'Best of TBH Politoons'
Reader Comment
Re: The Monkey King
Hi Marty
You wrote: SciFi has the 4-hour movie 'The Monkey King'.
I didn't know they made a movie about our pResident?
Paul
Thanks, Paul!
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Christopher Buckley: Let's quit while we're behind (washingtonmonthly.com)
Who knew, in 2000, that "compassionate conservatism" meant bigger government, unrestricted government spending, government intrusion in personal matters, government ineptitude, and cronyism in disaster relief? Who knew, in 2000, that the only bill the president would veto, six years later, would be one on funding stem-cell research?
Lindsay Beyerstein: Candidate Franken (AlterNet.org)
Gearing up for a possible Minnesota state senate run, Al Franken is changing his image from provocateur to politico. Will he still call Rush Limbaugh a big fat idiot?
'To stand still is to fall away from the truth' (guardian.co.uk)
Susan Sontag, who died two years ago, left behind a cache of journals, notebooks and jottings. These deeply personal extracts, beginning when she was 26 and in Paris, reveal a passionate woman coming to terms with who she really was - and finding her voice as a writer.
PAUL QUINCEY: Why Quantum Mechanics Is Not So Weird after All (csicop.org)
Richard Feynman's "least-action" approach to quantum physics in effect shows that it is just classical physics constrained by a simple mechanism. When the complicated mathematics is left aside, valuable insights are gained.
Andrew Tobias: Golf (andrewtobias.com)
From Rick Reilly's book Who's Your Caddy?: Warren Buffet gave $100,000 in order to caddy for Tiger Woods at a charity golf event. "It wasn't the hardest job," Buffet told the Omaha World-Herald. "I mostly rode in the cart." Woods suggested making a wager for "serious money" on the 18th hole, to which Buffet replied, "All money is serious, Tiger." The bet was for $5.00, and Woods had to play the hole from his knees. Woods made bogey, and won the hole and the bet. After Buffet gave Woods the $5.00, he cleared his throat and said, "Aren't you forgetting something?" Woods couldn't imagine what it was. "My [caddy's] 10%. You owe me 50¢."
Fear is the drug (arts.guardian.co.uk)
She is the high-flying ballerina who switched to modern dance - and now she's about to give her most personal performance yet. In a rare interview, Sylvie Guillem tells Judith Mackrell what makes her tick.
Map Game (rethinkingschools.org)
Educational Games and Maps (rethinkingschools.org)
Stephanie McMillan: Minimum Security: Lock him up (Cartoon)
from ducks
a review and comment
hi Marty,
Two things...first, I totally agree with Purple Gene's review of the GAP commercial with Audrey Hepburn. The first time I saw it, I was impressed. It's a very clever ad and reminded me of how special she was. There aren't many left with that kind of class and charm. Can you imagine someone like Britney or Jessica...nevermind, the thought is just too scary.
Second, if you are looking for reviews, let me add mine. On AOL, you can view the new show Studio 60 online here
I think this is going to be a GREAT show if this preview is any indication. I was hooked from the git-go and found it dragged only in a couple of minor spots. Otherwise, I loved the preview.
And I think the idea of an online preview is brilliant. I might have watched the show anyway (I mean, it has a ton of great actors in it) but after seeing the preview, I will now definitely watch the show.
On the other hand, Yahoo also had an online preview of another show, Jericho...and I found that show to be slow and somewhat silly. I got bored and stopped watching it.
There was also another difference between the AOL preview and the Yahoo preview...I could stop, replay, forward on the AOL one but not on the Yahoo preview. So if I did want to pick it up later and finish my viewing, I couldn't have.
Thanks for all you do every day. I hope the job search goes well. I'm not sure what your skill sets are, but I've always liked working in health care or at universities. Good luck!
ducks
Thanks, ducks!
Hubert's Poetry Corner
ALLERGY FREE CAT
Reader Comment
RE Sobol award
Um, dude, the Sobol award is believed to be a scam:
Source
Samantha
Thanks, Samantha!
More on the Sobol Award below.
Purple Gene Reviews
Freedumb Fries
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny and a lot cooler.
Been kinda bummed about not going to Vegas.
Won't be at my class reunion next weekend, either.
And then there's my birthday in between the two events.
Ordered Study Destroyed
FCC Republicans
The Federal Communications Commission ordered its staff to destroy all copies of a draft study that suggested greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local TV news coverage, a former lawyer at the agency says.
The report, written in 2004, came to light during the Senate confirmation hearing for FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.
