Paul Krugman: Moment of Truth (nytimes.com)
If a new rescue plan is not announced this weekend, the world economy may experience its worst slump since the Great Depression.
Andrew Tobias: "Temperament: A Video and a Cover Story" (andrewtobias.com)
Senator McCain and Governor Palin want to make us afraid that Senator Obama is dangerously liberal - a charge made laughable by the support of, among so many others, Susan Eisenhower, Warren Buffett, and Wick Allison (the former publisher of William F. Buckley, Jr.'s National Review, who maxed out to McCain in the primary but has switched to Obama).
Chuck Barney: 'Saturday Night Live' gets less rote when it's time to vote (Contra Costa Times)
Sad to say, most of the knocks are valid. Too many times in recent seasons, "SNL" has been painfully, maddeningly, brutally unfunny. But then a presidential election year rolls around and something amazing happens: The venerable sketch-comedy show - or at least chunks of it - shakes off the rust to rega gain its pop-cultural and political mojo and proves that it still very much matters.
John Anderson: Fast chat with 'Rocknrolla' director Guy Ritchie (Newsday)
Probably better known as Madonna's husband than as a director of high-style, high-attitude, comic-book-type thrillers ("Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"), Guy Ritchie recently took the Toronto Film Festival by storm: "Rocknrolla," his latest Brit gangster saga starring Gerard Butler, Thandie Newton and Tom Wilkinson, seemed to be everything the crowd wanted, and more.
Tom Danehy: Soccer sends kids like Brianna Caceres to college, so it can't be all bad (tucsonweekly.com)
Coach Dan Tobias has a unique approach with his team: Practice every day begins at 6:45 a.m. I've known a few football coaches who have occasionally used that time as a motivational tool/punishment, but every day? "Coach wants us to focus on soccer at practice," she explains. "He doesn't want us bummed out about the test we just took or distracted by other stuff. He wants us to have a good practice and then be energized for the academics and the rest of the day." I had to ask: What about the funk? Her smile got even bigger. "Change of clothes, lots of body spray."
On average, snowflakes fall at a speed of approximately 3 feet per second
Source
Alan J was first, and correct, with:
B: 3 feet per second
Charlie replied:
The type of hydrometeor commonly known as snow falls at about 1 meter per second, which is close to
B: 3 feet per second
Which is slower than the falling speed of the stock market these days.
Sally's bit of valuable research on "I Like Ike" got me to wondering if anyone back in the '50s countered with the phrase "I Like Adlai", and indeed:
Marian the Teacher answered:
3 feet per second
Adam in NoHo responded:
Well if you look up 'rate of fall' on google, one mostly find a bunch of
hysterical economic news. If you add 'snowflake' one eventually finds
out it's B- @3' per sec.
Sally said:
I can't tell you how happy I was to read that I was the final contest winner! If it is any consolation to my fellow contestants, I might take a moment to share the process which resulted in my answer(s) yesterday.
I have been caring for my 2 g/kids for the past few days because they are out of school for the Jewish Holidays. I decided to let my bright - and bored (almost nine year old) g/son help me find the answers with a couple of caveats: Following standard journalism requirements of old (answers must be verified by three independent sources) and, references must come from books and not the Internet.
'Groan," says the kid...
Okay, I am being a little selfish here. You see, I have a LOT of books, including most of my college books, several sets of Encyclopedias, lots of kids books, and a ton of trivia journals (okay, lots of others, too).
And, I want the children to cherish and value books, as do my own children. Unfortunately, those values are getting harder and harder to instill, nowadays.
As for the three references, I used my own error on the first day of the contest as an example of sloppy fact-checking - my granddaughter was unimpressed. But, the little lad was scanning books to beat the band. He caught right on to reading an appendix - and cut up several strips of paper for markers; while my g/d and her Barbie Townhouse was slowly being moved across the room.
In between our search I entertained the troops by describing the various contestants vying for the prize. "Marion" the Librarian, sitting behind her desk - wearing her "Sarah Palin" glasses - eager to assist needy readers. Professor Charlie, who (in my imagination) is a double-take of the professor from Gilligan's Island. Then came Buzzcook, complete with his chef's hat - furiously typing his answers, and Bad-to-the-bone Bob was composing his solution while riding his Harley. Vic, in Alaska, was in his dogsled, patrolling the border watching for unruly Russians - still pondering his entry for the day.
I shared with the kids about our hilarious DannyD, and the humble JoeS, the faithful quartet, AlanJ, vb, Jim from CA, and Chuck AWA our resident crone, MAM. Even the g/daughter loved those descriptions - and I will be the first to admit that I am not above exaggeration.
Around 2 PM we came to a brick wall on parts 2 and 5 - "Tip and Ty," and "I Like Ike??" What, no book references here? Yiiks!
So, off we went to the library ON THE BUS as I do not have a car.
Our Librarian, "Carla" referred us to some ASCAP references, and sure enough, "I Like Ike" was right there. "Tip and Ty" required a little more effort, but as you can see, we were successful there as well. All and all, I would say we had an educational and fun day. I thank you Marty, this contest is something I believe my g/kids and I will remember for many a day to come, and perhaps, long after I am gone.
PS: (I almost forgot) my guess for today's quiz is 3 feet per second (B)
Snowflakes - A Thematic Approach
And, Joe S (Hold fast to dreams, |
For if dreams die, |
Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly, |
Hold fast to dreams, |
For if dreams go, |
Life is a barren field, |
Frozen with snow. |
~ Langston Hughes
) wrote:
B: 3 feet per second.
Just a note: I'm glad I didn't have to answer yesterday's questions. Mygod! Instead of taking the test I went down to the gym and shot hoops. No I didn't, I'm too old and fat to shoot hoops. I took a nap.
Chuck wrote:
Seems to be a issue on which song Sam Moore wanted Obama to stop using. Check this link.
Thanks for the trivia....I never seem to win anything....
Thanks, Chuck!
That story was the inspriation for the question, oddly enough, and initially, the answer was 'Soul Man'.
But when I got several responses with 'Hold On, I'm Comin', figured I needed to do some digging, and found this - 'Hold On,' Obama: This Isn't Your Song from the Washington Post, dated 26 February, 2008.
It pre-dates the current story on AP, which appears to be the only source for 'Soul Man' as the song in question.
Not that AP's been getting a little sloppy lately.
Good chance there'll be another contest next week. Very good chance.
m.
The kid & I spent the evening at the St. Bonaventure / Poly game at Veterans Stadium.
Couldn't quite puzzle out why the St. Bonaventure Seraphs' mascots were wearing lion-ish costumes.
Poly prevailed, 12 - 7.
While the other local high school teams have 'mean' animal names, like the Jordan Panthers or the Cabrillo Jaguars, the Poly Jackrabbits are nationally ranked.
Tonight, Saturday:
CBS begins the night early with LIVE'College Football', followed by a RERUN'CSI: The 3rd One', then a RERUN'Without A Trace', and on the left coast some local crap for padding.
NBC opens the night with the FRESH'Macy's Passport Celebrity Catwalk Challenge', followed by a RERUN'Knight Rider', then a RERUN'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
'SNL' is a RERUN with noted comedian Michael Phelps hosting, music by Lil Wayne.
ABC starts the night early with LIVE'NASCAR Sprint Cup', then pads the left coast with local crap and maybe an old 'Boston Legal'.
The CW offers an old 'Friends', another old 'Friends', an old 'Sex & The City', and another 'Sex In The City'.
Faux has the traditional 'Cops', 'Cops', and 'America's Most Wanted'.
'MADtv' is a RERUN.
MY fills the night with the movie 'Hair Show'.
A&E has 'CSI: The 2nd One', another 'CSI: The 2nd One', still another 'CSI: The 2nd One', and 'The Sopranos'.
AMC offers the movie 'Broken Trail', followed by the movie 'The Alamo'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 2
[12:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 3
[1:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Revisited - Ep 3 Moore Place
[2:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 3 Rococo
[3:00 PM] Dragons' Den - Episode 2
[4:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 2
[5:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 1
[6:00 PM] Doctor Who - Ep 7 42
[7:00 PM] Doctor Who - Ep 8 Human Nature
[8:00 PM] Primeval - Episode 9
[9:00 PM] Primeval - Episode 10
[10:00 PM] The Graham Norton Show - Episode 1
[11:00 PM] Primeval - Episode 9
[12:00 AM] Primeval - Episode 10
[1:00 AM] The Graham Norton Show - Episode 1
[2:00 AM] Primeval - Episode 9
[3:00 AM] Primeval - Episode 10
[4:00 AM] The Graham Norton Show - Episode 1
[5:00 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 31 Burdett
[5:30 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 32 Hinchcliffe
[6:00 AM] BBC World News (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Project Runway', 'Tim Gunn's Guid To Style', and 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Sugar & Spice', followed by the movie 'National Lampoon's Van Wilder', then 'Chris Rock: Never Scared'.
FX has the movie 'The Rundown', followed by the movie 'Spider-Man 2'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Countdown To Armageddon', and 'Quest For The Lost Ark'.
IFC -
[6:55 AM] Chop Socky: Cinema Hong Kong
[8:00 AM] Samurai 2
[9:45 AM] The Year of the Yao
[11:15 AM] Primer
[12:35 PM] The Lesser Evil
[2:15 PM] Garden State
[4:00 PM] Primer
[5:20 PM] IFC News Special
[5:30 PM] The Lesser Evil
[7:15 PM] The Final Cut
[9:00 PM] Halloween
[10:35 PM] The Dogs of War
[12:30 AM] Streamers
[2:30 AM] Halloween
[4:05 AM] The Dogs of War
[5:55 AM] IFC News Election Special (ALL TIMES EST)
SciFi has the movie 'Lake Dead', followed by the movie 'Crazy Eights'.
Sundance -
[05:00 AM] Eco Documentaries - Season 1: The Forest for the Trees
[06:00 AM] Day Night Day Night
[07:35 AM] Patch
[08:00 AM] Iconoclasts - Season 2: Episode 5: Paul Simon + Lorne Michaels
[09:00 AM] A Healthy Baby Girl
[10:00 AM] The Making of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
[11:00 AM] La Moustache
[12:30 PM] choke.
[01:00 PM] John Safran vs. God: Episode 6
[01:30 PM] Architecture School: Episode 2
[02:00 PM] Slings & Arrows - Season 1: Episode 6: Playing the Swan
[03:00 PM] Day Night Day Night
[04:45 PM] choke.
[05:00 PM] Live From Abbey Road - Season 2: Sheryl Crow, Hard-Fi & Diana Krall
[06:00 PM] Jump Tomorrow
[08:00 PM] The Hill: Episode 2: Less Feeling Please... More Doing
[08:30 PM] Office Tigers: (Episode 2)
[09:00 PM] Half Nelson
[11:00 PM] Love
[12:35 AM] The Man of the Year
[02:30 AM] Memories of Murder
[04:45 AM] Jump Tomorrow (ALL TIMES EST)
Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins, right, jokes with his long-time partner actress Susan Sarandon, during a ceremony honoring Robbins with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Friday, Oct. 10, 2008, in Los Angeles. Actor Jack Black, who made his debut in the 1992 Robbins-directed film 'Bob Roberts,' is shown at left.
Photo by Damian Dovarganes
Former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari -- who has helped mediate on conflict zones ranging from Kosovo to Indonesia -- was named the winner on Friday of the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize.
"The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2008 to Martti Ahtisaari for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts," head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Ole Danbolt Mjoes said.
"These efforts have contributed to a more peaceful world and to 'fraternity between nations' in Alfred Nobel's spirit," he added.
The announcement of the prize for the 71-year-old, who has long been tipped as a possible winner, brings to an end this year's season of Nobel awards.
Retired US senator George Mitchell, who steered the tough negotiations that led to lasting peace in Northern Ireland, threw his support Thursday behind fellow Democrat Barack Obama in the US presidential race.
Speaking to local newspaper editors in his home state of Maine, Mitchell said he was "quite good friends" with Republican contender John McCain, having sat in the US Senate with him for 10 years.
"I think he's a good guy; I just think that Barack Obama is the right guy to be president," he told the Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal editorial board, in an interview carried on their website.
Mitchell said am Obama presidency would represent a sea change after the eight-year administration of resident George W. Bush which, he argued, had landed the United States in a serious financial crisis and lowered the nation's esteem in the eyes of the world.
