality is sinful.

Participating students are being offered T-shirts with the slogan “The Truth Cannot be Silenced” and cards to pass out to classmates Thursday — the day following the Day of Silence — declaring their unwillingness to condone “detrimental personal and social behavior.”
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Unlike the Day of Silence which was started by students as a way to show their feelings – this shit is being cooked up by a political group. Yeah, it’s the same thing. Yeah sure it’s the Truth. If the Truth is now going to be someone fucked up the ass by mindless twats who simply want to stop any expression of a though they don’t like. The Day of Silence doesn’t say “Hey be gay” it says “Stop torturing people because you don’t fucking well agree with them.” It does it quietly (hel-LO?) and peacefully. Wanna bet that their little Day of bigotryTruth won’t manage that feat?

If this is a fair advancement of ideas, and not a big bigot parade, then let’s hold International Beat a Nigger Day too, while we’re fucking well at it. COME ON! WHO THE FUCK IS WITH ME? We’re just peacefully expressing an idea, the other side of this whole equality thing. What’s your fucking problem with it, bitch?

Fucking cunts. The lot of them.
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The Truth is, the Day of Silence was never about “pushing a gay agenda” it has always been about bringing abuse and discrimination against GBLT people to light, in schools.

The Truth is that the Day of Silence did not promote inequality, a condition where one group was treated differently than another. It pushes for equality, a stoppage of bigotry due to sexual preference.

The Truth is, asking for equality and demanding that a morality be adhered to, regardless of belief, are two vastly different things.

The Truth is that someone you know and love is gay.

The Truth is that same someone fears constantly, looking over their shoulder, worried what will happen if their heart is ever revealed to the world. Afraid of the shunning and hatred and violence perpetuated in the name of a man of peace.

The Truth is that person is afraid of you. It eats at them and churns in them every single day. They can not help being who they are, but they know you will not understand that, by your own actions.

The Truth is that love happens, and love between two consensual adults is a private thing.

The Truth is change is coming, no matter what you do.

The Truth is that when you tell a group it isn’t good enough and equal and right you make everyone think of every other group that has ever been told that. It hasn’t worked yet, not in the long run. Trust us, we’ve noticed.

The Truth is the silent only stay silent for so long, and when your own loved ones turn out to be the same thing you brand as evil and wrong you will have to choose.

The Truth is closing your mind to the reality of the situation doesn’t make it go away.

The Truth is, we feel sorry for you and can forgive you. Just stop the hate, the violence and bullshit.

(this is a merging of two posts I made back in 2005, Beldar reminded me, asking about it and I dug it up and decided to repost them here, all mergified. Thanks, B!)

Libraries are important. I think we can all agree on that. Public libraries are a source of information to the people. Information breeds knowledge which breeds better lives. Christ, they’re crucial to the universe.

Making them private will result in choices being made not for the public but for the betterment of some company that wants profits. Which means they will bow to people who hate certain books faster, they will reduce hours and staff and generally bastardize the library system as we know it into something we have to wistfully tell out kids “I remember when…” while they sigh.

Out in Sarasota County (Florida) an admin announced (source article) he is looking into privatizing the library system there. I don’t live there, nope, but damn if this sort of thing doesn’t need to be nipped in the bud NOW.

You can write County Commissioners if you like, or comment in the article that announced this to make yourself heard or you could send a simple letter to the editor of the paper involved.

But please, spread this and help if you can. Libraries are a building block of society. Why smash them?

(via FOXHouston) STOCKHOLM – Police say a Japanese pop star dressed up as a pineapple has been robbed while shooting a music video in southern Sweden.

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Ok. So let’s see. He was dressed as a pineapple. He’s a J-Pop star. He was in Sweden. It’s like a version of LSD Clue. Not that I don’t love me some LSD Clue. It’s a personal fave, really. But still! Pineapple, J-Pop, Sweden, mugging. And you just know they’ll steal this story for an episode of CSI: What the Holy Fuck within a few weeks.

Christ then it’ll be a very special episode of the new Beverly Hills 90210 (is that even still on?) where they’ll be all:

Dylan: See, Brandon, this is what happens.

Brandon: Damn it, Dylan, don’t be a know-it-all! In the midwest this doesn’t happen!

Brenda: Brandon! We’re not in the midwest now! We’re in L.A.! And in L.A. sometimes you get mugged if you sing J-Pop while dressed as a pineapple!

Kelly: Totally, man, you guys are so uncool.

