Paul Krugman: Who's Serious Now? (New York Times)
Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, sounds upset. And you can see why: President Obama, to the great relief of progressives, has called his bluff.
Jim Hightower: CORPORATE TAX DODGING FOR FUN AND PROFIT
We're getting an awful lot of high-decibel noise these days from a flock of right-wing governors and Congress critters who're screeching incessantly about the urgent need for "shared sacrifice" to cope with multibillion-dollar budget deficits.
Mark Bittman: How to Save a Trillion Dollars (New York Times)
In the scheme of things, saving the 38 billion bucks that Congress seems poised to agree upon is not a big deal. A big deal is saving a trillion bucks. And we could do that by preventing disease instead of treating it.
Froma Harrop: When French Food Didn't Have to Advertise (Creators Syndicate)
"The gastronomical meal of the French" has landed on the UNESCO world heritage list for "intangible" cultural treasures. That was great news for French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He's been pushing this for two years. But is it good news for French food?
Susan Estrich: The Dodgers Thing (Creators Syndicate)
A friend from out of town asked me what everyone in Los Angeles was saying about the budget crisis and the almost shutdown of the government. Did I know it would be settled? Were people as glued to their televisions as she was?
George RR Martin: Barbarians at the gate (Guardian)
Nothing is as savage as a horde of starved fantasy fans - as author George RR Martin found out. He tells Alison Flood why a new book and HBO series should sate their hunger - and start a new era of swords'n'sorcery.
NICHOLAS DAMES: Why Bother? (n+1 Magazine)
Reflected here was the first paradigm shift in the humanities since the emergence of theory and the culture wars of the preceding two decades. If the question of the '80s and '90s was, "What should we be reading, and how?," the question that dogged the opening years of our new millennium was of a vastly more dismal kind: "Why bother?"
David Bruce has 41 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $41 you can buy 10,250 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
A juniper berry is the female seed cone produced by the various species of junipers. It is not a true berry but a cone with unusually fleshy and merged scales, which give it a berry-like appearance.
Source
Marian was first, and correct, with:
cone
Alan J answered:
Cone
mj wrote:
The pretty little things
Are fruits, I believe.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
It is not a true berry but a cone with unusually fleshy and merged scales
Adam responded:
A juniper berry is the female seed cone produced by the various species of junipers.
Sally said:
The juniper berry "is is" not a true berry but a cone with unusually fleshy and merged scales, which give it a berry-like appearance.
So pretty, would make a lovely table decoration!
PS: I suggested that JoeS offer up his first born to the gods of the IRS, but he cowered to Carla's threat of, 'over my dead body...' But, Geeze, think of the money he's have saved... (JOKING!)
Charlie responded:
It is a cone.
MAM wrote:
A modified cone. Juniper berries are what gives gin its distinctive flavor.
BadtotheboneBob replied:
And, Joe S answered:
A juniper berry is the female seed cone produced by the various species of junipers. It is not a true berry but a cone with unusually fleshy and merged scales, which give it a berry-like appearance. I know this but Wikipedia states it better than I would have. I didn't know it was a female seed cone though, I wasn't aware that there are male and female seed cones. I would think if a cone had seeds it would be female and it wouldn't need to be stated that it was female. But what do I know?
I enjoyed the Charlie Chaplin Google movie.
It's been some time since Rick Santorum has been relevant to politics (NOTE: he still isn't), so it's easy to forget the stupid things he's said about his main issues, protecting the fetuses and attacking the gays. Here's something we forgot about:
Why He Runs: Rick Santorum's Own 'Fetus Jar' Story
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'CSI: The Original One', followed by a RERUN'Hawaii Five-0', then '48 Hours'.
NBC opens the night with a RERUN'L&O: LA', followed by a RERUN'L&O: LA', then a RERUN'L&O: SVU'.
'SNL' is a RERUN, with Gwyneth Paltrow hosting, music by Cee-Lo.
ABC fills the night with the movie 'Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'.
The CW offers an old 'Family Guy', followed by another old 'Family Guy', then an old 'American Dad', followed by another old 'American Dad'.
Faux fills the night with the movie 'Truth Be Told'.
MY recycles an old 'House', followed by another old 'House'.
A&E has 3 hours of 'Storage Wars', followed by a FRESH'Parking Wars', then another FRESH'Parking Wars'.
AMC offers the movie 'Deliverance', followed by the movie 'Se7en'.
BBC -
[4:00 AM] William & Kate: A Fairytale Romance
[5:00 AM] Doctor Who - Ep 11 Utopia
[6:00 AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 18 Identity Crisis
[7:00 AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 19 The Nth Degree
[8:00 AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 20 Qpid
[9:00 AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 21 The Drumhead
[10:00 AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 13 The Wounded
[11:00 AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 14 Devil's Due
[12:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 15 First Contact
[1:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 16 Galaxy's Child
[2:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 17 Night Terrors
[3:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 18 Identity Crisis
[4:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 19 The Nth Degree
[5:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 20 Qpid
[6:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 21 The Drumhead
[7:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 22 Half a Life
[8:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 23 The Host
[9:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 24 The Mind's Eye
[10:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 25 In Theory
[11:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 26 Redemption, Part 1
[12:00 AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 1 Redemption, Part 2
[1:00 AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 23 The Host
[2:00 AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 24 The Mind's Eye
[3:00 AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 25 In Theory
[4:00 AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 26 Redemption, Part 1
[5:00 AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 1 Redemption, Part 2 (ALL TIMES EST)
Comedy Central has the movie 'The Girl Next Door', followed by the movie 'Fired Up'.
FX has the movie 'Max Payne''2½ Men', another '2½ Men', still another '2½ Men', and yet another '2½ Men'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'God Vs. Satan', and 'The Real Face Of Jesus?'.
IFC -
[6:00 AM] The Heroic Trio
[7:45 AM] The Grid
[8:00 AM] Renaissance
[10:15 AM] The Three Stooges
[10:40 AM] The Three Stooges
[11:05 AM] The Three Stooges
[11:25 AM] The Three Stooges
[11:45 AM] Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
[1:45 PM] The Heroic Trio
[3:30 PM] Renaissance
[5:45 PM] The Order
[8:00 PM] The Usual Suspects
[10:15 PM] The Center of the World
[12:15 AM] Buffalo Soldiers
[2:15 AM] The Usual Suspects
[4:30 AM] Onion News Network
[5:00 AM] The Whitest Kids U'Know
[5:30 AM] Portlandia (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:15 AM] The Toe Tactic
[7:45 AM] THE COMEBACK - Valerie Bonds With the Cast (Episode 3, Season 1)
[8:15 AM] THE COMEBACK - Valerie Stands Up for Aunt Sassy (Episode 4, Season 1)
[8:45 AM] ALL ON THE LINE - Dana-Maxx: It's Time to Grow Up (Episode 5, Season 1)
[9:45 AM] ALL ON THE LINE - Kara Janx: That Dress is Great if You're Going to the Prom With Justin Bieber (Episode 2, Season 1)
[10:45 AM] Rem Koolhaas: A Kind Of Architect
[12:30 PM] Blind Date
[1:50 PM] The Toe Tactic
[3:15 PM] Rem Koolhaas: A Kind Of Architect
[5:00 PM] Blind Date
[6:25 PM] Under The Bombs
[8:10 PM] No One Knows About Persian Cats
[10:00 PM] A Home at the End of the World
[11:45 PM] Gentle Giants
[12:00 AM] Indie Sex: Teens
[1:10 AM] Irina Palm
[2:50 AM] No One Knows About Persian Cats
[4:40 AM] A Home at the End of the World (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has fills the night with the movie 'The Storm'.
Mick Jones, co-founder of the British punk rock band The Clash, is interviewed before performing with Big Audio Dynamite at the Roxy theatre in West Hollywood,California, April 14, 2011. Jones is turning the clock back to the '80s, the decade that saw his punk rock band the Clash become mainstream stars. But the singer/songwriter/guitarist behind such hits as "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" and "Train in Vain" is looking past those glory days to focus on the cult band he formed after he was kicked out of the Clash in 1983.
Photo by Mario Anzuoni (
Four hundred years after Galileo Galilei first demonstrated his telescope to scholars on a Roman hilltop, the astronomer condemned by the Catholic Church was celebrated on the same spot with a multimedia art exhibit that, oddly enough, included an installation from the Vatican.
Heliographs, astrolabes and other antique astrological instruments that belong to the Vatican Observatory stood alongside contemporary art inspired by Galileo and his science: rows of intensely hot, blindingly bright floodlights simulating the sun; a performance by a Tibetan musician playing a telescope-like horn.
