The Weird, Random, and Interesting things that Fit Nowhere Else Thread

[rjshae]

So because the national park won't let a young-earth creationist collect rocks....

 

Creationist sues the Grand Canyon for religious discrimination

 

I think he'll first have to demonstrate that collecting rocks for research purposes is a religious practice, which would then be protected under the First Amendment. That amendment doesn't protect everything to do with religion.

[Raithe]

Neil Gaiman to read aloud the Cheesecake Factory menu if money is raised for UN Refugee Agency

 

 

 

The Cheesecake Factory’s menu is the In Search of Lost Time of the restaurant industry, in that it is far too long and probably includes a madeleine or two. 

 

Neil Gaiman is a very famous author (American Gods, Stardust, Coraline) with a notably soothing British accent, who has nothing to do with the Cheesecake Factory but has been dared to read its convoluted bill of fare anyway.

 

How’d this happen?

 

It all began with writer/comedian Sara Benincasa, a self-professed cheesecake addict, whose Twitter bio now reads “Neil Gaiman Will Read The Entire @Cheesecake Menu If We Raise $500K For @Refugees.” 

 

In a Crowdrise campaign launched today, she outlined her mission to coax Gaiman into performing a dramatic reading of the menu ― which, according to Benincasa, consists of at least “8,000 pages,” representing what we feel is a very reasonable estimate.

 

The campaign states plainly:

 

 

I asked Neil Gaiman if he’d do a live reading of the Cheesecake Factory menu if I raised $500,000 for a charity of his choice. And because he’s not just a great artist but a great person, he said yes. He chose UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. I want to hit this goal by World Refugee Day on June 20. 

 

Why? Well, why not?

 

Gaiman has already agreed to comply with the absurd Cheesecake challenge. If, you know, his fans are capable of scrounging together half a million dollars before June 20.

So far the campaign has raised just over $1,400, so Gaiman’s readers certainly have some donating to do. Go ahead, make your strange, seemingly arbitrary, Cheesecake-laced literary dreams come true here.

 

And don’t forget the incredibly necessary hashtag: #neilcake.

 

Edited May 23, 2017 by Raithe

[Guard Dog]

You gotta be kidding me! http://redalertpolitics.com/2017/05/23/stop-shaming-culture-appropriation-food/

[Hurlshort]

You gotta be kidding me! http://redalertpolitics.com/2017/05/23/stop-shaming-culture-appropriation-food/

 

That's not a real thing though. Just because a bunch of twitter wierdos tweet and some blog complains about it, doesn't make it an actual movement. This article is actually spreading the dumbness by bothering to react to it.

[Bartimaeus]

 

You gotta be kidding me! http://redalertpolitics.com/2017/05/23/stop-shaming-culture-appropriation-food/

 

That's not a real thing though. Just because a bunch of twitter wierdos tweet and some blog complains about it, doesn't make it an actual movement. This article is actually spreading the dumbness by bothering to react to it.

 

 

Ceterum autem censeo Twitter esse delendam.

[Guard Dog]

Oh I know there is nothing to this but absurdity. That's why I posted it here and not in the politics thread. But it is silly.

 

On a side note I was reminded of Babu Bhatt's restaurant in Seinfeld, The Dream Cafe, that had every type of ethic food on the menu. I thought it would be cool to have a place like that. Then I realized we do... The Golden Corral! The bad news is the food ain't that good. The good news is there is plenty of it!

[Wrath of Dagon]

The world's largest aircraft: http://www.nbcnews.com/mach/technology/world-s-biggest-aircraft-nails-critical-test-flight-n763706

[Guard Dog]

In today's news the evolution of primates continues unabated. A few months ago it was reported they had entered the stone age. Now they are branching into organized crime: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2132748-monkey-mafia-steal-your-stuff-then-sell-it-back-for-a-cracker/

[ShadySands]

A Man Is Serving 10 Years In Prison Because Of The Crime He Was Acquitted Of

 

When police arrested Chatman in connection with the 2014 corner store robbery, he was still on probation. He faced a hearing to reconsider the terms of the probation, where Superior Court Judge Jack Niedrach decided Chatman did likely rob the store, which legally, was enough for the judge to revoke his original probation.

 

Per rules surrounding the first offender status, this meant Chatman was re-sentenced for his original crime. He was ordered to serve 10 years in prison, backdated to his first brush with the law.  

 

Six months later, a jury found Chatman not guilty of the corner store robbery. They acquitted him of armed robbery and aggravated assault. Despite the verdict, the judge chose not reinstate Chatman’s probation, according to 11 Alive.

 

Chatman will remain in prison until 2022 for getting arrested for a crime a jury acquitted him of but a judge thinks he “likely” committed while on probation for an earlier charge. 

[Guard Dog]

That ticket would totally be worth it! https://signalscv.com/2017/05/28/man-receives-ticket-hitting-88-mph-delorean/

[Guard Dog]

So anyway, a couple of nitwits in South Carolina are cruising the back roads and having a few beers when they see this little alligator crossing the road. So they pull over, catch it, and give it a few beers while taking pictures of it. Molesting alligators is a crime. Plus I'm sure that gator was under 21. They then turned the gator loose in a nearby pond. Now I had a good laugh over the thought of a drunken alligator in that pond. I also had a good laugh at thinking how they wasted beer on an alligator that didn't want any. I had a bigger laugh that they posted evidence of a crime on social media. And the biggest laugh of all is the alligator thinking to himself "Bush Light? Really? If they are going to pull that s--t couldn't they have at least given me Goose Island IPA???"

 

 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/05/30/sc-men-who-said-forced-alligator-to-drink-beer-may-face-charges.html

[Malcador]

I wonder what went on to make molestation of alligators an issue lawmakers had to look at

[Amentep]

Reads to me as the law is intended to keep people from interfering with Alligators unless otherwise proscribed by law (like, say, someone who is licensed to capture and relocate them).

