Garrison Keillor: With your permission, I shall give a short speech
It's an easy life compared to what many people are going through and skipping the news lets you ignore a president who, as the British writer Nate White points out, "has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honor and no grace" and now, in a national crisis, shows himself to be an ignorant bumbler and con artist focused on weeding out non-yes-men in the White House.
John Prine: 25 Essential Songs (Rolling Stone)
In his humble, hilarious way, Prine was one of America's greatest songwriters. Here are 25 of his best - heartfelt love songs, midwestern mind-trips, and offhandedly brilliant reflections on the weird serendipity of everyday life.
Life, stylized as life®, is a breakfast cereal formerly made of oats, soy protein concentrate, sodium casienate and sugar, but now also containing corn flour, whole wheat flour, and rice flour. It was introduced in 1961 by the Quaker Oats Company. The cereal is distinguished by its characteristic brown checkered squares in a finer pattern than Chex cereal.
Life was popularized during the 1970s by an advertising campaign featuring "Little Mikey", a hard-to-please four-year-old boy portrayed by John Gilchrist. His two older brothers were portrayed by his real-life brothers, Michael and Tommy. The commercials featured the slogan/catchphrase "He likes it! Hey Mikey!" That ad campaign ran from 1972 to 1986, becoming one of the longest-running television advertisements in history. As recently as 1999, the commercial was included in a list of "memorable ads".
Source
Cal in Vermont said:
Life cereal. The other two kids in the ad are actually Mikey's brothers.
Alan J answered:
Life Cereal.
mj responded:
Currently being reprised with a female "Mikey"
We are again being told of the healthy cereal "Life", basically sugar
frosted oat chex.
Mac Mac replied:
Life Cereal
zorch said:
Life Cereal.
Dave wrote:
Life ready-to-eat breakfast cereal. Regardless of Mikey's paid endorsement I never tried it, mostly because it was a Quaker Oats product and our household only purchased Post brand cereal because my Dad worked there. It was virtual copy of Chex cereal, which General Mills eventually purchased from Ralcorp in 1997.
Photos: Mikey campaign | Apparently Quaker Oats was a sponsor of the Bewitched TV series | April must be mating season for the Turkey Buzzards in Michigan, they usually don't perch in trees looking each other over.
Adam answered:
Life cereal.
Life cereal tastes like cardboard, Cinnamon Life is where it's at, along with Pumpkin Spice and Gingerbread Spice Life for Thanksgiving and Xmas.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
Life cereal
Stephen F responded:
Life Cereal
David of Moon Valley wrote:
jeepers
i remember these commercials…Life cereal…..which i kinda liked as a kid, too…although those pointy edges did play hell with the inside of my mouth, the sugar hit was definitely worth it...
Jacqueline said:
That would be Life cereal. Man, what tasteless stuff!
Dave in Tucson answered:
Mikey, who hates everything, likes Life Cereal.
Michelle in AZ responded:
Life cereal
Rosemary in Columbus replied:
Life cereal
DJ Useo wrote:
Life Cereal. It used to be a real favorite of mine. It's still called that, but I consider it a pale imitation of the original.
Deborah said:
Was it Life cereal? Because that's what comes to mind.
Obsessively gardening has its benefits: Everything looks great, and I have few weeds. It's weird not having a set schedule anymore, though. I make a "to-do" list every day for the next few days, not because I might forget something, but to give my day structure. That's a first for me.
Billy in Cypress U$A answered:
I do not remember that commercial or "Mikey", so I searched it and found that it was "Life" cereal. Not: I hate commercials on TV, radio, movies, internet, etc, particularly those on public TV and radio stations. And, I love the ability to fast-forward through them on recorded programs.
Gateway Mike replied:
That would be Life cereal.
I know because I spent my 20s with that commercial. Everybody thought that they were original by hollering, "Hey Mikey! Do you really like it?"
After a few YEARS I finally gave in and agreed that I liked it. My sly smile seemed to convince them and they tired of asking.
Then the commercials went away...
Hope you and yours are safe and healthy!
Roy, standing close to no one in Tyler, TX took the day off.
Micki took the day off.
John I from Hawai`i took the day off.
