The Tuwaiq mountains are about 40 miles sw of Riyadh and feature a flat mesa-like top. Maybe that is where they want to build this new stadium.
Random Thoughts XIV: Pizza, Pomegranate Juice, and Shreddies
- Thread starter Valka D'Ur
- Start date
- Status
Bonyduck Campersang
Staring into the distance
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2022
- Messages
- 4,773
Yea, but what's that design? It makes no sense to me
Hotels, offices and condos supporting and surrounding the playing field? they want to create a "Destination."
Moff Jerjerrod
Deity
Just a random thought sparked by seeing this thread back up near the top of the OT forum.
I actually do have a craving for pizza right now. I want pizza!!!
I actually do have a craving for pizza right now. I want pizza!!!
A gaudy waste of electricity.
All during the recent cold snap, we heard exhortations from the Alberta premier, urging us to unplug our appliances and not do laundry because wind and solar power weren't going to save us from the cold. She warned of blackouts and that we'd all freeze if we didn't do this.
In the meantime the major cities' empty office towers were all lit up, decorative lights were still lit, and the premier was on vacation (presumably somewhere a lot warmer than -45C).
You know, ‘pizza’ used to be a Raves thread.
Bonyduck Campersang
Staring into the distance
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2022
- Messages
- 4,773
Having a lot of fun reading the Wikipedia article on 'List of films considered the worst'
Gori the Grey
The Poster
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 13,505
Here's the thing:
As soon as you get bad enough, you get good again--as camp.
As soon as you get bad enough, you get good again--as camp.
Bonyduck Campersang
Staring into the distance
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2022
- Messages
- 4,773
Reading the Wikipedia article on Elvis Presley, and this is an account of the Statesmen Quartet, a southern gospel quartet supposed to have influenced Presley's stage act:
Thanks Harry Potter fans...
Couples Are Hiring Birds of Prey To Be Ring Bearers at Weddings
Replacing traditional tots in tuxes, raptors will play the role for a $1,200 fee
BY JAMES FANELLI
When the time came to exchange rings at her wedding ceremony in San Diego last year, Jessica Huete donned a leather glove with a piece of quail meat attached. Moments later, a falcon swooped down, landing on the bride’s forearm to deliver the silver bands and devour the snack. “We were both fighting over who would catch the bird,” Huete said of her and her husband. “I said, ‘It was my idea. I win. I’m the wife.’” Adorable tots in tuxes have long held the inside track on ring-bearing responsibilities at weddings, but the use of hawks, falcons and other birds of prey has taken flight in recent years, fueled by animal-loving brides, renaissance fair buffs and a generation of Muggles who grew up reading J.K. Rowling books about wizards and their owls. Couples also see the birds as a way to distinguish their ceremonies. “Harry Potter obviously did something for this line of work,” said Jonathan Gonzalez, who is among several falconers across the U.S. who have started hawking their services to love birds.
Gonzalez owns Raptor Events, a Long Beach, Calif., business that offers a menagerie of raptors and reptiles for educational shows, birthdays and other events. His wedding service, priced at $1,200 plus travel costs, includes Marty the lanner falcon or an Eurasian eagle-owl, either Ollie or Marvin. Each can fly down the aisle to the arm of a bride, groom or other member of a wedding party. The birds also do a meet-and-greet during the cocktail hour. Gonzalez, who has been working with birds since high school, had to do an apprenticeship and obtain a license from the state of California to possess and train raptors. His birds participate in four to five weddings a year. So far, all have gone off without a hitch. “They have never gotten poop on a dress,” he said. Typically, couples practice with Gonzalez ahead of their weddings. He opts not to feed the birds before the ceremony to avoid any surprise droppings. He prefers quail meat as the treat because other choice options— like a dead mouse—are too smelly.
During the ceremony, Gonzalez hangs out behind the seated guests. When the bird’s time to shine comes, he takes off its hood and lets it fly. The rings are held in a pouch tied to equipment attached to the raptor’s ankle. Clients are encouraged to place fake wedding rings inside instead of the real ones, just in case the bird takes to the sky and doesn’t come back. So far no bird has flown away, Gonzalez said. Huete and her husband decided to trust Marty the falcon with their real bands. “We said, “It’ll be a sign if he flies off,” she said.
Christina Hermon-Hayes didn’t take the risk and used fake rings. She rented a campsite in Rainier, Ore., to host her wedding in September 2022. The large space inspired her to give the event a medieval theme, with sword fighting and a tarot-card reader for entertainment. Her husband wore a suit of armor while she dressed in a period-appropriate gown. Their falcon “had like a tiny bit of stage fright for like five seconds,” she said. “Then he swooped really low, right in between the guests.’’ Michele Losee, who runs the nonprofit International
Raptor and Falconry Center in Flag-staff, Ariz., said engaged couples may want raptors to make the event stand out, but guests also end up learning about raptor conservation. “They think they’re being cool,” Losee said. “But really they’re leaving with a whole lot more knowledge about what they can do with raptors.”
Maryland-based falconer Daniel Vitilio said he has been using a hawk at weddings for nearly 12 years and has been in the bird business for decades, releasing doves at various ceremonies. He likes a bit of showmanship at his wedding appearances, often suggesting that the best man pretend to have misplaced the rings only to have Vitilio’s bird, hidden away behind the guests, swoop in to save the day. Vitilio prefers day-old chick legs as the treat for his birds. “It’s like a Big Mac,” he said. “It’s not really good for them, but they love it.”
Wing man
Tara and Kevin Mark had an unusual ring bearer at their wedding. BEATS AND FOCUS
Kevin Mark hired Vitilio to surprise his bird-loving wife during their wedding ceremony in York, Pa., last June. Mark started getting cold feet, though, when he and his brother went to Vitilio’s farm to rehearse and got a taste of the prep work involved. His brother, who served as the best man and would be handling the bird, had to learn a complicated hand gesture to call the hawk and then hold tight to the chicken bone when the bird landed so it didn’t immediately fly away. “We were both very nervous. We knew the margin of error was very small,” Mark said. At the wedding, his brother pulled the misplaced-rings ruse, angering the bride. But when his brother put on the falconer glove and flawlessly summoned the bird, she was floored. “I look over and there’s this beautiful bird flying toward us,” Mark’s wife, Tara, said.
Couples Are Hiring Birds of Prey To Be Ring Bearers at Weddings
Replacing traditional tots in tuxes, raptors will play the role for a $1,200 fee
BY JAMES FANELLI
When the time came to exchange rings at her wedding ceremony in San Diego last year, Jessica Huete donned a leather glove with a piece of quail meat attached. Moments later, a falcon swooped down, landing on the bride’s forearm to deliver the silver bands and devour the snack. “We were both fighting over who would catch the bird,” Huete said of her and her husband. “I said, ‘It was my idea. I win. I’m the wife.’” Adorable tots in tuxes have long held the inside track on ring-bearing responsibilities at weddings, but the use of hawks, falcons and other birds of prey has taken flight in recent years, fueled by animal-loving brides, renaissance fair buffs and a generation of Muggles who grew up reading J.K. Rowling books about wizards and their owls. Couples also see the birds as a way to distinguish their ceremonies. “Harry Potter obviously did something for this line of work,” said Jonathan Gonzalez, who is among several falconers across the U.S. who have started hawking their services to love birds.
Gonzalez owns Raptor Events, a Long Beach, Calif., business that offers a menagerie of raptors and reptiles for educational shows, birthdays and other events. His wedding service, priced at $1,200 plus travel costs, includes Marty the lanner falcon or an Eurasian eagle-owl, either Ollie or Marvin. Each can fly down the aisle to the arm of a bride, groom or other member of a wedding party. The birds also do a meet-and-greet during the cocktail hour. Gonzalez, who has been working with birds since high school, had to do an apprenticeship and obtain a license from the state of California to possess and train raptors. His birds participate in four to five weddings a year. So far, all have gone off without a hitch. “They have never gotten poop on a dress,” he said. Typically, couples practice with Gonzalez ahead of their weddings. He opts not to feed the birds before the ceremony to avoid any surprise droppings. He prefers quail meat as the treat because other choice options— like a dead mouse—are too smelly.
During the ceremony, Gonzalez hangs out behind the seated guests. When the bird’s time to shine comes, he takes off its hood and lets it fly. The rings are held in a pouch tied to equipment attached to the raptor’s ankle. Clients are encouraged to place fake wedding rings inside instead of the real ones, just in case the bird takes to the sky and doesn’t come back. So far no bird has flown away, Gonzalez said. Huete and her husband decided to trust Marty the falcon with their real bands. “We said, “It’ll be a sign if he flies off,” she said.
Christina Hermon-Hayes didn’t take the risk and used fake rings. She rented a campsite in Rainier, Ore., to host her wedding in September 2022. The large space inspired her to give the event a medieval theme, with sword fighting and a tarot-card reader for entertainment. Her husband wore a suit of armor while she dressed in a period-appropriate gown. Their falcon “had like a tiny bit of stage fright for like five seconds,” she said. “Then he swooped really low, right in between the guests.’’ Michele Losee, who runs the nonprofit International
Raptor and Falconry Center in Flag-staff, Ariz., said engaged couples may want raptors to make the event stand out, but guests also end up learning about raptor conservation. “They think they’re being cool,” Losee said. “But really they’re leaving with a whole lot more knowledge about what they can do with raptors.”
Maryland-based falconer Daniel Vitilio said he has been using a hawk at weddings for nearly 12 years and has been in the bird business for decades, releasing doves at various ceremonies. He likes a bit of showmanship at his wedding appearances, often suggesting that the best man pretend to have misplaced the rings only to have Vitilio’s bird, hidden away behind the guests, swoop in to save the day. Vitilio prefers day-old chick legs as the treat for his birds. “It’s like a Big Mac,” he said. “It’s not really good for them, but they love it.”
Wing man
Tara and Kevin Mark had an unusual ring bearer at their wedding. BEATS AND FOCUS
Kevin Mark hired Vitilio to surprise his bird-loving wife during their wedding ceremony in York, Pa., last June. Mark started getting cold feet, though, when he and his brother went to Vitilio’s farm to rehearse and got a taste of the prep work involved. His brother, who served as the best man and would be handling the bird, had to learn a complicated hand gesture to call the hawk and then hold tight to the chicken bone when the bird landed so it didn’t immediately fly away. “We were both very nervous. We knew the margin of error was very small,” Mark said. At the wedding, his brother pulled the misplaced-rings ruse, angering the bride. But when his brother put on the falconer glove and flawlessly summoned the bird, she was floored. “I look over and there’s this beautiful bird flying toward us,” Mark’s wife, Tara, said.
Gori the Grey
The Poster
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 13,505
That's a pretty big claim there, allspice. To me, you seem like just one spice.
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Gori the Grey
The Poster
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 13,505
Love those commercials. They're so zany.
r16
not deity
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2008
- Messages
- 12,177
two masked men entered a Catholic church in Istanbul today during Mass and killed a man . His relatives say he wasn't complete in mental facilities and he was just curious enough to be inside . "Apostate" being a rather dangerous word these days , with ISIL having claimed responsibility in recent hours . What happened next seems to be murky . Those who saw videos would claim one of the gunmen was firing blanks . Or they were utterly green , making a lot of mistakes . You see , the top Polish diplomat in Istanbul was also attending with his family .
surprisingly enough it also turned out Victoria Nuland was in Ankara . The Greeks are reportedly mad at their victory of having snatched F-35s before New Turkey . That they were not sold any weapons to go with the planes unlike the New Turkey F-16 deal and might spend upyo 40 billions of US Dollars in the next 25 years . Nuland then being busy telling Ankara should match by decreasing its stocks through donations to a good cause . Amazing , those New Turkey weapons lacking compatibility with NATO standarts and yet having created so much joy in CFC in recent years . Let me say this in the most possible friendly intent and way . It is a global standart for the paranoid to start looking for patterns from which are coincidences to other people .
surprisingly enough it also turned out Victoria Nuland was in Ankara . The Greeks are reportedly mad at their victory of having snatched F-35s before New Turkey . That they were not sold any weapons to go with the planes unlike the New Turkey F-16 deal and might spend upyo 40 billions of US Dollars in the next 25 years . Nuland then being busy telling Ankara should match by decreasing its stocks through donations to a good cause . Amazing , those New Turkey weapons lacking compatibility with NATO standarts and yet having created so much joy in CFC in recent years . Let me say this in the most possible friendly intent and way . It is a global standart for the paranoid to start looking for patterns from which are coincidences to other people .
Bonyduck Campersang
Staring into the distance
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2022
- Messages
- 4,773
Descendant of Indian King Porus Discusses Alexander the Great and Greece
The Wikipedia article on Porus says that he is not attested in any Indian sources. If the Katoch family oral history can be investigated, this should be big news
The Wikipedia article on Porus says that he is not attested in any Indian sources. If the Katoch family oral history can be investigated, this should be big news
Steve Jobs is alive and well. He was caught on camera shopping at Kroger!
Oh, that's lewd, all right.
At first I couldn't tell if it was him moving or just the tape flickering (since it's obvious that this was recorded on VHS).
I must commend him on being able to produce vocals that I've only ever heard on the lowest octaves of an organ, though.
As for singers with deep voices, I have to say that I prefer Barry Carl of the a capella group Rockapella:
What ever do you mean?Oh, that's lewd, all right.
- Status