Adam Candeub, now a law professor at Michigan State University, said senior managers at the agency ordered that "every last piece" of the report be destroyed. "The whole project was just stopped - end of discussion," he said. Candeub was a lawyer in the FCC's Media Bureau at the time the report was written and communicated frequently with its authors, he said.
The report was begun after then-Chairman Michael Powell ordered the creation of a task force to study localism in broadcasting in August of 2003. Powell stepped down from the commission and was replaced by Martin in March 2005. Powell did not return a call seeking comment.
FCC Republicans
Addresses UN On Darfur
George Clooney
Actor George Clooney on Thursday told the UN's most powerful body that if it did not send peacekeepers to Sudan's Darfur region millions of people would die in what he called the first genocide of the 21st century.
"After September 30 you won't need the UN. You will simply need men with shovels and bleached white linen and headstones," the actor warned.
The mandate of African Union peacekeepers in the region expires at the end of the month and the Sudanese government has refused to approve their replacement by a UN force.
George Clooney
Airport Security Argument
J.K. Rowling
British author J.K. Rowling says she won an argument with airport security officials in New York to carry the manuscript of the final "Harry Potter" book as carryon baggage.
Had security agents not relented, she said on her Web site, she might not have flown, she said in a posting dated Wednesday.
The author had participated in a book reading for charity on Aug. 1 with fellow writers Stephen King and John Irving. Security was drastically tightened after Aug. 10 when British police said they had intercepted a plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners.
"The heightened security restrictions on the airlines made the journey back from New York interesting, as I refused to be parted from the manuscript of book seven.
Eventually, she added, "They let me take it on, thankfully, bound up in elastic bands."
J.K. Rowling
Prof Hacks E-Vote Machine
Princeton University
A Princeton University computer science professor added new fuel Wednesday to claims that electronic voting machines used across much of the country are vulnerable to hacking that could alter vote totals or disable machines.
In a paper posted on the university's Web site, Edward Felten and two graduate students described how they had tested a Diebold AccuVote-TS machine they obtained, found ways to quickly upload malicious programs and even developed a computer virus able to spread such programs between machines.
Felten said he and his colleagues felt it necessary to publish the paper as quickly as possible because of the possible implications for the November midterm elections.
Princeton University
Center for Information Technology Policy » Executive Summary
Center for Information Technology Policy » Voting Study
Opening St. Paul Bookstore
Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor wants to run a bookstore. The 64-year-old humorist plans to open a bookstore in the Blair Arcade building in November, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Thursday.
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, Keillor said he's doing it "because I am fond of independent bookstores, like to walk into them and sit and read in them, and it's time I make some contribution to my neighborhood."
According to the Pioneer Press, the Blair Arcade building was once known as the Angus Hotel, and it was home to Fitzgerald's mother, Mollie, who lived there off and on after the death of Fitzgerald's father, Edward, in 1931.
Garrison Keillor
Acknowledges Some Layoffs
Air America
Financially strapped Air America Radio acknowledged Thursday, after star commentator Al Franken said publicly that his paycheck had stopped coming, that it had suffered a small number of layoffs but insisted there were no plans for the liberal talk show network to declare bankruptcy.
"If Air America had filed for bankruptcy every time someone rumored it to be doing so, we would have ceased to exist long ago," said network spokeswoman Jaime Horn in a statement. "It may be frustrating to some that it hasn't happened."
Horn, without getting specific, said there were "a handful of layoffs" that followed a move of the network's New York outlet from WLIB-AM to WWRL-AM, a station with a less powerful signal. The network launched in March 2004.
Air America
Hospital News
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull has postponed a world tour after being diagnosed with breast cancer, her London publicist said Thursday.
Doctors in France, where Faithfull was diagnosed, say the cancer is in its earliest stages, said publicist Rob Partridge.
Faithfull, 59, had been due to begin a world tour next month, but it has been postponed until next year.
Marianne Faithfull
Draws Critics
Sobol Award
A new literary prize was launched on Thursday with a top award of $100,000 for one lucky unpublished U.S. writer, but publishing insiders warned that the $85 entry fee makes it akin to a lottery.
The award was set up by tech entrepreneur Gur Shomron, who said he came up with the idea after failing to find a publisher for his novel, "NETfold," which he self-published last year.
But Robert Weil, executive editor at New York-based publisher W.W. Norton, said that despite the involvement of top industry professionals, "It sounds like a Barnum & Bailey exercise."
That's because of the entry fee -- which would net $4.25 million if 50,000 entries are submitted, he said.
Sobol Award
Arrested By Feds
Duane 'The Dog' Chapman
TV reality star Duane "Dog" Chapman was arrested early this morning in Hawaii, his publicist, Mona Wood, confirmed. Wood said she could provide no details.
MSNBC reports said U.S. Marshals arrested Chapman and two family members - Leland and Tim Chapman - on kidnapping charges.
The news channel said Mexico issued a warrant for Chapman's arrest for his alleged kidnapping of Max Factor heir serial rapist Andrew Luster three years ago.
Duane 'The Dog' Chapman
Judge Tosses Part Of Suit
Mike Love
A judge has dismissed part of a $2 million lawsuit by Beach Boy Mike Love that claims ex-bandmate Al Jardine illegally used the name of the surf-music kings.
Superior Court Judge James R. Dunn threw out claims of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty Wednesday but gave Love's lawyer a chance to amend the case before it goes to trial Nov. 6.
The lawsuit claims that Love, 65, is the only person legally allowed to perform under the name "Beach Boys," but Jardine, 64, had toured with "knockoff bands" using names such as "Beach Boys Family & Friends."
Mike Love
Launch Own Sirius Radio Channel
The Who
The Who recently pulled the plug on live Web casts of their concerts, because singer Roger Daltrey was less than enthused about the concept, but the band is now back on the air thanks to a deal with Sirus Satellite Radio.
The parties announced on Thursday the launch of the Who Channel, which will debut September 21 and run for a limited, undisclosed period of time.
It will feature nightly broadcasts of show's from the Who's just-launched North American tour, plus backstage reports from guitarist Pete Townshend's singer/songwriter girlfriend, Rachel Fuller. In addition, the channel will dip into the Who archives to air previously unreleased live shows and interviews.
The Who
Uupdated Version
Monopoly
The old shoe is gone, a "Labradoodle" replaces the Scottish Terrier and McDonald's French Fries and a Starbucks coffee cup are among the new player pieces on a new U.S. Monopoly board.
Leading retail names such as McDonald's, Starbucks and Motorola have lent their brands to the new edition of the game that will be in U.S. stores from Thursday, though the game's makers insist it's not about advertising.
The new "Here and Now" U.S. edition of Monopoly has done away with Boardwalk in favor of Times Square and has been updated with new players' pieces such as a Toyota Prius car, a Motorola's RAZR mobile handset and a New Balance running shoe.
Monopoly
U.S. Study
Health Insurance
Nine out of 10 Americans who tried to buy their own health insurance failed, either because the price was too steep or because they were denied coverage due to a current medical problem, a study said on Thursday.
The findings by the nonprofit research group Commonwealth Fund come as more U.S. employers have stopped offering workers health insurance -- with runaway medical costs the most frequently cited reason.
There were 46.6 million uninsured Americans last year, or nearly 16 percent of the population, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures which represented a slight gain from a year earlier. Among the fastest-growing segments of the newly uninsured were those with jobs.
For employers still providing health insurance, more are promoting higher-deductible plans, which is leading to burdensome medical and credit-card debt, the Commonwealth Fund study found.
Health Insurance
Woman Pleads In Fake Penis Case
Leslye Creighton
A woman pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in connection with a bizarre incident in February that resulted in a fake penis being microwaved at a convenience store.
Leslye Creighton, 41, of Wilkinsburg, entered the plea Wednesday, and authorities dropped the same charge against Vincent Bostic, 31, of Pittsburgh, who has agreed to help pay $425 to replace the store's microwave, police and the couple's defense attorney said.
Police in McKeesport, about 10 miles east of Pittsburgh, said the Feb. 23 incident began when Bostic filled a fake penis with his urine that they said Creighton planned to use to pass a drug test to get a job.
The two stopped at a GetGo! convenience store and, after wrapping the device in a paper towel, asked a store clerk to heat it up in a microwave, police said. Authorities said they believe Creighton wanted the device heated so the urine inside would be at body temperature during the drug test.
The clerk, however, believing the lifelike device to be a severed penis, called police.
Leslye Creighton
Guns Into Guitars
Crafting
Polished rosewood and an artist's deft touch are all Colombian craftsman Luis Alberto Paredes needs to turn tools of death into symbols of hope.
One of Colombia's top musical instrument makers, Paredes has branched out from traditional methods to fashion electric guitars from shotguns and AK47 rifles once used by fighters caught up in the country's lingering guerilla conflict.
In a workshop above his modest family home in Bogota, Paredes has created the "escopetarras" -- shotgun guitars in Spanish -- since he was approached by local musician Cesar Lopez with the idea about three years ago.
As part of a United Nations program to promote peace, Paredes receives the decommissioned rifles with the working parts wielded together for safety.
Crafting
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