HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Anna Nicole Smith died Thursday after collapsing at a hotel and being being rushed to the hospital, one of her lawyers said. No word on cause of death.
#1
...That was one sadly messed up young lady. I'm expecting the vipers who enabled he all this time to come out of the woodwork and tell us how they always knew this would happen...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/08/2007 16:11 Comments ||
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#2
At 40, she wasn't exactly young.
At this very moment, this story is the front page lead on cnn.com. It's nice that they can give important stories like this the coverage they deserve.
"Tonight on Larry King: we'll be poking Anna Nicole's corpse with a stick for the full hour."
#4
Does this mean Entertainment Tonight has to go out of business now? Mary Hart back to being a tour guide at Universal?
Never did get the phenomenon...
#12
So what happens with the two guys claiming the Daughter as their own, and of Smiths fortune from the Dead-old guy? She just won the money for sure a year ago then her son dies, then SHE dies? Could the Lawyer have wacked both for the fortune, or was it overdoes? Maybe the Son of the Tycoon took out his revenge on her for taking so much of the fortune? How long before Hollywood makes this into a movie that nobody would pay a toilet full of crap to see? All these questions and more on the next "The View".
Posted by: Charles ||
02/08/2007 19:34 Comments ||
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#13
So what happens with the two guys claiming the Daughter as their own, and of Smiths fortune from the Dead-old guy? She just won the money for sure a year ago then her son dies, then SHE dies? Could the Lawyer have wacked both for the fortune, or was it overdoes? Maybe the Son of the Tycoon took out his revenge on her for taking so much of the fortune? How long before Hollywood makes this into a movie that nobody would pay a toilet full of crap to see? All these questions and more on the next "The View".
Posted by: Charles ||
02/08/2007 19:34 Comments ||
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#14
Live or die, I'll make a million!"
--Ebbus Kinnebus
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/08/2007 20:49 Comments ||
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bet the killer's name starts with "Anna Nichole"...other than that, I can say no more
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/08/2007 21:36 Comments ||
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#19
When you finally get your hands on lots of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ you graduate to the high dollar stuff. Whether it is the son that mom is now throwing a lot of loot at to keep him happy, or whether it is mom who is using and addicted to the same stuff.
Some people can get a grip on money, others let their vices get a death grip on them, when they can afford.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Astronauts will receive a new psychological evaluations when they seek to join the space program.
NASA Moonbat Sample Exam:
1. Are you the jealous type?
2. Do you wear diapers often?
3. Do you know Bill Oefelein?
4. Own a steel mallet?
5. Own your own trench coat?
6. Own a Co2 BB gun or folding knife?
7. Own or wear a wig?
8. Own or use pepper spray?
9. Enjoy scaring the hell out of people?
10. Have any rubber tubing around the house?
#2
Nowak's attorney, ... said yesterday his client simply ``wanted to have a talk'' with Shipman. Nowak was arrested carrying a steel mallet, a hunting knife, latex gloves, rubber tubing and garbage bags, according to an affidavit.
"Just a talk." Riiiight.
Lawyer wordplay. Just 'cause I like to be spanked with a stalk of wet celery doesn't make it a salad.
All astronauts wear them during launches. Standard practice, standard issue.
Posted by: NASA observer ||
02/08/2007 9:39 Comments ||
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#4
The Shuttle doesn't have toilets? Or do they expect launch to scare the shit out of the Astronauts?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/08/2007 17:09 Comments ||
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#5
The astronauts suit up a good while before launch, go throught the checkout period & countdown, then launch, then initial orbit maneuvers & checkout in orbit. No potty breaks during those long hours. One of the less glamorous sides of the business.
Posted by: NASA observer ||
02/08/2007 18:43 Comments ||
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#6
but the technical diaper breakthroughs will benefit all of mankind
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/08/2007 18:49 Comments ||
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#7
Where did you think they got that super-aborbant kitty litter from??? LOL
Posted by: NASA observer ||
02/08/2007 18:53 Comments ||
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#8
ack ... 'absorbant'
Posted by: NASA observer ||
02/08/2007 18:54 Comments ||
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A cholera outbreak in Somalia has killed more than 115 people and hospitalized 724 in towns where people were forced to use contaminated water from a flooded river, doctors said Wednesday.
"At least 115 people, 53 of them children, have died from cholera in four districts in the last four weeks."
