Good morning, folks. Conan\’s writers are getting their own comedy special on TBS in June. Now, your morning constitutional: \”Top Kill\” method effective at stopping the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, says Coast Guard admiral. A bomb disguised as a pack of juice exploded in the southern Russian city of Stavropol, killing seven and injuring at least 40. Despite recently being called out for saying he served in Vietnam when he didn\’t, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is still popular in Connecticut and leads former wrestling executive Linda McMahon in the race for the Senate...
Continue reading...A lesson in sportsmanship: Dominant high school softball team forfeits to help out struggling new team
Because, sometimes you just want to hear a story of people being awesome: It happened at a junior varsity girls’ softball game in Indianapolis this spring. After an inning and a half, Roncalli was womanhandling inner-city Marshall Community. Marshall pitchers had already walked nine Roncalli batters. The game could’ve been 50-0 with no problem. It’s no wonder. This was the first softball game in Marshall history. A middle school trying to move up to include grades 6 through 12, Marshall showed up to the game with five balls, two bats, no helmets, no sliding pads, no cleats,...
Continue reading...Airplane! and Zero Hour!
Surely, you can’t be serious. Honestly, until finding this clip today, I had no idea how much of a connection Zero Hour! (straight outta 1957) has with far more widely known Airplane! (1980). I am serious…and don’t call me Shirley. Apparently, it’s a sort-of remake, and the makers actually bought the rights to Zero Hour. Who knew? Brought to you with hopes of encouraging appreciation for the finer comedies.
Continue reading...Poem of the Week
I can’t believe it’s already the end of May. Or that it’s almost 90 degrees here in DC. Anyway, despite the August-like-heat, it’s peak wedding season: I went to one last weekend and am going another this weekend, and pretty much everyone I know seems to be attending weddings as well. Yay for newlyweds! And hideous bridesmaids’ dresses! And personalized napkins! And sentimental speeches! And, you know, love and all that. So for this week’s dose of poetry, I picked out this sweet one by former US Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. It appears in his 2008 collection...
Continue reading...Stimulus bill more stimulating than expected
CC photo from Argonne National Laboratory Conservative critics love to talk about how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as the “stimulus package,” has clearly not worked, because the economy hasn’t recovered yet. All I had to do was a cursory Google search to find this: According to the latest survey of its members by the National Association of Business Economists: “The vast majority (73%) of respondents reported the fiscal stimulus enacted in February 2009 has had no impact on employment to date. While 68% also believe a jobs bill, such as the one recently...
Continue reading...President Obama backs Phoenix Suns' protest of Arizona immigration law
It’s NBA play-off time, and the Phoenix Suns (playing the Los Angeles Lakers) donned their “Los Suns” jersey for the home games. Usually, they only wear the jerseys for games celebrating Hispanic heritage. This time, it was in protest of Arizona’s new immigration law. And supporting the protest is none other than the President of the United States: “I think that just because somebody’s a sports figure or you’ve got a sports team doesn’t mean that you’re not part of the community and you’re not part of our democracy,” Obama said during a halftime interview on TNT....
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman Ain’t Free” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from Maureen \”Refrigerator\” Dowd, who in her column \”Of Top Hats, Top Kills and Bottom...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Good morning, everybody. Lady Gaga calls the Glee tribute a dream come true. Now, your dream come—I mean, your morning constitutional: BP is poised to attempt choking the oil spill by stuffing it with heavy drilling mud and cement on Wednesday, a tactic called a \”top kill.\” Singapore is battling an oil spill of its own. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline (which is partially owned by BP) was shut down Tuesday after spilling several thousand barrels of oil into backup containers. In retaliation for an international report that lays the blame on North Korea for sinking a South Korean...
Continue reading...Probably the greatest opening graf in news ever?
WFTV reports the news: BERVARD COUNTY, Fla. — The Brevard County doctor who was arrested for groping a woman while dressed as Captain America with a burrito in his pants will not go to jail. Via Deadspin.
Continue reading...Andrew WK is excited about some songs
In the most recent issue of NME, the special guest reviewer for the singles was Andrew WK, and he\’s pretty excited about some songs. For example: White Rabbits – They Done Wrong/We Done Wrong I like the way this starts – with surprising changing rhythms! I also like this band’s name as I’ve always loved white rabbits, especially with big blood-red eyes. This sounds like a rabbit – friendly, calm, soft. At first, it’s like the music people hear as they board an airplane. But then it grows and expand! The rabbits start mating and producing musical...
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