Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Currently playing: "Medication" by Damien Jurado.

Does this story piss off anyone else?

An online casino has a piece of Capt. Kirk. Actor William Shatner has sold his kidney stone for $25,000, with the money going to a housing charity, it was announced Tuesday. Shatner reached agreement Monday to sell the stone to GoldenPalace.com.

"This takes organ donors to a new height, to a new low, maybe. How much is a piece of me worth?" he said in a telephone interview.

GoldenPalace.com is noted for its collection of oddities, which includes a partially eaten cheese sandwich thought to contain the image of the Virgin Mary.

"This is a bold new addition to our fleet," GoldenPalace.com Chief Executive Officer Richard Rowe said in a statement.

The money will go to Habitat for Humanity, which builds houses for the needy.

"This would be the first Habitat for Humanity house built out of stone," joked Darren Julien, president of Los Angeles-based Julien's Auctions, which handled the sale.

Shatner, who played Kirk on the original "Star Trek" TV show and won an Emmy for his role on "Boston Legal," passed the stone last fall.

The stone was so big, Shatner said, "you'd want to wear it on your finger."

"If you subjected it to extreme heat, it might turn out to be a diamond," he added.

Shatner said the idea of selling the stone came up after "Boston Legal" raised $20,000 for Habitat for Humanity. With the money for the stone, Shatner said there is about enough funding to build half a house.

GoldenPalace.com originally offered $15,000 for the stone but Shatner turned it down, noting that his "Star Trek" tunics have commanded more than $100,000. His counteroffer was accepted.


Should I be more angry with the seller or the buyer?

Exit music: "Snowden" by Doves.

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Monday, January 16, 2006

Currently playing: "Please Please Please" by Fiona Apple.

Wow the new Fiona record is incredible. Worth waiting for...

I finished three books already this year. Guess some insomnia is worth something. I finished Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank very early this morning. I forgot how sad it is. Seems somehow appropriate to have finished it on a day when we think about our own country's struggle to see the good in all people.

I love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Amish Aaron's little girls gave me some for Christmas.

Has anyone seen Pride & Prejudice yet? Keira Knightley isn't ugly.

How about this story:

Students Complete 2 1/2-Day Hoops Game CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP)
Students from Atlantic Coast Conference rivals Duke and North Carolina completed their 2 1/2-day basketball game Monday, finishing with an expected world record for the longest continuous game.

Duke won 3,688-3,444. The game began at 8 a.m. Saturday and ended at 6 p.m. Monday, marking 58 straight hours in Fetzer Gymnasium on the loser's Chapel Hill campus.

The 24 students from the two schools nearly doubled a pair of similar reported world records. The Guinness World Records' Web site listed the record as 30 hours, 12 minutes set in Nebraska in 2004. Game organizers said they were later informed by Guinness of a more recent record of 33 hours, 35 minutes, set in Germany last April. They passed both marks Sunday.

The students also competed to raise the most money for the Hoop Dreams Basketball Academy, a nonprofit that uses basketball to help improve the lives of children with life-threatening illnesses. Organizers said the marathon raised nearly $60,000, short of their $80,000 target.


Exit music: "Always Love" by Nada Surf.

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