The beaver is a proud and noble animal
Notes from a bemused canuck
Last night, during a wine reception, they were playing a Sinatra CD (which is a helluva lot better than the Gypsy Kings CD they were playing during the poster section. My Way and Hotel California will never sound the same again…) and one of the songs was “Something Stupid”. It was the same song (and probably the same CD) that was playing during breakfast this morning. Weird.
In other news, I have discovered marmalade. Good stuff!
U.S. President George Bush is a big winner in this year's World Stupidity Awards, joining the likes of the entire petroleum industry and Vice President Dick Cheney as the recipients of top honours.
Bush was nominated in several categories, including Stupidest Statement of the Year and Most Out of Touch with Reality in the awards roundup which was created to “salute achievement in ignorance and stupidity.”
But the big winner, taking home the prize for the flagship category Stupidest Man of the Year, was District Judge Donald Thompson.
Known as the “Oklahoma Penis Pump Judge,” Thompson operated a powerful penis pump underneath his robes — while court was in session — during at least three trials. He was convicted on June 29 of four counts of felony indecent exposure.
The awards, now in their fourth year, were created by Canadian actor, director and journalist Albert Nerenberg who worked with the philosophy that “we're all stupid, some of us just need to have it pointed out.”
He first came up with the idea four years ago while working on a documentary on the subject of stupidity. As a publicity stunt for the film, a mock event called the World Stupidity Awards was held. The event garnered international coverage from mainstream media such as the BBC, and Nerenberg realized he was onto something.
Now in its fourth year, the awards show has continued to garner attention, with nominations submitted online and a panel of judges deciding the winners. Nerenberg hopes it will eventually become an annual television special.
In addition to Bush and Thompson, there are other worthy winners this year.
Harry Whittington won the Stupidest Statement of the Year award, for apologizing after Vice-President Dick Cheney shot him during a hunting outing.
“My family and I are deeply sorry for all that Vice President Cheney and his family have had to go through this past week,” Whittington said at the time, still weak and visibly bruised from the birdshot that Cheney peppered him with.
Whittington beat out Mel Gibson's statement: “What do you think you're looking at, sugar tits?” which he made to a female sergeant following his arrest for drunk driving.
Not to be outdone, Cheney took his own award, winning the “Dumbest Moment of the Year” award for the act of shooting Whittington.
The petroleum industry took honours for reckless endangerment of the planet, and Fox News was recognized for having “Best Furthered Ignorance,” in the world.
Basic Instinct 2, starring Sharon Stone, beat out Little Man and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, among others, to take the title of Stupidest Movie of the Year.
Stupidest Trend of the Year was won cleanly by “Killing people for God.”
Bush took honours in the category of “Stupidest Statement by George W. Bush.” The president's televised statement to FEMA director Michael Brown during the Hurricane Katrina devastation: “Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job,” won easily.
Bush also won for being Most out of Touch with Reality.
The Middle East won the Lifetime Achievement Award for Stupidity.
Nick Flynn won the award for Making a Stupid Situation Stupider by tripping on his shoelaces, falling down a set of stairs and smashing three antique Chinese vases in a museum. He then criticized the museum for not taking better care of the precious artifacts
Nerenberg is currently finishing off Escape to Canada, a documentary about Americans fleeing their country. Nerenberg is also a series for Discovery Channel about the science of sexual attraction called Why Is It Sexy?
THE Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond was in a critical condition last night after a high-speed crash while filming for the BBC motoring show.
It is understood that Hammond, 36, had just broken the British land speed record of 300.3mph and was in the process of slowing down the jet-powered Vampire vehicle, with the aid of a parachute, when it overturned. He had to be cut from the wreckage. He was airlifted from the disused Elvington airfield in North Yorkshire to Leeds General Infirmary, which has a specialist neurological unit.
Dave Ogden, a firemen involved in the rescue, said that the presenter had been wearing a helmet and fireproof racing suit. He said that Hammond was able to talk to us for a small period while being cut from the car, despite being in quite a lot of distress.
Michael Harvey, editor of Top Gear magazine, told BBC News 24: This wasnt a high-performance car, this wasnt a road car, this was a rocket-powered dragster which bears absolutely no relation to the kind of cars which are the main fodder of the Top Gear programme this was a car that clearly contained its own risks.
The Vampire is the same car in which the British record of 300.3mph was set at Elvington, by Colin Fallows, 54, from Northampton, in 2000. Mr Fallows failed to beat his own record in July.
The BBC confirmed that the accident had taken place during filming for Top Gear, but a spokesman said that he had little further information about the circumstances of the crash. Our attention is on Richard at this stage, he added.
Hammond has presented the BBC motoring show, alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May, since 2002. He is known to his co-presenters as Hamster, owing to his diminutive height of 5ft 7in.
Last night Jeremy Clarkson said he was waiting for news about his colleagues condition: My fingers are crossed and Im hoping to get up there. We are all massively concerned. Mr May was said by his agent to be absolutely devastated by news of the crash.
In an interview earlier this year, Hammond said: I think I wanted to be on Top Gear from a fairly young age because I loved cars and I wanted to do something on telly because I loved TV. I know that Im ridiculously lucky.
He presented the Sky One show Brainiac until earlier this month, and has also presented Time Commanders and Petrolheads. He lives near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, with his wife Amanda, 35, and their two young daughters, Isabella, 5, and Willow, 2.
Richard Noble, who led the team which broke the sound barrier in the Nevada desert in 1997, and still holds the world land-speed record, explained the dangers involved in jet-car driving. I dont know what happened but one thing I can say is that its nothing like driving an everyday car or even a high performance one, he said.
You can never have enough experience because the speed-to-weight ratios are so different. Its almost as if your instincts and mind are too slow for the speed youre going. Theres a much greater power-to-weight ratio, so drivers have to keep everything co-ordinated, which is not easy.
Noble led the ThrustSSC Project. Driver Andy Green reached 763 mph, beating Nobles record of 633mph.