The Monday Or Thursday Poll
Question
The current question:
T. Boone Pickens, self-proclaimed lifelong oil man and CEO of BP Capital Management that specializes in energy investments has been touting a 'plan' to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil.
Do you think his 'plan' is viable and should it be seriously considered?
Send your response to BadtotheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
Fresh poll questions appear on Monday and Thursday, with Monday's results on Thursday, and Thursday's results on Monday.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Ted Rall: HOPE FOR AUDACITY
Unless something happens, John McCain will win.
Joel Stein: Forget the 'Decider'; he's the 'Motivator' (latimes.com)
Bush has spent much of his presidency making things look better than they are. He could make a career out of it.
Mark Morford: New rules for priests (sfgate.com)
No more piggyback rides, hugging, tickling. And that goes for the kids, too
Tom Danehy: If you're unmarried and choose to cohabitate, don't send Tom an invitation to a housewarming (tucsonweekly.com)
A young couple I know recently sent me a really fancy invitation, stating that they were moving in together and asking if I would like to come to their housewarming. Ever polite, I sent them back a handwritten note that read, "I'm sorry, but my manners got stuck in the 1970s, and I haven't had the time (or the inclination) to update them." I'll hold on to the gift in case they decide to get married.
PAUL CONSTANT: Monster Mash Notes (thestranger.com)
The Newest Literary Sex Symbol Is a Vegetarian Vampire from Forks, Washington.
Will Harris: A Chat with David Carradine, Star of "Kung Fu Killer" (bullz-eye.com)
Right towards the end (of 'Kung Fu,'), I said, 'I'm leaving now.' It wasn't ever cancelled. I just walked. And they said, 'What are you doing? It's #2 in the Nielsens right now! Last week it was #1!' And I said, 'Yeah? What do I care? I've got other things to do.'
Kate O'Hare: Michael Shanks loves the heat on 'Burn Notice' (Zap2it.com)
Calling from atop the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, where he's on a family vacation with wife Lexa Doig and their children, "Stargate SG-1" star Michael Shanks is happy to take time to talk about his latest TV venture.
Stephen Becker: Javier Bardem, living the impossible life (The Dallas Morning News)
On film, Javier Bardem is a direct guy. In his Oscar-winning turn in "No Country for Old Men," he shows no hesitation in shooting people in the head with a cattle gun. And in Woody Allen's "Vicky Christina Barcelona," he's just as forthright, if not equally lethal.
Roger Moore: 'Henry Poole's' Luke Wilson lives life his way (The Orlando Sentinel)
"I'm always makin' movies that I figure'll play better in the Midwest, in less cynical places than LA and New York," says actor Luke Wilson in that familiar Texas drawl. "'Henry Poole is Here' is one of those movies. You can kind of get caught up in LA in all these dark blockbusters, like 'Dark Knight.' But in the real America, these small character-driven movies can certainly say something to folks who aren't the type who embrace something on hype, or faith, at the drop of a hat."
Roger Ebert: TROPIC THUNDER (R; 3 1/2 stars)
The documentary "Hearts of Darkness" is about the struggles of filming the great Vietnam war movie "Apocalypse Now." Ben Stiller's "Tropic Thunder" plays like that doc's nightmare. A troupe of actors, under the impression they're making a Vietnam war movie, wanders dangerously in the jungle and is captured by a gang of druglords who think the actors are narcs.
Video: How Fox Smears Obama
Reader Comment
Mind-Reading
A team of UC Irvine scientists has been awarded a $4 million grant from the
U.S. Army Research Office to study the neuroscientific and signal-processing
foundations of synthetic telepathy.
The research could lead to a communication system that would benefit
soldiers on the battlefield and paralysis and stroke patients, according to
lead researcher Michael D'Zmura, chair of the UCI Department of Cognitive
Sciences.
"Thanks to this generous grant we can work with experts in automatic speech
recognition and in brain imaging at other universities to research a
brain-computer interface with applications in military, medical and
commercial settings," D'Zmura says.
For the rest - Scientists to study synthetic telepathy
Ned
People only see what they are prepared to see.
Thanks, Ned!
Here's the local TV station's spin: Army Funds $4 Million Mind-Reading Research
Armed with a $4 million grant from the Army, scientists are studying brain signals to try to decipher what a person is thinking and who the person wants to direct the message to.
The project is a collaboration among researchers at the University of California, Irvine, Carnegie Mellon University and University of Maryland.
