Student finds it pays to swear on exam

Examiner felt obscenity showed 'some meaning and some spelling'

The Associated Press
updated 4:46 p.m. ET, Mon., June. 30, 2008

LONDON - A British high school student received credit for writing nothing but a two-word obscenity on an exam paper because the phrase expressed meaning and was spelled correctly.

The Times newspaper on Monday quoted examiner Peter Buckroyd as saying he gave the student — who wrote an expletive starting with f, followed by the word "off" — two points out of a possible 27 for the English paper.

"It would be wicked to give it zero because it does show some very basic skills we are looking for, like conveying some meaning and some spelling," Buckroyd was quoted as saying.

"It's better than someone that doesn't write anything at all."

Buckroyd said the student would have received a higher mark if the phrase had been punctuated.

Buckroyd is a senior examiner for the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, one of several bodies that grade British high school exams.

He said the expletive was used in 2006 by a student in response to the question: "Describe the room you are sitting in."

The alliance confirmed the newspaper's story was accurate, but said Buckroyd's decision to award the student marks was not official policy.

"The example cited was unique in the experience of the senior examiner concerned and was used in a pre-training session to emphasize the importance of adhering to the mark scheme: i.e. if a candidate makes any sort of response to a question then it must be at least given consideration to be awarded a mark," the company said in a statement.

It said obscenities on exam papers "should either be disregarded, or action will be taken against the candidate, depending on the seriousness of the case."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25458019/?GT1=43001

*** ALL: In my last post, Sinann asked me if I had anything about 'stuff that WORKED'. I thought THIS fit the bill? WINK.***

Bible, watermelon stop stray bullet

‘The word of God slowed the bullet so that it didn’t kill anybody’

By Emily Longnecker
Reporter
NBC News

updated 6:47 p.m. ET, Thurs., July. 17, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS - An Indianapolis woman believes a higher power helped her and her two young great-granddaughters survive a shooting this week.

Before stray bullets from a gun battle ripped through her car, Charlotte Thompson didn’t even know what gunfire sounded like.

“I’d never heard a gunshot,” she said.

She was sitting at a red light around 7 p.m. Monday when the fight broke out.

“We heard this pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow,” Thompson said. "Then Shyann said, ‘Oh! I’m shot!’”

Her 10-year-old great granddaughter was sitting in the back seat, shot in the stomach.

“I turned around and looked and she raised up her shirt and I could see the bullet,” Thompson said. "I could see where it went in and where it went out.”

Thompson’s other great granddaughter, 13-year-old Jaelyn, was in the backseat, too — on the driver’s side.

“She was crying, too, because she thought she was shot, too,” Thompson said.

Police later showed Thompson the path the bullet took through her car. She now believes that path was guided by God.

“Came through the door, hit her, then it went to the Bible,” she said. The Bible was sitting on the seat between the two girls. “It went in here and come out here and it shredded my Sunday School book. The word of God slowed the bullet so that it didn’t kill anybody.”

A watermelon Jaelyn was holding in her lap eventually stopped the bullet.

“Right in the watermelon. Didn’t come out of the watermelon,” Thompson said. “The word of God and the Lord’s power saved. He sent the bullet into the watermelon.”

She said that both her granddaughters are OK and that eventually Shyann’s bullet wound would heal. However, she now worries about the emotional scars the girls will carry with them.

“It took away her innocence,” she said of Shyann. “You know, she trusted everybody. Now she trusts nothing and nobody.”

Emily Longnecker is a reporter for NBC affiliate WTHR-TV of Indianapolis.

© 2008 MSNBC Interactive
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25710198/

Cops: 'Porn inspector' demands free videos

Man says he's from 'age verification unit', which doesn't exist, police say

The Associated Press
updated 8:22 a.m. ET, Tues., Aug. 12, 2008

LONGMONT, Colo. - A man claiming to be a police detective tried to get an adult novelty shop to give him free X-rated videos, saying he wanted to make sure the performers weren't underage, authorities said.

He made three tries within nine days last month and was turned down each time. The store manager called police after the third try.

Authorities said Monday that the man showed a badge and left a business card from the Longmont police "age verification unit." Cmdr. Tim Lewis said there is no such unit.

"It was inventive on his part, I'll give him that," Lewis said.

The business card didn't have anyone's name on it, but the store gave officers surveillance video of the man. Police are looking for him.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26153773/?GT1=43001

Paris Hilton's mom takes offense at McCain's humor

Aug. 3, 2008, 5:47 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Paris Hilton's mother doesn't share John McCain's sense of humor.

McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, said last week that his campaign ad mocking Democrat Barack Obama with images of Hilton and singer Britney Spears was part of an attempt to inject humor into the presidential race.

On Sunday, Hilton's mother, Kathy Hilton, a McCain donor, registered her disapproval.

"It is a complete waste of the country's time and attention at the very moment when millions of people are losing their homes and their jobs," Kathy Hilton said in a short article posted on the liberal Huffington Post Web site. "And it is a completely frivolous way to choose the next president of the United States."

The ad plays on Obama's popularity by dismissing him as a mere celebrity, like Hilton and Spears. The Obama campaign has said the ad is proof that McCain would rather launch negative attacks than debate important issues.

McCain on Friday denied that his campaign had taken a negative turn, saying, "We think it's got a lot of humor in it, we're having fun and enjoying it."

Kathy Hilton, however, was unpersuaded, calling the ad "a complete waste of the money John McCain's contributors have donated to his campaign."

Kathy Hilton and her husband donated a total of $4,600 to McCain's campaign earlier this year.

http://cardinal69.deviantart.com/art/Report-Card-93560608

*** (NOTE: The above URL/LINK is to my 'gallery' at Deviant Art (Cardinal69). I created and uploaded a work for this commentary there). ***

“President George W. Bush”
(Report Card)

After CONSIDERABLE reflections and numerous consultations with folks from ALL sides of the political debate (Republicans, Democrats & Independents and the MANY just SICK of ‘politics‘ in my local area and those with whom I correspond) I created this piece.

For the record (As an ‘’INDEPENDENT’’ thinker and voter):

It gives this old man NO pleasure (on ANY level) as an AMERICAN citizen, to voice MY dissatisfaction with MY and OUR president. This old geezer ONLY wants HIS president, OUR president, to SUCCEED. For the BETTERMENT of ALL AMERICANS. To ME, there is NEVER a GOOD reason to WISH for ANY president to NOT succeed.

To use a sports analogy, no TRUE ’teammate’ would ENJOY watching his fellow teammate struggle or not produce. Even in the instances where some may NOT ‘get along’, the END result when EVERYONE doesn’t work TOGETHER, is that the T-E-A-M suffers. ALL of the T-E-A-M.

That being said, there can come a point in time where the OWNERS (We, The People) of the team have to make changes if the ‘manager’ is not up to the job or is causing the team to struggle or suffer due to his or her decisions. Or if the ‘manager’ no longer has the ‘respect’ of those he or she guides and oversees.

After running the above statements by those around me from ALL persuasions, I’ve found them to be very accurate from MANY folks. MY voting district is 60% Republican and 40% Democrat. In many local elections, the Republicans run ‘unopposed’. In all my years, I have NEVER heard the amount of dissatisfaction from THE PEOPLE with THEIR president (particularly, from the SAME side of the political aisle of their current president).

I suppose SOME will say that I am bashing THIS president because of HIS party affiliation. Being an ‘’INDEPENDENT’’ voter, that is FAR from such. Had the SAME above items resulted from a DEMOCRAT elected president, this old man’s report card would be identical. Only the ‘name’ of the ‘occupant’ would differ.

I live in Michigan, land of the HIGHEST UN-employment in the NATION. For SOME time, I might add. The automotive industry as many know, has and continues to take, HUGE economic hits. To be honest, THEY deserve much of their problems. Like OUR government, they NAPPED in the mindset of ‘years gone by’ and NOT in the mindset of NOW and the FUTURE.

However, to also be honest, WE THE PEOPLE, have NAPPED all the same while. We were in a DREAM-like state for FAR too long. Either UNABLE or UNWILLING to SPEAK UP when we FIRST noticed things were NOT going well. It always seems to take a major CRISIS to get us off our behinds. WHY is that, dear citizens, I MOST humbly ask?

WE seem ‘content’ to live our lives as long as WE don’t have ‘troubles’. So what if our ‘neighbor(s)’ just lost their local job? It won’t happen to ME.

We complain when OUR vehicle breaks down alongside the road and NO ONE stops to HELP. Yet, WE seem to drive BY those same broken down vehicles on a consistent basis WITHOUT giving any assistance.

WE keep electing the same old same old, dear folks. Just go vote and pull the “R” or the “D” lever. No matter WHO is the BEST person for the elected position. “PARTY” FIRST.

The Democrats never met a ‘program’ they didn’t like. While the Republicans rail about how BAD government is and then, after running HARD to get elected TO it, set about to PROVE their ‘point’. Isn’t that a LOVELY way to run a country from EITHER side, dear citizens?

To this day, I’m still amazed how BOTH sides of the debate seems to feel that THEY are the ONLY ones that may have GOOD ideas and solutions. And how many think that COMPROMISE is a DIRTY word.In baseball, sometimes you have to BUNT to get the runner into scoring position to WIN. ‘’HOMERUNS’’ are HARD to come by most times.

This DUMB old man has ALWAYS said, and will continue to say, that to HIS thinking, ‘’NEITHER side of the debate has a MONOPOLY on EITHER GENIUS or STUPIDITY‘’.

Being in a ‘contested’ state for this November’s election, I am LUCKY(?) to witness the BARRAGE of political ADS that proliferate my t.v. screen. Lately, what I’ve seen, reminds me of being in the first grade on the playground at RECESS watching two KIDS get into arguments.

After some time, an ADULT in charge of the playground, came over to the two KIDS and told them both to ‘’STOP IT!’’ (If any BUSINESS worth it’s salt, used THIS type of HIRING practices, there would be MANY bankrupted companies in short order).

I watch BOTH presidential candidates read from speeches written by SPEECH WRITERS. WHO is running to become OUR president, dear citizens? The CANDIDATES or the SPEECHWRITERS?

EACH candidate has ‘HANLDERS‘. Those who’s jobs are to ‘assist’ each contender to make sure that when their candidate makes a ‘mistake’ that WE, THE PEOPLE, know what each candidate ‘really meant‘. Are WE so DUMB folks that we can’t figure out what EACH candidate said and meant?

I submit to you dear folks, that IF that IS the case, then America has MUCH BIGGER problems than CONGRESS or ANY one party or candidate.

EACH side also has ‘TALKING HEADS’ or ‘STRATEGISTS’ that make the rounds of all the so-called NEWS(?) shows. THINK about THAT, dear folks!

HALF of these OVERPAID, recite the PARTY speak lines ad nauseum GENIUS(?) people, will soon be and in the past HAVE been, WRONG!THEIR candidate/side soon WILL LOSE or in the PAST HAS LOST! (ONLY in ‘politics’ can a LOSER be HIRED and REHIRED and put on t.v. as an EXPERT!).

I fear for OUR America, dear folks. As great as it IS, if WE THE PEOPLE abdicate OUR citizen responsibilities, WE will GET what WE DESERVE or ALLOW from this old man’s viewpoint.

If WE THE PEOPLE allow those of EITHER ‘fringe’ or ‘extreme’ to attempt to lay claim to OUR America while WE sit on the sidelines grumbling, we will only surely be GRUMBLING LOUDER .… And SOON.

TallPockets - 2008

NOTICE: NO ‘handlers’ or ‘speechwriters’ were used, harmed or abused in the writing of this commentary. And, it cost the American Taxpayer NOTHING.

*** (“I am TallPockets and “I” approve this message”). ***