Daniel in The City took the day off.
Barbara, of Peppy Tech fame took the day off.
Jon L took the day off.
Doug in Albuquerque took the day off.
Harry M. took the day off.
Kevin K. in Washington, DC, took the day off.
Joe ( -- Vote Blue, No Matter Who -- ) took the day off.
Saskplanner took the day off.
Kenn B took the day off.
Ed K took the day off.
Steve in Wonderful Sacramento, CA, took the day off.
Gary K took the day off.
Leo in Boise took the day off.
PGW. 94087 took the day off.
MarilynofTC took the day off.
George M. took the day off.
Paul of Seattle took the day off.
Peter W took the day off.
Brian S. took the day off.
Gene took the day off.
Tony K. took the day off.
Noel S. took the day off.
James of Alhambra took the day off.
BttbBob has returned to semi-retired status.
~~~~~
• Eartha Kitt once made a reservation at a London hotel, but when she walked into the hotel, and the clerk saw that she was black, he refused her a room. Ms. Kitt knew the reason she was refused a room, so she told the clerk that she wasn't black - she was Spanish. The clerk wasn't convinced. Sneering, he said, "So say something in Spanish." Ms. Kitt replied, "Adios, motherf-," and walked out.
• Early in her career, when Lena Horne was singing with Charlie Barnet's band, she ran into a problem getting housing because of Jim Crow. When everyone checked into a hotel, Mr. Barnet told the clerks that Ms. Horne was a Cuban singer, while the members of the band helped with the deception by speaking nonsense that sounded like Spanish.
• In 1950, André Previn played jazz in Baltimore with a couple of African-American musicians. Afterward, he went into a diner, where a couple of white men asked him, "Why the hell don't you play with your own kind?" Mr. Previn replied, "Well, to tell you the truth, I wanted to, but I couldn't find two other Jews that swing."
• The noted heterosexual (and inter-species dater) Kermit the Frog and lesbian singer k.d. lang once guested on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. At one point, Kermit appeared about to venture into sexist territory. Fortunately, Ms. lang warned him not to go there. Kermit gulped - and did not go there.
• Because of the Jim Crow laws that prevented gospel singer Mahalia Jackson from eating in white-only restaurants or sleeping in white-only hotels, she bought a Cadillac for when she toured in the South. Her car had to be large enough for her to carry food in it - and to sleep in it.
• Before the beginning of World War II, contralto Marian Anderson's reputation spread rapidly, and she was invited to sing in Germany, which was then ruled by Adolf Hitler. However, when the Germans discovered that Ms. Anderson was an African American, they withdrew the offer.
• In 1931, jazz musician Louis Armstrong returned to his native New Orleans, where he appeared on a local radio show. Mr. Armstrong was forced to introduce himself on the show because the white announcer refused to announce a black musician.
• During the Jim Crow days, Pierre Monteux tried to register at a hotel, but he was told that it was a hotel for colored people only. Mr. Monteux protested, "But I am colored - pink."
Problem-Solving
• While Emma Albani was performing Desdemona to Signor Tamagno's Otello, Signor Tamagno insisted that the stage contain three steps down which he would roll when he died after strangling Desdemona on a bed on a platform at the top of the stairs. Unfortunately, although the stage did have the three steps, it had no platform on which the bed could stand. Therefore, four men knelt on their hands and knees and supported the bed on which Ms. Albani, as Desdemona, was strangled.
• Some members of Duke Ellington's band drank too much, coming to performances drunk and posing a problem for Mr. Ellington, who had to either stop their alcohol abuse or get rid of them. Mr. Ellington used to deal with the problem by setting an impossible tempo, and then having the drunken musician attempt to give a solo. After the drunken soloist had made a fool of himself, he would either decide to stay sober or he would quit. No more problem.
CBS begins the night with a FRESH'MacGyver', followed by a FRESH'Magnum PU', then a RERUN'Blue Bloods'.
On a RERUNStephen Colbert (from 3/5/20) are Keith Urban and Casey Wilson.
On a RERUNJames Corden, OBE, (from 3/12/20) are Niall Horan, Vin Diesel, and Eiza González.
NBC starts the night with a FRESH'The Blacklist', followed by 'Dateline'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Kerry Washington, Andrew Rannells, and Anderson.Paak.
On a RERUNSeth Meyers (from 9/25/19) are Anna Kendrick, Kal Penn, and Edi Patterson.
On a RERUNLilly Singh (from 2/10/20) is Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
ABC opens the night with a FRESH'Shark Tank', followed by '20/20'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 4/2/20) are Jennifer Aniston and Grouplove.
The CW offers a FRESH'Charmed', followed by a FRESH'Dynasty'.
Faux fills the night with FRESH'WWE Friday Night SmackDown'.
MY recycles an old 'CSI: Miami', followed by another old 'CSI: Miami'.
A&E has 'Live PD', followed by a FRESH'Live PD: Rewind', then a FRESH'Live PD'.
AMC offers the movie 'The Karate Kid', followed by the movie 'The Karate Kid, Part II'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] THE POLAR BEAR FAMILY AND ME - Autumn
[7:00AM] FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
[10:00AM] THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
[1:00PM] A VIEW TO A KILL
[3:30PM] DR. NO
[6:00PM] FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
[8:30PM] GOLDFINGER
[11:00PM] THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW - Compilation Show
[12:00AM] THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
[3:00AM] FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Shahs Of Sunset', another 'Shahs Of Sunset', followed by a FRESH'Shahs Of Sunset', then a FRESH'Watch What Happens: Live'.
Comedy Central has 3 hours of old 'Tosh.0' and 'Kevin Hart: Seriously Funny'.
FX has the movie 'Furious 7', followed by the movie 'The Greatest Showman'.
History has 'Pawn Stars', another 'Pawn Stars', followed by a FRESH'Pawn Stars', and another 'Pawn Stars'.
IFC -
[6:00A] That '70s Show
[6:30A] That '70s Show
[7:00A] Mission: Impossible III
[10:00A] Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
[12:00P] Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
[2:00P] That '70s Show
[2:30P] That '70s Show
[3:00P] That '70s Show
[3:30P] That '70s Show
[4:00P] That '70s Show
[4:30P] That '70s Show
[5:00P] That '70s Show
[5:30P] That '70s Show
[6:00P] Two and a Half Men
[6:30P] Two and a Half Men
[7:00P] Two and a Half Men
[7:30P] Two and a Half Men
[8:00P] Two and a Half Men
[8:30P] Two and a Half Men
[9:00P] Two and a Half Men
[9:30P] Two and a Half Men
[10:00P] Two and a Half Men
[10:30P] Two and a Half Men
[11:00P] Two and a Half Men
[11:30P] Two and a Half Men
[12:00A] Two and a Half Men
[12:30A] Two and a Half Men
[1:00A] That '70s Show
[1:30A] That '70s Show
[2:00A] That '70s Show
[2:30A] That '70s Show
[3:00A] That '70s Show
[3:30A] That '70s Show
[4:00A] That '70s Show
[4:30A] That '70s Show
[5:00A] That '70s Show
[5:30A] That '70s Show (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00am] The Andy Griffith Show
[6:30am] The Andy Griffith Show
[7:00am] The Andy Griffith Show
[7:30am] The Andy Griffith Show
[8:00am] The Andy Griffith Show
[8:30am] Juno
[10:30am] Mystic Pizza
[1:00pm] Law & Order
[2:00pm] Law & Order
[3:00pm] Law & Order
[4:00pm] Law & Order
[5:00pm] Law & Order
[6:00pm] Law & Order
[7:00pm] Law & Order
[8:00pm] Law & Order
[9:00pm] Law & Order
[10:00pm] Law & Order
[11:00pm] Law & Order
[12:00am] Law & Order
[1:00am] Law & Order
[2:00am] Law & Order
[3:00am] Liar
[4:00am] The Andy Griffith Show
[4:30am] The Andy Griffith Show
[5:00am] The Andy Griffith Show
[5:30am] The Andy Griffith Show (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'The Hitman's Bodyguard', followed by the movie 'The Fast & The Furious', then a FRESH'Vagrant Queen'.
"Saturday Night Live" will return this weekend, but it won't be "live from New York" in the way its viewers have come to expect.
NBC said that the venerable late-night series, which has been off the air for several weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic, would air original content on Satuday, April 11, with material produced by a staff working remotely. Pieces are likely to include a "Weekend Update" segment and other material from cast members. NBC offered no details about a host or musical guest.
"SNL" will be the latest of TV's late-night shows to chart a return to original performance after the spread of coronavirus has made traditional production of the shows impossible. For decades, "SNL" and its weekday brethren have relied on in-studio audiences to lend energy and atmosphere to the process of telling jokes, doing sketches and hosting celebrities. Already, NBC's Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers -both of whom hold forth on programs that are under the aegis of "SNL" executive producer Lorne Michaels - have returned to production with shows that have them perched at home with celebrity interviews conducted via broadband video.
The weeknight shows are - except for special broadcasts - usually taped several hours in advance. "SNL" has always been televised live in front of dozens of audience members in NBC's Studio 8H at its New York headquarters.
Willie Nelson has announced plans to host the digital event At Home with Farm Aid on Saturday, April 11th at 8:00 p.m. ET. The streaming concert - which will available on AXS TV and the Farm Aid website - will feature performances by Farm Aid board members Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Nelson himself, along with his sons Lukas and Micah. They will all be performing from their homes.
"On the Farm Aid stage last September, my friend and fellow board member John Mellencamp said, 'Be hopeful about, have faith in and be grateful for right now; the miracle of life is in the dirt under our farmers' fingernails,'" Nelson said in a statement. "He was right and I'm so grateful for the farmers, ranchers and farmworkers who are on the frontlines sustaining all our communities. Now, more than ever, stay strong and positive."
This will be the second digital concert that Nelson has staged since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. On March 19th, he hosted Luck Presents: 'Til Further Notice, which featured performances by Paul Simon, Edie Brickell, Lucinda Williams, Neil Young, Margo Price, Randy Houser and many others. It was one of the first digital concert events of the coronavirus era and it provided a model that many others have followed.
Coral reefs are shrinking. That's bad news for wildlife. Millions of species call coral reefs their homes, and coral itself is a cluster of tiny aquatic animals. And it's bad news for humans, too -- scientists' analyses of organisms in and around coral have contributed to breakthroughs in a variety of medical treatments. NASA has taken some of its technology originally meant to photograph stars and adapted it for studying the ocean -- but it needs the public's help in sorting through the data. The agency created a game in which players analyze 3D images to spot and categorize coral reefs, and those actions train NASA's supercomputer to eventually do the same.
The game, NeMO-Net, uses photos from NASA's imaging equipment, which it has deployed on drones and aircraft. These "fluid-lensing" cameras compensate for the optical distortions created by the ripples and waves of water over coral reefs, creating a clearer image. Players learn about different kinds of coral and then point out where they see the reefs in the 3D renderings. As more people play, the more the supercomputer's neural network learns. Eventually, it should be able to sort through the photos itself, with no need for human assistance.
As threatened ecosystems, it's important that scientists gain a more thorough understanding of coral reefs. By creating a map of the reefs, scientists will hopefully be able to find a way to preserve them, despite the damage done by rising ocean temperatures, pollution and other detriments. Kids and adults alike can help out by playing NeMO-Net, which is currently available on iOS and Mac, and will be coming to Android in the future.
This week, Disney announced a new milestone for its Disney+ streaming video service: 50 million subscribers just five months after the service's initial launch.
That seems to be many more subscribers than Disney's own Hulu service, which as of the end of last year clocked in at just over 30 million, and three times the combined subscribers for CBS All Access and Showtime as of January-though none of those services are available in as many countries and regions as Disney+. You might compare Disney+ instead with the more global Netflix, which has 167 million subscribers.
Still, Netflix has been building that subscriber base over many years. Disney has reached 50 million in just a few months. In February, Disney reported 29 million, so those subscribers have nearly doubled in just a few short months. The service may have gotten a boost from users who are consuming more home entertainment amid shelter-in-place orders right now-and that might suggest that the above numbers from a few months ago for CBS, Netflix, and Hulu might be notably behind current figures.
