'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Ellen Goodman: Post-Election Polls: Men Were Angry At Bush, Women Wanted Change (Truthdig. Posted on Alteret.org)
If men had been the only voters in Missouri, Montana or Virginia, we'd have a Republican Senate. It's time for the Dems to listen to what women were voting for in the 2006 elections.
Luke Baumgarten: The Sins of the World (Pacific Northwest Inlander; Posted on altweeklies.com)
On the evening of September 14, in Whitworth College's Weyerhaeuser Hall, Dr. Tom Ackerman stood before more than 200 people and gave a PowerPoint presentation that could pass for a community theater version of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Climate change is a scientific fact for which there is no academic dissent, said Ackerman, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington. Climate change is our fault. We have a moral obligation to fix it.
Ted McGregor Jr.: Peace on Earth (Pacific Northwest Inlander; Posted on altweeklies.com)
We look at the surprising, serendipitous history of the peace symbol.
Red Cross Revises Tips for Helping Choking Victims (evendaysvt.com)
The American Red Cross, however, recently changed its first-aid protocol to de-emphasize the use of the Heimlich for treating a conscious choking victim. According to Mike Higgins, manager of community preparedness education at the northern Vermont chapter of the American Red Cross, the new protocol recommends calling 9-1-1, then giving the person several sharp blows to the back, right between the shoulder blades, with the heel of the hand. If this doesn't clear the obstructed airway, "abdominal thrusts" should be tried next, alternating with repeated back blows, until the person breathes freely or loses consciousness.
Patrick Barkham: The Borat backlash (guardian.co.uk)
Americans turned Sacha Baron Cohen's spoof documentary into a massive box-office hit. But with many of his victims now turning to the courts, who will have the last laugh?
'The honeymoon is over' (guardian.co.uk)
The truth is that Baron Cohen is an odious twit and his film is contemptible, says Joe Queena.
Dawn C. Chmielewski: Coming to the tiny screen (latimes.com)
Director Kevin Smith teaches UCLA students to make videos for his show, airing on an MTV channel and on cellphone.
Lesbian Worlds Coming Out Stories (lesbianworlds.com)
Not all of us are able to come out in our lives. Sometimes it is the political climate of the city in which we live. Or our family and friends have strong, negative reactions to lesbians based upon their personal religious beliefs. And perhaps our employment would be threatened. Though the reasons are varied the pain of not telling someone can sometimes be difficult to endure. Here are some who did.
City-data.com
We've collected and analyzed data from numerous sources to create as complete and interesting profiles of all U.S. cities as we could. We have over 30,000 city photos not found anywhere else, hundreds of thousands of maps, satellite photos, stats about residents (race, income, ancestries, education, employment...), geographical data, state profiles, crime data, housing, businesses, birthplaces of famous people, political contributions, city government employment, weather, hospitals, schools, libraries, houses, airports, radio and TV stations, zip codes, area codes, user-submitted facts, similar cities list, comparisons to averages...
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast and mid-60°s.
The transmission had to be replaced - ouch.
OTOH, the car is 13 years old and has over 250,000 miles on it.
All She Is Saying...
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono, widow of slain Beatle John Lennon, issued a plea for forgiveness to the world's suffering people in a full page notice in Sunday's New York Times entitled "Forgive us."
Noting that the December 8 anniversary of her husband's murder at the hands of an assassin was approaching, Ono thanked the people from whom she hears each year, but said she wanted to send a message this year as well.
Directing her words to "people who have lost loved ones without cause," to "the soldiers of all countries and of all centuries," to civilians who were injured or killed and to "people who have been abused or tortured," Ono wrote "Know that your loss is our loss ... Know that the burden is ours," and asked "Forgive us."
Ono concluded by asking that December 8 become "the day to ask for forgiveness from those who suffered the insufferable," and for "healing ourselves" and thus the world.
Yoko Ono
Lends Voice To Hearing Impaired
Placido Domingo
Placido Domingo's latest project is music to the ears of the hearing-impaired. The tenor, paired with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, is speaking for a global effort called "Hear the World" to raise awareness about hearing loss and to offer the latest technology to those in need - especially in developing countries.
Hearing aids will be delivered to poor children in the Guatemalan jungle; hearing-challenged youths in Pretoria, South Africa, will be taught how to function alongside classmates who hear; and youngsters in remote parts of the island of Fiji will be tested for the first time.
Domingo and members of the Vienna orchestra were expected at a Carnegie Hall news conference on Tuesday to announce the new, nonprofit Hear the World Foundation, based in Zurich, Switzerland. The effort is sponsored by the Swiss company Phonak, a leading high-tech hearing device manufacturer.
Placido Domingo
Concert To Mark 10th Anniversary
Princes William & Harry
Princes William and Harry plan to stage a concert with performers including Elton John next year to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of their mother, Diana Princess of Wales, a newspaper reported Saturday.
The Sunday Mirror reported the brothers would directly arrange the event, scheduled to be held at London's redeveloped Wembley Stadium - which can hold around 90,000 spectators - on July 1, 2007.
Proceeds would be donated to British homeless charity Centrepoint and other causes supported by Diana, the newspaper reported. It was expected to be shown live on television.
