HolyMoly

This radio station wanted it's mobile van to accent the word "HITS." However, the person who painted the van either had an incredible lack of foresight to how it might appear with the side door open ... or had an incredible sense of humor, figuring the station wouldn't find out about it until his check cleared (grin):

For years, one Beatle or another has bad-mouthed Spector. But, there's one thing they can't take away from him ... their songs with Spector's orchestral tidbits added in became hits. Whether they'd have been just as popular without the orchestral additions is a matter of conjecture. Personally, I liked the orchestral nature of the Beatles music ... and consider Spector to be the fifth Beatle. It made their music unique from the music of most other groups during that time. As an example, listen to their song "She's Leaving Home" ... then imagine it without the orchestra.

... and that's the problem in a nutshell ... those last 2 words. In any given classroom, I'd hope that the majority of students are there to learn something. As such, schools have a responsibility to that majority to provide an uninterrupted learning environment. However, it disturbs me that schools are getting the police involved. Schools should simply expel unruly students and force the parents to deal with the unruliness problem ... and require parents to vouch for their kids' behavior before they're re-admitted. And if the police are involved in any way, it should only be to detain expelled students who trespass on school property ... or refuse to leave school property after they're parents are told they're expelled.

Hey, it's possible. She had no idea where Madonna's mouth had been last when she kissed her, hehe. Maybe he'll get a shanker on his tongue (grin).

(click here for MP3) "Triple-M" is the name of a very popular FM radio station in Queensland. Once, they held a contest where they'd ask a caller a question. If they answered the question correctly, they'd win a record album and a chance to win a motorcycle in a future drawing. In this clip, a caller is given a real "no-brainer" question and fucks up, hehehe - multiple times.

This is a true story. When I was in the first grade, I was outside one day during recess and was watching a girl attempting to get on a merry-go-round. Of course, any kid with any intelligence knows that the proper way to do it is to push it around ... then, when it's as fast as you want it to be, jump "inward" toward the center. This girl pushed it around, then jumped straight forward - falling flat on her face on the blacktop. Immediately, I slipped into a fit of laughter. A teacher went to the girl, helped her up, and asked another girl to help her to the nurse's office. Then, the teacher came to me and scolded me for laughing. Later, when I got my report card, it had a red checkmark under "Social Skills" ... and the teacher had written in the note, "Laughs at other people's misfortunes." (the rest is tongue-in-cheek but essentially true) Since I've become an adult, I've worked for the military (whose purpose is to cause other people's misfortunes), a medical product supplier (whose purpose is to make a buck off of other people's misfortunes), and a medical insurance company (whose purpose is to capitalize on the fears people have of their own misfortunes). From these experiences, I've learned an important lesson. It's OK to cause other people's misfortunes, make a buck off of other people's misfortunes, and even capitalize on the fears people have of their own misfortunes ... as long as you don't laugh about them at the same time.

Hehe. True story. At one time, Woody Allen was married to actress Louise Lasser (from the cult TV show, "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman"). However, they eventually divorced. One day, Lasser was walking through Central Park when she was accosted and raped. A reporter went to Woody Allen and asked, "Do you have any comments on your ex-wife being violated?" Woody replied, "Knowing my ex-wife, it probably wasn't a moving violation."

Oh for heaven's sake, hehe. Who were those people dancing in the streets of Baghdad - actors? You are right, though. He is a God to a lot of people. Most of them are called "Palestinians." To others, most of them Iraqi's, he's a feared tyrant who is finally an historical footnote ... a man who made 3,000,000 of his countrymen "disappear" according to a French human rights investigation. That's one-eighth of his entire country's population. If Bush had done something similar, I'd be dancing in the streets myself if the Iraqis caputured him. Wouldn't you? And after I got done dancing, I'd be telling Bush jokes and plenty of them ... and wouldn't feel the least bit embarassed doing so.

Apparently, Britney Spears got married to a childhood friend at a Las Vegas wedding chapel yesterday ... but, in an E-Online article, said later she'd annul the marriage ASAP. The lightning marriage came after a night of partying at the Palms Hotel's "Ghostbar" night spot. I just hope her hubby "got something" for his trouble (grin). The full story: http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,13204,00.html?tnews

"The Younger Girl" (The Hondells)

So, without "special features" would that be at least 2 hours per disk?

Nothing is sacred anymore. After building 3 snowmen and making a quick trip to the grocery store, the Smith family came home only to find that one of them had fallen victim to a drive-by snowman shooting:

Another New Yorker (a blonde stockbroker) got so fed up with the rat race that he decided to country-fy himself. He moved to a small farming community, bought himself a chicken farm, and went to the local co-op store. "I'd like to buy a hundred baby chicks," he said. The owner gladly rounded them up and sold them to the man. A week later, the man returned to the co-op store. "I'd like to buy another hundred baby chicks," he said. The owner again sold him the new chicks and was impressed how well he was expanding his operation. A week later, the man returned to the co-op store. "I'd like to buy another hundred baby chicks," he said. "Boy, this'll be 300 baby chicks in just 3 weeks," the owner replied. "Your operation must be doing quite well." "No, I'm afraid not," the man said, lowering his head. "In fact, they've all died." "Hmmm," said the co-op store owner, concerned. "Have you been giving them plenty of water?" "Yeah, yeah. I'm certain that's not the problem." Then the man got an idea. "Say, do you think I might be planting them too deep?"

Me, too. But I for one "revel" in political humor, even if it's on a serious topic, on TV. It's one of the things that sets us (and a few other countries) apart from the rest of the world. Can you imagine what would have happened to an Iraqi comedian who made such jokes on Iraqi TV. Or, can you imagine an Iranian comedian who dressed up like Khomeni and made fun of him and his policies on Iranian TV. Ahem ... actually, the last one really happened ... and under a death threat, the comedian fled Iran. He's now a "regular" on NITV (National Iranian Television), an Iranian-exile satellite channel broadcasting from California and watched all over the world ... including Iran. Click HERE and watch the 4th video from the top ... "CNN 's Interview with Zia Atabay." He's a former Iranian pop music star who fled with his wife (a plastic surgeon) after he himself came under scrutiny of the Islamic state. Using his wife's fortune, he started NITV which, for the most part, is now self-supporting.

Right. Heck, "writers" seem to have more power over the movie/TV industries than actors do. It would seem only logical that "writers" of music would have similar power. And the fact that they "play" what they "write" gives them a dual-stake in the business ... as if they were not only a screenplay writer in a film but also an actor in it as well.

I'm a "purist" (grin). If it ain't 3 movies, it ain't a Trilogy. But I must admit to liking the Godfather Epic (I and II). Did you know that back in 1982, they actually took both movies and released a "chronological" Godfather (a 2-VHS tape set)? It was on video shelves for a year or so ... then got yanked when III came out. I'd love to see that come out on DVD but am certain it never will. It included a number of scenes that were "cut" from I and II that explained quite a bit. For example, the scene where Clemenza takes Michael to his friend, the gunsmith ... where he meets, for the very first time, a very young Hyman Roth. All II revealed was that Hyman Roth was a business partner to Vito years earlier. But in fact, the name "Hyman Roth" was a name given to him by Vito because his real name sounded too Jewish (grin) ... and that he was then part of the "familia," not just a partner. In II, the mood indicated Michael at war with a mere business partner of his father. But in the chronological version, the mood indicated Michael was at war with a member of the "family" ... not just business, but an "infamnia" (an unspeakable betrayal). That hightened the tension much more than II did. P.S. I have I and II on tape. But my local Movie Madness rental store has the chronological 2-tape set. I rented it once and "Xeroxed" it for VCD purposes. But, the tapes are 22 years old and show it (sigh) ... and the VCDs are that much worse for wear (double sigh).

The only problem I've ever had with Gnutella clients is "overkill" (grin). I'd really like to see a Gnutella client with only two features ... the "resume" ability and the "multiple-node-download" capability ... and without the malware, the chatrooms, the forums, and all the other crap that makes them spacehogs and memory hogs.

Well, I'm a believer in the Yin/Yang theory ... that what comes around goes around. This might be the catalyst for forming an Artists' Industry Association to wrench as much control from the RIAA as possible. If I could use an analogy, it would be as if Hitler's Nazi Party found themselves fighting a two-front war ... one front being at war with their own consumers, the other front being at war with their artists ... both telling the RIAA "We don't need you anymore!"

Remember that scene from "Pirates of Silicon Valley" when Steve Jobs discovered that Bill Gates had ripped off his GUI for Windows? After a short verbal pissing contest, Jobs said to Gates, "But we both know that MY system is the BEST system." To which Gates laughed and said, "Steve, when will you learn that it just doesn't matter," ... and walked out of the room. Gates was right about one thing. The public doesn't care about quality as much as it cares about "cheap." So, we are where we are today ... with 98% of the computing public being satisfied with an inferior OS that either crashes or has to be "patched" endlessly for security flaws ... while the other 2% enjoys a superior OS without need for patches (and is willing to pay the price for it in dollars and in selection limitations). However (grin), it would be unfair to say that Windows enjoys a 98% marketshare. Little by little, people are discovering Linux ... and the more developers embrace open-source programming, the more non-Windows options people will have. This is, I suspect, why Gates is now feverishly trying to diversify Microsoft into the game industry and the music industry ... to cut its losses when Windows begins to lose its overall appeal. And, I think it will eventually happen. READ THIS ARTICLE!!! Remember, Macs are far more flexible than PCs (note that Microsoft has no "Virtual Mac" software while each version of "Virtual PC" for Macs runs measurably faster than the one before). There could come a time when, as the article suggests, Macs will allow for a "Virtual Linux" OS to work. And when that happens, Gates had better watch out.

Or lucky that the lady didn't have a 6-foot-tall 350-pound boyfriend sitting in the passenger seat (grin). Cris Kirkwood the "Meat Puppet" could have become "Meat Puppet Meat" in very short order, hehe.

Yup ... basically, it's about 90% music. Everything else is interesting stuff like never-before-heard interviews with local or regional bands that MAY BE the next popular group to go big-time. BTW, I've already started "capturing" some of their shows using a program called SDP (records streaming Windows media as an ASF file, which I can later convert to AVIs ... and later convert to MPG-1 video CDs if I want to). The quality of their stream could stand improvement. But, other than that, the content is worth watching ... which is more than I can say for current network television fare.

How much (timewise) can you put on a DVD-R disk?

Thanks. If I get that Athlon, I'll make sure I have a good fan-set onboard. And, there are some inexpensive dual-burners out there ... but I'd probably burn in the "-" format like you. I've heard other people say it's friendlier but wanted confirmation from someone who burns DVDs. One more question. How much can you burn on one blank DVD-R disk, timewise? P.S. BTW, I clicked on the "where to buy" button to find the model you have and there's only one store in my local area that sells it. Fortunately (grin), it happens to be well known as the cheapest place in my area to buy computer peripherals. I'll check out their price for it.

If you haven't been to this streaming online TV station yet, give it a look-see. I put a post about it in another topic area (CLICK HERE).

Actually, he's made 3 speeches in front of the General Assembly, not just 1 -- in 1974, 1988 and 2001. As you said, he was considered a terrorist in the 70s and 80s ... and the standing ovation was at his 1974 speech, less than a year after the Yom Kippur War when anti-Israeli sentiment ran high in the world. To my knowledge, the 1988 and 2001 speeches were not similarly honored ... so perhaps his stature was not as high in later years as it once was 30 years ago. However, I suspect they gave him applause when he was done ... a salutation the General Assembly affords to any speaker. Don't confuse politeness and decorum with "respect." P.S. BTW, Arafat was invited to speak to the General Assembly in 1974 by U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, a man who served as an officer in a Nazi army unit during WWII that was guilty of war crimes in Yugoslavia. How appropos, hehe ... a war criminal inviting a terrorist to speak.