TYLER COWEN: Autism as Academic Paradigm (chronicle.com)
Thinking back on history, maybe you've wondered how it was that American colleges and universities could ever have contributed to racist discourse. But Princeton and many other institutions kept out Jews, and "academic" defenses of slavery, segregation, and eugenics were commonplace until broader social changes rendered such views unacceptable.
"The Evolution of God" by Robert Wright: A review by Troy Jollimore
The title of Robert Wright's new book -- 'The Evolution of God' -- will surely put some people off; indeed it seems designed to do so. So many religious believers in the U.S. have so much antipathy toward the idea that evolution might explain anything, it seems highly unlikely that many of them will pick up a book whose title suggests that God, of all things, might have evolved -- let alone (dare I mention it?) a book containing a chapter titled "Survival of the Fittest Christianity."
Nikki Tranter: "To Read Or Not to Read: 'Twilight'" (popmatters.com)
Stephenie Meyer's 'Twilight' is more than a book series. It's a lusty demon, I tell you, bent on making me bite into its shiny red apple-butt. Why, you ask, when I have free will and absolutely no interest in a puffy high school vampire love story written by a Mormon?
Joe Weider: Get Milk? (creators.com)
I know of no better way to alter physiology than through exercise. It's fairly common knowledge that exercise stimulates the hypothalamus and pituitary to release powerful chemicals into the bloodstream called endorphins, which create a sense of euphoria. When we're going through tough times, a lot of us will forgo exercise to focus on our problems, but this is exactly the time when we need to get active and push those endorphins through our bodies.
20 QUESTIONS: Jessica Hopper (popmatters.com)
Jessica Hopper advises travelers, "Never mind the nuclear reactors in the distance, it's heaven in the Midwest" - and other tips for PopMatters 20 Questions readers.
Greg Kot: The Jesus Lizard returns, but don't call it a reunion (Chicago Tribune)
For most of the '90s, the best live band anywhere was the Jesus Lizard. Its cutthroat music may not have been for everyone, but the Chicago quartet's performances were everything a rock 'n' roll show should be: a spontaneous blast of personality in which anything could happen, and often did.
mj was first, and correct, with:
I could use one of those
Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman used the way-back machine to get up close and personal with some of history's greats (whose greatness was usually attributable to Mr. Peabody's genius.)
BadtotheboneBob wrote:
Mr. Peabody. (DanD used it not to long ago to return to his high school days, remember?)
BGRDDAD replied:
Mr. Peabody
Charlie responded:
It was the ingenious dog Mr. Peabody, from Rocky and Bullwinkle, that great Cold War satire.
Alan J answered:
Mr. Peabody
Jim from CA replied:
The Wayback Machine was invented by Mr Peabody so he and his boy Sherman could go back in time. They were on the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
Sally said
You know what? I really don't know, "What cartoon character invented the, "Wayback Machine!" I was really not big on comic books, and rarely attended movies as a child - which I carried on to my own kids, the latter because we were always so busy. In my own case, attending parochial schools for my entire educational years, the staff of fiercely protective nuns paid particular attention to our reading endeavors - and "comic books" were highly frowned upon. I remember in elementary school, being given comic book versions of, "The Lives of Saints." The boys particularly enjoyed the life of Saint Stephen, who died in a hail of arrows (or spears), and was pictured with his chest full of them - all the while he was said to be denouncing the devil with his last breath. Vocations to the priesthood always shot up after that comic circulated the class,
The girls, OTOH, were fond of the life of Saint Maria Goretti, who, at the age of twelve, shed her blood and sacrificed her life to defend her "virtue." Of course we had no idea what that meant, but pretty soon some 6th graders were circulating the rumor that she had allowed her breasts to be cut off fending off an, "attack!" They were quickly expelled from the school in the attempt to defend OUR virtue I expect. Oh, and ditto the vocations there...
Guess this was TMI, but I needed a filler for my lack of knowledge you see...
PS: I was listening to "Coast to Coast" radio show last night, and a caller was telling the audience about the terrible heat and lack of rain that Texas is experiencing. The host requested that we (the listeners) all "think rain" for them, and we did. It will be interesting to see if it works. IAC, "Hang tough" Texans, we are with you in spirit. Sure wish we could send some Jersey rain to you all...
