Baron Dave Romm
Quiz Stomping 3
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
Not just for Facebook anymore
Facebook has many laudable attributes. However, the ease of creating your own interactive apps means that too many are either poorly written or just not very revealing. Not, in and of itself, a bad thing. Facebook is far more insistently viral than LiveJournal and allows for longer posts than Twitter, and various quizzes and challenges pop up in annoying places. As they became harder to ignore, they got under my skin.
Making up fake quizzes, and challenging where no challenge could be, was more fun than actually taking the challenges and quizzes presented. Coming up with good fake quizzes is harder than it looks, and the golden apple tossed becomes more subtle, or at least worm-infested.
Those of you who follow me on Facebook or read my LiveJournal already have seen these in some form. Enjoy again.
Perhaps these should go viral. Feel free to spread them (or your variants) around.
Quiz Stomping
Baron Dave Romm...
... took the challenge, "What's The First Thing You Know?" with the result "'Ol Jed's a millionaire."
... Five reasons why The Theory of Gravity shouldn't be taught in public schools: It's a downer. It's just a theory. The Soviet Union believed in gravity. Have you ever SEEN a gravity? I've just published a textbook that tiptoes around the subject and really want to sell a lot of them.
... wonders about cockroach heaven. It must be really crowded.
... scored exactly zero in Ms. Dada! [an old Shockwave joke]
... responded to "How Well Do You Know Yourself" and scored 30%. Better than usual.
... took the challenge "Limbo Lower Now" with the result being "Bad Back".
... took the "Literal Rorschach Test Quiz" and the answer is "Blot".
... reveals at last the set of prophecies that foretold, with uncanny accuracy, Nostradamus, The Last Supper and the death of Captain America. It's all there in... The Bigfoot Codex.
... five unanswered questions about Rapunzel: Why did the candlemaker and his wife gave up their long-sought-after child just like that and never complained to the authorities? Did Rapunzel realize that she smelled like urine and sweat after years of staying in a tower without running water? What was a prince doing looking for a wife by wandering alone through the woods? How did the prince survive in the woods while blind? Why did the king agree to the marriage between his heir and a foul-smelling girl with no dowry?
... took the quiz "Which Frank Cady tv Character Are You?" with the answer: Mr. Drucker.
... took the quiz "Which is the Best Foot to Put Forward?" with the answer "Right".
... took the challenge "Which Three Books That You've Never Read Have Been The Most Influential In Your Life?" with the results being "Ulysses", "Machiavelli's The Prince" and "Good Grief, Charlie Brown." [oddly enough, this could be a real thread]
... took the challenge, "Should Bret Favre Join the Vikings?" with the result being: No, he should coach the Timberwolves.
... took the quiz, "Which Ship That Helen's Face Launched Are You?" with the result being Ship #672.
... took the quiz, "Which Part Of The Body Would You Rather Gestate In?" with the result being "Womb".
... took the quiz "Which character from the one-man play 'Mark Twain Tonight' would you be?" with the answer Mark Twain.
... notes the hot rumors that the Academy Awards are expanding the Best Picture category to 10 nominations (true), Twitter is expanding its character limit to 2800 (not true) and that nude hiking on the Appalachian Trail is better exercise than a roll in South American hay (jury still out).
... ponders the snarky comment: Michael Jackson isn't dead, he's just in Argentina.
... took the quiz "How Well Do You Know Ray Jay Johnson?" with the result being "Don't Get Me Started." [how soon they forget... vaudeville is really dead...]
... took the quiz "What's All This Then?" with the result "'Allo, 'Allo".
... took the quiz "How Many US Senators Does Minnesota Have?" with the answer, "One... no, wait!..." [the day Franken was sworn in]
... took the challenge, "Which of Michael Jackson's Faces Are You?" with the result being "After plastic surgery #212".
... took the "What planet are you from, REALLY?" quiz and got the result: You are from Earth.
... notes: Those on the East Coast have under an hour to get ready for 12:34:56 7/8/9. We here in Central are scurrying to prepare. Over on PDT, they're still dealing with Michael Jackson's memorial.
.. took the challenge, "Which Lucky Charms charm are you?" with the result being "Yellow Moon". .. took the "What You Talkin' 'Bout Willis?" quiz and got the result, "Talkin' 'bout my generation."... just completed the quiz "Would You Come In Out Of The Rain?" with the result that he is quite wet.
The Exact Opposite: The Birthers vs. The 12 Amendment lawsuit
A few rabid idiots are claiming that Barack Obama isn't a citizen of the US since he doesn't have a valid birth certificate. Of course, the mere fact that he does have a valid birth certificate doesn't stop the clinically insane. They are known, childishly, as birthers. They are obviously wrong and morally bankrupt, and owe Obama an apology. But they don't have the personal integrity necessary for self-reflection. As usual, conservatives are people who won't admit they have lost. But why are they being such assholes about something that makes them look so bad? What clenches the butts of the sphincter conservatives so tightly?
Let us assume that everything the extreme right says is not merely wrong and/or hateful, but the exact opposite and a direct attempt to point fingers at Democrats when Republicans should be under the limelight.
Mark Sanford and John Ensign are just the two most recent conservative Republicans who voted for Clinton's impeachment to have done far worse than anything they accused Clinton of. We don't have to go back that far to show some arrogant hypocrisy from the extreme right.
The 12th Amendment to the Constitution says, The electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.... That is, the candidates for president and vice-president on the same ticket can't be from the same state. But wait! George Bush and Dick Cheney were both from Texas. Neither were originally from Texas, but both had live there, claimed residency and voted in Texas for many many years. Knowing he was in legal trouble, Cheney went and registered to vote in Wyoming (where he had been a Congressman) on July 21, 2000. Is that enough to get around the Constitution? Many didn't think so. Suit Challenges Cheney's Wyoming Residency; here's a Summary of legal action on 12th Amendment lawsuit. Nonetheless, it was dismissed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
And that was the end of that.
With few exceptions (such as myself), no one on the left bothers to raise this objection to the Bush/Cheney administration anymore. First of all, no one cares very much about the 12th Amendment, designed during the era when votes were collected on horseback and concentration of power in among the 15 or so states at the time was deemed a serious issue. Now, state's rights aren't as big an issue and that aspect of the amendment is viewed as outdated.
Second, it's too late. Once they took office, dotting the i's and crossing the t's aren't important. What if we found out that Bush had forgotten to sign one of the election forms when he was a candidate. Would we throw out everything he signed as President? No, it just doesn't work that way. The letter of the law is important, but at some point the spirit of the law spackles over the gray areas.
And, lastly, because we have much bigger fish to fry. Bush v. Gore was so obviously flawed. Bush/Cheney stole the election, but not because they screwed around with the 12th Amendment.
And despite all that, liberals and Democrats turned out to put America over partisan politics. At some point, arguing over fine points is less important than getting on with running the country. We know that; too many conservatives and Republicans don't. For all that McCain/Pail ran under the "America First" rubric, Republicans are more than willing to tear the country apart by lying. Again.
So when you encounter one of the birthers, accuse them of being on the wrong side of the wrong issue. If they didn't object to Bush and Cheney being from the same state in 2000, they should just shut up and stop lying about Obama's birth certificate. If they go on (and they will), point out the real miscarriage of justice in 2000. They're trying to change the subject away from the disasterous Bush/Cheney years. Don't let them.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog maintains a Facebook Page, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
David Pogue: Some E-Books Are More Equal Than Others (blogs.nytimes.com)
... hundreds of Amazon Kindle owners awoke to discover that books by a certain famous author had mysteriously disappeared from their e-book readers. These were books that they had bought and paid for-thought they owned.
