วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 18 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2550
Karl Urban joins 'Star Trek' cast
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 18 New Zealand actor Karl Urban has signed on to play Leonard "Bones" McCoy in J.J. Abrams' upcoming "Star Trek" movie, the Hollywood Reporter said Thursday.Urban, who is best-known for his roles in "The Bourne Supremacy" and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, will play the Starship Enterprise's medical officer.Actor Chris Pine has also closed his deal to star as the young Capt. James Kirk after choosing to drop out of George Clooney's new movie, "White Jazz," because the two projects overlapped.John Cho, Simon Pegg and Eric Bana joined the "Star Trek" crew last week. Previously cast were Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin and Zachary Quinto.Leonard Nimoy, who originated the role of Spock and played him both on television and in films, will also be part of the latest installment, which is slated to shoot from November through March.Although plot details are shrouded in secrecy, the movie is believed to chronicle the early days of the Enterprise crew, the trade paper said.
วันพุธที่ 17 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2550
Inmate Found 35 Years After Escape
PULASKI, Tenn. (AP) — A convicted murderer who escaped from an Indiana prison 35 years ago was found living quietly in a small Tennessee town, authorities said Tuesday.
Linda Darby, 64, was arrested Friday in Pulaski, a small city near the Alabama border where she was going by the name Linda Joe McElroy.
Giles County Sheriff Kyle Helton said he was acquainted with Darby and thought she had been living in Pulaski for at least 30 years.
"As far as I know she never had any criminal history after she came here," he said. "She never got into any trouble. She led a flawless life."
Darby was sentenced to life in prison in 1970 for her husband's murder, but she escaped from the Indiana Women's Prison in March 1972 by climbing over a barbed-wire fence.
Pulaski Police Capt. John Dickey said investigators in Indiana had contacted the department about Darby and authorities from both states worked together to find and arrest her.
Helton said she was being held at the county jail and has waived an extradition hearing. She was expected to be moved to Indiana on Tuesday.
Linda Darby, 64, was arrested Friday in Pulaski, a small city near the Alabama border where she was going by the name Linda Joe McElroy.
Giles County Sheriff Kyle Helton said he was acquainted with Darby and thought she had been living in Pulaski for at least 30 years.
"As far as I know she never had any criminal history after she came here," he said. "She never got into any trouble. She led a flawless life."
Darby was sentenced to life in prison in 1970 for her husband's murder, but she escaped from the Indiana Women's Prison in March 1972 by climbing over a barbed-wire fence.
Pulaski Police Capt. John Dickey said investigators in Indiana had contacted the department about Darby and authorities from both states worked together to find and arrest her.
Helton said she was being held at the county jail and has waived an extradition hearing. She was expected to be moved to Indiana on Tuesday.
Indonesia fears Mount Kelud may erupt, villagers evacuated
Nearly 30,000 villagers in Indonesia living near Mount Kelud, located on Java Island, have been evacuated from the area as local authorities say the deadly volcano is poised to erupt.
Scientist believes Mount Kelud is on the verge of a major eruption and has placed the volcano in the highest alert level. The alert requires all residents within 10 kilometers of the peak to evacuate the area.
Mount Kelud last erupted in 1990, killing 5,160 people. It is one of the most active volcanoes in the archipelagic nation.
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Scientist believes Mount Kelud is on the verge of a major eruption and has placed the volcano in the highest alert level. The alert requires all residents within 10 kilometers of the peak to evacuate the area.
Mount Kelud last erupted in 1990, killing 5,160 people. It is one of the most active volcanoes in the archipelagic nation.
To view more news related to World events please go to:
http://news.finditt.com/NewsList.aspx?cat=11&wcat=1
Chiefs send Bennett to Tampa
Kansas City, MO (Sports Network) - The Kansas City Chiefs traded running back Michael Bennett to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tuesday for undisclosed draft choices in 2008 and 2009.
The draft choices will be based on Bennett's performance while in Tampa.
The Buccaneers were in desperate need of help in the backfield after losing both Carnell "Cadillac" Williams (for the season) and Michael Pittman (for six to eight weeks) to injuries.
"We believe that the addition of Michael Bennett will strengthen our running back position," said Bucs general manager Bruce Allen.
Bennett has rushed for just 52 yards on 20 carries this season. For his career, the former Wisconsin star has amassed 3,426 yards on 769 carries in stints with Minnesota and Kansas City.
Bennett's best season came in 2002 when he gained 1,296 yards on 255 carries for the Vikings.
"We appreciate Michael Bennett's contributions to the Kansas City Chiefs during his short time with us," Chiefs president Carl Peterson said. "Michael conducted himself as a professional as a member of the Chiefs and we wish him the best in this opportunity with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers."
The draft choices will be based on Bennett's performance while in Tampa.
The Buccaneers were in desperate need of help in the backfield after losing both Carnell "Cadillac" Williams (for the season) and Michael Pittman (for six to eight weeks) to injuries.
"We believe that the addition of Michael Bennett will strengthen our running back position," said Bucs general manager Bruce Allen.
Bennett has rushed for just 52 yards on 20 carries this season. For his career, the former Wisconsin star has amassed 3,426 yards on 769 carries in stints with Minnesota and Kansas City.
Bennett's best season came in 2002 when he gained 1,296 yards on 255 carries for the Vikings.
"We appreciate Michael Bennett's contributions to the Kansas City Chiefs during his short time with us," Chiefs president Carl Peterson said. "Michael conducted himself as a professional as a member of the Chiefs and we wish him the best in this opportunity with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers."
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea.
National Boss Day: Unless I Get the Day Off - Should I Care?
By Jackson SimpsonOct 16, 2007
National Boss Day is today - so what are you getting your boss? Why is there even a day for bosses, don't they get enough behind kissing each day and every day? Unless my lug of a boss shows up and tells me that I have the day off in honor of the day why should I even care? Here's one description of this useless and absolutely idiotic day on the calendar. "Boss's Day is an important secular holiday celebrated on October 16. It has traditionally been a day for employees to thank their superior for being kind and fair throughout the year."
National Boss Day: It's Not About Bruce Springsteen (Image: Wenn)The description notes that the holiday has been the source of some controversy and criticism in the United States, where it is often mocked as a Hallmark Holiday." No kidding mocked? I believe that is what I am doing right here.
***Here's some history you can throw at the boss: The "holiday" began in 1958 when Patricia Bays Haroski, then an employee at State Farm Insurance Company in Deerfield, Ill., registered the holiday with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Haroski chose Oct. 16, her father's birthday, as the date for National Boss Day because she felt he was an exemplary boss.So - Hallmark is off the hook. But as there is money to be made Hallmark got into the game in 1979, manufacturing the first National Boss Day card. And this year, according to company spokeswoman Sarah Gronberg, the company increased its production of cards by 90 percent. Did I get my boss a card - what do you think? I'm writing this column on company time.
National Boss Day is today - so what are you getting your boss? Why is there even a day for bosses, don't they get enough behind kissing each day and every day? Unless my lug of a boss shows up and tells me that I have the day off in honor of the day why should I even care? Here's one description of this useless and absolutely idiotic day on the calendar. "Boss's Day is an important secular holiday celebrated on October 16. It has traditionally been a day for employees to thank their superior for being kind and fair throughout the year."
National Boss Day: It's Not About Bruce Springsteen (Image: Wenn)The description notes that the holiday has been the source of some controversy and criticism in the United States, where it is often mocked as a Hallmark Holiday." No kidding mocked? I believe that is what I am doing right here.
***Here's some history you can throw at the boss: The "holiday" began in 1958 when Patricia Bays Haroski, then an employee at State Farm Insurance Company in Deerfield, Ill., registered the holiday with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Haroski chose Oct. 16, her father's birthday, as the date for National Boss Day because she felt he was an exemplary boss.So - Hallmark is off the hook. But as there is money to be made Hallmark got into the game in 1979, manufacturing the first National Boss Day card. And this year, according to company spokeswoman Sarah Gronberg, the company increased its production of cards by 90 percent. Did I get my boss a card - what do you think? I'm writing this column on company time.
A Bride Sues Her Florist Over Pastel Hydrangeas
The wedding bouquet has barely faded and already an Upper East Side bride has regrets — not because she married, but because of the flowers.
The bride, Elana Glatt, says her florist committed a series of faux pas at her wedding on Aug. 11. In the most “egregious,” Ms. Glatt says in a lawsuit alleging breach of contract, the florist substituted pastel pink and green hydrangeas for the dark rust and green hydrangeas she had specified for 22 centerpieces.
The florist, Stamos Arakas, owns Posy Floral Design at 145 East 72nd Street. He said that he and his wife, Paula, had done their best to match the color of the hydrangeas with a picture Ms. Glatt had given them, but explained to her that because of the vagaries of nature and the lighting at the reception, the colors might not look exactly the same.
Not only was the color wrong, Ms. Glatt said in the lawsuit, filed on Friday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, but the hydrangeas were wilted and brown, and arranged in dusty vases without enough water.
Their pastel colors clashed with the linens, favor boxes, wedding cake and décor at Cipriani 42nd Street, the luxurious restaurant where she and her husband, David, held their reception, Ms. Glatt said.
“The use of predominantly pastel centerpieces had a significant impact on the look of the room and was entirely inconsistent with the vision the plaintiffs had bargained for,” Ms. Glatt, a lawyer who practices under the name Elana Elbogen, said in the lawsuit, which she filed on behalf of herself, her husband and her mother-in-law, Tobi Glatt, who paid for the flowers.
Elana Glatt said they had reluctantly paid for the flowers in advance, with a cashier’s check for $27,435.14. She accused the florist of a “bait and switch” scheme, and asked for more than $400,000 in restitution and damages for, among other things, “unjust enrichment” by the florist. In a litany of “distressing and embarrassing” offenses, the lawsuit says the florist substituted cheaper orchids than promised in the bridal bouquet and provided the equivalent of $5 roses from a street vendor, but charged $55 to $65 for those arrangements.
Elana Glatt yesterday said, “It was a lovely wedding,” except for the flowers.
Mr. Arakas, said yesterday that he had many satisfied customers. He said that he provided the flowers for Ms. Glatt’s sister’s wedding the year before, and that he did not ask Ms. Glatt to sign a contract because he trusted her.
He said that before filing the lawsuit, Ms. Glatt sent him a series of e-mail messages demanding a $4,000 refund. He said he and his wife ignored the e-mail messages because “we thought they were so insulting they didn’t dignify a response” and because it “felt like extortion.”
“My father used to tell me, ‘Don’t deal with lawyers,’” Mr. Arakas said. “Maybe he was right, God bless his soul.”
The bride, Elana Glatt, says her florist committed a series of faux pas at her wedding on Aug. 11. In the most “egregious,” Ms. Glatt says in a lawsuit alleging breach of contract, the florist substituted pastel pink and green hydrangeas for the dark rust and green hydrangeas she had specified for 22 centerpieces.
The florist, Stamos Arakas, owns Posy Floral Design at 145 East 72nd Street. He said that he and his wife, Paula, had done their best to match the color of the hydrangeas with a picture Ms. Glatt had given them, but explained to her that because of the vagaries of nature and the lighting at the reception, the colors might not look exactly the same.
Not only was the color wrong, Ms. Glatt said in the lawsuit, filed on Friday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, but the hydrangeas were wilted and brown, and arranged in dusty vases without enough water.
Their pastel colors clashed with the linens, favor boxes, wedding cake and décor at Cipriani 42nd Street, the luxurious restaurant where she and her husband, David, held their reception, Ms. Glatt said.
“The use of predominantly pastel centerpieces had a significant impact on the look of the room and was entirely inconsistent with the vision the plaintiffs had bargained for,” Ms. Glatt, a lawyer who practices under the name Elana Elbogen, said in the lawsuit, which she filed on behalf of herself, her husband and her mother-in-law, Tobi Glatt, who paid for the flowers.