Marian the Teacher responded:
Peabody and Sherman
Peabody invented it
Colby in Frostproof answered:
Mr. Peabody invented the Wayback Machine. He used it to time-travel with his boy.
Tom C said:
Mr Peabody
Beantown Jane answered:
Mr. Peabody, the white dog, invented the Wayback Machine. His boy,
Sherman, used it for various adventures. I think their segment was part of
the Rocky and Bullwinkle show. (?)
MAM noted:
A brilliant dog 'Mr. Peabody'. Peabody invented the Wayback Machine in which he and his 'boy', Sherman, took their excursions into history.
Peabody and Sherman and Wayback Machine
That mythological "global warming" or whatever it is, is getting everything catawhompus! Giant Humbolt Squids cruising far and wide, killer HUGE JellyFish eating up all the oxygen and most all life forms in parts of the shallows and now Slurm ...stand fast ...its gonna get worse and weirder...mark my words
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'Ghost Whisperer', followed by a RERUN'Flashpoint', then a RERUN'Numb3rs'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Tom Arnold, Tommy Johnagin, and Metric.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Paris Hilton, Alan Furst, and Ray LaMontagne.
NBC starts the night with a FRESH'Chopping Block', followed by 'Dateline'
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Steven Ho, Seth Green, and Demi Lovato.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Anna Paquin, Mancow Muller, and the Dead Weather.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 3/25/09) are Neil Strauss, Mike Bridenstine, and Chris Cornell.
ABC opens the night with a FRESH'Surviving Suburbia', followed by a FRESH'The Goode Family', then a RERUN'Jim', followed by another RERUN'Jim', and another unwatchable '20/20'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Teri Hatcher, Danica Patrick, and Daughtry.
The CW offers a RERUN'Privileged', followed by a RERUN'Everybody Hates Chris', then a RERUN'The Game'.
Faux has a FRESH'Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?, followed by a FRESH'Mental'.
MY fills the night with a FRESH'WWE Friday Night Steroid SmackDown!'.
PLEASE check local PBS listings for a FRESH'Bill Moyers Journal', and a FRESH'NOW With Bill Moyers David Brancaccio'.
AMC offers the movie 'Ghostbusters II', followed by the movie 'Out For Justice', then the movie 'Constantine'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 18
[12:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 1
[1:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? US - Episode 17
[1:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 1
[2:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 2 Piccolo Teatro
[3:00 PM] Gordon Ramsay's F Word - Episode 3
[4:00 PM] The Hotel Inspector - Episode 5
[5:00 PM] Gordon Ramsay's F Word - Episode 4
[6:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Revisited - Ep 1 La Riviera
[7:00 PM] BBC World News America
[8:00 PM] Friday Night with Jonathan Ross - Ep 22 Sandra Bullock, Emma Watson, Benny Andersson, Little Boots
[9:00 PM] Don't Tell the Bride - Episode 2
[10:00 PM] BBC World News America
[11:00 PM] Friday Night with Jonathan Ross - Ep 22 Sandra Bullock, Emma Watson, Benny Andersson, Little Boots
[12:00 AM] Don't Tell the Bride - Episode 2
[1:00 AM] Friday Night with Jonathan Ross - Ep 22 Sandra Bullock, Emma Watson, Benny Andersson, Little Boots
[2:00 AM] Don't Tell the Bride - Episode 2
[3:00 AM] Skins - Ep 1 Maxxie and Tony
[4:00 AM] How Clean Is Your House? US - Episode 17
[4:30 AM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 1
[5:00 AM] How Clean Is Your House? US - Episode 18
[5:30 AM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 2
[6:00 AM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 8 (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has the movie 'Grease 2', followed by the movie 'Grease', then the movie 'Grease', again.
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', followed by the movie 'Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie', and 'Jim Gaffigan: Beyond The Pale'.
HBO offers a FRESHReal Time with Bill Maher - scheduled guests
include
Markos Moulitsas, Anna Deavere Smith, Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT), Jason Alexander, and Joe "LoriWho?" Scarborough..
FX has the movie 'Dr. Dolittle', followed by the movie 'Dr. Dolittle 2', 'That 70s Show', and another 'That 70s Show'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'UFO Files', 'Deep Sea Salvage', and another 'Deep Sea Salvage'.
