Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said,
“I don’t care what you call it as long as you ride it.”
Yes, folks, that’s what we around these parts call a real friendly city.
Category Archives: Politics
Blackwater, Blackhearts
from the always-reliable Get Your War On, via Can’t See the Forest
Microsoft kills Santa Claus, blames little girls
Typical!
In a bid to take over where the Post Office leaves off (North Pole, postal code H0H 0H0) Microsoft this year introduced a Santa Claus MSN bot, for kids who, presumably, have better things to do that wait in line at the mall to talk to Santa.
Then they killed Santa.
From The Register:
Here’s the whopper that Microsoft spokesman Adam Sohn told AP: “It’s not like if you say, ‘Hello Santa’, he’s going to throw inappropriate stuff at you.”
Erm, yes it is, Adam. It’s pretty much exactly like that. When we innocently asked him to eat something, Santa said: “It’s fun to talk about oral sex, but I want to chat about something else.”
The slapdash job Microsoft did on the supposedly festive chat agent was revealed when Reg reader Iain’s nieces offered Santa some pizza. According to Microsoft the girls were “pushing this thing to make it do things it wasn’t supposed to do”.
Yep, Santabot was taken out behind the sled and shot faster than you can say “Old Yeller.”
Well, you can leave him cookies and milk if you insist, but it’s clear to astute readers what Santa really wants this year!
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Teddy Teacher Gillian Gibbons Finally Freed!
(God, I love alliteration!)
Controversial expat British teacher Gillian Gibbons, who was jailed in Khartoum for allowing her pupils to name a teddy bear “Muhammad,” is to be freed, having been granted a presidential pardon.
The Guardian has the hairy details:
The breakthrough came after a meeting between two British Muslim peers, Lord Nazir Ahmed and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, with Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir.
Lord Ahmed said al-Bashir had agreed to pardon the teacher.
Asked whether Gibbons had been pardoned, a presidential adviser told Reuters: “Definitely, yes.”…
Reacting to the news, Khalid al-Mubarak, of the Sudanese embassy in London, said: “Congratulations. I am overjoyed.
“She is a teacher who went to teach our children English and she has helped a great deal and I am very grateful. What has happened was a cultural misunderstanding, a minor one, and I hope she, her family and the British people won’t be affected by what has happened.
There is, at this time, no word on whether the Americans now intend to place her in custody for referring to the problematic plush in question as a Teddy Bear.
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Canada vs America: the video showdown
What’s the real difference between Canada and the US?
It comes down to kittehs, people. It comes down to kittehs.
From Cute With Chris via NagOnTheLake
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raincoaster 