Poor Elijah (Peter Berger): Fifteenth Annual Emperor's Awards (irascibleprofessor.com)
As September approaches, it's time to gear up for the school term ahead. Where better to seek inspiration than the signal moments of the past year. The Emperor Awards celebrate education highlights that commemorate the spirit of both the monarch of underwear fame, and his devoted admirers.
Luaine Lee: After near death, Jane Seymour is getting the most out of life (McClatchy-Tribune News Service)
It took a near-death experience to turn actress Jane Seymour's life around.
She was making the biopic on Maria Callas in Spain when she came down with bronchitis. An antibiotic was injected into a vein instead of the muscle, and Seymour - best known as the invincible Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman - went into anaphylactic shock.
Ed Morales: Ximena Sarinana is many things; 'mediocre' is not one of them (Newsday)
During this period, Sarinana began to fall in love with jazz. "I began to play with big bands and sing strictly standards. Too many young people think that jazz is for old people, but it's the opposite. Jazz is the ultimate icon - sometimes more than rock - of rebellion."
The book, 'Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming'
by Michael E. Mann and Lee R. Kump, projects that a combination of increasing water demand and worsening
drought due to climate change threatens to dry up Lake Mead in a little more than ____________?
A: a couple of years
B: 10 years
C: 20 years
D: 50 years
E: 100 years
I have several copies of 'Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming'
by Michael E. Mann and Lee R. Kump as 'prizes' for the correct answer today.
A: damn fine cigar
B: dog hair yarn
C: fermented milk beverage
D: toupee for a cat
E: Turkish taffy
Source
Chiengora is a yarn or wool spun from dog hair. The word is a portmanteau of "chien", the French word for dog, and "angora." It is up to 80% warmer than wool and is not elastic.
Alan J was first, and correct, with:
Dog hair yarn
Charlie responded:
I guess I'm glad somebody besides the dog has uses for it.
B: dog hair yarn
Sandra in Bangor wrote:
B. dog hair
just a guess!
~ Tony In Philly replied:
Had to look it up. Eww.
The Google says B: Dog Hair Yarn
DanD observed:
I wonder, if you make a cat sweater out of chiengora, could it count as a toupee? I tried to fit some damn fine kind of milk fermented, Turkish taffy cigar smoke into the mix, but my stomach started getting upset.
I took the gastric hint and just answered the question with "B."
Anyway Sally, once upon a time, the "high road" path of getting across America before America's premier roadkill interstate system was constructed was to take Route 66, which I believe passed through (or no more than a stone's throw close to) Oklahoma City.
Now, way back then, Oklahoma was way ahead in the game of the speed-trap con, and of course, since (after being pulled over by Oklahoma's finest) you had to show up in court to have your ticket processed, that meant spending at least one night in some overpriced Oklahoma incarceration facility (I think Oklahoma also pioneered motel taxes back then). NEXT, you had to park your vehicle over close to the courthouse so you could pay your punitive assessments.
So when all the poor rubes finally paid their way out of the courthouse, they suddenly discovered what all them funny little stumps lining up and down the street were about ... those Oklahomans were getting them coming and going.
(This little missive is also known as the urban legend: "How Oklahoma bypassed Congress to enact a direct (punitive) tax against the nation." Not being (too) stupid, the rest of the nation's worthlessly overpopulating, law-enforcing public servant class soon followed suit almost everywhere else.)
Adam in NoHo answered:
B- 'Chien-' for dog and '-gora' for long, or warm, or whatever.
B.
PW responded:
B - Dog Hair Yarn
long time, busy Summer.
The Philadelphia-vacationing Marian the Teacher answered:
dog hair yarn
Sally said:
After visiting my friend who has more than one, long-haired, shaggy doggies, I often exclaim, "Jesus wept, gf; there's enough, "chiengora" here to spin a sweater (B).
I have been busy harvesting my garden. Yes, twelve miles from the heart of NYC (I'm on the OTHER side of the Hudson River) I have a nice garden going. I thought it would never get going because we has so much rain in the spring. And, of course only certain vegetables grow here (the soil has not been worked properly until I moved here 5 years ago). I get wonderful peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, eggplant, cucumbers, squash, and this year I did the little red Jersey potatoes! Last year I lost a lot of tomatoes to a villainous woodchuck, and this year we have had the deer moving in closer and closer. I have a good woodchuck spray (fox urine) but the deer prove especially difficult to keep away.
But I digress. Today, I went downtown Cresskill (population about 7,500) to water some potted flowers (because I am a member to our garden club here). Then I returned home and have been dicing and slicing veggies all afternoon. I am making a pepper and eggplant sauté (with celery and tomatoes, seasoning, etc.) and am freezing other such delights for winter use. No, I don't live 50 miles from a store, but without a car, it feels like it at times. And, I really like fresh vegetables with no chemical spraying, etc.
I am sitting up every night watching these damned Olympic Games (I have no cable TV, but NBC is airing highlights over night) and I am sure to feel the loss after the games end - as I always do. This year the precious grandson (age 8) has been sharing the excitement with me - you just get such a boost watching again through their eyes...
Excuse my rambling here,
Till the morrow (when Obama chooses Hillary for VP)?
And, Joe S replied:
B: dog hair yarn
Thanks to Charlie and Joe S for the pictures.
Coming Eventually! - 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour' on DVD!
CBS opens the night with a FRESH'Big Brother 10', followed by a RERUN'CSI: The Original One', then a FRESH'Flashpoint'.
On a RERUNDave (from 7/21/08) are Will Ferrell and a "MythBusters" demonstration by Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman.
On a RERUNCraig (R 6/9/08) are Tim Meadows, Betty White, Evan Handler, and MGMT.
NBC fills the night with more pre-taped, time-delayed, sanitized, and appallingly jingoed-up 'Olympics'.
(How To Watch Beijing 2008 Olympics Online For Free)
Leno is pre-empted for Olympic coverage.
Conan is pre-empted for Olympic coverage.
Carson 'The Scab' Daly is pre-empted for Olympic coverage.
ABC starts the night with a RERUN'Ugly Betty', followed by a RERUN'Grey's Anatomy', then a RERUN'Private Practice'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 8/8/08) are Ben Stiller, Danica McKellar, and Airbourne.
The CW offers a RERUN'Smallville', followed by a RERUN'Supernatural'.
Faux has LIVE'NFL Preseason Football' (49ers visit Chicago), then pads the left coast with old 'Simpsons' and 'Malcolm's.
MY fills the night with the movie 'Jaws 3'.
A&E has 'The First 48', another 'The First 48', still another 'The First 48', and the FRESH"Jacked: Auto Theft Task Force'.
AMC offers the movie 'GoldenEye', followed by the movie 'Matchstick Men', then the movie 'The Karate Kid: Part II'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 5
[12:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 6
[1:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 4 Morgan's
[2:00 PM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 8
[3:00 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 7 Kedleston 16
[3:30 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 8 Derby 3
[4:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 18
[4:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 1
[5:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 7
[5:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 8
[6:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 1 La Riviera
[7:00 PM] BBC World News America
[8:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 2 The Fenwick Arms
[9:00 PM] Dragons' Den - Episode 1
[11:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 2 The Fenwick Arms
[12:00 AM] Dragons' Den - Episode 1
[1:00 AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 2 The Fenwick Arms
[2:00 AM] Dragons' Den - Episode 1
[3:00 AM] The Graham Norton Show - Ep 11 Miriam Margolyes, Ashley Jensen and Mika
[4:00 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 7 Kedleston 16
[4:30 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 8 Derby 3
[5:00 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 1 Doyle
[5:30 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 2 Rice
[6:00 AM] BBC World News (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Shear Genius''Shear Genius', 'Project Runway', and a FRESH'Tabitha's Salon Takeover'.
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', last night's 'Jon Stewart', last night's 'Colbert Report', 'Futurama', 'South Park', followed by a FRESH'Gong Show With Dave Attell', then a FRESH'Reality Bites Back'.
