Baron Dave Romm
Baron Dave is conventioneering.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Havana Marking: "Experience: I was attacked by killer bees" (guardian.co.uk)
'As it got closer, I realised that this strange cloud was actually thousands of bees, each one an inch long and each one heading for me.'
Charlotte Northedge: "What I'm really thinking: The local radio presenter" (guardian.co.uk)
'The minute I miss out the Take That tune I've played six times already this week, the radio station bosses are on to me in a flash.'
Dr. Rallie McAllister: Buffing Up Your Breakfast Could Bring High Cholesterol Levels Back to Normal (creators.com)
If you've been diagnosed with high cholesterol levels, you may have been offered a prescription for a cholesterol-lowering medication. Like all drugs, those used to lower cholesterol can have a number of unpleasant side effects, and they can be expensive to boot.
Laura Dawson: Hooray for the ISBN (Publishers Weekly)
The job of the ISBN is to identify a book. Whether that book is a paperback, hardcover, PDF file, EPub file-if it's going to be sold in the book supply chain, it needs an ISBN to identify it.
"The Myths of Liberal Zionism" by Yitzhak Laor: A review by Joshua Cohen
Yitzhak Laor -- Israel's most celebrated dissident, and perhaps its greatest living poet -- was born in 1948 a month before the founding of the Jewish State.
Q&A: Richard Branson (guardian.co.uk)
What would my super power be? To be able to save our planet .
Jonah Weine: Justin Bieber (slate.com)
The canny charms of Canada's pop prince.
Michael Brett: Please Don't Call 'This' Country (popmatters.com)
I love music. All kinds. I can endure the sound of almost anything once. Only after repeated listens do I begin to get irritated. Even Kenny G's squeals failed on their first few attempts at haunting my reveries.
Christian John Wikane: The Van Hunt Parlor Game: An Interview (popmatters.com)
Attention: if you don't hear your favorite Van Hunt song at his next concert, listen closer.
Greg Braxton: Bryan Cranston's 'Breaking Bad' breakout (latimes.com)
His turn on the AMC drama as drug dealer Walter H. White has been darkly rewarding, as two Emmys attest.
Mike Farley: A Chat with Michael Symon, Chef and winner of "Iron Chef" (bullz-eye.com)
I guess a lot of people don't know that most of us on the Food Network are pretty good friends with each other. And you know, it's a pretty tight-knit group and a very laid back group. There's not a lot of arrogance.
Jason Zingale: "A Chat with the Cast and Crew of 'MacGruber': Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Jorma Taccone, John Solomon" (bullz-eye.com)
Will Forte on filming in front of his mother: "I'm sitting there naked trying to place this celery (in my *ss), and I look over and there's my mom and there was no judgment on her face. It was just like, ''This is what my son is doing today"
David Bruce: Philosophy for the Masses: Interesting Philosophical Arguments About Metaphysics and More (lulu.com)
Download: FREE
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Ten Little Questions' Edition
It's Census time again! (What? Already? Didn't we just do this 10 years ago?)
so, just fer fun, I'll add four of my own...
1.) Did you fill out your census form and send it back yet?
2.) If not, will you?
3.) Did you answer all the questions?
4.) If not, what questions didn't you answer and why?
(Warning! Big Brother says we have to fill it out and return it otherwise we'll get a knock on the door from the friendly Census Police politely asking us to do so...
Go easy on the poor bastards, eh? They're mostly unemployed people trying to make a few bucks and probably are scared to death that they're gonna get slammed. It's not their fault, OK?... P.S. you answers here are entirely confidential and will not be shared with ANYBODY, especially You-Know-Who...)
BadtotheboneBigBrother...er, Bob
Send your response to
responded:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Two-Fer
Links from RJ
Hi there
Hope you are fine and having a cool Easter. Here are two possible links. Thanks for taking a look!
Courtesy of BadtotheboneBob
Hash Bash
39th annual Hash Bash acquires an air of legitimacy
Crowd at U-M hails medical marijuana
Thousands of marijuana proponents, many openly smoking the drug, crowded the University of Michigan's Diag on Saturday for the 39th-annual Hash Bash. Police estimated 5,000 people were there, drawn by sunshine as well as enthusiasm for Michigan's 15-month-old law legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes.
39th annual Hash Bash acquires an air of legitimacy | freep.com | Detroit Free Press
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny but cooler than seasonal.
Felt the earthquake, but it was only a gentle rolling here. Whew.
4 To Set Record
Spacewoman Power
One woman already is circling Earth in a Russian capsule, bound for the International Space Station. Early Monday morning, NASA will attempt to launch three more women to the orbiting outpost - along with four men - aboard shuttle Discovery.
It will be the most women in space at the same time.
Men still will outnumber the women by more than 2-to-1 aboard the shuttle and station, but that won't take away from the remarkable achievement, coming 27 years after America's first female astronaut, Sally Ride, rocketed into space.
A former schoolteacher is among the four female astronauts about to make history, as well as a chemist who once worked as an electrician, and two aerospace engineers. Three are American; one is Japanese.
Spacewoman Power
Environmental Disaster
Aral Sea
The drying up of the Aral Sea is one of the planet's most shocking environmental disasters, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday as he urged Central Asian leaders to step up efforts to solve the problem.
Once the world's fourth-largest lake, the sea has shrunk by 90 percent since the rivers that feed it were largely diverted in a Soviet project to boost cotton production in the arid region.
The shrunken sea has ruined the once-robust fishing economy and left fishing trawlers stranded in sandy wastelands, leaning over as if they dropped from the air. The sea's evaporation has left layers of highly salted sand, which winds can carry as far away as Scandinavia and Japan, and which plague local people with health troubles.
Ban toured the sea by helicopter as part of a visit to the five countries of former Soviet Central Asia. His trip included a touchdown in Muynak, Uzbekistan, a town once on the shore where a pier stretches eerily over gray desert and camels stand near the hulks of stranded ships.
Aral Sea
Reproduced In Breakfast Cereal
"Starry Night"
High school students in northern Utah have completed a 6,400-square-foot replica of Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" out of breakfast cereal.
Sky View High School teacher Doyle Geddes led more than 150 students on the project, which used two tons of colorful Malt-O-Meal spread across the gymnasium floor.
The project took about a week and was completed Saturday. Crews spread a plastic sheet on the floor, then created a grid to outline the painting's famous design. Each space was assigned a color to correspond with the painting and filled with cereal.
The replica was taken apart later Saturday. The cereal was given to a farmer to feed pigs.
"Starry Night"
Names Needed
Reindeer
With wobbly legs but no red nose, the first of 19 expected reindeer calves has been born at an Alaska farm that's the only reindeer research facility in North America.
Workers discovered the 17-pound newborn calf Thursday at the University of Alaska Fairbanks research farm. The other 18 pregnant does are expected to give birth within a week or so.
The newcomers don't have names yet, but that'll soon change. The research program hosts an annual contest to name its new calves, with the winners receiving birth certificates for the reindeer they've named.
The facility experiments with feeding techniques to aid reindeer ranchers.
Reindeer
Immunity Could Be Challenged
Pope
Protests are growing against Pope Benedict XVI's planned trip to Britain, where some lawyers question whether the Vatican's implicit statehood status should shield the pope from prosecution over sex crimes by pedophile priests.
More than 10,000 people have signed a petition on Downing Street's web site against the pope's 4-day visit to England and Scotland in September, which will cost U.K. taxpayers an estimated 15 million pounds ($22.5 million). The campaign has gained momentum as more Catholic sex abuse scandals have swept across Europe.
Although Benedict has not been accused of any crime, senior British lawyers are now examining whether the pope should have immunity as a head of state and whether he could be prosecuted under the principle of universal jurisdiction for an alleged systematic cover-up of sexual abuses by priests.
Universal jurisdiction - a concept in international law - allows judges to issue warrants for nearly any visitor accused of grievous crimes, no matter where they live. British judges have been more open to the concept than those in other countries.
Pope
Salvaging Ship Could Take Weeks
Great Barrier Reef
A salvage team could take weeks to remove a grounded coal-carrying ship from Australia's Great Barrier Reef, where it is leaking oil in a pristine marine environment, a state leader said on Monday.
The Chinese Shen Neng 1 ran aground late Saturday on Douglas Shoals, a favorite pristine haunt for recreational fishing east of the Great Keppel Island tourist resort. The shoals - off the coast of Queensland state in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park - are in a protected part of the reef where shipping is restricted by environmental law.
Authorities fear an oil spill will damage the world's largest coral reef, which is off northeast Australia and listed as a World Heritage site for its environmental value.
The ship hit the reef at full speed, nine miles (15 kilometers) outside the shipping lane.
Great Barrier Reef
FDA Suppressed Safety Concerns?
Imaging
A former Food and Drug Administration scientist said Tuesday his job was eliminated after he raised concerns about the risks of radiation exposure from high-grade medical scanning.
Dr. Julian Nicholas said at a public hearing that he and other FDA staffers "were pressured to change their scientific opinion," after they opposed the approval of a CT scanner for routine colon cancer screening. Nicholas said that he objected to exposing otherwise healthy patients to the cancer risks of radiation.
After FDA officials pushed ahead with plans to clear the device, Nicholas, now a physician at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego, said he and eight other staffers raised their concerns with the division's top director Dr. Jeffrey Shuren last September. The device apparently is still under review.
"Scientific and regulatory review process for medical devices was being distorted by managers who were not following the laws," Nicholas said. A month later Nicholas' position was terminated, he said.
Imaging
Foiled By Manual Transmission
Carjackers
Police in eastern Pennsylvania said two men tried to rob and carjack a pizza delivery driver but were defeated by the vehicle's standard transmission. Fountain Hill police said the Domino's Pizza driver had stopped at a red light early Friday when a man ran up to the vehicle from the rear and grabbed her by the throat and shirt. He demanded money while a second man tried to open the passenger door.
Police said the driver reported that the men fled after making a reference to the manual transmission. Investigators did not say whether they escaped with any money from the driver.
Carjackers
Sets Blind Speed Record
Metin Senturk
Turkish pop-singer Metin Senturk became the world's fastest unaccompanied blind driver on Friday and said he felt he had danced with death.
Senturk wept as he emerged from a Ferrari F430 at Urfa airport in eastern Turkey to learn from Guinness World Records officials his average speed of 292.89 kph broke the previous record of 284 kph, held by a British bank manager.
"I don't think there are any words to describe this feeling. I am really happy. It was really hard, like a dance with death," said Senturk, who has been blind since the age of three.
Following Senturk in a separate vehicle was former rally driver Volkan Isik, who guided the blind man by radio.
Metin Senturk
Women Hold Topless
Maine
About two dozen women drew a crowd of onlookers when they shed their shirts and marched downtown in Maine's largest city to promote what they call equal-opportunity public toplessness.
Organizer Ty MacDowell said the point of Saturday's march in Portland was that a topless woman out in public shouldn't attract any more attention than a man who walks around without a shirt.
The Portland Press Herald reports that by the end of the march, more than 500 people had amassed - a mix of marchers, young men snapping photos, oglers and people just out enjoying a sunny, warm day.
It's not illegal for a woman to be topless in public in Maine, and police said there were no incidents or arrests.
Maine
Weekend box Office
"Clash of the Titans"
The ancient Greek action remake "Clash of the Titans" debuted at No. 1 with $61.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Adding Thursday night preview screenings, the movie totaled $64.1 million.
Opening at No. 2 with $30.2 million was Lionsgate's sequel "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?", reuniting filmmaker Perry with Janet Jackson and other co-stars for another comic drama about eight friends and their relationships.
The previous weekend's top movie, DreamWorks Animation's Viking adventure "How to Train Your Dragon," ran a close third with $29.2 million, raising its 10-day total to $92.3 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Clash of the Titans," $61.4 million.
2. "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?", $30.2 million.
3. "How to Train Your Dragon," $29.2 million.
4. "The Last Song," $16.2 million.
5. "Alice in Wonderland," $8.3 million.
6. "Hot Tub Time Machine," $8 million.
7. "The Bounty Hunter," $6.2 million.
8. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," $5.5 million.
9. "She's Out of My League," $1.463 million.
10. "Shutter Island," $1.462 million.
"Clash of the Titans"
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