A federal judge in Manhattan rejected an effort by U.S. President Donald Trump (R-Unfit) and his adult children to send a lawsuit accusing them of exploiting their family name to promote a marketing scam into arbitration.
In a Wednesday night decision concerning the American Communications Network, U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield accused the Trumps of acting unfairly by seeking arbitration after first obtaining "the benefits of litigating in federal court," including the dismissal of a racketeering claim.
"This conduct is both substantively prejudicial towards Plaintiffs and seeks to use the [Federal Arbitration Act] as a vehicle to manipulate the rules of procedure to Defendants' benefit and Plaintiffs' harm," Schofield wrote.
Defendants included Trump's adult children Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka, and an affiliate of the Trump Organization.
The case is Doe et al v Trump Corp et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 18-09936.
Americans consistently rate the Fox News Channel as one of the most trusted TV channels. The average age of Fox News viewers is 65. It is well established that this population incurs the greatest risk from the Covid-19 pandemic. In other words, Fox News viewers are at special risk from the coronavirus.
But viewers of Fox News, including the president of the United States, have been regularly subjected to misinformation relayed by the network - false statements downplaying the prevalence of Covid-19 and its harms; misleading recommendations of activities that people should undertake to protect themselves and others, including casual recommendations of untested drugs; false assessments of the value of measures urged upon the public by their elected political leadership and public health authorities.
The misinformation that reaches the Fox News audience is a danger to public health. Indeed, it is not an overstatement to say that your misreporting endangers your own viewers - and not only them, for in a pandemic, individual behavior affects significant numbers of other people as well.
Yet by commission as well as omission - direct, uncontested misinformation as well as failure to report the true dimensions of the crisis - Fox News has been derelict in its duty to provide clear and accurate information about Covid-19. As the virus spread across the world, Fox News hosts and guests minimized the dangers, accusing Democrats and the media of inflating the dangers (in Sean Hannity's words) to "bludgeon Trump with this new hoax". Such commentary encouraged Donald Trump to trivialize the threat and helped obstruct national, state and local efforts to limit the coronavirus.
The network's delinquency was effective. According to a YouGov/Economist poll conducted 15-17 March, Americans who pay the most attention to Fox News are much less likely than others to say they are worried about the coronavirus. A Pew Research poll found that 79% of Fox News viewers surveyed believed the media had exaggerated the risks of the virus. Sixty-three per cent of Fox viewers said they believed the virus posed a minor threat to the health of the country. As recently as Sunday, 22 March, the Fox News host Steve Hilton deplored accurate views of the pandemic, which he attributed to "our ruling class and their TV mouthpieces - whipping up fear over this virus".
A woman suffering flu-like symptoms gave birth standing and fully clothed while detained near the Mexican-US border, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Guatemalan woman, 27, was being processed at the Chula Vista Border Patrol Station near San Diego when her complaints of pain and pleas for help were allegedly ignored by agents, according to a complaint filed on Wednesday by the ACLU and Jewish Family Service of San Diego with the US Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General.
The woman, holding onto a garbage can for support, was repeatedly told to sit and wait to be processed. Her husband, hearing a baby's cries, removed her pants to reveal the newborn's head while their daughters, aged 2 and 12, witnessed the event, according to the ACLU's interviews with the family.
In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal demanded an investigation into the incident, as well as other reported mistreatment of pregnant women in custody.
In the letter, Mr Blumenthal said the woman was not allowed to shower after giving birth and after returning from hospital to the Border Patrol station two days later was refused a blanket for the baby.
A woman is accused of putting plastic Easter eggs filled with pornographic and other images inside mailboxes of homes in north Florida, sheriff's officials said.
Flagler County Sheriff's officials said they began getting calls about the eggs April 5. On Wednesday evening, more calls came in, according to a post on the sheriff's office's Facebook page.
Deputies arrested Abril Cestoni, 42, who told them she was putting the eggs in the mailboxes to educate people, the report said. They found a bag full of pornographic material inside the car.
Cestoni was charged with 11 counts of distributing obscene material, driving with a suspended license and for violating an executive order regarding essential travel during the coronavirus pandemic, the report said.
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