Princes William & Harry
Nobel Winner With An Opinion
Shirin Ebadi
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi said on Saturday nations with nuclear capabilities should spend money to stop exploitation of women instead of making bombs.
The lawyer, in India to promote women's rights, said governments often said they lacked the funds to improve women's lives, but added that they had no financial constraints when it came to manufacturing nuclear bombs.
"I think no country needs bombs -- not India, Pakistan, Iran, America or Israel," Ebadi said through a translator at a news conference in New Delhi.
Shirin Ebadi
Cracks US Market
'Corner Gas'
Canadian broadcaster CTV Inc. on Friday cracked the U.S. market by selling "Corner Gas," Canada's top homegrown sitcom, to Superstation WGN.
Under the two-year deal Tribune Broadcasting's Superstation WGN will air four seasons of "Corner Gas," an ensemble comedy set in the fictional prairie town of Dog River, Saskatchewan. The 88 episodes will be available in around 70 million homes via cable or satellite beginning in 2007.
"Corner Gas" has consistently been the top-rated comedy on Canadian TV, beating out American competition and pulling in an average of around 1.5 million viewers weekly.
'Corner Gas'
Gets $500K Gift
Clinton School of Public Service
A branch of the University of Arkansas named after Bill Clinton hopes to lure more big-name speakers after receiving a half-million dollar donation from the family of a local doctor.
The family of the late Dr. Frank Kumpuris and his widow, Kula Kumpuris, announced the gift to the Clinton School of Public Service at a news conference Saturday.
"Mother and Daddy have always taught us that you have to give back," Kumpuris' eldest child, Dr. Dean Kumpuris, told the crowd gathered in the lobby of the school, near the Clinton Presidential Library. "You have to be concerned about the world and your community."
Clinton School of Public Service
Jesse Jackson Show Appearance
Michael Richards
Michael Richards will appear on the Rev. Jesse Jackson's nationally syndicated radio program to discuss his racist rant at a Los Angeles comedy club, the civil rights leader said Saturday.
Richards' participation in the "Keep Hope Alive" program is a chance to reach out and apologize to the black community, Jackson said.
While he called Richards' words "hateful," "sick," and "deep-seated," Jackson said his inclusion in the radio show airing Sunday would be a chance for a broader discussion about black actors, writers and directors' "cultural isolation" in the entertainment industry.
Appearance
Hacks Phone Data
Linkin Park Fan
A woman is accused of using a computer at a national laboratory to hack into a cell phone company's Web site to get a number for Chester Bennington, lead singer of the Grammy-winning rock group Linkin Park.
According to an affidavit filed by the Department of Defense Inspector General, Devon Townsend, 27, obtained copies of Bennington's cell phone bill, the phone numbers he called and digital pictures taken with the phone.
Investigators said she also hacked into the e-mail of Bennington's wife, Talinda Bennington, and at one point called her and threatened her.
Linkin Park Fan
Swedish Town Seeks Look-Alike
Ingrid Bergman
A small Swedish town is searching for a bride-to-be who is an Ingrid Bergman look-alike to take part in a reenactment of the film star's first wedding in 1937.
The search has been initiated by the folklore society in Stode, 235 miles north of Stockholm, to mark the 70-year anniversary of Bergman's wedding to her first husband Petter Aron Lindstrom in the town church.
The Bergman-style wedding is planned for the summer of 2007 and, aside from featuring a look-alike bride and wedding dress, guests will be invited to dine on the original wedding porcelain at the wedding party. The groom does not necessarily have to resemble Lindstrom, who came from Stode.
Ingrid Bergman
Piece Preserved For Public Viewing
Jackson Pollock
For the first time in nearly a half-century, Jackson Pollock's monumental frieze painting, "No. 2, 1949," is being seen as the artist created it.
One of Pollock's pioneering paintings from his classic "drip" period, "No. 2" was covered front and back with polyvinyl acetate in 1959 by a well-intentioned museum conservator at the Munson Williams Proctor Museum of Art in Utica.
Application of PVA was a standard conservation practice at the time. Acting like shrink wrap, the veneer arrested the cracking and flaking that was slowly damaging the painting. But it also left a blue-grey sheen that dulled the Indian red background and the layers of glossy colours.
Removing the coating has improved how the five-metre-long painting looks, creating more depth by allowing the brighter colours to come forward and the background to recede, Schweizer said.
Jackson Pollock
Rare Crane Chick Starts Journey
Whooping Crane
One of the first whooping crane chicks hatched in the wild in more than a century is making more history as it migrates south with its parents from a Wisconsin refuge.
The chick, whose sibling apparently was killed by a predator, hatched in June at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin, according to Operation Migration, the group coordinating an effort to establish a second migrating flock of the birds in North America.
Operation Migration also has ultralight aircraft leading a separate flock of 18 young cranes hatched in captivity to a Florida refuge as part of the project. Those cranes make many stops along the way. They are kept in portable pens at night and when weather conditions aren't good enough to fly.
The only other migrating flock has about 200 birds and migrates from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast. A non-migratory flock in Florida has about 60 birds.
Whooping Crane
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