] An earlier official toll listed the dead as 54
] Indonesians, 36 Pakistanis, 13 Egyptians, 11 Turks, 11
] Indians, 10 Algerians, 10 Bangladeshis, 8 Sudanese, seven
] Moroccans, five Chinese, four Yemenis, three Sri Lankans,
] two Afghans, two Somalis, two Syrians, two Saudis, one
] Burmese, one Omani, one Tunisian, one Nigerian, one
] Chadian and one Cameroonian.

Gulf Daily News: 251 Die in Hajj Pilgrimage

] "I'll get you naked by the end of this song," sang
] performer Justin Timberlake, moments before he ripped off
] Jackson's top, exposing a bare breast -- the nipple
] covered by a metal 'solar' nipple medallion.

I'd been wondering whether it was a deliberate stunt or an accidental gaffe (many breasts have been bared on television unintentionally). But the closeup of the costume here makes it pretty clear that it was deliberate. The cup wasn't *torn* off, it was *unsnapped* off.

It was definitely one of the more entertaining moments of the evening though! I TiVo-ed the game and fast-forwarded through most of the first half, though there were some exciting plays later on. I wasn't that impressed with the commercials either, with the exception of the Cadillac wave "turbulence" ad -- nice graphics on that one. Runners-up: The alien Fedex-recommender, "my husband was raised by wolves," the crotch-biting dog was good for at least one laugh, and the donkey trying out for the Clydesdales was cute.

Janet and Justin and the Superbowl, oh my!

I was chatting with another friend today, who, though he never knew Brad, has fought his own battles with drugs, and lost friends to them. I asked him what he'd tell a kid who was starting to use drugs, but was in denial about what he was doing. I thought the answer he gave was worth repeating, so here it is:

Here's the story with drugs...
When you first get into them, you have control...
and so you continue...
but eventually you pass a line where they dominate you...
and that line is not something a user can tell....

and Id tell them its fine and dandy what they're doing in one way,
but they will cross a line, and when they do, there will be no
coming back

and they will have no idea where that line is or when they crossed
it....but everyday they do drugs, they get closer to it

And thats fact

RE: Brad

Escher drawings made 3-D physical in LEGO blocks.

Fun. :)

Escher's 'Ascending and Descending' in LEGO

While speaking with a teenaged friend recently, I used the term "catch-22" in conversation. He was baffled, having never heard the term, so I sent him a link with more info. He'd also never heard the term "being in limbo." Overall, he's a bright and inquisitive individual... I guess he was just in one of those eddies of society where those particular memes never swirled.

Dictionary & Encyclopedia - Definition of Catch-22

This site (mostly in Polish) is maintained by the Dunin Society. The crest with the swan ("Labedz") is my family's crest.

Elonka :)

The Dunin Society

] Long Island native Bob Keeshan, who gently entertained
] and educated generations of children as television's
] walrus-mustachioed Captain Kangaroo, died Friday at 76.

(sigh)

Bob Keeshan, 'Captain Kangaroo' Dies

] A small group of Westside High School students plastered
] the school Monday with posters advocating that a white
] student from South Africa receive the "Distinguished
] African American Student Award" next year.

] The students' actions on Martin Luther King Jr. Day upset
] several students and have led administrators to
] discipline four students.
...
] The posters were removed by administrators because they
] were "inappropriate and insensitive," Westside
] spokeswoman Peggy Rupprecht said Tuesday.

Acidus comments:
WTF is this? It seems that Blacks professing they are "African American" is prefectly ok, but for a white guy to profess his nationality, it is "inappropriate and insensitive." What kind of bullshit double standard is that? If anything he is more African-American they any of these people: He was born in African, he lives in America. How many of these other students running for African-American Student of the year can say that?

I agree, this baffles me. To me, "African-American" does not mean only black, it means people whose ancestry is African.

Using myself as an example... Though I rarely use the title, I can claim to be Polish-American, or Croatian-American. The latter one is especially relevant because though two of my grandparents were born in Croatia, their own parents were born in Hungary. But I don't see that as negating the Croatian heritage. I grew up with Croatian culture around me -- dances, food, language, customs, and people who identified as Croatian. To say that I could not identify myself as of Croatian heritage because my ancestors hadn't been there for enough generations, or were of the wrong skin color, would be absurd.

You are not African-American, You are White

Another site that CrankyMessiah used, pays its respects.

When I learned that Brad "CrankyMessiah" Blines was also a member of the Fazed community, I dropped a line to the staff there. One of the sysops, Spunn, is also a longtime member of my GemStone community, so I wanted to make sure he knew about Brad's death, and then he passed the word on to the rest.

Seeing the picture of Brad ( http://www.astoned.net/Images/TNT_CrankyMessiah.jpg ) filled me with strange emotions. His name is so familiar, but his picture is not. I find myself craving more information about what happened. How long had he been using heroin? Did anyone know? Was there some sign that I should have noticed? Could I have made a difference if I had?

If nothing else, the news of his passing has sent shock waves throughout the Memestreams and Fazed communities. So, perhaps, if even one other life is saved from this kind of death by the cautionary tale of Brad's mistake, there may be some small solace.

Still though, I find myself gazing sadly at his photo today, and grieving for someone half-known...

Our lives are so short.

Carpe diem.

FAZED - CrankyMessiah Condolences Thread

flynn23 wrote:
] It is with an extraordinarily heavy heart that I post that my
] good friend, Brad Blines, died on Thursday morning of a heroin
] overdose. Folks on memestreams will know him as crankymessiah.
&nbsp. . .
] Brad Michael BLINES
] Nashville, TN
] Age 35
] January 8, 2003
] January 8, 2003. Survived by parents, Michael and Diana
] Blines; sister, Kristin (Richard) Vik; grandmothers, Bonnie
] (Lloyd) Holt, Ruth Allen; nephews, Ethan Richard Vik, Brennan
] Michael Vik. The funeral service will be held at 3 p.m. at
] Harpeth Hills Funeral Home with Bro. Doug Varnado officiating.
] Pallbearers will be Chris Scheele, Richard Vik, Michael
] Dodson, Rich Husband, Jim Folger, Ernie Simon. The Interment
] will follow at Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens. In lieu of
] flowers donations may be made to the New Life Lodge.
] Visitation will be Friday 5-9 p.m. and Saturday 1 p.m. until
] service at HARPETH HILLS FUNERAL HOME, 9090 Hwy. 100,
] 615-646-9292

I am shocked and saddened. Brad was one of my favorite members of the community. Please pass my condolences to his family.

Did Brad have a personal website anywhere? I'm not even sure if I ever knew what he looked like, though we may have met at one of the conventions somewhere.

For anyone who would like to see his Memestream, it's at: http://www.memestreams.net/users/bblines

Sadly,

Elonka :/

RE: I am sad, and unhappy...