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  • SARAH THE SCOUNDREL

    Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is about to become an author. Her memoir is “Going Rogue: An American Life.”

    According to Politico:Publication is being moved up from spring to Nov. 17 in order to catch the holiday book-buying season. The former Alaska governor has been in huge [...]
    Posted: September 28, 2009, 9:54pm EDT
  • RETURN OF PEE-WEE



    The mid- to late-80s: We remember it well, especially Saturday mornings, when we'd stumble downstairs, plop onto the purple leather couch and fire up the tube to watch the best kids show to ever hit TV.

    The creator of that show now plots a comeback. One [...]
    Posted: September 28, 2009, 9:14pm EDT
  • COME SEE THE SQUID

    Wake the kids, pack the car and go west, young man. Squid on the beach.

    The Oregonian has the story:"I haven't confirmed it, but we are hearing reports that dozens are washing up," said Chris Havel, spokesman for the Oregon State Parks & Recreation Department. "They are'" [...]
    Posted: September 23, 2009, 11:03pm EDT
  • DESTRUCTION AS ART

    Who knew fire could be so cool? Click here to watch the vid in HD. [...]

    Posted: September 19, 2009, 6:52pm EDT
  • ELVIS PRESLEY, PART II

    Michael Jackson's death has the cable pundits speculating on parallels between the King of Pop and the Queen of Pulp, Anna Nicole Smith. Both so sad, the talking heads say. Both so alike.

    Gah. Let the heads blather with their short-term memory. Jackson's death is simply Elvis Presley, Part [...]
    Posted: June 25, 2009, 8:15pm EDT
  • FRANCISCO FRANCO'S TESTICLE IS STILL DEAD, TOO

    Spanish dictator Francisco Franco had one testicle.

    Australia's News.com reports:It is believed his loss stemmed from a war injury in 1916 when Franco was wounded during battle at El Biutz, near Ceuta, which today is a Spanish enclave on the Moroccan Mediterranean coast.

    On June 28-29, 1916,' [...]
    Posted: May 17, 2009, 10:54pm EDT
  • DON'T LOOK BACK IN ANGER



    Time to dance. [...]
    Posted: May 17, 2009, 8:59pm EDT
  • UNIQUE, JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE

    Work e-mail includes unintentionally hilarious line:Brian Wismer is a multi-faceted unique entertainer formally trained by Ringling Bros., making him an event personality who's one of a kind and often compared to Robin Williams or Jim Carrey.Unlike Jim Carrey, Brian Wismer is getting work.' [...]
    Posted: April 28, 2009, 9:39am EDT
  • CROSS PLATFORM DRESSING

    This is a test of the Touch to Blogger tiny keyboarding system. For now, this is only a test.

    Man, this little keyboard bites.

    -- Via Touch
    [...]
    Posted: April 22, 2009, 11:28pm EDT
  • AKIKO HIRATA, 81

    The matriarch of the CHATTER typing clan died Monday, March 30. She was diagnosed with lung cancer last summer.

    A service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Pershing Memorial Hospital in Brookfield, Mo., where Mom worked for many years.

    Many people in Brookfield knew her by [...]
    Posted: April 03, 2009, 10:47am EDT
  • NATASHA RICHARDSON, 45

    The actress died Wednesday, according to WCBS:"Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha. They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time."Richardson died of [...]
    Posted: March 18, 2009, 7:10pm EDT
  • SNIFFING DRANO, MAKING METH

    Police in Buford, Ark., bust an 18-year-old who'd allegedly been sniffing Drano and guzzling booze. Too bad he forgot about the handwritten meth recipe -- and crystal-making ingredients -- also in the house.

    From the KSPR story:A sheriff's deputy says Ball was "huffing Drano and consuming a large" [...]
    Posted: March 18, 2009, 9:20am EDT
  • CAUGHT UP IN MADNESS

    Springfield police are looking for a teen who's reportedly tagging downtown businesses.

    From the cops:The damage is the result of a suspect(s) tagging businesses with the words KEY, BOBE or KSB. The suspect(s) is using either black spray paint, or white shoe polish or marker, to' [...]
    Posted: March 06, 2009, 9:36am EST
  • POOR STEPHENS WOMEN

    The Columbia, Mo., school plans to shut down two dorms next year. A hundred women -- and 40 pets -- will be displaced, according to The Associated Press:The work at Searcy and Prunty halls will cause a temporary shuffle that will displace about 100 students and roughly 40 pets.
    [...]
    Posted: March 06, 2009, 9:29am EST
  • CHILLING CHIMP READ

    The April 2009 issue of Esquire includes a story by Rich Schapiro. It's about a man attacked by chimps in 2005.

