Join
Erin Hart when she sits in for Jay Marvin on AM760 Progressive Talk in Denver today from 5am to 9am PST (6am to 10am MST / 7am to 11am CST / 8am to 12noon EST).
It's the New Year and the Kick Off of Election Year 2008-Two days before the Iowa Caucuses and a week before the New Hampshire Primaries.
Will Mike Huckabee outwit and outlast Mitt Romney? How does the resurgence of John McCain affect the chances of both men and more importantly to the Progressives and Democrats?
And let's have our OWN on air caucus-talk about whom you want FIRST, SECOND and THIRD, in your heart as well as your head.
John Edwards is surging past Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in a statistical dead heat as New Year's Eve begins-how will the assassination of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the Iraq War affect the race? Are domestic issues still stronger?
Guests include Approval Voting Advocate and New York University political science professor Steven Brams; author and speechwriter Matthew Dallek who likes regional or a national primary and who will help us handicap the race, along with my cousins mathematics professor, Dr. Eric Hart, who is breaking toward Edwards in these waning days before the voting begins.
Review the biggest scandals of 2007; will a third party movement fly in 2008? And where are you?
Call, write, and express yourself on the First Day of the Rest of Our Election Year!
Paul Krugman: The Great Divide (nytimes.com)
The leading Republican presidential contenders have gone out of their way to assure voters that they will not deviate from the Bush path. Why?
Kevin Drum: Chart (washingtonmonthly.com)
One of the reasons it's important to see charts like this, even if you've seen them before, is that it gives the lie to the endlessly recycled myth that growing income inequality is mainly due to increased returns to education and technical skills. But it ain't so.
Barbara Ellen: What lies beneath (guardian.co.uk)
Interview: Her layered portrayals have won Laura Linney two Oscar nominations and a reputation as an 'acting machine'. Now, the former special-needs teacher is forcing Hollywood to rewrite the script for fortysomething actresses.
James Robinson: Happily dogged by controversy (guardian.co.uk)
The director of Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee, has got critics' tongues wagging again with his new movie. Yet Hollywood's most controversial film-maker is still happiest at home, looking after his children and his chickens.
ROGER EBERT: Ella Enchanted (3 1/2 stars)
"Ella Enchanted" is enchanted, all right. Based on the beloved novel by Gail Carson Levine, it's a high-spirited charmer, a fantasy that sparkles with delights. A lot of the fun is generated because it takes place in a world that is one part "Cinderella," one part "Shrek," and one part "The Princess Bride."
David Bruce: Wise Up! Children (athensnews.com)
Children's picture book creator Ezra Jack Keats never had children of his own, but that was OK because his friends had children. Often, he would ask a friend, "Can I come and see how children climb out of a pillowcase?" or "I'm going to the zoo; can I borrow a child?"
NBC has a 3-tone (audio) ID - what are the 3 notes?
A: A-B-C
B: B-E-G
C: G-D-A
D: C-A-B
E: G-E-C
The NBC chimes of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
radio network in the United States were the first ever audio trademark (and the first service mark of any kind, in as much as it denotes a non-tangible form of commerce) to be accepted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It consists of a succession of three distinct pitches: G3, E4, and C4 (middle C), sounded in that order, creating an arpeggiated C-major chord in the second inversion, within about two seconds time, and reverberating for another two or three seconds. The intervals of this progression are up a major 6th from G3 to E4 and down a major third from E4 to C4.
Bill K was first, and correct writing:
G-E-C is the correct answer. Before the availability of electronic guitar tuners, I used to use the NBC tone to tune my guitar to standard pitch (A440). As I recall, the G-E-C stood for General Electric Corporation which owned NBC.
Tom C answered incorrectly with:
The answer is C
bebo 's sister provided a bum answer:
my sister ( the music major ) says If it is being played in the key of C, it would be C A F , but what does she know.
jim nailed it with a succinct:
g-e-c
Tom got it right, too:
E is the answer. The logo begins with a major 6th between the first
two tones.
Mike in Des Moines responded:
Doesn't matter what note it starts with - it's a second inversion triad, and the only one on there is E: G-E-C. (I knew those eartraining classes would pay off someday - only took 35 years).
Richard Strauss wrote the Sinfonia Domestica in 1903-04 that ends with a unison C - A - F that sounds just like the NBC tones (but in a different key). I always think of that when I hear it. It was premiered, BTW, by the New York Philharmonic, not one of the European orchestras. Only piece I know of that has parts for F Alto Sax, C Tenor Sax and F Bari sax.
And, Sally was right, too, responding:
Well, unless my ear for music has failed, or my daughter's piano needs tuning, my answer for today's trivia question is: "E" or G-E-C.
I vaguely remember hearing on some talk show (a long time ago) that the letters stood for, "General Electric Corporation" who owned NBC years ago. The latter could be a rumor...
PS I sure enjoyed DanD's tale about his adventures in, "Rex" Georgia. As he's a modern-day archeologist, I wonder if he is still pursuing with his discoveries?? And, more importantly, has he taken his "finds" (the soda bottles) to the "Antiques Road Show"for an appraisal? What a great story!
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'NCIS', followed by a RERUN'The Unit', then '48 Hours'.
On a RERUNDave (from 11/28/06) are George Clooney and the Decemberists.
On a RERUNCraig (from 10/14/04) are Famke Janssen, Jami Gertz, and Chris Botti & Paula Cole.
NBC starts the night with the SEASON PREMIERE'Biggest Loser: Couples', followed by a FRESH'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
On a RERUNLeno (from 1/5/06) are Will Ferrell, Vince Young, and Flipsyde.
On a RERUNConan (from 9/6/07) are Will Arnett, Terri Crews, and Patti Scialfa.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 11/2/07) are Rich Eisen and Talib Kweli.
ABC opens the night with LIVE'College Football', then pads with an old 'Jim' or two, followed by a RERUN'Boston Legal'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 7/25/07) are Don Cheadle, Zac Efron, and Editors.
The CW here pukes back the Rose Parade for the 5th time today.
Faux has LIVE'College Football'.
MY has '2007 World Magic Awards', again.
A&E has 'CSI: The 2nd One', 'The First 48', another 'The First 48', and still another 'The First 48'.
AMC offers the movie 'Shattered', followed by the movie 'Mission: Impossible', then the movie 'Ladder 49'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 2 The Fenwick Arms;
[1:00 PM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 4 Singleton;
[2:00 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 32 Ardingly 25;
[2:30 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 33 Carmarthen 29;
[3:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 5;
[3:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 6;
[4:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 12;
[4:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 13;
[5:00 PM] My Family - Ep 7 Blind Justice;
[5:30 PM] Coupling - Episode 2;
[6:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 3 Moore Place;
[7:00 PM] BBC World News;
[7:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 10;
[8:00 PM] Life On Mars - Episode 4;
[9:00 PM] Life On Mars - Episode 5;
[10:00 PM] BBC World News;
[10:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 13;
[11:00 PM] Life On Mars - Episode 4;
[12:00 AM] Life On Mars - Episode 5;
[1:00 AM] Coupling - Ep. 2 My Dinner In Hell;
[1:40 AM] The World Stands Up - Episode 7;
[2:00 AM] The Weakest Link - Episode 7;
[3:00 AM] Changing Rooms - Ep. 1 Huddersfield;
[3:30 AM] Changing Rooms - Ep. 2 Elstree;
[4:00 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 32 Ardingly 25;
[4:30 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 33 Carmarthen 29;
[5:00 AM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 1;
[5:30 AM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 9;
[6:00 AM] BBC World News. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'The Biggest Loser', 'Real Housewives', another 'Real Housewives', and still another 'Real Housewives'.
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', followed by the movie 'Legally Blonde', then the movie 'Zoolander'.
Jon Stewart is pre-empted.
Colbert Report is pre-empted.
FX has the movie 'Big Momma's House', followed by the movie 'Rebound', then the movie 'Rebound', again.
IFC -
[06:35 AM] Shogun's Samurai: The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy;
[08:50 AM] Media Lab Results;
[09:00 AM] Karate Bull Fighter;
[10:35 AM] Karate Bear Fighter;
[12:05 PM] Sword of Doom;
[02:15 PM] Shogun's Samurai: The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy;
[04:30 PM] Karate Bull Fighter;
[06:00 PM] Karate Bear Fighter;
[07:30 PM] Framed on IFC #3;
[08:00 PM] Minor Accomplishments #201: Dykes Like Us;
[08:30 PM] The Business #201: Back In The Business;
[09:00 PM] The Good Thief;
[11:00 PM] No Man's Land;
[12:45 AM] Framed on IFC #3;
[01:15 AM] The Flower of Evil;
[03:00 AM] The Good Thief;
[04:50 AM] No Man's Land. (ALL TIMES EST)
A voter listening to Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Joe Biden, D- Del., shows a clock that counts down the time until the end of resident Bush's term in office, at the Italian-American Cultural Center of Iowa on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Photo by Evan Vucci
Robin Williams will be David Letterman's first guest upon the return of his "Late Show" on CBS Wednesday.
The appearance of a Hollywood A-lister who can talk a mile a minute may be Letterman's way of quickly trying to draw a distinction between his show and his late-night rivals, who are without writers and may also have trouble booking major entertainers as guests.
NBC's "Tonight" show said Monday that Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee will appear on Jay Leno's first show back Wednesday.
Beyonce, right, and her sister Solange arrive at the grand opening of Jay-Z's 40/40 Club at the Palazzo hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Monday, Dec. 31, 2007.
Photo by Jae C. Hong
ABC and Fox News Channel are narrowing the field of presidential candidates invited to debates this weekend just before the New Hampshire primary, in Fox's case infuriating supporters of Republican Ron Paul.
The roster of participants for ABC's back-to-back, prime-time Republican and Democratic debates Saturday in New Hampshire will be determined after results of Thursday's Iowa caucus become clear.
Fox, meanwhile, has invited five GOP candidates to a forum with Chris Wallace scheduled for its mobile studio in New Hampshire on Sunday. Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson received invites, leaving Paul and Duncan Hunter on the sidelines.
The network said it had limited space in its studio - a souped-up bus - and that it invited candidates who had received double-digit support in recent polls.
To participate in ABC's Saturday night debate, Republican and Democratic candidates must meet at least one of three benchmarks: place first through fourth in Iowa, poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major New Hampshire surveys, or poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major national surveys.
Millions of $40 government coupons become available Tuesday to help low-tech television owners buy special converter boxes for older TVs that might will not work after the switch to digital broadcasting.
Beginning Feb. 18, 2009, anyone who does not own a digital set and still gets their programming via over-the-air antennas will no longer receive a picture.
The converter boxes are expected to cost between $50 and $70 and will be available at most major electronics retail stores. Starting Tuesday, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration will begin accepting requests for two $40 coupons per household to be used toward the purchase of the boxes.
To request a coupon, consumers can apply online at www.dtv2009.gov starting Tuesday. The government also has set up a 24-hour hotline to take requests, 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009).
Terry Jones poses with a contraption to be used on stage in his opera 'Evil Machines' at the Sao Luis theater in Lisbon, Dec. 4, 2007. The former Monty Python comedian is in rehearsals for the world premiere of 'Evil Machines' in January that Jones co-wrote and is directing.
Photo by Armando Franca
A former home of poet Robert Frost has been vandalized, with intruders destroying dozens of items and setting fire to furniture in what police say was an underage drinking party.
Homer Noble Farm, a former Frost residence that's now a historic landmark, was ransacked late Friday night during a party attended by up to 50 people, Sgt. Lee Hodsden said Monday.
The intruders broke a window to get into the two-story wood frame building - a furnished residence open in the summer - before destroying tables and chairs, pictures, windows, light fixtures and dishes. Wicker furniture and dressers were smashed and thrown into a fireplace and burned, apparently to provide heat in the unheated building, he said.
Empty beer bottles and cans, plastic cups and cellophane apparently used to hold marijuana were also found, according to Hodsden. The vandals vomited in the living room and discharged two fire extinguishers inside the building, located on a dead-end road off Route 125.
Visitors hit a giant bell to mark the new year as a Buddhist monk (bottom R) looks on, at Zojoji temple in Tokyo January 1, 2008. Buddhist temples throughout Japan tolled bells 108 times, symbolizing a desire to leave behind earthly desires and prepare for the new year.
Photo by Issei Kato
Sara Jane Moore, who took a shot at President Ford in a 1975 assassination attempt, was released from prison Monday. Moore, 77, had served about 30 years of a life sentence when she was released from the federal prison in Dublin, east of San Francisco, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said.
In recent interviews, Moore said she regretted her actions, saying she was blinded by her radical political views.
Moore said that she was convinced at the time that the government had declared war on the left.
With the presidential race in full swing, Colorado and other states have found critical flaws in the accuracy and security of their electronic voting machines, forcing officials to scramble to return to the paper ballots they abandoned after the Florida debacle of 2000.
In December alone, top election officials in Ohio and Colorado declared that widely used voting equipment is unfit for elections.
"Every system that is out there, one state or another has found that they are no good," said John Gideon of the advocacy group Voters Unite. "Everybody is starting to look at this now and starting to realize that there is something wrong."
The swing states of California, Ohio and Florida have found that security on touch-screen voting machines is inadequate. Testers have been able to disable the systems and even change vote totals.
Fireworks explode from the Two International Finance Centre (IFC), city's tallest building over Victoria Harbour and city's business district during New Year celebrations in Hong Kong January 1, 2008.
Photo by Victor Fraile
Out with stainless steel, in with copper? It might be a new hospital trend - not for looks, but for germ-fighting.
Some intensive-care units in New York and South Carolina are about to get copper fittings as part of a project to test if drug-resistant bacteria survive better on hospitals' ubiquitous stainless steel than on copper.
About 1.7 million Americans a year develop infections while hospitalized and almost 100,000 of them die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Scientists have long preached better hygiene to control hospital spread of germs, but increasingly medical manufacturers are looking to anti-germ coatings to help.
In a British study published last year, drug-resistant staph germs survived for three days on stainless steel plates kept at room temperature, but the researchers found no sign of the germs on pure copper after 90 minutes.
A Florida couple could be having an extra happy new year after finding a rare purple pearl while eating a plate of steamed clams. George and Leslie Brock stopped into Dave's Last Resort & Raw Bar on Friday during a day at the beach. George Brock was about halfway through a dozen clams when he chomped down on something hard - a rare iridescent purple pearl.
"Few are round and few are a lovely color, so this is rare," said Vermont gemologist Antoinette Matlins. "I think they have found something precious and lovely and valuable."
The gems occur most frequently in large New England quahogs, clams known for violet coloring on the inside of their shells.
Brock's $10 plate of clams came from Apalachicola in the Florida Panhandle, said restaurant manager Tom Gerry.
"Weepin'" Willie Robinson, a blues singer who performed with Steven Tyler and Bonnie Raitt but also spent time homeless, has died at age 81.
Robinson had been a sharecropper, an Army veteran and a friend of performers, including B.B. King.
"He was truly the elder statesman of the (Boston) blues. He was our godfather. He was the most dear man," Holly Harris, host of "Blues on Sunday" on WBOS radio, told The Boston Globe for Monday's editions.
Robinson died Sunday in a fire started by a cigarette he was smoking in bed, the Boston Fire Department said.
Robinson was born in Atlanta and picked cotton and fruit with his family up and down the East Coast. After spending time in the Army in the 1940s, he became a master of ceremonies and doorman at blues clubs in Trenton, N.J., where he met King and other legends and eventually sang with King's 21-piece orchestra.
Robinson settled in Boston in 1959 and played in clubs, but by 2005 he was living on the street and out of touch with his family. Blues performers learned of his situation, held a benefit concert and made sure he was fed and clothed.
Robinson later performed everywhere from local clubs to the hallways of the rest home where he lived.
A man dressed in a costume of a Swiss Saint Bernard dog advertises free samples of herbal tea to pedestrians in front of a drugstore at Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse December 14, 2007.
Photo by Arnd Wiegmann
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.