On a RERUNJon Stewart (from 8/13/08) is Philip Pan.
On a RERUNColbert Report (from 8/11/08) is Jorge Ramos.
FX has the movie 'In Her Shoes', followed by the movie 'Just Married', then the movie 'Dude, Where's My Car?'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', another 'Modern Marvels', followed by a FRESH'Modern Marvels', and a FRESH'The Works'.
IFC -
[7:40 AM] Darkon
[9:15 AM] Harlan County, U.S.A.
[11:05 AM] Picnic at Hanging Rock
[1:00 PM] Diabolique
[3:00 PM] Harlan County, U.S.A.
[4:50 PM] Picnic at Hanging Rock
[6:45 PM] Light Sleeper
[8:30 PM] Samurai 7
[9:00 PM] Love & Sex
[10:30 PM] Next Stop Wonderland
[12:45 AM] Dancing at the Blue Iguana
[2:50 AM] IFC in Theaters
[3:00 AM] When Will I Be Loved
[4:30 AM] Overnight
[5:55 AM] Manic (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[05:00 AM] Ushpizin
[06:35 AM] Sunset Bollywood
[07:30 AM] Kardia
[09:00 AM] Part 5
[10:00 AM] Let's Rock Again
[11:15 AM] Cookie's Fortune
[01:30 PM] Swimmers
[03:00 PM] Household Saints
[05:15 PM] In This World
[07:00 PM] The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World (Episode 3)
[07:30 PM] The White Countess
[10:00 PM] The Subways, Gnarls Barkley & Herbie Hancock w/ Sonya Kitchell
[11:00 PM] Howard Schultz + Norman Lear
[12:00 AM] Episode 5
[01:00 AM] Teenage Wasteland
[02:00 AM] Episode 5
[03:00 AM] Wynton Marsalis + John Besh
[04:00 AM] Episode 11 - Middle East, Part 2
[04:30 AM] Episode 12 - Indiana/Wisconsin
[05:00 AM] Kike Like Me (ALL TIMES EST)
The three surviving members of the '70s punk band The Germs, from left, Don Bolles, Lorna Doom and Pat Smear, place their hand prints, and a crustacean claw print for Bolles, in the wet concrete of a plaque that will be installed in Hollywood's RockWalk in Los Angeles Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008. A special plaque commemorates lead singer Darby Crash, who died in 1980.
Photo by Reed Saxon
MSGOP talk show host Keith Olbermann is getting a new running mate, Rachel Maddow, who will follow Olbermann's "Countdown" with her own prime-time hour starting next month.
Maddow, a political commentator who is heard daily on the Air America Radio network and has served as a guest host for Olbermann, will launch her MSGOP show Sept. 8, the network announced Wednesday.
"The Rachel Maddow Show," billed as "a smart look at politics, pop culture and all the day's top stories," will originate weeknights at 9 p.m. EDT.
Before claiming the time slot currently occupied by Dan Abrams, she will be a political panelist during MSGOP's coverage of the Democratic and Republican national conventions.
Iran has banned a popular actress from leaving the country after she starred in a Hollywood movie without permission from Iranian authorities, the official IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday.
The ban was imposed after Golshifteh Farahani, 25, took part in Ridley Scott's "Body of Lies" with Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. Farahani is the first Iranian-based female actor to star in a Hollywood movie.
"She found out about the ban on Tuesday when she wanted to travel to Hollywood to examine a new offer," an unnamed source told the agency.
IRNA said Iranian movie stars must obtain permission from the Culture Ministry before appearing in foreign movies.
Actress Jennifer Garner poses on the press line at the 'Baby Einstein 10th Anniversary Celebration' at the Walt Disney Concert Call in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008.
Photo by Dan Steinberg
Television programs with medical and hospital themes get so many details wrong, according to a leading Italian medical group, that Italy's main broadcasters should refrain from airing them.
Annalisa Silvestro, president of the National Federation of Medical Colleges, said that offending programs include imported fare such as "ER," "House," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scrubs," along with a host of Italian-made productions, several of which are scheduled to premiere with state broadcaster RAI or Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset when new schedules start in September.
The Order of Medical Professionals of Rome echoed that view.
"These programs are teaching viewers inaccurate views on medicine," Silvestro said. "They are spreading misinformation."
France's broadcast authority has banned French channels from airing TV shows aimed at children under 3 years old, to shield them from developmental risks it says television viewing poses at that age.
France's minister for culture and communication, Christine Albanel, issued a "cry of alarm" to parents in June about channels dedicated 24 hours a day to baby-targeted programming. In a newspaper interview, she called them "a danger" and urged parents not to use them to help their children get to sleep.
She was referring to two foreign channels that can be seen in France on cable television, BabyFirstTV and Baby TV.
Baby TV is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The three companies behind BabyFirstTV are Regency Enterprises, a film and TV production company that is a partner of News Corp.'s Fox Entertainment; Kardan N.V, an investment group based in the Netherlands and Israel; and Bellco Capital, a private Los Angeles-based investment fund.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela on Wednesday signed his Cape Town home over to the city for use as a living museum.
Jakes Gerwel, chairman of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, one of Mandela's three charity organisations, said the house had been Mandela's "only home outside of prison in the Western Cape."
The nobel peace prize laureate, who was South Africa's first black president, spent 27 years imprisoned in jailhouses in the province by the white minority apartheid government.
A frail, but smiling Mandela sat through Wednesday's proceedings without speaking.
Matt Damon's wife Luciana gave birth to a baby girl Wednesday, his spokeswoman said.
The baby's name is Gia Zavala Damon, spokeswoman Jennifer Allen told The Associated Press, adding: "Everyone is great and she is a healthy, beautiful baby girl."
There won't be much "livin' la vida loca" for Ricky Martin these days - he's now the father of twin boys.
The Latin superstar had the children via a surrogate mother, and the babies were born a few weeks ago, according to a statement from his representatives.
"The children, delivered via gestational surrogacy, are healthy and already under Ricky's full-time care," said the statement. "Ricky is elated to begin this new chapter in his life as a parent and will be spending the remainder of the year out of the public spotlight in order to spend time with his children."
The Hollywood talent agency International Creative Management agreed on Tuesday to pay $4.5 million to settle an age-discrimination suit brought by TV writers, the first of 23 such class-action cases to be resolved.
ICM is one 12 talent agencies first sued in 2000 along with various broadcast networks and studios by screenwriters aged 40 and over who claimed they were "gray-listed" by the television industry and squeezed out of jobs in favor of younger scribes.
The ICM case represents 3 or 4 percent of total monetary damages that affected writers stand to gain industrywide if all 23 cases were settled, said Paul Sprenger, lead attorney for the writers.
Other companies named as defendants in the suits include major U.S. networks ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, about a dozen production companies and various corporate parents such as Walt Disney Co and Warner Bros.
Members of Circassian group, Psapheet, performs during a folkloric show at al-Hamraa theatre in Damascus August 20, 2008, as part of the celebrations to mark the city as Arab capital of culture for this year.
Photo by Khaled al-Hariri
Disgraced British glam rocker Gary Glitter flew to Hong Kong on Wednesday, airline officials said, after Thai police barred him from entry following his release from three years' prison in Vietnam for child sex abuse.
The 64-year-old Briton, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was allowed to board a Thai Airways flight even though immigration police at Bangkok airport said he would be deported to London "as soon as possible."
Having been booted out of communist Vietnam on Tuesday at the end of his sentence, police said Glitter feigned ear and heart problems in Bangkok to miss a connecting flight to London, apparently fearful of a hostile reception in Britain.
He is best known for his bouffant 1970s hairstyle, high heels and hits such as "Rock and Roll (Parts 1 & 2)," "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)!" and "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I am)."
A commercial airline pilot and convert to Islam who says his name is on the U.S. government's secret terrorist watch list has fought back, filing a federal lawsuit against the Homeland Security Department and various other federal agencies.
Erich Scherfen says unless his name is removed from the list, he faces losing not only his job but the ability to make a living in his chosen profession.
He alleges that the government's actions have violated his and his wife's constitutional rights. The suit seeks a hearing and a decision before he is scheduled to lose his job on Sept. 1.
A New Jersey native, Scherfen, 37, said he believes his name was placed on a watch list because he converted to Islam in 1994 - even though he is a Gulf War combat veteran. Both he and his Pakistan-born wife, who is also a Muslim, said they have no criminal records or ties to terrorists.
In their lawsuit, the couple said they have been repeatedly subjected to searches, questioning and detention at airports and border crossings since 2006. Ticket agents and others have made vague references to their names being on lists, but there was no clear explanation for the extra scrutiny.
In this photo provided by StarPix, the Radio City Rockettes pose outside the Music Hall as the Radio City Christmas Spectacular tickets go on sale Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008 in New York.
Photo by Marion Curtis
At least eight American blogger-activists and several other foreigners have been detained in Beijing as the government intensifies a crackdown on pro-Tibetan protests in the home stretch of the Olympics, rights groups said on Wednesday.
Students for a Free Tibet earlier said authorities detained five self-styled "citizen journalists" who were in Beijing to promote Tibetan freedom on Tuesday. The New York-based group said activist-artist James Powderly had also been nabbed.
Later on Wednesday, the group said four more protesters, including two Americans and a British national, were also detained after unfurling a Tibetan flag outside the National Stadium, or "Bird's Nest."
The Beijing Olympics have not been dogged by the widespread demonstrations that authorities had feared. Several protesters advocating for Tibet independence have nonetheless managed to breach tight security, in one case hanging a "Free Tibet" banner outside the headquarters of the state broadcaster.
Guinness World Records has returned the title of world's tallest man to China's Bao Xishun after Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk refused to be measured under new guidelines.
Bao, who stands at 7 feet, 8.95 inches, held the title for a year before losing it in 2006 to Stadnyk, who is 8 feet 5.5 inches tall, Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records, told Reuters.
Glenday said Guinness had been asking Stadnyk since about 2004 -- when the organization first heard of him -- if they could measure him, offering to fly officials to the Ukraine or fly him to Britain.
"He has gone on record saying he doesn't want to be bothered. Basically he doesn't want the fame and publicity that comes with being the world's tallest man," he said. "Whether or not that's the real reason ... I'm not sure, but that's what he's told us."
Ossetian protesters demonstrate outside NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday Aug. 19, 2008. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her NATO counterparts are reviewing relations with Moscow and are expected to curtail high level meetings and military cooperation with Russia if it does not abandon crucial positions across Georgia.
Photo by Geert Vanden Wijngaert
Former Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler has pleaded not guilty to drug charges and will remain in rehab for at least the next month.
Adler appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday morning with a friend and therapist. A judge ordered him to remain in rehab while he awaits a preliminary hearing on a felony charge of drug possession and a misdemeanor count of being under the influence of drugs.
Adler's attorney says the 43-year-old musician's recovery is being monitored by celebrity rehab specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky.
The Amish are expanding their presence in states far beyond Pennsylvania Dutch country as they search for affordable farmland to accommodate a population that has nearly doubled in the past 16 years, a new study found.
States such as Missouri, Kentucky and Minnesota have seen increases in their Amish populations of more than 130 percent. The Amish now number an estimated 227,000 nationwide, up from 123,000 in 1992, according to researchers from Elizabethtown College's Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies.
Over the same period, Amish settlements have been established in seven new states, putting them in at least 28 states from coast to coast. The new states are: Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, Washington and West Virginia.
Amish couples typically have five or more children. With more than four out of every five deciding in young adulthood to remain within the church, their population has grown steadily. More than half the population is under 21.
Seal pup Eddy peeks out of a basket, at the Norddeich port, northern Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008, before being transported to the sands of the island of Juist. Eddy was raised in a station for abandoned seals in Norddeich and will be released into the North Sea.
Photo by Focke Strangmann
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.
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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.
The book, 'Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming'