Tests conducted by the international medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontiers confirmed the cholera outbreak in towns along the Shabelle river. The river flooded earlier this year, leaving tens of thousands homeless in a country with little ability to respond because it lacks an effective government. "At least 115 people, 53 of them children, have died from cholera in four districts in the last four weeks," said Dr. Abdulahi Hussein Malin, who works in a hospital in Jowhar, 55 miles north of Mogadishu. Infants have been especially affected, said Dr. Hawo Abdi Mumin, who works with the Somali Red Crescent Society.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Stuff like this should not be happening. IRONIC - BLOOMBERG > Biofuels may make INDIA + CHINA MORE THIRSTY. Nutshell - Biofuels/Alternat Fuels need a lot of water.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has reshuffled his Cabinet, firing his finance minister and sidelining the agriculture minister who has presided over six years of shrinking harvests in the wake of the seizure of land from white farmers, the Herald newspaper reported Wednesday.
Mugabe replaced Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa with Samuel Mumbengegwi, who had been a junior minister in charge of increasing black Zimbabweans role in the economy, the government-run paper reported.
Mugabe replaced Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa with Samuel Mumbengegwi, who had been a junior minister in charge of increasing black Zimbabweans role in the economy, the government-run paper reported. No official reason was given for Murerwa's dismissal, but the Harvard-educated economist is rumored to have clashed with the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Gideon Gono in recent months over how to resolve Zimbabwe's deepening economic crisis.
The Herald said Mumbengegwi would be expected to work with the central bank chief to "consolidate" Zimbabwe's economic turnaround. Zimbabwe has the world's highest annual rate of inflation -- 1,281.1 percent -- and critical shortages of foreign currency, fuel and some basic commodities. The Zimbabwean president blames the crisis on Western sanctions. But critics point to Mugabe's policies, including the land seizures launched in 2000. The farm seizures, touted as a way of reversing colonial-era imbalances in land ownership, have been accompanied by a clampdown on the opposition, the free press and rights groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
The farm seizures, touted as a way of reversing colonial-era imbalances in land ownership, have been accompanied by a clampdown on the opposition, the free press and rights groups.
Not to mention that those same farms are no longer, you know, growing enough food to feed the country.
That is, if they're growing anything other than weeds.
#3
the Harvard-educated economist is rumored to have clashed with the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Gideon Gono in recent months over how to resolve Zimbabwe's deepening economic crisis.
Hot Damn, finaly somebody with BRAINS, A Hahvahd Grad no less. Listen to the Boy ZimBob.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/08/2007 9:31 Comments ||
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#4
Later in the debate the Junior Minister for being frightened by any kind of farm machinery, challenged the Under-Secretary of State for hiding from Terence Rattigan to produce the current year's trading figures, as supplied by the Department of stealing packets of bandages from the self-service counter at Timothy Whites and selling them again at a considerable profit.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi authorities beheaded two Iraqi men Wednesday for drug smuggling, the state-run news agency said. The execution of Jabar Kareem Abualaya and Ali Hamza Al Mashalawi was carried out in Rafha, a district near Saudi Arabias border with Iraq, the Saudi Press Agency reported, citing an Interior Ministry statement.
The pair were convicted for smuggling a large quantity of drugs across the Iraqi border into the kingdom, the agency reported. It did not give dates for the mens crimes or when the judiciary handed down its verdicts, nor did it give details about the type of drugs smuggled.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2007 00:00 ||
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Another former Bangladeshi lawmaker has been arrested as part of the interim governments massive graft crackdown, bringing the number of political leaders detained to 23, an official said Wednesday. Joint forces on Tuesday arrested Ali Asgar Lobi, a former president of Bangladesh Cricket Control Board and a lawmaker of the previous Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government, from Dhaka, said a police official on condition of anonymity.
The detainees, who include nine former ministers, have links to both the outgoing BNP-led government and the main opposition Awami League. They have been arrested in raids by army, police and security forces since Sunday. So far 20 have appeared in court and been remanded for a month. The anti-corruption drive is part of the new interim governments attempt to clean up political life in order to hold free and fair elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2007 00:00 ||
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A majority of Mexicans approve of President Felipe Calderon's first two months in office, according to a new poll. A pro-business conservative, Calderon won office last year with just 35.9 percent of the vote -- slightly ahead of his leftist rival, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, with 35.3 percent. But in the poll, conducted by the polling firm Ipsos-Bimsa and published Tuesday in El Universal newspaper, 58 percent of Mexicans said Calderon has done a good job so far.
Calderon took office Dec. 1 with promises to tackle the country's widespread poverty and expand social programs, the foundation of Lopez Obrador's platform. He also has sent thousands of federal troops into several states to fight mounting drug violence.
The poll did not shed much light on which of his policies are popular with the public, however. In the one policy area addressed in the survey -- rising tortilla prices -- Calderon fared poorly, with just a third of respondents saying he had taken effective action. The price of tortillas, a staple of the Mexican diet especially among the poor, surged 14 percent in 2006 and has continued to rise in the first weeks of 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2007 00:00 ||
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AUSTRALIA'S public school curriculum contained "incomprehensible sludge" and new-age fads that were robbing children of their cultural heritage, Prime Minister John Howard said today.
In comments sure to anger teachers' unions and state governments, Mr Howard today stepped up his campaign to reform school education, deriding parts of the curriculum as politically correct, jargon-ridden waffle.
The Prime Minister made the remarks while launching a book by Kevin Donnelly, a former chief of staff to Howard government minister Kevin Andrews, accusing state-based education hierarchies of dumbing down learning.
Few debates are as vital as those over education, whether it be in upholding basic standards on literacy or numeracy, promoting diversity and choice or challenging the incomprehensible sludge that can find its way into some curriculum material, Mr Howard said. There is something both deadening and saccharine in curriculum documents where history is replaced by 'time continuity and change' and geography now becomes 'place, space and environment'.
Even before Democratic leaders have made good on promises to harness lawmakers five days a week, cross-party opposition is growing, with senators ready to revolt and House members simmering over the new schedule. Work 5 days a week? I mean, come on, what do they think we are? Public servants or something?
The most popular move afoot would have lawmakers working for three weeks at a stretch with a week off -- or some variation on that theme, several House and Senate members said. Such a schedule would roughly reflect the one in practice under previous Republican rule in the Senate. "They should really work us so we get things done, then give us a few weeks off so we can do the Kiwanis Clubs and all that," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. "If you leave early Monday, yes, you can get here for a 4:30 vote, but you lose the whole working day of Monday." So leave on Sunday. That way you can work all Monday and be there for the 4:s0 vote. DUH!
There's a broadening bipartisan "uprising" to ditch the longer workweek among both lawmakers and staff, especially in the Senate, said a top Democratic Senate aide. We need time to flesh out our Pork Projects and get hold of those kickbacks. If we work 5 days a week that really cuts into our Smooze time.
"It's a grind," said Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who enjoys one of the easiest commutes to the Capitol from his home in Northern Virginia. "It's a lot more stringent than people originally thought it would be." Try getting up at 5:00 AM, feeding the livestock, working 9 hours, comming home, feeding again, then getting supper and a shower. Not much time left for anything. Or else you could join the Military, then you'd really have something to bitch about. What a weinie!
A visibly annoyed Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., agreed: "I just told (Reid) I won't be back by 4:30" for the vote Monday, "even though I'm catching a 1:55 flight."
But the Democratic leadership isn't budging. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said that he's gotten complaints from both sides of the aisle, but that the schedule is set. The proposed plan of three weeks on, one week off, he said, is something he's heard a lot about. "We'll look at it, but nothing's going to change this year," he said.
And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California is holding firm on the existing schedule, a leadership aide said.
It might have been billed as a "do work" Congress, but many members don't think all week is needed to do that work. "We're cramming two days of work into five days," said Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, repeating a line used over and over. "Three weeks on, one week off would reduce travel time. I'd come here and stay for two weekends."
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., offered the same quip. "We're stretching three-day weeks into five days," she said. "I think the American people would be outraged if they knew we were flying in here to wish people happy birthday. It takes us away from valuable work in the district," she said Monday, after voting to wish two folks a happy birthday. Then cut out the crap. We didn't elect you and we don't pay you to wish people Happy Birthday.
Because Congress has yet to pass much legislation through committee, there's little substantive work for the floor, leaving members voting on birthday wishes, post office dedications and sports team congratulations. I'm permanently Boggled.
"You have a chicken and egg problem," said Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., chairman of the House Science Committee. "There's an eagerness to start getting legislation moving through committee."
The five-day week, for the most part, has been only a hypothetical pain for lawmakers, as Democrats have yet to get on a regular five-day schedule. College football games and holidays have conspired to keep the work week shortened so far.
On Monday night, Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, a Maryland Republican, was talking about the five-day workweek when Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., walked past.
"What five-day workweek? We haven't done it yet," said Franks. He then added a contradictory talking point. "We squeeze three days' work into five days." My head now hurts. Doesn't that disrupt the Space/Time Continuum? It should."Three days, four days, whatever," said Gilchrest. "It feels like five." And my work week, as well as most other gainfully employed people, is 5 days.
There are plenty of members, though, who publicly back the new schedule. "I lived through lots of years with a five-day workweek. I've been here when there was a seven-day workweek. If there's work to do, we've got to work. Bring it on," said Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.
"That's what I signed up for," said Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. "We shouldn't complain about a little inconvenience. I got a lot of people in my state working two five-day weeks," he added, referring to constituents with two or more jobs.
Though the Democratic leadership likely won't grant entire weeks off to the agitated lawmakers, don't look for the five-day workweek to become a reality.
"I'd bet we go back to the three-week-on, one-week-off in '08 when people are running for re-election, but it would be very hard for (Reid) to change midstream. It's a lot easier to go back to three- or four-day vote weeks," said the Senate staffer. "We've pretty much already done that." If it weren't so blantly hypocritical, this would be funny.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/08/2007 12:05 ||
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#1
..There is no, repeat, NO reason for Congress to be in Washington more than a few days per year - maybe about 30 days AT MOST. Modern communication technology alows the pols to stay in their home districts and deal with their constituents instead of spending most of their time in the Beltway and its poisonous and corrosive atmosphere. Let 'em come to town for ceremonial occasions (inaugurations, opening/closing of Congress) or classified hearings, but that would be it.
Imagine what the pols would be like if they had to make the idiot decisions they do and then get up the next morning and face the people they presume to represent.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/08/2007 13:58 Comments ||
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#2
This is just he said - she said crap. If they stayed the whole time in DC they would have nothing to do except hang with the special interest groups. Maybe that is what the dems are after. Have you ever tried to see a congressman at his home state? It's tough and to force them to stay in DC, out of touch, is not good for the state.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/08/2007 14:38 Comments ||
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#3
I hadn't thought about it from that angle Mike, 49Pan. Less time in DC and pay em less.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/08/2007 15:26 Comments ||
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[Amman] Ziad, 20, desperately needed to come up with $1,500 to propose to the girl he loved before her parents could talk her into marrying a school teacher. Unemployed, with a criminal record and no skills to offer the job market, Ziad could not have been more desperate. He knocked on the doors of friends and relatives to borrow the dowry, but the economic recession hitting the country made it impossible for others to assist him.
Selling a kidney would be the perfect solution to his distress, he thought to himself. "That was the magical solution to my problems and on top of that I could start a small business," says Ziad, who was offered $4,000 for a kidney. Within a week of making his decision, Ziad received a down payment and had all the necessary medical tests to have his kidney transplanted.
The deal was done in secret as organ trade is banned in Jordan and anyone caught selling or buying organs faces trouble with the law. "I was told to keep my mouth shut until after the operation," recalls Ziad. In any case, in a tribal-dominated nation where social relations are very strong, Ziad would have committed social suicide if he disclosed to relatives or friends that he was selling a kidney.
Continued on Page 49
U.S. scientists have developed an electronic accountability system they say can save millions of dollars and ensure total worker accountability.
The system, developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, uses radio frequency technology to tag and identify people and equipment. A pilot test was so successful at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency's Washington Navy Yard site that ORNL was asked to install a system at the agency's St. Louis facility.
"Never before had a government agency allowed the use of active radio frequency identification technology within a classified facility of this type," said Gary Steimer of ORNL's National Security Directorate.
"The equipment accountability system alone will save the government both manpower and money," Steimer said. "The workforce used to conduct inventories and track equipment will be reduced by about 80 percent.
"In any federal or state building that houses hundreds or thousands of employees, knowing where people are is a tremendous concern," Steimer added. "In the event of a drill or actual emergency, our system lets responders know quickly who is still in the building."
The system was developed by ORNL's Greg Hanson, John Jones and Angela Sexton.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/08/2007 20:40 Comments ||
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#2
One of the scarier aspects of the disease: there are no mild cases. Either it kills you, or it shreds your lungs. Whether the survivors will be like emphysema victims for the rest of their lives is the next question.
Despite his personal fortune and impressive lineage, Arthur Sulzberger, owner, chairman and publisher of the most respected newspaper in the world, is a stressed man.
Why would the man behind the New York Times be stressed? Well, profits from the paper have been declining for four years, and the Times company's market cap has been shrinking, too. Its share lags far behind the benchmark, and just last week, the group Sulzberger leads admitted suffering a $570 million loss because of write offs and losses at the Boston Globe. Sure, blame it on Boston.
As if that weren't enough, his personal bank, Morgan Stanley, recently set out on a campaign that could cost the man control over the paper.
All this may explain why Sulzberger does not talk with the press.
