WWE Wrestler Chris Benoit Kills Family and Commits Suicide

Oh no… Chris Benoit, why?

Benoit (pronounced ben-wah) was my favourite pro wrestler. He combined very impressive technical techniques (as opposed to the usual big-wrestler push and shove style) with suicidal moves such as jumping headfirst onto an opponenty’ head.

He wasn’t much of a microphone player like the Rock, but he really did wrestling right. His technical style played well against Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle’s own technical skills.

Full story on Wikipedia.

Goodbye, Chris Benoit – the cripplerest, technicalest, mising-toothiest WWE champion to never work the mic. It’s a pity you had to end it this way. May your soul find forgiveness and peace.

               

UPDATE 29 JUNE 2007: This is freaky. The Wikipedia entry on Chris Benoit mentioned that his wife had died 14 hours before police disovered the fact! CNN and Wikipedia. 

UPDATE 30 JUNE 2007: It was apparently added based on a rumour.

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Excerpts from Sports Illustrated.com:

- Pro wrestler Chris Benoit strangled his wife, suffocated his 7-year-old son and placed a Bible next to their bodies before hanging himself with a weight-machine pulley

- Investigators found anabolic steroids which can cause paranoia, depression and explosive outbursts

- Benoit was one of the stars of the WWE wrestling circuit and was known for his wholesome family-man image

- Nancy Benoit had filed for a divorce in 2003, saying the couple’s three-year marriage was irrevocably broken and alleging “cruel treatment.” She later dropped the complaint, as well as a request for a restraining order in which she charged that Benoit had threatened her and had broken furniture in their home

- Benoit’s 43-year-old wife was killed Friday in an upstairs family room, her feet and wrists were bound and there was blood under her head, indicating a possible struggle

- Benoit, 40, apparently hanged himself several hours and as long as a day later, Ballard said. His body was found in a downstairs weight room, his body found hanging from the pulley of a piece of exercise equipment

Dibert and Scott Adams on Global Warming

Comics saved from http://www.dilbert.com. Click to enlarge.

I got wind of this from the Is It Getting Warmer? blog. I do love Dilbert strips.

As always, the Dilbert creator Scott Adams avoids overtly stating support for any side in the debate. Instead, he mocks the most human aspects of it.

The third strip is especially poignant and describes Al Gore perfectly. Making others sacrifice while living in luxury is what self-proclaimed celebrity champions of combating global warming do.

You can read his actual views at the Dilbert Blog, however. He is a natural skeptic, meaning that he is skeptical of either side of any argument. Ergo, he is skeptical of the global warming proponents and skeptical of the skeptics! Links below:

Introduction

Starting points and questions

Short interlude about peer review

Computer models

Summary of what Scott Adams has learnt

Youth Abstinence Walk Malaysia 2007

My full support for this program.

The logic is simple: Would you like to find out that before marrying you, your husband/wife had sex with 37 othr people, and honestly considers some of them to be much better lovers than you are? Well then, you shouldn’t cause your future spouse that kind of grief either!

Contrary to the secular, liberal, sex-crazed world, we consider it a great and proud achievement to be a 40-year old virgin! It isn’t easy, especially in a culture ruled by meaningless sex.

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From NST 27 June 2007 (NST removes links after a  week):

It’s abstinence for 250 until marriage

By : David Yeow

The students did a walk around Millennium Park after their pledge of abstinence while holding signboards encouraging others to do the same.

PETALING JAYA: Raymas Quah sets many hearts a-flutter when he walks the corridors of his school.

But he is not your typical “big man on campus” ready to use his looks to “get” girls.

He values his virginity and is not ashamed to stand up and say so.

“Your virginity is the best wedding gift you can give to your future spouse. So for me it’s ‘no’ to sex until I say ‘I do’,” said the 19-year-old from Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Sea.

Quah led 250 students from five secondary schools, during the Youth Abstinence Walk at Millennium Park in SS2 yesterday, in a personal pledge to abstain from any form of sexual activity until they marry.

The students first attended a four-hour abstinence workshop in their schools, developed by Focus on the Family Malaysia (FOFM). The non-governmental organisation was originally set up in the United States in 1977 to restore values to the family unit.

FOFM spokesman Olivia Lee said the main aim of the workshop was to create awareness among teenagers that sex was powerful, and if treated lightly could result in a severe emotional backlash or worse, a sexually transmitted disease.

“We live in such a supercharged ‘just do it’ world. We just want to let teenagers know that they have the option to abstain, and that it works,” Lee said.

And it seems the idea is catching on.

“Abstinence is not a conservative thing, it’s a respect thing. I learnt that love is about honouring one another. So to show that I really love my future husband, I am going to start by honouring my body,” said 16-year-old Sarah Lau from Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Sea.

When asked of what her parents thought of the idea, Lau said that they were really proud and thought it was mature of her to take the pledge.

After making their public declaration of abstinence, the students marched around the park, some chanting “Abstinence works”, holding signs that read “Abstinence Rocks” and “Don’t be an STD statistic”, among others.

North Petaling Jaya MP Datin Chew Mei Fun led the event and joined in the walk.

