Papal Bull

Some people believe that over 20 years ago the pope predicted the current economic collapse. From Bloomberg:

Pope Benedict XVI was the first to predict the crisis in the global financial system, a "prophecy" dating to a paper he wrote when he was a cardinal, Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti said.

"The prediction that an undisciplined economy would collapse by its own rules can be found" in an article written by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became pope in April 2005, Tremonti said yesterday at Milan's Cattolica University.

German-born Ratzinger in 1985 presented a paper entitled "Market Economy and Ethics" at a Rome event dedicated to the Church and the economy. The future pope said a decline in ethics "can actually cause the laws of the market to collapse."

I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but that's about as specific and relevant as any fortune cookie.

A Christmas Story Turns 25 Today!

25 years ago today A Christmas Story was released in theaters. I didn't see it until a few years later when it was released on video, but it's been a favorite of mine ever since.



Happy Birthday, Ralphie!

Someone Actually Fell for the "Nigerian E-Mail Scam"

It's stories like this that make a good argument for requiring people to get a license before being allowed on the Information Superhighway:

Why do I get the feeling that stuffed in an old shoebox, tucked away somewhere in her bedroom closet, is the deed to a bridge in Brooklyn?

Inmate Mails Himself Out of Prison

A convicted drug dealer escaped from a German prison by mailing himself out:

The 42-year-old Turkish citizen -- who was serving a seven-year sentence -- had been making stationery with other prisoners destined for the shops.

At the end of his shift, the inmate climbed into a cardboard box and was taken out of prison by express courier. His whereabouts are still unknown.

The chief warden of the jail told the BBC this was an embarrassing incident.

I thought plans like this only worked on Hogan's Heroes.

Monty Python Recycled Ancient Jokes

It turns out that the Dead Parrot sketch, one of the most well-known sketches from the British comedy troupe Monty Python, is at least 1,600 years old:

A classic scholar has proved the point, by unearthing a Greek version of the world-famous piece that is some 1,600 years old.

A comedy duo called Hierocles and Philagrius told the original version, only rather than a parrot they used a slave.

It concerns a man who complains to his friend that he was sold a slave who dies in his service.

His companion replies: "When he was with me, he never did any such thing!"

The joke was discovered in a collection of 265 jokes called Philogelos: The Laugh Addict, which dates from the fourth century AD.

Hierocles had gone to meet his maker, and Philagrius had certainly ceased to be, long before John Cleese and Michael Palin reinvented the yarn in 1969.

"Philagrius"? More like "Pilagiarus"!

"This Tang Tastes Funny..."

The crew of the space shuttle Endeavour is bound for the International Space Station on a remodeling mission:

The masterpiece of the interior improvements is without doubt the new $19 million toilet system complete with a privacy enclosure. Until now the crew have had to make use of only one toilet located in the Russian segment of the station, and that one from time to time has not worked well.

What makes the toilet even more special is that it will be hooked up to the $250 million "Regenerative ECLSS system" -- basically a complex closet-sized dehumidifier-cum-water treatment plant capable of recycling sweat and urine into clean drinking water and fresh oxygen.

"I like to refer to this whole process as a coffee machine," said shuttle astronaut and one-time station resident Pettit. "It's going to take yesterday's coffee and make it into today's coffee."

The crew won't get to test that morning java theory for at least four months while NASA makes sure It works as advertised. It's creator expects no problems.

"We did blind taste tests of the water," said NASA's Bob Bagdigian, the system's lead engineer. "Nobody had any strong objections. Other than a faint taste of iodine, it is just as refreshing as any other kind of water."

You Mean There's A Long Version?

Though this defies comment, I guess I have to say something in order to make this an original post: "AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh!"

Has Hollywood Run Out of Ideas?

Remember the movie Clue? It was funny and relatively successful.

Well, Hollywood has decided to turn a couple of other popular board games into movies: Monopoly and Battleship. No kidding.

(HT: Chris Knight)

If You've Never Seen LOST...

...watch this before the Season 5 premier in January.

Lee Might Appreciate This One

I doubt this would make Lee change his avatar from Calvin to Dilbert, but looks like he may have another cartoon friend, here.