But perhaps the rarified alpine air at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, which ended last week, relaxes the CEOs of the world's leading companies. And what began as a casual chat ended in a fascinating glimpse into Sulzberger's world, and how he sees the future of the news business.
#3
"People don't click onto the New York Times to read blogs. They want reliable news that they can trust," he says.
ROFLMAO! Good one, Pinch.
For the record, I dropped my subscriptions to the Boston Glob and Worcester T&G because they are owned by the NYT. Before they were bought by the NYT I was willing to put up with the BS reporting for the grocery coupons in the Sunday paper.
Makes any patriot proud as hell eh.. WE have the very best!
*******
The editors for the NYT use remarkable photographs, paired up to a great story-teller reporter who has loads of integrity, and yet still subvert on a regular basis the message inspite of the good material thru a selection process and other means to produce an eventual product with a slant or an agenda.
The NYT has a clear record of its disporportional and slanted Iraq news coverage.
They've run very few successful Mil Ops, and when they have they've riddled them with shit-ass caveats. The NYTs has chosen to hide the thousands of completed infrastructure projects in Iraq. They've chosen to ignore thousands of good stories of Americans helping Iraqi citizens, etc. etc.
#9
Yup they're Fucked, I pay for value, accuracy and truth, kinda lets the NYT out all around.
Anyone want to guesstomate just how long they stay online?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/08/2007 17:06 Comments ||
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#10
I'd be curious to know the ranking of news sources linked to by the Burg and other news blogs. I'd guess the NYT is well down the list.
#11
Pinchy goes to a Gypsy who looks up his future in a crystal ball.
"I see numbers, big numbers. I see numbers, big numbers, getting smaller in value. I see numbers winding around a great vortex, going down, down, down. I feel a great tug. Oh MY GOD!!! I am going down into the vortex of numbers, its carrying me down down down. I'm spinning, faster, faster! Numbers everywhere!!!!! I shoot through the bottom of the vortex. I slow down. I see no more numbers. I see marble columns, I see a room with tall doors, benches, tables. I see two numbers only floating in the room, fuzzy. One is.............ah...........an 11, I think, and the other one is a 7. Now the picture is getting fuzzy....and now it is dark. That is all.
$50 please.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/08/2007 20:58 Comments ||
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Harvard University announced on Wednesday its biggest curriculum overhaul in three decades, putting new emphasis on sensitive religious and cultural issues, the sciences and overcoming U.S. "parochialism."
The curriculum at the oldest U.S. university has been criticized as focusing too narrowly on academic topics instead of real-life issues, or for being antagonistic to organized religion. Revisions have been in the works for three years. One of the eight new required subject areas -- "societies of the world" -- aims to help students overcome U.S. "parochialism" by "acquainting them with the values, customs and institutions that differ from their own," said a 34-page Harvard report on the changes.
Harvard has been criticized by some conservatives in recent decades as a liberal bastion unfriendly toward religion.
An earlier proposal would have made Harvard unique among its elite Ivy League peers by requiring undergraduates to study religion as a distinct subject, but that was dropped in December. The changes to the general-education requirements, imposed on students outside their major, still address religious beliefs and practices. Study of those issues, however, would be folded into a broader subject of "culture and belief." The "culture and belief" requirement will "introduce students to ideas, art and religion in the context of the social, political, religious, economic and cross-cultural conditions" that shape them, Harvard said.
The university's Faculty of Arts and Sciences is expected to vote on the report in March, but Harvard officials said it was expected to be implemented. The university is also expected to soon announce a new president to steer the changes.
Founded to train Puritan ministers 371 years ago, Harvard has been criticized by some conservatives in recent decades as a liberal bastion unfriendly toward religion.
A task force of six professors and two students which drafted the new curriculum said religion should be addressed, but only as one of several cultural influences.
"Harvard is a secular institution but religion is an important part of our students' lives," it said. It noted that 94 percent of Harvard's incoming students report that they discuss religion "frequently" or "occasionally," and 71 percent say that they attend religious services.
Under the changes, science wins greater prominence, including the study of the ethical issues surrounding embryonic stem cell research, which has raised hope for cures for ailments such as Alzheimer's disease while being opposed by others as an immoral destruction of human life.
Plagiarism -- which rocked Harvard last year when a novel by star undergraduate writer Kaavya Viswanathan was found to have copied passages from another work -- is also addressed.
