'Best of TBH Politoons'
Humor: Ex-Chihuahua sues Paris Hilton
Humor Gazette
Ex-Chihuahua sues Paris Hilton
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Josh Marshall: September 05, 2006 (Scroll down; talkingpointsmemo)
My wife IMed to ask if I was at my desk: "Hold on. I'm calling." I didn't think anything of it until I heard her speak. But then I knew something was terribly wrong. Her voice was broken and distraught. She cried my name in a way I'd never heard before. But I could tell she was crying for my pain. My chest started to tighten. Is it my dad, I asked?
Mark Brunswick: In Anbar, another pointless killing (michaelmoore.com)
TAQADDUM, Iraq - Desolate doesn't begin to describe this place. The wind is strong, but it's silent because it has nothing to hit. A fine dust coats everything in minutes; Saddam Hussein hid fighter jets in the sand here.
Roger Angell: OLD COUNTRY (newyorker.com)
There's no knowing what place September 11th will occupy in our minds in another five or ten years, but the surprise just now is that s many of its persistent, recircling images are about age.
Blake Eskin: What's Next for Mr. Next (newyorker.com)
In 2003, Ian Parker wrote a Talk of the Town story about Bill Jones, the line director at Whole Foods in Chelsea. Here Jones checks out the machine that has replaced him.
Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Getting undeserved goodwill (jewishworldreview.com)
Is it wrong to get credit for something you didn't do?
Ellen Talks About Her New Season (The Associated Press; Posted on 365gay.com)
Ellen Degeneres wants to reach a few personal goals during the fourth season of her Emmy-winning syndicated daytime talk show, which begins today. On the list? Learning Spanish, acquiring basic computer skills and ditching her daily shampoo duties.
Bridget Whelan: With dating, college is a chance to start over again -- thank goodness (athensnews.com)
In high school, going out on dates was an excuse to get out from under the parental watchful eye to have a few moments alone (probably in the backseat of a car) with that special someone. In college, that special someone is getting drunk in his dorm room while 15 of his friends cheer him on. He doesn't have much use for a night on the town. (athensnews.com)
Matt Seaton: Why I love the 'fixie' (guardian.co.uk)
I've been putting off writing this one. Not because it's a difficult or awkward subject - quite the reverse: because it's too pleasurable and feels as though I'm just boring on about a hobby-horse. I think of it as "my paean to the fixed-gear bike" - a cycling topic that has to date seemed perhaps one click too arcane. But now I think it is no longer an indulgent fancy on my part, but an idea whose time has come.
Michael Billington: Sounding off (guardian.co.uk)
To boo or not to boo? That is the question. Is it better for an audience to show its disapproval at the end of a show or are they entitled to make abusive remarks while it's in progress?
David Bruce: Wise Up! Education (athensnews.com)
Frank DeCaro's mother did very poorly at school. She used to say that the one time she knew the answer to a teacher's question was when she was ill with laryngitis. The teacher saw her raise her arm to answer the question, then told her, "Put your arm down -- you can't talk anyway."
Marian The Teacher Comments
'The List'
Don't worry about the list re: your child's school
I'm serious, don't worry. Bush is gone soon and the "no child left behind" mandate which was NEVER fully funded by the federal government will be gone. The Feds gave a small percentage towards it which indicates that they knew the outcome in advance. There were good things that came from that mandate, but the lack of funding can't make teachers produce miracles although most work hours you wouldn't believe and for so little money.
In the meantime, how is your son learning? If you're not satisfied, either move to an area which is moving in the direction that the API calls for or find a private school or consider homeschooling.
BTW, principals are jumping schools more than crickets. What does that say about our schools??
In the meantime, I'm working my butt off to help students pass the High School Exit Exam. In more ways than one, Poor teachers!!
Marian
Thanks, Marian!
In all the years the kid's been in school, we've only encountered one teacher who was an asshole - and that was back in elementary school.
He's the one who had the class listening to Pigboy, a problem with farting and screamed a lot.
