Kristy and V had better be grateful they’re not students at Long Island University. If they were, their Hugh Manatee hostage videos could land them in hot water:

Five college students have been stripped of residence hall jobs and are facing campus hearings for making a video that mimics a hostage taking, university officials said Thursday.

In the video, five figures in ski masks speak in crude Middle Eastern accents as they threaten their captive, a rubber duck that serves as the mascot of a residence hall at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. …

The video was accompanied by a statement saying it was a joke, but university administrators saw it as insensitive.

My favorite part is this quote: “This is not an issue of free speech, but rather an issue of respect for others and insensitively to acts of violence.” Heh. Yeah, right. Suppressors of free speech never think it’s “an issue of free speech,” do they?

UPDATE: Here’s more from Newsday, which apparently broke the story:

A video by five students at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University depicting ski-masked “hostage-takers” speaking in cartoonish Middle Eastern accents has drawn condemnations from local Muslim leaders.

The university dismissed the students from their jobs as residence hall assistants in Brookville Hall, saying they had engaged in activity that violated their employment contract and that reflected “insensitivity.”

In the video, which mocks those aired by real-life terrorists, five figures speak in exaggerated accents as they threaten their captive, a rubber duck dubbed “Pete,” according to an account in the student newspaper that knowledgeable campus sources agreed was accurate. The subtext is understood to many on campus: The duck is the mascot for Brookville Hall.

While friends of those who created the film amphasized it was made in jest, Muslim leaders did not see the humor. They acknowledged students’ right to freedom of speech, but said that right carries responsibility.

I always love it when the phrase “freedom of speech” is followed by the word “but.”

The students’ names are Robert Bennett, Bert Estrada, Dustin Frye, Jordan Marmara and Billy McDermott. They’re all seniors. In addition, RubberDuckGate “apparently also cost Brookville Hall’s residence hall director, Kristin Kielczewski, her job.”

According to Newsday, McDermott “said yesterday that Brewington had advised him and the other fired student resident assistants not to comment beyond saying, ‘We’re getting our ducks in a row.’” Heh. Well, at least somebody has a sense of humor.

Robbie in the snow is pretty doggone cute… but in terms of pure “awwww” factor, I’m not sure he can top Puck, Becca’s kitten:

Awwwww.

More completely adorable photos of Puck, stolen borrowed from his Facebook page (yes, the cat has his own Facebook page), after the jump.

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The first legitimate lake-effect snow event of the season (the National Weather Service is calling it “EXTREME,” which should make our resident Buffalonians laugh very, very hard) gave Robbie ample opportunity to run around in the powdery white stuff this afternoon:

As graceful and athletic as Robbie looks when he runs, it’s surprisingly difficult to get a good still photo of him running; more often he looks like Gollum or… well… like this. But here’s a pretty good shot:

Woof! Whee!

Also, while it’s not exactly graceful-looking, this picture is kind of cool, as you can see how his hind legs are actually in front of his front legs as he launches himself forward.

More photos here.

Casey just posted a bunch of new awesome pictures of his octopus. For example:

Weatherblogger Margie Kieper has a really cute cat.

I don’t know what it has to do with global warming, but I love this photo, currently positioned above this story on Drudge’s homepage:

Squeak! Ribbit. Squeak! Heh.

P.S. “Men, riding dragons, throwing wolves at maggots…”

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you… crazy tax write-offs. (Hat tip: Kristin.) The highlight, I think, is the Amish taxpayer’s attempt to deduct the cost of his “pimped out buggy.”

Also, one guy tried to claim a deduction for doggie daycare. Hey, I like where this is going! I want a deduction for the mental pain & anguish of coming home after a long day of work and finding that Robbie had an accident in the guest room. Or how about this mess I encountered yesterday in the living room, after Robbie decided it would be fun to dig through a bag of papers and other such trash that I had left by the door:

No, the cat was not in the bag.

Yeah, I think that should definitely be a deduction right there.

My brother-in-law Casey is renowned in the family for his ability to eat large quantities of food at a single sitting. But he’s got nothing on his octopus.

AOL News today gives the ten top dogs in the US among breeds, based on breeder numbers. It also gives readers a chance to vote for their favorite breed, and also their least favorite breed.

I will note, for breed partisans (Brendan???), that a few breeds did NOT make the Top Ten: Pug. Huskie. Llasa apso. Greyhound. (Please don’t tell Robbie.)

Finally, the piece gives favorite dogs by city. Miami - German Shepherd. Detroit - German Shepherd. So far so good. New York City - Ohhhhhhhhhh, the fru-fru-ity! Poodle.

I was until quite recently a New Yorker. Do I miss New York? I guess not the dog parks.

Dolphins stuck in Long Island shallows; Nick Saban unavailable for comment.

Enough with the tasteless poll questions and vulgar t-shirts (warning: both links contain potentially objectionable/offensive material)… it’s time for something totally non-objectionable… pictures and movie clips from the zoo!

Back during late December, Becky and I went to the Arizona’s Wildlife World Zoo with her dad, and I took a bunch of cool photos and videos… but I never got around to posting them. Well, here’s a collection of those videos, starting with a very cool blue-tongued skink, and ending with an OCD duck:

Here’s my full photo gallery, and here are a couple of particularly cool shots:

“I’m the king, baby.”

Becky feeds a giraffe.

I stick out my tongue at a giraffe.

Butter grooms herself… wait a minute, that’s not Butter!

Becky gets mobbed in the petting zoo. Heh.

Again, full gallery here.

As promised, Casey has posted details about, and pictures of, his new octopus.