    Here's a graf from the Esquire piece:There's a two-inch hole in the heel of his swollen left foot, and he is confined to a wheelchair. He has' [...]
    Posted: March 02, 2009, 9:44pm EST
  • ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 149

    Two months shy of its 150th anniversary, the Colorado newspaper announces its own death:Rich Boehne, chief executive officer of Rocky-owner Scripps, broke the news to the staff at noon (Thursday), ending nearly three months of speculation over the paper's future.

    "People are in grief," Editor John Temple said' [...]
    Posted: February 26, 2009, 6:31pm EST
  • MOURN THE CHRON

    This is the year daily newspapering descends into a coma. This week the Philadelphia Inquirer went bankrupt. Now, word of two significant dailies possibly going nips-up. As Reuters reports:San Francisco may lose its main newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, as owner Hearst Corp cuts a "significant" number of jobs [...]
    Posted: February 25, 2009, 8:50am EST
  • FOUR YEARS GONE

    Hunter S. Thompson killed himself on Feb. 20, 2005. No sense mentioning the bats.The Edge ... There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others -- the living -- are those who [...]
    Posted: February 20, 2009, 8:45pm EST
  • SOCKS, 19


    The cat that lived in the White House during the Clinton Administration died Friday. WCSH reports:Socks had been suffering from cancer of the jaw. The cat lived in Washington with (Bill) Clinton's former White House secretary, Betty Currie.

    Socks was the grand marshal of' [...]
    Posted: February 20, 2009, 8:21pm EST
  • WEAVE SAVES THE DAY

    Story o' the day, courtesy of The Associated Press and KSHB-TV:Kansas City police say a woman's tightly-woven hair weave probably saved her life. KSHB-TV reports that the woman's boyfriend fired a shot through the back window of a car late last night. Police say the woman's hair weave stopped [...]
    Posted: February 19, 2009, 9:25am EST
  • TRAVIS GOING APE

    More on Monday's chimpanzee attack that nearly killed a woman.

    Travis was the chimp. His owner was Sandra Herold. He attacked Herold's friend, Charla Nash.

    From The Associated Press, these new details:In recordings of calls to 911 dispatchers released Tuesday, Travis' grunts can be heard as' [...]
    Posted: February 17, 2009, 10:31pm EST
  • VOTE EARLY, OFTEN

    Nominations are posted for this year's Blogaroni Awards, the local equivalent of nothing else in the known universe.

    This Simple Thoughts post has the contenders.

    CHATTER and its bastard stepchild blog have five nominations, all in the Blog Post of the Year category.

    We're partial [...]
    Posted: February 17, 2009, 9:59pm EST
  • SUBSTITUTE FROM A GROUP HOME

    A couple weeks ago at a South Bend, Ind., middle school, students acted like they were fighting -- for at least seven minutes, because that's the length of a student-shot video that was posted for a short time on YouTube.

    According to the South Bend Tribune, there's a [...]
    Posted: February 17, 2009, 9:28pm EST
  • WAS HIS LAST NAME BICKLE?

    A pet chimpanzee attacks a woman he's known for years, tearing off her face and then attacking a cop.

    Travis, 14, was shot dead Monday in Stamford, Conn.

    The New York Times tells it this way:The woman, Charla Nash, 55, a friend of the chimpanzee’s owner, was' [...]
    Posted: February 17, 2009, 8:51am EST
  • KEY OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT

    For a little night reading, few things are better than Revelation. Acid without the blotter's metallic aftertaste, and just as challenging.And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man,' [...]
    Posted: February 16, 2009, 8:53pm EST
  • STIMULATE THIS

    A Rasmussen poll shows people in a muddle about the stimulus package that President Obama signs into law on Tuesday.

    Not quite four in 10 Americans (38%) think the plan will help the economy. Almost three in 10 (29%) think it'll hurt. Another 24 percent don't think it'll' [...]
    Posted: February 16, 2009, 8:39pm EST
  • DISSING GOD, VERMONT STYLE

    A Gallup poll shows a state-by-state breakdown of belief in religion, and Vermont is in trouble if there's really a lake of fire.

