Internet Legends – Part 1

Well boys and girls, there isn’t much going on in the life of Joshua Starling the past few days. Mainly I’m just gearing up for finals. Thankfully I my last final is in 13 days and then I’ll be finished for three for four weeks! Can I get an amen?

So today I figured that I would do a post on an Internet Legend. Also known as “Joshua doesn’t have anything else good to post today”. This is basically someone or something that has grown from relative real life obscurity into an internet phenomena. This would be something that one would see strewn across the internet in the form of pictures (avatars), references in postings, and links. If its a really good one, people will go as far as creating music, videos, soundboards, and tribute websites. Think of it as a big inside joke on the internet.

Today’s subject is one of the lesser known Internet Legends but one of my favorites: Henry Earl.

At a casual glance, Mr. Earl doesn’t seem like anything special. He lives in Lexington, KY. Just someone that you would pass on the streets and not even give a second thought to. Heck, I would venture to guess that he doesn’t even have an email address or know how to use the internet. Yet, Henry is experiencing his 15 minutes of internet fame. Why?

Well, we don’t know much about him except that he goes by the name “James Brown”, (which is cool in and of itself) and that he likes to get drunk. He likes to get drunk a lot. And he gets busted a lot. As in “900+ times in the last 13 years” a lot. He spends roughly twice as much of his life in jail as out. His rap sheet is pages and pages long. Just to give you an idea as to how much this man has been in jail, check out these stats:

Total

Number of offenses: 931
Number of days spent in jail: 3585

Year-to-date

Number of Offenses: 42
Number of days spent in jail: 304

Overall

Average # of days per year spent in jail: 256.07
Average duration of incarceration period: 3.85 days
Average duration of time not spent in jail: 1.60 days

And how does the internet know of the exploits of Henry Earl? Credit goes out to Lexington-Fayette Urban County Division of Community Corrections and their public record policy. That’s right…they disclose this current jail status, rap sheet, mugshots, and much more on their little website.Please make sure you click on the image history link.

So there you have it, certainly more than your basic town drunk. Henry is an icon, a work of performance art. He’s like an Otis Campbell for the 21st century.

All hail his liver!

PS – He’s current in jail for, you guessed it, alcohol intoxiation..

The Teddyfone: Tell your kids to call someone who cares.

Eating Fish.

City bus becomes pinball, caroming off SUV, bumpered across street by state capitol and finally scoring extra million by hitting Department of Transportation building.

Just in time for Christmas: Origami Boulder.

Turkey To Go.

Your roommate won’t share his beer and spaghetti with you. Do you: A) Ask him again nicely? B) Go buy your own? Or C) Open fire on him with your AK-47?