The curriculum shake-up is the first major overhaul since Harvard formulated its current "core" course requirements in the 1970s. It had been advanced by former Harvard President Lawrence Summers, who resigned his post in June after a faculty revolt over his leadership style. Other new requirements include the study of empirical reasoning, ethical reasoning, the science of living systems, the science of the physical universe, and "aesthetic and interpretive understanding."
#2
"aims to help students overcome U.S. "parochialism" by "acquainting them with the values, customs and institutions that differ from their own.""
This has never been the problem. The problem is that it's forbidden to employ "empirical and ethical reasoning" to reach the conclusion that often these "differing values and customs" suck. I'd love to know how it's "parochial" to judge that living in the US is better than living in North Korea, Pakistan, or Somalia.
#3
"I'd love to know how it's "parochial" to judge that living in the US is better than living in North Korea, Pakistan, or Somalia." -- but that is Harvard's definition of parochialism. Harvard's antagonism to organized religion is about to change, into advocacy for Islam. Its hostility towards other organized religions will, however, increase.
A poster on Jerry Pournelle's site said it well: Students "need to learn how to make accurate judgments. They should not be taught to be equally respectful of Aztecs and Greeks; they should focus on the best that has come before them, which will mean a light dose of Aztecs and a heavy one of Greeks. The primary purpose of their education should not be to let the little darlings express themselves, but to give them the tools and the intellectual discipline for expressing themselves as adults." At one time a "liberal education" meant to prepare free men and women to do their duty. Harvard has been running away from this goal for years, this overhaul is a giant leap in that misguided direction.
#4
Oh, I know, AH9418, it's just a rhetorical question. I agree with you 100%. What infuriates me is that the word "parochial" suggests that the judgment that the US is superior to the aforementioned crapholes is an uninformed one. A judgment based on ignorance, rather than on very substantial study, travel, and experience. As if we would judge these places to not be crapholes if only we knew more, when knowing more is precisely what leads us to conclude that they are crapholes. Just as knowing more helps us understand how Islam is the blueprint for a death machine, surpassing even communism. I find people who do not reach these conclusions to be the ignorant, parochial ones.
#5
One of the eight new required subject areas -- "societies of the world" -- aims to help students overcome U.S. "parochialism" by "acquainting them with the values, customs and institutions that differ from their own," said a 34-page Harvard report on the changes.
This is something new? Fifteen years ago we called it "non-Western Civilization" and it was required at a university not nearly as famous as Harvard. But, apparently, a hell of a lot better.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/08/2007 7:51 Comments ||
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#6
Why don't they have a course that teaches how to read the liberal media to find missing facts, and to ignore the spin adverbs and adjectives.
Are they afraid their students may become smarter rather than dumber ?
#7
The trailing daughters read Rantburg and have lived abroad. (Trailing daughter #2 was actually born in Germany so her children must be born on American soil to inherit US citizenship, which may complicate her career goal of international management.) This overhaul doesn't sound profound enough to induce me to allow them to apply to Harvard -- they still don't meet my standards.
#8
The curriculum at the oldest U.S. university has been criticized as focusing too narrowly on academic topics
A curious criticism. I think the point of a top university is to be academic, and an academic Ivy leaque branding is what attracts top students. There's even less point to paying Harvard tuition if it's going to have the same standards as state schools.
#11
In my experience, Americans are no more parochial than anyone else. It's just that our continent contains a great many cultures within only three countries, and the others divide the cultures of their continent into a great many individual countries. This blinders their perspective, making them think the differences are more meaningful. The American version of Greece, for instance, could be said to be New Orleans, and our version of France, California. (Yes, except for San Diego and such, Frank G, so don't get mad at me, 'k?). And I s'pose we can be grateful the continental culture doesn't allow for a Zimbabwe or Sudan.
GENEVA: The United States retained its lead as the world's most inventive country in 2006, with a 6.1 percent increase in international patent applications from the previous year, or 34.1 percent of the world total, the World Intellectual Property Organization said in a report Wednesday. But the fastest growth in patent filings came from South Korea and China.
In 2006, a record 145,300 international patent applications were filed under WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty, the 136-nation global accord that allows inventors and industry to obtain patent protection in multiple countries. The United States accounted for 49,555 of those.
In 2006, a record 145,300 international patent applications were filed under WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty. The United States accounted for 49,555 of those.
About 10.5 percent of the applications were filed in the field of telecommunications, 10.4 percent in pharmaceuticals and 10.4 percent in information technology. The fastest growing areas were semiconductors, up 28 percent, and information technology and pharmaceuticals, both up 21 percent.
The local DeeCee business newspaper reported the Patent and Trademark Office is looking to hire at least 1,200 more patent examiners. They have a backlog of at least 80,000 patent applications.
For some stange reason the Pakistani patent examiners can take long lunches every day.
Francis Gurry, WIPO deputy director- general, said one factor leading to more global filings was an increased emphasis on exports by companies in developing economies. He also cited moves by major conglomerates and individuals to protect their technology assets in a fiercely competitive world economy. "Twenty years ago, approximately 80 percent of the market valuation of a company was in tangible assets and 20 percent in intangibles such as patents. Now it is the reverse," Gurry said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Ah, yes. Patents which are not recognized by developing countries. Call me crazy, but I like a company's assets to be assets, not freely copyable ideas.
The only ones hurt by patents are our own countries' companies. There are firms which only exist in order to hold patents and thereby deny innovation to other, actually productive, firms.
#2
Patent and copyright law, to be the stimulus to business they were originally intended, should be more like the General Mining Act of 1872.
It said that anyone could stake a claim anywhere, even on other people's land, but they could only keep that claim if each and every year either the land was "improved" at the cost of a given amount of money, or was mined at a profit. Otherwise, the claim ceased to be valid.
As far as patents and copyrights, they were not meant for companies to hoard and library, but to protect their rights in selling the product or idea. To just sit on a patent and wait for someone else to use it and pay royalties was not the way it was supposed to work.
So by making a "use it or lose it" law for patents and copyright, for example, the big media companies would have to retail their vast libraries of music that they own, but neither sell nor let anyone else sell, or else lose their copyright to it and it would either revert to the composer and performer, or become public domain.
Less popular music, such as classical performances, would have an explosion of marketing when they entered the public domain. The public would be able to buy what they wanted, which is the very essence of the law.
Old and valuable patents and copyrights, like Mickey Mouse, which are worth millions every year to their parent company, would still remain copyrighted as long as they were marketed; even though they have been around for a long time.
Survey shows high ticket prices and poor film selections causing some to think twice about heading out to catch the latest blockbuster
Theres nothing quite like watching a film on a giant screen but as home theaters become more and more common (and affordable), should theater owners be worried? Nearly half (45%) said that, while they still go to the movies, their movie attendance has decreased from five years ago 27% said it is much less, and 9% said they never go to the movies anymore, a recent Zogby Interactive poll shows.
As Hollywood struggles with a yearslong box office plunge, Zogby finds that those age 25-34 are most likely to say their attendance has decreased over the past five years and the oldest respondents (age 70 or older) are most likely to say they no longer go to the movies at all (23%). The survey, which focuses on the ever-changing entertainment habits of Americans, is featured in the February issue of Zogbys American Consumer newsletter, now available at www.zogby.com.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Eh... to judge by the previews and ads, practically everything but "Bridge to Terebithia" sucks with the force of a factory full of Hoovers.
Please, oh please, Hollywood, making something that doesn't feature explosions, car chases, and machine-gun fire in lieu of intelligent conversation and deft plotting should not be that difficult.
Until then, there's always Netflix...thank god!
#2
There was a chinese style kung fu movie that was suppose to be great.
It was advertised on tv but they only showed it in a gold coast art theater (chi-town).
I know all the kids in my burbs wanted to go but didn't want to grab METRA and a cab to see a kung fu movie. I doubt the gold coast folks would have been interested.
Hollyweed's distribution networks seem to be on crack.
#3
Hollyweed distribution networks seems to be on crack.
Fixed it for you!
I would love to see all the Hollywood type out of work and placing their big homes for sale. Can't wait to see them at the mobile home dealer picking out that doublewide!
#4
Part of the structural problem is that Hollyweird no longer cares really about the American market. They dump their trash on the foreign circuit [where dvds and tapes are less prevalent] for their bookkeeping profits. Thats why all the anti-American culture sells and sells well because it feeds dreams. Think about it, youre stuck in some stagnated economy with little hope of social mobility and no adjacent border, do you really want to know how Americans really live? Dont you want reinforcement that as bland and without hope as life seem to you now, that you get to miss all the crap in the evil imperialist uneducated Redlands of America? Hollyweird is to be the next Detroit where once three American auto makers dominated the American market. Were just waiting for someone else to step up with a better alternative. It seems the male 19-36 age group may have found such an alternative in the form of console and PC based entertainment, as reflected in the desperate attempt to incorporate the technology in movies as a substitute for craft in writing and production, let alone storylines.
We're a growing country, 300 million plus. That's double or more from the golden days of film.
We're much wealthier and have lots more disposable income to watch movies, DVDs, etc.
We have marvelous technology: HD televisions, DVD players, iPods, laptops, all of which allow us to watch movies wherever, whenever we want with wonderous quality.
And Hollywood can't make a good movie to save itself. You'd think the demand, the money to be made and the technology would drive Ho'wood to make more films, more diverse films, more entertaining films, but apparently it doesn't.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2007 10:49 Comments ||
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#6
In the old days, Hollywood made many a film for the US market, then using the same stage and foreign actors, made the foreign version (usually Spanish language). Now films are made with American or English actors with the foreign market foremost in mind.
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2007 11:04 Comments ||
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#7
They are ideologically driven, Dr. Steve, so their business plan is just like Pinchy Sultzburger, which is to drive their economic machine down the road towards the cliff, or into the swamp.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/08/2007 11:07 Comments ||
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#8
I have an idea, make good movies and lower the cost of the admission.
Posted by: BA ||
02/08/2007 13:36 Comments ||
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#10
I wonder if movie quality is only half the problem.
Theaters right now are designed like fast food restaurants. Enter, see movie, get out. And while this may work for the few new movie theaters with a good location, in the long run it will kill that kind of theater in a less ideal location.
Some theaters are available for rental for meetings, and even have a small stage beneath the screen. However, older theaters were designed to actually be able to host theater performance in addition to movies.
In the future, theaters might be redesigned so that they are multi-functional. The emphasis would be on getting use in the mornings and hosting special events, like theater performances.
Even if just one theater in a multiplex was designed for this, it could bring in a lot more revenue.
#11
You are probably on to something, Moose. In San Antonio, one of the ginormous multiplexes rents a theater to a local mega-church for services on Sunday morning. It's perfect for them, you know: plenty of parking, easy access, comfortable pews... they even open up the nearest snack concession for coffee and donut service. IIRC, from the newspaper article, the congregation isn't in much of a hurry to build their own facility for Sunday services, since this works out so well.
#12
The bulk of movie tickets in America are bought by teenage boys. They tend to like simple plots, violence and boobies the same as the unwashed masses of the world.
If you're gonna risk millions you want to bet on the largest ticket buying demographic as often as possible.
Having said that they still make a lot of good movies, and during the golden age a lot of crap was made that has been gladly forgotten over the years giving a shiny glossy image to the past that isn't entirely deserved.
#13
Another thing I've noticed. Most of the flicks that appear to make money are almost all animated.
Who would you rather give your money to, Shrek or Sean Penn's commie lovin ass?
#14
Good animated movies are often written to appeal to adults and children. Not easy, but when you do it you've got a bigger audience than the teen boys.
#16
Too damn dirty, too damn loud, and the popcorn price is just ridiculous. On top of that, I can't pause the thing to take a leak.
I've watched more films on NetFlix in the last couple of years than I've seen in my whole life. The selection is great, I'm getting all the old films I missed while I was busting my hump.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Anna Nicole Smith died Thursday after collapsing at a hotel and being being rushed to the hospital, one of her lawyers said. 
A cholera outbreak in Somalia has killed more than 115 people and hospitalized 724 in towns where people were forced to use contaminated water from a flooded river, doctors said Wednesday. 
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has reshuffled his Cabinet, firing his finance minister and sidelining the agriculture minister who has presided over six years of shrinking harvests in the wake of the seizure of land from white farmers, the Herald newspaper reported Wednesday.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi authorities beheaded two Iraqi men Wednesday for drug smuggling, the state-run news agency said. The execution of Jabar Kareem Abualaya and Ali Hamza Al Mashalawi was carried out in Rafha, a district near Saudi Arabias border with Iraq, the Saudi Press Agency reported, citing an Interior Ministry statement.
A majority of Mexicans approve of President Felipe Calderon's first two months in office, according to a new poll. A pro-business conservative, Calderon won office last year with just 35.9 percent of the vote -- slightly ahead of his leftist rival, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, with 35.3 percent. But in the poll, conducted by the polling firm Ipsos-Bimsa and published Tuesday in El Universal newspaper, 58 percent of Mexicans said Calderon has done a good job so far. 
Despite his personal fortune and impressive lineage, Arthur Sulzberger, owner, chairman and publisher of the most respected newspaper in the world, is a stressed man. 
GENEVA: The United States retained its lead as the world's most inventive country in 2006, with a 6.1 percent increase in international patent applications from the previous year, or 34.1 percent of the world total, the World Intellectual Property Organization said in a report Wednesday. But the fastest growth in patent filings came from South Korea and China.