The hope is that the research could someday lead to a gadget capable of translating the thoughts of soldiers who suffered brain injuries in combat or even stroke patients in hospitals. But the research also raises concerns that such mind-reading technology could be used to interrogate the enemy.
Reader Comment
Weather
Happy weekend such as it is, marty. (yet another 100 degree day up in Oregon yippee)
I was amazed at the picture of lightning and monsoonal rains in Malibu. Born and raised in SoCal, lightning anywhere west of SanBerdoo was rare and right on the coast even more so. But in the past few years, it looks like you guys down south have had some big changes in weather patterns. Lots more lightning, more dry then deluge then dry and it seems generally hotter than it used to be.
Maybe it's just my faltering memory but I do know that lightning used to be a very very rare thing and now it looks like it's much more common.
I was on vacation last week, so of course it was blazingly hot here in the Willamette Valley. I go back to work Monday at which time the temps are supposed to dip into the low 80s. Timing is everything, non?
ducks
Thanks, ducks!
We've mostly lucked out on the horribly hot weather, so far, and I'm not complaining.
It's also the first time I've ever had a blanket on the bed in August, in So Cal.
Reader Question
The Wall
Didn't the Soviet Union build something like this once in Berlin?
Ray
Thanks, Ray!
Why, yes they did.
And, if memory serves, so did the Chinese, a long, long time ago.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Back to sunny and pleasant.
Chicago Jump
Bill Murray
Bill Murray landed in Chicago on Friday like he never had before - by jumping from an airplane 13,500 feet up. The 57-year-old actor took several deep breaths before stepping out the open doors of a C-31 Fokker and dropping at about 120 mph to the city's lakefront with members of the Army Golden Knights Parachute Team.
An exuberant Murray, whose jump kicked off the 50th Chicago Air and Water Show, landed safely on a beach. The actor pretended for a moment to stagger as if dizzy, then smiled broadly, waved to the crowd and shook hands with some of the Golden Knights.
Friends asked Murray to participate in the show, which features demonstrations and performances in the air and on Lake Michigan, to support the Illinois United Service Organizations.
But he wasn't so certain of his reason to jump moments before he boarded the plane on a perfect 73 degree day at an Indiana airport 25 miles from Chicago. Members of the Navy Blue Angels also prepared nearby for the show, which runs through Sunday.
Bill Murray
Republican Family Values
Old Legal Feuds
An old lawsuit on record at the city courthouse reveals a moment of friction between John McCain's mother and his ex-wife. Years later, McCain and his former wife presented a united front in a lawsuit of their own.
McCain, the Republican candidate for president, calls the first lawsuit a mistake and professes no memory of the other. Both legal actions were settled out of court before they went to trial.
Curiously, although the records clearly list the plaintiffs, McCain's campaign says his mother's 1980 lawsuit was filed "unintentionally" and that the Arizona senator didn't know about or authorize the 1990 lawsuit with his ex-wife, Carol. And McCain's 96-year-old mother, Roberta, says she never sued Carol.
Others involved dispute those assertions.
Old Legal Feuds
Religious Insanity Knows No Borders
Senegal
It hurts too much to lie on his back, so the 7-year-old has spent the past month stretched out on his stomach. His two grandmothers sit on the hospital bed beside him, fanning the pink flesh left exposed by his teacher's whip.
It's progress that Momodou Biteye is in the hospital at all. It's also encouraging that the Quranic teacher who did this to him is behind bars.
But what is most significant is that the boy's father - a poor farmer who sold part of his harvest to pay for the bus fare to the hospital - filed the charges against the teacher himself. In doing so, this man with cracked lips and bloodshot eyes braved the wrath of his entire village, including his own father, who considers all teachers in Senegal's Islamic schools to be holy.
Senegal
How To Kill A Newspaper
Los Angeles Times
Tribune Co has appointed the former chief executive of satellite television provider DirecTV as publisher of the Los Angeles Times, the paper said in its Saturday edition.
Eddy Hartenstein will oversee Tribune's largest newspaper in what is the company's latest move to bring in talent from other industries to save the ailing business.
Hartenstein, 57, replaces David Hiller, who resigned as publisher in July. Tribune and Times officials, as well as Hartenstein, were not immediately available for comment.
Tribune, which earlier this week reported a 15 percent drop in publishing advertising revenue, has brought in executives from the radio and television business to jolt the company out of what new owner Sam Zell calls its complacent culture.
Los Angeles Times
Virgin Records Sues
Jared Leto
Hardcore fans of 30 Seconds to Mars aren't the only ones who want more of the band's music. Virgin Records has sued the group for $30 million, saying it has failed to deliver.
Virgin Records sued the band and front man Jared Leto in Los Angeles on Friday, claiming they refused to deliver three albums as required by its contract.
The band's last album, "A Beautiful Lie," was released in 2005.
Despite the absence of a new album, the band's hit "From Yesterday" was deemed one of 2007's Top 10 "Hot Modern Rock Songs" by Billboard magazine.
Jared Leto
Bear Attacks
Anchorage
Even in a city whose logo is "Big Wild Life," the summer of 2008 is testing residents' tolerance for large carnivores.
The problem is bears, black bears and bigger grizzlies. So far this summer, three people have been mauled in the city.
Some people say humans are to blame for the confrontations and insist that no bears should be killed because of the attacks.
On the other side is a growing chorus of people like Devon Rees, who want something done about the big bruins.
Anchorage
Bob Barr Barred
Bob Barr
A federal judge Friday denied Libertarian presidential hopeful Bob Barr's bid to be included in a presidential forum in Lake Forest with Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama or stop the event as a violation of federal campaign law.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter refused to issue an order on behalf of Barr and Wayne Root, his vice presidential running mate, that would disrupt the Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion scheduled to begin Saturday at 5 p.m. at Saddleback Church.
"Plaintiffs will lose out on a fair amount of exposure and the opportunity to express their views in a popular forum," Carter conceded. "On the other hand, halting this event would deny the other candidates the opportunity to be heard and would deprive the public of an opportunity to see the candidates and hear their views.
"Forcing Saddleback to include another candidate at the last moment could cause serious logistical problems and take away from the presentations of other candidate," Carter said. "This might well disrupt the planned presentation."
Bob Barr
Fails DNA Test
"Bigfoot"
Results from tests on genetic material from alleged remains of one of the mythical half-ape and half-human creatures, made public at a news conference on Friday held after the claimed discovery swept the Internet, failed to prove its existence.
Its spread was fueled by a photograph of a hairy heap, bearing a close resemblance to a shaggy full-body gorilla costume, stuffed into a container resembling a refrigerator.
One of the two samples of DNA said to prove the existence of the Bigfoot came from a human and the other was 96 percent from an opossum, according to Curt Nelson, a scientist at the University of Minnesota who performed the DNA analysis.
Results of the DNA tests were revealed in an e-mail from Nelson and distributed at the Palo Alto, California, news conference held by Tom Biscardi, host of a weekly online radio show about the Bigfoot.
"Bigfoot"
Appleton, Wisconsin
Sticker Art
No one seems to know where the mysterious stickers came from - colorful dots that appeared in this eastern Wisconsin town, apparently placing a value on the most mundane of public objects. An orange dot on a decorative light post is labeled "Art Object, $10,000."
Nearby another sticker declares a green fire hydrant an art object worth $10.
The dots are all around downtown Appleton - on cigarette-butt containers, trash cans and parking meters. They all have "Art Object" typed on them, with prices ranging from one cent to $10,000.
Friday marks the city's monthly "Art on the Town," a celebration of art in the community. But coordinators of the program say the stickers aren't theirs.
Sticker Art
In Memory
Ronnie Drew
Legendary Irish folk musician Ronnie Drew, a founder member of The Dubliners, died in a Dublin hospital on Saturday, his family said. He was 73 and had been suffering from throat cancer.
The Dubliners, formed in 1962, were pioneers for Irish folk music across Europe and the United States. Drew was known for his gravelly-voiced renditions of rabble-rousing folk songs like "Finnegan's Wake" and "Dicey Reilly".
Drew's family said in a statement that he died peacefully while they were at his bedside and they were "very grateful for all the letters of support and wishes during the term of Ronnie's illness."
With his health failing, Irish music stars released a tribute song in February this year entitled "The Ballad of Ronnie Drew". Proceeds went to the Irish Cancer Society.
Those involved included U2, Bob Geldof, Sinead O'Connor, Andrea Corr, Chris de Burgh, Ronan Keating, Shane MacGowan, The Dubliners and The Chieftains.
Speaking at the time of recording, U2 frontman Bono said: "Ronnie is like the king of Ireland, and we are his subjects."
Ronnie Drew
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