Tag: imported

This is getting bad. As I mentioned recently, Maryland biologists had to deal with the find of a northern snakehead in an area pond. The carnivorous Chinese fish has a voracious appetite and can crawl from pond to pond on its fins in search of new prey. Now biologists are worried about the “Vietnamese nuclear worm” and what effect it could have on the Chesapeake Bay’s ecology. Apparently fishermen are using the worm for bait and dumping whatever they don’t use. Officials are worried that the worm could carry and spread bacteria into Maryland waters: you know it’s bad when a biologist says, “I’ve handled a lot of things, and I don’t get creeped out. But these are nasty. I use surgical gloves every time I touch them, and I scrub up afterward.” Great. For a state known for its crabs, rockfish, and marine industry, I had no idea that “Maryland has few restrictions on bait importation and relies on fish stocking regulations to control the release of non-native species.”

Cat-Scan.Com really is just as described, people actually scanning their cats. And I thought I’d seen everything…

The Knockoff Project documents “album cover spoofs, goofs and send-ups.” I was surprised with how many bands outright stole album designs from other groups. Or perhaps they were homages? :-p

Along the same lines, The Covers Project has “[built] a database of cover songs (songs performed by an artist other than the original performer) with the intention of creating cover ‘chains.’” At the time of this post, they’ve listed almost 24,000 songs (!).

Tom Vanderbilt of OpinionJournal wrote an editorial on commercials using songs that on closer inspection are bit incongruous with what they’re selling.

On a related note, several weeks ago I wrote about John Densmore’s disgust at bands selling out their music for commercials. I still find it appalling that some of my favorite songs forever lose their original meaning (and appeal) by becoming associated with some crappy consumer product (and being overplayed).

This thought-provoking article on the “war on drugs” has many good points. The author realizes that unfortunately, no matter how much common sense his arguments might make, the established mindset of the government more than likely will not be changed.

The Game Of The Day is El Emigrante. Pretty fun, although it gets tiresome…

On the heels of its list of the best TV shows of all time, TV Guide has released its list of the 50 worst TV shows ever. Topping the list: “The Jerry Springer Show.” I think that’s a pretty good choice given the rest of the list, although I must protest the inclusion of “Hogan’s Heroes.” That show is nowhere near as bad as most of the list below it, and I don’t think it belonged on the list at all for that matter.

Somebody’s in trouble…

The test of the Japanese NAL successor to the Concorde that I mentioned last week was less than successful, as the model crashed into the Australian desert seconds after takeoff. Obviously, this is quite a setback for the program; no word yet on a cause or what this does to development plans.

This guy might even displace Bud Selig from his place as Dick Of The Week! CNN reports that an ‘Antiques Roadshow’ dealer has been sent to prison for making fake appraisals, sometimes selling items at a much higher price than he appraised them for, as well as outright staging segments for the show. He made “between $800,000 and $1.5 million on the fraudulent transactions.” I can’t believe that he got away with this for so long; it’s not as if he was the only person who knew what these things were worth…