Baylor University, my alma mater, has named Ken Starr the new president of the university. Yes, that Ken Starr.

Interesting.

(In no particular order.)

- Native American legends and artifacts depicting ape-like men (see Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science)

- The massive number of sightings in regions of the country where you'd expect such sightings (e.g. the Pacific Northwest)

- Tracks, tracks, and more tracks ... and some with inexplicable dermal ridges

- The legendary Patterson-Gimlin film

- The Jacob's Creature photo

- I've seen one (just kidding)

Cryptomundo offers up the Top Ten Cryptozoology Stories of 2009.

My fave, of course, is the Champ video.

Yes!

Cryptomundo shares a researcher's report:

Last night ~ November 30th, police on the west side of San Antonio received a 911 call from multiple eyewitnesses who claimed that they saw a hairy, hominid standing over six feet tall, run out of the woods and kill a deer. The incident was reported to the local media and broadcast earlier today. The witnesses were apparently homeless and responding officers who interviewed them found them to be completely sober and rational, though understandably scared. The police chose not to search for the creature.

I have just returned from a stake out of the area, which is located at the intersection of Loop 1604 and highway 151, about ten miles from where I live. The area is somewhat developed, although fairly wooded and located near several creeks. Most of the area is private property and is fenced with barbed wire.

Obviously I was not about to trespass and I’m still not 100% sure of the exact location of the incident. Reporter Joe Conger from Eyewitness News did visit the exact spot earlier today and told me there were some animal bones present.

I plan on returning there with him tomorrow to look for tracks and other evidence.

Best Wishes All! ~
Ken Gerhard,
December 2, 2009,
2:13:02 AM EST.

I found this really interesting. According to TechDirt, Napoleon Dynamite is algorithm proof. Wikipedia puts it this way:

It is surprisingly difficult to predict how viewers will react to Napoleon Dynamite as it tends to polarize audiences in a "love it or hate it" fashion. Researchers and algorithm workers at Netflix have found that they are unable to predict whether or not a particular viewer will like Napoleon Dynamite based on their ratings of previously viewed films, making it one of only a select few movies that pose this problem.

getting Aldrin'ed -- verb. Receiving a knuckle sandwich in response to inadvertently asking for one.

ie. Documentarian Bart Sibrel, who claims the moon landing was faked, calls Commander Buzz a coward and a liar and totally gets Aldrin'ed.

Kid gets hit by meteorite.

No word on when his superpowers kick in.

If this is intentionally awful, it is brilliant.

Breaking new Champ video. From Cryptomundo:

There is breaking news from Vermont of new footage of an alleged lake monster (”Champ”?) from Lake Champlain.

This appears to be a developing story in the state . . .

Driving around town this afternoon, I was punching every button on my car radio's presets and simply not liking anything I was hearing. I decided to tune my radio to the classic rock station (I don't have it preset), and as I was tuning, I specifically thought, "Man, I hope AC/DC's 'Back in Black' is on."

Guess what was on when I tuned in.

Yep.

1- Bi-partisanship, smartisanship, dumbisanship...oh, phooey. When virtually EVERY member of the other party votes against it, maybe that should mean something if you actually care about bi-partisanship. But it doesn't. At the end of the day, idealogy is what matters. And this is liberal idealogy, plain and varnished.

2- We don't have the money. Seriously, we don't. Read carefully now. "WE. DON'T. HAVE. THE. MONEY." Of course, on the upside, if China decides not to loan us the money the stimulus package won't be able to be implemented anyway. This last sentence is not a joke and my tongue isn't in my cheek. I'm serious. The money will have to be borrowed from foreigners.

3- It's mostly government spending. Do you seriously think that money can be used most efficently by government entities to stimulate the economy? That's like deciding to send a team of five year olds to water your garden by walking from a pond to your garden with sponges. Yeah, some water's gonna get there...

4-So many of the jobs "created" are temporary construction jobs. I mean, come on, people. Do you really think that's going to stimulate the economy or have long-term impact? Yes, it will help some construction companies and workers for a couple years, but then what?...

5- The debt amassed here that will have to be paid by your children's tax dollars is beyond most of our comprehension. Think about how much of your monthly mortgage payment goes to interest. Now multiply that by a million, or a billion or a trillion or a gazillion. Oh, nevermind. Who knows how much anymore?

6- It's socialism. So much of this involves government takeover and/or handouts it's .... I don't have a word.

7- Tax Cuts would work better. When people have more money, they spend it, or invest it. That's how the economy actually works. Really. And by the way, I mean actual tax cut, meaning that you send less of your money to the government. I don't mean "tax rebate" checks, or "tax refund" checks which are actually wealth redistribution when people who don't actually pay income tax get checks. I mean actual tax cuts where you and companies having to pay less at the end of the year. Or how about a tax moratorium? Rather than spending billions of dollars, why not just suspend taxes for one year? Well, OK. I don't know far $787 billion will go. Will that support our Federal Gov't for a few months maybe? During that "tax-free period" the government can borrow money to fund itself, and fund all the states too. How's that for stimulus? :)

8- The liberals used this as an excuse to spend money on their pet projects. The list of things in this package law "wish-list come true" is truly ridiculous. For congress and state governments it's like Christmas. And like the Little Shop of Horrors, those pets are going to keep growing and demanding more and more, long past our ability to feed them. "Feed me, Seymour."

