'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Circuit City Cuts Wages to Juice Profits
Circuit City Stores said Mar. 28 that it is planning to lay off around 3,400 store employees but only to hire them again at lower wages.
Top Ten April Fool's Da Pranks
While covering someone's cube with aluminum foil, faking a resignation or gluing office supplies to the desk continue to be among the most common pranks, CareerBuilder.com has named the top ten most memorable capers uncovered in this year's survey: 1. Sent a letter signed by the president of the company that informed employees they would have to take potty breaks in alphabetical order.
Fooling around (guardian.co.uk)
Ever since the 1840s, when the Boston Post persuaded hundreds of readers to go searching for a hoard of pirate treasure in the pouring rain, we have been suckers for an April Fool. And from Panorama's spaghetti trees to Google's spoof moon base, the media has been happy to oblige them. As the big day looms, Martin Wainwright recalls some of the silliest tricks.
From pre-school to pre-crime (guardian.co.uk)
Helen Pidd: Someone at the Home Office has been watching too many Tom Cruise films. We know this because its latest proposal - screening every child in Britain to assess how likely they are to turn into criminals - seems to be inspired by Minority Report.
Claus Christian Malzahn: Evil Americans, Poor Mullahs (spiegel.de)
For us Germans, the Americans are either too fat or too obsessed with exercise, too prudish or too pornographic, too religious or too nihilistic. In terms of history and foreign policy, the Americans have either been too isolationist or too imperialistic. They simply go ahead and invade foreign countries (something we Germans, of course, would never do) and then abandon them, the way they did in Vietnam and will soon do in Iraq.
Kelly Candaele: A retirement lesson from Australia (latimes.com)
Americans generally don't save for their golden years; down under, the government requires it.
'It's not about money' (guardian.co.uk)
Everyone wanted the stage rights to Ali Smith's bestselling novel Hotel World. So who did she choose? Seven schoolkids. By Brian Logan.
David Sterritt: The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (popmatters.com)
Sidney Poitier's fabulous comeback thanks to Oprah's golden touch.
Reader Suggestion
Wisconsinese
Marty,
Yah Hey Dere! C'meer once.
Don't Youse Guys Ferget Wisconsinese!
Where's da bubbler?
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and clear with a nice breeze.
The kid was 'student of the month' - the school provided breakfast after the awards ceremony.
Last time it was little muffins, this time it was muy bien pan dulce.
Offers Soldier Tuition Help
Alec Baldwin
Actor Alec Baldwin was so moved by a March 4 New York Times story about Pvt. Resha Kane's last day with family and friends before going for training to prepare for serving in Iraq that he - not his people - tracked down Kane's mother at a discount store where she works to offer his assistance, his spokesman said.
Baldwin's spokesman, Matthew Hiltzik, said when Baldwin read the Times article, it made him think of his own daughter, 11-year-old Ireland.
Hiltzik said the actor would meet the Kane family in Mohave Valley and give them a check, which will be in addition to the $37,000 the Army will give Kane for college. A date for the meeting will be decided next week, he said.
Although Baldwin, 48, has been a vocal critic against the war in Iraq, Hiltzik said supporting the troops who are fighting there is important to the actor.
Alec Baldwin
Defends Gay Musicians
Ricky Martin
Ricky Martin defended the right of pop stars to come out of the closet, saying he felt solidarity with Christian Chavez of Mexican band RBD, who recently said publicly that he is gay.
"Life is too short to live closed up, guarding what you say," said Martin - whose sexual orientation has been the subject of speculation - in an interview with The Associated Press. Christian "has to be free in many aspects. I wish him much strength."
RBD, which spun off Mexico's wildly popular soap opera, "Rebelde," has achieved success throughout Latin America and among Spanish speakers in the United States.
Ricky Martin
Amsterdam Honors
Terry Gilliam
Director and former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam will be honored with a career achievement award at the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, organizers said Thursday.
The 23rd annual festival runs April 18-25, opening with Guillermo del Toro's three-time Oscar winner "Pan's Labyrinth."
The festival also will screen a selection of Gilliam's major films. His credits include "Brazil," "The Fisher King," "Twelve Monkeys," "Time Bandits" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Last year's recipient was b-movie king Roger Corman.
Terry Gilliam
Final Flight Scheduled
James Doohan
The remains of actor James Doohan, who played the starship Enterprise's chief engineer Scotty on "Star Trek," will be blasted into space next month, the company organizing the flight said on Friday.
Houston-based commercial company Space Services Inc. said some of Doohan's remains were packed into a rocket at Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Friday, ahead of the flight scheduled for April 28.
The company had originally planned to blast Doohan's remains into space two years ago. But the flight was delayed by tests, then by a misfire during a practice launch last year.
Space Services spokeswoman Susan Schonfeld said Doohan's ashes will be sent up along with the remains of some 200 other people, including astronaut Gordon Cooper, who first went into space in 1963. Cooper died in 2004 at age 77.
James Doohan
Costume On Auction Block
'Alien'
The extra-terrestrial costume worn by an actor in the 1979 sci-fi classic "Alien" will be auctioned in Los Angeles next month, a dealer said Thursday.
The costume, created by Swiss surrealist artist Hans Rudolf Giger, will be offered at an initial price of 75,000 dollars on April 5, said Profiles in History, a dealer in historical documents, artifacts and Hollywood memorabilia.
The estimated value of the scary creature's outfit is between 100,000 and 120,000 dollars.
'Alien'
ABC Dumps Show
Donny Osmond
A new "reality" TV show hosted by onetime teen idol Donny Osmond, "The Great American Dream Vote," has been dumped from ABC's schedule after just two episodes proved to be a ratings nightmare.
The series, featuring contestants vying to have their life-long dreams fulfilled, ranked fifth in the major network pecking order for its time slot on Wednesday with a meager 4.5 million viewers tuning in.
The Walt Disney Co.-owned network did not say whether Osmond's show was canceled altogether, but a spokeswoman said on Friday there were no plans to bring the series back.
Donny Osmond
Divorce News
Marie Osmond
U.S. singer and television personality Marie Osmond said on Friday that she and her husband of more than 20 years were getting divorced.
"Though our marriage is ending, we continue to have a very amicable relationship," Osmond and her spouse, music producer Brian Blosil, said in a joint statement issued through her publicist. "Our marriage has always been a faithful one, and neither of us is assigning fault for the divorce."
The couple, who live in Salt Lake City and have raised eight children together, were married in October 1986.
Marie Osmond
Shocked About Visa Denial
Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg says he was shocked at being denied a British visa this week, although he remains hopeful authorities will allow him to "share my message of love and harmony."
"I was shocked by the decision but am optimistic that the British authorities will soon realize my global efforts to promote peace and grant me the opportunity to come back for my fans," the rapper said Wednesday during an interview for the documentary "In Prison My Whole Life."
The 35-year-old rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, has been touring Europe with Sean "Diddy" Combs. The duo was forced to cancel British dates after authorities denied the visa.
Snoop Dogg
Court Convicts 3, Acquits 3
Edvard Munch
An appeals court Friday convicted three men and acquitted three others of involvement in the 2004 theft of the Edvard Munch masterpieces "The Scream" and "Madonna."
Two of the rulings by a jury reversed a lower court's decision. The paintings - considered priceless - were recovered by police on Aug. 31, about two years after they were stolen by masked gunmen in a brazen daylight heist at Oslo's Munch Museum. Both were damaged and are being repaired.
After about eight hours of deliberation, a 10-member jury in the Borgarting appeals court upheld the conviction of Petter Tharaldsen, 34, and Bjoern Hoen, 38, for grand theft. It also convicted Stian Skjold, 30, of the same charge, reversing his acquittal in the Oslo district court last year.
Edvard Munch
General Tried To Warn
Pat Tillman
Just seven days after Pat Tillman's death, a top general warned there were strong indications that it was friendly fire and resident Bush might embarrass himself if he said the NFL star-turned-soldier died in an ambush, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.
The memo reinforces suspicions that the Pentagon was more concerned with sparing officials from embarrassment than with leveling with Tillman's family.
In a memo sent to a four-star general a week after Tillman's April 22, 2004, death, then-Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal warned that it was "highly possible" the Army Ranger was killed by friendly fire. McChrystal made it clear his warning should be conveyed to the president.
Pat Tillman
Arrested In Boulder
Brian Bonsall
Former child star Brian Bonsall, 25, was being held in the Boulder County jail Friday on charges of second-degree assault and false imprisonment. It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney.
Bonsall was arrested Wednesday after his girlfriend told police he poured an alcoholic drink on her face while she slept, put her in a choke hold and threw her onto a bed when she tried to leave.
Bonsall told investigators he pushed the woman down in self-defense after she cut his arm and face with a steak knife, but she denied that, police said.
Brian Bonsall
Built Inside Out
Great Pyramid
A French architect said on Friday he had cracked a 4,500-year-old mystery surrounding Egypt's Great Pyramid, saying it was built from the inside out.
Previous theories have suggested Pharaoh Khufu's tomb, the last surviving example of the seven great wonders of antiquity, was built using either a vast frontal ramp or a ramp in a corkscrew shape around the exterior to haul up the stonework.
But flouting previous wisdom, Jean-Pierre Houdin said advanced 3D technology had shown the main ramp which was used to haul the massive stones to the apex was contained 10-15 meters beneath the outer skin, tracing a pyramid within a pyramid.
To prove his case, Houdin teamed up with a French company that builds 3D models for auto and airplane design, Dassault Systemes, which put 14 engineers for 2 years on the project.
Great Pyramid
Goes Back To Pre-Katrina Maps
Google
Google's popular map portal has replaced post-Hurricane Katrina satellite imagery with pictures taken before the storm, leaving locals feeling like they're in a time loop and even fueling suspicions of a conspiracy.
Scroll across the city and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and everything is back to normal: Marinas are filled with boats, bridges are intact and parks are filled with healthy, full-bodied trees.
In the images available Thursday, the cranes working to fix the breach of the 17th Street Canal are gone. Blue tarps that covered roofless homes are replaced by shingles. Homes wiped off their foundations are miraculously back in place in the Lower 9th. So, too, is the historic lighthouse on Lake Pontchartrain.
The new, virtual Potemkin village is fueling the imagination of locals frustrated with the slow pace of recovery and what they see as attempts by political leaders to paint a rosier picture.
Google
Chocolate Jesus Show Canceled
My Sweet Lord
A planned Holy Week exhibition of a nude, anatomically correct chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ was canceled Friday amid a choir of complaining Catholics that included Cardinal Edward Egan.
The "My Sweet Lord" display was shut down by the hotel that houses the Lab Gallery in midtown Manhattan, said Matt Semler, the gallery's creative director. Semler said he submitted his resignation after officials at the Roger Smith Hotel shut down the show.
The six-foot sculpture was the victim of "a strong-arming from people who haven't seen the show, seen what we're doing," Semler said. "They jumped to conclusions completely contrary to our intentions."
The hotel and the gallery were overrun Thursday with angry phone calls and e-mails about the exhibit. Semler said the calls included death threats over the work of artist Cosimo Cavallaro, who was described as disappointed by the decision to cancel the display.
My Sweet Lord
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