    According to the poll, only 42 percent of people in Vermont say religion is an important part of their lives.

    In case you're wondering:[...]
    Posted: February 16, 2009, 8:25pm EST
  • THE SOUND OF ONE HAND

    The Passion for Christ Movement has given us a great gift idea for Christmas 2009.

    Order this shirt and wear it proudly. Give yourself a hand. [...]
    Posted: February 06, 2009, 7:55pm EST
  • WHEN HAMSTERS GO BAD



    Bravo to the anchor for keeping it together. [...]
    Posted: February 04, 2009, 10:51pm EST
  • PETA PORN

    PETA -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals -- says it wanted to run this ad during the Super Bowl. NBC censors apparently said no way.

    Who's right? Watch the ad and decide for yourself.


    'Veggie Love': PETA's Banned Super Bowl Ad [...]
    Posted: January 28, 2009, 7:47pm EST
  • KNOW THY OPPONENT

    Barack Obama gets a new limousine on Jan. 20. This, of course, gives racists and their fellow travelers the green light to make tired jokes.

    Witness this Free Republic thread about the new president's limousine, and how it's viewed by the mouth-breathers on the fringe right. One Freeper [...]
    Posted: January 06, 2009, 8:49pm EST
  • CHANGE IS COMING

    To a blog near you. We'll update you in the next day or so about a shift in the way we do blogging 'round these parts. [...]
    Posted: January 05, 2009, 10:46pm EST
  • BETTIE PAGE, 85

    Legendary pinup. Died Thursday night in Los Angeles, where she had been on life support since a Dec. 2 heart attack.

    The Los Angeles Times reports:"Bettie Page captured the imagination of a generation of men and women with her free spirit and unabashed sensuality," said Roesler, chairman of [...]
    Posted: December 11, 2008, 10:31pm EST
  • ENIGMATIC BLISS

    Marissa Whitley's blog is subtitled "The Life and Times of a Has-Been Beauty Queen." She shouldn't be so hard on herself.

    Click the link to find Enigmatic Bliss. It's also added to the CHATTERWORTHY blogroll (or will be, when Blogrolling comes off the sick list).

    Enigmatic' [...]
    Posted: December 10, 2008, 9:10pm EST
  • NEWS-LEADER CUTS 19

    That's about seven percent of the workforce on Boonville Avenue, according to the paper.

    Who got the knife? You tell us.

    By the way, current and former Gannettoids are discussing the companywide cuts at this blog. Things are tough all over, Stimpy.' [...]
    Posted: December 03, 2008, 12:26pm EST
  • INK-STAINED WRETCHES, MOURNED

    We may live long enough to see the extinction of the daily newspaper. The thought evokes emotion but it doesn't bring joy.

    Revenues fall. Publishers and those who should know better react to reduced revenue by cutting staff and shrinking newshole. Smaller product interests fewer readers. Smaller circulation means' [...]
    Posted: December 01, 2008, 7:30pm EST
  • WORTH YOUR TIME

    People who hate The Media -- and to them it is a monolithic monster, worthy of proper name -- are sadly blinded to the best bits of an admittedly flawed profession. Hatred keeps them from seeing and appreciating storytelling at its best.

    So they missed a helluva read in [...]
    Posted: December 01, 2008, 7:14pm EST
  • WINEHOUSE BEING WINEHOUSE

    Singer Amy Winehouse has made it back to her natural habitat. As Reuters reports:
    The 25-year-old Grammy winner was admitted to a clinic after falling ill on Sunday and has been kept there for tests. Winehouse was taken to hospital for a similar complaint in July.
    Winehouse reportedly "reacted badly to [...]
    Posted: November 25, 2008, 9:58pm EST
  • AFTER THE DELUGE

    Even the shouting is over, and for this we give thanks. The 527s focused a concentrated beatdown on Barack Obama in the final weekend before the election, but it all seemed forced, a rote throat ripping that did little more than nick the skin.

    A couple weeks ago [...]
    Posted: November 03, 2008, 10:06pm EST
  • PALIN BY COMPARISON

    Late Thursday, and the latest New York Times poll is out. Sen. Barack Obama maintains his apparent lead over Sen. John McCain (51-40 among likely voters in a head-to-head battle; 52-39 when third-party candidates are included). And the news for McCain goes downhill from there.

    The poll also [...]
    Posted: October 30, 2008, 10:23pm EDT
  • HE'S SUCH A MASH

    Just in time for trick-or-treaters, the bad-ass known as Desdinova has re-posted his list of the Top 50 Halloween songs.

    With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound, it's time to put on some BOC and mourn the loss of Tokyo. Happy Boo Year's Eve. [...]
    Posted: October 30, 2008, 8:00pm EDT
  • OBAMA RETURNING TO SPRINGFIELD

    The Democratic presidential nominee was here last summer. Late Wednesday, word trickled out that Barack Obama would make a return visit to Springfield on Saturday night.

    No official word yet on where. But the visit raises a few questions:

    --Does Obama feel so comfortable about his chances in [...]
    Posted: October 30, 2008, 11:08pm EDT
  • THE KHALIDI CON

    Barack Obama's friendship with Rashid Khalidi is no surprise, even though it is October. The frantic right wing of the GOP wants to turn that friendship into a last-play game changer that propels John McCain and Sarah Palin to a destiny that is not dusty.

    Before Tuesday you [...]
    Posted: October 29, 2008, 11:15pm EDT
  • PAPER PREPARES PRICE INCREASE

    Is the local newspaper worth 75 cents a pop?

    We all get to find out Monday, when the News-Leader increases its single-copy price. If letters like this one are any indication, the paper's making a grab for the sliver of the wingnut audience that can read. Hope [...]
    Posted: October 28, 2008, 7:39am EDT
  • SCENE FROM A RALLY

    A huge crowd -- at least 10,000, and The Associated Press estimated twice that number -- turned out Friday to see Gov. Sarah Palin at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield.

    Like all crowds, this one had all kinds. Most of them were there to rah-rah for the former cheerleader-turned-city [...]
    Posted: October 25, 2008, 11:01pm EDT
  • BLOGGING THE ELECTION

    The blogger known as Fat Jack has called the meeting. Local bloggers will gather at Patton Alley Pub at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008, to do some live blogging.

    Mainstream media alert: Patton Alley will be the place to be on Election Night. Only question still hanging: [...]
    Posted: October 21, 2008, 10:15pm EDT
  • NEAL HEFTI, 85

    Composed the theme from the TV series "Batman." Also came up with themes for "The Odd Couple," "Barefoot in the Park."

    He used to be a Big Band trumpeter. And he won a Grammy for the Batman theme. Truly, a blessed life. [...]
    Posted: October 15, 2008, 1:37pm EDT
  • FINAL DEBATE WINNERS

    With a little less than 24 hours to go before the final presidential debate of the 2008 season, we can be sure of certain things:

    -- John McCain will huff and puff. He may bring up the Bill Ayers issue, as he threatened to do on Tuesday:
    "You have another [...]
    Posted: October 14, 2008, 10:32pm EDT
  • ONLY THE SHOUTING REMAINS

    A little less than a month before the presidential election and the result is already becoming clear -- Barack Obama is going to win. The latest polls show him hovering at or above the 50-percent mark, ahead of John McCain by a half-dozen points and winning the perception game. [...]
    Posted: October 07, 2008, 12:26am EDT
  • SARAH PALIN READS EVERYTHING

    Every newspaper, every magazine, every bit of journalism on the face of the planet. She said so herself, in an interview aired Tuesday on CBS.

    An excerpt from the interview:
    Couric: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly [...]
    Posted: September 30, 2008, 7:54pm EDT
  • GHOSTS FROM BACK THERE

    Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah wants everyone to donate $7 to stop Sen. Barack Obama from becoming president. Being the unimaginative sort, Hatch begs for bucks in a fundraising letter that epitomizes the problem with today's GOP -- it can't stop living in the past.

    Writes Hatch:
    You'd think it [...]
    Posted: September 27, 2008, 9:39am EDT
  • PAUL NEWMAN, 83

    Lung cancer claimed the actor's life on Saturday. The natural-born world-shaker now resides in memory. [...]
    Posted: September 27, 2008, 9:27am EDT
  • WELCOME TO THE EVOLUTION

    Monday marks the 173rd anniversary of the fateful landing of the HMS Beagle on the Galápagos Islands. Aboard that day in 1835 was Charles Darwin, whose five-year journey would bring us natural selection and the rise of the neocreationists.

    Monday will include a clearer picture of the messy natural [...]
    Posted: September 14, 2008, 9:17pm EDT
  • WWET?

    What Would Eisenhower Think? By 11:45 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12, Hurricane Ike was acting more like this Ike, beating the daylights out of the best-laid plans.

    And still the reporters journeyed into the wind and rain and lights, Murrowesque only in that this is real-life [...]
    Posted: September 13, 2008, 11:43pm EDT
  • LIKE 1968, ONLY BETTER

    Forty years ago. The Election of Attrition. A political year of blood and mayhem, with the pitiful survivors of November crawling into an arena frequented only months earlier by the stars of their sport. Lyndon Johnson took a powder. So did Robert Kennedy, literally. Nelson Rockefeller was figuratively killed by [...]
    Posted: September 13, 2008, 11:01pm EDT
  • A MONTH AND FOUR DAYS

    That long since we last did any typing that didn't involve a TAKE WXMON or CG command. Look, Ma -- upper and lowercase letters!

    Our apologies for the unexpected vacation from Blogistan. A bit of news from up north pushed CHATTER to a back burner. Rest assured, our focus [...]
    Posted: September 09, 2008, 9:43pm EDT
  • PRIMARY NIGHT

    Sarah Steelman tried but failed to topple Missouri's GOP machine and its chosen candidate, Kenny Hulshof.

    A Matt Blunt-appointed circuit judge fails to hold onto his seat in Greene County.

    And a Springfield sales tax sails to victory, 81-19, despite one tiny corner's loud attempts to bully people [...]
    Posted: August 05, 2008, 10:25pm EDT
  • ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN, 89

    Death announced late Sunday by his son. He was a Nobel Prize winner.

    According to The Associated Press:
    Through unflinching accounts of the years he spent in the Soviet gulag, Solzhenitsyn's novels and non-fiction works exposed the secret history of the vast prison system that enslaved millions. The accounts [...]
    Posted: August 03, 2008, 10:02pm EDT
  • FEAR AND LESBIAN LOATHING

    The strokers at Fox News are consistent, give them that. They toe the conservative line and decry the baser parts of the world while filling your phiz with lurid images and stories about sex.

    This week's big Fox News push: Why is America tolerating a song about lesbians?[...]
    Posted: July 23, 2008, 10:51pm EDT
  • DOWN AND OUT IN JEFF CITY

    An interesting op-ed in the Wall Street Journal highlights the difficulties facing Missouri Republicans in November. Selected grafs:
    For an insight as to why the GOP is down and out in Washington, take a look at Jefferson City. That's where Sarah Steelman, the state treasurer, is running in an Aug. [...]
    Posted: July 19, 2008, 2:14pm EDT
  • HOOKALICIOUS

    We're suckers for ear candy. Few things in life are as satisfying as a delicious pop song -- jingle-jangle guitars and sharp harmonies, a driving bass beat, a drummer doing more than just keeping time.

    And a hook that sinks deep and sticks around for life. A catchy chorus? [...]
    Posted: July 19, 2008, 11:53pm EDT
  • SPEAK IN MANY TONGUES

    Sen. Barack Obama said this week that Americans need to make sure their kids know how to speak Spanish. Jingoists reared up and said Obama has it wrong -- Americans need to make sure immigrants know how to speak English.

    Pollster Rasmussen has it this way:
    A national telephone [...]
    Posted: July 10, 2008, 9:29pm EDT
  • MULLETS FOR MCCAIN

    Ozarks definition of a mullet: The driver of a slow-moving RV, usually on a winding highway around Branson, always in front of you.

    As RV Business reports, a poll shows mullets love Sen. John McCain:
    Fully 67% of the 346 participants cast their ballots for Republican Senator McCain. Democratic [...]
    Posted: July 06, 2008, 10:49pm EDT
  • JESSE HELMS, 86

    The former U.S. Senator died early Friday, proving his patriotism by expiring on the Fourth of July. [...]
    Posted: July 04, 2008, 9:49am EDT
  • ARMCHAIR CHIT CHAT

    Matt Petcoff gave birth this week to a blog: Armchair Chit Chat, a sports-oriented read with a bastard-cousin relationship to the blog you're reading. The name gives it away.

    Give Brother Matt a looksee, watch as his child grows into something that attracts millions of eyeballs. Or so [...]
    Posted: July 03, 2008, 6:19pm EDT
  • A FILM LIKE NO OTHER

    The latest add to the CHATTER Wish List: Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, the closest thing to an acid trip without gnawing on blotter paper. No tinny aftertaste, and Helen Mirren is sensual.

    We remember seeing it during a trip to [...]
    Posted: July 03, 2008, 11:02pm EDT
  • DESTROYED, NOT DEFEATED

    Forty-seven years Wednesday since Ernest Hemingway went pop in search of his lost generation. Proof that all men do die equally, and that electroconvulsive therapy is probably not a good thing. There is also the truth that a double-barreled shotgun to the face is an effective way to check [...]
    Posted: July 02, 2008, 8:55pm EDT
  • JULY EAR CANDY

    Now playing on an iPod near you:
    Funk #49
    James Gang

    Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television
    George Carlin

    Love Bomb
    N.E.R.D.

    Navajo Moon
    Ana Popovic

    Uninvited
    Alanis Morissette

    Radio Radio
    Elvis Costello

    I Let a Song Go Out Of My Heart
    Thelonious [...]
    Posted: July 02, 2008, 8:43pm EDT
  • CHRISTINE DAUES EXPECTING

    The weekday anchor of KSPR is expecting her second child with co-anchor and husband Joe Daues.

    Local news from the local newspeople. We're trying to convince Christine to name the new baby "Ronald." Alas, resistance to the idea. Probably for the best. Selah. [...]
    Posted: June 27, 2008, 7:50pm EDT
  • BILL DIAL, 66

    Smitty passes along an e-mail from Engineer Doug about the June 2 death of actor-turned-producer Bill Dial. Radioheads might remember him for his role as engineer Bucky Dornster in "WKRP in Cincinnati"

    Dial appeared in two episodes, including "Turkeys Away," with its famous Les Nessman live [...]
    Posted: June 26, 2008, 8:43pm EDT
  • NOT SO LOST, AFTER ALL

    A few weeks ago The Media went with a bad-ass story about a previously undiscovered tribe in a rainforest hugging the Brazilian-Peruvian border. Television gobbled the story because it came with good vid, great vid, of tribesmen shooting arrows at the plane during a looksee.

    Too good to be [...]
    Posted: June 24, 2008, 11:53pm EDT
  • HUNTER HATER

    Fourth-grade kid in Vermont goes to school, talks turkey with classmate during the break known as snack time. Teacher overhears conversation, goes all freaky.

    Jared Harrington is now being home-schooled. His parents are on the hunt for a teacher trophy. As the Times Argus report:
    Jared Harrington's mother, Wendy [...]
    Posted: June 21, 2008, 6:19pm EDT
  • PEACE, LOVE, KNOWLEDGE

    Barack Obama campaigned hard to end politics "as we know it" -- a kōan perfect for the picayune American mind obsessed with change. Too many Americans are blissfully ignorant about politics (one in three can't name the governor of their state, and three in 10 can't name the vice [...]
    Posted: June 17, 2008, 8:53pm EDT
  • TONY SCHWARTZ, 84

    Media consultant. "Highly reclusive," according to The New York Times. Helped create the seminal moment in modern American politics.

    From the Times obit:
    “Media consultant” is barely adequate to describe Mr. Schwartz’s portfolio. In a career of more than half a century, he was variously an art director; advertising [...]
    Posted: June 16, 2008, 10:55pm EDT
  • DEWING IT

    We admit our addiction and are powerless to stop it. We're Dew junkies. Especially when it comes to the new flavors of Mountain Dew, tasties as enticing as China White and Black Tar.

    There's Revolution, "infused with Wild Berry fruit flavor and Ginseng." Voltage is "charged with Raspberry [...]
    Posted: June 16, 2008, 10:44pm EDT
  • A HONEY OF A HOUSEGUEST

    Dateline: Concord, N.H.

    Skinny: Homeowner sees sticky stuff on walls, dips a finger, takes a taste. It's honey. In the walls, bees crawled.

    WYFF reports:
    Mark Jones’ 100-year-old house has more than 60,000 [bees].

    Jones and his wife, Amychelle, said they can sum it up in one [...]
    Posted: June 16, 2008, 10:40pm EDT
  • DOC SAYS YOU'RE GONNA DIE

    Man in Australia squats for a little roadside relief. Deadly brown snake squirms between his legs and lunges at the dangly bits. Man and snake freak.

    The Cairns Post has the story:
    Emergency workers raced to the scene to treat the man.

