Paul Krugman: Kennedy's Big Day (nytimes.com)
Wednesday was the first major health care victory that Democrats have won in a long time. And it was enormously encouraging for advocates of universal health care.
Terry Smith: Letter to the editor sparks international dog rescue (athensnews.com)
What do a small newspaper in southeast Ohio, an uninhabitable island in Greece, a college-town legal-aid attorney, a pet-rescue organization in London, and a family of mixed-breed dogs have in common? They all had roles in an adventure that transpired in the Corinth Gulf of Greece last weekend, and perhaps more importantly, they're the latest proof of why the phrase "the power of the Internet" is much more than just a cliché.
ROY BLOUNT JR.: "Mark Twain: Our Original Superstar" (time.com)
News in the form of edgy drollery may seem a brave new thing, but it can all be traced back to one source, the man Ernest Hemingway said all of modern American literature could be traced back to: Mark Twain.
RICHARD LACAYO: The Seriously Funny Man (time.com)
Mark Twain was our first great political wit and a dogged defender of racial equality. Jon Stewart, Barack Obama and the rest of America are in his debt.
JACKSON DYKMAN: Man of The World (time.com)
In his lifetime, Twain was best known as a travel writer. Through five books, he narrated his journey from humorist to crusader.
A: Blights reuduced crops of white and purple carrots
B: Dutchmen are patriotic
C: Orange carrots last longer in the fridge
D: Other colored carrots have longer growing times
E: Red and purple carrots make your skin turn color
Source
Vic in AK was first, and correct, writing:
B: Dutchmen are patriotic
a clippage from A history thingy I happened to be reading recently(OK, 'recently' as in just now because of this question)
"Patriots proceeded to humiliate the House of Orange inevery conceivable way. They banned the color orange and hurled charges of treason at theStadholder every day. They even went so far as to decree that carrots could not bedisplayed in the marketplace unless only the green tops were visible. Significantly,though, the Patriots never moved to strip the Prince of his garrison command, an inactionfilled with prophecy"....blah blah on and on...
Orange carrots have more of that beta carotene stuff in them. Baby carrots aren't from carrot infanticide as I had erroneously presumed but are regular carrots that are whittled down to baby carrot proportions with the stuff removed going ironically enough to make BABY food...go figure
I added some pics of Mutant Carrots I found
Sally, in still hot & muggy NJ, said:
I will venture to say that the "correct" answer to today's question is (B) Dutchmen are patriotic because: "Orange roots, containing the pigment carotene, were not noted until the 16th century in Holland. This only came about thanks to patriotic Dutch growers who bred the vegetable to grow in the colours of the House of Orange. Experts believe Dutch breeders used a yellow mutant seed from North Africa to develop the orange variety and then stuck to it through breeding. Their colour comes from beta carotene with some alpha carotene, a pigment the body converts to Vitamin A, which is essential for healthy skin and vision in dim light...." Click here: Purple Maroon Carrot
But I know as a fact that the reason most carrots appear SO bright orange in color, and usually sold in the super markets, is because they are DYED (ironically in vegetable coloring) to make them appear more appetizing. I have seen this done at Albertson's (Colorado) myself, although it is usually done in the warehouses nowadays. Our fruits and vegetables are picked SO prematurely that they often need to be tampered with this way so they will APPEAR at the peak of freshness when actually they may be weeks old because they have been shipped in from God-knows-where! Between the excess spraying, non-rotation of planting soils, and extreme early harvest, the "Vitamin Pill" has become a staple in many a medicine cabinet in developed countries world wide! Our natural food supply may be abundant, but not necessarily as, "good for us" as we may think - hence my own garden grows.
Have a marvelous weekend,
PPS: Hey Vic, While I agree with you (as usual), FYI Springsteen's "Born To Run" is Jersey's "Unofficial, unofficial" State Song. You have to read the one to which I linked yesterday [Click here: New Jersey State Song ] "I'm From New Jersey" which is equally as cheezy as, "Alaska's Flag!" OTOH, LuLu Small's song 'Rockin' the Last Frontier ' rival's Springsteen in her good old Alaskan way :) (You know I luv ya Vic!)
DanD wrote:
Let's do this as an exercise in (my) logic. Since it is (my) logic, well, (to me) I'm always right ... .
ANYWAY, if "A" were the answer, then the question should have stated: "Our carrots are ONLY orange because --"
If "B" is the answer, then what does that make England's Duke of Orange, chopped liver?
If "C" is the answer -- but crap -- EVERYTHING lasts longer in the fridge!
If "D" is the answer, well, you're only being "Carrot-ist (This is in keeping with the urban legend that all things Irish are generally shorter ...)!"
If "E" is the answer, it kinda' reminds me of how my grandparents used to rail about what would happen to their grandkids if I ever ate any "colored" girls ... or something like that anyway.
Because something of this nature happened (maybe not in the same way) to Ireland's potato(e, for all those Quayle fans out there) crop, I'll avoid the Google-addiction and just choose "A."
socdan replied:
I usually don't respond unless I know, BUT I think it would be fun if the answer was that red and opurple carrots turn ones skin colors! Cheers.
And, Paul answered:
B: Dutchmen are patriotic
Learned this on Alton Brown's "Good Eats" show on the food network
Thanks to Vic in AK for the all the carrot pictures.
Thanks to Buzzcook for yesterday & today's question.
Coastal Eddy's hunkered down & the weather is lovely.
Tonight, Saturday:
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'The Unit', followed by '48 Hours'.
NBC opens the night with a RERUN'My Name Is Earl', followed by another RERUN'My Name Is Earl', then a RERUN'Law & Order', followed by a RERUN'Law & Order: Criminal Intent'.
Of course, 'SNL' is a RERUN with Jonah Hill hosting, music by Mariah Carey.
ABC starts the night with the movie 'The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement', followed by a RERUN'Eli Stone'.
The CW offers a couple of old 'Friends', followed by a couple of old 'Sex & The City's.
Faux has the traditional 'Cops', 'Cops', and 'America's Most Wanted'.
MY here has LIVE'MLB Baseball', with the Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim California Angels visit Oakland.
A&E has 'America Undercover', 'Intervention', another 'Intervention', and still another 'Intervention'.
AMC offers the movie 'Broken Trail', followed by the movie 'A Fistful Of Dollars', then the movie 'Rio Bravo'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 10
[12:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 11
[1:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep. 1 Bonapartes
[2:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 1 La Riviera
[3:00 PM] Dragons' Den - Episode 1
[4:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 10
[5:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 9
[6:00 PM] Doctor Who - Ep 9 The Satan Pit
[7:00 PM] Doctor Who - Ep 10 Love & Monsters
[8:00 PM] Robin Hood - Ep 9 Lardner's Ring
[9:00 PM] Robin Hood - Ep 10 Walkabout
[10:00 PM] The Graham Norton Show - Ep 12 Catherine Tate & The Kooks
[11:00 PM] Robin Hood - Ep 9 Lardner's Ring
[12:00 AM] Robin Hood - Ep 10 Walkabout
[1:00 AM] The Graham Norton Show - Ep 12 Catherine Tate & The Kooks
[2:00 AM] Robin Hood - Ep 9 Lardner's Ring
[3:00 AM] Robin Hood - Ep 10 Walkabout
[4:00 AM] The Graham Norton Show - Ep 12 Catherine Tate & The Kooks
[5:00 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 23 Farrier
[5:30 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 24 Sharples
[6:00 AM] BBC World News (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Shear Genius', followed by the movie 'Thelma & Louise', then the movie 'Thelma & Louise'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Waiting', followed by the movie 'Just Friends'.
FX has the movie 'Kiss Of The Dragon', followed by the movie 'The Rundown', the 'Rescue Me'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Extreme Marksmen', and 'Hillbilly: The Real Story'.
IFC -
[06:25 AM] The Year of the Yao
[08:00 AM] Samurai Spy
[09:45 AM] The Glass Shield
[11:45 AM] Undertow
[01:35 PM] The Year of the Yao
[03:05 PM] IFC In Theaters
[03:15 PM] The Glass Shield
[05:15 PM] Undertow
[07:05 PM] Face
[09:00 PM] Raging Bull
[11:15 PM] Streamers
[01:15 AM] Deuces Wild
[03:00 AM] Raging Bull
[05:15 AM] Face (ALL TIMES EST)
SciFi has the movie 'Ghost Voyage', followed by the movie 'Ghouls'.
Sundance -
[04:00 AM] Cyclo
[06:15 AM] I'm Not Rappaport
[08:35 AM] The Saviour
[09:00 AM] Renee Zellweger on Christiane Amanpour
[10:00 AM] Summercamp!