The event took place Thursday night at the American Academy in Rome, a research center for the arts and humanities whose gardens lie on the exact spot where, on the night of April 14, 1611, Galileo showed off his telescope for the first time to the most important scholars of his time.
Galileo made the first complete astronomical telescope and used it to gather evidence that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time had placed Earth at the center of the universe. The church denounced Galileo's theory as dangerous to the faith, but Galileo defied its warnings. Tried for heresy and forced to recant in 1633, he spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
The Galileo affair helped spawn the impression that the Catholic Church was hostile to science, an impression the Vatican has tried to rebut ever since. Its Observatory, which produces top-tier science with telescopes outside Rome and in Arizona, is Exhibit A of those efforts.
In this theater publicity image released by Jonas PR, Jerry Van Dyke, left, and his brother Dick Van Dyke are shown during a benefit performance of Neil Simon's 'The Sunshine Boys,' at the Malibu Stage Company on April 15, 2011, in Malibu, Calif.
Photo by Shirley Van Dyke
After printing 3 billion copies of a new postage stamp bearing an image of the Statue of Liberty, the United States Postal Service received a strange question from a stamp collector.
Did postal officials realise the photograph was not of the famed statue in New York Harbor, but of a less-feted fibreglass and Styrofoam replica outside a Las Vegas casino?
They did not.
The first-class postage stamp, which shows a low-angled close-up of Lady Liberty's face and crown, was issued in December, according to an announcement about the "world-recognized" symbol of the United States.
The USPS said it will correct the catalogue information connected with the stamp and live with the error, and has no plans to issue a recall. "Our track record is excellent for this as far as we're concerned," Betts said. "We've been issuing stamps since 1847. Very few errors have occurred over the years."
A new Berlin exhibition shines a light on the man behind the typeface designs for brands recognized by millions of people the world over. Typographer Erik Spiekermann is the subject of a solo exhibition at the Bauhaus Archive museum, which offers a glimpse into his designs for some of the world's most recognizable brands, including carmaker Audi and The Economist magazine.
But the self-effacing, West German-born 63-year-old designer told Reuters that typefaces don't belong in museums.
"It was a fait accompli," Spiekermann said about the current exhibition. "I don't actually believe the stuff we do should be in shows because it's very difficult to display and more often what we do are guidelines for other people."
Even so, the Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired his best-known typeface FF Meta for its collections in January.
First commissioned and then rejected by the West German post office in 1984, FF Meta is one of the top selling fonts in the past 20 years and helped usher in the digital era of type design.
Coach Cee Lo Green smiles during the NBC panel for the television show "The Voice" during the Television Critics Association summer press tourin Pasadena, California April 15, 2011.
Photo by Mario Anzuoni
It looks like a design out of the mind of Dr. Seuss. But this huge, swooping wooden structure designed by J. Mayer H. Architects is a real building in Seville, Spain, and it's open for business.
The Metropol Parasol looks from afar like it's constructed from popsicle sticks -- but it is actually built from bonded timber with a polyurethane coating (translation: extra-strong glue). The unusual materials have given it two unique claims to fame: It's the largest wooden building in the world, and the largest structure to be held together by glue.
The fantastical, undulating parasols and interlocking wooden honeycombs rise from concrete bases. It's an ultra-modern sight marvel soaring high above the medieval city.
The structure houses a museum, a restaurant, and a farmer's market, most of which are open-air. The coolest part: The roof is open to the public, and visitors can stroll on elevated promenades and take in amazing views.
A public apology from Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper arm designed to contain an escalating phone-hacking scandal looks to have failed after a judge said civil cases against the firm could run into next year at least.
At a case-management conference called to decide how best to manage a potential flood of lawsuits, the presiding judge said on Friday he would hear four or five test cases, potentially including the actress Sienna Miller, toward the year end.
So far, around 20 public figures who believe their voicemail messages were intercepted by journalists at the popular News of the World tabloid are suing News International, the UK newspaper arm of News Corp.
But many more are expected to come forward after the group apologized to eight victims last week and said it would set up a compensation scheme.
An investigation into newsgathering practices at the News of the World has so far touched celebrities, government ministers, sports stars and British Prime Minister David Cameron, repeatedly making headline news in rival publications.
CBS news correspondent and author Bill Geist reaches out to touch his newly unveiled star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as Lassie sits beside him in Hollywood,California April 15, 2011. Geist interviewed Lassie asking for tips on how to get a Walk of Fame star for a segment of "CBS Sunday Morning".
Photo by Fred Prouser
Scandal-tainted designer John Galliano has been fired from his own fashion label just weeks after an anti-Semitic outburst cost him his top job at Dior, Women's Wear Daily (WWD) reported on Friday.
The British designer was ousted from the "John Galliano" fashion label, which is 92-percent-owned by Dior, six weeks after a video surfaced of him hurling anti-Semitic insults at a couple in a Paris bar, the fashion trade journal reported.
The label's board decided to hand over his responsibilities to an in-house design team, WWD said citing sources, without specifying whether the label would retain the same name.
A spokesman for the brand would not confirm or deny the report but said: "Do you think a newspaper as serious as WWD would not check its facts before publishing them?."
Judge Sharon Osbourne answers a question at the NBC panel for the television show "America's Got Talent" during the Television Critics Associationsummer press tour in Pasadena, California April 15, 2011.
Photo by Mario Anzuoni
Los Angeles County health officials say the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease was found in a hot tub at the Playboy Mansion where scores of people became ill after attending a fundraiser in February.
The Los Angeles Times says health officials presented their findings Friday at an annual conference at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
The legionella bacteria also causes a milder illness called Pontiac fever. Symptoms include fever and headache.
Many people who attended a fundraiser party at the Playboy Mansion came down with a respiratory illness after the DomainFest conference in February.
Officials contacted 439 people and found that 123 had fevers and at least one other symptom with 69 falling ill on the same day. Epidemiologists used social media to contact the conference attendees.
A camper wait behind a locked gate for the opening of the 12th Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Friday, April 15, 2011, in Indio, Calif.
Photo by Spencer Weiner
A new report estimates that half the meat and poultry sold in the supermarket may be tainted with the staph germ.
That estimate is based on 136 samples of beef, chicken, pork and turkey purchased from grocery stores in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Flagstaff, Ariz. and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Researchers found more than half contained Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria that can make people sick. Worse, half of those contaminated samples had a form of the bacteria resistant to at least three kinds of antibiotics.
Proper cooking should kill the germs. But the report suggests that consumers should be careful to wash their hands and take other steps not to spread bacteria during food preparation.
A nail covered in a piece of bone (L) is displayed alongside two nails presented in a new documentary film as havinga connection to Jesus April 6, 2011 at Tel Aviv University. The film "The Nails of the Cross" by veteran investigator Simcha Jacobovici, is based on the premise that the nails, discovered in a 2,000-year-old tomb in Jerusalem, were used to crucify Jesus.
Photo by Baz Ratner
So revered is North Korean founder Kim Il Sung that he remains the nation's "eternal president" 17 years after his death, his beaming face on billboards, portraits and the small pins every North Korean wears affixed to their shirts and jackets.
Kim would have turned 99 on Friday, and his birthday remains the country's most important holiday. It's a day to remember the man who built the nation in the postcolonial, postwar era, and a reminder of the lasting legacy of his blend of socialism and Confucianism even as the communist bloc has largely crumbled around North Korea.
For North Korea's leadership, April 15th - the "Day of the Sun" - is also an occasion to rally national pride as the country undergoes a sensitive leadership transition and as tensions with the outside world persist.
After leading North Korea for decades until his death in 1994, Kim was succeeded by son Kim Jong Il in a hereditary succession heralded as the first in the communist world. Now 69, Kim Jong Il is grooming his third son, Kim Jong Un, to eventually assume the mantle of leadership.
It's widely believed Kim Jong Il will formally bestow the son, who is in his late 20s and is known familiarly in Pyongyang as "the Young General," with top-level posts over the next year confirming his status as the next leader.
A zoo keeper holds baby orangutan Boo, a 9-month-old orphan, as it plays with a toy during a presentation at the Madrid Zoo & Aquarium April 14, 2011.Boo, the first orangutan born at the zoo, has been adopted by a female orangutan and is bottle fed by one of the keepers, according to the zoo.
Photo by Andrea Comas
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
The idea is to have fun.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better, amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican hypocrites?
Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
This is your place.
wrote:
answered:
