Mark Morford: "Eating 'somebody else's babies': How racist will Trump's GOP get?" (SF Gate)
Do you think there's some sort of competition? Among Republicans? Right now? To see how far they can go, how insufferable and cruel and sort of ruthlessly, face-stabbingly insulting to as many intelligent humans as possible in a single blurt, tweet, senate confirmation hearing? Are they all testing just how much they can get away with before the devil himself says "Hey, you know what? I think that's just about enough from you."
Mark Morford: "Calling Bullsh*t 101: The (real) college course the world needs now" (SF Gate) Calling Bullsh*t in the Age of Big Data is indeed the awesome, pitch-perfect name of a new and uniquely urgent seminar soon to be taught at the U of Washington, and it's all about, well, just that: how to spot BS in all modern forms: fake news, statistical nonsense, political misdirection, scientific collusion and diabolical myth-making in the modern socio-political miasma, and beyond.
Mark Morford: Springtime! And the scent of the FBI is in the air (SF Gate)
Springtime! Wildflowers, birdsong, bees doing their thing, bright new growth, more daylight and more sunshine and the expectant tremble of fresh possibilities in the world, all mingling, twirling, swirling with the intoxicating scent of sober FBI investigations into the world's most horrible, corrupt president and all to warm your heart, put a bounce in your step and a hint of hope in your heart. Springtime!
Gretchen Reynolds: Should 15,000 Steps a Day Be Our New Exercise Target? (NY Times)
"It takes effort," he says, but we can accumulate 15,000 steps a day by walking briskly for two hours at about a four-mile-per-hour pace, he says. "This can be done in bits," he adds, perhaps with a 30-minute walk before work, another at lunch, and multiple 10-minute bouts throughout the day.
Mr. Bill is a clay figurine clown star of a parody of children's shows, created by Walter Williams. Mr. Bill got its start on Saturday Night Live as a Super 8 film sent in response to the show's request for home movies during the first season. Mr. Bill's first appearance occurred on the February 28, 1976, episode. Williams became a full-time writer for the show in 1978, writing more than 20 sketches based on Mr. Bill.
Each Mr. Bill episode would start innocently enough but would quickly turn dangerous for Mr. Bill. Along with his dog, Spot, he would suffer various indignities inflicted by "Mr. Hands," a man seen only as a pair of hands (played by Vance DeGeneres).[1] Sometimes the abuse would ostensibly come from the mean Sluggo, another clay character. The violence would inevitably escalate, generally ending with Mr. Bill being crushed or dismembered while squealing in a high pitched voice, "Ohhhh noooooooooooooo..."
Source
Randall was first and correct with:
Mr. Bill
From Saturday Night Live...
mj said:
For several years on SNL
A claymation skit ran at the close of the show in which a hapless Mr.
Bill invariably was squished.
Alan J wrote:
Mr. Bill.
Stephen F responded:
Mr.Bill
Gene replied:
It's Mr Bill from early Saturday Night Live. Easily the most abused clay figure of all time, right Sluggo?
David of Moon Valley said:
why it's.....Mr. Bill....
Kevin K. in Washington, DC wrote:
That's Mr. Bill, star of short films on early years of SNL. The films often
ended with a sad "Oh, nooooo..." from Mr. Bill as he got squished or had his
clay head torn off. Good times.
Billy in Cypress replied:
"OH NO!" it's Mr. Bill, the unlucky clay character mistreated by Mr. Hands and Sluggo. on SNL and other venues. While being dismembered and squashed his looked very much like that of CpPDJT-ID taking a verbal dump.
John I from Hawai`i says,
"Oh, no, it's Mr. Bill."
Deborah responded:
That's Mr. Bill, from SNL.
The rain cleared out around mid-morning yesterday, which made for a pretty, cloud-scuttling afternoon.
More rain tomorrow. Bring it.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, answered:
Early SNL's Mr. Bill
Dave in Tucson wrote:
Oh Noooooooooo! It's Mr. Bill!
As the saying goes "The more things change the more they stay the same"":
Michelle said:
Mister Bill
DJ Useo replied:
Why, That appears to be Mr. Bill, who lost his career to his love of weed. ( kidding )
zorch responded:
Mr. Bill
Dale of Precipitous Diamond Springs, Norcali took the day off.
Joe S took the day off.
Mark. took the day off.
MAM took the day off.
Marian took the day off.
BttbBob has returned to semi-retired status.
~~~~~
Patriot Act NSA Spying Unconstitutional Section 215 National Security Letters Must End
My name is Marc Perkel and I have decided to announce that I will not comply with the so called "Patriot Act" laws requiring me to disclose information about my customers. If I receive a national security letter I will immediately photograph it, post it online everywhere I can, and then make a video of me burning it. I will then await my arrest. If you want to put me in jail then come get me mother fucker.
CBS fills the night with still more LIVE'2017 NCAA Basketball', then pads the left coast with local crap.
On a RERUNStephen Colbert (from 3/2/17) are Hugh Jackman, Condola Rashad, and the Flaming Lips.
On a RERUNJames Corden, OBE, (from 2/15/17) are Zach Galifianakis, Laura Dern, and Glen Hansard.
NBC starts the night with a FRESH'Grimm', followed by 'Dateline'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Morgan Freeman, Norman Reedus, and Joe Zimmerman.
On a RERUNSeth Meyers (from 2/16/17) are Tracy Morgan, Malin Akerman, Bebe Rexha, and Brann Dailor.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 2/23/17) are Jordan Peele, Moving Units, and Jermaine Fowler.
ABC opens the night with a FRESH'Last Man Standing', followed by a FRESH'Dr. Ken', then a RERUN'Shark Tank', followed by '20/20'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 3/14/17) are Dax Shepard, Sofia Black-D'Elia, and Thomas Keller.
The CW offers a FRESH'The Originals', followed by a FRESH'Reign'.
Faux has a RERUN'Rosewood', followed by a FRESH'Sleepy Hollow'.
MY recycles an old 'American Ninja Warrior', followed by another old 'American Ninja Warrior'.
A&E has 'The First 48', another 'The First 48', followed by a FRESH'Live PD'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 2 - EPISODE 5-Loud as a Whisper
[7:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 2 - EPISODE 6-The Schizoid Man
[8:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 2 - EPISODE 7-Unnatural Selection
[9:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 2 - EPISODE 8-A Matter of Honor
[10:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 2 - EPISODE 9-The Measure of a Man
[11:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 2 - EPISODE 10-The Dauphin
[12:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 2 - EPISODE 11-Contagion
[1:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 2 - EPISODE 12-The Royale
[2:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 2 - EPISODE 13-Time Squared
[3:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 2 - EPISODE 14-The Icarus Factor
[4:00PM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 2 - EPISODE 25-Bread and Circuses
[5:10PM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 2 - EPISODE 26-Assignment: Earth
[6:20PM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 3 - EPISODE 1- Spock's Brain
[7:30PM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 3 - EPISODE 2-The Enterprise Incident
[8:40PM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 3 - EPISODE 3-The Paradise Syndrome
[9:50PM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 3 - EPISODE 4-And the Children Shall Lead
[11:00PM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 2 - EPISODE 25-Bread and Circuses
[12:10AM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 2 - EPISODE 26-Assignment: Earth
[1:20AM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 3 - EPISODE 1- Spock's Brain
[2:30AM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 3 - EPISODE 2-The Enterprise Incident
[3:40AM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 3 - EPISODE 3-The Paradise Syndrome
[4:50AM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 3 - EPISODE 4-And the Children Shall Lead (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of BH', followed by a FRESH'Atlanta Social', then the movie 'Delivery Man'.
Comedy Central has 2 hours of old 'South Park', and 2 hours of old 'Tosh.0'.
FX has the movie 'Hotel Transylvania', followed by the movie 'The Book Of Life', then the movie 'Hotel Transylvania'.
IFC -
[6:30AM] THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS
[8:30AM] WATCHMEN
[12:00PM] MACHETE KILLS
[2:30PM] THE SUM OF ALL FEARS
[5:15PM] TRAINING DAY
[8:00PM] SAFE
[10:00PM] CRANK
[12:00AM] TRAINING DAY
[2:45AM] SAFE
[4:45AM] STAN AGAINST EVIL-I'm Gleaning My Coven
[5:15AM] YOU'RE NEXT (ALL TIMES EDT)
Sundance -
[6:33AM] The Bob Newhart Show-I Want to Be Alone
[7:08AM] The Bob Newhart Show-Bob & Emily & Howard & Carol & Jerry
[7:43AM] The Mary Tyler Moore Show-Lou Dates Mary
[8:18AM] The Mary Tyler Moore Show-The Last Show
[8:53AM] The Mary Tyler Moore Show-Love Is All Around
[9:28AM] The Mary Tyler Moore Show-Today I Am a Ma'am
[10:03AM] Waitress
[12:30PM] Meet the Fockers
[3:00PM] Law & Order-The Fertile Fields
[4:00PM] Law & Order-Intolerance
[5:00PM] Law & Order-Silence
[6:00PM] Law & Order-Working Stiff
[7:00PM] Law & Order-Forgiveness
[8:00PM] Law & Order-Humiliation
[9:00PM] Law & Order-Angel
[10:00PM] Law & Order-Blood Libel
[11:00PM] Law & Order-Remand
[12:00AM] Law & Order-Corpus Delicti
[1:00AM] Law & Order-Trophy
[2:00AM] Along Came Polly
[4:00AM] Hap and Leonard: Mucho Mojo-Episode 1
[5:00AM] Hap and Leonard: Mucho Mojo-Episode 2 (ALL TIMES EDT)
SyFy has the movie 'Dredd', followed by the movie 'GI Joe: Retaliation'.
A diary kept by a young John F. Kennedy during his brief stint as a journalist after World War II in which he reflected on Hitler, the ambitions of the Soviet Union and the weakness of the United Nations is up for auction.
The diary was written in 1945 when the 28-year-old Kennedy was a correspondent for Hearst newspapers, rubbing shoulders with world leaders and traveling through a devastated Europe.
Boston-based RR Auction says the diary is expected to fetch about $200,000 at auction April 26.
The 61-page diary, mostly typed but including 12 handwritten pages, was given by Kennedy to Deirdre Henderson, a research assistant in his campaign office in the late 1950s.
"What's remarkable is what he foresaw about the future of a world he would lead 16 years later," said Henderson, who lives in the Boston area.
Former executives from Walt Disney Co and Viacom Inc's Nickelodeon network will lead a new media company created to provide video content for children ages 2 to 11, executives announced on Wednesday.
The company called Pocketwatch aims to reach kids who are growing up watching more video on mobile platforms than on traditional television, said founder and CEO Chris Williams, a former executive at Disney's Maker Studios unit.
Pocketwatch will create and distribute short videos for platforms such as Alphabet Inc's YouTube as well as long-format series or movies intended for streaming services and other outlets, Williams said in an interview.
Albie Hecht, who developed hits such as "Dora the Explorer" and "SpongeBob Squarepants" at Nickelodeon, joined Pocketwatch as chief content officer. The company aims to produce new franchises for the "click and swipe generation," a group that discovers characters through digital videos or online viral trends such as memes and gifs, Hecht said.
Third Wave Digital led a $6 million funding round to launch Pocketwatch. Investors include prominent Hollywood figures such as CBS Corp CEO Leslie Moonves and actor Robert Downey Jr.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II married Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, in 1947 but an auction house in the U.K. will now give you the opportunity to be a part of the royal wedding, by owning a piece of the cake.
The queen, who recently celebrated her sapphire jubilee - 65 years on the throne - married Prince Philip on Nov. 20, 1947. The couple will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary this year.
Their wedding cake stood almost six feet tall, weighing six hundred pounds. It was topped with a silver model of St. George and the Dragon, gifted to the couple as a souvenir, Royal Central reported. It was preserved as a part of British heritage but destroyed by vandals in 2015.
However, a piece of the cake from the wedding celebration is going up for auction by Hansons Auctioneers in Etwall, South Derbyshire. The seven decades old piece has been kept in a small box decorated with wedding bells. The inscription on the box reads, "Presented to Mr C. Dickman by Princess Elizabeth, Nov 20th 1947."
This is not the first instance when a piece of the queen's wedding cake has gone up for auction, with another piece sold in January this year. The piece put for auction at Hansons Auctioneers is a part of the Antiques and Collectors Auction, which runs until Wednesday. The cake is expected to go for anywhere between 100 to 150 pounds ($125-190 approximately).
The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin is illuminated on March 23, 2017, with the British national flag to pay tribute to the victims of an attack in London.
Photo by Markus Schreiber
German candymaker Haribo, which is known for its brightly colored gummy bears and bow tie-wearing gold bear mascot, plans to build its first North American factory in southeastern Wisconsin not far from Chicago, Gov. Scott Walker (R-Who?) announced Thursday.
The facility is slated to be operational by 2020 and employ 400 people once fully up and running, Walker and economic development officials said. An exuberant Walker held up two bags of Haribo candy during a Capitol news conference, but declined to actually eat any because he said he gave up sweets for Lent.
The $242 million candymaking plant is to be built in Pleasant Prairie, which is near Kenosha and just 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Chicago.
Rick LaBerge, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Haribo of America Inc., said in a statement that choosing the site of the company's first North American factory was an "elaborate process" that took many years. Haribo opened its first North American sales office in Baltimore in 1982.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry (R-Doeth Protest Too Much), whose agency oversees the nation's nuclear arsenal, is inserting himself into an unusually small political dispute: an election for student body president at Texas A&M.
In an op-ed submitted to the Houston Chronicle, the former Texas governor suggested that his alma mater's first openly gay president may have stolen the outcome. Perry wrote that the campus election "at best made a mockery of due process and transparency" and at worst "allowed an election to be stolen outright."
"It is difficult to escape the perception that this quest for 'diversity' is the real reason the election outcome was overturned," he wrote. "Does the principle of 'diversity' override and supersede all other values of our Aggie Honor Code?"
Those who know Perry best said they're not surprised that he would take the unusual step of weighing in on a parochial issue at his alma mater - even though he's now a member of President Donald Trump's (R-Crooked) Cabinet.
"There are three institutions that are most important to Rick Perry, his wife and family, the U.S. military and Texas A&M. It depended on the day, or the weekend, which one had the top priority," said Ray Sullivan, a former Perry chief of staff and veteran of the ex-governor's unsuccessful presidential runs in 2012 and 2016.
A model of the Statue of Liberty is decorated with a T-shirt reading "Present" in Paris, March 23, 2017. French environmentalist Nicolas Hulot and Emmaus France director Thierry Kuhn launched an appeal called Present to push the agenda of some 80 nongovernmental associations ahead of the presidential election.
Photo by Francois Mori
A driver at the Kennedy Center stole two presidential seals, including one taken from then-President Barack Obama's seating area after his final Kennedy Center Honors, police said Thursday.
Daniel Lewin of Washington was arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree theft, U.S. Park Police said.
A presidential seal is the disc-like object used to adorn a lectern when the president is speaking. It wasn't immediately clear what the seals were used for at the performing arts center in the nation's capital.
Kennedy Center spokeswoman Eileen Andrews said the seals were stolen from the box at the center's opera house where then-president Barack Obama sat during the Kennedy Center Honors program in 2015 and 2016. The thefts were discovered after the program was over, she said.
Andrews said the suspect worked for a subcontractor that provided transportation during the honors.
About $50 million worth of artifacts and antiques were shipped from both Egypt and Turkey to the United States in 2016 - the highest annual value from each of those countries in at least 20 years, according to U.S. Census Bureau documents.
The artifacts, totaling about $100 million between the two countries, were imported "for consumption" and not for temporary display in a museum, the documents say. Most of the artifacts were shipped to New York City, where numerous antiquities dealers, auction houses and art galleries are based. It can be difficult to determine whether a shipment of artifacts was recently looted, law-enforcement officials told Live Science.
In addition, the actual resale value of the shipments may be higher, because the values seen in the documents are simply those that importers declared, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. Audits are occasionally conducted on shipments, but the spokesperson declined to say how often they occur.
Egypt has experienced extensive looting since the country's 2011 revolution. The looting is linked to the deaths of children (they were killed while working in narrow looting shafts) and antiquities guards (who were shot dead while trying to protect sites). An agreement between the United States and Egypt designed to curtail the antiquities trade was signed in November 2016 and went into effect near the end of that year.
Meanwhile Turkey shares a vast border with both Iraq and Syria, two countries that have experienced heavy looting as a result of ongoing wars. Last year, a Live Science investigation revealed that artifact shipments between Turkey and the U.S. increased after Iraq was invaded in 2003, and then increased further after the civil war in Syria started in 2011. Scholars and multiple governments (including the United States) have documented that artifacts are being sent from Iraq and Syria to Turkey before being sold abroad. Additionally, a coup attempt occurred in Turkey in July 2016, although scholars and law enforcement officials declined to speculate on whether the coup attempt is leading to more artifacts being shipped from Turkey to the US.
Entertainers on stilts wave flags during the qualifying sessions for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, Australia, March 23, 2017.
Photo by Racey Nearm
A Florida man's illegal burning of paperback books sparked a wildfire that quickly spread across 400 acres of land, damaging or destroying as many as 15 homes and forcing residents to evacuate in the northeastern part of the state, officials said on Thursday.
The blaze started on Wednesday afternoon after the unidentified man burned books and magazines outside his home near Bryceville, about 20 miles west of Jacksonville, Florida Forest Service spokeswoman Annaleasa Winter told Reuters by telephone.
Dusty winds blew paper away from the initial burn site, Winter said. Firefighters initially were able to contain about five acres of flames, but strong winds caused the inferno to spiral out of control.
"What happened next was we had 40 to 50 miles-per-hour gusts of winds, and it pushed the embers right outside of the fire line and it just ran through a very dense forest and threatened many homes," Winter said. "At least two homes are lost."
The man accused of starting the fire was cited for an illegal burn but not charged with a crime, she said.
Millions more Adélie penguins are waddling along the icy Antarctic continent than scientists previously thought.
Researchers had estimated that about 2.3 million Adélie penguins called East Antarctica home. But a new survey more than doubles that estimate, to 5.9 million individuals in that area.
A team of scientists completed a comprehensive count of the penguin population using aerial and ground surveys, tagging data and automated cameras during several breeding seasons.
The new estimation is the first to take into account nonbreeding penguins; previous population counts focused only on breeding pairs.
Based on the new estimation of 5.9 million Adélie penguins in East Antarctica, the global population of this species (Pygoscelis adeliae) is likely 14 million to 16 million birds, the researchers said. (This species lives along Antarctica's entire coast and on its small islands.)
Sib Hashian, the original drummer for the rock group Boston, has died. He was 67.
According to TMZ, Hashian was on the Legends of Rock Cruise and was in the middle of a set when he suddenly collapsed. CPR was performed and a defibrillator was used.
He was playing alongside fellow ex-band member Barry Goudreau, former Foreigner singer Lou Gramm, former Beach Boy David Marks and former Kansas singer John Elefante at the time of his death, the Boston Globe reported. Hashian's son Adam confirmed his death.
The Legends of Rock Cruise began on March 18 in Florida and had stops in Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.
The drummer was part of Boston's famous 1976 self-titled album, which featured the mega-hit "More Than a Feeling."
From Lynnfield, Massachusetts, Hashian currently owns a record shop and a string of tanning salons in Boston, according to WCVB-TV, ABC-5.
Hashian is survived by his two daughters, songwriter Aja Hashian and singer-songwriter Lauren Hashian, who has a daughter with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
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