IFC -
[6:45 AM] The Secret Agent
[8:30 AM] Chinese Box
[10:15 AM] American Heart
[12:15 PM] Meat
[12:30 PM] The Secret Agent
[2:15 PM] Chinese Box
[4:00 PM] American Heart
[6:00 PM] The Limey
[7:30 PM] Stay
[9:15 PM] RoboCop
[11:00 PM] Ideal
[11:30 PM] The Whitest Kids U'Know
[12:00 AM] The Razor: Sword of Justice
[1:30] AM Deep Crimson
[3:30 AM] RoboCop
[5:15 AM] American Heart (ALL TIMES EDT)
SciFi has the movie 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park', followed by a FRESH'Eureka', and 'Primeval'.
Sundance -
[04:35 AM] One Take Only
[06:05 AM] Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
[08:00 AM] Ran (1985)
[10:45 AM] The Page Turner
[12:15 PM] Opening Night
[02:40 PM] Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
[04:35 PM] Tragic Story With A Happy Ending
[04:45 PM] The Page Turner
[06:15 PM] Once Upon A Time In The Midlands
[08:00 PM] Shameless Season 2: Episode 6
[09:00 PM] I Really Hate My Job
[10:30 PM] A Curtain Raiser
[11:00 PM] Live From Abbey Road - Season 1: The Kooks, Wynton Marsalis & Muse
[12:00 AM] You're Gonna Miss Me
[01:35 AM] The Last Mistress
[03:30 AM] The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (ALL TIMES EDT)
Actors Chandra Wilson, left, and Jim Parsons announce nominees for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series during nominations for the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in Los Angeles, Thursday, July 16, 2009. The show will be held on Sept. 20 at Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.
Photo by Chris Pizzello
Farm Aid, the longest-running benefit concert in the U.S., will be Oct. 4 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in suburban St. Louis.
Farm Aid posted some details on its Web site Thursday, and was to provide additional information at a news conference later in the day.
Ticket pre-sales for Farm Aid members begin Friday with seats available to the general public on July 25.
Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to raise money for family farmers and draw attention to their plight.
Musician Paul McCartney performs atop the Ed Sullivan Theater marquee during a taping of 'The Late Show with David Letterman' in New York, Wednesday, July 15, 2009.
Photo by Charles Sykes
Salsa musician and actor Ruben Blades celebrated his 61st birthday with a nostalgic visit to his archive collection at Harvard University.
The seven-time Grammy winner holds a master's degree in international law from Harvard and recently left his post as Panama's tourism minister to return to recording music.
His visit Thursday was the first time he'd been to the archive since he agreed to give his personal papers, rare recordings and other memorabilia to the university last January.
Blades, who also has appeared in more than 30 feature films, says he's looking forward to getting back to his music and plans to tour with Seis del Solar, a group of salsa musicians who are his longtime friends.
Some of Britain's leading children's authors are refusing to do readings in schools because of a new policy requiring them to be registered in a national database and undergo criminal background checks to prove they aren't sex offenders.
It's not just the $104 fee for the police checks that has outraged the authors. It's the idea that they - and even parents who volunteer in schools - must be declared innocent before being allowed to read to children.
Some of the biggest names in children's book publishing have joined the boycott beginning this fall, including a number of past recipients of the prestigious children's laureate prize. Akin to poet laureate, the government-appointed position is awarded to a noted children's author, who is charged with promoting children's literature in schools.
The new rule, which takes effect in October, requires anyone who comes into contact with schoolchildren or vulnerable adults to register with the newly established Independent Safeguarding Authority and undergo a Criminal Records Bureau check to prove they are not a known threat.
Amy Winehouse and her estranged husband Blake Fielder-Civil were divorced today.
Blake, 27, was granted a "quickie" divorce from the 25-year-old Rehab singer at a hearing in central London.
Blake was granted the decree nisi from the singer on the grounds of her adultery. In divorce papers before the court it was stated that he "finds it intolerable to live with the respondent".
In a separate divorce document Amy is asked: "Do you admit the adultery alleged in the petition?" The star answers: "Yes." She also states that she didn't object to paying the cost of the proceedings.
Steve Wonder (L) performs with host Samuel L. Jackson at the taping of the 2009 ESPY Awards in Los Angeles July 15, 2009. The awards show will be telecast on ESPN July 19.
Photo by Mario Anzuoni
Actress Mischa Barton, whose career cooled following her exit from the hit television show "The O.C.," has been hospitalized in Los Angeles for psychiatric observation, a news report said on Thursday.
Barton, 23, was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Wednesday, after police placed her under an involuntary psychiatric hold, the TV gossip show "Access Hollywood" said.
Barton's spokesman said the actress was "safely transferred to medical treatment for which she remains hospitalized, as per the recommendation of her doctor." He declined further comment.
Court records show Richard Dreyfuss has dismissed a lawsuit he filed against his uncle and father.
The "Mr. Holland's Opus" and "Jaws" actor claimed he loaned his father, Norman, and uncle Gilbert Dreyfuss, money in the early 1980s. His suit stated the men operated a building in downtown Los Angeles.
The 61-year-old Oscar-winning actor sought and was granted a dismissal of the case last month. Court records did not indicate the terms of any settlement, but allow Dreyfuss to refile the case if necessary.
Los Angeles police say they are investigating a break-in at Orlando Bloom's Los Angeles home.
Police spokeswoman Amanda Betat says police were called to the home by one of Bloom's relatives, who reported that it had been burglarized. Some cash and jewelry was reported stolen, but police did not release an amount.
Betat says detectives continue to investigate and no arrests have been made.
Thousands of jumbo flying squid - aggressive 5-foot-long sea monsters with razor-sharp beaks and toothy tentacles - have invaded the shallow waters off San Diego, spooking scuba divers and washing up dead on tourist-packed beaches.
The carnivorous calamari, which can grow up to 100 pounds, came up from the depths last week and swarms of them roughed up unsuspecting divers. Some divers report tentacles enveloping their masks and yanking at their cameras and gear.
Stories of too-close encounters with the alien-like cephalopods have chased many veteran divers out of the water and created a whirlwind of excitement among the rest, who are torn between their personal safety and the once-in-a-lifetime chance to swim with the deep-sea giants.
The so-called Humboldt squid are native to the deep waters off Mexico, where they have been known to attack humans and are nicknamed "red devils" for their rust-red coloring and mean streak. Those who dive with them there chum the water with bait and sometimes get in a metal cage or wear chain mail to avoid being lashed by tentacles.
Cast members Richard O'Barry and Jerry Stiller (R) attend a special advance screening of "The Cove", a film about dolphins and a secret cove in Japan, in New York, July 15, 2009.
Photo by Ray Stubblebine
German prosecutors said Thursday they had launched an enquiry into whether a garden gnome with its right arm raised in a Hitler salute in a Nuremberg art gallery is against the law.
"The investigation is ongoing and people are being interviewed," Wolfgang Traeg, a spokesman for the public prosecutors office in the southern city, told AFP.
Hitler salutes and Nazi symbols have been illegal in Germany since World War II, but Traeg said that investigators may establish that the garden gnome is in fact ridiculing the Third Reich.
The artist in question, German-born Ottmar Hoerl, who has designed numerous exhibitions and projects in public spaces including the large blue euro sculpture in front of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.
"I was a bit surprised that this gnome has produced a reaction like this. Until now everyone has understood it." Hoerl told AFP, calling his artwork "an image of the German master race."
Even plumbers sometimes encounter unfathomable clogs. This is what happened to 49-year-old George Jessup on Saturday when he saw a duck near a storm drain in a suburban Pittsburgh neighborhood. The plumber tried to approach the duck but she "charged at me like a lion."
So Jessup, on call for Mr. Rooter, looked into the drain. There he found the cause of the duck's ire.
Trapped in the drain were her seven ducklings, about 2-feet below heavy grating he couldn't budge. Determined to rescue the ducklings, Jessup called police. Firefighters also arrived on the scene.
A white dog nurses two red panda cubs in the zoo in Taiyuan in north China's Shanxi province, Wednesday, July 15, 2009. The two red panda cubs, born on June 25, were abandoned by their mother at birth are thriving at a northern China zoo thanks to milk and loving care from an unlikely surrogate mother, the dog, state media reported on Thursday.
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
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amused or entertained?
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How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
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noted:
