Froma Harrop: The Blubber Hits The Road Projects (Creators Syndicate)
The blubbering has hit the road projects, as the congressional ban on earmarks becomes reality. Tea partiers and other foes of "Big Government" demanded the end to earmarks, also known as pork. Earmarks are but a drop in the federal spending pool, so you can imagine the howls that will emerge from the major budgetary surgery to come.
Jim Hightower: Infesting the Entire Court System
Over the years, corporate chieftains and their political henchmen have steadily ensconced reliable laissez-faire idologues in hundreds of federal judgeships, quietly creating a corporate-friendly path for moving their litigation all the way from the district level through the supremes.
Paul Krugman: Ideas are Not the Same as Race (New York Times)
Biologists, physicists, and chemists are all predominantly liberal; does this reflect discrimination, or the tendency of people who actually know science to reject a political tendency that denies climate change and is broadly hostile to the theory of evolution?
Paul Collins: Vanishing Act (Laphams Quarterly)
The warning notice on her door the following year, though, marked a new project: young Barbara was attempting an entire novel. On some days the eight year old topped four thousand words. While her notes to her playmates and family overflowed with warmth, she was absolute in guarding her time to write. Neighboring children who didn't understand were brusquely dismissed.
David Bruce has 40 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $40 you can buy 10,000 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
Modern pianos come in two basic configurations (with subcategories): the grand piano and the upright piano.
Source
Jim from CA, retired to ID, was first, and correct, with:
Modern pianos come in two basic configurations and several sizes: the
grand piano and the upright piano
BadtotheboneBob wrote:
Not knowing a damn'd thing about pianos (or at least not very much), I can only guess... Upright, baby grand and grand...
Sally said:
Okay, it's late so I am going to shoot from the hip here, I'll say two, the upright and the Grand.
Hahaha!
PS: It's been a long day of watching the TV, listening to the radio, and of course being online - following the events in Egypt.
I studied Egyptology for a couple of semesters in College, and could even read some hieroglyphs on the tombstones... I've read a lot about ancient Egypt, but not as much of the later history.
Egypt in the days of the pharaohs was majestic, but it has been in decline for ages (in part) due to the backward Muslim influences, and the poverty/lack of educational opportunities for many... IAC, I am closely following this with much attention to it all...
I sure hope this move is good for them, you know??
MAM wrote:
Had one last look before sutting down for the night. And there you were! Love Sal's cattail plant. Love Sal, for that matter.
There are 2 basic configurations of modern pianos: the grand piano and the upright piano.
Charlie responded:
Two - grand and upright.
And of course there are variations.
And, Joe S answered:
Two, upright and grand. I used to play the piano, well I was learning to play the piano actually. I was 6. My mother played and she played quite well and so she started me on it. Then we moved 100 miles away and had to leave the piano behind. So there I was in a strange city, no friends, no piano and no one to give piano lessons. My career ended.
But, you know what? I had sandwiches for supper tonight. I haven't had a sandwich in about a year. Damn they were good. I had ham, cheese, sliced tomato and mayo on gluten free bread. I had three of them. Oh man, I missed sandwiches. Wheat allergies suck. So anyway, I'm sure everyone wanted to know that.
Oh, and I'm very happy BCE and BartCop is back up and running. I was on Bartcop last night when the server crashed. It was kinda scary for a minute. I wondered if the republicans had found the Internet off switch.
Seems there were server problems Thursday night around 11pm, but the always-fabulous and ever-reliable Marc Perkel got things back in order and online. Marc's the best!
Sunny and much warmer than seasonal.
Tonight, Saturday:
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'NCIS: The 2nd One', followed by a RERUN'CSI: The 2nd One', and '48 Hours'.
NBC opens the night with a RERUN'Harry's Law', followed by a RERUN'L&O: LA', then a RERUN'L&O: SVU'.
'SNL' is FRESH, with Russell Brand hosting, music by Chris Brown.
ABC starts the night with a RERUN'Wipeout', followed by the movie 'Hairspray'.
The CW offers a RERUN'Nikita', followed by an old 'American Dad', then another old 'American Dad'.
Faux has the traditional 'Cops', 'Cops', and 'America's Most Wanted'.
MY recycles an old 'House', followed by another old 'House'.
AMC offers the movie 'The Godfather', followed by the movie 'The Godfather', again.
BBC -
[5:30 AM] Peep Show - Episode 6
[6:00 AM] The Graham Norton Show - Ep 10 Bill Bailey, Kelly Rowland
[7:00 AM] Doctor Who - Ep 4 Aliens of London
[8:00 AM] Doctor Who - Ep 5 World War Three
[9:00 AM] Top Gear - Episode 9
[10:00 AM] Top Gear - Top Gear Season 15 Special
[11:30 AM] Six Nations Rugby Championship Pre-game Show - Episode 2
[12:00 PM] Six Nations Rugby Championship (2011) - Scotland v Wales
[2:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 1
[3:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 10
[4:00 PM] The X-Files - Ep 9 Space
[5:00 PM] The X-Files - Ep 10 Fallen Angel
[6:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 15 Yesterday's Enterprise
[7:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 16 The Offspring
[8:00 PM] Primeval - Episode 5
[9:00 PM] Primeval - Episode 6
[10:00 PM] The Graham Norton Show - 13 - John Cleese, Tinie Tempah
[11:00 PM] Primeval - Episode 5
[12:00 AM] Primeval - Episode 6
[1:00 AM] The Graham Norton Show - 13 - John Cleese, Tinie Tempah
[2:00 AM] Primeval - Episode 5
[3:00 AM] Primeval - Episode 6
[4:00 AM] The Graham Norton Show - 13 - John Cleese, Tinie Tempah
[5:00 AM] The Graham Norton Show - Ep 11 Joanna Lumley, David Hyde Pierce, Hamish & Andy, Fyfe Dangerfield (ALL TIMES EST)
Comedy Central has the movie 'Wedding Crashers', followed by the movie 'The 40-Year Old Virgin'.
FX has the movie 'Step Brothers', '2½ Men', another '2½ Men', still another '2½ Men'', and yet another '2½ Men'.
History has 'American Pickers', 'Only In America With Larry TCG', and 'Bigfoot: The Definitive Guide'.
IFC -
[6:00 AM] The Ben Stiller Show
[6:30 AM] The Grid
[6:45 AM] The Protector
[8:30 AM] The Three Stooges
[8:55 AM] The Three Stooges
[9:20 AM] The Three Stooges
[9:45 AM] The Three Stooges
[10:10 AM] The Three Stooges
[10:35 AM] The Three Stooges
[11:00 AM] Onion News Network
[11:30 AM] Portlandia
[12:00 PM] The Hearse
[2:15 PM] The Protector
[4:00 PM] Last Days
[6:15 PM] Chapter 27
[8:00 PM] The Usual Suspects
[10:15 PM] Thirteen
[12:30 AM] Bully
[3:00 AM] The Usual Suspects
[5:15 AM] Portlandia
[5:45 AM] The Whitest Kids U'Know (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:25 AM] Monsieur Hubert De Givenchy
[7:25 AM] Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie
[9:10 AM] Lemon Tree
[11:00 AM] Love/Lust & Little Black Dress
[12:00 PM] Ten for Grandpa
[12:10 PM] BRICK CITY - To Plea or Not to Plea (Episode 1, Season 2)
[1:10 PM] Brick City
[2:10 PM] Teleglobal Dreamin'
[2:30 PM] Signe Chanel Episode 1: Anticipation
[3:00 PM] Signe Chanel Episode 2: Doubts
[3:30 PM] Signe Chanel Episode 3: Rituals
[4:00 PM] Signe Chanel Episode 4: Sleepless Nights
[4:30 PM] Signe Chanel
[5:00 PM] David Bailey, Four Beats to the Bar and No Cheating
[6:00 PM] Lovers of Hate
[7:40 PM] Little Children
[10:00 PM] Marie Antoinette
[12:05 AM] Hunger
[1:45 AM] Little Children
[4:05 AM] Lovers of Hate
[5:45 AM] Fighter (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Eyeborgs', followed by the movie 'Iron Invader'.
Kirk Douglas and his wife Anne arrive at the 'An Unforgettable Evening' event benefiting the Entertainment Industry Foundation's Women's Cancer ResearchFund, in Beverly Hills, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011.
Photo by Chris Pizzello
The comedian announced Friday that he will embark on the biennial OnDeck Charleston Bermuda Race on May 11. Colbert and crew will sail a 65-foot racing yacht on the 777-mile race from his native Charleston, S.C., to Bermuda.
The "Colbert Report" host plans to make the adventure a focal point on his show, treating it with far more bombast than Captain Ahab ever did.
The 46-year-old has competed in the race once before, in 2005 shortly before the "Colbert Report" premiered.
The race is presented by sailing company OnDeck in partnership with the South Carolina Maritime Foundation and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. Colbert has been designated Honorary Captain of the Fleet by the race's organizers.
Conan O'Brien, host of the 'An Unforgettable Evening' event benefiting the Entertainment Industry Foundation's Women's Cancer Research Fund, arrives withhis wife Liza in Beverly Hills, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011.
Photo by Chris Pizzello
Jack Black is hosting Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards for the third time.
In an announcement Friday, Nickelodeon said Black's unpredictability and comic timing bring excitement to the ceremony.
The Kids' Choice Awards will air live from Los Angeles on April 2 on Nickelodeon. Nominees in the categories of music, TV, movies and sports include Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Swift, Robert Downey Jr., Emma Watson and Danica Patrick.
Beyonce will close this year's Glastonbury Festival, following her husband Jay-Z's headline act at the British music event in 2008.
The pop singer said Friday she cannot wait to perform. She says: "I'm pumped just thinking about that huge audience and soaking up their energy."
She joined about 140,000 music fans at the festival in southwest England's Somerset in 2008 to see Jay-Z's show.
The outdoor festival, one of the largest and best-known of its kind, celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. Tickets for this year's event on June 22-26 already have sold out.
Actor Jon Hamm attends a special screening of 'Cedar Rapids' hosted by the Cinema Society at the SVA Theater on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011 in New York.
Photo by Evan Agostini
Elizabeth Taylor has been hospitalized for treatment of congestive heart failure.
Her spokeswoman, Sally Morrison, said Friday that the Oscar-winning actress was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center within the past couple of days.
The 78-year-old Taylor is being treated for symptoms caused by congestive heart failure, a condition she disclosed she had back in November 2004.
Morrison said it's unknown how long she might be in the hospital. She added that Taylor's family appreciated the support from fans, but asked for privacy to allow the medical team space to do its work.
English actor Martin Freeman, center, who will play Bilbo Baggins, poses with other cast members from the movie The Hobbit in Wellington, New Zealand,Friday, Feb. 11, 2011. Hollywood studio funding problems, a threatened actors' boycott and ulcer surgery for director Peter Jackson have plagued pre-production on the $500 million, two-movie project.
Photo by Ross Setford
Doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital say a common heart rhythm disturbance caused Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti to faint during a rehearsal last week.
Cardiologist Bradley Knight said Friday that doctors have implanted a standard pacemaker to help ensure it doesn't happen again.
Knight says the 69-year-old Muti has superb heart function overall and that the pacemaker should correct the problem.
Muti suffered a jaw and facial fractures when he fell from the podium Feb. 3, and has been hospitalized since then.
Deal-of-the-day website Groupon has pulled its controversial Super Bowl ads that made light of Tibet's oppression against China's Communist regime.
"One thing is clear -- our ads offended a lot of people," admitted founder Andrew Mason on the company's blog Thursday.
Several of the company's spots, which were directed by Best in Show's Christopher Guest, will continue to air on Friday because they were previously scheduled.
"We thought we were poking fun at ourselves, but clearly the execution was off and the joke didn't come through," Mason added. "I personally take responsibility; although we worked with a professional ad agency, in the end, it was my decision to run the ads."
In this photo taken by Brian Ach and released by ID-PR, actress Cynthia Nixon, left, and Christine Marinoni pose with their son Max on Friday, Feb. 11, 2011 in New York. Max was born on Feb. 7.
Photo by Brian Ach
The son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour appeared in court Friday to face charges that he was involved in an attack on a royal convoy of cars during violent student protests.
Charlie Gilmour, 21, allegedly took part in a mob attack on a convoy of cars accompanying a limo carrying Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, as they drove through a busy London street amid a student protest that turned violent.
He was among thousands of students who crowded London's streets on Dec. 9 to protest rising university tuition fees. Although most student protesters marched peacefully, some clashed with police and others breaking away from the main demonstration descended upon the royal convoy at Regent Street.
Prosecutor Simon Clements said Gilmour allegedly sat on the bonnet of a car carrying royal protection officers, and threw a garbage can at the convoy cars.
Gilmour earlier also faced a charge of stealing a mannequin leg during the street demonstration, but that theft charge was dropped.
Musician Herbie Hancock poses for a portrait at his home in Los Angeles February 2, 2011. Jazz giant Hancock played last month for Chinese President HuJintao at the White House state dinner and might have done a little something to smooth those tense U.S.-China relations. Hancock said he tries to stay tuned in to world events, watching news when he's not working on his music. It is not surprising, then, that inspiration for his latest album "The Imagine Project" came from watching the economic crisis unfold around the world.
Photo by Mario Anzuoni
Nearly a decade after the scandal over sexual abuse by priests erupted, Philadelphia's district attorney has taken a step no prosecutor in the U.S. had taken before: filing criminal charges against a high-ranking Roman Catholic official for allegedly failing to protect children.
"I love my church," said District Attorney Seth Williams, himself a Catholic, "but I detest the criminal behavior of priests who abuse or allow the abuse of children."
Williams announced charges Thursday against three priests, a parochial school teacher and Monsignor William Lynn, who as secretary of the clergy was one of the top officials in the Philadelphia Archdiocese from 1992 to 2004.
The three priests and the teacher were charged with raping boys. Lynn, 60, was accused not of molesting children but of endangering them. A damning grand jury report said at least two boys were sexually assaulted because he put two known pedophiles in posts where they had contact with youngsters.
"The rapist priests we accuse were well-known to the secretary of clergy, but he cloaked their conduct and put them in place to do it again," the report said.
Brazilian singer, composer and former Culture Minister of Brazil, Giberto Gil, performs during the celebrations of the 467th anniversary of Guadalajara, Mexico, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2010. Veloso performed with other top Brazilian artists.
Photo by Bernanrdo de Niz
A neighbor of former Smashing Pumpkins member D'arcy Wretzky doesn't understand how the musician has landed in Michigan's Berrien County Jail for the most unlikely reason -- her horses ran wild through the small town she now lives in.
Debra Beebe, who owns a 20-acre property across from Wretzky , tells The Hollywood Reporter she knows of no bothersome horse incident that could have led to the legal problems.
"She and her horses have never bothered anyone here," says Beebe. "I think this is overblown."
The actual charges brought against Wretzky related to "animals running at large" after her horses broke free in 2009. Had the bassist simply shown up to court or paid fines stemming from the tickets, a warrant would not have been issued for her arrest.
However, the musician missed four consecutive court dates and fines related to the incident forcing a warrant to be issued for her arrest.
A protester holds a placard in support of Al-Jazeera television channel, outside the Egyptian state television building, in downtown Cairo Friday, Feb.11, 2011. Revelers swept joyously into the streets across the Middle East on Friday after Mubarak stepped down as Egypt's president. From Beirut to Gaza, tens of thousands handed out candy, set off fireworks and unleashed celebratory gunfire, and the governments of Jordan, Iraq and Sudan sent their blessings.
Photo by Ben Curtis
NBC says Miley Cyrus will be hosting "Saturday Night Live" on March 5.
It will be the first time playing guest host to "SNL" for the 18-year-old pop star, NBC said Friday. A separate musical guest will join Cyrus that night.
People walk in front of a poster showing Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi prior to the screening of the movie 'Offside' by Jajar Panahi at the InternationalFilm Festival Berlinale in Berlin on Friday, Feb. 11, 2011. Jafar Panahi was sentenced in Dec. 2010 to six years in prison in Iran. The German words read: Where is Jafar Panahi.
Photo by Markus Schreiber
A Kodiak Island bald eagle survived 25 years of Alaska hazards but met an unfortunate fate last month on the crossbar of a utility pole: electrocution.
A band attached to its leg showed the bird to be the second-oldest bald eagle documented in Alaska and one of the oldest in the country.
The death was of high interest to raptor biologists, who have no other way besides recovered bands to confirm the age of mature wild eagles.
"Once they reach that full adult stage - white head, brown body, white tail - you don't have any idea how old they are," said Steve Lewis, coordinator of raptor management for the Alaska region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The oldest eagle documented in the country was a 32-year-old bird from Maine. Alaska's oldest recorded eagle was a 28-year-old from the Chilkat Valley outside Haines. Lewis suspects most eagles don't approach three decades but proving that with leg bands can be haphazard.
Belgian marathon runner Stefaan Engels celebrates after taking part in a marathon in Barcelona, in this handout picture taken February 5, 2011. The 49-year-oldfrom Ghent, northwest Belgium, is now the proud holder of the record for the most consecutive marathons, complementing his Guinness world record for the most triathlons completed in a year (20). He has also completed 401 marathons in as many days: 18 on a hand bike and the rest on foot, including 365 in a row.
Photo by Petra Sap.
Does the sun revolve around the Earth? One in every three Russians thinks so, a spokeswoman for state pollster VsTIOM said on Friday.
In a survey released this week, 32 percent of Russians believed the Earth was the center of the Solar system; 55 percent that all radioactivity is man-made; and 29 percent that the first humans lived when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth.
"It's really quite amazing," spokeswoman Olga Kamenchuk said of the survey that polled 1,600 people across Russia's regions in January, with a 3.4-percent margin of error.
"All of them (the questions) were absolutely obvious... the data speaks of the low levels of education in the country."
PC Air transsexual flight attendants (L to R): Nathatai Sukkaset, 26, Dissanai Chitpraphachin, 24, Chayathisa Nakmai,24 and Phuntakarn Sringern, 24, pose for photographers at the airline's office in Bangkok February 9, 2011. The newly formed airline wants to differentiate themselves from their competitors by hiring transsexuals, locally known as "katoeys" or "ladyboys". Original plans to hire only male and female attendants were changed when more than 100 job applications from transvestites and transsexuals were received, four of whom were recruited along with 19 female and seven male flight attendants. The airline said the qualifications were the same as that required of female flight attendants, which include femininity and attractiveness.
Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom
A fierce sperm whale sank the first whaling ship under George Pollard's command and inspired the classic American novel "Moby-Dick". A mere two years later, a second whaler captained by Pollard struck a coral reef during a night storm and sank in shallow water.
Marine archaeologists scouring remote atolls 600 miles northwest of Honolulu have found the wreck site of Pollard's second vessel - the Two Brothers - which went down in 1823.
Most of the wooden Nantucket whaling ship disintegrated in Hawaii's warm waters in the nearly two centuries since. But researchers found several harpoons, a hook used to strip whales of their blubber, and try pots or large cauldrons whalers used to turn whale blubber into oil. Corals have grown around and on top of many of the objects, swallowing them into the reef.
"To find the physical remains of something that seems to have been lost to time is pretty amazing," said Nathaniel Philbrick, an author and historian who spent more than three years researching the Essex - and its fatal encounter with the whale - the Two Brothers and their captain. "It just makes you realize these stories are more than stories. They're about real lives."
Officials from the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument - one of the world's largest marine reserves - were due to announce their findings at a news conference Friday, exactly 188 years after the Two Brothers sank.
Actress Marie Lillo, who sang opera and performed in musical comedies and on television during her 60-year career, has died. She was 81.
Lillo's niece, Connie Lillo Thieman, told The Associated Press on Friday that Lillo died of cancer Feb. 1 in Los Angeles.
Lillo toured with Milton Berle as a member of a classical quartet who sang while he performed and she won a 1998-99 Drama League Award for the character Emma in Joe DiPietro's off-Broadway hit "Over the River and Through the Woods."
Lillo's niece says Lillo's career started in opera. Lillo's later roles included an old hunchback psychic nun in the NBC series "Passions" and as Maggie Jones in David Merrick's "42nd Street" - her Broadway debut, her family said. She also starred in a number of Las Vegas productions, costarred in the Texas tour of "Deathtrap" with Leslie Nielsen, and with Cesar Romero in the national tour of "The Max Factor."
When he adapted "Babes in Arms" for Goodspeed Musicals in 2002, he added the role of the world's oldest living chorus girl. "We needed someone who could sing and do comedy and was a real sort-of broad," he said. At the first rehearsal, DiPietro said, Lillo belted out "The Lady is a Tramp" and the rest of the cast stopped to give her a standing ovation. "She brought the house down every time," he said.
Lillo was born in New Jersey. Her parents moved to Leland near the Mississippi-Arkansas border and opened a restaurant when she was young. She graduated from Loyola and also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
Lillo taught voice and acting, despite the cancer, which returned in April after she had six healthy years, Thieman said. When the cancer came back, Lillo said: "'If I can't teach, this is not a life I want to live,'" Thieman said. "She loved teaching - loved giving away what she had. She was such an encourager. You felt like you were her favorite. She made everybody feel like that."
A male cheetah cub, left, rubs against a female cheetah cub after being weighed at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va., Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. After two cubs were born in December to different mothers, the male cub was placed with the female cub and her mother, Zazi, as the Zoo says female cheetahs don't produce enough milk when only a single cub is present. The male cub weighed in at ten pounds, and the female at nine pounds.
Photo by Jacquelyn Martin
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answered:
