Not Cool

Where's Harvey Milk when you need him (or, at least, the Russian equivalent)? (MSN)

Neanderthal Man: Delicious And Nutritious!

I guess I'm not surprised. Recently discovered Neanderthal fossil remains suggest the species--which vanished 30 thousand years ago--might have been eaten to extinction. By the ancestors of modern humans. Hooray for us, we won. Go team homo sapien. Yay.

You can read the full story here, in the Guardian.

(Photo is from Quest for Fire, 1981)

Saturday Morning Cartoon

Fun little cartoon, really popular a few years back. It's all girl-powery and shit, and the villains (especially the creepy lobster-clawed devil drag queen) are neato.

If you want to see something really weird and awesome, google-up the PPG series finale, "See Me Feel Me Gnomey", which was apparently never shown in the States because Americans are a buncha weenies afraid of bizarre yet fascinating animated rock opera.

Or alternately I guess I could just give you a link...

Remarkable Statistic

After losing to the Carolina Hurricanes tonight in overtime the Boston Bruins are now a woeful 0-21 when trailing three games to one in a playoff series. (CBC) Not once, apparently, have they ever staged a comeback. Only twice, in fact, have they ever managed to force a game seven.

Running On Air

So today's Guardian has a story about a made-in-France, production-ready car that's powered by compressed air. It's perfect for city driving. It's inexpensive. Air France KLM and Indian car maker Tatu are investing. Read it all here. Wow.

Questions (rhetorical):

1.) Why was this developed in Europe and not North America? (Answer: because we suck.)

2.) Does our oil-loving prime minister realize that the age of fossil fuel is coming to an end? What's he doing to prepare Canada for this changing world economy? (Answers: nope and nothing)

3.) Are Saskatchewan politicians aware that apparently saner nations want to get over their destructive addiction to oil and they're moving in that direction regardless of the impact on Saskatchewan's petroleum-powered economy? Are we ready for this resource export-weak future? (Answers: dunno but probably not, and no, we're totally screwed.)

Well, good for France, Europe and India. As for Canada, to invoke teh Internet parlance:

Epic.

Fail.

Six in the Morning

1. RIOT POLICE CALLED IN TO ONTARIO TAMIL PROTESTS: Riot police stand guard around noon protests by Tamil protesters in Toronto. Rabble.ca reporter catches signs of police agression on his flip camera. (Globe and Mail, rabble.ca)

2. ENVIRONMENTALISTS CHEER BC LIBERAL WIN: Last night, Carbon Tax Campbell won his third mandate. (DeSmog Blog)

3. TORY ATTACK ADS ATTACK ATTACK ADS: The Tories' first wave of anti-Ignatieff ads have been launched on YouTube. They take aim at Iggy's years out of the country and his party's deployment of internet-based, anti-Tory ads. (Globe and Mail)

4. WASN'T EXPECTING THAT: Pope goes to Bethlehem and calls for a Palestinian homeland. (Guardian)

5. PALIN WRITES: In an effort to keep Tina Fey's impersonation relevant, erstwhile VP candidate, Sarah Palin, is planning to put her "journalism degree" to good use and publish her memoirs. (Guardian)

6. DOWNTOWN PLAN POSTPONED, P-DOG WRITER HAS FREE WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Occasional Prairie Dog writer, Paul Dechene, complained about the city's decision to postpone its Downtown Plan discussion to a later date. (As previously reported on the DogBlog.)

"Planning Commission was going to spend their monthly meeting on this thing," said Dechene. "It's huge. Over 200 pages. I'd booked off my entire Wednesday night."

"I can't say I was 'looking forward' to another night of endless planning deliberations. But I'd resigned myself to it, you know?" continued Dechene. "But now... I've got nothing to do. Want to see a movie?"

When asked what this "Downtown Plan" is all about, Dechene said, "The Prairie Dog's been covering it for a year and half now, but they don't have a website so you're SOL on that front. Couture at the Leader Post has a pretty good summary on their site today. Try that. Because good luck finding the effing thing on the city's website. The Plan's been out for six days now and it hasn't made their front page. They've got it buried under housing or some [expletive]." (Leader Post, City of Regina)

Rosebud Burlesque Acadamy comes to town

Headmistress Cheripop Purr* of the Saskatoon-based Rosebud Burlesque Academy is coming to Regina on June 13, to teach an intensive burlesque workshop. If you've ever wanted to give the art of classy, retro striptease a try, you should totally sign up. Headmistress Purr is an amazing teacher; even if you've never thought of yourself as a "dancer" she'll make you feel confident and you'll have a blast.

You can register online for the workshop at www.ascherarose.com (Home of local belly dancing classes) and check out the Rosebud Academy's other shows and classes at their homepage.

* Otherwise known as the awesome choreographer and dance teacher Jackie Latendresse.

Posted While Waiting For Dechene

I'm sitting at my desk not working and waiting for one of two things--either a call from prairie dog City Hall and video game reporter Paul Dechene to get together for a late breakfast "meeting" (i.e. thinly-justified excuse to skip out of work and eat food) or at least the Six In The Morning news post he's supposed to do today.

(tap, tap, tap, tap...)

Breakfast is probably out because freelance writers don't like leaving their homes in the middle of winter (why was it snowing this morning?). And I guess this procrastinating editor will just have to be patient and take that 6ITM post when it's ready.

So in the meantime I'll just be sitting here reading this horrible, horrible column by Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald on the Obama (not Bush!) administration's suppression of evidence of the extreme torture inflicted on former Guantanamo prisoner Binyam Mohammed. Yeah, just when you think it's bad some jerk working in the news media has to go and type the phrase "genital slicing".

ZOMBIE-ANTS!

Awesome news. Turns out there is a chance armageddon won't be environment or war related. Researchers from the University of Texas have discovered a tiny phorid fly that may be about as bad, pending some massive genetic mutations. The files "dive-bomb" the fire ants and place their eggs inside the unsuspecting bugs. The maggot that hatches inside the ant eats away the ant's brain, and the ant starts exhibiting zombie-like behavior. Eventually their heads fall off, and die. It's just a matter of time for the movie, "Attack of the Zombie-Ants" with Richard Grieco, Erika Eleniak and Gary Busey.

Big Game Tonight

Having cut a swath through the American League Central and West Divisions, the East-leading Toronto Blue Jays host division rival New York Yankees tonight at Rogers Centre. Taking the mound for the Jays is Roy Halliday (6-1). He'll be opposed by Jays' turncoat A.J. Burnett (2-0). July 3, the two teams hook up in New York for the first of a four-game set at new Yankee Stadium. Wonder which blue-bloods will be in the stands that night? (The Onion)