[11:30 AM] Little Terrorist
[12:00 PM] Gettin' Square
[02:00 PM] Episode 6 - Los Angeles, Part 1
[02:30 PM] (Episode 2)
[03:00 PM] Part 5 | Directed by: Jennifer Fox
[04:00 PM] The Hawk is Dying
[06:00 PM] Stereophonics, Colbie Caillat & Joan Armatrading
[07:00 PM] Tina Barney: Social Studies
[08:00 PM] A Woman Under the Influence
[10:35 PM] The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
[12:50 AM] Opening Night
[03:15 AM] Easy
[05:00 AM] Everything's Gone Green (ALL TIMES EST)
British actor Michael Caine poses with his wife Shakira after placing his hand and footprints in cement in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California July 11, 2008. Hollywood celebrities have been honored with the hand and footprint ceremony since 1927.
Photo by Fred Prouser
In Hollywood, even "final offers" seem to get sequels. The Screen Actors Guild on Thursday delivered a counter-bid to the contract proposal major studios had presented the union last week as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition, and the two sides spent a few hours discussing their positions before parting company again.
A statement issued afterward by the studios' bargaining agent, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, said SAG leaders had "put labor peace at risk" by refusing to accept the industry's latest offer.
SAG's chief negotiator, Doug Allen, disputed the industry's account, telling Reuters the union had come back to the studios with a "comprehensive" response "that made a major move in their direction."
The contract at issue covers the work of 120,000 SAG members in prime-time television and movies, an industry still recovering from a 14-week screenwriters strike that ended in February. The old labor pact expired hours after the studios presented SAG their "final" offer on June 30.
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said on Friday he would consider imposing further conditions on Sirius Satellite Radio Inc's acquisition of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc if it were needed to win support of other FCC commissioners.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin (R-Looking For A Job) said some of the FCC's other four commissioners had expressed concerns about the deal, but none had yet made a concrete proposal for additional terms to protect consumers.
Martin said he hoped the commissioners would be ready to vote on the deal by the time the agency holds its next meeting on August 1.
The FCC decision is the final hurdle in a regulatory marathon for the deal that was first announced in February 2007. Antitrust authorities at the U.S. Justice Department approved the merger this past March.
Tempest Storm is fuming and her fingers tremble with frustration. They're aged, knotted by arthritis and speckled with purple spots under paper skin.
She brushes orange curls out of her face as she explains how she's been slighted.
She's the headliner. She's a star and she's classy.
More than 50 years ago she was dubbed the "Girl with the Fabulous Front" and told by famous men she had the "Best Two Props in Hollywood."
Since then, Storm saw the art that made her famous on the brink of extinction. Her contemporaries - Blaze Starr, Bettie Page, Lili St. Cyr - have died or hung up their pasties.
Genie Francis is checking back into "General Hospital."
The 46-year-old actress again will reprise her role as Laura on the ABC daytime soap opera beginning Aug. 26.
The character's 1981 fairy-tale wedding to Luke (played by Anthony Geary) was watched by 30 million viewers and landed the couple on the cover of Newsweek magazine. Francis began playing Laura in 1976.
"This is a short visit," Francis told The Associated Press on Friday. "It's a mother-daughter story. Years ago when I started playing the character as a 14-year-old girl, it was a mother-daughter story, only I was the daughter. So it's kinda cool this is full circle. It's nice to come back for visits. `General Hospital' is my home."
Note: Viacom was split from CBS Corporation in 2005, though both have the same majority owner, Sumner Redstone, through his holding company National Amusements.
Ed McMahon was recuperating Friday following his third neck surgery.
The 85-year-old former "Tonight" show sidekick previously said he had injured himself in a fall before the possible foreclosure of his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills house.
"Ed had his third and hopefully final neck surgery today at an L.A. hospital," McMahon's publicist Howard Bragman told The Associated Press on Friday. "He's awake, alert and resting comfortably, and the McMahon family is grateful for all the prayers and good wishes."
Generating an air of perplexing, "Kafka-esque" mystery, a Tel Aviv newspaper report this week marking the 125th anniversary of Kafka's birth has sparked a flurry of speculation among literary scholars and archivists in Israel and in Europe.
Leading experts said on Friday they did not expect material to emerge that would prompt major revisions. But diaries and other papers left by Kafka's friend and biographer Max Brod, whose late secretary owned the apartment, could shed new light on Kafka's life and times in Prague before he died in 1924.
The intrigue is all the greater because of the history of how Kafka's writings were saved from obscurity -- Brod defied his friend's dying wish that his unpublished work be destroyed and later fled Nazi Europe with a suitcase full of papers.
