Friday, July 27, 2007

SO YOU WANT FAME?

Clicking on the header takes you to where you really should do it. Life's a whirl... KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) - A white-bearded insurance agent from Florida won the Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike Contest, a highlight of the annual festival honoring the famed writer. Larry Austin defeated 122 other contenders in the competition at Sloppy Joe's Bar, Hemingway's favorite watering hole when he lived in the Keys in the 1930s. The final round was held late Saturday, which would have been Hemingway's 108th birthday. Austin, of Palm Harbor, said he shares Hemingway's fondness for Key West, cats and having a good time, though he has never attempted writing anything except insurance policies. "When they called my name, I was in shock," said Austin, a 10-year veteran contestant who said his favorite Hemingway novel is "The Old Man and the Sea." Contestants dressed in sportsman's attire paraded across the stage at Sloppy Joe's during preliminary rounds Thursday and Friday. Twenty-five prospective "Papas" made it to Saturday night's finals. Ernest Hemingway's granddaughter Lorian Hemingway said the contest would appeal to her late grandfather. "I think if he were to walk into Sloppy Joe's to see dozens of men hoping to look like him, he would be honored," she said. "In fact, I think he might even break into tears, because the connection with him here in Key West goes so deep and all the look-alikes love this man." Ernest Hemingway wrote many of his classic works, such as "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "To Have and Have Not," in a small studio adjoining his Key West home. If this guy thinks "The Old Man And The Sea" is a novel, Papa must be turning over in his grave. I personally enjoyed both the short story and the screen version.

An 8-year-old Kansas boy was denied boarding an aircraft in Cortez, Colo., because his name appeared on the U.S. terrorist no-fly list. Bryan Moore showed up at the boarding counter for Great Lakes Airlines last week, and security was summoned when his name appeared on the list, The Kansas City (Mo.) Star reported. Airline officials told the newspaper the boy, who is from Parker -- a town of about 280 people in eastern Kansas -- and his adult sister showed up just 20 minutes before the flight and there wasn't enough time to clear him to fly. However, spokeswoman Carrie Harmon of the Transportation Security Administration said the ticket agent acted improperly. "There are no children on any watch lists," Harmon told the newspaper. "If a child has a name similar to one on the list, the ticket agent is supposed to clear the child and immediately issue a boarding pass." She said common names are on the list to ensure ticket agents verify the person's identity, the Star reported.

Yeah, you gotta watch those 8 year olds from Parker, Kansas. They might have corn borers hidden in their pockets.

Beijing Television said an expose that alleged dumplings in Beijing were filled with cardboard was a hoax and police arrested the reporter who filed the story. The station apologized during its Wednesday evening news program for airing the report, which was produced by a temporary employee on its Life Channel, Xinhua, China's official government-run news agency, reported. "We should apologize to the public for the Life Channel's failure to strictly examine the content of the report, resulting in the airing of a faked report which in turn undermined public confidence," the station said. Police said the reporter admitted under interrogation that he fabricated the report, which was aired as part of the Life Channel's "Transparency" segment July 8. Police said four migrant workers and one other suspect have been detained as part of the investigation into the false report.

Once we get those alleged dumplings we'll explain why Americans are not going to trust anything that comes fro China.

If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed.

If you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.--- Mark Twain

Ever wonder what happens when you leave your computer on overnight? Does it just sit idle until the screen saver kicks in?That's what you want to believe. But now MASO Digital Studio has captured proof of the secret life of your desktop icons in a hilarious Flash clip. View the animation This is great fun. "We know that as a consequence of transgressions and negligence, 1.2 million people die each year on the roads," said Cardinal Renato Martino, who heads the council. "That's a sad reality, and at the same time a great challenge for society and the Church." For the church? I'd better tell the police chief. He thinks it's his challenge. Enlarge this picture for the fun. Chinese restaurants are flush with mouse meat. Nutritious but potentially illness-inducing field mice are finding their way onto restaurant dinner plates in parts of China. "The trucks carrying mice arrive at 4 a.m. and all the goods can be sold out before 7 a.m.," a mouse broker said of the delicacy. Shipments of mice are being delivered daily from Hunan Province to restaurants in Fanyu, Zhaoqing, Dongguan and Nanhai in Guangdong Province, the broker said. The shipments increased from just one delivery a week last year, after flooding in central China forced an estimated 2 billion field mice from their holes near Dongting Lake, China Daily reported. Nutritious mouse meat is packed with protein and minerals, but health officials in Guangzhou -- where mouse meat was officially banned in 2003 -- warned it could carry infectious diseases. My cats think mice are a delicacy. But Wild Thing has said we aren't going to any more Chinese Buffets unless they're staffed by Americans. Not even after 4 a.m.

18 comments:

Lin said...

Cat ... Cat! Whaddya say we embark on a poetic justice enterprise here ... selling our NM Hanta and bubonic plagued mice to China in return for their melamine, glycol, lead and whatever other hazmat-laced products we so ignorantly, greedily consume? I bet we could even demand a premium for our equally blessed rabbits. Just say the word and I'll start dusting off the 'Hav-a-Harts'.

alphonsedamoose said...

Oh boy! Mouse on a stick!.Love it.

alphonsedamoose said...

Love the animation. Very well done

Unknown said...

Wonderful stuff! From alligators to rattlesnakes, it all seems to taste just like chicken.

Growing up, we had an old gas stove, and mice would crawl in there looking for scraps, I guess, and my mom would get up and fire it up for the morning, and sometimes the mice didn't escape, and the smell of cooking mice is not a good smell.

Smells a lot like possum. Yum, yum...

Shrink Wrapped Scream said...

Hey, I'm feeling short changed here! I couldn't get the animation clip to load..

"Tasted like chicken" Hahahahaha!

That airline is spot on my friend, I know first hand, all eight year olds are terrorists..

Catmoves said...

Yes, lin, great idea. And the Republicans would have to admire us 'cause we' be making a buck and Dems would caress us 'cause we're doing something to help slow down the population explosion. Dang you're smart, girl.
But we'll have to save some of our own infected mice for moose. He loves them on a stick.

Catmoves said...

Just me you confused me. You said the mouses didn't smell so good after getting caught in the inferno of an oven, but they smelled like possum cooking. I always thought that was a pleasant odor?

Catmoves said...

Carol, I don't know what browser you're using, but the animation plays in IE, AOL and Opera, I'm told.
Children, mo matter what WT says, are all born terrorists. It is my opinion that some of them are moles and keep their activities quiet until they reach an age where their activities become much like a dam burst.

Lin said...

Cat, you haven't been following all of Jimmy Carter's childhood recollections. Apparently possum was no poh folk delicacy and had a decidedly unpleasant aroma while cooking. I wouldn't know since the only one I had to deal with was several months dead. Apparently that condition has a slightly better nose appeal.

Anonymous said...

Hi Catmoves

Just to let you know today’s posting on my blog, is dedicated to you and the caption you posted on YesBut’s Images on 4th June 2007.

Keep up the good work with your blog.

Anonymous said...

Hello. I am contacting political bloggers around the country since I am one as well. I hope this email is not an intrusion. Like you, I am competing in the Bloggers Choice Awards.

Anyway, I would like it very much if you would go to http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/blogs/show/21020
and vote for me for best political blog and best overall blog as well, IF AND ONLY IF you feel my blog is of a high quality. I really think I have a legitimate shot at winning. If you are open to spreading the word, that would be cool as well.

Thank you.

eric aka www.blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com

P.S. If you are open to doing a link exchange, I get some pretty decent traffic.

Catmoves said...

Hi Yesbut. Thanks for the award. You make such great pics it's usually easy to come up with a title line.

Anonymous said...

DIGUSTING!! I read your post about mice right after finishing a big bowl of chili.

Unknown said...

Catmoves, methinks you has never eaten possum...for which you should be grateful. It tastes like rat.

Catmoves said...

Babzy, sorry for the timing. On the other hand, your chili didn't come from China. I think. But who can be sure nowadays? I usually break saltines into my con carne.

Catmoves said...

eric, I will get to your site as soon as I can. Sorry, but I'm a bit behind hand right now.

MissSugar said...

Mice? OMG

That's not so bad, they recently banned the imports of green prawns here in Australia because of the antibiotics found in them from China. That was 9 million tonnes of prawns a year! I can't imagine why Australia needs to import seafood anyway - it's not like we're landlocked.

Imagine you're allergic to penicillin but you love prawns...

Catmoves said...

Misssugar, prawns imported into Aussie? That's like the U.S. importing wheat and other foods from China. We plow our excess crops into the ground, pour our milk down the sewers, pay farmers NOT to grow crops and then spend our money importing these very items. High finance defeats me.
But a nice mouse now and then is really a taste treat, I'm informed.