Babes with bodacious bubble butts

"Callipygian" is a wonderful word. It means a shapely bottom, rounded buttocks. I looked on the Internet to find examples of callipygian, and found many great callipygians. Callipygian is a fancy word for what we sometimes call bubble butts. One could be at a society party and say to someone, "Our hostess, Mrs. Van Gilt, is certainly callipygian." That party nods and says, "Yes, errr...of course," in that way people have of faking knowledge of an unfamiliar word. It's much more classy to say callipygian than to say, "That Van Gilt broad has quite a bubble butt."

The word "callipygian" comes from Greek: kallipugos: kalli- beautiful (from kallos, beauty) + puge, buttocks.

Etymology aside, it's more fun to look at pictures of women who fit the definition of callipygian.

Leopard Girl reminds me, ladies, do you have your Halloween costume yet?

Putting their backsides forward!




This young woman appears to be counter-balanced; top and bottom even each other out...

...which also goes for La Renna Lee, the Girdled (and callipygian) Goddess.

Fellow blogger Nursemyra called this weightlifting girl's butt "pert." Myra has a gift for description. Check out her sexy, funny and fascinating blog, "Gimcrack Hospital."


I love girls who hang out in the rumpus room.


High calorie calli-choco-pygian!



Not chocolate, but still tasty:

In this 1949 photo shoot Marilyn Monroe has a nice booty.

Ten years later, as seen in her famous entrance in Some Like It Hot, she shows she has grown into callipygian status. (Dorothy Parker once said of Monroe, while watching her walk in the studio lot, "That girl has a great future behind her.")

And while we're thinking of Marilyn, retro butts are very fine:

Perhaps at some time this girl will also tattoo her tuchus:

Wow! Four chicks, eight cheeks:

I love girls with butts big enough for two girls:

Gianna Michaels is a perfect callipygian...among other things.

The callipygian queen, though, has to be Jennifer Lopez, shown in this photo from Vanity Fair magazine. My wife said, "You could sit a beer can on that." I say J-Lo is too classy for that. A champagne glass, maybe.


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End of the world coming up this Friday, October 21! Be ready!

Those fine folks of Family Radio and eBible Fellowship warned us when the world didn't end on May 21, 2011--as their Reverend Harold Camping had prophesied--that it would actually end on October 21, 2011. As I write this it's only two days away. I don't know about you, but I think I'll go get drunk.

I'll talk to you after Friday if we're all still here! Postino

All of the righteous being zipped right into heaven. Guess this means they'll miss Sunday football. On the other hand, they won't have to buy candy for trick-or-treaters the following week.

Here's their tract, explaining it all. I have placed all their words in boldface, and my interjections in regular type:

And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

Revelation 9:5

The End of the World October 21, 2011


The purpose of this tract is to inform you of the great urgency there now is in the world for each and every person to be reconciled to God. The Bible is the Word of God! Everything the Bible declares has the full authority of God Himself. Now, at this time, information is coming forth from the Bible which clearly reveals God’s plan for Judgment Day and the end of the world itself. The Bible has opened up its secrets concerning the timeline of history. This information was never previously known because God had closed up His Word blocking any attempt to gain knowledge of the end of the world. We read about this in the book of Daniel:

Daniel 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

However, now in our present day, God has opened up His Word (the Bible) to reveal a great deal of truth concerning the end of time (and many other teachings). Also, in the same chapter of Daniel, it says:

Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

God is now opening up His Word because we have arrived at the time of the end. For this reason, it has become very obvious to the serious student of the Bible that we are now living in the last few days of earth’s history. As a matter of fact, because we are living at the end of time, God is now revealing to His people the following information:

THE BIBLE’S CALENDAR OF HISTORY

The Lord has opened up His people’s understanding to the “Biblical calendar” found on the pages of the Bible. The genealogies of the book of Genesis, primarily in chapters 5 and 11, can be shown to be a precise calendar of the history of mankind in this world. The Bible’s calendar of history is completely accurate and trustworthy.