Froma Harrop: Immigration Reform Is Quietly Here (creators.com)
One of America's toughest problems is being solved right before our unseeing eyes. As Mark Sanford strayed, Michael Jackson departed and Sarah Palin quit, the Obama administration was quietly putting law, order and the national interest back into our immigration system.
Joe Bageant: Look Out, Are You About to Join the White Underclass? (JoeBageant.com; Posted on Alternet.org)
"We're starting to hear a little discussion about the white underclass... Mainly because so many middle class folks are terrified of falling into it."
Roger Ebert: "Walter Cronkite 1917-2009: The death of a reporter"
I looked at the old clip again, and tears ran down my face as they did that terrible day in 1963. Walter Cronkite has just been handed a sheet of paper, and reads the news: President Kennedy is dead. What was broken could never be repaired, and the American century continued with assassination, war and calamity.
roger ebert's journal: The New Yorker. No, The New Yorker
The most perfect cartoon caption I've ever seen was created by James Thurber, and ran in the New Yorker in 1932. It showed two fencers. One had just sliced off the other's head. The caption was: Touche!
"Where Madness Reigns: The Art of Gris Grimly" by Gris Grimly: A review by Chris Bolton
It's hard for me to know what to do with an art book. Even when the pictures are gorgeous, I can only look at them for so long before I think, Too bad there isn't a story here. In 'Where Madness Reigns,' the artist Gris Grimly's work is so vivid and exquisitely macabre that every image feels like a story.
"The Annotated Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame: A review by Michael Sims
Kenneth Grahame's revered children's book 'The Wind in the Willows' is celebrating two anniversaries. Last year was the centennial of its publication, and 2009 is the sesquicentennial of its author's birth. As a consequence, we find ourselves with two annotated editions -- both oversize, both beautifully designed and illustrated.
"The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal" by Ben Mezrich: A review by Ellen Urbani
For those readers who regularly lament that the movie version of their favorite story doesn't live up to the written word, Doubleday delivers a reason to rejoice. The film adaptation of Ben Mezrich's 'The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal' is bound to be better than the book.
Glenn Garvin: Larry King dishes lots of dirt in new autobiography (McClatchy Newspapers)
From 50 years and 3,000 miles away, Larry King can laugh about how South Florida nearly ended his broadcasting career before it really began, but it didn't seem that funny at the time. He was working the overnight shift at a little Miami Beach radio station when the phone rang.
Rosanna Greenstreet: Q&A with Sheila Hancock, 76, who sometimes buys the 'Daily Mail' and hides it in her 'Guardian'
Q: When were you happiest?
A: One starlit night when I was nine, floating naked, hand in hand with my best friend, in a rock pool on Dancing Ledge in Dorse
American idol (guardian.co.uk)
Brandon Flowers is a very rare thing: a rock'n'roll superstar with killer charisma - and no bad habits. Interview by Alexis Petridis.
Timothy Finn: Neko Case dishes on her songwriting process (McClatchy Newspapers)
On her most recent album, the shadowy "Middle Cyclone," Neko Case imprinted the style she has been honing over the previous two albums.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
Lip Bomb
A politician 'mouths off' once too often?
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
The 'GLAAD says it's bad' Edition
Bruno is a hit! #1 at the Box Office! Rave Reviews!
However, GLAAD says it reinforces gay stereotypes - Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) - Media Release
Others seem to think Bruno is merely 'Camp' and good example of it, at that - New York Movies - Sacha Baron Cohen in Queerface for Brüno
What do you think?
Send your response to
Results Tuesday
When Underdog wasn't busy being a super-hero, what was his profession?
noted:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still having a heat wave.
Sales Soar
"Thriller"
For nearly a decade, the Eagles' "Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975" has been the recording industry's ultimate evergreen release, certified by the RIAA as the all-time best-selling album in the United States. But thanks to continued robust demand for Michael Jackson's catalog since his June 25 death, "Thriller" appears on the verge of matching "Their Greatest Hits," at least in the eyes of the industry trade group.