Elana Glatt said they had reluctantly paid for the flowers in advance, with a cashier’s check for $27,435.14. She accused the florist of a “bait and switch” scheme, and asked for more than $400,000 in restitution and damages for, among other things, “unjust enrichment” by the florist. In a litany of “distressing and embarrassing” offenses, the lawsuit says the florist substituted cheaper orchids than promised in the bridal bouquet and provided the equivalent of $5 roses from a street vendor, but charged $55 to $65 for those arrangements.
Elana Glatt yesterday said, “It was a lovely wedding,” except for the flowers.
Mr. Arakas, said yesterday that he had many satisfied customers. He said that he provided the flowers for Ms. Glatt’s sister’s wedding the year before, and that he did not ask Ms. Glatt to sign a contract because he trusted her.
He said that before filing the lawsuit, Ms. Glatt sent him a series of e-mail messages demanding a $4,000 refund. He said he and his wife ignored the e-mail messages because “we thought they were so insulting they didn’t dignify a response” and because it “felt like extortion.”
“My father used to tell me, ‘Don’t deal with lawyers,’” Mr. Arakas said. “Maybe he was right, God bless his soul.”
Marshall Sylver Marriage
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Air America's Randi Rhodes Attacked: Report
The Talking Radio blog reported on Tuesday that liberal talk radio host Randi Rhodes was mugged and brutally attacked while walking her dog near 39th Street and Park Avenue, but the NYPD can't confirm the report.
From the blog:
According to Air America Radio late night host Jon Elliott, Rhodes was beaten up pretty badly, losing several teeth and will probably be off the air for at least the rest of the week. At of late Monday night we have not able to locate any press accounts of the attack and nothing has been posted on the AAR website....Elliott was extremely agitated when he reported on the incident. He opened his show by saying "it is with sadness that tonight I inform you that my Air America colleague Randi Rhodes was assaulted last night while walking her dog near her New York City home."
Pointing out that Rhodes was wearing a jogging suit and displayed no purse or jewelry, Elliott speculated that "this does not appear to me to be a standard grab the money and run mugging."
But according to Det. Cavitolo, an NYPD spokesman, "Nothing has been filed with us. We have no reports of an incident."
We are awaiting a callback from Air America. Stay tuned.
From the blog:
According to Air America Radio late night host Jon Elliott, Rhodes was beaten up pretty badly, losing several teeth and will probably be off the air for at least the rest of the week. At of late Monday night we have not able to locate any press accounts of the attack and nothing has been posted on the AAR website....Elliott was extremely agitated when he reported on the incident. He opened his show by saying "it is with sadness that tonight I inform you that my Air America colleague Randi Rhodes was assaulted last night while walking her dog near her New York City home."
Pointing out that Rhodes was wearing a jogging suit and displayed no purse or jewelry, Elliott speculated that "this does not appear to me to be a standard grab the money and run mugging."
But according to Det. Cavitolo, an NYPD spokesman, "Nothing has been filed with us. We have no reports of an incident."
We are awaiting a callback from Air America. Stay tuned.
Carol Bruce, Actress on Film, Stage and TV, Dies at 87
Carol Bruce, a promising stage actress and singer from the 1940s who became best known late in her long career as Mama Carlson, the ruthless station owner on the television comedy “WKRP in Cincinnati,” died on Oct. 9 in Woodland Hills, Calif. She was 87.
Skip to next paragraph
Photofest
Carol Bruce in the 1970s.
The cause was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to an announcement by the Motion Picture and Television Fund.
In her recurring role on “WKRP in Cincinnati,” Ms. Bruce was the tough, business-minded owner of a radio station managed by her son, Arthur Carlson, played by Gordon Jump. She played the role, originated by Sylvia Sidney in the pilot episode, from 1979 until the show ended its run in 1982.
Ms. Bruce made guest appearances on more than 25 television shows, including “The Golden Girls,” “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” “Diff’rent Strokes,” “Knots Landing,” “The Twilight Zone” and “Party of Five.”
She first earned public attention and critical acclaim in 1940 on Broadway in “Louisiana Purchase,” a satirical Irving Berlin musical about politics in the South. She left the show early when she signed a contract with Universal Studios.
In 1941 and 1942 she made three movies for Universal: “This Woman Is Mine,” “Behind the Eight Ball” and “Keep ’Em Flying,” an Abbott and Costello comedy about the Army Air Corps. Later in her career she appeared in “American Gigolo” (1980) and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” (1987).
She also continued to work occasionally on Broadway, appearing in a revival of “Show Boat” in 1946, “Along Fifth Avenue” in 1949, and “Henry, Sweet Henry” and “Do I Hear a Waltz?” in the 1960s.
Ms. Bruce was born Shirley Levy on Nov. 15, 1919, in Great Neck, N.Y. She worked as a saleswoman and model at Namm’s department store in Brooklyn, and then started her performing career as a nightclub singer in the ’30s. She eventually performed at Café Pierre, the Waldorf-Astoria, the Plaza and other rooms.
She is survived by her sister, Marilyn Berk; a daughter, Julie Nathanson-Coryell; two grandsons; and two great-grandsons.
Skip to next paragraph
Photofest
Carol Bruce in the 1970s.
The cause was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to an announcement by the Motion Picture and Television Fund.
In her recurring role on “WKRP in Cincinnati,” Ms. Bruce was the tough, business-minded owner of a radio station managed by her son, Arthur Carlson, played by Gordon Jump. She played the role, originated by Sylvia Sidney in the pilot episode, from 1979 until the show ended its run in 1982.
Ms. Bruce made guest appearances on more than 25 television shows, including “The Golden Girls,” “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” “Diff’rent Strokes,” “Knots Landing,” “The Twilight Zone” and “Party of Five.”
She first earned public attention and critical acclaim in 1940 on Broadway in “Louisiana Purchase,” a satirical Irving Berlin musical about politics in the South. She left the show early when she signed a contract with Universal Studios.
In 1941 and 1942 she made three movies for Universal: “This Woman Is Mine,” “Behind the Eight Ball” and “Keep ’Em Flying,” an Abbott and Costello comedy about the Army Air Corps. Later in her career she appeared in “American Gigolo” (1980) and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” (1987).
She also continued to work occasionally on Broadway, appearing in a revival of “Show Boat” in 1946, “Along Fifth Avenue” in 1949, and “Henry, Sweet Henry” and “Do I Hear a Waltz?” in the 1960s.
Ms. Bruce was born Shirley Levy on Nov. 15, 1919, in Great Neck, N.Y. She worked as a saleswoman and model at Namm’s department store in Brooklyn, and then started her performing career as a nightclub singer in the ’30s. She eventually performed at Café Pierre, the Waldorf-Astoria, the Plaza and other rooms.
She is survived by her sister, Marilyn Berk; a daughter, Julie Nathanson-Coryell; two grandsons; and two great-grandsons.
วันอังคารที่ 16 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2550
What’s On Tonight: Debut of ‘Samantha Who?’
Premiere season continues tonight on ABC with the debut of “Samantha Who?” Here’s how Kathryn Shattuck describes it:
Do over! Christina Applegate stars in this new comedy about Samantha Newly, who awakens after an eight-day coma with no memory of her life or the people in it but who quickly figures out that she was a horrible person.
Jean Smart and Kevin Dunn play the parents she hasn’t spoken to in two years. Melissa McCarthy is her faux best friend; Jennifer Esposito is her real one.
And Barry Watson is the trustworthy boyfriend on whom she’s cheating with a married man. Now she has the chance to get her life right.
Ginia Bellafante thinks the show works, mostly because of Ms. Applegate’s charm. Here is today’s review.
Also tonight, round four of “Dancing With the Stars” on ABC and “The Mysterious Human Heart” on PBS. Full listings…
Do over! Christina Applegate stars in this new comedy about Samantha Newly, who awakens after an eight-day coma with no memory of her life or the people in it but who quickly figures out that she was a horrible person.
Jean Smart and Kevin Dunn play the parents she hasn’t spoken to in two years. Melissa McCarthy is her faux best friend; Jennifer Esposito is her real one.
And Barry Watson is the trustworthy boyfriend on whom she’s cheating with a married man. Now she has the chance to get her life right.
Ginia Bellafante thinks the show works, mostly because of Ms. Applegate’s charm. Here is today’s review.
Also tonight, round four of “Dancing With the Stars” on ABC and “The Mysterious Human Heart” on PBS. Full listings…
My cat makes her Stuff on My Cat debut
Hey, so Mondli Makhanya and Jocelyn Maker are to be arrested over Mantogate, Justice Malala says our country will be “a Zimbabwe because we allowed Mbeki and his cronies to rape it”, but I’m happy because after months and months of waiting, convinced that my cat would ever achieve internet immortality, she has appeared on Stuff on My Cat.
The web has been a boon to lovers of all things cute. If the world is too much with you and getting and spending, you lay waste your powers, you can soothe your battled soul with pictures of cute baby animals at Cute Overload!, pictures of cats with stuff on them at the aforementioned Stuff on My Cat, pictures of dogs with stuff on them at Stuff on My Mutt, cutest kitten votes at Kitten War and even cats that look like Hitler (aka Kitlers) at, well, Cats That Look Like Hitler.
There are even rivetting insights into the life of some Dutch guy’s hamster at HamsterTracker (I found it when I needed reference pics for the cartoons I am working on - I have decided that Robert McBride looks enough like a hamster to conduct conversations with PW Poisson).
One of the most successful new sites is Icanhazcheezburger, which features pictures of cats rendered even funnier by headings. For some reason, the bad spelling makes them all sound Chinese. This is one of my favourites:
The web has been a boon to lovers of all things cute. If the world is too much with you and getting and spending, you lay waste your powers, you can soothe your battled soul with pictures of cute baby animals at Cute Overload!, pictures of cats with stuff on them at the aforementioned Stuff on My Cat, pictures of dogs with stuff on them at Stuff on My Mutt, cutest kitten votes at Kitten War and even cats that look like Hitler (aka Kitlers) at, well, Cats That Look Like Hitler.
There are even rivetting insights into the life of some Dutch guy’s hamster at HamsterTracker (I found it when I needed reference pics for the cartoons I am working on - I have decided that Robert McBride looks enough like a hamster to conduct conversations with PW Poisson).
One of the most successful new sites is Icanhazcheezburger, which features pictures of cats rendered even funnier by headings. For some reason, the bad spelling makes them all sound Chinese. This is one of my favourites:
How to Rank Universities: Who Graduates the most Ken Lay's?
by: Matt Stoller
Mon Oct 15, 2007 at 11:49:30 AM EDT
In 1901, an army psychologist named Carl Brigham developed the Scholastic Achievement Test for Northeastern colleges as a mechanism to eliminate test bias between people from different socio-economic backgrounds. The modern university system in America, including most of our great research institutions, were founded around that same era, such as MIT and Johns Hopkins - and universities like Harvard reconfigured themselves along somewhat more meritocratic and scientific lines. Pretty soon, a swarm of Jews began infiltrating, and 'character' remained a critical filter into the feeder to the American elite.
Matt Stoller :: How to Rank Universities: Who Graduates the most Ken Lay's?
In other words, the fight over meritocracy in American institutions of higher learning has always been a fight over entrance into the elites. Whose children get to compete to achieve power and success, and who can inherit wealth and success, and who isn't even on the playing field? And as the cost of not being in the Eastern elite has gone up - the widening inequality that started in 1973 - competition has become more and more fierce. Harvard could, for instance, fill its freshmen class with valedictorians. There's a larger trend, and it's not just the disgraceful legacy admission problem. SAT tutoring, which has long struck me as a completely legal industry organized around the principle of cheating meritocratic mechanisms, is a tremendous growth success story over the last 25 years in business, with Kaplan now owned by the Washington Post and contributing a substantial boost to its growth story on Wall Street.
