Yaarrrrrrrrrrrrr Maties!

Did ye know that today be the 306th anniversary of the hanging execution than none other than Captain William Kidd in jolly olde London town? Although Kidd might have been more a Privateer than Pirate he was executed anyway and after the first attempt failed, the rope snapped, Kidd was brought right back to the gallows and the process repeated. After his death, Kidd's body was slathered in tar, chained up, and suspended over the River Thames where it remained for years as an example to others considering a life of piracy.

The dubious Captain Kidd is also strongly linked to the Oak Island Treasure down at the bottom of the Money Pit on Oak Island in Nova Scotia. All interesting stuff for sure, but will there ever be an answer as to what's at the bottom of the pit or who put it there? And one has to wonder how has been that with advanced techmology people haven't been able to get down the bottom of the pit that would have been dug by hand over 300 years ago? Just saying.

Anyway in something that's not pirate related at all, or at least not that I can tell, here are 15 Useless or Even Dangerous Eyesight Myths; all I can say is thank Gord for Myth #6, especially since it's still National Masturbation Month.

Here's a pretty spectacular website (okay the website isn't spectacular at all, but the subject matter is) entitled Running the Numbers An American Self-Portrait which features a series of photos by artist Chris Jordan that looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. The pictures are pretty amazing, the sheer scale of them will blow your mind, I know it did mine. I'm sure that website is something that you'll want to share with others; I know I did.

Here's one for the wrasslin' fans out there; it seems that a few weekends ago at a sports convention in Edison, NJ The Ultimate Warrior and the Iron Sheik were there signing autographs. When Warrior saw Sheik, he demanded that Sheik leave, saying that Sheik had talked badly about him in the past. Sheik got upset and acted as if he was going to go after Warrior, but Warrior called security and the situation was resolved (Warrior got the Sheik removed by security) here's video footage of the altercation.

Admire the car wreck beauty of an old tough guy who can barely walk and wears a fanny pack (not that fanny for the Brits out there) and Zubaz pants out in public and a rambling self obsessed madman have a shouting match in the middle of a group of fans. My research (okay Googling) has turned up that Zubaz Pants are no longer made but baggy pants in many different patterns from Otomix or Crazee Wear are still available.

Here's a quote from the person who posted the video on line:

"This happened 5/6/07 at a New Jersey sports show. When I was in line to meet the Warrior, the Sheik approached him and tried to shake his hand. The Warrior refused and said, "I'm not shaking a hypocrite's hand. You went around telling people I was on drugs. Get out of my face". At this point, I pulled my trusty digital camera out of my pocket and filmed the encounter starting at that point. The Sheik goes nuts, even decking one of the promoters! I heard that Sheik attacked him again as he was attempting to hide behind a table. Security tried to confiscate my camera as I was leaving, but I headed out the door before the police came."

Well that's enough from the washed up wrasslin' set; now onto something else of interest. It's no secret that I'm a big fan of cover songs, love 'em I do, but the fine people over at RetroCrush have compiled what they believe to be the 100 Worst Cover Songs Ever. As always the RetroCrush articles are top shelf and this one has links to listen to many of the songs, although I have to wonder how complete this list is or how honestly bad these songs are. I have to ask because I don't recall seeing any Cheryl Crow covers on the list.

Now don't get me wrong I realise Cheryl Crow is a talented, and rather attractive, lady but her covers are the worst I can think of in recent memory; if you don't believe me re-watch the Johnny Cash tribute show that aired after his death and suffer through Cheryl warbling her way through a June Carter song, recall her flat out butchery of Guns N Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine or weak attempt at Led Zeppelin's D'Yer Mak'er from Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin album. But it's all relative isn't it? I'm sure there are several people who'd disagree with me . . . you know now I'm thinking that I might have seen Cheryl Crow live once in Winnipeg at one of the all day outside rock concerts, I wasn't there to see her, but I'm thinking she was on one of the bills, possibly an Edgefest? at the Assiniboia Downs with Hole headlining or at the Bomber's Stadium? . . . aahhhhh my rock and roll lifestyle; can anyone clear this one up for me?

And finally in the interest of cyber safety & security I will leave you with this compilation of the Ten Most Common Passwords; as the site says if you see yours on the list you may want to consider changing ASAP.

Until next time.