 

Its unlawful to "feed, entice, or molest an alligator"; in this case I suspect that it was intended to stop people from alligator wrestling or harassing the animals (like throwing things at it, trying to make it angry by poking it wit sticks, etc).

[Guard Dog]

Alligators are a protected species. They do allow trapping and hunting by permit because they can be a hell of a nuisance when there are too many of them. But to pull over and pick one up on the side of the road just to screw with it is weapons grade stupid IMO.Or any other critter for that matter. But these two will likely spend a few weekends picking up beer cans on the side of the road with $300 less in their pockets. It would be funny though if they see a little alligator sniffing beer cans to see if any was left while they are at it!

[Gfted1]

Researchers succeed in making antibiotic a thousand times stronger.

[rjshae]

 

I just figured he'd typo'd "coffee", but maybe it's a secret island base for stashing his bimbos?

[Gromnir]

 

I just figured he'd typo'd "coffee", but maybe it's a secret island base for stashing his bimbos?

"Despite the constant negative press covfefe..."

 

context doesn't lend itself to coffee = covfefe.  

 

drunk or a TIA would be our not-so-serious guesses.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[ShadySands]

I'm guessing he was going for coverage to be followed by some slightly more sensical nonsense and he either posted it accidentally or just didn't care and posted mid thought/sentence without correction

Edited May 31, 2017 by ShadySands

[rjshae]

The mysterious workings of an irrational mind.

[Gromnir]

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grok

 

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/grok

 

have used grok more than once, but we never considered it a legit word.  had a law professor who used the word. she had never read stranger in a strange land, but had picked up usage when she clerked for J. stevens. 

 

*shrug*

 

thought it were kinda whimsical that an imaginary martian word is in english dictionaries.

 

...

 

*looks up kwisatz haderach in the dictionary*

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited May 31, 2017 by Gromnir

[Wrath of Dagon]

A Man Is Serving 10 Years In Prison Because Of The Crime He Was Acquitted Of

When police arrested Chatman in connection with the 2014 corner store robbery, he was still on probation. He faced a hearing to reconsider the terms of the probation, where Superior Court Judge Jack Niedrach decided Chatman did likely rob the store, which legally, was enough for the judge to revoke his original probation.

 

Per rules surrounding the first offender status, this meant Chatman was re-sentenced for his original crime. He was ordered to serve 10 years in prison, backdated to his first brush with the law.  

 

Six months later, a jury found Chatman not guilty of the corner store robbery. They acquitted him of armed robbery and aggravated assault. Despite the verdict, the judge chose not reinstate Chatman’s probation, according to 11 Alive.

 

Chatman will remain in prison until 2022 for getting arrested for a crime a jury acquitted him of but a judge thinks he “likely” committed while on probation for an earlier charge.

 

Not really strange since to convict him of the crime would require proof beyond a reasonable doubt, but to revoke probation takes a much lower standard of proof. Just like someone can be found criminally not guilty, but then still lose a civil lawsuit since that only requires a preponderance of evidence.

[Malcador]

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grok

 

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/grok

 

have used grok more than once, but we never considered it a legit word. had a law professor who used the word. she had never read stranger in a strange land, but had picked up usage when she clerked for J. stevens.

 

*shrug*

 

thought it were kinda whimsical that an imaginary martian word is in english dictionaries.

 

...

 

*looks up kwisatz haderach in the dictionary*

 

HA! Good Fun!

Kind of hard to work that into slang (which will then go on to the dictionary). I am hoping grep will one day become regularly used, is catchy (sort of).

[Gromnir]

actual, it is strange.

 

first, civil gets lower standard o' proof 'cause "its only money."  may not seem american, but your monetary interests is getting far less protection from the courts than is fundamental liberties.  the difference in standard o' proof for civil is not analogous in the present case as we are dealing with actual liberty as 'posed to monetary punishment.

 

the chatman situation were kinda a loophole.  in effect we got the mysterious one-outta-ten dentists who would not recommend sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum.  the defendant in the present case already lost his initial trial.  on behalf o' the People, the judge punished the defendant to a term o' years.  afterward the People decide to cut the defendant some slack and let him out early, but with provisos. as such, the original punishment is not vacated by probation and the People can decide to have the defendant finish off his sentence virtual on a whim.  we don't demand the People go through the time and expense o' a trial when is only through undeserved largesse the defendant were granted Probation.  is not at all analogous to civil cases.  reasoning in the present situation is much more simple 'cause the defendant already had his day in court and lost.

 

'course in this case there were a trial. beyond a reasonable doubt is indeed a difficult standard o' proof to overcome, and for revoking liberty o' a probationer, a judge needs far less than beyond a reasonable doubt. in the new criminal trial the defendant received beyond reasonable doubt as the standard o' proof.  the reason why the story got so much attention is precise 'cause the judge in the present context, while acting with legit authority, nevertheless acted in a manner not in keeping with norms. if the state goes through the time and expense to try a defendant for the new charge rather than simple terminating probation, most (not all) judges defer to the finder o' fact from the trial. 

 

ever wonder 'bout the one out of ten dentists? well, this is the one out of ten judges.  judge jack niedrach had his reasons and he had authority to send the defendant back to prison, but nine other judges woulda' done different. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Guard Dog]

Well, I was going to post this in the Politics thread but I see it burned down last night. So I'll put it here. He-Man is running for the Florida State Senate: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article153533869.html

 

Sort of... He has the powerrrrrrr!

Edited June 1, 2017 by Guard Dog

[Wrath of Dagon]

Amazing paper animal cut-outs: https://www.yahoo.com/news/paper-animal-cutouts-slideshow-wp-090004390.html