Brenda: Why do you have to hurt me so, Kelly? *runs off crying*

Dylan: Damn you, Kelly! *runs after Brenda*

Brandon: So … the pineapple suit was a mistake?

Kelly: So was the singing.

At least I think that’s how it would go. I mean those characters aren’t really there anymore but the new ones, well who cares, right? Yeah.

But to recap once more:

Pineapple costume. J-Pop star. Sweden. Mugged.

(via Xtina via The Smoking Gun) MARCH 18–Meet Michelle Owen. Concerned that an ex-boyfriend had used her laptop to search for child pornography, the Indiana woman asked police to search the computer for illegal images, but had her plan backfire when cops discovered two videos of her engaged in illicit acts with a dog.

Owen, 24, was charged last week with two felony bestiality counts in connection with the video files, which a detective found in the laptop’s “recycle bin.” At the time Owen asked cops to search the computer, she was locked up in the Johnson County Jail on a public intoxication charge (which violated the terms of her release in a prior drunk driving case). According to a police affidavit, a copy of which you’ll find here, a cop told Owen that he had found videos of her on the laptop and asked if she “knew what those files might be.”

Owen, pictured in the below mug shot, replied, “The one with the dog.” Cops believe that the dog in question, Toby, is a beagle. After asking if she was “going to be charged with this,” Owen said that the videos “were just something she did when she was drunk and barely remembers it,” adding that she tried to “delete them the next day when she was sober.”

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Too easy. Go for it. Already heard:

“It sucks when your girl cheats on you with your best friend.”
“Looks like she really screwed the pooch on this one.”
“Hang on, Snoopy, Snoopy hang on.”

So I hope you didn’t like to shop at Virgin Megastores. ICv2 reports: All six of the remaining Virgin Megastores in the U.S. will be closed by the end of this coming summer. The once mighty music retailing chain, which at one time operated 23 stores across the country, is the latest casualty in the decline in sales of recorded music in packaged form. Even though the Virgin stores in recent years had increasingly diversified their product mix by expanding graphic novel, movie and game offerings in an attempt to create an “overall entertainment lifestyle emporium,” Virgin Megastores CEO Simon Wright admitted, “We are linked to the fate of the music industry, to deny that would not be true.”

Unlike many retail chains that have closed recently, the Virgin Megastores remained profitable, but the chain would certainly have slipped into the red after the flagship Times Square location, with its annual sales of over $50 million, closed in April. The realty company that purchased the Virgin Megastores in 2007, Vornado Realty Trust and Related Cos., determined that it could make more money by selling the lease on the Times Square location to the teen apparel chain Forever 21 than by continuing to run the Virgin store.

The San Francisco Virgin Megastore is also shutting down in April followed by the New York Union Square location in May. The three remaining outlets in Denver, Orlando, and Hollywood will be shuttered some time next summer. The chain employs nearly 1,000 employees, all of whom will likely lose their jobs as a result of the closings.

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Now I no longer tend to buy CDs and only really go to Virgin looking for a movie or something, but man what’s left? Tower is gone, too. So it is all online ordering now for music and movies. I mean shit like Best Buy, I hear, has stuff but it isn’t a music store, you know? I love music stores, and movie stores, with huge selections to just browse in for days – finding those hidden gems you hadn’t thought of in years or discovering new things.

I discover new bands in music stores. The less I go to music stores the less I find new music. That’s me, but there you go. It’s harder online. Too much noise, so I focus down harder. The same with odd movies. Things I didn’t remember I really wanted. I find them, touch them, decide.

Man. I love the intardwebs, I do, but I miss stores. The instant gratification don’t hurt, either.

(via The AP Wire) Postmaster General: Mail days may need to be cut.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Massive deficits could force the post office to cut out one day of mail delivery, the postmaster general told Congress on Wednesday, in asking lawmakers to lift the requirement that the agency deliver mail six days a week. If the change happens, that doesn’t necessarily mean an end to Saturday mail delivery. Previous post office studies have looked at the possibility of skipping some other day when mail flow is light, such as Tuesday.

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Ok I could go into the rest of the article about how much they are losing and how mail quantity is dropping and all of that but I won’t bother. Because this made me laugh.

Outside of Netflix I can’t think of a single person who will honestly be affected by this. I mean really. Who uses the USPS anymore? UPS is more efficient, in general. And even for people who do use USPS (sending books often, come to think of it) will a loss of a day of delivery bother anyone? Except for Netflix folks, and they’re talking of adding Saturday delivery (yay!) so it’ll balance out.

So who uses USPS on a regular basis who will be honestly affected by this? Do we care?