Having the kid quote a drug-addict as gospel at the dinner table, while proudly wearing his D.A.R.E. shirt was a bit much for my irony-meter.
Private school's not really an option. As to home-schooling, I'm patient, but no where near that patient.
I can't blame the principals for jumping - they're being used as fall guys for a system that doesn't work.
And, yes, poor teachers!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Hotter & more humid than seasonal.
The kid's first day of school was uneventful. Whew.
No new flags.
Tops US Charts - First Time In 30 Year
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan reached the top of the U.S. albums chart for the first time in 30 years, and only the fourth time in his career, according to sales data issued on Wednesday.
The rock poet's latest album, "Modern Times," sold 192,000 copies in the week ended September 3, his best sales week since tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan started using its point-of-sales data to collate the charts in 1991.
Dylan, 65, last reached No. 1 in 1976 with his album "Desire," which led the field for five weeks. At the time he was on his Rolling Thunder Revue tour and winning publicity for his protest tune "Hurricane." His other chart-toppers were the 1975 classic "Blood on the Tracks," and 1974's "Planet Waves."
Bob Dylan
2006 Honorees
Kennedy Center
Film director Stephen Spielberg, singers Dolly Parton and Smokey Robinson, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and conductor Zubin Mehta will be honored in December by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
"This year we honor five extraordinary international artists whose abundant contributions to their fields are remarkable," Stephen A. Schwarzman, the Kennedy Center's chairman said Wednesday in announcing this year's honors recipients. "They have transformed the culture of our country and of the world."
The recipients will be saluted at the 29th annual Kennedy Center Honors on Dec. 3, which will be broadcast later on CBS. resident Bush and first lady Laura Bush will attend the gala. The artists will receive their honors at a State Department dinner hosted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Dec. 2.
Kennedy Center
Looking For An Assistant
Stephen Hawking
Wanted: assistant for genius. Must have working knowledge of voice synthesisers and own driving licence.
Acclaimed British physicist Stephen Hawking is looking for an assistant and an advertisement in the Cambridge University magazine states that he wants a graduate student to help him prepare lectures and assist with scientific papers.
The winning candidate would be paid a salary of up to 23,457 pounds (34,574 euros, 44,331 dollars) and be based in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics.
Stephen Hawking
Rocky Statue Makes Comeback
Rocky Balboa
Rocky Balboa - or more specifically, a statue of the Hollywood palooka, boxing gloves raised in triumph - is being restored to a spot outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the winner by a split decision in a bout between fine art and pop culture.
Despite complaints that the statue is piece of kitsch undeserving of display near Renoirs and Monets, the city Art Commission voted 6-2 Wednesday to move the 2,000-pound bronze out of storage and put it on a street-level pedestal near the museum steps.
The steps were the setting for one of the most famous scenes in Sylvester Stallone's 1976 movie "Rocky" and have been a big tourist attraction ever since, with visitors to Philadelphia imitating the Italian Stallion's sweat-suited dash to the top. (Of course, after bounding up the 72 steps and pumping their fists in the air like Rocky, the tourists often turn around and leave without setting foot in the museum.)
Rocky Balboa
A Tale Of Two Brands
Coke and Mentos
Until the world discovered that combining the two yields explosive results, Coke and Mentos had little in common. One is the quintessential ?rand and American icon, the other a niche candy from an Italian company.
Thanks to widely circulated Web videos of the stunt, the soft drink and candy were joined at the hip this summer. In the aftermath, the companies took divergent paths: Perfetti Van Melle, maker of Mentos, quickly moved to align itself with the consumer phenomenon, while Coke kept a studied distance.
The reactions are illustrative of the uncertainties advertisers face in the new world of consumer-generated media, where they need to define what, if any, role they should play when consumers assert control of their brands.
Coke and Mentos
Must Pay For Ex-Wife's Attorney
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson must pay $60,000 in attorney fees for his ex-wife as she pursues a custody case against the pop superstar, a judge ordered Wednesday.