Seven Gang Leaders in JB Identified

May something be done about it! Are the majority of rob-rape-murders organized crimes? I doubt it. Those are the cases that most affect ordinary folk.

Still, crime is crime, and taking down the big sharks should serve to discourage the individual barracudas.

In other news, China Press says that in the first 3 months of 2007, there were an average of 8 RAPE CASES A DAY! Horrifying… How long before someone you know is assaulted? Protect your women!

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From The Star 27 June 2007:

IGP: Seven gang leaders in JB identified

By LOURDES CHARLES and NELSON BENJAMIN

JOHOR BARU: Police have identified seven gang leaders who have been terrorising the state with the help of influential people. 

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said police were in the process of gathering intelligence to either take action against these leaders under the preventive laws or to charge them in court. 

“Many crime heads are from the state. Not only are locals involved but Singaporeans also control certain areas,” he said, admitting that there was a lot of illegal activity in the state which needed to be cleaned up. 

Musa explained that the police would have to weed out gangsterism, clamp down on VCD pirates, loan sharks and those involved in prostitution. 

“We must take action against the leaders and not just target VCD sellers,” he said. 

Musa was in Johor on a one-day working visit to discuss the crime situation with his men and also to brief Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman on police plans to curb the problem. 

Asked whether officers carrying out their duties might fear reprisal or transfers because of these influential people, Musa replied: “My men need not worry about getting transferred if they are doing a good job. Just do not victimise anyone.” 

Musa, who was satisfied with the efforts taken by the local police to tackle crime in the state, said there was no need for a special task force from Bukit Aman to be sent to Johor as had been done in Sarawak. 

“They (Johor police) have their own task force. The situation in Sarawak is different as they (the gangsters) were too much,” he said. 

“The situation in Johor is under control but can be improved.”  

On gangsterism, Musa said nobody wanted to come forward to give evidence and, as such, the police would have to use preventive laws against the suspects.  

“If the gangster comes out from detention within three months, what are we to do?” he asked. 

Musa also took local councils to task for approving entertainment licences everywhere, which made policing difficult. 

“Even in villages there are entertainment outlets,” he said, adding that fights usually broke out at pubs and clubs. 

Stray Police Bullet Injures in JB

Careless! Still, better than letting the criminal get away free to actually kill more people. He was willing to ram a cop car rather than surrender.

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From The Star 26 June 2007:

M-cyclist hit by stray bullet during chase

JOHOR BARU: A stray bullet hit a motorcyclist during a high-speed car chase between police and a suspected car thief. 

Earlier, two policemen had flagged down the suspect’s Naza Citra car at 4.45pm here. 

As they were about to inspect the vehicle, the driver sped towards Kampung Bakar Batu. During the chase with police, the vehicle rammed into three cars.  

As they were nearing Kampung Bakar Batu, the driver tried to ram into the police patrol car but the policemen fired two shots. 

Johor Baru (South) OCPD Asst Comm Shafie Ismail said one of the bullets could have hit the 50-year-old motorcyclist in the right hand. 

“Police continued the chase and were later joined by three more patrol cars,” he said. 

The chase ended at Taman Sentosa where the 29-year-old suspect left the car and ran into a building but was caught. 

ACP Shafie said police seized 35 car keys, an Allen key, a Rambo knife, and a packet believed to have been used to store syabu. 

“Initial investigations revealed that the Naza Citra was reported stolen last month in Plentong,” he said. 

ACP Shafie said the motorcyclist was receiving treatment at a private hospital.  

8-Bit Theater: Hyper-Neologisms

  

I recommend that we use the above word frequently in our everyday conversation, thus making it a permanent part of the language.

After you read the comic, select the blank area below to see my own attempts at etymology:

hateriffic = hate + terrific (literally, hate a very great amount)

meganger = mega + anger (lit. 1,000,000 times anger)

anathemalice = anathema + malice (lit. greatly dislike with the intent to harm)

ragenomic = rage + genomic (lit. extreme anger that is encoded within your very DNA)

omniloathe = omni + loathe (lit. every hate

abhorrination = abhor + abomination (lit. hated disgusting thing)

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The Very Un-Asian Chilli

Spicy sichuan, tom yam, laksa, curry, sambal belacan… Phew, Asian food sure can get hot and spicy!

We use a whole lot of chillies in our food, along with our wide assortment of tableside condiments such as cili padi, cheng lat-jiu (green chillies) and sambal.

But the ironic thing is that chillies are NOT NATIVE TO ASIA! They are Western invaders, introduced by the Colonial evil-empire masters.

Chillies were brought back from the Americas by Christopher Columbus and others after him. See Wikipedia’s article for more on that.

                          

So I’ve always wondered what us Asians used for our traditional spicy dishes before chillies. Browsing around, I’ve found that the candidates are black pepper, ginger, garlic, onions, cumin, and something called Sichuan pepper (as seen below).

                        

It’s interesting then, that many of our ‘traditional’ spicy dishes in their present form are less than 500 years old! So much for resisting globalization then… we’re centuries too late on that note.

Oh, and btw… If you happen to be experiencing the tormenting fire of chilli judgement as you read this, hop over to my post How to Stop Chili or Chilli Burning for how to achieve quick redemption and relief.