Paradise Driver

Monday, August 18, 2008

HAIR

The classic Broadway musical brought to the silver screen.
Sorry, only viewable in the USA.
The broadway production soundtrack defined my generation and the movie brought the images to the world.

"Let's all be careful out there!"

That what the astronomers conducting the Sloan III project hope to discover. More expansive than it predecessors, Sloan I & Sloan II, it will map the sky, in 3 dimensions, for about 8 billion light years out from earth. A little more than half of our 'verse. Looking for patterns that could show the structure and "ley" lines of dark energy. That theoretical power which is believed to be causing the runaway growth of, well, EVERYTHING.

There is one city in America where if anything can go wrong, it will. A city so rife with corruption that the worst stories out of Boston, New York, Chicago, et al, pale in comparison. A city that survives day-to-day with the threat of being drowned. A city that a vast portion of it should have been written off after Katrina. Probably the closest thing to a metropolitan anarchistic society that has ever festered in this country. Yes, I mean New Orleans LA. A city where the right hand not only doesn't know what the left hand is doing, it doesn't even know there is a left hand. Or arm or leg

With Pervez Musharraf's resignation as President of Pakistan, I have only one question/concern. Who has control of their "nukes"? Pakistan and India hate each other. They are both ready to attempt to erase the other from the face of this planet. Pakistan was a friend of the Taliban and then their foe. What side will it be on tomorrow? Will Osama finally get the access to nukes he has strived for the past few decades? Is the feces finally going to impact the ocillating wind movement device in a gigantic way?

Everybody touts their new iPhone. But in reality, it is a piece of crab compared to what is available in other countries. In China you can watch live over-the-air television with you cell phone. Among other things. In fact, most of modernized Asia has us beat. As does Europe.

The EMMY's will be broadcast next month and will be celebrating their 60th anniversary. The producers plan on revealing the 40 most memoriable moments in TV history. 20 in drama and 20 in comedy. And they want the voice of John Q to be included. Scroll to the article's bottom to get the voting link.

Oh, that "Big Foot" from Georgia. The DNA tests are in.

The lady above is the newest incarnation of Lara Croft
Slideshow
Story

With a population differential of 5 men for each woman, the tiny Australian outback town of Mount Isa is seeking to encourage women to come visit and even possibly stay.

Thanks for the time you've spent here and have a great day. Okay?

"Let's all be careful out there!"

AUGUST 18TH

***

Today is Monday, August 18, the 231st day of 2008.
There are 135 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On August 18, 1587, Virginia Dare became the first child of English parents to be born on American soil, on what is now Roanoke Island, N.C. (However, the colony she was born into ended up mysteriously disappearing.)

On this date:

In 1838, the first marine expedition sponsored by the U.S. government set sail from Hampton Roads, Va.; the crews traveled the southern Pacific Ocean, gathering scientific information.
In 1846, U.S. forces led by Gen. Stephen W. Kearny captured Santa Fe, N.M.
In 1894, Congress established the Bureau of Immigration.
In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees the right of all American women to vote, was ratified as Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it.
In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King dedicated the Thousand Islands Bridge connecting the United States and Canada.
In 1958, the novel "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov was first published in New York by G.P. Putnam's Sons, almost three years after the book was originally published in Paris.
In 1963, James Meredith became the first black student to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair ended in Sullivan County, N.Y., with a mid-morning set performed by Jimi Hendrix.
In 1976, two U.S. Army officers were killed in Korea's demilitarized zone as a group of North Korean soldiers wielding axes and metal pikes attacked U.S. and South Korean soldiers.
In 1983, Hurricane Alicia slammed into the Texas coast, leaving 21 dead and causing more than a billion dollars' worth of damage.

Ten years ago:

A day after his grand jury testimony, President Clinton left Washington on a vacation with his family. Meanwhile, some lawmakers called for Clinton to resign in the wake of his admissions concerning Monica Lewinsky, while a spokeswoman for Hillary Rodham Clinton said the first lady "believes in this marriage."

Five years ago:

A senior French health official resigned after France's health minister admitted that up to 5,000 people might have died in a heat wave.
The Liberian government and rebels signed a peace accord.
Islamic extremists freed 14 European tourists six months after they were kidnapped by an al-Qaida-linked group in the Algerian desert.

One year ago:

Alarmed tourists jammed Caribbean airports for flights out of Hurricane Dean's path as the monster storm began sweeping past the Dominican Republic and Haiti. NASA, meanwhile, ordered space shuttle Endeavour back to Earth a day early out of fear Dean might disrupt flight operations.
A seven-alarm fire ripped through an abandoned skyscraper next to ground zero in lower Manhattan, killing two firefighters who responded to the blaze.
Michael K. Deaver, a close adviser to President Reagan, died in Bethesda, Md., at age 69.

