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From 'TBH Politoons'
Great Site!
Thanks, again, Tim!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The kid & I 'did' lunch at McDonald's (it's a bit of a treat). Last time we were there they had chicken strips that he loved. Of course, they no longer have the strips & only
have mc-nuggets. He says mc-nuggets smell funny and wanted to what part of the chicken a nugget was.
Thanks for all the kind notes regarding the 1 year anniversary of BartCop Entertainment. I get some of the best mail on the 'net!
Was amazed that not a single network O & O (Owned & Operated) Los Angeles TV-station offered an update on the PA miners during their prime-time schedule! Jeez, freaking great news for a change, and they kept plugging
'the most deaths in an airshow ever' and 'live coverage of the Pope, from Mexico, on Monday with [insert station's favorite talking head's name here]'. Arfing-A!
Grew up on the edge of the coal region. For a taste, MineCountry Links,
The Centralia Mine Fire and
Coal Region Recipes. What was the first asked for out of the mine? A 'chew', as the waspy anchor reported it - bet it was closer to 'a cheewwww'. LOL.
Tonight, Sunday, CBS starts the night with '60 Minutes', follows with 'Touched By An Angle', and then the movie 'Having Our Say: Delany Sisters' First 100 Years'.
NBC opens with a 2-hour 'Dateline', then a rerun 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent', followed by a fresh 'Crime & Punishment'.
ABC has the movie 'First Kid', then reruns of 'Alias' and 'The Practice'.
The WB has 2 reruns of 'For Your Love', then a rerun of 'Charmed', and a rerun of 'Angel'.
Faux has a rerun of 'Futurama', then a fresh 'Greg The Bunny', then reruns of 'The Simpsons' and 'King Of The Hill', and then wraps with 2 reruns of 'Malcolm'.
UPN has the weekly rerun of 'Enterprise' and then the movie 'Striptease'.
MTV reruns the very first 'The Osbournes' at 10:30pm (edt).
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Top 20 News Sites
Newspapers
Half of the top 20 news Web sites in the U.S. during the month of June were affiliated with newspapers, up from seven in May, according to statistics from Nielsen/NetRatings.
The top news sites in terms of audience were CNN.com, MSNBC.com, Yahoo! News, and NYTimes.com, in that order. ABCNews.com came in 5th place, followed by Gannett's online properties and washingtonpost.com.
NYPost.com ranked at No. 11; latimes.com, No. 13; Belo Newspapers, No. 14; SFGate, No. 16; USAToday.com, No. 17; ChicagoTribune.com, No. 19; and Chicago's suntimes.com, No. 20.
The rankings of current events and news sites was based on a panel of 60,000-plus Americans accessing the Web at work and home.
A number of newspaper-affiliated sites also showed up in the top 20 directories/local guides category as ranked by Nielsen/NetRatings. In that list, the top three sites were Superpages.com, Yahoo! Yellow Pages, and Citysearch.
E.W. Scripps Newspapers came in at No. 13;, boston.com, No. 14; NWsource.com (Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer), No. 15; nj.com (Advance Internet), No. 16; Atlanta Journal-Constitution, No. 17; and TBO.com (Media General), No. 19.
Newspapers & Web Sites
Fun Link
Euphemisms
Euphemisms
Big Dog Watch Continues
Bill Clinton In Washington
Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., left, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, and former President Bill Clinton look on during a memorial service for Justin Dart, Jr, Friday, July 26, 2002
in Washington. Dart, who worked from his wheelchair for more than five decades in support of people with disabilities, is considered the father of the Americans With Disabilities Act, signed into law 12
years ago today.
Photo for Joe Marquette
AIDS Muppet Not Ruled Out
'Sesame Street'
The head of PBS won't rule out the appearance of an HIV-positive Muppet on "Sesame Street," saying the show's approach will reflect the virus' impact on U.S. children.
PBS President Pat Mitchell told the Television Critics Association on Friday that the South African character grew from the needs of that country, where millions
of children are affected by AIDS.
If the virus became a more serious problem for U.S. children, "Sesame Street" would be as responsive as it has been to other topics, Mitchell said.
She and the show's producers had previously said no HIV-positive character was planned in the U.S. version.
South Africa's "Takalani Sesame" is one of several locally produced versions of the children's program, which premiered in the United States in 1969.
Its new HIV-positive Muppet character was created at the urging of the South African government to educate children about AIDS.
Some 4.7 million South Africans — one in nine — are HIV positive, more people than in any other country.
'Sesame Street'
Cool Link
State Symbols, Flags, Seals...
State Symbols, Flags, Seals, Geography, and People of the United States of America
Liberal Radio !
Erin Hart
Liberal radio - what a concept!
Erin Hart at near-regulation hours! Sunday, from 10pm - 1am (pdt), at www.710kiro.com or www.kiro710.com (It's
a browser thing).
KIRO (Entercom) has stopped streaming audio. Boo. Hiss.
There's still the chatroom, but, it's not the same.
Visit Erin's fan page (courtesy of the amazing 14Dem), http://erinistas.com/, or to join her mailing list, drop a
note to erinistas@aol.com
La Jolla Cove
More Squid
Beach goers pass thousands of dead jumbo squid cover the beach at La Jolla Cove in La Jolla, California about 15 miles north of San Diego, July 26, 2002. Scientists believe
the squid were following prey (possibly grunion, a small fish) and washed ashore alive but were unable to get back into the water and died. City work crews were called to help
remove nine tons of dead squid.
Photo by Mike Blake
Interesting Link
Sparks
Sparks In Cyberspace
Not Really Retired?
Kiss
Kiss is apparently not yet done rocking-and-rolling all night and partying every day, despite previous announcements to the contrary. In a new posting on the band's official
website (kissonline.com), singer-guitarist Paul Stanley writes that Kiss has reconsidered its decision to stop touring, which led to a lengthy
farewell tour that began in 2000.
"People change their minds," Stanley writes in the "Paul Speaks" section of the site. "Am I doing this for the money or the fans? Both, and let's not forget, I'm doing this for me.
That is the reason I originally started playing; because I wanted to, and only I can decide ultimately when to stop. As you know (assuming that you have a job), it is great to have
both the appreciation of those around you and to be compensated financially."
Kiss last performed at the closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, in February.
No live dates have been announced for Kiss this year, but the group is rumored to be considering a road trek in the fall and winter, including a potential New Year's Eve show in Detroit.
Kiss
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
$5 Million for 'Prey'
Michael Crichton
In a preemptive strike, 20th Century Fox has purchased film rights to Michael Crichton's next novel, "Prey," for close to $5 million. No other studio was granted a shot at the manuscript.
The studio plans to move quickly toward a bigscreen version of the political thriller whose plot is a well-kept secret. The tome is said to be set in the world of nanotechnology, bringing
together themes from two earlier Crichton blockbusters, "Jurassic Park" and "The Andromeda Strain."
Fox executives were first approached about the rights several weeks ago, received a manuscript last Friday and concluded negotiations on Monday.
The deal is an unusual feat of big-money, bicoastal synergy for News Corp., corporate parent of Fox and Crichton's publisher, HarperCollins. Opting not to shop the manuscript on the open market,
Crichton submitted the book only to Fox -- a rare event in Hollywood, where literary rights are typically shopped to the highest bidder and ultimately spread across several companies.
Michael Crichton
I Don't Care If It Rains Or Freezes, Long As I Got My
Plastic Jesus
Plastic Jesus
Antarctica & Anthrax
Scott's Hut
Britain's Princess Anne inspects the desk of British explorer Robert Falcon Scott's hut at Cape Evans in this February 2002 file photo. New Zealand scientists have found
anthrax spores in the huts, believed to have been brought to the frozen continent by Manchurian ponies and Himalayan mules or on food for the animals used by Scott's expedition in 1912.
Photo by Mark Baker
Return To Asbury Park
Bruce Springsteen
Public works crews, a nightclub owner and even a fortune teller are busy making sure everything is just right when The Boss comes home.
Bruce Springsteen returns Tuesday to the shabby seaside city where he got his start. This time, he'll be belting out tunes to some 6.2 million fans as he headlines a three-hour remote
broadcast of NBC's "Today" from the boardwalk with co-hosts Matt Lauer and Katie Couric.
The rocker is promoting the Tuesday release of his new CD, "The Rising," by performing four songs live at Convention Hall.
Crews have been sodding and planting flowers near Convention Hall. They've already spruced up the marquee and painted the trim on the Boardwalk-level glass doors.
Just down Ocean Avenue, at the Stone Pony nightclub, owner Domenic Santana is bracing for an onslaught of out-of-town fans.
Even Madame Marie is coming out of retirement. The fortune teller, who once ran a Boardwalk booth, was immortalized on Springsteen's second record, "The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle."
Bruce Springsteen
BartCop TV!
Snarky Gossip
Michael Jackson
King of Pop Michael Jackson is a "financial time bomb waiting to explode at any moment," according to a former aide who is suing The Gloved One for $12 million in back pay.
Jackson has found himself tens of millions in debt in large part because of his high living - including a huge divorce settlement, costly payouts to lawyers and public-relations firms
and a $250,000-per-month tab to run his Neverland Ranch, Jackson's former business manager Myung Ho Lee alleges in his suit.
The revelations come in the wake of Jackson's poor sales for his most recent album, "Invincible" - which prompted him to come to New York earlier this month to blame Sony Records
honcho Tommy Mottola for the costly failure.
Lee alleges that in 1998 he helped Jackson borrow $140 million from Bank of America/NationsBank. The loan was made against the value of the $272 million Beatles song catalog Jackson owns.
By the next year, Jackson had blown through the money. That was big trouble because he had a divorce settlement to pay. Lee arranged another $30 million loan, which Jackson
allegedly blew through in a year.
In October 2000, Jackson needed even more money and Lee was able to get yet another $30 million, bringing the total Jackson owed to $200 million.
At the same time, Jackson lived a lavish lifestyle, according to budget figures for the months of October, November and December 2000, which were provided in the suit.
Part of Jackson's high cost of living resulted from personal problems, such as the $1.5 million payment to ex-wife Debbie Rowe in October 2000.
Lee's suit is now winding its way through Los Angeles Superior Court.
Michael Jackson
Volcano, Hawaii
Kilauea
Lava flows into the sea from the Kilauea Volcano, Friday, July 26, 2002, along a remote coastal area about eight miles from the community of Volcano, Hawaii. Although Kilauea
has been erupting for nearly 19 years, the recent lava flow began May 12, triggering one major fire and burning more than 3,600 acres in the most dangerous display of volcanic
activity from Kilauea since 1995.
Favorite Link
Stereoscopy
Stereoscopy.com - The World of 3D-Imaging!
In Memory
Frank Inn
Frank Inn, who trained some of Hollywood's biggest animal stars, including Benji the dog and Arnold the pig from "Green Acres," has died. He was 86.
Inn, whose real name was Frank Freeman, died Saturday at a rehabilitation near his Sylmar home where he had stayed since taking a fall in February, said Bob Hillman, his longtime caregiver.
The cause of death was not immediately known but Inn was a diabetic and had been in ill health for several years, said his daughter, Kathleen Hees of Chico.
"He was a dear man and quite an extraordinary trainer," said actress June Lockhart, who worked with him on a "Lassie" movie in the 1940s.
During a career spanning six decades, Inn trained animals for dozens of movies and TV shows. He students included Cleo the basset hound from the 1950s Jackie Cooper show "People's Choice" and Arnold Ziffel the pig for the 1960s television sitcom "Green Acres." He also trained the nearly 500 animals that appeared in TV's "The Beverly Hillbillies."
His best-known animal was the spunky, heroic mutt Benji. Inn rescued the original Benji from the Burbank Animal Shelter in 1960. It grew up to star in the TV series "Petticoat Junction" and came out of retirement 14 years later to make a popular series of movies.
Inn helped launch the careers of many other trainers, including Karl Lewis Miller, who handled the pig and other animals in the hit movie "Babe."
"Most of the trainers today either worked for him or trained by people who did work for him," Inn's daughter said.
Animals trained by Inn received dozens of Patsy awards - the animal equivalent of the Oscar - from the American Humane Association.
His daughter said Inn also had a company in the San Fernando Valley that provided animals for movies and TV.
"He had chimpanzees, and an elephant, lions, farm animals," she said.
Inn's career happened by chance. The Camby, Ind.-born son of a Quaker preacher was in California in the 1930s when he was hit by a car. Pronounced dead, he was taken to a morgue where a student learning embalming detected a heartbeat.
Inn was confined to a wheelchair while healing and was given a puppy for company, which he named Jeep after a cartoon character.
He lured the wary Jeep with food and eventually had only to wave his hand for the puppy to appear or bark.
"That was the beginning of my dog training," he recalled in a 1999 magazine article.
He was doing menial jobs at MGM when he watched legendary animal trainer Henry East unsuccessfully trying to get a dog to climb up a flight of stairs, enter a bedroom, crawl under the bed covers, stick out his head and bark.
Inn said he had a dog that could do the routine. Inn got Jeep, then used a ball to lure the dog into performing the trick. East was so impressed that he hired Inn to work for him at a salary of 50 cents a day.
Although he retired three times, ending his career for good about 15 years ago.
Inn was a huge man - at one time he weighed 400 pounds - with a Santa Claus-like beard and a trademark ship captain's hat. He was a devout Christian who did much charity work, providing dogs for the disabled and promoting the adoption of pets from animal shelters.
He could be demanding but "he'd also give you the shirt off his back," Hillman said.
In addition to his daughter Kathleen, Inn is survived by his daughter Lori Grajeda of Chico, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Services were pending.
He kept the cremated remains of Benji, Arnold, the dog Tramp from "My Three Sons" and other animals in urns at his home and had requested that the remains be placed in his casket when he died, his daughter Kathleen said.
Frank Inn
Defendants & Witnesses
Pakistan
Defendants and witnesses in a gang-rape case alight from a police bus inside the premises of a court in Dera Ghazi Khan, 115 km west of Punjab provincial city of Multan on July 26, 2002.
Photos by Ian Hodgson
'The Osbournes'
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 2
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