In March, the Recording Industry Association of America certified "Thriller" as 28 times platinum, meaning that at least 28 million copies of the album have been shipped since its 1982 release. That's just a notch behind the Eagles' hits compilation, which was released in 1976 and was certified 29 times platinum in 2006.
Most industry executives believe that the most recent SoundScan week -- which included the widely watched memorial service for Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles -- will mark a posthumous weekly peak for Jackson sales. They also expect sales to wind down slowly in the next few months, which means sales will remain strong. In the week ended July 12, Jackson's album catalog sold a combined 1.1 million copies, up from nearly 800,000 in the preceding week and 422,000 in the week he died.
"Thriller"
Foundation Sues
Freedom From Religion
A California Republican congressman wants to do a little writing on the walls of Washington's newest federal building. If Rep. Dan Lungren gets his way, Congress will spend nearly $100,000 to engrave the words "In God We Trust " and the Pledge of Allegiance in prominent spots at the Capitol Visitor Center .
Lungren's proposal drew only a whimper of opposition last week when the House of Representatives voted 410-8 to approve it. Now, however, Lungren finds himself tussling with a national atheists and agnostics group.
The Wisconsin -based Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc. sued this week to stop the engraving, accusing Lungren of trying to force his religious beliefs on as many as 15 percent of all U.S. adults. That comprises "atheists, agnostics, skeptics and freethinkers, none of whom possess a belief in a god," according to the lawsuit.
The Senate has approved a similar plan introduced by Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina . The congressional directive orders the Capitol architect to make the changes in the design of the $621 million center, which opened last December.
Freedom From Religion
New Enshrinees
National Aviation Hall of Fame
Astronaut Edward White, who gave his life as part of man's race to the moon, was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame on Saturday along with the first female shuttle pilot and the late Hollywood actor Jimmy Stewart.
White, who made America's first spacewalk in 1965 but was killed in a spacecraft fire two years later, was presented for enshrinement by the man who first set foot on the lunar surface.
"Ed had an acute dedication to his work," Neil Armstrong said. "And he was committed to superiority in the conquest of space."
Joining White as enshrinees in Saturday night's ceremony, which hundreds of people attended, were Eileen Collins, the first woman to command an American space mission; Russell Meyer Jr., former head of the Cessna Aircraft Co., and Stewart, who was a bomber pilot during World War II before starring in such classic movies as "It's a Wonderful Life" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window."
National Aviation Hall of Fame
Lemonade Sellers Have Brush With Law
Haverford Township
Seven suburban Philadelphia children had a brush with the law for selling without a permit - selling lemonade, that is. But police say it was all a misunderstanding. A neighbor called Haverford Township police July 10 about the sales. He says the youngsters were going door-to-door and he didn't think they were being properly supervised.
A responding officer told the kids they were violating an ordinance that bans sales without a permit.
But Deputy Chief John Viola says the officer didn't know the law doesn't apply to anyone under 16 years old.
Sgt. Joe Hagan says he has been buying lemonade from neighborhood kids for a dozen years and it never occurred to him he might be aiding and abetting lawbreakers. He met with the kids and told them they were doing nothing wrong.
Haverford Township
Club Getting Crowded
Centenarians
It's starting to get crowded in the 100-year-olds' club. Once virtually nonexistent, the world's population of centenarians is projected to reach nearly 6 million by midcentury. That's pushing the median age toward 50 in many developed nations and challenging views of what it means to be old and middle-age.
The number of centenarians already has jumped from an estimated few thousand in 1950 to more than 340,000 worldwide today, with the highest concentrations in the U.S. and Japan, according to the latest Census Bureau figures. Their numbers are projected to grow at more than 20 times the rates of the total population by 2050, making them the fastest growing age segment.
Japan, known for its low-fat staple of fish and rice, will have the most centenarians in 2050 - 627,000, or nearly 1 percent of its total population, according to census estimates.
Italy, Greece, Monaco and Singapore, aided by their temperate climates, also will have sizable shares of centenarians, most notably among women.