9- Now more people will be on the dole. How are we going to keep paying those people once the stimulus money runs out? It's hard to go back people. Just look at Social(ism) Security. We used to live without it. Now it's political suicide to even think anything against it. And right now some of you are thinking about me, "Hey, my grandmother lives on social security. How dare you!" Exactly.

10-State and Local Governments are salivating. Today Texas Governor Rick Perry announced that contrary to his previous statement that Texas wouldn't take its billions from the Federal government, he's changed his mind. He wants to spend that money enhancing border security. State governments are going to be duped into taking that money and boosting social programs. And once the federal funds run out, they'll be faced with state government programs that they can't pay for, but that the public will continue to expect. It's political suicide to stop hand-outs. But they can't wait to get that money to do all kinds of things. Do you think they'll cut local taxes since they are getting so much outside funding? NO WAY! Now they get to do more.

11-Headlines like this one - How stimulus will affect you - The $787 billion package passed by Congress offers tax breaks, tuition help, and more. » What you'll get (from the Yahoo Home Page)

Greed is greed, Mr. President. Whether it's a corporate CEO or a plumber. And here you are not just encouraging the deadly disease of "I-want-itus" but creating it too.

12- The same Government that broke our economy by making banks adhere to their liberal agenda, is trying to fix it by making more industries adhere to their liberal agenda.

13- The same President that decries "corporate greed" is now fostering greed among state and local governments in ways previously unimaginable.

14- I don't think it's going to work. It reminds me of a story my former pastor told me. He had a church member who was a dermatologist. The pastor asked the dermatologist to look at a rash his son had. The doctor said,"We have two options. I can write you a prescription for a cream, and the rash should go away in about 6 weeks or you can just wait for it to go away on its own" My pastor said, "How long will that take?" "About 6 weeks", came the reply.

Please tell me good things about "Porkulous Rex" in comments. I'd love to hear something positive. And I don't mind being proven wrong. (Well, not too much anyway. ) Or maybe you want to tell me why you're mad too. How long can we make this list?

OR PLEASE DO THIS FOR FUN - How many cool nicknames can you folks come up with for this monstrosity?

Fox News is interviewing a financial "expert" about how to fix the economic crisis. His name: Chuck Norris.

Insert requisite Chuck Norris joke (related to the economy) here.

I knew there was a reason I never watch cable news.

I've always wanted to visit Japan. Now I know I must get there someday.

There's a tavern north of Tokyo that employs monkey waiters.

HT: Deadly Viper Character Assassins Blog

I know this guy is stupid, but I love it.



(HT: The Haggard)

There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who think this is awesome. And those who think it's awesomer.



(HT: BHT)

Why I'm really looking forward to the debates.



(HT: Conservative Intelligencer)

Or crackpottery, depending on your perspective.

Former NASA astronaut and moon-walker Dr Edgar Mitchell - a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission - has stunningly claimed aliens exist.

And he says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on several occasions - but the alien contact has been repeatedly covered up by governments for six decades.

Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.'

He said supposedly real-life ET's were similar to the traditional image of a small frame, large eyes and head.

Chillingly, he claimed our technology is "not nearly as sophisticated" as theirs and "had they been hostile", he warned "we would be been gone by now".

Dr Mitchell, along with with Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard, holds the record for the longest ever moon walk, at nine hours and 17 minutes following their 1971 mission.

"I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real," Dr Mitchell said.

"It's been well covered up by all our governments for the last 60 years or so, but slowly it's leaked out and some of us have been privileged to have been briefed on some of it . . .

Check out Ed Stetzer's Twitter feed as he documents some of the wares on display at this year's International Christian Retail Show (formerly known as Christian Booksellers Association convention).

My wife is there but coming home today. Maybe she'll bring me some of those cool "Christian" sunglasses.

I'm a fiend for iTunesU. That little jewel allows you to essentially audit college courses from all sorts of disciplines. Currently I'm hooked on a doctrine course and a hermeneutics course at Concordia Seminary.

I was saddened, though, by a recent question in the doctrine class. The professor asked a room full of students (this is a graduate level course, by the way) to raise their hands if they had ever read any of the C. S. Lewis Space Trilogy. In the entire room only one guy had read any part of it. Pathetic! They may as well have admitted to not ever having read anything by Paul, or to confusing Martin Luther with Martin Luther King (Concordia is Lutheran).

Sure, I'm being hyperbolic here, but ... c'mon! ... we're talking about the great one here -- our boy, Clive!

Despite all that, you guys should check out the free educational stuff on iTunesU. It's addictive. I'm addicted. I admit it.