US News and World Report rankings reflect the social biases of modern American culture, they do not create them. There's a reason rankings show Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, or sometimes, shocker, MIT or Caltech, as consistently the 'best' colleges. Colleges, aside from whatever educational mission they may have, serve as a social credentialling institution for entrance into elite society, and a parking lot for scholars that have a whole mix of incentives, of which engaging the public in useful work is but one of many. The dramatic increase of legal cheating for those who can afford it suggests that the mission of higher education itself is in deep crisis.
All of which brings me to the Washington Monthly's rankings of colleges
Mon Oct 15, 2007 at 11:49:30 AM EDT
In 1901, an army psychologist named Carl Brigham developed the Scholastic Achievement Test for Northeastern colleges as a mechanism to eliminate test bias between people from different socio-economic backgrounds. The modern university system in America, including most of our great research institutions, were founded around that same era, such as MIT and Johns Hopkins - and universities like Harvard reconfigured themselves along somewhat more meritocratic and scientific lines. Pretty soon, a swarm of Jews began infiltrating, and 'character' remained a critical filter into the feeder to the American elite.
Matt Stoller :: How to Rank Universities: Who Graduates the most Ken Lay's?
In other words, the fight over meritocracy in American institutions of higher learning has always been a fight over entrance into the elites. Whose children get to compete to achieve power and success, and who can inherit wealth and success, and who isn't even on the playing field? And as the cost of not being in the Eastern elite has gone up - the widening inequality that started in 1973 - competition has become more and more fierce. Harvard could, for instance, fill its freshmen class with valedictorians. There's a larger trend, and it's not just the disgraceful legacy admission problem. SAT tutoring, which has long struck me as a completely legal industry organized around the principle of cheating meritocratic mechanisms, is a tremendous growth success story over the last 25 years in business, with Kaplan now owned by the Washington Post and contributing a substantial boost to its growth story on Wall Street.
US News and World Report rankings reflect the social biases of modern American culture, they do not create them. There's a reason rankings show Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, or sometimes, shocker, MIT or Caltech, as consistently the 'best' colleges. Colleges, aside from whatever educational mission they may have, serve as a social credentialling institution for entrance into elite society, and a parking lot for scholars that have a whole mix of incentives, of which engaging the public in useful work is but one of many. The dramatic increase of legal cheating for those who can afford it suggests that the mission of higher education itself is in deep crisis.
All of which brings me to the Washington Monthly's rankings of colleges
วันจันทร์ที่ 15 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2550
Dixon SBDM, parents want additional teacher
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Presentations, public comments, and a discussion with the Dixon Site-Based Decision Making Council kicked off the Webster County Board of Education’s meeting at Dixon Elementary Thursday night. However, several other planned presentations and action items were either tabled or hurried through after the school board took a break to eat that took up more than an hour of the approximately two-hour open session of the meeting.
During their joint discussion with the school board, the Dixon SBDM and several parents who attended the meeting in a show of support urged the board to re-instate a teacher position that had been cut from the budget last year as part of a attendance-based staff-to-student revision across the district last year. The cuts were based roughly on a state formula, though Webster County Assistant Superintendent Rachel Yarbrough said Webster County’s approach to it meant fewer staff positions were cut from each of the schools.
“The state sets the minimum requirements and we try to be as generous as possible,” Yarbrough said.
Those who spoke to the board on Dixon Elementary’s behalf said some students’ grades are slipping because of overcrowding in some of the classrooms. Emily Little told the board she has fourth and seventh grade children.
“The stress level is up here,” she said as she waved her hand above her head.
As the discussion continued, Lisa Hawkins, a teacher at Dixon Elementary, told the board her child, who is a student at the school, has been slipping in his grades due to difficulty in scheduling time in the school’s computer lab. Hawkins suggested the difficulty is tied to the large number of students in her child’s class.
Another parent, Sara Artman, shared her concern about the lack of teachers in the building, and threatened to pull her child out of Dixon Elementary if the board didn’t act.
Webster County Board of Education Chair James Nance said hiring another teacher is difficult because the district’s finances are limited.
“Money is tight,” Nance said. “If you can find the money, we’ll spend it. This board has never failed to spend money for children.”
Others on the board also sympathized with the Dixon SBDM, but agreed with Nance about the district’s finances.
“Dixon is different,” board member E Carolyn Tucker said. “We have a different kind of facility here. There are too many distractions and not enough walls. I’m here to cry with you. I know what you’re going through. I just don’t know how to help.”
Carolyn Tapp then asked the board to work with the SBDM to restore teacher positions.
“You have educators here speaking to you now saying that we may take a step backwards, or even three steps backwards,” Tapp said.
Parents also questioned Dixon school policy regarding parent volunteers. Artman said the school doesn’t allow parents to volunteer in their children’s classrooms, but after some discussion of the topic Dixon Elementary principal Mike Crouse said parents are allowed to volunteer at their children’s school. The issue of whether parents could volunteer in their children’s classroom was never directly discussed by the SBDM or the school board during the meeting.
Nance concluded the discussion with the SBDM by instructing the members to come up with a plan on how to implement another teacher in the building, and invited them to bring such a plan to the school board’s meeting on Monday, Oct. 22. He then called for the previously mentioned break.
When the board returned, Nance immediately tabled two presentations that were on the agenda until the board’s next meeting, one from Yarbrough regarding CATS test results, the other from Tucker regarding efforts in the district’s transportation department to adjust bus schedules so they’re more efficiently run.
Despite her presentation being tabled, Yarbrough quickly reviewed some of the information she planned to present. According to Yarbrough, the Webster County School District moved from 61st place up to 53rd among school districts in Kentucky that took the CATS test, according to actual scores. The district has steadily increased its ranking, according to information she provided the board, and was once listed 111th. She also pointed out that Providence schools “recorded the highest accountability index results since 2000.”
The board then briefly went into closed session to discuss pending litigation stemming from construction work at Slaughters Elementary, but returned with nothing to report. The board has previously refused to pay the construction company that handled the work its final payment, citing several areas of concern about the workmanship on the project.
Earlier in the meeting, before the board’s discussion with Dixon SBDM, several public presentations were offered on varying topics. First to speak was Scott Shoulders, president of the Webster County Dugout Club. Shoulders presented the board a written proposal to build a “press-box” and storage facility at the high school baseball field. The proposal includes several drawings Shoulders said a student designed as well as cost projections for building the facility, approximately $6,700.
Shoulders also told the board he has shared the plans with district architect Tim Townsend.
The board then approved the facility plan, which according to the proposal, carries no financial cost for the district.
Next to speak was Webster County resident Robin Rhea who questioned the board’s plans for renovation and new construction work at Webster County High School. Rhea objected primarily to plans to raze existing structure as part of the overall construction work, and talked with the board about various types of building materials and bricks.
At the end of his presentation, several board members stressed to those attending the meeting that they had already considered most of the issues Rhea brought up. Rhea began to interject, but Nance stopped him.
“You talked a lot,” Nance said. “Now it’s my time. I haven’t seen you here at any of those meetings (where the renovation project was first discussed). The state’s (Kentucky Department of Education) not going to let us do a lot of stuff because they don’t agree with it.”
Board member Tim McCormick agreed with Nance regarding KDE restrictions.
“Tim Townsend talks to the state and then he advises us,” McCormick said. “They (KDE) won’t even come and talk to us.”
Rhea then presented a written list of topics to each board member.
“I’d like to give you a list of stuff that should have been talked about before you started doing this,” Rhea said as he handed out the copies of paper.
Nance was prepared to move on to the next topic on the agenda, but Tucker and board member Lisa Preston insisted on more discussion, after Tucker expressed concern about leaving the matter unaddressed.
“If I were sitting out there... I’d think, ‘isn’t all that true,’” Tucker said. “I’m afraid that’s going to be the feeling everyone will leave with here tonight.”
Nance again said he was ready to move on, but Preston asked for a “brief comment” from Townsend.
Townsend stood up, and explained that Webster County High School is approaching the end of it’s life-span.
“The reason the thing even stood after the tornado was the pipes held the ceiling together,” he said. “The building is designed to stand 40 to 50 years. It’s lived its life.”
At that point, Nance then insisted they proceed to the next item on the agenda, and board members moved to the table where SBDM members were seated to begin the joint discussion.
In other business, the Webster County Board of Education adopted a series of action items by consent, including a trip request for Slaughters Elementary eighth grade class, a second reading of revised board polices regarding graduation, alternative credit options, and athletic insurance for students, payment to a contractor for work on the soccer field, and the declaration of property in Providence as surplus. The board had previously accepted a purchase bid on the property for approximately $5,000.
The board then went into closed session for the purpose of student hearings and returned with nothing to report.
Presentations, public comments, and a discussion with the Dixon Site-Based Decision Making Council kicked off the Webster County Board of Education’s meeting at Dixon Elementary Thursday night. However, several other planned presentations and action items were either tabled or hurried through after the school board took a break to eat that took up more than an hour of the approximately two-hour open session of the meeting.
During their joint discussion with the school board, the Dixon SBDM and several parents who attended the meeting in a show of support urged the board to re-instate a teacher position that had been cut from the budget last year as part of a attendance-based staff-to-student revision across the district last year. The cuts were based roughly on a state formula, though Webster County Assistant Superintendent Rachel Yarbrough said Webster County’s approach to it meant fewer staff positions were cut from each of the schools.
“The state sets the minimum requirements and we try to be as generous as possible,” Yarbrough said.
Those who spoke to the board on Dixon Elementary’s behalf said some students’ grades are slipping because of overcrowding in some of the classrooms. Emily Little told the board she has fourth and seventh grade children.
“The stress level is up here,” she said as she waved her hand above her head.
As the discussion continued, Lisa Hawkins, a teacher at Dixon Elementary, told the board her child, who is a student at the school, has been slipping in his grades due to difficulty in scheduling time in the school’s computer lab. Hawkins suggested the difficulty is tied to the large number of students in her child’s class.
Another parent, Sara Artman, shared her concern about the lack of teachers in the building, and threatened to pull her child out of Dixon Elementary if the board didn’t act.
Webster County Board of Education Chair James Nance said hiring another teacher is difficult because the district’s finances are limited.
“Money is tight,” Nance said. “If you can find the money, we’ll spend it. This board has never failed to spend money for children.”
Others on the board also sympathized with the Dixon SBDM, but agreed with Nance about the district’s finances.
“Dixon is different,” board member E Carolyn Tucker said. “We have a different kind of facility here. There are too many distractions and not enough walls. I’m here to cry with you. I know what you’re going through. I just don’t know how to help.”
Carolyn Tapp then asked the board to work with the SBDM to restore teacher positions.
“You have educators here speaking to you now saying that we may take a step backwards, or even three steps backwards,” Tapp said.
Parents also questioned Dixon school policy regarding parent volunteers. Artman said the school doesn’t allow parents to volunteer in their children’s classrooms, but after some discussion of the topic Dixon Elementary principal Mike Crouse said parents are allowed to volunteer at their children’s school. The issue of whether parents could volunteer in their children’s classroom was never directly discussed by the SBDM or the school board during the meeting.
Nance concluded the discussion with the SBDM by instructing the members to come up with a plan on how to implement another teacher in the building, and invited them to bring such a plan to the school board’s meeting on Monday, Oct. 22. He then called for the previously mentioned break.
When the board returned, Nance immediately tabled two presentations that were on the agenda until the board’s next meeting, one from Yarbrough regarding CATS test results, the other from Tucker regarding efforts in the district’s transportation department to adjust bus schedules so they’re more efficiently run.
Despite her presentation being tabled, Yarbrough quickly reviewed some of the information she planned to present. According to Yarbrough, the Webster County School District moved from 61st place up to 53rd among school districts in Kentucky that took the CATS test, according to actual scores. The district has steadily increased its ranking, according to information she provided the board, and was once listed 111th. She also pointed out that Providence schools “recorded the highest accountability index results since 2000.”
The board then briefly went into closed session to discuss pending litigation stemming from construction work at Slaughters Elementary, but returned with nothing to report. The board has previously refused to pay the construction company that handled the work its final payment, citing several areas of concern about the workmanship on the project.
Earlier in the meeting, before the board’s discussion with Dixon SBDM, several public presentations were offered on varying topics. First to speak was Scott Shoulders, president of the Webster County Dugout Club. Shoulders presented the board a written proposal to build a “press-box” and storage facility at the high school baseball field. The proposal includes several drawings Shoulders said a student designed as well as cost projections for building the facility, approximately $6,700.
Shoulders also told the board he has shared the plans with district architect Tim Townsend.
The board then approved the facility plan, which according to the proposal, carries no financial cost for the district.
Next to speak was Webster County resident Robin Rhea who questioned the board’s plans for renovation and new construction work at Webster County High School. Rhea objected primarily to plans to raze existing structure as part of the overall construction work, and talked with the board about various types of building materials and bricks.
At the end of his presentation, several board members stressed to those attending the meeting that they had already considered most of the issues Rhea brought up. Rhea began to interject, but Nance stopped him.
“You talked a lot,” Nance said. “Now it’s my time. I haven’t seen you here at any of those meetings (where the renovation project was first discussed). The state’s (Kentucky Department of Education) not going to let us do a lot of stuff because they don’t agree with it.”
Board member Tim McCormick agreed with Nance regarding KDE restrictions.
“Tim Townsend talks to the state and then he advises us,” McCormick said. “They (KDE) won’t even come and talk to us.”
Rhea then presented a written list of topics to each board member.
“I’d like to give you a list of stuff that should have been talked about before you started doing this,” Rhea said as he handed out the copies of paper.
Nance was prepared to move on to the next topic on the agenda, but Tucker and board member Lisa Preston insisted on more discussion, after Tucker expressed concern about leaving the matter unaddressed.
“If I were sitting out there... I’d think, ‘isn’t all that true,’” Tucker said. “I’m afraid that’s going to be the feeling everyone will leave with here tonight.”
Nance again said he was ready to move on, but Preston asked for a “brief comment” from Townsend.
Townsend stood up, and explained that Webster County High School is approaching the end of it’s life-span.
“The reason the thing even stood after the tornado was the pipes held the ceiling together,” he said. “The building is designed to stand 40 to 50 years. It’s lived its life.”
At that point, Nance then insisted they proceed to the next item on the agenda, and board members moved to the table where SBDM members were seated to begin the joint discussion.
In other business, the Webster County Board of Education adopted a series of action items by consent, including a trip request for Slaughters Elementary eighth grade class, a second reading of revised board polices regarding graduation, alternative credit options, and athletic insurance for students, payment to a contractor for work on the soccer field, and the declaration of property in Providence as surplus. The board had previously accepted a purchase bid on the property for approximately $5,000.
The board then went into closed session for the purpose of student hearings and returned with nothing to report.
Willow shimmies her way through Europe
Island chanteuse and belly dancer Willow Chang jetted off last week for Europe, after a stop on the East Coast for Rakassah, the annual Middle Eastern Folk Festival. "You can't imagine what a whole hall full of belly dancers is like," she says. "Sequins, glitter and lots of nutty women."
Then it's off for a weekslong tour of Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Munich, Zurich, St. Moritz, teaching the Europeans how to shake their hips, both belly dancing and hapa-haole hula. "Can't believe I'm being paid to do this," says Chang, who originally learned to belly dance while in a Polynesian revue in Cairo.
She's curious to see how the Europeans respond to her Island-style hapa mix. "Chinese people can never believe I'm half Chinese," she says. "I wonder how the Germans are going to react when they find out I'm half German."
Colt > Kobe?
"So you were the reason H-1 was backed up," said a friend when I told her I'd caught Tuesday's game between the Lakers and the Golden State Warriors. The game drew enough folks that it bollixed up the University off-ramps. Not as bad as the 2005 UH-Tulsa game, but close.
Hadn't realized that the L.A. Lakers were Hawaii's home team. Maybe it wasn't the Lakers, it was Kobe. Every third person wore a Kobe Bryant shirt. Whenever Bryant stepped to the foul line, flashbulbs popped off in the stands.
Unfortunately for the crowd, Kobe played very little, even when he was on the court; his team fell behind 20-plus points in the early going. Bryant came back to do a little second-half shooting, and sat down again.
The whole game was like the NBA season in miniature, long stretches of desultory play, followed by a few minutes of intense basketball. The Warriors prevailed by a point, to the cheers of a small minority.
There was a group of young men in the stands who were Warrior fans in both senses. They repeatedly held up a sign that read, "Colt > Kobe." It was hard to see the relevance, or perhaps even the truth of that statement, but it's good to see UH students have mastered the use of mathematical symbols.
Days of Wine and Roses
Quietly, in fact so quietly even I didn't know about it, Honolulu's wine guru and man about town, Chuck Furuya, recently remarried. To Cheryle Gomez -- and, yes, you know her, she's the lovely brunette who worked for years at the Kahala and now manages Hiroshi's.
It was a quiet ceremony in their Maunalani Heights backyard, with friends, family and Furuya's kids from a previous marriage in attendance.
Behind the Green Door
Betty Pang's fame as a chef has long outgrown her tiny Chinatown eatery, Green Door. Finally, she's on the move. To the much larger space behind Kahala Mall, near Olive Tree. The space has housed a whole host of failed eateries, most notably Kahala Moon.
"Everyone tells me the location is unlucky," says Pang. "I'm not worried. I will make my own luck."
Don Ho Book Out By Christmas
Superwriter Jerry Hopkins, who penned Tom Moffatt's hit bio, retired to the rice fields of Thailand and in five months turned hundreds of hours of interviews into a biography of Don Ho. The book will be out in time for blockbuster Christmas retail.
Tracked Hopkins down by e-mail to ask him what the experience was like. Replied Jerry: "Two of the items I sold at the yard sale I had before I moved to Thailand were a Don Ho 'Suck Em Up' glass and a rubber Don Ho doll that you filled up with soap liquid, unscrewed its head and blew across its neck to fill the room with bubbles.
"These items became slightly less a joke as I researched the book and Don became a three-dimensional person. I only got to spend a month with him, seeing him perform twice a week, sharing lunches and after-the-show talk in his dressing room, as well as interviewing nearly 50 of his friends and onetime associates.
"I'm well pleased with the result. Don was an amazing dude. Despite the endless bad jokes told in his name -- who could take "Tiny Bubbles" completely seriously? -- he was worthy of all the praise I heard from friends. He was a perfectionist and a control freak, and he got a mixed report card on parenting, and, yes, he partied like the beach boy that he was, but the onetime football captain, jet pilot, and superstar was as generous, and courageous, as he was sometimes tough to be with.
"One of the people I interviewed replaced my 'Suck Em Up' glass. I'm still looking for a Don Ho bubble doll -- which, by the way, Don told me over lunch one day that he wanted designed differently, so that the bubbles 'came out of my ass.' He then gave me the wide smile that was something between that of a frog and a shark, and stuck his fingers back into the poi."
Ben and Jerry
The news of Hopkins' speed made me curious how another celebrity writer was coming along. I gave a call to former Gov. Ben Cayetano, whose political memoirs were originally scheduled for publication before the 2004 election.
"I'm working on the last two chapters," said Cayetano. "Writing isn't as easy as I thought it was. I'll be glad when it's over. Maybe by January."
John Heckathorn's is director of integrated media for the aio Group. Reach him at johnh@pacificbasin.net.
Then it's off for a weekslong tour of Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Munich, Zurich, St. Moritz, teaching the Europeans how to shake their hips, both belly dancing and hapa-haole hula. "Can't believe I'm being paid to do this," says Chang, who originally learned to belly dance while in a Polynesian revue in Cairo.
She's curious to see how the Europeans respond to her Island-style hapa mix. "Chinese people can never believe I'm half Chinese," she says. "I wonder how the Germans are going to react when they find out I'm half German."
Colt > Kobe?
"So you were the reason H-1 was backed up," said a friend when I told her I'd caught Tuesday's game between the Lakers and the Golden State Warriors. The game drew enough folks that it bollixed up the University off-ramps. Not as bad as the 2005 UH-Tulsa game, but close.
Hadn't realized that the L.A. Lakers were Hawaii's home team. Maybe it wasn't the Lakers, it was Kobe. Every third person wore a Kobe Bryant shirt. Whenever Bryant stepped to the foul line, flashbulbs popped off in the stands.
Unfortunately for the crowd, Kobe played very little, even when he was on the court; his team fell behind 20-plus points in the early going. Bryant came back to do a little second-half shooting, and sat down again.
The whole game was like the NBA season in miniature, long stretches of desultory play, followed by a few minutes of intense basketball. The Warriors prevailed by a point, to the cheers of a small minority.
There was a group of young men in the stands who were Warrior fans in both senses. They repeatedly held up a sign that read, "Colt > Kobe." It was hard to see the relevance, or perhaps even the truth of that statement, but it's good to see UH students have mastered the use of mathematical symbols.
Days of Wine and Roses
Quietly, in fact so quietly even I didn't know about it, Honolulu's wine guru and man about town, Chuck Furuya, recently remarried. To Cheryle Gomez -- and, yes, you know her, she's the lovely brunette who worked for years at the Kahala and now manages Hiroshi's.
It was a quiet ceremony in their Maunalani Heights backyard, with friends, family and Furuya's kids from a previous marriage in attendance.
Behind the Green Door
Betty Pang's fame as a chef has long outgrown her tiny Chinatown eatery, Green Door. Finally, she's on the move. To the much larger space behind Kahala Mall, near Olive Tree. The space has housed a whole host of failed eateries, most notably Kahala Moon.
"Everyone tells me the location is unlucky," says Pang. "I'm not worried. I will make my own luck."
Don Ho Book Out By Christmas
Superwriter Jerry Hopkins, who penned Tom Moffatt's hit bio, retired to the rice fields of Thailand and in five months turned hundreds of hours of interviews into a biography of Don Ho. The book will be out in time for blockbuster Christmas retail.
Tracked Hopkins down by e-mail to ask him what the experience was like. Replied Jerry: "Two of the items I sold at the yard sale I had before I moved to Thailand were a Don Ho 'Suck Em Up' glass and a rubber Don Ho doll that you filled up with soap liquid, unscrewed its head and blew across its neck to fill the room with bubbles.
"These items became slightly less a joke as I researched the book and Don became a three-dimensional person. I only got to spend a month with him, seeing him perform twice a week, sharing lunches and after-the-show talk in his dressing room, as well as interviewing nearly 50 of his friends and onetime associates.
"I'm well pleased with the result. Don was an amazing dude. Despite the endless bad jokes told in his name -- who could take "Tiny Bubbles" completely seriously? -- he was worthy of all the praise I heard from friends. He was a perfectionist and a control freak, and he got a mixed report card on parenting, and, yes, he partied like the beach boy that he was, but the onetime football captain, jet pilot, and superstar was as generous, and courageous, as he was sometimes tough to be with.
"One of the people I interviewed replaced my 'Suck Em Up' glass. I'm still looking for a Don Ho bubble doll -- which, by the way, Don told me over lunch one day that he wanted designed differently, so that the bubbles 'came out of my ass.' He then gave me the wide smile that was something between that of a frog and a shark, and stuck his fingers back into the poi."