Since this Bible calendar is given by God in His Word, it can be trusted wholeheartedly. In this brief pamphlet, we will share some of the conclusions derived from the Biblical calendar and from other studies in the Scriptures. However, the amount of information available is far too abundant and complex to get into much detail in this short pamphlet; but we can and will give precise and compelling dates. These dates can be trusted entirely because they come right out of the Bible. (EBiblefellowship has no affiliation with Family Radio; however, we highly recommend that you obtain a free copy of the book “We Are Almost There!” by writing to the following address: Family Stations, Inc., 290 Hegenberger Rd., Oakland, CA 94621. This book goes into far greater detail regarding the timing of Judgment Day and the end of the world. Also, you can read or download “We Are Almost There!” online at: www.familyradio.com).

Try not to do any driving on Friday, especially if you're Rapture-bound. It could create such a mess on the highways. Be considerate and zip up to heaven from the easy chair in your home.

TIMING OF IMPORTANT EVENTS IN HISTORY

11,013 BC—Creation. God created the world and man (Adam and Eve).

4990 BC—The flood of Noah’s day. All perished in a worldwide flood. Only Noah, his wife, and his 3 sons and their wives survived in the ark (6023 years from creation).

7 BC—The year Jesus Christ was born (11,006 years from creation).

33 AD—The year Jesus Christ was crucified and the church age began (11,045 years from creation; 5023 calendar years from the flood).

1988 AD—This year ended the church age and began the great tribulation period of 23 years (13,000 years from creation).

1994 AD—On September 7th, the first 2300-day period of the great tribulation came to an end and the latter rain began, commencing God’s plan to save a great multitude of people outside of the churches (13,006 years from creation).

2011 AD—On May 21st, Judgment Day will begin and the rapture (the taking up into heaven of God’s elect people) will occur at the end of the 23-year great tribulation. On October 21st, the world will be destroyed by fire (7000 years from the flood; 13,023 years from creation).
ONE DAY IS AS 1000 YEARS

The child of God has learned from the Bible that the language of Genesis 7 has a twofold meaning:

Genesis 7:4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

Historically, as God spoke these words, there were seven days remaining for Noah, his family, and the animals to get into the safety of the ark; but spiritually (and the Bible is a spiritual book), God was speaking to all of the people of the world and was declaring that sinful mankind would have 7000 years to find refuge in the salvation provided by Jesus Christ. How can we know that? We know this is so based on what we read in 2 Peter, chapter 3:

2 Peter 3:6-8 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The context of 2 Peter 3 is extremely important! In the first few verses, God refers us to the destruction of the world by the flood during Noah’s day. Then we find an interesting admonition that we ought not to be “ignorant” of one thing, which is, 1 day is as 1000 years, and 1000 years is as 1 day. Immediately following this bit of information is a very vivid description of the end of the present world by fire.

What could God be telling us by identifying 1 day along with 1000 years?

Since we recently have discovered the Biblical calendar of history on the pages of the Bible, we find that the flood of Noah’s day occurred in the year 4990 BC. This date is completely accurate (for further information on the Biblical timeline of history, please go to: www.familyradio.com). It was in the year 4990 BC that God revealed to Noah that there would be yet 7 days until the flood of waters would be upon the earth. Now, if we substitute 1000 years for each one of those 7 days, we get 7000 years. And when we project 7000 years into the future from 4990 BC, we find that it falls on the year 2011 AD.

4990 + 2011 = 7001

Note: When counting from an Old Testament date to a New Testament date, always subtract one year because there is no year zero, resulting in:

4990 + 2011 – 1 = 7000 years exactly.

The year 2011 AD will be the 7000th year from the flood of Noah’s day. It will be the end of the length of time given to mankind to find grace in God’s sight. This means that the time to find refuge in Christ has grown extremely short. We are only a little ways off from the year 2011 AD!

