The Weekly Poll
Results
The "History's Mysteries' Edition
If you could find out the answers to three of the many historical mysteries that have puzzled and perplexed the world, what would they be?
1. ) ______________________
2. ) ______________________
3. ) ______________________
WDRussell jumped on it first thing Tuesday morning...
1.) Who really killed JFK
2 ) What happened to Amelia Earhart
3 ) What happened to Raoul Wallenberg
3.a) What caused the big explosion in Siberia about 100 years ago.
Sara in upstate NY wonders...
1.) How is it Eve got thrown out of the garden of Eden when Adam bedded Lilith before Mr. Snake came along?
1a.) Why isn't Lilith the first woman?
2.) How did J. Edgar Hoover maintain his aura of power when all he really had in his arsenal to keep his power were compromising pictures/tape recordings of all politicians, judges and police officers? There wasn't one human being clean enough to challenge his authority for fifty years?
3.) A question that will go forever unanswered: How is it that mean, nasty, corrupt politicians and corporate trolls live long prosperous lives and anyone interested in bettering humanity is struck down?
(I have an answer to that: No good deed goes unpunished...)
beboatparadise lists...
1.) Greek fire
2.) GWB elected POTUS
3.) women
(Contact NOW. They may be able to help ya, haha!)
mj's subject line asked "Only 3?"...
In no particular order:
1.) The identity of the woman who delayed General Howe and led to Burgoyne's defeat at Saratoga.
2.) The identity of Jack the Ripper.
3.) The identity of the real Boston Strangler.
Mostly because no one is looking into 1 or three, and 2 is just something that has always piqued my curiosity.
(I wish now I woulda made it 5!)
Margaret M. cheerily responds...
Mine are:
1.) What really happened to Amelia Earhart?
2.) Who was involved in JFK's assassination? (Sorry, I still don't buy the Oswald-did-it-alone story)
3.) The identity of Jack the Ripper!
I can think of many more, too. Thanks!
(Yer welcome! I'm enjoying this immensely...)
e219+ answered by iPhone (a first!)
1.) Who killed JFK?
2.) Did Atlantis exist, and where?
3.) How were the Pyramids built?
rdmcd wrote...
1.) What did Rudolph Hess have to offer when He flew to England during WW 2?
2.) Where is George W. Bush attendance records for the Alabama nation Guard?
3.) Did GWB also steal the 04 election?
tchristoffel asks...
1.) How many dead people voted for JFK in 1960
2.) Who killed JFK
3.) Why did the WTC really fall (did the steel burn, or was it the result of years of corrosion of steel and aluminum welded together in a saline environment).
Charlie sent...
Oh boy. I 'm not big on anything to do with UFOs, paranormalism, or divine miracles, so I'll leave such things out. I've also got doubts about the official 9/11 story, but I'll put those aside here as well.
1.) I will mention the one that has gotten a bit of attention recently, namely, what is the real story behind the Lockerbie bombing? It was widely assumed that it was engineered somehow by Iran as revenge for the shoot down of Iran Air Flight 655, but the Libyan Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was convicted of it on dubious grounds.
2.) JFK assassination. No further comment should be necessary, and I expect this one to perhaps be the most frequently mentioned, except maybe 9/11.
3.) To include one that probably isn't so well known, on June 14, 1927, the Italian cyclist Ottavio Bottecchia -- twice winner of the Tour de France -- died under mysterious circumstances while on a training ride. It is thought he may have been murdered for his anti-fascist political views, but this has never been proven.
DC Madman knows the truth is out there...
I'd like to know the real truth about
1.) Who was really behind 9/11, yep I'm a truther.
2.) Roswell cover up. I'm not so arrogant to believe the human race is the
center of the universe. If one could "fold" space, one could exceed light speed.
3.) Who killed JFK. Why were the secret service agents pulled from riding
on the back of his car. I most times think Penn and Teller's Bull$hit!
supports the status quo and Conservative viewpoint. (They say Oswald did it.)
drdolph seeks religious answers...
1.) Where exactly was the garden of Eden?
2.) Have we found Noah's ark?
3.) How many Egyptian's were drown at the crossing of the Red Sea by the Jews?
SallyP(al) answers...
For the first, I choose the easy: Where are the remains of Atlantis and Lemuria located, and what were they all about? This, because of course I am sure they are out there waiting to be found...
For the second, the more complex: What is the REAL report hiding regarding 9/11? (Few in NY believe that we have gotten the TRUE story about the events...) For more info just look up "9/11 conspiracy theories" and over a million will show up on Google alone...
And, for the third, I want to know if there is any truth the "Hollow Earth" theory? I was going for the "Third Secret of Fatima," or, "What is hidden in the bowels of the Vatican," but the "Hollow Earth" is far more intriguing to me.
I shall be most interested to read of other mysteries to be queried in this poll!
As fer me I'd like to know about...
1.) Bigfoot (Sasquatch, Yeti, etc). I believe they exist. Why haven't we found any remains?
2.) The purpose of the Nazca Lines
3.) Where did the millions of pounds of copper that native Americans mined thousands of years ago end up?
Europe's economy between 2000 and 1000 BC stood and fell with copper, used for the creation of bronze. At the same time, large quantities of copper were mined in America, though no-one seems to know who was using it. A question of a world economy, and supply and demand?
superiorreading.com/pdf/coppens.pdf (Warning! PDF file!)
An Ab-Fab response, Poll-fans! Thanks to all! Yer the Best!
BadToTheBoneBob
New Question
The 'Manifest Destiny on film' Edition
According to AMC, Western Films or TV programs are the major defining genre of the American film industry... This indigenous American art form focuses on the frontier West that existed in North America (and) often portrays the conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature, in the name of civilization, or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original inhabitants of the frontier. They truly show 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'
events of that part of our history. Love'em or loathe'em, their impact on our culture can not be denied...
If you are a fan what are your top 3 Western Films or TV programs and whom are your favorite actors?
If you are not, feel free to rail away. I understand. I have Ojibwe ancestors (Sault Tribe of the Chippewa) and they suffered at the hand of the White man via broken treaties and confiscated land here in Michigan...
Send your response to
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Nazis (themudflats.net)
Starvation does strange things to people. He told me that after a while in the camp, he had the same recurring dream, every night - a stack of pancakes topped with two fried eggs, sunny-side up. He'd dream that dream over and over, a still frame, a picture of a breakfast that never came. He told me that his fellow prisoners got so hungry that once they had killed and eaten a cat that had strayed into the camp. You don't forget a story like that.
Paul Krugman: All the President's Zombies (nytimes.com)
Reaganomics has failed to deliver what it promised, yet people still believe that government intervention is bad, and leaving the private sector to its own devices is good.
Scott Burns: When will the Economy Float Your Boat? (assetbuilder.com)
Lake Travis is a great metaphor for the U.S. economy. The man-made lake near Austin, Texas, is simply stunning. Whether you are on the water or above it, applauding a magnificent sunset from the many decks of the Oasis restaurant, it is just plain wonderful.
Bill Maher: "New Rule: No Shame in Being the Sorry Party" (huffingtonpost.com)
New Rule: If Mitt Romney, Karl Rove and Sarah Palin all think America has never done anything wrong, we must be doing something wrong.
Larry Flynt: Common Sense 2009 (huffingtonpost.com)
The real war is not between the left and the right. It is between the average American and the ruling class. It's time we took back our government from those who would make us their slaves.
Froma Harrop: Democrats Must Fix Health Care Alone (creators.com)
Early on as New York mayor, Ed Koch went to battle against entrenched interests that were bankrupting the city. The yelling and screaming was such that reporters asked him whether he was interested in having a second term. Koch responded that he didn't care about a second term, which was why he was going to have one. And he did.
Susan Estrich: Uncle Al (creators.com)
He might have won the Nobel Prize before I was born. Back in 1940, when he was a researcher at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston (as in, "call Uncle Al at the BI"), he was studying the effects of infection on the heart and circulatory system.
Lucy Mangan: Divide and rule begins at school (guardian.co.uk)
There is nothing more pernicious than the educational divide in this country (ENgland).
Feet first into marriage (guardian.co.uk)
What can we learn from couples who don't live together before tripping down the aisle? asks John Naish.
Jill Sobule: My "Feud" With Katy Perry (huffingtonpost.com)
It all started with an interview I did for one of my new favorite blog sites: Therumpus.net -- a semi-obscure but hopefully growing arts and cultural website. It was one of the more interesting interviews I have ever done, as I was actually asked, engaging questions for a change. However, the interviewer had to ask the annoying yet inevitable "What did I think of the Katy Perry version of "I Kissed a Girl?"
ELLA TAYLOR: QUENTIN TARANTINO SERVES UP HITLER'S HEAD IN 'INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS' (laweekly.com)
Seventeen years ago, when Reservoir Dogs was setting American cinema on fire, Quentin Tarantino drove up to his favorite watering hole, Denny's at Gower Gulch, in a tiny Geo that I mistook for a rental car.
QUENTIN TARANTINO: TARANTINO PICKS HIS 20 FAVORITE FLICKS OF THE PAST 17 YEARS (laweekly.com)
When Ella Taylor asked me to rename my top five films of all time, I rattled off the obvious titles. She then asked, "Any since the last 17 years?"
What is the only television show, to date, that has won five consecutive "Outstanding Comedy Series" Emmy awards?
replied:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
Link from RJ
Biggest Dogs
Hi there
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny and cooler than seasonal.
New Top
Marilyn Monroe
The price for spending eternity above Marilyn Monroe is more than $4.6 million.
That's how much the crypt directly above the actress went for in an online auction that ended Monday.
The eBay.com listing says the space at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery above Monroe is being vacated, making room for someone else. The listing also offers the detail that the current occupant is "looking face down on" Monroe, who was laid to rest at the cemetery in 1962.
The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this month that the seller was Elsie Poncher, who was putting her late husband's crypt up for auction to help pay off the $1.6 million mortgage on her Beverly Hills home.
Marilyn Monroe
Right Wing Wet Dream
Alec Baldwin
A spokesman for Alec Baldwin says the actor has no plans to challenge Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman in the 2012 election.
Matthew Hiltzik said Monday that Baldwin does not plan to move to Connecticut or to run. He says the "30 Rock" star wants Lieberman to stay in office because there are so few moderate Republicans in the Senate. Lieberman was re-elected in 2006 as an independent after he lost the Democratic primary.
Baldwin was quoted in Playboy magazine this summer as saying he would love to run against Lieberman. His brother, Stephen Baldwin, said last week that his older brother is serious about politics.
On CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, Lieberman said he respects Baldwin as an actor but dared him to "make my day" with a Senate challenge.
Alec Baldwin
People Often Bad At It
Multitaskers
The people who multitask the most are the ones who are worst at it. That's the surprising conclusion of researchers at Stanford University, who found multitaskers are more easily distracted and less able to ignore irrelevant information than people who do less multitasking.
"The huge finding is, the more media people use the worse they are at using any media. We were totally shocked," Clifford Nass, a professor at Stanford's communications department, said in a telephone interview.
The researchers studied 262 college undergraduates, dividing them into high and low multitasking groups and comparing such things as memory, ability to switch from one task to another and being able to focus on a task. Their findings are reported in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
When it came to such essential abilities, people who did a lot of multitasking didn't score as well as others, Nass said.
Multitaskers
LA Loses Another Institution
Music Man Murray
The 45s, the 78s, the vinyl LPs, the CDs are all spinning to a halt, and you can push the stop button on those old cylinder recorders.
Music Man Murray - who for almost a half-century has been L.A.'s go-to-guy for that elusive record, the one you spent years searching in vain for until you found Murray - is closing up shop and selling his collection of some 300,000 discs. Everything must go, from the rare 10-inch vinyl LPs, to the even rarer 19th century Edison cylinders. Even that framed, mint-condition "Yesterday and Today" album by the Beatles, the one with the notorious "butcher cover" that makes it worth thousands of dollars, needs a home.
No, says Murray Gershenz, an energetic man of 87, he's not getting too old to run Music Man Murray's. Truth is, he says, his budding career as a character actor is finally taking off and he just can't devote the time anymore that a record collection like his deserves.
Gershenz is hoping a deep-pocketed music industry figure or an institution might buy his collection and keep it intact. Short of that, though, he'll sell it piecemeal.
Music Man Murray
It's Not Shame, It's A Liablity Issue
VH1
VH1 will not air the reality shows with a contestant who was found dead Sunday of an apparent suicide at a Canadian motel. Both shows featured Ryan Jenkins, the contestant sought in the killing of his model ex-wife.
A network spokesman said Monday that both "Megan Wants a Millionaire" and "I Love Money 3" have been canceled.
Jenkins had been one of 17 wealthy bachelors vying for the love of former "Rock of Love" contestant Megan Hauserman on "Megan Wants a Millionaire," which the network pulled off the air after three episodes.
Jenkins was also a participant on the not-yet-aired "I Love Money 3," a series featuring contestants from various VH1 reality shows competing for cash.
VH1
'Quincy' & Holllywood Bookkeeping
Jack Klugman
Jack Klugman is accusing Universal Studios of hiding millions in profits from its classic crime series "Quincy, M.E."
In a lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the 87-year-old actor claims his deal with NBC to star on the 1976-83 series entitled him to a quarter of the show's "net profits."
Now he's suing again, this time for breach of contract, declaratory relief and an accounting. According to the new lawsuit, Universal's statement showed:
- "Quincy" has generated more than $242 million in total gross receipts in its lifetime but Universal has reported a $66.4 million net loss on the show;
- During the '98-'06 time period, gross receipts for the show were $40.8 million but net losses were $16.5 million.
Jack Klugman
Used To Launder Cash
Comic Books
Two brothers accused of running a drug ring that imported and distributed millions of dollars worth of methamphetamine in Denver bought hundreds of collector comic books to launder the money, authorities said Monday.
Police seized comic books worth at least $500,000 while arresting Aaron Castro, 29, of Commerce City and Alfonzo Castro, 30, of Denver, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said.
Some of the seized comic books were first edition Superman and Batman publications encased in protective plastic covers, Adams County District Attorney Don Quick said.
"It appeared as they were working on a startup company for high-end comic books," he said. One of the comic books was worth about $3,500.
Comic Books
Files Prearranged Bankruptcy
Reader's Digest
The publisher of Reader's Digest on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, carrying out its plan to cut debt and transfer ownership of the 87-year-old U.S. magazine and other businesses to a group of lenders.
The company, named for its general-interest magazine packed with family friendly humor and inspirational stories, said earlier this month that its U.S. units would file for bankruptcy as part of a prearranged plan with lenders to slash debt of $2.2 billion by 75 percent.
The corporation, which publishes 50 editions of Reader's Digest and 44 other magazines including household hints publication Every Day with Rachael Ray, said it planned to continue operations as usual. It's operations in Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia-New Zealand are not part of the bankruptcy filing, the company said in a statement.
Reader's Digest, founded in 1922 and headquartered in Pleasantville, New York, does not plan to lay off any employees or sell any units in its restructuring.
Reader's Digest
TV Show In Legal Dispute
Steven Seagal
A new reality television show about the life of actor and martial arts expert Steven Seagal became the subject of a federal lawsuit filed on Monday in a dispute over who thought up the idea for the show.
A&E Television Networks sued California-based Genuine Entertainment claiming that Genuine has wrongly asserted the idea for the reality show was stolen from Genuine by A&E after a series of meetings between the two parties.
The show, called "Steven Seagal: Lawman" due to air later this year on cable channel A&E, focuses on the 57-year-old actor's real life experiences including duties as a deputy sheriff in Louisiana, the suit said.
A&E seeks a court declaration that it cannot be held liable for making the show because the show is separate and exclusive from the ideas Genuine brought to A&E.
Steven Seagal
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