Tuesday, October 28, 2008

It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's...Bat Boy?

Bread, milk, butter. . .fake news tabloid? If your weekly shopping routine used to include the out-of-print Weekly World News - famous for such wacky content as alien/celebrity weddings and ominous pictures of the devil's face in smoke plumes - you might have reason to celebrate. WWN stopped printing in 2007 after circulation fell from a high of 1.2 million to below 90,000. A new owner, Bat Boy L.L.C., recently bought the publication and plans to revive it on both the Web and in print. There's even talk of licensing notable recurring headline-grabbing characters, such as the half-breed Bat Boy, for toy figures and movie deals.

It's the End of the World as We Know It...

Well, we knew the day would come when a major newspaper folded up the tent and decided to do away with its daily print edition in favor of the...ugh...Internet. I had just hoped it wouldn't come in my lifetime. The Christian Science Monitor just announced that it is taking the big leap o' faith. Personally, I hope they crash and burn. It's still my strong belief that folks want a physical paper to buy, hold, read and tape to the refrigerator. I also don't think the advertising is there to support online. But, as we all know, the newspaper industry has made so many smart decisions in the past five years, so maybe they are on target. Tell it to my stockbroker, who has watched my McClatchy stock go from $46.50 to $2.50 a share in less than two years. As much as I don't mind reading some news online, I don't want it to be my primary source of information. Wait. Sorry. We're all watching TV nowadays anyway. Nevermind. Do what you want. It doesn't matter anymore. Go here, if you care, to get the sordid details (and their attempt at an explanation):

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1029/p25s01-usgn.html

Thursday, October 23, 2008

My daughter, Sweeney Todd


Just when I thought my daughter Martha was getting over her Goth years, she goes and makes herself a Sweeney Todd costume for her Halloween parties (the girl is booked). She may not look exactly like Johnny Depp but the hair, suit and snarl are pretty good. It's impossible to take a bad picture of her. So far she has not asked for a barber chair for Christmas. Still, I'm keeping the old straight razors hidden. Hell hath no fury like a 16-year-old who hates meat.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

William Shatner on Gun Control

William Shatner may be an iffy actor and a horrible singer — and a racist on Boston Legal to boot — but he loves women, booze, cigars and guns. If you do too, this will make you laugh. This is courtesy of Bill Molash.

http://www.truveo.com/Gun-Control/id/2915921378

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Smart Students

From that great teaching guru, Les Anderson...

At Penn State University, there were four sophomores taking chemistry and all of them had an 'A' so far. These four friends were so confident that, the weekend before finals, they decided to visit some friends and have a big party. They had a great time but, after all the hearty partying, they slept all day Sunday and didn't make it back to Penn State until early Monday morning

Rather than taking the final then, they decided that after the final they would explain to their professor why they missed it. They said that they visited friends but on the way back they had a flat tire. As a result, they missed the final. The professor agreed they could make up the final the next day. The guys were excited and relieved. They studied that night for the exam.

The next day the professor placed them in separate rooms and gave them a test booklet. They quickly answered the first problem worth 5 points. Cool, they thought! Each one in separate rooms, thinking this was going to be easy... then they turned the page. On the second page was written...

For 95 points: Which tire? ________________

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Goodbye, all you idiots

This is from the Financial Times of London. If I were this rich and tired and stressed and wanted to be happy, I would do the same thing. He is right. Enjoy.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/128d399a-9c75-11dd-a42e-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Font Humor

I can't say that I am a regular YouTube watcher, but this video made me laugh. It was sent by my wife, the always lovely L Kelly.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1823766

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Tim Russert on Journalism

If you care about the state of journalism, and enjoy reading the late Tim Russert, I encourage you to go to this Poynter Institute for Media Studies Web site and read his remarks. There's also a YouTube video showcasing part of the speech. Enjoy! And, as always, I encourage your feedback.

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=101&aid=151091

Monday, October 13, 2008

Perception

Watch this. Then tell me how you did.