It is not unusual that God’s people have been given insight into the timing of the end of the world. Actually, the Bible tells us this is normally the case. In times past, God has warned His people of approaching periods of judgment:

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
JUDGMENT DAY: MAY 21st, 2011

We know that the year 2011 is the 7000th year from the flood. We also know that God will destroy this world in that year. But when in 2011 will this occur?

The answer is amazing. Let’s take another look at the flood account in the book of Genesis:

Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

Faithful to His Word, God did bring the flood 7 days later in the 600th year, on the 17th day of the 2nd month of the calendar aligned with Noah’s lifespan. It was on this 17th day of the 2nd month that God shut the door on the ark, securing the safety of its occupants and also sealing the fate of everyone else in the world outside of the ark. They would all now certainly perish in that worldwide catastrophe.

Genesis 7:16,17 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.

Earlier it was mentioned that the church age came to an end in the year 1988 AD. It so happens that the church age began on the day of Pentecost (May 22nd) in the year 33 AD. Then 1955 years later, the church age came to its conclusion on May 21st, which was the day before Pentecost in 1988.

The Bible teaches that the end of the church age would occur simultaneously with the beginning of the great tribulation:

Matthew 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

On May 21st, 1988, God finished using the churches and congregations of the world. The Spirit of God left all churches and Satan, the man of sin, entered into the churches to rule at that point in time. The Bible teaches us that this awful period of judgment upon the churches would last for 23 years. A full 23 years (8400 days exactly) would be from May 21 st, 1988 until May 21st, 2011. This information was discovered in the Bible completely apart from the information regarding the 7000 years from the flood.

Therefore, we see that the full 23-year tribulation period concludes on May 21st, 2011. This date is the exact day that the great tribulation comes to its end, and this is also the most likely landing spot for the 7000 years from the flood of Noah’s day.

Keep in mind that God shut the door on the ark on the 17th day of the 2nd month of Noah’s calendar. We also find that May 21 st, 2011 is the end of the great tribulation period. There is a strong relationship between the 2nd month and 17th day of Noah’s calendar and May 21st, 2011 of our Gregorian calendar. This relationship cannot be readily seen until we discover that there is another calendar to consider, which is the Hebrew (or Biblical) calendar. May 21 st, 2011 happens to be the 17th day of the 2nd month of the Hebrew calendar. By this, God is confirming to us that we have a very correct understanding regarding the 7000-year timeline from the flood. May 21 st, 2011 is the equivalent date to the date when God shut the door on Noah’s ark. Through this and much other Biblical information, we find that May 21 st, 2011 will be the day when God takes up into heaven His elect people. May 21st, 2011 will be Judgment Day! This is the day God shuts the door of salvation on the world.

Don't listen to false prophets! Listen only to Harold Camping who is the true prophet and only he knows the world will end on October 21, 2011! And when he said above that it would end on May 21, 2011 he had miscalculated...but now he's right and it's really ending on October 21, 2011. He wouldn't kid you about something this important, folks!

In other words, in having the great tribulation period conclude on a day that identifies with the 17th day of the 2nd month of Noah’s calendar, God is without question confirming to us that this is the day He intends to shut forever the door of entry into heaven:

John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

The Bible is very clear that Christ is the only way into heaven. He is the only portal into the glorious kingdom of heaven.

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Once the door (Jesus) is shut on Judgment Day, there is no more salvation possible on earth:

Revelation 3:7 …These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

The Bible teaches that on May 21st, 2011, only true believers elected by God to receive salvation will be raptured (taken up) out of this world to meet the Lord in the air and forever be with the Lord:

1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

All the rest of mankind (billions of people) will be left behind to experience the awful judgment of God, a horrible period of 5 months of torment upon earth:

Revelation 9:3-5 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

THE END OF THE WORLD: OCTOBER 21st, 2011

By God’s grace and tremendous mercy, He is giving us advanced warning as to what He is about to do. On Judgment Day, May 21st, 2011, this 5-month period of horrible torment will begin for all the inhabitants of the earth. It will be on May 21st that God will raise up all the dead that have ever died from their graves. Earthquakes will ravage the whole world as the earth will no longer conceal its dead (Isaiah 26:21). People who died as saved individuals will experience the resurrection of their bodies and immediately leave this world to forever be with the Lord. Those who died unsaved will be raised up as well, but only to have their lifeless bodies scattered about the face of all the earth. Death will be everywhere.

The Lord also emphasizes these awful 5 months of destruction in the final verse of Genesis, chapter 7:

Genesis 7:24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

Five months after May 21st, 2011 will be October 21st, 2011. It so happens that October 21st of 2011 is also the last day of the Biblical Feast of Tabernacles (held simultaneously with the Feast of Ingathering). Tabernacles is held in the 7th month of the Hebrew calendar. The way God speaks of this feast in the Bible is very significant:

Exodus 23:16 …the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

Exodus 34:22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.

The Feast of Tabernacles / Ingathering was said to be in the “end of the year” even though it was observed in the Hebrew 7th month, which is not the end of the year. The reason for this is that the spiritual fulfillment of this particular feast is the end of the world. The date October 21st, 2011 will be the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles and the last day of earth’s existence. The Bible describes what will take place on October 21st, 2011 in the following passage:

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Along with the entire world and universe, all those who have sinned against God and were left behind will likewise be consumed by this fire and be eternally destroyed:

2 Thessalonians 1:8,9 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

On October 21st, 2011, God will completely destroy this creation and all of the people who never experienced the salvation of Jesus Christ along with it. The awful payment for their sinful rebellion against God will be completed by the loss of everlasting life. On October 21st, 2011, all of these poor people will cease to exist from that point forward. How sad that noble man, made in God’s image, will die like a beast and perish forever:

Psalm 49:12 Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.

There is much more to share. But please, dear soul, be warned that the time for salvation is drawing to a rapid close! God has given the world 7000 years from the flood, and now only a few days remain until we reach May 21st, 2011. Before we know it, time will have run completely out. The few grains of sand remaining in our hourglass will have elapsed and be gone forever. Although little time remains, there is still wonderful hope for anyone today:

2 Corinthians 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

It does not take God much time at all to save someone. In the last hours of a terribly sinful life, the thief on the cross was saved by Christ:

Luke 23:42,43 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Our prayer is that you will receive this tract in the spirit of genuine concern in which it is being offered. As you read this pamphlet, please carefully consider the verses quoted from the Bible, for they are the Word of God, and as such, possess absolute power and authority. Our only hope for salvation is through the reading of the Word of God. It is now that the door of heaven (Christ) is open. It is now that God is saving a great multitude of people from around the world outside of the churches and congregations:

Revelation 7:9,13,14 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; …What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

God saves through the hearing of the Word of God and no other way:

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Read the Bible with all your family (especially your children); and along with your reading, pray for mercy. Pray to the merciful and gracious God of the Bible that He might deliver you from the approaching destruction. We learn a little about God’s tremendous compassion in the book of Jonah. God also gave advance warning to the people of Nineveh regarding the destruction of their city:

Jonah 3:4-9 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

God did not destroy the people of Nineveh. Although there is no possibility that God will not follow through on His intention to destroy the world in 2011, we can know from His dealings with the people of Nineveh that God is tenderhearted and full of mercy. This should encourage each one of us to go to God and beseech Him for His great mercy.

Psalm 86:15,16 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me;…

Now, are these robes the faithful will be wearing, are they all the same size? I mean, this looks a little long, like you'd be tripping over the hem all the time...

Dressed up, and it's not yet Halloween

I don't remember where I got these pictures of men in drag. Surfing the Internet like I do, I sometimes see pictures like these that strike me funny. I don't remember where I got them, but wherever they were, they were there for the world to see.

The caution is to not put pictures online that prospective employers, or even current employers, will find. So, if the guys in the photos are spotted by their bosses they might be explaining their exhibitionism. I hope not, because I'd feel guilty. Not guilty enough, though.

That tu-tu is just too-too much!

I'm not 100% sure this is a male. The partially obscured hands look mannish to me.

I call this guy Smirky, after the look on his face. I'd think he was being a joker except that he's gone to the trouble to do his nails.

He's tall enough to be on the basketball team, even if his dream is to lead the cheers.

Ooooo! Cleavage!

A self-pic to show the world his new teddy.

Not bad looking legs.

Bad-looking legs.

These men aren't in drag, but they have picked interesting apparel to model on the Web:

Smiling S&M guy:

Sultry Santa guy:

Who knows what the hell this is? Nice codpiece, though, and the hat is very dashing.

Not a male. Just checking to see if you're paying attention.

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Pete's ghosts

I saw this article in a local magazine, a giveaway I found at a local market. To say that the subject of the piece, Pete, is a colorful character hardly tells the story. I did business with Pete over 30 years ago during one of my forays into bookselling as a part-time career.

Read the short article:




Pete's grandfather, Earl, started the bookstore in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah as a family business. Pete has worked there since he was a child. Before I had personal business with Pete I was a customer of their store. During the mid-1960s his grandfather and Pete's dad, Earl Jr., worked there together. They both smoked a lot. Before the Clean Air Act walking into their store meant stepping into a miasma of tobacco smoke. For a long time after buying a book or magazine in that store the stink of smoke remained with it.

While looking at books one Saturday afternoon in 1964 I heard old man Earl holler, "Good god a'mighty, looka that!" I saw through the store window an interracial couple, black man, white woman, strolling by. Earl shouted, "A n-----r walking down the street big as life, with a WHITE WOMAN!" I was stunned for a moment, especially when he said, "She's just as bad as him!" I half-expected to see him whip out a white sheet and hood and charge up the street after the offending couple. The moment passed and he calmed himself.

Twenty years later--a more enlightened era, I hoped--I mentioned that incident to Pete. He said, "Oh yeah, my grandpa was prejudiced against n-----s. Me too. I had some n----r come in my store once and I ran him out. I told him right out, 'I'm prejudiced against you n-----s, and don't want you in here.' So he left. Good." He said it so matter-of-fact that once again, as I was during the 1964 incident, stunned into silence.

I went to Pete's house once to buy some used books in bulk. His house was old and small. It was full of boxes of books, with no room to sit. Pete and his wife watched TV while sitting on the floor in front of the set. After transacting our business I didn't see him for a couple of years. Pete told me then his wife had divorced him and he'd been in and out of the hospital several times. He would get drunk and attempt suicide. He showed me rope-like scars on his arms from carving them up with broken beer bottles. He told me the same paramedics usually took him to the emergency room and one of them, exasperated, asked, "Pete, what are we gonna do with you?"

"I just miss that girl so much," he told me. Pete had a tendency to exaggerate, but based on the scars I saw, not that time.

Pete was a trickster. He used to "autograph" books. If he had a Kurt Vonnegut book come in he might get mischief in him and "sign" the author's name on the title page, then watch as a browser picked up the book. The customer would bring it to him with trembling hands. Pete would be laughing to himself. Forgery got him the sale. Pete thought it was funny.

It's been at least 25 years since I saw Pete in person. Now I know from the article he's still living, unlike the ghosts he claims are in his store. I barely recognized the old man in the photo as being the Pete I'd known decades ago. He now looks as crusty and cantankerous as his grandfather did in the 1960s.

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Ending the Breaking Bad season with a bang

¡SPOILER ALERT!

This blog shows pictures and explains the ending of the last episode of Breaking Bad, Season Four. Leave now if you don't want to know how it ends.

Season Four of Breaking Bad ended with the episode, "Face Off." It was aptly named. Gus Fring enters Hector Sallamanca's room at the Casa Tranquila rest home, thinking Hector has been ratting him out to the DEA. Hector had paid a visit to the DEA, but it was part of a plot concocted by Walter White, whose bomb plot against Gus has gone awry in the hospital parking lot.

Gus has been tormenting and threatening to kill Hector, in revenge for Hector killing his friend. Gus prepared a lethal dosage and is about to inject it into Hector. Unable to speak or to move anything but his finger, which he uses to ding the bell on his wheelchair, Hector suddenly begins hitting the bell furiously. Too late Gus realizes there is a bomb under Hector's wheelchair. It's the same bomb Walt was unable to detonate under Gus's car in the hospital parking lot.

These pictures are taken from my television screen with my camera.

The bomb explodes. As the smoke is clearing, we see Gus step out of the doorway.

The camera pans around Gus, to show he is mortally wounded, half his face gone. Always immaculate, he straightens his tie.

Gus's remaining eye goes blank, and he pitches forward, dead.

The rest of the episode shows Walt and Jesse resolving their problems in the laundry's basement meth lab.

Season Five is said to be the last season of Breaking Bad, but it would be hard to beat the end of Gustavo Fring as a climax to the series. Just about anything they could come up with next season will seem anti-climactic.

Walt, when the series began, was shown to be a decent man pushed to extraordinary lengths to help his family financially. He has gone down a road to a place populated with some of the most dangerous criminals on earth. Walt continues to kill, but only to protect himself and his family. He is very satisfied to have removed the threat of Gus. If he doesn't exactly enjoy killing, it doesn't seem to bother him. I remember how he got Jesse's girlfriend out of the picture at the end of Season Two. Walt as a killer bothers me, but it is in the evolution of the character. He's heading for a fall, and he's postponed it for now. We'll see what happens next summer when the new season plays out. I'll be there.

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Happy birthdays, John and John!

John Prine is 65 today. Happy birthday, John!





John Lennon would have been 71 yesterday. Happy birthday, John.



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This story about a band of vigilante local "superheroes" was on the front page of the Salt Lake Tribune this morning.

Link to it here.

These guys have been reading way too many comic books, and seen too many movies.

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Voyeur-in-law

The case of missing Utah woman Susan Powell gets "curiouser and curiouser."

Powell disappeared in December, 2009, after her husband, Josh, claimed he and his two young sons had been camping on the coldest night of the year and returned home to find her missing. Within a few weeks Josh closed up their home and moved himself and his children to his father's home in Puyallup, Washington, casting suspicion on himself. As people speculated at the time, "He knows she's not coming home." Josh has also refused to speak with West Valley City, Utah police, or to join in any of the searches for Susan.

Within the past couple of months, with much fanfare and media attention, West Valley City police have investigated some old mines near Ely, Nevada, without results, and a large area near Topaz Mountain in Utah, where cadaver-sniffing dogs indicated a body was buried. Nothing was found but some burned wood chips. Police and volunteers searched for several days but found no human remains.

After the Ely expedition, and before going to Topaz Mountain, West Valley police in conjunction with police in Washington served search warrants at the home of Susan's husband, Josh, and his father, Steve Powell. Steve Powell had been saying some things that made everyone sit up and take notice. He claimed he had a relationship with his daughter-in-law, Susan, that they flirted and she came on to him sexually. Susan's friends and family claimed the opposite, that Steve Powell made Susan uncomfortable, that she and Josh moved to Utah to get away from him. When police seized Steve Powell's computers and other materials they found thousands of pornographic pictures of children, as well as voyeuristic photos he'd taken of neighbor children. Even, according to the story, some of Susan.

You can read more about it in a newspaper article here.

Susan's father-in-law, Steve Powell.

After his computers were seized Powell admitted without elaborating that they contained embarrassing things. He said that he should have gotten rid of them. After viewing the contents of his computer it took until last Friday for the law to move in and arrest him. But police had served a couple of search warrants previously and his computers were left untouched. He probably thought they weren't interested. It was the announcement from Steve and Josh Powell that they were going to publish excerpts from Susan's teenage diaries that galvanized the action against him. The diary entries were supposed to show that Susan was unstable. Susan's parents sued, and a judge agreed: no diary excerpts were to be published.

Josh and Steve's Susan Powell website is full of accusations about Susan's family and friends: link to it here.

Missing from the website since I checked it a few weeks ago was a bizarre timeline which attempted to draw a connection between Susan and another missing Utahn, Steven Koechner, who disappeared at the same time as Susan. Koechner was last seen in Nevada. According to Susan's family, she wasn't capable of running off with another man and leaving her young children. It's an interesting coincidence that they both disappeared at the same time, but so far no evidence it's more than just that, a coincidence. (There's also no direct evidence Susan is dead, either.)

Steve Powell is in jail for the child porn, with bail set for $200,000 cash. He worked for the Washington State Dept. of Corrections and lost his job after his arrest. With these new revelations talk is going around that Steve Powell had something to do with Susan's disappearance. As far as I know, Steve Powell wasn't in Utah when Susan disappeared. Some people have a capacity to put two and two together and come up with five, and it all makes sense to them. My feeling is that no matter what images someone has on his computer, how they felt about someone as Steve admitted feeling about his daughter-in-law, or how creepy the whole situation is it doesn't make him a murderer. That doesn't stop the gossip, though.

Susan's husband, Joshua Powell

Adding this to an already inflammatory situation doesn't help the Powells' case. Today Josh was in juvenile court, attempting to get his children back. At one point he said his father's bail was so high he wouldn't be getting out of jail. The implication is the kids will be safe without the elder Powell in the house. Were they in danger all this year, living in the house with him?

Besides having child porn, Steve allegedly took secret telescopic pictures of his neighbors through their windows. Even if he were to return home I'm sure there wouldn't be a block party with happy neighbors to welcome him back. There might be a party, but it could include a rope, or at least a barrel of bubbling tar and a sack full of feathers.

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The hoarding horror

Hoarding is a form of mental illness, but it's not clear just what it is related to. Most mental health professionals believe it is a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder, although it doesn't respond to the same drugs. Some believe it may be related to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It's been used as a basis for several reality TV shows. I've never watched them, although I've watched American Pickers, which is a variation, and never mentions mental illness. The properties Mike and Frank visit to pick through to buy items for resale look like they're owned by hoarders.

The most famous hoarder story is probably that of Homer and Langley Collyer, who died in 1947 amidst 130 tons of trash in their decaying old brownstone in Harlem. Homer, the older of the two, had gone blind and was cared for by Langley, who had some bizarre ideas. Langley thought he could restore his brother's sight by feeding him dozens of oranges a week. Langley went out at night scrounging for food and trash to bring back to the house. He stockpiled newspapers, because he was sure when Homer's sight came back he'd want to catch up on all that had happened since he went blind.

The urban legend in New York at the time had the brothers sitting on stockpiled wealth in their house. Harlem had become African-American, and it's implied in the articles I've read that the brothers were probably fearful in their neighborhood. They had many break-ins and Langley booby-trapped the place. In the April 7, 1947 Life magazine article below, at the time of publication Langley's body had not yet been found. It was found under one of his own booby traps on April 8, 1947, partially eaten by rats. After Langley died Homer died of starvation, dehydration and cardiac arrest. It was a freak show at the time, and has lived on in various forms ever since. It's a horror story of the ultimate price of hoarding.

The comic book version is from The Big Book Of Weirdos, published in 1995 by Paradox Press, written by Carl Posey, drawn by Graham Manley, and edited by horror-humorist Gahan Wilson.







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