Happy 53rd birthday to Caroline Kennedy

Caroline in 1962 with her parents and brother



Caroline in 1975 coming out of Southby


Caroline with brother JFK Jr in 1989


Caroline today



Neil Diamond recently revealed that Sweet Caroline was written for a 11 year old Caroline Kennedy

Robber uses female accomplice's bare breasts as a distraction

A Kansas City man allegedly used a novel ploy to distract the victims he intended to rob.

He enlisted the help of a female accomplice to show her breasts to clerks working at a service station. Then he pulled out what he said was a BB gun and demanded money. The clerks reported than an armed man took $500 in the Nov. 2 robbery in the 3300 block of E. Linwood Boulevard.

On Tuesday night, the same clerks called police when a man they identified as the robber entered the store, according to court records.

Police arrested Laron Pearson, 21, of Kansas City. Prosecutors charged him today in Jackson County Circuit Court with first-degree robbery.

According to the court documents, Pearson told detectives that he only got $20 in the robbery, which he said he did because he was homeless and had no money for food.

Sorry no video available!

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I want those shoes

Was that Elvis week

For Derek Jeter it is all about the money

The New York Yankee players are likely the most overpaid athletes on the planet. Almost without exception each player's salary is more than could earn with any other Malor League baseball team. That's why they are playing for the Yankees. How else do you explain $82.5 million over 5 years for A.J. Burnett? Or Alex Rodriguez being signed for $275 million over 10 years at the age of 32?

Which brings me to Derek Jeter. Jeter has been the Yankee starting shortstop since 1996 and team captain since 2003. He earned over $200 million dollars since he was promoted to the Yankees which is more money than any ballplayer not nicknamed A-Rod. The Yankees want Jeter to finish his career in Yankee pinstripes and are willing to pay him very well during his final years. More than he is worth. But there appears to be a disagreement around how much more he should be paid than he is worth.

The Yankees claim to have offered Jeter a 3-year contract for $45 million. Jeter and his agent aren't talking numbers publicly but the rumours going around is that they are looking for $150 million over 6 years. Afterall the Yankees have agreed to overpay A-Rod until he's 42. Jeter's agent is denying that figure so it may only be $100 million over 4 years.

Yankee GM Brian Cashman has essential told them to try out the free agent market because he understands that the Yankees are essentially bidding against themselves. There are no other $45 million offers out there for Jeter. That's usually how it goes when the Yankees decide they want a player. Their offer is so high that there is no competition.

All these players talk about the Yankee tradition and what it means to be wearing Tankee pinstripes. Athletes are trained to dish out such platitudes but it really is about the money. Jeter will likely remain with the Yankees not just because he wants to finish his career playing for the same team like Mantle, Gehrig, Mattingly and DiMaggio. It's because the best offer is likely the one he has in his hands. Walking away from that is the mistake made by Reggie Jackson and Thurmon Munson and they regretted it.

One Hit Wonder

Big Country - In A Big Country (1983)

Remembering bad Maple Leaf trades week

1st Round Pick in 1991 to the New Jersey Devils for Tom Kurvers

Don't forget the overpriced HDMI cables to go with new electronic toys

I found this article regarding Monster HDMI cables and thought it is worth passing on to others. I've bee highly suspicious of claims by sales people regarding the cables and kept to the low end ones. I can't see buying cables that sometimes cost more than the device you are hooking them up to.

The article states that electronically there is no difference between inexpensive HDMI cables that sell for $20 and nitrogen infused gold tipped Monster cables. If you are in the market to buy new equipment and cables, do some research and don't listen to the Big Box sales staff.

Or go with the placebo effect the more money you spend on cables, the better you think the audio sounds.

Man stabbed and hit over head with frying pan over Facebook post

A fight over a Facebook posting may have led to a stabbing in central Toledo on Tuesday night.

Toledo Police say Aaron Calhoun, 25, went to a home on Pinewood Ave. to confront a couple after they posted something on Facebook about his sister. When Calhoun arrived at the home he was attacked, according to authorities.

Investigators say Calhoun was hit with a frying pan before being stabbed by Taresa O'Neal, 20.

Calhoun was transported to Toledo Hospital with reportedly non life-threatening conditions.

O'Neal and another man have been arrested.

Well I guess they will no longer be Facebook friends. Won't really matter because they don't have Facebook in prison. Social networking is a little bit more primitive there.

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STAMPEEEEDE! It's Black Friday!

Thanksgiving dinner

Remembering bad Maple Leaf trades week

Randy Carlyle and George Ferguson to the Pittsburgh for Dave Burrows

Happy Thanksgiving, America! Leave room for dessert

No, they are not waiting for a pat down.

One Hit Wonder

Gary Numan - Cars (1979)

How are TSA staff like prostitutes?

Sign of the day

Airpost security is a joke

The Transportation Security Administration's enhanced screening program is continuing to leave passengers upset, humiliated, or worse. Here are my favourite stories:

• Bladder cancer survivor Thomas D. "Tom" Sawyer claims an aggressive pat-down broke the seal on his urostomy bag, leaving him covered in urine.
• TSA officials in Chattanooga, Tenn., apparently thought 3 year old Mandy Simon's reluctance to let her prized teddy bear go through the X-ray machine marked her as a potential risk.
• Breast cancer survivor and flight attendant Cathy Bossi was allegedly forced to remove her prosthetic breast from her blouse to show a TSA agent.
• Sam Wolanyk stripped down to his Calvin Klein undershorts after refusing to go through a full-body scanner in San Diego. "I figured that this way everyone would be happy: I don't get scanned or groped," he said, and "they can verify that I'm not a danger to anyone. (He was arrested anyway)

Airport security in the Western world is based not on detecting potential terrorists, but on what people might be carrying. The Israelis, on the other hand, concentrate on profiling those who might be terrorists — and El Al, the Israeli airline is probably the safest in the world.

Airport security gets nasty if a passenger tries boarding a plane with a nail file or an opened bottle of water. At the same time suspicious looking passengers are getting on with

bombs in their shoes and underwear because airline security is screening flyers but their possessions. Something isn’t working.

For some inexplicable reason, we treat “profiling” as discriminatory and therefore a human rights issue. Full body screening and pat-downs are ridiculous. No one is being fooled into believing these practices are making flying safe.

Tony Clement wants to hear more Canadian sex stories

No matter what he said, Canadian Industry Minister Tony Clement insists he doesn't think about sex when he gets excited about the government's digital economy initiative. A telecommunications industry audience might have thought otherwise on Monday when the minister seemed to make a Freudian slip conflating the two.

"Simply put, we need more Canadian sex stories," he told the Ottawa luncheon to titters from the audience. Realizing his error, Clement took four paces away from the podium and did a 360-degree pirouette and tried again.

"Hello, I'd just like to make sure you're awake. Simply put, we need more Canadian SUCCESS stories," he said, taking care to enunciate the offending word.

Clement blamed the blip on the vagaries of the male imagination. "The male brain is a very strange," he said, leaving the thought hanging. "I have no explanation. It really was not on my mind, it just sort of blurted out there."

Remembering bad Maple Leaf trades week

Darryl Sittler to the Philadelphia for Rich Costello, a 2nd Round Pick in 1982 (Peter Ihnacak) and Future Considerations (Ken Strong)

Hump Day Hottie

Olivia Munn

Hey it's snowing

Catching up with the TSA

Sign of the day

Israel using Facebook to catch draft evaders

The Israeli Army has a new plan for catching draft dodgers who claim to be Orthodox Jews to get out of compulsory military service: Check Facebook and see if they're going out on Friday nights.

According to the BBC, the Israeli Army has resorted to Facebook stalking to make sure that women who claim to be Orthodox Jews—and therefore are exempt from the country's mandatory military service—actually are Orthodox Jews.

Basically, it's the Israeli Army version of that guy who got fired for claiming to be at a funeral but later posted pictures of himself partying. See, if you claim that you're Orthodox, and then post pictures of yourself in immodest clothing on Facebook—or respond to Friday-night party invitations (Friday night is the Sabbath)—or check in at a non-Kosher restaurant—well, you're probably not Orthodox.

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Stuxnet computer worm may have shut down Iranian nuclear centrfuges

Personally the thought of Iran possessing nuclear weapons is simply terrifying. So the first bit of good news on this front recently cam to light. Iran's nuclear-fuel production facilities were temporarily suspended this month, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said, in the latest sign of the difficulties Tehran is facing in advancing its atomic work.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency believe the brief stoppage of centrifuges was related to the infection of the facility's control systems by the Stuxnet computer worm, according to diplomats briefed on the report.

Beginning in June, Iran reported computer attacks on its industrial nuclear installations, including Natanz and the nuclear power reactor in Bushehr.

Independent computer engineers have, subsequently, reported that the Stuxnet worm had been designed to attack computer operating systems of sophisticated machinery—and most of the systems affected by the worm have been in Iran. Speculation has focused on either Israel or the U.S. as the source of the worm, something neither country has confirmed or denied.

How the virus works is complicated but it layman's terms it appears the virus only attacks specific motors by changing the speed in which they operate. Oh and only two specific types of motors, one from Finland and the other from Tehran. These motors operate centrifuges and by speed them up the centrifuges are damaged enough that they will no longer operate. Additionally, it’s only targeting drives that run at certain speeds – between 807 Hz and 1210 Hz – a range which is used for not much else besides machines that enrich uranium.

Symantec reports that Stuxnet is one of the most complex threats they have analyzed to date. Definitely not the work of a lone hacker in New Jersey.

Sevceral analysts who examined the Stuxnet worm found what they believe to be clues leading to accusations that Israel created the virus. One expert found a code called “Myrtus,” which may be a reference to the Book of Esther, “in which the Jews pre-empt a Persian plot to destroy them,” the Times notes. In addition, researchers found the numbers 19790509, which some say might refer to May 9, 1979, when a Jewish-Iranian businessman was put to death under charges that he was an Israeli spy. None of these theories have been proven, and the original writer of the virus is still unknown.

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Maple Leafs first term report cards

Well, I tried hard to hold off critiquing this team too much until the 20 game mark and here we are. Their record is 8-9-3 which places them 11th in their conference and just 2 points out of a playoff spot. Considering their recent 7 game losing streak they are fortunate to be that close although it also reflects the weakness of the Eastern Conference. It also means that they are not in a position for a lottery pick, or should I say the Bruins.

This is the youngest team in the NHL so I expect they will get better. In fact they should be better in March than they are right now. As well, there are just 8 players who were with the team at the start of last season so this lineup has yet to jell properly. Definitely a work in progress.

Here is how I grade the lineup:

A
Luke Schenn - best player on the team over the first 20 games
Tomas Kaberle - consistent moves the puck out of his end and has matched well with Schenn
Jonas Gustavsson - has been very solid in the few starts he has had

B
Clark MacArthur - fast start but as in the past has no cooled off, not very responsible in his end
Mikhail Grabovsky - very creative with the puck and also too casual with the puck
Phil Kessel - Coach wants him to be a more complete player and so far has not met that challenge
Nik Kulemin - slow start but has begun to use his size to get to the net, always works hard on his defensive game
Mike Brown - has used his body and fists well and been a good penalty killer
Fredrik Sjostrom - quick in both ends of the rink but too bad he can't be better at putting puck in the net

C
Kris Versteeg - has been a disappointment but recent demotion to 3rd line seems to have lifted a huge weight off his shoulders
Francois Beauchemin - takes too many chances in a game and loses too many of those gambles
Dion Phaneuf - has struggled to find his comfort zone
Colton Orr - seems to be picking his battles or perhaps opponents are getting harder to find
Carl Gunnarsson - definitely finding his sophomore year more of a challenge
J-S Giguere - been very ordinary and has given up a few "Toskala goals"

D
Tyler Bozak - too much pressure put on this inexperienced player but I expect him to get better
Mike Komisarek - has been awful, might be colour blind considering the number of passes that land on opposition sticks
Tim Brent - his early enthusiastic play seems to have evaporated
John Mitchell - no work ethic
Brett Lebda - looked better as a Red Wing

IC
Nazem Kadri - great skill set but too early to judge
Colby Armstrong - only played 8 games but I thought he could play on a higher line
Keith Aulie - solid young player with a future in the NHL

Remembering bad Maple Leaf trades week

1st Round Pick in 1991 to the New Jersey Devils for Tom Kurvers (1989)

One Hit Wonder

Vanity Fair - Hitchin' A Ride (1970)

If Christy Brown can paint with his left foot...

then why can't some armless redneck shoot with his feet?



Armless Man Shoots Gun With Feet - Watch more Funny Videos

Remembering bad Maple Leaf trades week

Russ Courtnall to the Montreal for Jon Kordic and a 6th Round Pick in 1989 (Mike Doers)

Community service in heels

How does a Hollywood elitist celebrity fulfill her her court-ordered community servic? In heels of course. Here is Paris Hilton cleaning graffiti off Hollywood walls as part of her 200 hours of community service following a plea deal which downgraded her felony drug possession charge from August to a misdemeanor.

Most creative response by a politician to dodge a question

Catching up with the TSA

Inventor develops underwear that block TSA scanners from seeing your privates

Goldie Hawn is a Golden 65 today

Goldie on Rowan and Martin's Laugh In





Goldie in her Oscar Winning performance in the 1969 film Cactus Flower




Goldie in the 1980 film Private Benjamin




In the 1987 film Overboard




With Woody Allen in the 1996 film Everyone Says I Love You

Sign of the day

Remembering bad Maple Leaf trades week

Tuukka Rask to Boston for Andrew Raycroft