Ben and Jerry
The news of Hopkins' speed made me curious how another celebrity writer was coming along. I gave a call to former Gov. Ben Cayetano, whose political memoirs were originally scheduled for publication before the 2004 election.
"I'm working on the last two chapters," said Cayetano. "Writing isn't as easy as I thought it was. I'll be glad when it's over. Maybe by January."
John Heckathorn's is director of integrated media for the aio Group. Reach him at johnh@pacificbasin.net.
Fox Airs Levi Jones-Joey Porter Fight Tape
Jay Glazer of Fox has yet another NFL scoop today, as Fox NFL Sunday aired a security tape Glazer obtained from a Las Vegas casino, showing the infamous fight between Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter and Bengals offensive tackle Levi Jones.Jones and Porter apparently developed a rivalry while playing twice a year when Porter played for the linebacker, and it boiled over this off-season when they ran into each other at a blackjack table. The tape shows, basically, what Jones has always claimed: It was not a fair fight but a case of Porter and three of his buddies all jumping on Jones. Given the severity of what happened in the incident, it's a little surprising that Porter got off by paying a small fine to the legal system and a somewhat larger fine to the NFL.Jones may still file a civil lawsuit against Porter.
BCS is through the looking glass
. . Or is it down the rabbit hole? Whatever, the first Bowl Championship Series standings are just plain weird, and they may keep getting weirder.
October 15, 2007
Saturday it was California Coach Jeff Tedford slamming his headset to the turf after a tough day at the office, and Sunday it was the rest of us.First reaction to the first Bowl Championship Series standings:
Huh?Second reaction:What?Third reaction: (see first reaction).Welcome to the annual BCS game called show-and-hell.The top five schools in the BCS are Ohio State, South Florida, Boston College, Louisiana State and Oklahoma.OK, if you insist, but as roll-outs go, it was not exactly the Mercury astronauts.In fact, the only component the BCS formula lacks is a gag reflex index.Ohio State's big road wins were at Washington, which lost to UCLA, which lost to Utah; and at Purdue, which lost to Michigan, which lost to Appalachian State.For this Ohio State is No. 1 in both human polls and T-5 in the computers.No one works the BCS better than the Buckeyes, and for this they should be congratulated and forwarded directly to this year's national-title game loss.We've seen this movie and we know how it ends. The Big Ten isn't as good as it was last year, and it wasn't that good last year, and Ohio State can't be as good as it was last year, and it wasn't that good last year.The top BCS team from the Pacific 10 Conference is No. 8 Arizona State, which, like Ohio State, has apparently used a program-transforming win against Washington to sail in from some remote atoll.This is welcome news for the heretofore invisible Sun Devils and their coach, Dirk Koetter . . . wait, he's not the coach anymore?And, tough as it is to cough up, according to early BCS returns, Les Miles was right. LSU is No. 2 in the computers and USC is No. 23 after playing all those "real juggernauts" such as Stanford. The record of USC's opponents is 13-27 with 1-6 Notre Dame waiting on deck.Yet, the Pac-10 has more teams in the BCS top 14, four, than any other conference.Wait, maybe Les Miles was wrong. Maybe the Pac-10 is really good, but USC isn't.It all makes perfect, Alice in Wonderland sense.
October 15, 2007
Saturday it was California Coach Jeff Tedford slamming his headset to the turf after a tough day at the office, and Sunday it was the rest of us.First reaction to the first Bowl Championship Series standings:
Huh?Second reaction:What?Third reaction: (see first reaction).Welcome to the annual BCS game called show-and-hell.The top five schools in the BCS are Ohio State, South Florida, Boston College, Louisiana State and Oklahoma.OK, if you insist, but as roll-outs go, it was not exactly the Mercury astronauts.In fact, the only component the BCS formula lacks is a gag reflex index.Ohio State's big road wins were at Washington, which lost to UCLA, which lost to Utah; and at Purdue, which lost to Michigan, which lost to Appalachian State.For this Ohio State is No. 1 in both human polls and T-5 in the computers.No one works the BCS better than the Buckeyes, and for this they should be congratulated and forwarded directly to this year's national-title game loss.We've seen this movie and we know how it ends. The Big Ten isn't as good as it was last year, and it wasn't that good last year, and Ohio State can't be as good as it was last year, and it wasn't that good last year.The top BCS team from the Pacific 10 Conference is No. 8 Arizona State, which, like Ohio State, has apparently used a program-transforming win against Washington to sail in from some remote atoll.This is welcome news for the heretofore invisible Sun Devils and their coach, Dirk Koetter . . . wait, he's not the coach anymore?And, tough as it is to cough up, according to early BCS returns, Les Miles was right. LSU is No. 2 in the computers and USC is No. 23 after playing all those "real juggernauts" such as Stanford. The record of USC's opponents is 13-27 with 1-6 Notre Dame waiting on deck.Yet, the Pac-10 has more teams in the BCS top 14, four, than any other conference.Wait, maybe Les Miles was wrong. Maybe the Pac-10 is really good, but USC isn't.It all makes perfect, Alice in Wonderland sense.
Charging Bulls No. 2 in BCS standings
No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 South Florida.
If the Bowl Championship Series national championship were played next weekend, that would be the matchup. The Buckeyes (7-0) and Bulls (6-0) were atop yesterday's release of the first BCS standings with Boston College (7-0) at No. 3.
Wow.
That pretty much sums up the remarkable debut of the 2007 BCS standings.
After yet another weekend of stunning upsets, the Buckeyes and Bulls lead the journey on what's proving to be a crazy, twisting road to the New Orleans Superdome and the Jan. 7 national title game.
South Florida wasn't ranked by the Associated Press or USA Today when the season started. The upstart Bulls, just 10 years and 27 days removed from their first football game, might be amid the most remarkable Cinderella season in college football history.
The Bulls have never played in a BCS bowl game but have their sights set on the biggest of them all.
"Sure, they have a chance," said BCS analyst Jerry Palm, who runs CollegeBCS.com. "They are an undefeated team in a major college conference. Since the BCS started [in 1998], no undefeated team in a major college conference, except Auburn [in 2004], has been left out of the championship game."
The Buckeyes can thank the poll voters for making them No. 1. Ohio State is No. 1 in both the USA Today coaches' poll and the Harris poll, which are two of the three components the BCS uses in its standings formula. Six computers make up the third component of the BCS formula.
Ohio State also was the new No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 after No. 1 LSU and No. 2 California lost Saturday.
"It's always nice to be in the top position, but we know it doesn't mean anything now in Week 8," Ohio State tackle Kirk Barton said. "We'll see at the end of November how things stand."
All of the teams in the preseason AP top 10 have lost this season.
Boston College is No. 3 in the BCS, LSU No. 4, Oklahoma No. 5, South Carolina No. 6, Kentucky No. 7 and Arizona State No. 8.
Though Boston College was No. 2 and South Florida No. 3 in both the USA Today and Harris polls, the BCS computers favor South Florida because of quality victories at Auburn and against West Virginia. The computers gave the Bulls enough points to vault over the Eagles in the BCS standings. South Florida was No. 1 in five of the six BCS computers.
BCS critics have some more ammunition with the release of the newest poll.
Ohio State is No. 1 despite having no victories against teams currently ranked among the BCS Top 25.
Boston College also has no victories against teams currently among the BCS Top 25 and only one game remaining against a Top 25 team (No. 11 Virginia Tech).
South Florida has two victories against Top 25 foes (No. 9 West Virginia and No. 17 Auburn). The Bulls have one Top 25 foe remaining (No. 23 Cincinnati).
LSU has three victories against Top 25 teams (No. 6 South Carolina, No. 11 Virginia Tech and No. 15 Florida) and possibly two Top 25 foes remaining (No. 17 Auburn and the Southeastern Conference East champ in a possible league title game).
"If I were voting this week, I'd still vote LSU No. 1, even though they just lost," Palm said. "I still think they're the most accomplished team and the best team."
Randall Mell writes for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. The Associated Press contributed to this article.
If the Bowl Championship Series national championship were played next weekend, that would be the matchup. The Buckeyes (7-0) and Bulls (6-0) were atop yesterday's release of the first BCS standings with Boston College (7-0) at No. 3.
Wow.
That pretty much sums up the remarkable debut of the 2007 BCS standings.
After yet another weekend of stunning upsets, the Buckeyes and Bulls lead the journey on what's proving to be a crazy, twisting road to the New Orleans Superdome and the Jan. 7 national title game.
South Florida wasn't ranked by the Associated Press or USA Today when the season started. The upstart Bulls, just 10 years and 27 days removed from their first football game, might be amid the most remarkable Cinderella season in college football history.
The Bulls have never played in a BCS bowl game but have their sights set on the biggest of them all.
"Sure, they have a chance," said BCS analyst Jerry Palm, who runs CollegeBCS.com. "They are an undefeated team in a major college conference. Since the BCS started [in 1998], no undefeated team in a major college conference, except Auburn [in 2004], has been left out of the championship game."
The Buckeyes can thank the poll voters for making them No. 1. Ohio State is No. 1 in both the USA Today coaches' poll and the Harris poll, which are two of the three components the BCS uses in its standings formula. Six computers make up the third component of the BCS formula.
Ohio State also was the new No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 after No. 1 LSU and No. 2 California lost Saturday.
"It's always nice to be in the top position, but we know it doesn't mean anything now in Week 8," Ohio State tackle Kirk Barton said. "We'll see at the end of November how things stand."
All of the teams in the preseason AP top 10 have lost this season.
Boston College is No. 3 in the BCS, LSU No. 4, Oklahoma No. 5, South Carolina No. 6, Kentucky No. 7 and Arizona State No. 8.
Though Boston College was No. 2 and South Florida No. 3 in both the USA Today and Harris polls, the BCS computers favor South Florida because of quality victories at Auburn and against West Virginia. The computers gave the Bulls enough points to vault over the Eagles in the BCS standings. South Florida was No. 1 in five of the six BCS computers.
BCS critics have some more ammunition with the release of the newest poll.
Ohio State is No. 1 despite having no victories against teams currently ranked among the BCS Top 25.
Boston College also has no victories against teams currently among the BCS Top 25 and only one game remaining against a Top 25 team (No. 11 Virginia Tech).
South Florida has two victories against Top 25 foes (No. 9 West Virginia and No. 17 Auburn). The Bulls have one Top 25 foe remaining (No. 23 Cincinnati).
LSU has three victories against Top 25 teams (No. 6 South Carolina, No. 11 Virginia Tech and No. 15 Florida) and possibly two Top 25 foes remaining (No. 17 Auburn and the Southeastern Conference East champ in a possible league title game).
"If I were voting this week, I'd still vote LSU No. 1, even though they just lost," Palm said. "I still think they're the most accomplished team and the best team."
Randall Mell writes for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. The Associated Press contributed to this article.
วันพุธที่ 10 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2550
'49 Up' - latest reunion is one for the ages
"P.O.V.: 49 Up." Tonight at 9, PBS (WNET-Ch. 13).One of the earliest experiments in the reality TV genre remains, after more than 40 years, one of the very best. It's the Michael Apted series of "... Up" documentaries, and it only gets better with time.
That's because its subject, more than anything else, is time.
The PBS series "P.O.V." concludes its 20th season tonight at 9 (WNET/Ch. 13) with "49 Up," the seventh film in the cycle of seven-year visits with the same small sample of British citizens.
Apted, before directing "Coal Miner's Daughter" and long before directing episodes of HBO's "Rome," worked on the first film, "7 Up," in 1964. That project was a documentary for Granada TV, asking a wide range of schoolchildren across England, all age 7, about their hopes, dreams, hobbies, feelings and anything else.
