In 1967 the Outer Space Treaty was created and specifically forbid “any government from claiming a celestial resource such as the Moon or a planet.” As the treaty does nothing to prevent individuals from owning them, “in 1980, a very bright, young and handsome Mr. Dennis Hope, went to his local US Governmental Office for claim registries, the San Francisco County Seat, and made a claim for the entire lunar surface, as well as the surface of all the other eight planets of our solar system and their moons (except Earth and the sun). Obviously, he was at first taken for a crackpot, until, 3 supervisors, 2 Floors and 5 hours later, the main supervisor accepted, and registered his claim.” Being the clever businessman that he was, he formed the “Lunar Embassy” and put his properties for sale. Mr. Hope also gets the totally sweet kickback of being the “absolute and final omnipotent ruler” of the rest of the solar system. It all sounds like a big joke, until you hear that there are over 2 million customers including two former presidents, big name actors like Tom Cruise and Meg Ryan and even more shockingly over 250 well know companies. One hotel chain, I forgot the name, bought enough property to put hotels all over the moon (and you wonder why the economy is going to shit). So get on the bandwagon today and BUY NOW!
posted by dave at 5:16 PM

"Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares" by Evgeniy Vuchetich (a gift from the then Soviet Union presented in 1959 at the UN complex in NYC)
posted by Eric at 10:47 AM

Ribbit.
posted by Eric at 1:24 PM

As part of March's National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month 2003, the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation will lead a nationwide Colossal Colon Tour. The Colossal Colon is a 40-foot long, 4-foot high replica of a human colon. Visitors crawl through the colon and see healthy colon tissue, colon disease, polyps and various stages of colon cancer. The Colon was modeled after a real colon and is extremely lifelike.

The Colossal Colon has (sadly) overshadowed the Big Colon. The Mütter Museum’s Big Colon is a tastefully displayed, turn-of-the-century example of gross enlargement.

posted by Kayla at 1:35 PM

Today is Ash Wednesday – a day of fasting and penance marking the beginning of Lent and occurring forty days before Good Friday.

Today the foreheads of the faithful will be marked with ashes in the shape of a cross. Multiple reasons are cited for this marking:

(1) Marking the forehead with the sign of a cross signifies belonging to Christ.
(2) Imitation of the spiritual mark of Christian baptism.
(3) Imitation of the way the righteous are described in the book of Revelation. In contrast the followers of the beast are marked with the number 666.

Lent is a period of somber preparation for the season celebrating Christ's work. Ash Wednesday is a day of penance like all of the days of Lent except Sundays, which are feast days since they celebrate Christ's resurrection.

Ashes are an archetypal symbol of mourning and penance. The customs of fasting and putting ashes on one's forehead as a sign of mourning and penance have survived from biblical times. The holy ashes used on Ash Wednesday are made from blessed palms used during the previous year's Palm Sunday ceremonies.
posted by Kayla at 8:49 AM

In what must be an effort to make my head explode, the Rev. Al Sharpton is supporting a flat tax?

Excerpted from above:
Secondly, I'm working on now—and will release in March—a progressive flat tax proposal where we really deal with taxes from a level of protecting working-class America, not just lower-class America, and not continue these escalating tax cuts for the wealthy.

... although a tax system which is both progressive and flat sounds like a transmission that is both manual and automatic. Ah-hah! (Mind you this is speculation.) You could tax all income at 60% but exempt the first $10,000 of income.
posted by Eric at 8:01 AM

(Why Davey had to bust up our Muslim Connect-Four, I'll never know.)

So at a recent Arab summit conference, there was a spat between:

	The "Leader of the Great al Fateh Revolution, the maker of the victory through which the Libyan people became the masters of themselves over their territory and are in possession of their power, weapons and wealth," Muammar al Qathafi (Qaddafi, Gadafi, etc.)
and His Royal Highness, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud

Libya's take from the Jana (Jamahiriya News Agency). You'll need to do a intra-page find for "saud"

Saudi Arabia's take from Riyadh Daily.
And Al-Riyadh dubs Gadhafi "the man with suspect missions," writing in its main editorial: What took place at Sharm el-Sheikh is both regrettable and hurtful. We don’t even know why Gadhafi showed up at Sharm el-Sheikh in the first place, having already cursed the Arabs and sought to build a great African empire under his leadership.

Here's the story from what I can only guess would be an impartial observer, a Pakistani site:

The two Arab leaders exchanged diatribes in the full glare of the cameras before Egyptian state television pulled the plug on its live feed from the conference hall in this Red Sea resort. The row erupted after Qadhafi criticised Saudi Arabia for hosting US forces. Qadhafi charged that Saudi Arabia's King Fahd had been ready to "strike an alliance with the devil" to defend the kingdom after Iraq's 1990 invasion of neighbouring Kuwait.

Crown Prince Abdullah then cut in and pointing a finger at Qadhafi said: "... the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not an agent of imperialism like you and others are. Who brought you to power? ... You are a liar and your grave awaits you." Abdullah asked Qadhafi, pointing a finger at him angrily: "Don't speak or interfere in things, which you have no luck or chance in."
posted by Eric at 7:43 AM

I was looking for new exercises to change up my regular routine when i ran across this great site. It divides the excercises up by what muscles they work and the materials required to perform them. There is also detailed information on every muscle you can work. The best part, however, is that every exercise has a flash animation demonstrating the proper way to perform it.
posted by dave at 4:22 AM

Because I haven't posted a picture on here yet, and pictures (except for porn, per Matt's directive) seem to be the hot ticket here (especially for Eric):

Picture of the year, just like Elian. I could look at this and just laugh for hours. Whenever life gets me down, I look at this picture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and suddenly, things aren't so bad.
posted by Jake at 1:16 PM

Before UN Weapons inspectors and before Desert Storm (barely), there was the Iran-Iraq War. Back in the day of the Shah, we sold Iran lots of F-4 Phantoms. And the Soviets sold Iraq tanks, and the French sold them missiles and fighters. It seems like the industrialized world had a big arms exhibition while hundreds of thousands of Arabs and Persians killed each other.

The war...

• lasted eight years (1980-88)
  
• saw the use of chemical weapons (by the Iraqi's)
  
• saw the use of the "human-wave" attack by the Iranians
  
• was started by Saddam Hussein
  
• concluded less than two years before Saddam invaded Kuwait
  

posted by Eric at 8:15 AM

After being down for half a year, SongMeanings.net is back up and running faster than ever. Its a great source for song lyrics and interpretations. Check it out.
posted by dave at 1:26 PM

In mid-January of 1993, my Dad gave this presentation predicting a bullish market for the 90's. That month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below 3,300. By the end of the 90's, it was around 12,000. (We won't mention its current price.)

So not only is this a good, readable presentation, but it is conclusive evidence that my Dad kicks ass. (Particularly check the bottom of page three and top of page four.)
posted by Eric at 12:15 PM

Every now and then I will get an email that is truly warm and heartfelt. A letter that truly means something to me and will change my outlook on life for the rest of my days. This is not one of those emails:

Hi Katie,
Haven't heard from you in a while, I still think about the last time we made love. You said I had a small penis which hurt my feelings, anyway I would really like to meet up with you again as I have a BIG surprise for you!, that's right I have found a website that promised to enlarge my penis and make it stronger! I didn't believe such a thing was possible lol, anyway now I will be able to fulfil your wild fantasies. Check out the website located here, anyone else you think needs this website send them to it, they are a great team and very helpful.
So lets hook up!!, write back as soon as you can!
P.S - Don't forget to check out the website, it'll give you an indication on how big I am Now :-)

Regards Jake..

posted by dave at 8:49 PM