Today's Birthdays:

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter is 81.
Movie director Roman Polanski is 75.
Actor Robert Redford is 71.
Singer Johnny Preston is 69.
Actor Christopher Jones is 67.
Actor Henry G. Sanders is 66.
Rhythm-and-blues singer Sarah Dash (LaBelle) is 65.
Actor-comedian Martin Mull is 65.
Rock musician Dennis Elliott is 58.
Comedian Elayne Boosler is 56.
Actor Patrick Swayze is 56.
Country singer Steve Wilkinson (The Wilkinsons) is 53.
Actor Denis Leary is 51.
Actress Madeleine Stowe is 50.
News anchor Bob Woodruff is 47.
Actor Craig Bierko is 43.
Rock singer-musician Zac Maloy (The Nixons) is 40.
Hip-hop artist Everlast is 39.
Rapper Masta Killa (Wu-Tang Clan) is 39.
Actor Christian Slater is 39.
Actor Edward Norton is 39.
Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner is 38.
Actress Kaitlin Olson is 33.
Rock musician Dirk Lance is 32.
Actor-comedian Andy Samberg (TV: "Saturday Night Live") is 30.
Actress Parker McKenna Posey is 13.

Thought for Today:

"New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common."
John Locke, English philosopher (1632-1704).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-231

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Sunday, August 17, 2008

WASN'T "MR PHELPS"

THE LEADER OF THE IMF TEAM
ON MISSION IMPOSSIBLE?

When television is good, nothing--not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers--nothing is better.

But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you--and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.

You will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience-participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western badmen, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials--many screaming, cajoling and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you will see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, try it.

- Newton Minnow's famous 1961 speech to the National Association of Broadcasters.

And 47 years later, nothing has changed. Except for the amount of screaming, obnoxious ads per hour.

A new entrant in my Lex Luthor Doesn't Exist (LLDE) column.

Ah, the perfect combination for fun and games. Tourist meccas that want your money and tourists who never want to be sober. What could possibly go wrong?

Stealing a car: Bad.
Leaving it parked in your driveway: Unwise.
Leaving the ATM, that you used a stolen forklift to rip-off, in your sideyard: Stupid.
Oh, and the receipt for the down payment on the new jeep: PRICELESS.

Hi there, boys & girls. In today's lesson on world economics we are going to learn how Russians shop for new cars while on holiday. And then we will discuss the meaning of the phrase "War is hell!"

"If the police can identify you, they can make a charge"

Now this sounds like an enforcement action that I could get a ~~grip~~ hand on. Of course if this isn't about the stupidest statement a gov't leader could make. Sorry, but "Mission Accomplished" falls in a whole "nuther" category.

Okay, what has come over the female teachers in our country? Seems like we get a new episode of this every month.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Thanks for the visit.

"Let's all be careful out there!"

AUGUST 17TH

***

Today is Sunday, August 17, the 230th day of 2008.
There are 136 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On August 17, 1807, Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat began heading up the Hudson River on its successful round-trip between New York and Albany.

On this date:

In 1863, Federal batteries and ships began bombarding South Carolina's Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor during the Civil War, but the Confederates managed to hold on despite several days of pounding.
In 1896, a prospecting party discovered gold in Canada's Yukon territory, a finding that touched off the Klondike gold rush.
In 1915, a mob in Cobb County, Ga., lynched Jewish businessman Leo Frank, whose death sentence for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan had been commuted to life imprisonment. (Frank, who'd maintained his innocence, was pardoned by Georgia in 1986.)
In 1942, during World War II, U.S. 8th Air Force bombers attacked Rouen, France.
In 1943, the Allied conquest of Sicily was completed as U.S. and British forces entered Messina.
In 1948, former State Department official Alger Hiss faced his chief accuser, Whittaker Chambers, during a closed-door meeting in New York of the House Un-American Activities Committee, and repeated his denial that he'd ever been a Communist agent.
In 1969, 256 people were killed as Hurricane Camille slammed into the Gulf Coast.
In 1978, the first successful trans-Atlantic balloon flight ended as Maxie Anderson, Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman landed their Double Eagle II outside Paris.
In 1987, Rudolf Hess, the last member of Adolf Hitler's inner circle, died at Spandau Prison at age 93, an apparent suicide.
In 1988, Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel were killed in a mysterious plane crash.

Ten years ago:

President Clinton gave grand jury testimony via closed-circuit television from the White House concerning his relationship with Monica Lewinsky; he then delivered a TV address in which he denied previously committing perjury, admitted his relationship with Lewinsky was "wrong," and criticized Kenneth Starr's investigation.
Russia allowed the ruble to drop in value by up to 34 percent.
The Federal Reserve Board approved the merger of NationsBank and BankAmerica.

Five years ago:

Federal investigators joined industry teams in the search for clues into what triggered the country's worst power blackout in the Midwest and Northeast as the Bush administration promised to get answers and address whatever problem was found.
Insurgents attacked a police station in Afghanistan, killing some two dozen people.

One year ago:

Hurricane Dean roared into the eastern Caribbean, tearing away roofs, flooding streets and causing at least three deaths on small islands as the powerful storm headed on a collision course with Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
A dike on a river in eastern China broke, flooding three coal mines and killing 181 miners.

Today's Birthdays: