Thought Patterns

From MyWay News:

Researcher says bigfoot just a rubber gorilla suit
Aug 19, 8:01 PM (ET)
By JUANITA COUSINS

ATLANTA (AP) - Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber suit. Two researchers on a quest to prove the existence of Bigfoot say that the carcass encased in a block of ice - handed over to them for an undisclosed sum by two men who claimed to have found it - was slowly thawed out, and discovered to be a rubber gorilla outfit.

The revelation comes just days after a much ballyhooed news conference was held in California to proclaim that the remains of the creature found in the North Georgia mountains was the legendary man-ape.

Steve Kulls, executive director of squatchdetective.com and host of Squatchdetective Radio, says in a posting on a Web site run by Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi that as the "evidence" was thawed, the claim began to unravel as a giant hoax.

First, the hair sample was burned and "melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair," Kulls said in the posting.

The thawing process was sped up and the exposed head was found to be "unusually hollow in one small section." An hour of thawing later and the feet were exposed - and they were found to be made of rubber.

Snort. Of course it was a hoax.

The end of the article is the best, in my opinion:

On Tuesday, Clayton County Police Chief Jeff Turner said he has not spoken to Whitton but processed paperwork to fire him.

"Once he perpetrated a fraud, that goes into his credibility and integrity," Turner said. "He has violated the duty of a police officer."

source

Some dumbass rednecks (which are not to be confused with the generic redneck) in Georgia have claimed to have a dead body of Bigfoot in their freezer. In the press conference, held in California, not Georgia for some reason, they presented photos of the creature.

One was of it in a freezer. Another of it was of its mouth and tongue. And another was of some sort of brown thing walking in the Georgia forest.

Now, let's say you have big news to share. You have an object that shouldn't exist because, despite various claims that it does exist, no one has ever found one. You have found one at last. So say this object is huge (they say it is 7'7" and about 500lbs) and you can't just carry it with you as proof. Whatever does one do? One takes photos of it. LOTS of photos. After all, it's lying still in your freezer so you can take a lot of different shots and angles. You are able to view the images on the computer and make sure they are not blurry, not over or under contrast/lighting, and definitely show what you say is proof. Right?

Unless you are two dumbass rednecks from Georgia. Then you have one photograph of the creature in the freezer and one over-bright out-of-focus photo of what they say is its mouth and tongue.

Riiiiight. And they want to be believed? Not gonna happen. In northern Georgia, they are near a lot of universities, including University of Tennessee at Knoxville which has a huge animal hospital as well as a large cadaver study department. No one from there was asked to examine the body. No one from Atlanta, a hot bed of genetic and scientific enterprises, was asked to examine the body or its DNA.

I don't believe them for a moment. This is too big a deal to not ensure you have adequate proof. Unless you are a dumbass redneck from northern Georgia.

Linkages:
Wired News article - Bigfoot Hunters Fail to Produce Creature's Corpse
Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization - Georgia Bigfoot Body Hoax

Greetings! No, I wasn't sucked into an alternative alien universe where they used me for their bizarre and somewhat kinky experiments on middle-aged humans of the lesbian persuasion. I have merely been sucked in the that alternative universe known as Real Life. You know, THAT alternative universe we try so hard to avoid yet, we still got bite marks on our collective asses.

I am writing again, slowly, not surely, but it is there. I think about my projects a lot, usually at the oddest times. But I open up a document, stare at it for a while, and close it down. Sad sad sad.

We all wear figurative hats. You know, the "daughter" hat we put on for Mothers and Fathers Day. The "sister" hat we put on when we hear the newly 13yr old nephew has his own laptop and has permission to use it in his room, unsupervised. Then there's the "writer" hat and the "lover" hat and the "Mistress of the Dungeon" hat and the "lesbian" hat and the…well, you get the idea. Sometimes, one hat gets put down and not picked back up very often. Sometimes, that hat is misplaced and/or forgotten.

I am a PWD (short hand for Person with Disability). I have put down my PWD hat and, frankly, just haven't even bothered to look for it in a long time. I used to wear it a lot. I was advocate, spokesperson, pert near ADAPT-like in my drive to gain equal rights for myself and others. But that hat is heavy and wears down the energy after a while. One can only advocate for a nearly 18yr old law for so long.

Today I got the ADA Pipeline, put out by SEDBTAC (oh how we love our capital letters, eh?). It seems as though last year some people in congress got it in their heads to revise the ADA. The Supreme Court has, basically, turned it into a nearly useless document. "On July 26, 2007, the 17th anniversary of the ADA…introduced the newest version of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 (HR 3195 and S 1881….)"

I've not read much to see just what they are trying to do. If nothing else, this will bring attention to the fact the ADA has been fucked screwed killed by the US Supreme Court. Some of what they have done has been for the better. But most has not.

Keep your eyes and ears out for news on this. We'll see how far they go with it. I'm thinking not very far at all.

Linkages:
SEDBTAC (Southeast Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center) - ADA Pipeline
AAPD (American Association of People with Disabilities) - ADA Restoration Act news
HR 3195 - House of Representatives version of the ADA Restoration Act

GovTrack.us info for HR 3195
OpenCongress.org info for HR 3195

S 1881 - Senate version of the ADA Restoration Act

GovTrack.us info for S 1881
OpenCongress.org info for S 1881

From WritersWeekly.com:

May 21, 2008

BookLocker Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Amazon.com By Angela Hoy

BookLocker.com has filed a class action lawsuit against Amazon.com in response to Amazon's recent attempts to force all publishers using Print on Demand (POD) technology to pay Amazon to print their books.

(…)

OUR STORY
After hearing rumors of Amazon's alleged activities, we spoke to an Amazon/Booksurge representative by phone on March 26th. You can read what transpired that day HERE.

After reviewing all the materials presented to us, and after talking on and off the record with publishers, authors and industry representatives at all levels of this controversy, it is our opinion that Amazon may be positioning itself to directly print and control every book it sells. By forcing publishers to sign their extraordinarly oppressive contract, Amazon gains the power to charge publishers whatever printing and distribution costs it desires, as well as controlling the retail, discount and wholesale prices of the books it prints, and, through this contract, automatically positions itself to control the market.

We cannot say for certain if what Amazon is doing is legal or not at this point; that is for the Federal courts to decide. However, in our opinion, the seemingly covert manner in which Amazon has conducted itself in this matter seems to make their actions highly suspicious.

link to full article

More available from the Amazon BookSurge Antitrust Lawsuit site

(insert sexy Monroe singing Happy Birthday)

Sent into space on April 24, 1990, Hubble is now old enough to be drafted, but not old enough to drink. Would it want to drink, given that it is already so high and aimed toward the wonders of the universe? Or is that a good enough reason onto itself?

At any rate, the best thing about Hubble, and the fact it is operated by NASA, is that the images it takes are public domain.

much larger version which shows the wonder and awe of Hubble

Linkage:
Space.com - All About Hubble Telescope | Complete Hubble Coverage
LiveScience.com's Space - Hubble Photographs Dozens of Colliding Galaxies
Wikipedia - Hubble Space Telescope | List of Hubble links
Wikimedia Commons - Hubble images
Space Telescope Science Institute - HubbleSite.org
NASA - Main Hubble page | Multimedia

And the fun goes on and on.

Perhaps the most important news is the National Writers Union (NWU) issued a statement.

As far as I know, Regal Crest Enterprises has not been contacted by Amazon.com regarding this issue.

Regularly updated information page - http://www.writersweekly.com/amazon.php
Amazon/Booksurge Ultimatum Update By Angela Hoy

Other Thought Patterns (the blog you are reading now) related posts (in reverse order):

Amazon.com Mess Continues (4/16)
Amazon, Borders, etc (4/11)
Amazon On Drugs Cont. (4/2)
Amazon On Drugs, Part 2 (4/2)
Amazon.com Is On Drugs (3/29)

Regal Crest Enterprises, my publisher, has negotiated a contract with Bella Books and Distribution. Bella is the distributor for 13 lesbian presses, including their own line of books.

Having RCE now part of this distributor means when GLBT friendly bookstores make their orders, they will have access to RCE books via the website and the catalogs. They did before, only now they won't have to play distributor hop. We all like one-stop shopping, eh?

The book publishing and distribution game gives me headaches and threatens already endangered brain cells. It is not just a simple matter of printing them and sending them out and getting money. It is about sales, marketing, distribution, and waiting a long time to see financial gain for the efforts.

See? Headache now.

Note: Those who use Firefox vs IE (shudder) will experience some menu problems with the new Bella Books and Distribution website. While the site looks freakin' great, I hope they are able to resolve the issue.

Oh, and while you can buy books from the Bella website, I recommend getting them from Star Crossed Productions, a bookstore, instead.

Linkage:
Bella Books and Distributing
– Publishers listing
– RCE listing
Star Crossed Productions