Centenarians
Found In Barrel
Mexican Artifacts
One man's trash is definitely another man's treasure. A Queens man hired to remove material from a deceased artist's estate has found artifacts worth thousands of dollars in a discarded barrel.
Nick Dimola was hired in 2004 to take away unwanted material from the home and work spaces of artist Clinton Hill. Hill died in 2003. Among the material put out as trash was a cardboard barrel. DiMola removed it, and stored it in a warehouse for several years.
He recently opened the barrel to find some Mexican artifacts inside. The artifacts date back to anywhere from 300 B.C. to 500 A.D. They're estimated to be worth more than $16,000.
Mexican Artifacts
Real Props
'Staats-Sicherheit'
Secret files of Communist East Germany's Stasi security police were sent to a film set for use as props, triggering an investigation into how such sensitive documents were obtained.
The authenticity of the files were revealed when 15 former political prisoners were being filmed for a docu-play called "Staats-Sicherheit" (State Security) by public broadcaster ZDF.
Among the files that surfaced on the film set were documents about one of the film's actors, Mario Roellig. Roellig was arrested by the Stasi after a failed attempt to flee East Germany in 1987.
Also found were genuine Stasi files about a famous East German Rock musician and an artist, Lengsfeld said.
'Staats-Sicherheit'
Sets Guinness Record
Big Cupcake
A 151-pound cupcake in Minneapolis has been certified as the world's largest. The 1-foot tall, 2-foot wide cupcake on display Saturday at the Minneapolis Mall of America had 15 pounds of fudge filling and 60 pounds of yellow icing.
The cupcake was made by cakes.com, which is run by cake-decoration supplier and marketer DecoPac.
Company spokeswoman Jamie Miller said the giant cupcake will go to a pig farm. The company decided against giving away pieces to mall patrons because most would not have had frosting.
Instead, 4,000 smaller cupcakes were given away.
Big Cupcake
Weekend Box Office
'Harry Potter'
The sixth installment, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," took in $79.5 million domestically over opening weekend and $159.7 million since debuting last Wednesday, according to estimates from distributor Warner Bros. on Sunday.
The movie also took in $237 million overseas since Wednesday in 54 countries, bringing its worldwide total to $396.7 million.
Sacha Baron Cohen's mock documentary "Bruno" plummeted after its No. 1 debut the previous weekend. The Universal Pictures comedy fell to fourth-place with $8.4 million, down a whopping 73 percent from its $30.6 million opening.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," $79.5 million.
2. "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," $17.7 million.
3. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," $13.8 million.
4. "Bruno," $8.4 million.
5. "The Hangover," $8.32 million.
6. "The Proposal," $8.3 million.
7. "Public Enemies," $7.6 million.
8. "Up," $3.1 million.
9. "My Sister's Keeper," $2.8 million.
10. "I Love You, Beth Cooper," $2.7 million.
'Harry Potter'
In Memory
Frank McCourt
Frank McCourt, the beloved raconteur and former public school teacher who enjoyed post-retirement fame as the author of "Angela's Ashes," the Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of woe about his impoverished Irish childhood, died Sunday of cancer at age 78.
McCourt had been gravely ill with meningitis and recently was treated for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. He died at a Manhattan hospice, his brother Malachy McCourt said.
Until his mid-60s, Frank McCourt was known primarily around New York as a creative writing teacher and as a local character - the kind who might turn up in a New York novel - singing songs and telling stories with his younger brother and otherwise joining the crowds at the White Horse Tavern and other literary hangouts.
But there was always a book or two being formed in his mind and the world would learn his name, and story, in 1996, after a friend helped him get an agent and his then-unfinished manuscript was quickly signed by Scribner. With a first printing of just 25,000, "Angela's Ashes" was an instant favorite with critics and readers and perhaps the ultimate case of the non-celebrity memoir, the extraordinary life of an ordinary man.
A native of New York, McCourt was good company in the classroom and at the bar, but few had such a burden to unload. His parents were so poor that they returned to their native Ireland when he was little and settled in the slums of Limerick. Simply surviving his childhood was a tale; McCourt's father was an alcoholic who drank up the little money his family had. Three of McCourt's seven siblings died, and he nearly perished from typhoid fever.
The book was a long Irish wake, "an epic of woe," McCourt called it, finding laughter and lyricism in life's very worst. Although some in Ireland complained that McCourt had revealed too much (and revealed a little too well), "Angela's Ashes" became a million seller, won the Pulitzer and was made into a movie of the same name, starring Emily Watson as the title character, McCourt's mother.
McCourt was married twice and had a daughter, Maggie McCourt, from his first marriage.
Frank McCourt
In Memory
Gordon Waller
After the Beatles conquered America in 1964, many other British groups found transatlantic fame and fortune. The first song of this British invasion to top the American charts was Peter and Gordon's A World Without Love, composed by Paul McCartney. The duo were Peter Asher (brother of Jane Asher, the actress) and Gordon Waller, who has died aged 64 of a heart attack.
Waller, the son of a surgeon, was born in Braemar, Aberdeenshire, and went to Westminster school, in London, where he met Peter Asher in 1959. Asher was already something of a jazz and blues fan, but Waller persuaded him to broaden his horizons to include pop and rock'n'roll. Both were keen guitarists and soon they were entertaining their fellow students. By 1963, they were playing (initially as Gordon and Peter) in pubs and small clubs at lunchtimes and evenings for small fees or for a meal, often singing their own compositions in the close harmony style of the Everly Brothers. Early in 1964, they were booked for a two-week engagement at the Pickwick nightclub. One of the diners was Norman Newell, an EMI record producer. Newell was charmed enough by Peter and Gordon's rendition of their song If I Were You to offer them a recording contract.
At this time, McCartney was dating Jane, and Peter and Gordon badgered McCartney to provide them with a song. He obliged with A World Without Love, which he had written six years earlier in Liverpool. McCartney told his biographer Barry Miles: "Gordon was a lot of fun - he was slightly less academic than Peter. It was he who persuaded Peter to jump school to do lunchtime sessions."
By the end of March 1964, A World Without Love had displaced the Beatles' own Can't Buy Me Love in the charts. In May, just before Waller's 19th birthday and Asher's 20th, it was the biggest selling record in the US. The instant stardom created by A World Without Love was the beginning of two years of frantic activity for Peter and Gordon.
For the American media, they combined the cachet of a Beatles connection (McCartney wrote several more of their hits and fans discerned in Waller a slight resemblance to John Lennon) with the Woosterish appeal of well-bred British toffs strumming guitars. There were numerous television appearances, occasional tours of Japan and Australia as well as North America and dozens of recordings. In the next 12 months, Nobody I Know and I Don't Want to See You Again (both by McCartney) were transatlantic hits, as were I Go To Pieces, written by Del Shannon, and True Love Ways, a Buddy Holly song the duo had performed in their early days in London.
By now, Peter and Gordon were competing in North America with numerous other British imports, including another middle-class duo, Chad and Jeremy. Their star began to wane in 1966, when their only hits were Woman, another McCartney composition credited pseudonymously to "Bernard Webb", and Lady Godiva, a novelty number that was denounced as obscene by the mayor of Coventry, which helped it reach the Top 20 in Britain and the American Top 10. By 1967, Peter and Gordon's British career was over and in America they were reduced to peddling olde English material such as the minor hit The Knight in Rusty Armour and the album Sunday for Tea. They split up the next year, with Asher joining the Beatles' Apple project as an A&R man and Waller launching a career as a solo singer.
In the 1980s and 90s Waller ran a music publishing business in America. In the last few years, he reunited with Asher to play a few shows in Los Angeles, the Philippines and New York.
Waller is survived by his second wife Jen, whom he married in March last year, and two daughters from his 22-year first marriage to Gay.
Gordon Waller
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