A 19 year old vegan and PETA nutbag didn’t like the name his parents gave him, so he legally changed it to KentuckyFriedCruelty.com. Oh, I bet he’s a big hit with the ladies. But hey, I can go along this anti KFC thing. They never seem to have what I want cooked, and the original recipe is greasy as hell. I much prefer Popeye’s Chicken. I hear they only kill free range chickens. Mmmm. I’m getting hungry…
I was so proud of my wonderful freshly cut Christmas Tree that was soaking up water like a sponge. Now I realize the tree wasn’t soaking up the water, so much as my floor was soaking up the water. This is a picture of my beautiful old home’s living room wood floor. Warped, and rotted. Unfortunately, the end result of my favorite family tradition of going to Talbott’s, ended on a sour note.
My tree is still going to the chipper, and my crappy tree stand is headed to the Peoria County Landfill.
I’ll be back at Talbott’s next year to cut down a fresh tree, and I’ll also be making a trip to Super Walmart to buy a new direct imported tree stand.
(yes, that is Nickelodeon Trivial Pursuit in the edge of the picture, and I suck at it.)
Central Illinois bank robber, crack addict, wife cheater, and prostitute lover who somehow raised his kids to be upstanding adults just got 40 years. If you haven’t read the story behind this yet, you should. I cannot imagine the hell this has caused his family, and his now ex-wife of 41 years.
Apparently it’s not everyday that a Son turns in his Dad to the police for basically a lifetime jail sentence, because the national and international media has picked up on this.
Do a Google search, and you end up with newspapers from all points of the globe reporting this story. Ireland, Australia, UK, South Africa, United Arab Emerates, Canada, Singapore, Turkey, not to mention every major and minor news outfit in the US.
Way to go, Dad.
I find it fascinating the things people will steal. You’ll always have the typical car stereos, gadgets, and tool thefts, but I find these somewhat humorous to downright strange. I always thought people broke windows to get to the valuable stuff inside a house. Now I learn that the window is more valuable than what’s behind it, and car tires are a hot commodity. I guess I’m out of touch…
Some of the thefts reported from today’s PJStar:
Sod valued at $1,000 at Springdale Cemetery
Windows valued at $3,500 belonging to Linda Frei of Bartonville
A window valued at $900 belonging to St. Philomena School
Two windows valued at $500 belonging to Francis M. Jordan
Picture window valued at $2,000 belonging to Kathy Johnson
Four wheels and tires valued at $900 belonging to Lynn S. Syrdale, taken off her sport utility vehicle
Wheels and tires valued at $2,400 belonging to Willie J. Taylor, taken off his truck
Tires, wheels and lock wrench valued at $1,050 belonging to Luis M. Fajardo, taken from his truck
Two tires valued at $2,000 on a semi-tractor trailer belonging to Center State International, taken off the rig
The steering wheel column and window valued at $600 damaged on a 1985 Buick Park Avenue
A 1985 Chevrolet Impala
A 1986 Pontiac Grand Am
A 1989 Buick Century
Former Peorian CP shows us visually why Jamaica’s got it’s groove on.
Noisy music, that is.
Yes, there really is such a thing.
“Noise is music that uses unpleasant or painful or extremely loud or discordant sound. Noise is also a very dangerous musical trend that is hell bent on destroying civilized culture, this anti-cultural movement is quickly sweeping the globe, and is very dangerous to our youth.”
Amazing, isn’t it? Here’s the list of “Biggest Offenders”
WOLF EYES
SONIC YOUTH
MERZBOW
WHITE HOUSE
RADIOHEAD
PRURIENT
TLASILA / ANDREW WK
LIGHTNINGBOLT
EMIL BEAULIEAU
I’m not familiar with most of these bands, but I am familiar with Sonic Youth and Radiohead. Sonic Youth inspired and toured with Neil Young in the early 90’s. Radiohead has had several hits and is one of Britain’s biggest bands. Radiohead is classified like marijuana- a “gateway band”. Apparently, once you start enjoying Radiohead, you can move on to more progressive noisy bands.
If your children (or yourself) owns any records by these noisy bands, counseling is suggested.
Think it’s a joke? Here’s an exerpt from Detroit’s Metro Times about the band Wolf Eyes:
Earlier this year, when the band toured with Sonic Youth for three weeks, they met up with proof that they were doing something right in the form of M.A.N. — Mothers Against Noise — a group of middle-aged mothers picketing outside a California venue.
“We pulled up to the venue in San Diego and there’s all these women outside with M.A.N signs. And (Sonic Youth’s) Thurston (Moore) was like, ‘That’s not for us, dude. That’s for you.’�
When Pete Townshend introduced the world to feedback in the guitar solo of The Who’s My Generation back in 1965, I doubt he had any idea what a horrible thing he had wrought on society.
Long Live Rock!
As a former Journal Star paperboy in my youth, I always looked forward to my one day off. Christmas. There was no paper on Christmas and it made sense to me. With that in mind, I was not expecting, nor did I care, to have a paper delivered last Sunday. Christmas Day. There are two reasons why there would be a Christmas delivery: a) Don’t want to offend the “happy holiday� crowd. b) Money. The real reason. To not print the big fat Sunday paper with all those ads that I throw away would be a big loss. I never did get around to reading the “Christmas Paper�. Later in the day I did take the time to dump all the ads in the trash, glanced at the cover which was all fluff, and then dumped it in the trash also. I’ll be honest, I don’t know why it annoys me so much. With all the attacks on Christmas, it just seems like one more tradition going down the tubes.
The company I work for does a lot of shipping for internet companies and catalogs. Some of the companies are quite good and really have their act together. There are, however, a surprisingly large number of these internet companies who simply put up a nice looking web site, but work out of their home, having the manufacturers ship the merchandise to their customer. All they have to do is run the web site, collect the money, and submit the order to the manufacturer to ship. Really, anyone can do it, if they can set up a decent retail site. Even the bad ones still get orders. Buyer beware- I received a phone call today from one of the smaller web companies looking for a tracking number and delivery confirmation for their customer who was complaining they never received their order. I asked if I could get the information and call her right back. She says… NO, WE’RE GETTING TOO MANY PHONE CALLS, SO WE TOOK IT OFF THE HOOK. As for the consumer, it turns out the item they ordered for Christmas (and paid extra for 2nd day air shipping) was discontinued, but they were never notified.
Ex-Mayor Lyn Howard won’t stop embarrasing you. Now he’s appealing his 30 month suspension (note: not jail time) for thinking he can use his city credit card to get cash advances at the Par-a-Dice. Let’s recap. First he didn’t think he did anything wrong. He didn’t realize it was wrong. Didn’t realize it was a city card. Confused. Not addicted to gambling. Confused. Still didn’t do anything wrong. Ok, knew it was a city card, but that’s still ok. Innocent. Convicted. Slap on the wrist. Looking forward to attending Gamblers Anonymous. Changes his mind. Didn’t do anything wrong. Appeals. Get a clue, Lyn. Your city wants to move on, you should too.
Deja Vu?
I figured it must not’ve been newsworthy.
Week25 reports:
Dec 22, 2005 - Coffee lovers near Bradley University will soon have a new place to grab their morning cup of joe.
Developers for the Campustown shopping center say a Starbucks will soon open there.
The coffee shop will occupy half of the former Plates restaurant.
More than a year ago, Starbucks announced it was considering building a free-standing store at Campustown.
Instead, owners of the complex say the Plates site will be a better fit for the coffee shop.
Unlike the other two Starbucks in Peoria this one will not have a drive-through.
If you kill someone, DON’T BLOG ABOUT IT.
“It was me who caused it. I turned the wheel. I turned the wheel that sent us off the road, into the concrete drain . . .,”
Those words just got an 18 year old the light sentence of five years in prison, 10 years of probation and a permanent license suspension.
…and don’t blog about work either, or you might just get fired.
This sounds like a scene from “C.O.P.S. - The OutTakes”. It’s also a story of stupid criminals who happened to get lucky… I have a feeling their good luck won’t last long.
Report from the PJStar:
PEORIA - A Peoria police squad car was struck nearly head-on Wednesday night by a motorist as he fled police in South Peoria.
Two members of the problem-orientated police team inside the car at the time of the 9 p.m. crash were not injured, police said. Their names were not available.
The officers had pulled a car over in the 1300 block of West Howett Street but it sped away and turned south on Louisa Street, police said.
Police followed the car, but soon stopped on Louisa after they saw the car lose control after making a U-turn. But the car continued toward the squad car, striking the front of it at an angle, spinning it around.
The male driver and a male passenger both bailed out of the wrecked car only to be chased by the POP officers and other Peoria police who had converged onto the area. Both the men were able to elude police.
It was unavailable late Wednesday if any arrests had been made in connection to the crash. A reason why police were stopping the car also was not available.
Congratulations to Ray Lahood for securing a $1,000,000 Small Business Administration Grant to help the yet unbuilt Peoria Next Incubator add a third floor.
Remember, One man’s pork is another man’s bacon!
I was told that the CampusTown restaurant “Platesâ€? had closed. I wasn’t surprised. The food was excellent, and the entire restaurant was nicely remodeled, but I couldn’t believe many Peorians would drive to CampusTown to go to a nice restaurant, much less a nice restaurant with a not-so-good name. It is being replaced by Starbucks, with some extra room to spare. Rumours were a few years back that Starbucks was going to build on the empty area of the parking lot, but that fell through. I was a little concerned for One World at the time, but I don’t think I have to be now. They have been slowing diversifying and is now quite a nice place to eat (bad service has been fixed, in my experience), they have a liquor license, jazz on the weekends, and are expanding into Lagron Miller’s space. They’re not just the quirky coffee house anymore. I think they have positioned themselves to be able to easily handle a Starbucks across the street, and I expect they will both do well.
A little national exposure certainly can’t hurt East Peoria’s cause. The article comes complete with a picture of the famous “Greetings From Peoria” postcard. You have to be a subscriber to the magazine to read the web-site, so I’ve copied and pasted the text here. From the Dec. 19 issue of BusinessWeek: BIG BOX BLUES Making Few Friends On Main Street Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) has been on a charm offensive lately, trying to polish its image. The effort isn’t playing in Peoria, however. In that quintessential American town, the buzz is all about the retailer’s penny-pinching. Wal-Mart made front-page news in November by trying to cut its property taxes in East Peoria. Lured by a five-year tax holiday, the $288.2 billion company built a superstore in 1998 on what had been a vacant 19-acre lot. When the break expired, local authorities sent Wal-Mart a tax bill for $304,000 a year, mostly for local schools. Claiming its store’s value has been overassessed, Wal-Mart is asking an Illinois appeals board to drop its levy by a third. A Wal-Mart official said the appeal is no different than a homeowner challenging a rising property tax bill. Harrumphed the Peoria Journal Star in an editorial: “The audacity of the world’s largest company is breathtaking.” The tax flap comes only months after L.R. Nelson, a Peoria company that makes garden sprinklers, fired 100 full-time employees and sent their work to China. President Dave Eglinton says Wal-Mart wanted lower prices, and after Nelson lost its business with Home Depot (HD) to Chinese imports, the company couldn’t risk a cutback by its biggest customer, too. By Michael Arndt
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