The two daughters of Brod's secretary Esther Hoffe, who died last year at 101, inherited the flat but have yet to grant access to any possible documents, Israel's Haaretz newspaper said this week, quoting Israeli scholars and officials.
Lawyers for Verne Troyer are negotiating with a porn broker and distributor on a settlement to try to prevent the distribution of a sex tape the actor made with a former girlfriend.
U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez on Friday granted both sides another week to negotiate before holding a hearing on whether the tape can be sold or released. He also extended a temporary restraining order barring porn distributor SugarDVD from selling or taking orders for the tape, said Tracy Rane, Troyer's attorney.
She said details of the negotiations are private, but that Troyer still doesn't want the tape made public.
A Hollywood power couple are ending their lawsuit against a security firm over a break-in at their Bel-Air home.
Attorneys for "The Exorcist" director William Friedkin and former Paramount Pictures chief Sherry Lansing petitioned Wednesday for the case's dismissal. The couple blamed Florida-based ADT for botching its response to a burglary at the couple's home in December 2006.
Reasons for the dismissal were not disclosed. A lawyer for the couple said he could not comment on the details, and a lawyer for ADT did not return calls seeking comment.
Evoking an era of World War II austerity, British families are being urged to cut food waste and use leftovers in a nationwide effort to fight sharply rising global food prices.
It's not back to ration books, "victory gardens" or squirrel-tail soup yet, but warning bells are being rung by experts at all levels of Britain's government as well as from the World Food Program.
With food and energy prices soaring around the world, a constant supply of high-quality, affordable food is no longer guaranteed, the officials are warning Britons. That could mean an era of scarcity like Britain's 1940-54 food rationing, during the war and its aftermath.
The experts say the postwar era of cheap food has ended - squeezed by the demands of a growing world population, a greater appetite for meat among emerging middle classes in China and India and the pressure on agricultural land from biofuel production.
Police are quizzing a man over the theft of a rare collection of works by William Shakespeare stolen from Durham University 10 years ago.
The first folio edition of the Shakespeare works, published in 1623 and said by police to be worth 15 million pounds, was among items taken during a break-in at the university library in December 1998.
A man who said he was an international businessman had visited a respected library in Washington to ask staff to verify whether a book he had bought in Cuba was genuine.
He agreed to leave it with the library for a search to be carried out. But checks revealed it to be the one stolen from Durham and staff called in the authorities.
Australian two-time Oscar nominee Judy Davis on Friday won A$140,000 ($135,230) plus costs in a defamation suit against local media company News Ltd, controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Davis, 53, best known for roles in Woody Allen's "Husbands And Wives" and David Lean's "A Passage To India," sued the mass-selling Daily Telegraph newspaper over 2006 articles claiming she acted selfishly at a Sydney council meeting.
The newspaper, the judge said, "seriously misrepresented" Davis by describing her objection to new floodlights at a sporting park near her waterfront home as unreasonable.
The jury found the newspaper's publisher Nationwide News was motivated by malice towards Davis.
KBR Inc. used employees with little electrical expertise to supervise subcontractors in Iraq and hired foreigners who couldn't speak English, former KBR electricians told a Senate panel investigating electrocutions of 13 Americans.
Experienced electricians who raised concerns about shoddy work and its possible hazards were often dismissed and told, "This is a war zone," the electricians said Friday.
Debbie Crawford, a journeyman electrician with 30 years experience, and Jefferey Bliss, also a former KBR electrician, testified in the 17th hearing held by the Democratic Policy Committee, which has been examining waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq and the performance of the country's war contractors. Both Democrats and Republicans attended the hearing.
An unexpected sexual curse has been uncovered by archaeologists at Cyprus's old city kingdom of Amathus, on the island's south coast near Limassol, according to a newspaper on Friday.
"A curse is inscribed in Greek on a lead tablet and part of it reads: 'May your penis hurt when you make love'," Pierre Aubert, head of Athens Archaeological School in Greece told the English language Cyprus Weekly.
He said the tablet showed a man standing holding something in his right hand that looks like an hour glass. The inscription dates back to the 7th century AD when Christianity was well established on the island, leading the French professor to surmise that it referred to the activity of witchcraft or shamans surviving from the pagan era.
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
The idea is to have fun.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better,
amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican musicians?
Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
This is your place.
a clippage from A history thingy I happened to be reading recently(OK, 'recently' as in just now because of this question)
Sandra in Bangor replied:
