M Is FOR MASHUP - from May 21st, 2008
The Summer Of Two Parts
(A Summer Rerun)
By DJ Useo
TODAY!
Erin Hart
Please join Erin Hart as she fills in
for Jay Marvin on AM760 Progressive Talk in Denver
this week (4 - 8 August), from 5am to 9am (pdt) | 6am to 10am (mdt) | 7am to 11am (cdt) | 8am to noon (edt).
Continue the Countdown to the Convention!
Talk about the Race for the White House; Record Oil Profits; the Search for Viable Green Energy; How to Protect Our Votes; the Rove Effect and who is going to testify?
For more information check out Erin Hart Show
The Monday Or Thursday Poll
Today's Question
The current question is:
Rate your interest in watching the Olympic Games...
1.) Extremely interested! ... All Olympics, All the time! USA! USA! USA!
2.) Very interested ... I am a/an _______ fan and will watch those events without fail and perhaps some others, too, ever mindful of the true spirit of the games...
3.) Moderately interested ... Maybe, if I'm in the mood and, besides, my partner wants to watch it together all snuggle-bunnies like...
4.) Little interest ... Only if I'm bored to tears because the weather sucks and I'm completely unmotivated to do anything else indoors and there's nothing else interesting on TV and I don't have a new book to read...
5.) Zero interest ... Olympics!... Ack!... I'd sooner watch 'Brady Bunch' reruns than that display of nationalistic commercialism. Besides, they're all doped up anyway...
Send your response, and a (short) explanation, to BadtotheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
BadtotheboneBob
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Robert B. Reich: The Heart of the Economic Mess (Robert Reich's Blog; Posted on AlterNet.org)
Most Americans can no longer maintain their standard of living. And the core problem isn't the housing crisis or rising oil and food prices.
Meet the rich (guardian.co.uk)
The gap between rich and poor is wider than ever. But that doesn't seem to bother Britain's wealthiest earners. In an extract from their new book, Polly Toynbee and David Walker describe the jaw-dropping arrogance they encountered when they asked some of the fat cats to justify their lives of luxury.
Major Discovery Primed To Unleash Solar Revolution: Scientists Mimic Essence Of Plants' Energy Storage System (ScienceDaily.com)
In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn't shine.
Alan Connor: No time to think? (BBC News Magazine)
When Barack Obama met David Cameron, the pair got around to discussing thinking time - and the lack of it. It's not just potential leaders of nations who are short of opportunities to reflect on the bigger picture. How can any of us grab thinking time during the working day?
A Review by Michael Dirda: "Books: A Memoir" by Larry McMurtry (powells.com)
Memoirs are inherently wistful, but Larry McMurtry's reminiscences of his life with books -- not as a novelist but as a reader, book scout, and bookstore owner -- are especially valedictory. ... As he says, "A bookman's love of books is a love of books, not merely of the information in them." But, he fears, the age of eagerly turned pages is passing:
Alex Rodriguez: Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn dies (Chicago Tribune)
For the Western world, Alexander Solzhenitsyn peeled back the layers of secrecy that obscured the Soviet system's inhumanity to a people relegated by Josef Stalin to the role of cogs in a machine.
The fun also rises for Steve Carell (timesonline.co.uk)
In a parallel universe, Hollywood's comedy king would have been a lawyer. So what went right? Stephen Armstrong reports.
Christa D'Souza: Lindsay Lohan talks about her troubled life (timesonline.co.uk)
The drink, the drugs, the boys, the bust-ups - Lindsay Lohan lives a very 21st-century life.
Luaine Lee: Game show is no trivial pursuit for actor Alfonso Ribeiro (McClatchy-Tribune News Service)
Actor Alfonso Ribeiro chose an odd way to train for his newest gig. He sat on a cruise ship with his best buddy, Joey Fatone ('N Sync), and played a version of Trivial Pursuit for endless hours.
20 QUESTIONS: George Pelecanos (popmatters.com)
George Pelecanos takes a little time from his prolific career to contemplate with PopMatters the temptation to try out a silencer and laser sight.
Michael Hamersly: George Michael, we still have Faith (McClatchy Newspapers)
"Oh, George! Pop Superstar Michael Popped For Smokin' In the Boys' Room!"
David Bruce: Wise Up! Football (athensnews.com)
In 1974, during a playoff game, Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Doug Sutherland stuck his fingers through the facemask of Conrad Dobler of the St. Louis Cardinals. Mr. Dobler reacted in what he felt was an appropriate way: "I figured he was not there to stroke my moustache. It was not a friendly act. So I bit him." At halftime, Mr. Sutherland asked for some kind of guard to protect his fingers. He also asked to be tested for rabies.
Gail Borden invented what food item?
Adam in NoHo wrote:
Reader Contribution
Mantis
Hi
Love your site. I take some cool pictures sometimes. Here's one of a
mantis in my backyard. If you like it, feel free to use it. I can send
more from time to time if you like them.
Reader Query
Question
Hi all,
Today someone told me that I should not vote for Obama because he is
the anti-christ. I am confused.
Does that mean, if he loses the
election, he won't be the anti-christ anymore? Or, would he just lose
some of his powers?
If Senator McCain wins, will he then have more
power than the anti-christ? Will the anti-christ, whoever he might
be, only run for office in the USA?
Please, if any of you can
enlighten me, I would really appreciate it.
Willow
Thanks, Willow!
Anybody?
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sauna-like humidity. Days like this make me wish I had gills.
Maya Angelou & Norman Lear Named
Marian Anderson Award
TV producer Norman Lear and author Maya Angelou will be the 2008 recipients of the Marian Anderson Award, which honors artists whose leadership benefits humanity.
They are to accept their honors, each with an accompanying $100,000 honorarium, at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts on Nov. 17.
Angelou, 80, has written more than a dozen best sellers including "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," as well as three Grammy-winning spoken-word albums, poetry, plays and children's books. She also has written for television and film, serving on the board of the American Film Institute and as a member of the Director's Guild.
Lear, 76, was creator, producer and writer for television series that became cultural landmarks including "All in the Family," "Sanford and Son," "The Jeffersons" and "Maude." In 1982, he founded the advocacy group People for the American Way.
Marian Anderson Award
Brazil Search
Frank Sinatra Jr
The son of legendary singer Frank Sinatra has launched a search in Brazil for a boy his father sponsored in the 1980s so he can invite him to a Rio concert Thursday of many of the late crooner's famous tunes.
A newspaper in the city, Rio O Dia, on Tuesday published a photo of the boy taken 28 years ago, the day the late Frank Sinatra gave him a bicycle. It identified him as Carlos Henrique dos Santos and said today he would be "around 40".
Sinatra senior had asked to see the boy he was sponsoring for 19 dollars a month through a charity that helped children in underdeveloped countries.
Dos Santos regularly sent letters to his famous sponsor in which he spoke of his day-to-day life, and his dream to one day own a bike. Sinatra made that wish come true when he finally saw him face-to-face.
Frank Sinatra Jr
Channeling Ashcroft
Silvio Berlusconi
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government was roundly slammed Tuesday by art lovers, experts and historians for covering the breast of a female nude in a reproduction of a famed Italian painting.
Outpourings of outrage made their way into the columns of La Repubblica daily on Tuesday over the government's decision to tamper with a copy of a painting depicting Truth by Giambattista Tiepolo (1696-1770), considered the last "Grand Manner" fresco painter from the erstwhile Venetian Republic.
"Who in the world could have felt offended while seeing Tiepolo's nude depicting truth? It's sheer folly," said Antonio Paolucci, chief of the museums at the Vatican and a former culture minister.
Andrea Emiliani, an historian, slammed the government's "prudishness."
"The entire history of Renaissance Art and the period that followed is full of nudes," he said. "It's not funny when one thinks of what is aired on Canale 5," one of the television channels owned by media mogul Berlusconi.
Silvio Berlusconi
Tape Sells For $23,000
Beatles
A newly discovered tape of The Beatles laughing and chatting during an early recording session has sold for about $23,000, an auction house reported Tuesday.
Cameo Auctioneers said the reel-to-reel tape was recorded in 1964 and had recently been discovered by a man in northern England while he was clearing out his father's attic.
The tape features John Lennon and Paul McCartney collapsing into fits of giggles as they try to finish the ballad "I'll Follow the Sun."
Beatles
Throws Hat In Ring
Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton has thrown her hat into the US presidential race, declaring her desire to campaign against "that wrinkly white-haired guy" and threatening to paint the White House pink if elected.
The blond socialite responded to Republican candidate John McCain's controversial use of her image in a campaign television spot last week with a satirical ad of her own posted on the website Funnyordie.com on Tuesday.
"Hey America, I'm Paris Hilton and I'm a celebrity too," Hilton declares breezily. "Only I'm not from the olden days and I'm not promising change like that other guy. I'm just hot.
"But then that wrinkly white-haired guy used me in his campaign ad, which I guess means I'm running for president. So thanks for the endorsement white-haired dude, and I want America to know I'm, like, totally ready to lead."
Paris Hilton
Must Reimburse Government
Wesley Snipe
Actor Wesley Snipes must reimburse the government in prosecution costs for his tax conviction.
According to court documents, U.S. District Court Judge William Terrell Hodges ruled last week the action film star must reimburse the government about $217,000. Snipes, star of the "Blade" trilogy and "White Men Can't Jump" among other movies, had objected to the cost.
A jury convicted Snipes in February of three counts of willfully failing to file his income taxes. He has appealed the convictions and his three-year prison sentence.
Wesley Snipe
Subject To Detention - Even If Acquitted
Gitmo Detainees
Some detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba will likely never be released because of the danger they pose, and those tried and acquitted will still be subject to continued detention as enemy combatants, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday.
Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, made the remarks as Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni, awaited a verdict in the first war crimes trial to be held under a special regime created for "war on terror" suspects.
Morrell said there were plans for at least 20 more such trials at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba but he said a significant portion of the detainees being held there would neither be tried nor released.
He said efforts were being made to reduce the size of the population through transfers of prisoners to their home countries for incarceration or release.
Gitmo Detainees
Gear Stolen After Montreal Show
Iggy Pop
A rental truck containing Iggy Pop and the Stooges' equipment was stolen after a concert in Montreal.
Stooges road manager Eric Fischer says the 15-foot truck stolen Monday contained all the group's instruments and stage gear. He tells the Detroit Free Press the lost items are worth tens of thousands of dollars.
The Stooges are in the middle of a tour with stops in Belgium, Britain, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Spain and the United States.
Fischer says the Stooges will still make their scheduled Wednesday gig in Toronto using rented and donated equipment.
Iggy Pop
NRA Spy
Mary Lou McFate
A gun-control activist who championed the cause for more than a decade and served on the boards of two anti-violence groups is suspected of working as a paid spy for the National Rifle Association, and now those organizations are expelling her and sweeping their offices for bugs.
The suggestion that Mary Lou McFate was a double agent is contained in a deposition filed as part of a contract dispute involving a security firm. The muckraking magazine Mother Jones, in a story last week, was the first to report on McFate's alleged dual identity.
The 62-year-old former flight attendant and sex counselor from Sarasota, Fla., is not new to the world of informants.
Mary Lou McFate
So That's What It's Called
'Aggressive Tactics'
Before killing himself last week, Army scientist Bruce Ivins told friends that government agents had stalked him and his family for months, offered his son $2.5 million to rat him out and tried to turn his hospitalized daughter against him with photographs of dead anthrax victims.
The pressure on Ivins was extreme, a high-risk strategy that has failed the FBI before. The government was determined to find the villain in the 2001 anthrax attacks; it was too many years without a solution to the case that shocked and terrified a post-9/11 nation.
Dr. W. Russell Byrne, a friend and former supervisor of Ivins at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., said he had heard from other Ivins associates that investigators were going after Ivins' daughter. But Byrne said those conversations were always short because people were afraid to talk.
Byrne said he was told by people who had recently worked with Ivins that the investigation had taken an emotional toll on the researcher. "One person said he'd sit at his desk and weep," he said.
'Aggressive Tactics'
111-Year-Old Reptile Breeds
Henry the Tuatara
Officials say an indigenous New Zealand reptile regarded as one of the last living remnants of the dinosaurs will become a father for the first time in decades at the age of 111.
Henry the tuatara and his younger mate Mildred produced a dozen eggs last month after mating at the Southland Museum on New Zealand's South Island in March.
Tuatara curator Lindsay Hazley said Wednesday Henry has lived at the museum's special enclosure for Tuatara since 1970 and had shown no interest in sex until he recently had a cancerous growth removed from his genitals. He was now enjoying the company of three females and might breed again next March.
Henry the Tuatara
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-Time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for July 28-Aug. 3. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (14) "America's Got Talent," NBC, 13.85 million viewers.
2. (40) "Wipeout," ABC, 9.7 million viewers.
3. (17) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 9.35 million viewers.
4. (48) "So You Think You Can Dance" (Wednesday), Fox, 8.84 million viewers.
5. (21) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 8.7 million viewers.
6. (54) "So You Think You Can Dance" (Thursday), Fox, 8.69 million viewers.
7. (14) "NCIS," CBS, 8.5 million viewers.
8. (19) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 8.44 million viewers.
9. (20) "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.08 million viewers.
10. (10) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 8.03 million viewers.
11. (27) "CSI: NY," CBS, 7.78 million viewers.
12. (84) "Flashpoint," CBS, 7.68 million viewers.
13. (X) "Primetime: Last Lecture 2," ABC, 7.65 million viewers.
14. (84) "Celebrity Family Feud," NBC, 7.53 million viewers.
15. (48) "Old Christine," CBS, 7.5 million viewers.
16. (X) "NBC NFL Pre-Season," NBC, 7.45 million viewers.
17. (30) "House," Fox, 7.42 million viewers.
18. (37) "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit," NBC, 7.21 million viewers.
19. (123) "Big Brother 10" (Sunday), CBS, 6.61 million viewers.
20. (123) "Big Brother 10" (Thursday), CBS, 6.39 million viewers.
Ratings
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