Superior Court Judge Robert A. Schnider gave the entertainer until Sept. 28 to meet the order. He did not rule on whether to grant Deborah Rowe visitation rights to the couple's children, Prince Michael and Paris.
Rowe, a former nurse for Jackson's dermatologist, married him in 1996 but filed for divorce in 1999 and later gave up custody rights. She asked a judge to reinstate them in 2003 after Jackson had been arrested on child molestation charges.
Michael Jackson
Bristol Salutes
Wallace and Gromit
Crackin' good job, Gromit! The creators of Oscar-winning animated duo Wallace and Gromit are to be awarded the freedom of their home city, officials said Wednesday.
Nick Park, Peter Lord and Dave Sproxton, from Bristol-based Aardman Animations, will receive the honor at a ceremony in the southern English city Monday - and one of the prominent items on the menu will be Wallace's favorite Wensleydale cheese.
Across Britain, being given the freedom of a city historically gave recipients a variety of curious special rights.
Freemen in many towns held the right to drive sheep and cattle through main streets. In London, they could request that police help them to get home if intoxicated - rather than toss them in a jail cell.
Now, the award is more of a symbolic gesture for a job well done.
Wallace and Gromit
Gives Alma Mater $2 Million
Dan Rather
Dan Rather has donated $2 million to his alma mater, Sam Houston State University - the largest single monetary gift in the school's 127-year history.
"So many people, known and unknown, helped me to get through Sam Houston State when I was there, desperately trying to make it, that I've always wanted to give back - somehow, some way - to the best of my ability," the former "CBS Evening News" anchorman said Tuesday in a statement released by the university, which was known as Sam Houston State Teachers College when he attended.
The donation has been designated for scholarships and discretionary spending in the school's communications program.
Dan Rather
Avant-Garde Poet Wins $100,000 Prize
Michael Palmer
Avant-garde poet Michael Palmer has won the Wallace Stevens Award, a $100,000 prize given annually for "outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry."
"Michael Palmer is the foremost experimental poet of his generation and perhaps of the last several generations," according to a statement issued earlier this week by the Academy of American Poets, which gives the prize.
Palmer, 63, is the author of "Company of Moths," "Codes Appearing" and numerous other collections.
Michael Palmer
In Memory
John Conte
Actor John Conte, who worked in television, radio, films and on Broadway for decades before going behind the cameras and founding his own TV station, died of natural causes Monday, said Lee Fowler, spokeswoman for Eisenhower Medical Center. He was 90.
He appeared in numerous TV shows, including episodes of "The Untouchables," "Perry Mason," "Bonanza," "Your Show of Shows" and "Studio One." He also appeared in "The Carpetbaggers" and the classic Frank Sinatra film "The Man with the Golden Arm."
He also appeared in numerous Broadway productions, including "Windy City," "Carousel" and "The Pursuit of Happiness," and was host of many live productions for NBC's "Matinee Theater," one of the first daytime shows on network television.
Born in 1915 in Palmer, Mass., Conte was a permanent cast member in the companies of George Burns and Gracie Allen, Edward G. Robinson and "The Silver Theater."
He founded the NBC affiliate, KMIR-TV, in the Palm Springs-Rancho Mirage area in 1968. He sold the station in 1999.
John Conte
In Memory
Willi Ninja
Willi Ninja, the star of the documentary "Paris is Burning" who was considered the godfather of the dance art form voguing and who inspired Madonna's "Vogue" music video, died Saturday, friends and relatives said Tuesday. He was 45.
Ninja, inspired by Fred Astaire, "Great Performances" on PBS, Asian culture and Olympic gymnasts, was a self-taught performer who stitched together a patchwork of a career that extended into the worlds of dance, fashion and music.
Ninja, whose real name was William Leake, performed with dance companies, worked under renowned choreographers and instructed models and socialites how to walk and pose for the paparazzi with frisson.
But it was for the magic Ninja worked on the ballroom floor and in the 1990 documentary "Paris is Burning" that he was probably best known.
Willi Ninja
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