Taken by itself, "7 Up" was interesting only because, at the time, few people on TV, other than Art Linkletter, was getting youngsters to speak openly about anything. But the filmmakers had grander visions in mind, and their vision crystallized a bit, seven years later, when Apted reunited with the subjects of the original for a sequel, "14 Up."
Then came "21 Up," "28 Up" and so on. Tonight we're up to "49 Up," which includes a look at one of the people who has boycotted the series for more than two decades. It also includes what may be the last look at a woman who, at age 49, has had enough of the locust-like media intrusions.
"Every seven years," she tells Apted this time, "it all gets opened up again, and it's difficult."
She warns him that, unless she feels differently in the intervening few years, "I shall bow out."
It's a little difficult to watch, too, because you see dreams shattered, marriages ended, careers stopped. But you also see the rebirth of hope, the love of children and grandchildren, and all sorts of lessons - and perspectives - that come with the passage of time.
You don't have to have seen any of the other films in the series to feel the full impact of "49 Up." Clips from all the other documentaries are included, and the effect is like flipping rapidly through other people's scrapbooks. They may not be relatives - but by the time "49 Up" is over, you'll feel like you know them.
And you may well be reflecting about your own life, wherever you are on the spectrum, as well.
davidbianculli@comcast.net
That's because its subject, more than anything else, is time.
The PBS series "P.O.V." concludes its 20th season tonight at 9 (WNET/Ch. 13) with "49 Up," the seventh film in the cycle of seven-year visits with the same small sample of British citizens.
Apted, before directing "Coal Miner's Daughter" and long before directing episodes of HBO's "Rome," worked on the first film, "7 Up," in 1964. That project was a documentary for Granada TV, asking a wide range of schoolchildren across England, all age 7, about their hopes, dreams, hobbies, feelings and anything else.
Taken by itself, "7 Up" was interesting only because, at the time, few people on TV, other than Art Linkletter, was getting youngsters to speak openly about anything. But the filmmakers had grander visions in mind, and their vision crystallized a bit, seven years later, when Apted reunited with the subjects of the original for a sequel, "14 Up."
Then came "21 Up," "28 Up" and so on. Tonight we're up to "49 Up," which includes a look at one of the people who has boycotted the series for more than two decades. It also includes what may be the last look at a woman who, at age 49, has had enough of the locust-like media intrusions.
"Every seven years," she tells Apted this time, "it all gets opened up again, and it's difficult."
She warns him that, unless she feels differently in the intervening few years, "I shall bow out."
It's a little difficult to watch, too, because you see dreams shattered, marriages ended, careers stopped. But you also see the rebirth of hope, the love of children and grandchildren, and all sorts of lessons - and perspectives - that come with the passage of time.
You don't have to have seen any of the other films in the series to feel the full impact of "49 Up." Clips from all the other documentaries are included, and the effect is like flipping rapidly through other people's scrapbooks. They may not be relatives - but by the time "49 Up" is over, you'll feel like you know them.
And you may well be reflecting about your own life, wherever you are on the spectrum, as well.
davidbianculli@comcast.net
Meth's grim effects seen across Central Oregon
By Tony Fuller, KTVZ.COM
The crystal methamphetamine epidemic continues ito be a concern in Central Oregon. The meth that is produced for recreational use is made in illicit labs with fairly inexpensive, and often toxic or flammable ingredients.
You don't have to look too hard to find the problems evident in Tuesday night's documentary "Crystal Darkness" right here on the High Desert.
It's a small emergency room at Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Prineville, but that doesn't mean it's a slow day for Dr. Les Dixon.
"We stay pretty busy, and I usually see at least one patient that is sick either directly or indirectly from meth," he said.
Dixon says he has seen patients of all ages who are affected by crystal meth.
"I have had patients as young as infants who have meth in their system from their mother, or elderly people who use meth. ... It's really a wide range."
Methamphetamine makes people feel alert and energetic, confident and talkative. They feel little need for food or sleep.
"It changes the make up of the chemicals in your body and can totally change the way you act," Dixon said.
That's what happened to Gloria Rockwell when she started using meth in middle school.
"It changed everything about me," she said. "It made me a different person, someone that my friends and family didn't even know."
Studies show most crystal meth addicts become addicted the first time, and they continue to use, trying to experience that same high they felt the first time.
"No matter what treatment program I was being put through, I wanted to use, and that's what I was going to do," Rockwell said.
It's been two years since Rockwell used crystal meth, and in that time she has realized just how fortunate she is.
"It's by the grace of God that I am alive, and I know that," she said. "It's almost impossible to get clean from meth, and thank God I am still here to talk about it."Tolerance to the effects of methamphetamine builds up quickly in regular users, meaning they need more and more of the drug to achieve the desired effect.
An overdose of methamphetamine can result in seizures, high body temperature, irregular heartbeat, heart attack, stroke and even death.
The crystal methamphetamine epidemic continues ito be a concern in Central Oregon. The meth that is produced for recreational use is made in illicit labs with fairly inexpensive, and often toxic or flammable ingredients.
You don't have to look too hard to find the problems evident in Tuesday night's documentary "Crystal Darkness" right here on the High Desert.
It's a small emergency room at Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Prineville, but that doesn't mean it's a slow day for Dr. Les Dixon.
"We stay pretty busy, and I usually see at least one patient that is sick either directly or indirectly from meth," he said.
Dixon says he has seen patients of all ages who are affected by crystal meth.
"I have had patients as young as infants who have meth in their system from their mother, or elderly people who use meth. ... It's really a wide range."
Methamphetamine makes people feel alert and energetic, confident and talkative. They feel little need for food or sleep.
"It changes the make up of the chemicals in your body and can totally change the way you act," Dixon said.
That's what happened to Gloria Rockwell when she started using meth in middle school.
"It changed everything about me," she said. "It made me a different person, someone that my friends and family didn't even know."
Studies show most crystal meth addicts become addicted the first time, and they continue to use, trying to experience that same high they felt the first time.
"No matter what treatment program I was being put through, I wanted to use, and that's what I was going to do," Rockwell said.
It's been two years since Rockwell used crystal meth, and in that time she has realized just how fortunate she is.
"It's by the grace of God that I am alive, and I know that," she said. "It's almost impossible to get clean from meth, and thank God I am still here to talk about it."Tolerance to the effects of methamphetamine builds up quickly in regular users, meaning they need more and more of the drug to achieve the desired effect.
An overdose of methamphetamine can result in seizures, high body temperature, irregular heartbeat, heart attack, stroke and even death.
Tila Tequila: A Shot At Love Premiere
Love her, hate her, want her - it doesn’t really matter - she’s arrived, and she’s brought her whole MySpace crew and their donkey peanuts with her for A Shot At Love on MTV:
Are you ready for the ultimate battle of the sexes? Well, you better be ’cause there’s about to be an all-out war over cyber hottie Tila Tequila!
Although Tila has racked up more than 2 million MySpace friends, she still hasn’t found “the one,” and she’s ready to do anything to find him — or her! This self-proclaimed “bisexual freak” has had her heart broken by men and women, and she’s tired of being alone. With our help, she’s inviting 16 luscious lesbians and 16 sexy straight guys over to her place for A Shot of Love With Tila Tequila.
Yes, it’s time for Tila to unfurl her freak flag and find true love.
At first, the guys and girls won’t know about each other. But once Tila narrows the field down to a few of her favorites, she’s going to tell them all that she’s bi. And when the two sides learn they have to vie for her affection, all hell breaks loose. There’ll be hair pulling, sucker punching, ball-busting and, er, even some butt waxing.
Oh, and let’s not forget threesomes. There’s bound to be at least a few of those. But all is fair in love and war, right?
Look for more posts on the show and the Internet phenom after the premiere.
Are you ready for the ultimate battle of the sexes? Well, you better be ’cause there’s about to be an all-out war over cyber hottie Tila Tequila!
Although Tila has racked up more than 2 million MySpace friends, she still hasn’t found “the one,” and she’s ready to do anything to find him — or her! This self-proclaimed “bisexual freak” has had her heart broken by men and women, and she’s tired of being alone. With our help, she’s inviting 16 luscious lesbians and 16 sexy straight guys over to her place for A Shot of Love With Tila Tequila.
Yes, it’s time for Tila to unfurl her freak flag and find true love.
At first, the guys and girls won’t know about each other. But once Tila narrows the field down to a few of her favorites, she’s going to tell them all that she’s bi. And when the two sides learn they have to vie for her affection, all hell breaks loose. There’ll be hair pulling, sucker punching, ball-busting and, er, even some butt waxing.
Oh, and let’s not forget threesomes. There’s bound to be at least a few of those. But all is fair in love and war, right?
Look for more posts on the show and the Internet phenom after the premiere.
‘Bleed Green’ and save a life
By Drew Espeseth
Contributing Writer
Homecoming at NDSU is a time for fun and celebrating. It may also be a time to save a life.
For the third year, NDSU held its “Bleed Green” blood drive in conjunction with United Blood Services.
Katie Hawley, a senior majoring in hospitality and tourism management, headed up the drive for Campus Attractions.
“It’s a philanthropy event,” Hawley said. “One that’s sponsored by Campus Attractions and the Homecoming committee.”
A blood drive as a homecoming event isn’t unique to NDSU. A competition has developed in the last few years between NDSU and UND to see which school can collect the most blood during their respective homecoming weeks.
NDSU has come up short of winning the competition for the last two years, but Hawley doesn’t attribute it to lack of effort.
“We always have other blood drives on campus with different organizations,” Hawley said.
Drives seem to be grouped together in the span of a few weeks during the fall. A donor must wait eight weeks before donating again, so those who participate in other drives may not be able to give during Homecoming.
Hawley said the groups tried to make sure the drives were more spread out this year, and will focus even more on scheduling next year if it continues to be a hindrance.
Jenna McCollum, a donor recruitment representative with United Blood Services, said the amount of blood collected is measured by successful donations that a hospital can use.
McCollum said there were 38 donations Tuesday, although she didn’t have the final results from the hospitals as far as usable donations were concerned.
The preliminary number of donors for the first day of the drive proved to be a good sign.
“We usually average about 38 donors the first day, and try for about 50 on the next days,” McCollum said.
McCollum, who has worked with United Blood Services for six months, said she’s been involved with other drives on campus, although this is her first Bleed Green Homecoming event.
She stated United Blood Services promises 300 units of blood to hospitals per day, which is collected through drives like this one and with the use of bloodmobiles, mobile donation stations.
“Those 300 units then serve 72 area hospitals,” McCollum said.
NDSU’s Bleed Green drive has proven to be successful in the past, and Hawley is optimistic for the future.
“It keeps getting better and better each year,” Hawley said.
In the makeshift waiting room outside the Memorial Union’s Prairie Rose Room, students sat prepared to donate.
Rachel Fritz, a sophomore majoring in veterinary technology, sat outside the room, calmly waiting her turn. Fritz has donated before, and she was happy to do so again.
“I think it’s a good thing that they have this, with the whole ‘beat UND’ thing, but it’s nice they do constructive things like this,” Fritz said.
Jose Mergotte, a freshman mechanical engineering major, had never donated before due to participation in sports, but had worked at blood drives in the past.
Mergotte was also calm and ready to go.
“It’s not like it’s going to hurt,” Mergotte said.
Mergotte agreed with Fritz that a blood drive is an excellent event for Homecoming.
“I think it’s pretty cool, it’d be nice if more people would do it,” Mergotte said. “And it’s kind of cool that they throw in a little competition with UND.”
The NDSU-UND rivalry might draw in the donors, but Hawley pointed out the true goal of the Bleed Green blood drive.“Of course, getting the blood to the hospitals it most important,” Hawley said.
Contributing Writer
Homecoming at NDSU is a time for fun and celebrating. It may also be a time to save a life.
For the third year, NDSU held its “Bleed Green” blood drive in conjunction with United Blood Services.
Katie Hawley, a senior majoring in hospitality and tourism management, headed up the drive for Campus Attractions.
“It’s a philanthropy event,” Hawley said. “One that’s sponsored by Campus Attractions and the Homecoming committee.”
A blood drive as a homecoming event isn’t unique to NDSU. A competition has developed in the last few years between NDSU and UND to see which school can collect the most blood during their respective homecoming weeks.
NDSU has come up short of winning the competition for the last two years, but Hawley doesn’t attribute it to lack of effort.
“We always have other blood drives on campus with different organizations,” Hawley said.
Drives seem to be grouped together in the span of a few weeks during the fall. A donor must wait eight weeks before donating again, so those who participate in other drives may not be able to give during Homecoming.
Hawley said the groups tried to make sure the drives were more spread out this year, and will focus even more on scheduling next year if it continues to be a hindrance.
Jenna McCollum, a donor recruitment representative with United Blood Services, said the amount of blood collected is measured by successful donations that a hospital can use.
McCollum said there were 38 donations Tuesday, although she didn’t have the final results from the hospitals as far as usable donations were concerned.
The preliminary number of donors for the first day of the drive proved to be a good sign.
“We usually average about 38 donors the first day, and try for about 50 on the next days,” McCollum said.
McCollum, who has worked with United Blood Services for six months, said she’s been involved with other drives on campus, although this is her first Bleed Green Homecoming event.
She stated United Blood Services promises 300 units of blood to hospitals per day, which is collected through drives like this one and with the use of bloodmobiles, mobile donation stations.
“Those 300 units then serve 72 area hospitals,” McCollum said.
NDSU’s Bleed Green drive has proven to be successful in the past, and Hawley is optimistic for the future.
“It keeps getting better and better each year,” Hawley said.
In the makeshift waiting room outside the Memorial Union’s Prairie Rose Room, students sat prepared to donate.
Rachel Fritz, a sophomore majoring in veterinary technology, sat outside the room, calmly waiting her turn. Fritz has donated before, and she was happy to do so again.
“I think it’s a good thing that they have this, with the whole ‘beat UND’ thing, but it’s nice they do constructive things like this,” Fritz said.
Jose Mergotte, a freshman mechanical engineering major, had never donated before due to participation in sports, but had worked at blood drives in the past.
Mergotte was also calm and ready to go.
“It’s not like it’s going to hurt,” Mergotte said.
Mergotte agreed with Fritz that a blood drive is an excellent event for Homecoming.
“I think it’s pretty cool, it’d be nice if more people would do it,” Mergotte said. “And it’s kind of cool that they throw in a little competition with UND.”
The NDSU-UND rivalry might draw in the donors, but Hawley pointed out the true goal of the Bleed Green blood drive.“Of course, getting the blood to the hospitals it most important,” Hawley said.
Man with Green Green Blood Is not a Vulcan
Normally only Vulcans have green blood, a side effect of using copper instead of Iron to carry oxygen in the blood. Iron gives Hemoglobin its Red Color, where as Copper when Oxidized is Green.
Recently, Surgeons operating on a man were shocked to find he had green blood.
Tests showed he had taken too many of a headache pill called sumatriptan.
He was diagnosed a rare condition in which sulphur from the sumatriptan combined with the blood's haemoglobin to change its colour.
The 42-year-old smoker had needed an operation on his leg to relieve a circulation problem in Vancouver, Canada, reports The Sun.
Dr Alana Flexman, of St Paul's Hospital, said: "During insertion, we normally see arterial blood come out. That's how we know we're in the right place. And normally that blood is bright red, as you would expect in an artery.
"But in his case, the blood kept coming back as dark green instead of bright red. It was sort of a green-black. Like an avocado skin maybe.
"We were very concerned, obviously."
The man made a full recovery, and will likely live long and prosper.
Recently, Surgeons operating on a man were shocked to find he had green blood.
Tests showed he had taken too many of a headache pill called sumatriptan.
He was diagnosed a rare condition in which sulphur from the sumatriptan combined with the blood's haemoglobin to change its colour.
The 42-year-old smoker had needed an operation on his leg to relieve a circulation problem in Vancouver, Canada, reports The Sun.
Dr Alana Flexman, of St Paul's Hospital, said: "During insertion, we normally see arterial blood come out. That's how we know we're in the right place. And normally that blood is bright red, as you would expect in an artery.
"But in his case, the blood kept coming back as dark green instead of bright red. It was sort of a green-black. Like an avocado skin maybe.
"We were very concerned, obviously."
The man made a full recovery, and will likely live long and prosper.
วันเสาร์ที่ 29 กันยายน พ.ศ. 2550
Bangfai Payanak: Science, Belief and Thai Society
red sparks keep pink , at rise from the Mekong River , to the sky in the the end of Buddhist lent that border area , district [ teacher method of snaring a wild elephant range ] , see until accustomed to and call this thing that , , King of Nagas firecracker , because , the sparks will that this is the sparks , red keep pink , have no the sound has no the smoke , have no the flame , go up straight , not curve and agree come to like general sparks , will switch off middle the air , observe get easy from general sparks , will happen in the border since , royal temple landing , royal temple district , down continously go to until , house water border , branch , district [ teacher night pond ] , previously will see happen especial royal temple landing , , ancient general temple , , Thai temple , and temple top landing Mrs. , district [ teacher method of snaring a wild elephant range ] , but , nowadays will see born at water house , , harbour purple house , , the palmyra abounds , , the mouth anticipates , and , uncle islet , district [ teacher swamp black mark of death ] , previously a person , district [ teacher method of snaring a wild elephant range ] , see then , still , ++ , because , see permanent every year in the the end of Buddhist lent , time authors when , age still a little , when , year 2508 ( , be a person , district [ teacher method of snaring a wild elephant range ] ) , when , the end of Buddhist lent , get go to sit see at temple Thai landing , district [ teacher method of snaring a wild elephant range ] , and get embark go to flow the steamer with , when , flow the steamer arrives ( in/at ) landing royal temple area , will begin see the sparks aforementioned rise from the Mekong River , go up tall not exceed 2-3 the wah , long ago , ++ , rise but [ T letter ] , , go up when , people ashore walk with lighted candles in hand around a temple finished , The silent , the sparks will arrive at to go up see , but , nowadays , when , 18.00 , as a result , go up already go up tall arrive at 200-300 the meter , and go up each but [ T letter ] , as a result , very with , since , 5-20 a child consecutively , observe that , , this sparks if , go up middle the Mekong will askew meet the river bank , if , go up onshore will askew go out middle the Mekong , this sparks will go up especial the the end of Buddhist lent only , but , if , Buddhist holy Thai day , be askew with the the middle of the lunar month , of Laos , this sparks , do not go up , year ? , ( , the the end of Buddhist lent is ) , same both of Thai , and , Laos , this sparks will go up very , believe in acting as , border , district [ teacher method of snaring a wild elephant range ] , there is nether world city , stay under the ground and is the exit to human city , call that , , be the frontier then have King of Nagas firecracker , happen regularly that this , capital that part at , uncle islet , district [ teacher swamp black mark of death ] , that thereby because , at uncle islet , when , the dry season has will Mekong River navel , through length of the Mekong River , at flow through many countries , straight that deep most , at uncle islet , when , dry season , temple fishermen by use a rope binds slack stone down can go to 99 the wah , at this will have the sparks goes up to are light-colored green , many times at member low-lying Mekong River in must die to appeared between the travel , by sea , they believe in that , be the making a mistake builds [ wasp ] two spirit residing Mrs. , or , , the god by sea , then punish the reason calls that , , mermaid eats , mermaid is , , snake , be same thing with the King of Nagas , but , King of that Nagas has the world is the location again the one dimension , can can impersonate various kinds , impersonate a human , or , , ? all right , only think only the figure , change to already , then get appear often , that , there is Naga watcher , or , see a person walks to get down the water , or , several times at have a person meets strange trace but , believe in that , be crumpled the King of Nagas that happen in the border , district [ teacher method of snaring a wild elephant range ] , or , elsewhere , ++ , even god downtown , ++ , as a result , ever happen already , but , if , think ? and can happen how that , and ? will must happen especial in the the end of Buddhist lent only , and must straight with the the middle of the lunar month , of Laos then is lievable that , King of Nagas , have nationality race , Laos , although , will happen river bank Thai way no matter , regard the incredibility , and low-lying Mekong River wonder TRUE actually , because , strange sparks is or , that call that , , King of Nagas firecracker , this happen especial in the border , Nongkhai province only , follow Mekong River line , have no go up the elsewhere although , will stay follow Mekong riverside also , then can count that , Nongkhai and Wiangchan , formerly that the administration and founding a city by the King of Nagas , then receive this influence also , although , will touch [ cheap ] separate the administration , and , separate the country departs , but , in fact geography way is same area , tradition legend differs , ++ , of strip [ zone ] low-lying Mekong River person , will pertaining to the King of Nagas the whole bunch , because , King of Nagas , mean , way agriculture fertility , and the being of a human , that deliver a speech come to that all , for , try to understand about , King of Nagas , before that , there is how is the background ? , and , important ? , with Nongkhai city - , Wiangchan , and ? King of Nagas firecracker then happen especial the border , Nongkhai province , only , and at important will happen especial the the middle of the lunar month , that same between , Thai is - , Laos , if , year ? eight twice King of Nagas firecracker , as a result , will flow go up in Buddhist holy Laos day , (15 , evening , Laos is ) , get into trouble at challenge give come to see wonderful low-lying the Mekong River , King of Nagas firecracker that , happen get ? , ? then must born in day aforementioned only , ? do why , and , get ? from the behaviour aforementioned , believe in that , many persons still want to go to prove this miracle s (stay) [doing that action] , ( , Buddhism legend , tell that , when , Buddha proceeds to go up please the king's mother , on the second heaven where Indra dwells , 3 fully month , when , proceed get back to the world , the King of Nagas has created glass ladder , money , gold , proceed get down , human , angel , King of Nagas , get celebrate celebrate with something firecracker dot dedicates , especially King of Nagas set , thus later King of Nagas set has then to assume the the end of Buddhist lent is the important day ).........
Angie's List: Adding More Space
Reported by: John Matarese
Moving up to a big house is so out these days: Fixing up yours is in.
Thats according to the consumer guide "Angie's List" ...which says many homeowners just want extra space.
"Angie Hicks says: "In an Angie's List poll, half would like to have more space in their home. 1/3 would like to move, but with the recent hosing problems, they're considering staying, knocking out walls, and hiring interior decorators for help."
Angie says an interior decorator is not as expensive as you think, because they get huge discounts.
But if you want to add space yourself, without taking down walls, Angie says:
Uncover windows to make a room larger.
Avoid dark prints on curtains and couches.
Avoid small wall pictures.
And add light to a room....and it will look and feel much bigger. For information on joining Angie's List, click the link above.
Moving up to a big house is so out these days: Fixing up yours is in.
Thats according to the consumer guide "Angie's List" ...which says many homeowners just want extra space.
"Angie Hicks says: "In an Angie's List poll, half would like to have more space in their home. 1/3 would like to move, but with the recent hosing problems, they're considering staying, knocking out walls, and hiring interior decorators for help."
Angie says an interior decorator is not as expensive as you think, because they get huge discounts.
But if you want to add space yourself, without taking down walls, Angie says:
Uncover windows to make a room larger.
Avoid dark prints on curtains and couches.
Avoid small wall pictures.
And add light to a room....and it will look and feel much bigger. For information on joining Angie's List, click the link above.
วันศุกร์ที่ 28 กันยายน พ.ศ. 2550
CEOs Keep Bad Company On ABC's Randy 'Big Shots'
Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 27, 2007; Page C01
Suppose we consider the new prime-time network season as one long show; what would we call it? "Darkness After Dark," maybe. Even the comedies, what few there are, tend toward gloominess, while the big mystery with the dramas is "Who the heck are the good guys?"
Take ABC's new "Big Shots" (premiering tonight), which is up to its beady little eyes in chicanery, adultery and malice aforethought. It's a regular Dance Macabre, a Mondo Rondo of Louses and Spouses, with its multiple story lines nudged into motion by the laughable death, early in the premiere, of someone who'd seemed to be a major character.
That's about how "Desperate Housewives" opened, and who could have guessed that it would become probably the most cloned show in ABC's history -- not that its characters and situations are copied so much as its stance, tone and dark-comic streak.
Such new series as "Dirty Sexy Money," the upcoming "Pushing Daisies" and certainly "Big Shots" (a kind of "Desperate Executives") all have the same smart-alecky attitude and tend to traffic in similar outrageous audacity. Even Charles McDougall, who directed the "Big Shots" pilot, is conveniently enough a "Desperate Housewives" alumnus.
The pivotal, laughable death in the first act of "Big Shots" is grisly-funny, the victim clobbered senseless and lifeless by a runaway golf cart full of shrimp. Later, in a posh restaurant where a distressed father meets with his troubled 19-year-old daughter, the decor is dominated by a gigantic painting of a man pointing an enormous gun right in the viewer's face. And one big shot's mistress throws a fit when she finds out that her boyfriend has been secretly going to couples therapy with the missus and growls, "What kind of man would be so disdainful as to lie to the woman he's cheating on his wife with?"
All the big shots are big chiefs at big companies. Dylan McDermott plays Duncan Collinsworth, CEO at Reveal Cosmetics; Michael Vartan is James Walker, about to become the chairman of AmeriMart Industries (and the least sleazy of the quartet); Joshua Malina is Karl Mixworthy, CEO of Fidelity Pharmaceuticals; and Christopher Titus plays Brody Johns, founder of something called Alpha Crisis Management, although he appears to have more crises than he can manage himself.
What's on all their minds -- more than power and money -- is sex, sex and, you guessed it, more sex. It's hard to believe that back in 1995, when the Walt Disney Co. announced it was buying ABC, some people worried that all the network's programming would henceforth be wholesome family mush. If only! "Big Shots" is mere seconds old when we come upon one of the executives and a young woman heating up a wine cellar while upstairs, the drug company executive worries about "spontaneous erections" caused when shipments of Viagra were mixed up with those of chewable vitamins.
While at a counseling session with wife Wendy (the appealing Amy Sloan), Karl gets a pithy, sexual text message from his mistress, Marla (the wildly blond Jessica Collins).
Whatever would Uncle Walt say? For that matter, what would Mickey and Minnie say? Or Donald and Daisy? What's the deal with all this Mouske-Smut?
As with other "Desperate" clones, "Big Shots" tries way too hard to be shocking and raunchy. The actors resemble kiddies at school trying to impress one another with the latest naughty word learned in gym class. And the more "adult" that writer and series creator Jon Harmon Feldman tries to be, the more juvenile the show seems to become.
Example: The premiere is bracketed with scenes set at the friends' favorite haunt, the "Firmwood" Country Club. Such wit, such subtlety!
We are never very far from tryst time. Karl and Marla test the sheets at the Pierre Hotel, she pouring champagne onto his bare chest and then slurping it off. Earlier, coming up for air, Karl tells her, "Something you just did, I want to get a patent on." If the stuff were funny, it might be less conspicuous. The cast works very hard, but they can't bring off the neat trick of making rats and tarantulas seem cute.
There's the pretense of making sly comments on the latest twists in the battle of the sexes and the redefinition of male and female in a changing world. "Men? We're the new women," McDermott says at one point, but the plot twists and cheeky remarks don't add up to anything particularly cogent or insightful. Not by a big shot's long shot.
Big Shots (one hour) premieres tonight at 10 on Channel 7.
credit by http://www.washingtonpost.com
วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 27 กันยายน พ.ศ. 2550
"Dirty Sexy Money" Spoilers #1.04 "The Chiavennasca"
The premiere of ABC's new soap opera "Dirty Sexy Money" about the filthy rich Darling clan of New Work has finally arrived. Before we see the pilot episode (airs tonight at 10/9c after 'Private Practice') here are ABC stills and official spoilers from an upcoming episode titled "The Chiavennasca" (scheduled for October 17).At Tripp's behest, Nick travels to a vineyard in Italy to meet with a spy who may know more about the death of Nick's father.
Nick appeases his wife Lisa's annoyance with his focus on the Darlings by taking her with him. But their romantic idyll is broken -- repeatedly -- by Karen and Freddy, who decide to tag along everywhere.
Letitia confirms to Tripp that she had been unfaithful to him throughout their marriage. Heartbroken, he becomes hell-bent on determining if all of his children are biologically his.
Meanwhile, Jeremy struggles to keep his affair with Juliet's archenemy a secret, and Brian Jr. needs his dad's help to battle a bully at school.
credit by TELEVISIONISTA.Net
Dancing With The Stars Results – Josie Maran Eliminated
On the first Dancing With The Stars 5 results show, host Tom Bergeron kicked things off with a recap of the men’s performance show. Len Goodman said “All of us judges felt that this was without doubt the best start to any season.” The judges selected Sabrina Bryan and Mark Ballas to dance an encore of the Cha Cha Cha.
After the encore, hosts Tom Bergeron and Drew Lachey revealed that the first two couples that were safe were Sabrina Bryan & Mark Ballas and Jennie Garth & Derek Hough. Country music star Dolly Parton made a special guest appearance to perform “9 to 5.” After Parton’s song, Bergeron and Lachey revealed that Helio Castroneves & Julianne Hough and Albert Reed & Anna Trebunskaya were the second two couples that were safe.
Special guest Tony award-winning Savion Glover tap danced, and Dolly Parton returned to perform “Better Get To Livin’” from her album “Backwoods Barbie.” In a comedy segment, Kenny Mayne went on a quest to find the origins of dance. Bergeron and Lachey revealed that the third couples safe from elimination were Melanie Brown & Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Cameron Mathison & Edyta Sliwinska.
After a commercial break, Bergeron and Lachey revealed that Jayne Seymour & Tony Dovolani, Wayne Newton & Cheryl Burke, Marie Osmond & Jonathan Roberts, and Floyd Mayweather & Karina Smirnoff were all save. The bottom two when the judges’ scores and the viewers’ vote were combined were Josie Maran & Alec Mazo and Mark Cuban & Kym Johnson.
As the two couples waited on stage, Bergeron announced that Josie Maran & Alec Mazo had been eliminated from the competition. When asked if she had anything to say to anyone, Josie Maran said “Well, I guess, thanks for being honest. Is that what it is? And thank you for this amazing experience, and thank you Alec. You’re an incredible teacher, and this has changed my life. I have the dancing bug, and I’m going to dance alone.”
วันพุธที่ 26 กันยายน พ.ศ. 2550
Review: 'Halo 3' an amazing package
Genre : Action
Developer : Bungie
Publisher : Microsoft
Release : September 2007
Developer : Bungie
Publisher : Microsoft
Release : September 2007
review Regardless of how you felt about its cliffhanger ending, there's no denying Halo 2 was a gigantic success that raised the bar for what we, as a game-playing society, expect out of a good console-based first-person shooter.
In the years that followed, plenty of games attempted to duplicate the Halo formula, with varying degrees of success. But there's still nothing quite like the genuine item. Luckily for all involved, Halo 3 is a positively amazing package that offers extreme satisfaction across all of its different parts. Maybe now you can finally retire your Halo 2 disc and really move into the next generation of games.
Halo 3 is an interesting mix of established protocol and intriguing new stuff. For example, the gameplay doesn't stray too far from Halo 2, which, in turn, didn't exactly reinvent the original Halo. Don't take that as a negative, because it means that Halo 3 plays extremely well, with the same types of light tactical considerations that have made the series stand apart from other, faster-paced shooters.
The balance between your guns, your grenades and your melee attack has always given Halo a unique feel in the genre, and those same considerations apply today, both in the campaign mode and in multiplayer. You'll also have new weapons and items to consider, such as a host of Brute weapons. One example is the spiker, which is an exciting automatic pistol that fires quickly and decimates opponents.
Another is the mauler, a one-handed shotgun that can level enemies up close. You'll even find weapons so huge that your movement speed slows when you carry them. When you use these weapons, the camera pulls out to a third-person perspective so you can see your missile pod, plasma cannon or flamethrower as it fires. And then there's the gravity hammer. Originally shown in Halo 2 (where it wasn't usable by the player), the gravity hammer is a large melee weapon that will wipe out most regular enemies in one swipe. Needless to say, it can be especially fun in multiplayer settings. The end result is gameplay that feels wholly familiar without retreading the same ground too heavily.
The campaign is structured in much the same way as past Halo games, with multiple chapters and effective streaming that ensures you'll see load times only between chapters. There are also lengthy vehicle sequences to break up the on-foot action. You'll pilot the classic Halo vehicles, such as the Ghost, a hovering one-person craft that's fast and deadly, and the Warthog, a dune buggy with a turret mounted in the back. You'll also see new vehicles, such as the Brute Prowler, a two-person vehicle with turrets. Like in previous games, the vehicles are fun to use. Also similar to previous games, the artificial intelligence can't drive very well, so if you're playing alone, you'll usually want to grab the steering wheel rather than the weapons.
The concept of "equipment" is new to the series. These deployable special items have a variety of effects. The most obvious example is the bubble shield: You (and your enemies) can walk through it, but bullets and explosions bounce right off. It's especially entertaining when your enemies use it, given that you can just walk through and bash them with the butt of your gun. You'll also find items that make your shields regenerate more quickly, and others that drain enemy shields and stop their vehicles dead in their tracks. These items also show up in multiplayer, where they're a little more interesting.
Halo 2's ending was widely criticized for being too much of a cliffhanger and leaving players with no sense of progress or resolution whatsoever. It's good news, then, that Halo 3's story doesn't suffer from that problem.
It opens immediately following the events of Halo 2: The Covenant is on its way to Earth, continuing its religious zealotry and attempting to activate the floating space weapons known as Halos, which could destroy civilization as we know it. The Master Chief and the other Earth forces of the UNSC are in hot pursuit to stop them, with newfound allies such as the Arbiter coming along for the ride. We'll spare you the specifics because they're quite compelling and should be seen firsthand. All you really need to know if you're on the fence about Halo 3's campaign is that it's a delicate balancing act that manages to provide satisfying closure for the trilogy, make perfect sense of all the cryptic events in Halo 2, and leave you filled with anticipation for more adventures set in the Halo universe. Not bad for a game that will take most players between 10 and 15 hours to finish on one of four difficulty settings.
But you'll probably go through the campaign more than once, thanks to the inclusion of a strong co-op mode. Previous Halo games have let two players go through the campaign; Halo 3 ups that number to four players and lets you do the whole thing over Xbox Live, if you so choose. This is a really fun way to experience the campaign's nine chapters, and you can choose to go through them in any order, provided you've already played through it alone.
Furthermore, this method of play (which you can also do alone) lets you turn on scoring in campaign mode, in which you earn points for kills and lose them for dying. This adds a sense of competition to the co-op, and there are also achievements associated with finishing chapters with high point totals. You can also customize the experience a bit by turning on a series of unlockable modifiers that open up as you collect hidden skulls. The skulls are stashed around the game, and some of them do things like increase the amount of damage you'll need to deal to take an enemy down, remove the heads-up display and make your weapon invisible, and so on. This gives the story-driven section of the game some more replay value, although it doesn't get significantly more difficult as you scale up the number of players. Consequently, finishing the game on legendary difficulty is a breeze if you're rolling through with three experienced fellow triggermen.
credit : http://www.news.com/
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