Category: In the News

the weather ninja

tornadoToday we had quite a bit of severe weather in Arkansas, including several destructive tornadoes.  There was a lot of news coverage, just about all day.  They even showed some live footage of tornadoes by professional storm chasers / spotters.

But one thing I learned recently is that we have a storm chaser here in Arkansas who calls himself the Weather Ninja.  I’m not sure what ninja skills have to do with thunderstorms, but it’s a cool name nonetheless.  He probably isn’t even a real ninja.  Although, he could be one of the Japanese anime types, who knows ancient karate skills plus has super powers.  But I suspect he’s just a regular guy who thought up a great name.

offended at losing weight

These days, I don’t get surprised too much at the stupidity of some people nor at how easily they get offended.  I don’t know if people have always been this stupid, or if our society somehow breeds it in some type of “experiment-gone-wrong” type way.  But either way, some people sure do get offended easily.  Here’s a unique example, which really happened recently.

A 19-year-old overweight guy named Broderick Laswell was arrested last September for beating and stabbing a guy, then setting his house on fire.  When he went to jail, he weighed 413 pounds.  (That’s not just slightly overweight, either — it’s more like “the back of your neck looks like a pack of sausages” fat.)  Anyway, in jail, he’s fed “only” 2300 to 3000 calories per day.  And he’s tried to work out a few times, but he started feeling faint.  He claims that this faintness is due to hunger pains from diminished calorie intake, though it’s more likely because he’s morbidly obese.  I mean, when you’re over 400 pounds, walking across the parking lot is a workout.  (Not that I’d know personally, nor will I be researching this.)

Anyway, this guy is suing the jailers for “lack of nutrition” because he’s lost 105 pounds and is now down to a still-not-healthy 308 pounds.  He claims that this “lack of nutrition” causes his stomach to hurt and growl and be hungry again within an hour of eating.

So, to summarize this, a fat guy commits a crime, goes to jail, is forced to eat a normal amount of food, loses weight, and files a lawsuit over it.  Is he offended at being less fat?  Or does he think prisoners should be fed from a buffet every day?  What is he thinking?

evil fake meat

Some grocery stores are now selling a meatless meat product called seitan.  It’s made from wheat, and is supposed to be better than tofu in all ways.  Some call it “wheat meat” — that would be a much better name than seitan.  FYI, seitan is pronounced like satan.  That’s definitely not an association they want to make!  Surely they could’ve come up with a better name for it…

Karl Rove gets his groove on

I’ve said for a while that I think professional politicians ought to have a sense of humor.  So many of them seem completely humorless.  It would make politics a lot more interesting if they could take a joke or loosen up once in a while.  It’s just not healthy to be serious 100% of the time.

That said, I just found a video where Karl Rove and his “homies” decided to bust a move at The Radio and Television Correspondents Association dinner.  I’m not sure this was a good idea…

Here’s the link to the video.

I will give them a few points for trying to be funny.  At least they’re trying.  But then I’ll take away all those points and then some for how lame this is.  I mean, there’s bad, and there’s so-bad-it’s-funny, and there’s this-is-so-horrible-that-I-feel-dumber-for-watching-it.  This falls into the latter category.

BTW, I doubt this gives him more “street cred”…