Spanish actor Antonio Banderas arrives with his wife U.S. actress Melanie Griffith for the screening of The Brothers Bloom, starring Adrien Brody, during the opening ceremony of the Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi, October 10, 2008. The festival runs until October 19.
Photo by Jumana El Heloueh
The first homes in Brad Pitt's Make It Right rebuilding project are complete, and some three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, 68-year-old grandmother Gloria Guy was on hand to give the actor a big hug.
Pitt, his partner Angelina Jolie and their family of six children privately toured the hard-hit Lower 9th Ward district earlier this week. The celebrity couple bought a home in New Orleans about a year after Katrina struck and became involved in launching the project to help rebuild the city's hardest-hit neighborhood.
"I thank God for Brad Pitt," Guy said Thursday when reporters viewed the first six homes Pitt and family visited Monday and Tuesday. "I told him how much I appreciate all that he's done for me and my family."
Guy is moving into one of the first of some 150 Make It Right homes planned for a district where levees crumbled after Katrina, unleashing floodwaters that knocked previous homes off their foundations. Her new home sits atop eight-foot concrete pilings amid empty, grassy lots where some steps lead into thin air - where houses once stood.
Americans may like to make fun of girls who are good at math, but this attitude is robbing the country of some of its best talent, researchers reported on Friday.
"The U.S. culture that is discouraging girls is also discouraging boys," Janet Mertz, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who led the study said in a statement.
"The situation is becoming urgent. The data show that a majority of the top young mathematicians in this country were not born here."
Writing in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Mertz and colleagues described their analysis of data from international math competitions going back to 1974. They also looked at surveys of U.S. students.
Cloris Leachman has been chosen as grand marshal for next year's Rose Parade.
The actress, who has an Oscar and eight Emmys, will head the 120th Tournament of Roses on Jan. 1 in Pasadena. The parade's theme is "Hats Off to Entertainment."
The 82-year-old "Dancing With the Stars" contestant said Friday she's thrilled to be grand marshal of a parade that - in her words - "is older than I am."
Donovan poses in the rain in a field in Woodstock, N.Y., Friday, Oct. 3, 2008. The bright psychedelic spotlight faded a while ago, but these are busy days for Donovan. In Woodstock to launch the DVD 'Sunshine Superman: The Journey of Donovan,' he also talked enthusiastically about his upcoming double album 'Ritual Groove' and a planned tour of North America and Europe.
Photo by Mike Groll
A publicist for Meat Loaf says the 57-year-old rocker was hospitalized in London for three days following an awards ceremony earlier this week.
Publicist Kirt Webster says Meat Loaf was admitted to a private hospital in central London on Monday, immediately after winning Q Magazine's "Classic Song" award for his rock epic "Bat Out of Hell."
Webster said in an e-mail Friday that Meat Loaf stayed at The London Clinic for three days for "testing and evaluation." The reason for the hospitalization wasn't disclosed.
Who is running for president? In an upstate New York county, hundreds of voters have been sent absentee ballots in which they could vote for "Barack Osama."
The absentee ballots sent to voters in Rensselaer County identified the two presidential candidates as "Barack Osama" and "John McCain." In the United States, the best-known individual named Osama is Osama bin Laden, leader of the al Qaida terrorist group behind the 2001 attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City.
The typographical terror error was first reported by the Times Union of Albany.
The elections office faxed a statement in which the two commissioners, Democrat Edward McDonough and Republican Larry Bugbee, said they regret the error but never acknowledge what the error was.
Actor Larry Hagman and his wife Maj, visit the kitchen area at the Southfork Ranch mansion made famous in the television show 'Dallas' in Parker, Texas, Thursday Oct. 9, 2008. Hagman was initially reluctant to be on a new TV show called 'Dallas' when he first read the script in the late 1970s, he figured there wouldn't be any money in it. But his wife convinced him to give the key role of conniving oil baron and cattle rancher J.R. Ewing a shot. As he prepares to celebrate the show's 30th anniversary, he's glad he did.
Photo by Tony Gutierrez
NBC Universal lost money on the Beijing Olympics, executives of parent company General Electric said Friday.
In their third quarter earnings conference call, they said NBC Universal generated more than $1 billion in revenue from the Olympics, but wrote a loss on the event. They didn't disclose the size of the loss.
National Amusements Inc, a privately held company controlled by Sumner Redstone, will sell more than 20 percent of its stake in Viacom Inc and CBS Inc to pay down debt to comply with its credit agreement covenants.
National Amusements, which holds controlling interests in both media companies worth $1.84 billion, said on Friday it will sell a total of $400 million worth of nonvoting shares of Viacom and CBS.
The share sale was announced nearly simultaneously with warnings from Viacom and CBS that a slumping U.S. advertising market would drag on third-quarter earnings. The two companies are National Amusements' main assets in addition to a 1,500-screen theater chain.
A National Amusements spokeswoman would not describe the company's debt covenants, but a typical agreement would require a corporate borrower to maintain a certain debt-to-income ratio to access credit.
Former National Basketball Association star Magic Johnson was outraged Friday after two Minnesota radio talk show hosts accused him of faking that he had contracted HIV, which can lead to AIDS.
Chris Baker and Langdon Perry of station KTLK questioned whether or not Hall of Fame hero Johnson, who led the Los Angeles Lakers' "Showtime" dynasty of the 1980s, was being truthful when he disclosed in 1991 that he had contracted HIV.
"Magic faked AIDS," Perry said.
"You think Magic faked AIDS for sympathy?" Baker replied.
"I'm not sure why," Perry added. "But I'm pretty sure he faked AIDS. Because he's the only cured AIDS guy ever."
Actress and original cast member Mitzi Gaynor,right, and cast member Kelli O'Hara of 'South Pacific' pose for pictures at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008.
Photo by Peter Kramer
It started when three brothers joked about making pornography for fans of the genre who happen to be offended by on-screen sex. Out of that joke came an idea for a website, and they called it "PG Porn."
In creating pornography that appeals to viewers who want their titillation toned down, brothers James, Sean and Brian Gunn are banking on web-surfers' growing acceptance of porn.
Sean starred in the television show "Gilmore Girls" and James wrote the screenplay for the 2002 movie "Scooby-Doo." Their latest production, a short spoof called "Nailing Your Wife," premiered on Wednesday at their site.
With pornography all over the Internet and the video store, the Gunn brothers rely on viewers' familiarity with all its conventions -- the goofy acting, the bad music, the lace-thin plots -- to create movies that look like the real thing but skirt nudity. Comedy substitutes for hard-core sex.
The museum exhibits are taken from the Old Testament, but the special effects are pure Hollywood: a state-of-the-art planetarium, animatronics and a massive model of Noah's Ark, all intended to explain the origins of the universe from a biblical viewpoint.
The Creation Museum, which teaches life's beginnings through a literal interpretation of the Bible, is claiming attendance figures that would make it an unexpectedly strong draw less than a year and a half after it debuted. More than a half-million people have toured the Kentucky attraction since its May 2007 opening, museum officials said.
For creationists - Christians who believe the Bible's first chapter of Genesis is the literal telling of the universe's start - the museum is a godsend. Many have returned with family and friends, some from faraway states arguing it's one of the few with a Christian worldview.
Many scientists say they fear damaging effects on science education when young people tour the museum and fail to square its lessons with what they're learning in school. One display shows humans coexisting with dinosaurs - despite the two species being separated by 65 million years in most science texts.
Scientists have confirmed the second case of a "virgin birth" in a shark.
In a study reported Friday in the Journal of Fish Biology, scientists said DNA testing proved that a pup carried by a female Atlantic blacktip shark in the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center contained no genetic material from a male.
The first documented case of asexual reproduction, or parthenogenesis, among sharks involved a pup born to a hammerhead at an Omaha, Neb., zoo.
"This first case was no fluke," Demian Chapman, a shark scientist and lead author of the second study, said in a statement. "It is quite possible that this is something female sharks of many species can do on occasion."
A Long Wing butterfly perches on a leaf during the press preview of 'The Butterfly Conservatory: Tropical Butterflies Alive in Winter' at the American Museum of Natural History Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008 in New York. The eleventh annual exhibit opens to the public Oct. 11, and runs through May 25, 2009.
Photo by Mary Altaffer
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.
