Big Ben Roethlisberger, Super Bowl winning QB with the Pittsburgh Steelers (and 24 year old hot head) was in a serious motorcycle crash this morning.

Dumbass was not wearing a helmet, which is LEGAL in Pennsylvania.

Late reports say he has serious head injuries, including a concussion, facial lacerations, missing teeth and a broken nose, cheek, and jaw.  He may also have knee injuries.  Kellen Winslow, Jr. Jr., anyone?

Evidently he flew over the handlebars of his fancy little crotch-rocket into the front of an oncoming Chrysler New Yorker.

The accident happened not long after Roethlisberger gave an interview to Tony Bruno and Mark Willard on their syndicated sports talk show, which I was listening to this morning.  It was kind of a shock to hear the same voice who joked with Ben at 6am announce his accident 2 hours later.

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According to news reports, Zarqawi lived 52 minutes after the bombing.

So I'm wondering, what were the commercials like?  And what took him so long to croak?

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... and the first hurricane warning of the season:

An oldie but a goodie, the Piper-Kitty Scale

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Much buzz in the b'sphere over whether or not Zarqawi may have been "assaulted" by US troops when they recovered his still-smoking, almost-dead carcass.

To paraphrase Bob Uecker's classic line from Major League, "Who gives a sh*t?  [he]'s gone."

Posted by: caltechgirl at 07:08 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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The ABC News' blog The Blotter has a very interesting piece on the man who turned in Zarqawi... And they're getting slammed by the readers for it. 280 comments and counting.

This is EXACTLY why your ratings are going down, you opportunistic slugs.

h/t LGF

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:37 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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For this week's Cotillion, some of your favorite conservative ladies will tell you a little about themselves:

1. What time did you get up this morning?  8:30 AM
2. Diamonds or pearls?  Both, dahlink.  Diamond ring and bracelet, pearl necklace and earrings
3. What was the last film you saw at the movie house? The Chronicles of Narnia
4. What is your favorite TV show?
Currently on? House, Ever? The Pretender
5. What did you have for breakfast? Nothing yet.  Probably will have some cold pizza, though.
6. What is your middle name?  Bitch
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Armenian
8. What foods do you dislike? Brussel Sprouts, Olives, Canned Tuna, Sweet Pickles, Anchovies
9. What kind of car do you drive? a Ford Escape
10. Favorite Sandwich? Monte Cristo, no powdered sugar
11. What characteristic do you despise? Arrogance
12. Favorite item of clothing? My jeans!
13. If you could go anywhere in the world for a holiday where would you go? New Zealand
14. What color is your bathroom? White and blue, with Winnie the Pooh accents
15. Favorite brand of clothing? Any brand that fits.
16. Where would you like to retire? California's Central Coast
17. Favorite time of the day? Evening
18. What was your most memorable birthday? My 17th.  My friends threw me a surprise party.
19. Where were you born? Fresno, CA
20. Favorite sport to watch? Hockey and Football
21. What are you wearing right now? Jammies
22. What star sign are you? Scorpio
23. What fabric detergent do you use? Tide with Bleach
24. Pepsi or Coke? Dr. Pepper
25. Are you a morning person or a night owl? NIGHT OWL. What is this morning of which you speak?
26. What is your shoe size? 9.5 wide
27. Do you have any pets? The Princess
28. Any new exciting news you\'d like to share with your readers? I have a cold.
29. What did you want to be when you were little? a Radiologist.
30. What are you meant to be doing today? Working. I took a sick day.

For more about me, see my Eleventy-One things about me page here.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:23 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 Hope you're feeling better soon, CTgirl...I'm taking a couple days next week; my back is in rough shape!

Posted by: Lisa W. at June 09, 2006 11:13 AM (4fWxq)

2 feel better

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at June 09, 2006 12:26 PM (yHahS)

3 Dr Pepper?! You're dead to me. ;-) (Seriously, though, get well soon.)

Posted by: Dave J at June 10, 2006 09:29 AM (dR46A)

4 And I loooooove your middle name... heh.

Posted by: Richmond at June 14, 2006 02:33 PM (e8QFP)

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So, here are some more funny kitties!

h/t Rosemary

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Exgaucho Ben celebrates his SECOND 30th birthday

What are you waiting for?  Head over there, quick!

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The Zarqawi AirStrike video.... jazzed up

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The Pig F*cker is in fact actually dead. You heard it here first.
Now that the MSM is on the story full-blast, here are some of the more interesting articles:

FoxNews: Terminated
CNN: Hunted Down
BBC: Iraq Allies Hail Zarqawi Killing
Aljazeera: Al-Zarqawi Killed in Airstrike

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:03 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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According to ABC news, who is the ONLY one on the story right now....

Zarqawi is TOAST.

Special Report interrupted Nightline, not even on the web page yet

Update: Acc. to Technorati, I am indeed the first to report this. I even beat Kos by 10 minutes! Holy Crap!

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Hurricanes shut out Edmonton 5-0

Game 3 is Saturday, 8pm EDT on NBC in the US, CBC in Canada.

Let's go Canes!

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Claws + Screen = OUCH

But the kitty seems to be enjoying himself!

h/t Dean

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Or why bathing the dogs is more trouble than it's worth.  4 little dogs (one blind) vs one woman and a bottle of wine....

Complete with funny illustrations!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 06:26 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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3 days detention and a bunch of zeros. 

Her excuse?  "There was too much stuff to do and not that much time to do it in." 

Well, yeah, if you don't do it when it's due and then wait until right before the end of the school year....

At least she was embarassed and apologized.

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The date being 6/6/6, which is of course the "biblical number of the Beast", The Pirate brings you some lesser known numbers relating to "The Beast"... well, you'll see.

Drink warning for some of them....

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I'm not a parent, but I don't think that means I've given up the right to complain about how other people's kids behave in public.

After all, I was a kid once, and certain things were expected of me.  I needed to be quiet, not silent, mind you, but quiet.  I was required to keep my food on the table, refrain from spilling if at all possible, and I had to say "Please" and "Thank You" to the wait staff.  Even to the person behind the counter at McDonald's

So it irks the holy crap out of me when people these days refuse to discipline their children for acting out in a restaurant.

It's pretty simple:
--If you can't trust your young child to behave acceptably in public, don't take them out.  Even a normally well-behaved child who is tired. 
--If your child gets loud, take them out.  The waitstaff will be more than happy to watch your belongings while you're outside if you have to leave the table altogether for a few minutes.  There's a big difference between a 30 second outburst and a 10 minute screaming jag.
--Make sure your kids know what is expected of them and be willing to give them consequences.  I knew I sure as hell was gonna sit in the car if I acted out.
--Manners start at home.  Use your everyday dining experience to teach "please" and "thank you" and how to use utensils properly.

In this op-ed piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, mother of 2 Wendy Heath takes the manager of a "family" restaurant to task for asking them to leave after her 2 year old pitched a fit.

The response has been huge.  And nearly all of it siding with the manager.  This prompted another column in the AJ-C, defending Ms. Heath's outrage.  Read the column, and the responses to it.

Some people will just never understand.
h/t McGehee

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The lovely Christina has been one of the biggest casualties of the DDoS attack on MuNuvia.  Her blog is still down, but being the resourceful gal that she is, she's opened up shop in her old digs and has resumed her former Feisty-ness.  If you've been looking for her, she'll be there until further notice.

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June 6, 2006 is also the 62nd anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, D-Day.

Yesterday was also the 2nd anniversary of the death of one of my heroes, President Ronald Reagan.

So it only seems fitting to quote him on this occasion.  From the President's speech on the 40th anniversary of the Normandy invasion:

We in America have learned bitter lessons from two world wars. It is better to be here ready to protect the peace, than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent. But we try always to be prepared for peace, prepared to deter aggression, prepared to negotiate the reduction of arms, and yes, prepared to reach out again in the spirit of reconciliation. In truth, there is no reconciliation we would welcome more than a reconciliation with the Soviet Union, so, together, we can lessen the risks of war, now and forever.

It's fitting to remember here the great losses also suffered by the Russian people during World War II. Twenty million perished, a terrible price that testifies to all the world the necessity of ending war. I tell you from my heart that we in the United States do not want war. We want to wipe from the face of the earth the terrible weapons that man now has in his hands. And I tell you, we are ready to seize that beachhead. We look for some sign from the Soviet Union that they are willing to move forward, that they share our desire and love for peace, and that they will give up the ways of conquest. There must be a changing there that will allow us to turn our hope into action.

We will pray forever that someday that changing will come. But for now, particularly today, it is good and fitting to renew our commitment to each other, to our freedom, and to the alliance that protects it.

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As many of you know, my sweet husband is a high school teacher.  He is currently teaching 4 classes of Earth Science to 9-12 graders at his school.

One of his grading policies is that students MAY turn in late work for partial credit before the end of the quarter, and he is more than happy to give any student a progress report showing their score on each assignment and including a list of what is missing at any time.

Recently, one student, hereafter known as Ms. I (for Idiot) was told of several assignments she was missing, and she assured my husband that they had been turned in, and she would bring the graded assignments in this week as proof that he had somehow not recorded them.

So today she turns in 7 or 8 assignments, all with the same interesting characteristic.  The top right corner of each assignment was torn off.  As you may recall from your own school days or from your kids' homework, that's usually the place where you write your name, date, and class number.  Except for one, and on that one the name written in the name blank is scratched out and her name is written below.

Her name was written wherever she could fit it in.

Also, each assignment is in a different pen/pencil, although all of the places where she has written her name are in the SAME black pen.  However, more interestingly, each assignment was in a DIFFERENT HANDWRITING. 

I really don't know how she expected to get away with it.  I mean HONESTLY.  Idiot.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:53 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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1 LOL! Give the chica some credit, she's got balls. She's obviously well on her way to a career of trying to cheat "the system". Good for your hubby for not letting her get away with it.

Posted by: Janette at June 05, 2006 05:02 PM (OcgcA)

2 ha ha! you mean that didn't work for her?

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at June 06, 2006 04:36 AM (yHahS)

3 Gotta admit, at least it took guts. She should get some credit for that.

Posted by: oddybobo at June 06, 2006 05:54 AM (6Gm0j)

4 I bet she would make a good Democrat!

Posted by: Greta (Hooah Wife) at June 06, 2006 05:56 AM (Cbtbf)

5 The sad part is, we had a teacher at my high school who fell for that scheme several times from some of my classmates.

Posted by: Carmen at June 06, 2006 06:05 AM (YgY2c)

6 Wow. Gutsy would be getting them all from the same person so that at least the handwriting would match - but still, how do you explain away the corners? The dog ate it? I taught HS for a year, that was it for my patience level. People who can stick with it are saints. Period.

Posted by: beth at June 06, 2006 07:34 AM (BuBkx)

7 She deserves to be expelled. There is no excuse for that. It isn't even funny. The fact that she thinks she could get away with proves how dumb she is. But she isn't alone! When I was in grade school, we had writing assignments where we had to read a card and then finish the story in our own words. No big deal, right? One of my stories was particularly good, so the teacher read it aloud, put a gold star on it, and hung it up in the classroom. Two weeks later, the class screw-up who was constantly getting into trouble copied my story word-for-word and handed it in. Pure plagiarism. What did the teacher do? She put a gold star on it and hung it up next to mine. At least she was consistent... The moral of this story: The world is full of idiots.

Posted by: Phoenix at June 06, 2006 09:16 AM (4N2f4)

8 Apparently she missed the day when the other kids learned about "having a clue!" That's baaaaad.

Posted by: Marie at June 06, 2006 10:55 AM (dswo0)

9 In contra response to Greta - sounds like the kid would make a good U.S. president.

Posted by: Deacon Bakke at June 15, 2006 08:38 AM (LW9sO)

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