    The wound was wrapped in plastic [...]
    Posted: June 08, 2008, 7:51pm EDT
  • PAST BLASTS, REVIVED

    A couple bullets for your Sunday:

    •A reporter has tracked down Adolf Hitler's nephew -- to America. Here's a graf from David Gardner's Telegraph story about Hitler's nephew and his offspring:
    I was to discover that the Hitler bloodline was carried on through William Patrick's four sons - one [...]
    Posted: June 08, 2008, 4:22pm EDT
  • BO DIDDLEY, 79

    From The Associated Press:
    A spokeswoman says Diddley died of heart failure. He had suffered a heart attack in August 2007, three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa.
    [...]
    Posted: June 02, 2008, 11:10am EDT
  • HARVEY KORMAN, 81

    Hedley Lamarr has left the building. Damn.

    Korman died Thursday at UCLA Medical Center. He won Emmys for "The Carol Burnett Show." And, of course, he was Hedley Lamarr. It was a 10-gallon hat, and we did enjoy the show. [...]
    Posted: May 29, 2008, 6:09pm EDT
  • FEAR AND CLOTHING

    Michelle Malkin, the blogger, has gotten her way. Dunkin' Donuts is now safe from terrorism, Rachael Ray is a left-wing apologist, and anyone wearing a black-and-white silk scarf is Against Us.

    Dunkin' Donuts ran an ad featuring Ray wearing a scarf with a paisley design, "selected by her stylist [...]
    Posted: May 27, 2008, 7:14pm EDT
  • SYDNEY POLLACK, 73

    Director, actor, producer. "Out of Africa" and "Tootsie" immediately come to mind. They were his.

    Pollack died of cancer Monday at his home in Los Angeles. According to The New York Times:
    Mr. Pollack’s career defined an era in which big stars (Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, Warren Beatty) and [...]
    Posted: May 26, 2008, 10:42pm EDT
  • DIVINE 69

    A little soixante-neuf never hurt anyone, height differences notwithstanding. But slap the number 69 on a T-shirt and all hell breaks loose in Billerica, Mass.

    A 14-year-old was suspended from middle school for wearing a shirt that said "SOPHOMORE 69." WCVB reports:
    Christina Morrison, an eighth-grader at the Marshall [...]
    Posted: May 26, 2008, 10:15pm EDT
  • NEVER GONNA BREAK MY FAITH

    As you remember lost loved ones on Memorial Day, keep in mind Jeff Melton. His widow, Holly, has a challenge for locals, issued in a column in Sunday's News-Leader, and on her blog.

    Holly Melton wants to establish an urgent care cancer clinic in the Ozarks -- [...]
    Posted: May 25, 2008, 11:43am EDT
  • DICK MARTIN, 86

    Co-host, with Dan Rowan, of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," a groundbreaking television show of the 1960s. The Associated Press reports:
    Martin, who went on to become one of television's busiest directors after splitting with Dan Rowan in the late 1970s, died Saturday night of respiratory complications at a hospital in [...]
    Posted: May 25, 2008, 11:46pm EDT
  • AGONY OF THE FEET

    Since last August, human feet have been washing ashore on British Columbia's Gulf Islands. Right feet, to be precise, and clad in sneakers.

    It happened again on Thursday, in Richmond.

    According to this Canada.com story, it's a real stumper:
    The first foot appeared last Aug. 20 on [...]
    Posted: May 23, 2008, 9:48pm EDT
  • SMOKE 'EM IF YOU GOT 'EM

    Your favorite smoker will appreciate this:
    This ashtray looks like a lung. And as you put your cigarette in it, it starts coughing and screaming.
    Eleven bucks. Hey, a bargain. [...]
    Posted: May 22, 2008, 9:52pm EDT
  • WRITER WITH A REAL VOICE

    It pays to be bland.

    Exhibit A: Steven Barber, former student at the University of Virginia's College at Wise. He turned in a short story for a creative-writing class. His instructor freaked out at the story's violent tone. Barber, 23, was forced into a psych bin, then expelled.
    [...]
    Posted: May 22, 2008, 9:37pm EDT
  • SULU PULLS AN ELLEN

    George Takei, the actor who played Mr. Sulu on the original Star Trek series, is getting hitched to his longtime partner.

    The BBC reports:
    Takei, 71, said he and Brad Altman were going through the "delicious dilemma" of where to marry.

    The actor and 54-year-old Mr Altman have [...]
    Posted: May 20, 2008, 10:21pm EDT
  • HAMILTON JORDAN, 63

    Political whiz kid from the 1970s who helped push Jimmy Carter into the White House. Last name pronounced "JUR-den." The Associated Press reports Jordan died of cancer. It happened Tuesday night.

    In his memoir, No Such Thing as a Bad Day, Jordan discussed living through three bouts [...]
    Posted: May 20, 2008, 9:44pm EDT
  • SOME DEATHS ARE WORTH MORE

    At least 35,000, or maybe four times that number, dead in Myanmar. Another 30,000-plus killed in China. It's news, even big news, but it's not the Mother of All News. The MOAN designation is attached only to the events we see for ourselves, when it's our shoes on the ground, [...]
    Posted: May 15, 2008, 9:33pm EDT
  • A FETISH TOO FAR

    Rough sex gone wrong. After seeing that headline, who's not going to read more?

    The skinny: Man loves woman. She loves him. They drink, heavily. They have rough sex. He asks her to "carve artwork" into his chest. She picks up a knife. Things go awry.

    Thank [...]
    Posted: May 14, 2008, 10:20pm EDT
  • BABY SUPERNOVA

    An explosion just discovered, and it's the most recent in the Milky Way -- about 140 years old.

    According to news from NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory:
    Previously, the last known supernova in our galaxy occurred around 1680, an estimate based on the expansion of remnant Cassiopeia A. ...[...]
    Posted: May 14, 2008, 10:12pm EDT
  • DOTTIE RAMBO, 74

    Gospel songwriter, singer. Died Sunday when her tour bus wrecked on Interstate 44, just east of Mount Vernon, Mo. Severe storms could have contributed to the crash. The Associated Press reports:
    Rambo, of Nashville, Tenn., was on her way to a Mother's Day performance in Texas, according to her Web [...]
    Posted: May 11, 2008, 8:02pm EDT
  • ANGEL HARVEY, 92

    Real first name: Lynne. The First Lady of Radio. Wife of broadcaster Paul Harvey. Died Saturday of leukemia in River Forest, Ill. Radio and Records reports:
    An official statement from the Harvey family said, "A director, writer and editor, she was the creative and administrative heartbeat behind the number-one-rated 'Paul [...]
    Posted: May 04, 2008, 8:11pm EDT
  • MOM, BEER AND A BB GUN

    Angelique Vandeberg is this month's Top Mom -- and just in time for Mother's Day. Police say the Wisconsin woman (mugshot here) shot her daughter in the leg with a BB gun. Reason? To win a $1 bet.

    The Sheboygan Press reports:
    Police began looking into the incident [...]
    Posted: May 04, 2008, 5:41pm EDT
  • WIKIPEDIA MONKEY BUSINESS

    Someone within the Department of Justice wants to mess with our heads. A typist using an IP address belonging to DoJ made edits to an article about the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, also known as CAMERA.

    The scrubbed info: How CAMERA was [...]
    Posted: May 01, 2008, 8:58pm EDT
  • ALBERT HOFMANN, 102

    Died Tuesday of a heart attack at his home.

    He discovered lysergic acid diethylamide.

    From the Los Angels Times' obit:
    On Friday afternoon, April 16, 1943, Hofmann had just completed synthesizing a new batch when, he subsequently wrote his supervisor, "I was forced to interrupt my work in [...]
    Posted: April 29, 2008, 9:18pm EDT
  • BEST. TV. SHOWS. EVER.

    The New York Post has the list. Here you go:
    1 THE SOPRANOS (1999-2007, HBO)

    2 ALL IN THE FAMILY (1971-79, CBS)

    3 THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW (1986-present, syndication)

    4 AMERICAN IDOL (2002- present, FOX)

    5 THE WEST WING (1999-2006, NBC)

    6 MARY TYLER [...]
    Posted: April 28, 2008, 7:55pm EDT
  • STEVE KOEHLER IS OUTTA THERE

    The News-Leader icon -- or is he a legend? -- has resigned. Here's the letter sent to staff:
    Steve Koehler, who has been a reporter and editor at the News-Leader for the past 24 years, resigned today.

    His last day will be Thursday, May 15.

    Koehler joined the News-Leader [...]
    Posted: April 28, 2008, 1:55pm EDT

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