Jeremy Irons - World-of-Newave.info http://answers.world-of-newave.info/jeremy-irons.htm Latest news and articles about Jeremy Irons en-us Copyright (c)2004-2008. All rights reserved. webmaster@world-of-newave.com (Webmaster) Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:52:13 GMT Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:52:13 GMT Newave Lisa XML Engine v1.0 - http://www.world-of-newave.info/about.htm 60 http://www.world-of-newave.info/images/wi8831.gif World-of-Newave.info - Knowledge and Informational Database http://www.world-of-newave.info/ 88 31 {MOVIES > REVIEWS} - Appaloosa http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/movies/reviews/appaloosa-20080936325.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/movies/reviews/appaloosa-20080936325.htm Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:51:27 GMT Starring: Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger, Jeremy Irons Review: Ed Harris rides tall in the saddle as director, co-writer, co-producer and star of this terrific Western, a potently acted powerhouse that sticks in the mind and the heart. The source material is a 2005 book by Robert B. Parker, best known for his Spenser crime novels. Harris is best known for being a reliably superb actor (four Oscar nominations) and for scoring an acclaimed 2000 debut as a director with Pollock, in which he played the abstract painter Jackson Pollock. There is nothing abstract about Harris' approach to Appaloosa. Every frame of the movie indicates his bone-deep respect for classic film Westerns, notably 1946's My Darling Clementine, in which director John Ford took a low-key, almost lyrical approach to the gunfight at the OK Corral. Though Appaloosa is shot through... Rating: 3.5 Stars Rollingstone.Com Appaloosa {new window}   Www.Rollingstone.Com - Starring: Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger, Jeremy Irons Review: Ed Harris rides tall in the saddle as director, co-writer, co-producer and star of this terrific Western, a potently acted powerhouse that sticks in the mind and the heart. The source material is a 2005 book by Robert B. Parker, best known for his Spenser crime novels. Harris is best known for being a reliably superb actor (four Oscar nominations) and for scoring an acclaimed 2000 debut as a director with Pollock, in which he played the abstract painter Jackson Pollock. There is nothing abstract about Harris' approach to Appaloosa. Every frame of the movie indicates his bone-deep respect for classic film Westerns, notably 1946's My Darling Clementine, in which director John Ford took a low-key, almost lyrical approach to the gunfight at the OK Corral. Though Appaloosa is shot through... Rating: 3.5 Stars
Appaloosa : Review : Rolling Stone {...} Ed Harris rides tall in the saddle as director, co-writer, co-producer and star of this terrific Wes... {...}
Published: September 2, 2008, 9:51 am - Indexed: September 19, 2008, 11:21 am - Page Size: 38KB
Category: Arts > Movies > Reviews

]]> Arts > Movies > Reviews {INTERNET > GOOGLE} - Tracking flu trends http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/internet/searching/search-engines/google/tracking-flu-trends-2008125551.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/internet/searching/search-engines/google/tracking-flu-trends-2008125551.htm Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:43:38 GMT Like many Googlers, we're fascinated by trends in online search queries. Whether you're interested in U.S. elections, today's hot trends, or each year's Zeitgeist, patterns in Google search queries can be very informative. Last year, a small team of software engineers began to explore if we could go beyond simple trends and accurately model real-world phenomena using patterns in search queries. After meeting with the public health gurus on Google.org's Predict and Prevent team, we decided to focus on outbreaks of infectious disease, which are responsible for millions of deaths around the world each year. You've probably heard of one such disease: influenza, commonly known as "the flu," which is responsible for up to 500,000 deaths worldwide each year. If you or your kids have ever caught the flu, you know just how awful it can be.Our team found that certain aggregated search queries tend to be very common during flu season each year. We compared these aggregated queries against data provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and we found that there's a very close relationship between the frequency of these search queries and the number of people who are experiencing flu-like symptoms each week. As a result, if we tally each day's flu-related search queries, we can estimate how many people have a flu-like illness. Based on this discovery, we have launched Google Flu Trends, where you can find up-to-date influenza-related activity estimates for each of the 50 states in the U.S.The CDC does a great job of surveying real doctors and patients to accurately track the flu, so why bother with estimates from aggregated search queries? It turns out that traditional flu surveillance systems take 1-2 weeks to collect and release surveillance data, but Google search queries can be automatically counted very quickly. By making our flu estimates available each day, Google Flu Trends may provide an early-warning system for outbreaks of influenza.For epidemiologists, this is an exciting development, because early detection of a disease outbreak can reduce the number of people affected. If a new strain of influenza virus emerges under certain conditions, a pandemic could emerge and cause millions of deaths (as happened, for example, in 1918). Our up-to-date influenza estimates may enable public health officials and health professionals to better respond to seasonal epidemics and ? though we hope never to find out ? pandemics.We shared our preliminary results with the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch of the Influenza Division at CDC throughout the 2007-2008 flu season, and together we saw that our search-based flu estimates had a consistently strong correlation with real CDC surveillance data. Our system is still very experimental, so anything is possible, but we're hoping to see similar correlations in the coming year.We couldn't have created such good models without aggregating hundreds of billions of individual searches going back to 2003. Of course, we're keenly aware of the trust that users place in us and of our responsibility to protect their privacy. Flu Trends can never be used to identify individual users because we rely on anonymized, aggregated counts of how often certain search queries occur each week. The patterns we observe in the data are only meaningful across large populations of Google search users.Flu season is here, so avoid becoming part of our statistics and get a flu shot! And keep an eye on those graphs if you're curious to see how the flu season unfolds...Update on 11/21: The team just published an academic paper in Nature, the international journal of science, explaining the science and methodology behind Flu Trends. Check it out for more information.Posted by Jeremy Ginsberg and Matt Mohebbi, Software Engineers Blogger.Com Tracking flu trends {new window}   Www.Blogger.Com - Like many Googlers, we're fascinated by trends in online search queries. Whether you're interested in U.S. elections, today's hot trends, or each year's Zeitgeist, patterns in Google search queries can be very informative. Last year, a small team of software engineers began to explore if we could go beyond simple trends and accurately model real-world phenomena using patterns in search queries. After meeting with the public health gurus on Google.org's Predict and Prevent team, we decided to focus on outbreaks of infectious disease, which are responsible for millions of deaths around the world each year. You've probably heard of one such disease: influenza, commonly known as "the flu," which is responsible for up to 500,000 deaths worldwide each year. If you or your kids have ever caught the flu, you know just how awful it can be.Our team found that certain aggregated search queries tend to be very common during flu season each year. We compared these aggregated queries against data provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and we found that there's a very close relationship between the frequency of these search queries and the number of people who are experiencing flu-like symptoms each week. As a result, if we tally each day's flu-related search queries, we can estimate how many people have a flu-like illness. Based on this discovery, we have launched Google Flu Trends, where you can find up-to-date influenza-related activity estimates for each of the 50 states in the U.S.The CDC does a great job of surveying real doctors and patients to accurately track the flu, so why bother with estimates from aggregated search queries? It turns out that traditional flu surveillance systems take 1-2 weeks to collect and release surveillance data, but Google search queries can be automatically counted very quickly. By making our flu estimates available each day, Google Flu Trends may provide an early-warning system for outbreaks of influenza.For epidemiologists, this is an exciting development, because early detection of a disease outbreak can reduce the number of people affected. If a new strain of influenza virus emerges under certain conditions, a pandemic could emerge and cause millions of deaths (as happened, for example, in 1918). Our up-to-date influenza estimates may enable public health officials and health professionals to better respond to seasonal epidemics and ? though we hope never to find out ? pandemics.We shared our preliminary results with the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch of the Influenza Division at CDC throughout the 2007-2008 flu season, and together we saw that our search-based flu estimates had a consistently strong correlation with real CDC surveillance data. Our system is still very experimental, so anything is possible, but we're hoping to see similar correlations in the coming year.We couldn't have created such good models without aggregating hundreds of billions of individual searches going back to 2003. Of course, we're keenly aware of the trust that users place in us and of our responsibility to protect their privacy. Flu Trends can never be used to identify individual users because we rely on anonymized, aggregated counts of how often certain search queries occur each week. The patterns we observe in the data are only meaningful across large populations of Google search users.Flu season is here, so avoid becoming part of our statistics and get a flu shot! And keep an eye on those graphs if you're curious to see how the flu season unfolds...Update on 11/21: The team just published an academic paper in Nature, the international journal of science, explaining the science and methodology behind Flu Trends. Check it out for more information.Posted by Jeremy Ginsberg and Matt Mohebbi, Software Engineers
Indexed: December 1, 2008, 9:43 am - Page Size: 6KB
Category: Computers > Internet > Searching > Search Engines > Google

]]> Computers > Internet > Searching > Search Engines > Google {INTERNET > V} - McCain v. McCain http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/internet/on-the-web/weblogs/personal/v/mccain-v-mccain-2008129743.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/internet/on-the-web/weblogs/personal/v/mccain-v-mccain-2008129743.htm Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:08:06 GMT At one point, McCain promised if elected to hold weekly televised briefings to the nation on Iraq as long as there are U.S. combat troops there, “even if only C-SPAN carries it.” That may not rank with Dwight D. Eisenhower’s pledge to go to Korea to end that war. But it does underline McCain’s determination to break with what he repeatedly described as “four years of failed strategy” in Iraq by the Bush administration. He believes that the 2007 “surge” tactics long resisted by Bush have put Iraq in position to achieve a modest goal of no longer being “a killing ground for young Americans.” As a decorated war hero, McCain has the credibility to settle for modest goals that a New York mayor, or a Texas governor, might not have. Jim Hoagland Republican Role Reversal The Washington Post Senator and Republican presidential candidate John McCain reiterated his support for the war in Iraq on Monday when he spoke to a crowd of about 200 at Blackstone’s Café in downtown Beaufort. “Despite what you may see from other sources, we are winning in Iraq,” he said. McCain: ‘We are winning in Iraq’ Jeremy Hsieh The Beaufort Gazette Patandkat.Com McCain v. McCain {new window}   Www.Patandkat.Com - At one point, McCain promised if elected to hold weekly televised briefings to the nation on Iraq as long as there are U.S. combat troops there, “even if only C-SPAN carries it.” That may not rank with Dwight D. Eisenhower’s pledge to go to Korea to end that war. But it does underline McCain’s determination to break with what he repeatedly described as “four years of failed strategy” in Iraq by the Bush administration. He believes that the 2007 “surge” tactics long resisted by Bush have put Iraq in position to achieve a modest goal of no longer being “a killing ground for young Americans.” As a decorated war hero, McCain has the credibility to settle for modest goals that a New York mayor, or a Texas governor, might not have. Jim Hoagland Republican Role Reversal The Washington Post Senator and Republican presidential candidate John McCain reiterated his support for the war in Iraq on Monday when he spoke to a crowd of about 200 at Blackstone’s Café in downtown Beaufort. “Despite what you may see from other sources, we are winning in Iraq,” he said. McCain: ‘We are winning in Iraq’ Jeremy Hsieh The Beaufort Gazette
McCain v. McCain - Vertical Hold {...}
Indexed: December 1, 2008, 9:08 am - Page Size: 9KB
Category: Computers > Internet > On the Web > Weblogs > Personal > V

]]> Computers > Internet > On the Web > Weblogs > Personal > V {NEWS > BREAKING NEWS} - Busy del Toro Talks 'Hobbit, Hellboy II' DVD http://articles.world-of-newave.info/news/breaking-news/busy-del-toro-talks-hobbit-hellboy-ii-dvd-20081155915.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/news/breaking-news/busy-del-toro-talks-hobbit-hellboy-ii-dvd-20081155915.htm Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:26:00 GMT With more than a dozen cinematic irons in his creative fire, the writer/director takes time out from tackling Tolkien to talk about the art of moviemaking. Blog.Wired.Com Busy del Toro Talks 'Hobbit, Hellboy II' DVD {new window}   Blog.Wired.Com - With more than a dozen cinematic irons in his creative fire, the writer/director takes time out from tackling Tolkien to talk about the art of moviemaking.
Busy del Toro Talks Hobbit, Hellboy II DVD | The Underwire from Wired.com {...} HOLLYWOOD, California -- There seems to be no shortage of bizarre creatures and fantasy worlds lurking in the mind of Guillermo del Toro. The multitalented Hellboy director is currently involved {...}
Published: November 14, 2008, 11:26 pm - Indexed: November 17, 2008, 12:12 pm - Page Size: 63KB
Category: News > Breaking News

]]> News > Breaking News {ISSUES > BIAS AND BALANCE} - Conservative radio hosts accuse Dems of "trying to steal" MN Senate election -- but there's no evidence, according to GOP governor http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/conservative-radio-hosts-accuse-dems-of-trying-20081191017.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/conservative-radio-hosts-accuse-dems-of-trying-20081191017.htm Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:11:02 GMT In recent days, several conservative talk radio hosts have accused Democrats of "trying to steal" the Minnesota senatorial election for Democratic challenger Al Franken over incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman (R). They offer no evidence to back up their accusation, and, according to the state's Republican governor, there is none. Gov. Tim Pawlenty said on November 12 on Sean Hannity's radio show that there is "no actual evidence that there's been any fraud or problems" in counting the votes. Also, on the November 12 edition of Hannity & Colmes, Hannity asked Pawlenty: "Do you suspect there's been cheating going on?" Pawlenty replied: "Sean, we don't have any direct evidence of that, and when you make an allegation -- not you, but anybody -- of fraud in an election, it's a very serious matter, so you gotta have specific evidence to back it up." The following conservative talk radio hosts have baselessly accused Democrats of trying to "steal" the election: Mark Levin: On the November 11 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Levin described Franken as a "spiteful troll," and said: "I see he and his fellow hoods are trying to steal the election in Minnesota." Rush Limbaugh: On the November 12 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, during a discussion with a caller about the upcoming Georgia run-off between Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Democratic challenger Jim Martin, Limbaugh stated: "At this point, people in Georgia have gotta take this very seriously. Because the Democrats are trying to steal Minnesota, and they're gonna, they're -- he's [Chambliss] gotta win this runoff in Georgia." Chris Baker: On the November 13 broadcast of his Minneapolis-based radio program, Baker asserted that "the left" have "become the fascists that they have claimed to be the watchdog to protect people from." He added: "And it's really frightening, especially with the coming political situation. I mean, once the Norm Coleman election is stolen, and they get rid of [Sen.] Ted Stevens [R-AK], and they maybe get rid of Saxby Chambliss, with a supermajority, these people are gonna run amok, and it's all over and we're all gonna be in irons." From the November 11 edition of ABC Radio Networks' The Mark Levin Show: LEVIN: Well, speaking of the spiteful troll, aka Al Franken, I see he and his fellow hoods are trying to steal the election in Minnesota. May I say a brief prayer out loud? Dear God, I think we've had about all we can take in this last election. Please, please, not a Senator Al Franken. What would the Founding Fathers say? My God, please. All right, now, I would be remiss if I didn't thank our new affiliate in Nacogdoches, Texas -- KSFA. There we go. Let's go to Katie, Oxford, New Jersey. From the November 12 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' Rush Limbaugh Show: CALLER: I'm a little frustrated. Well, that's not true; I'm very frustrated. I kind of feel like my vote is being extorted down here. You know, Georgia conservatives screamed bloody murder over the bailout, and Saxby Chambliss refused to vote with us. He went up there and -- and did what he wanted to do -- whatever he wanted to do, which is, you know, even come clean down here and admitted -- LIMBAUGH: I know, I know. I know it. He voted for the gang of whatever on the offshore drilling. He made a tactical mistake there. At this point, people in Georgia have gotta take this very seriously. Because the Democrats are trying to steal Minnesota, and they're gonna, they're -- he's gotta win this runoff in Georgia. If -- if -- if we lose these two they're up to 59. CALLER: I know, Rush. I am -- I'm in total agreement with you there. And I continue to write and write and write letters over to their campaign begging them for just one humble moment to admit that the bailout was a really bad idea, and that it's down the tubes further than anybody could have imagined, and just to admit that he's in Washington to represent me. LIMBAUGH: Not gonna do it. He's not gonna -- he's not gonna do it. From the November 13 broadcast of KTLK's The Chris Baker Show: BAKER: See, we've -- we've come to a point where if you have an opinion that opposes the left, sorry, you must be silenced and shut down. LANGDON PERRY (KTLK host): Right. BAKER: I don't hear conservatives asking for people to be thrown out of their job on a regular basis. I don't hear conservatives on a regular basis say that people should be ostracized, culled from the herd. But, man, you get these people all wound up, and they, you know, they burst into a church over the weekend. PERRY: The left, I think, has become much more the party of "you can't say that" or "you can't do that." BAKER: They have become the fascists that they have claimed to be the watchdog to protect people from. And it's really frightening, especially with the coming political situation. I mean, once the Norm Coleman election is stolen, and they get rid of Ted Stevens and they maybe get rid of Saxby Chambliss, with a supermajority, these people are gonna run amok, and it's all over and we're all gonna be in irons. From the November 12 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes: HANNITY: And this is a "Fox News Alert." The recount has not even started in Minnesota, and somehow Al Franken has already shaved off more than 500 votes off the incumbent lead. That's Norm Coleman. Now, Republican Coleman was up by 725 votes last Wednesday morning, but as of yesterday that difference has now shrunk to just 206. Coleman's vanishing lead came during a week when Minnesota election officials were required to check their initial results. Under normal practices, both candidates would expect a bump, but these strange circumstances have seen only Franken's vote totals swell. Now, the Minneapolis director of elections claims to have found 32 absentee ballots hiding in the trunk of her car -- all of them conveniently going to Al Franken. Liberal-leaning precincts in Two Harbors, Minnesota, and Partridge Township threw Franken another 346 votes combined, claiming that wrong numbers were initially submitted. Again, Coleman's vote total -- it remained unchanged. Plus, Franken's changes are nearly three times the gains for Democratic candidates statewide. So, the question is: Is the fix in? Joining us now is Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. Governor, as I describe that -- I'm sorry, no reasonable person can conclude there's not funny business going on here. What is your thoughts on this? PAWLENTY: Sean, in the practice of law, there's a phenomenon called disparate impact, which means when something is so out of proportion to what the norm or the trend would be, it at least raises a concern or a suspicion. In Minnesota, we don't have any evidence of wrongdoing, but these patterns that you've just described cause us concern, because even if you're in a part of the state that's overwhelmingly Democrat, Norm Coleman should be getting some of the votes, not losing 100 percent or 90 percent to Al Franken. So, it's cause for concern for sure. [...] HANNITY: But here's the problem. We did not have a uniform system in terms of the day after Election Day to protect those ballots. So, in other words, the different precincts -- so, in other words, my fear is that the fix may already been in, and during the recount, we're going gonna discover, oh, there's another 500 votes for Franken. When you look at these changed votes so far, Governor, you know, we see that, for example, the Senate gains for Franken were two and a half times that than the gain for Barack Obama, and Barack Obama way outperformed Franken in the state of Minnesota; 2.9 times the total of the Democrats across the congressional races; and five times the net loss that Democrats suffered for all statehouse races. So, he's outperforming every single solitary measure. So, I'm asking -- I guess, Governor, I guess my question is honest: Do you suspect there's been cheating going on? PAWLENTY: Sean, we don't have any direct evidence of that, and when you make an allegation -- not you, but anybody -- of fraud in an election, it's a very serious matter, so you gotta have specific evidence to back it up. What we do know is the statistics that you're citing and the patterns that you're citing are suspicious. They seem to defy probability theory; they seem to defy common sense. Even in an overwhelmingly Democratic area, Norm Coleman would be getting some of those votes -- 20, 30, 40 percent. That's not happening, so it raises a red flag. From the November 12 edition of ABC Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show: HANNITY: Well, here's what I read. John Lott wrote a very frightening piece about what's happening here, and he chronicled how we've gone from 725 votes -- what are we, down to 206 votes separating the two in Norm Coleman's favor? PAWLENTY: Correct. HANNITY: OK. So he points out that, for example, the Senate gains for Franken were two and a half times the gain for Obama in the presidential race count. In other words, these ballots "oops" that we found -- now here's a state where Barack Obama won fairly handily. But yet, these ballots that we're now finding, you know, are favoring Franken two and a half times than that of the gain of Obama; 2.9 times the gain of the Democrats and what they got all across Minnesota in congressional races; and five -- five times the net loss the Democrats suffered for all state house races. PAWLENTY: Yeah, those -- those are definitely a concern, Sean. I want to be clear. You know, Minnesota has a tradition of clean elections, and good election systems, and there isn't any actual evidence of wrongdoing or fraud yet. But the pattern that you just described, as long as -- and as well as the ballots in the trunk and some other things -- raise concerns, and we need to make sure that the ballots are secure, the process is transparent, that there is a uniform standard, and that all these things are looked into and make sure that they are fully legitimate -- and that's gonna happen. HANNITY: Does Norm Coleman have operatives or -- or members of his campaign now, 24 hours a day around these voting machines, et cetera? PAWLENTY: Yeah, the news accounts suggest that he has dispatched people to watch the room, and there -- most of the counties' administrators, you know, have a room that's locked -- and this county that issued the court order, they actually only have two people can have access to it. People have to sign in or sign out; they have to explain why they would even go in the room in the first place. The campaign's gonna have monitors as to who would go into the room or out of the room. That's the kind of uniform standard we'd like all the counties to use, I know that those -- HANNITY: Has that been implemented? Here's the problem, though. Because there hasn't been a recount yet. Has that been implemented from -- from the day after election or no? PAWLENTY: Day -- no. But -- HANNITY: That's a problem, Governor. Because that means it could have already happened. PAWLENTY: That's also true. But there is no actual evidence, Sean. I wanna be clear. There's no actual evidence that there's been any fraud or problems there. There are these patterns of concern, and again, Norm's campaign and Franken's campaign were close as of a day ago to have an agreement about how to handle all this. HANNITY: All right, Governor Tim Pawlenty. Appreciate you, updating on us -- updating for us these -- these goings-on in Minnesota. But it's somewhat frightening to me. All right, we gotta -- PAWLENTY: I understand. HANNITY: Well, we'll stay on it. Appreciate it, Governor Pawlenty. Thank you. Mediamatters.Org Conservative radio hosts accuse Dems of "trying to steal" MN Senate election -- but there's no evidence, according to GOP governor {new window}   Mediamatters.Org - In recent days, several conservative talk radio hosts have accused Democrats of "trying to steal" the Minnesota senatorial election for Democratic challenger Al Franken over incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman (R). They offer no evidence to back up their accusation, and, according to the state's Republican governor, there is none. Gov. Tim Pawlenty said on November 12 on Sean Hannity's radio show that there is "no actual evidence that there's been any fraud or problems" in counting the votes. Also, on the November 12 edition of Hannity & Colmes, Hannity asked Pawlenty: "Do you suspect there's been cheating going on?" Pawlenty replied: "Sean, we don't have any direct evidence of that, and when you make an allegation -- not you, but anybody -- of fraud in an election, it's a very serious matter, so you gotta have specific evidence to back it up." The following conservative talk radio hosts have baselessly accused Democrats of trying to "steal" the election: Mark Levin: On the November 11 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Levin described Franken as a "spiteful troll," and said: "I see he and his fellow hoods are trying to steal the election in Minnesota." Rush Limbaugh: On the November 12 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, during a discussion with a caller about the upcoming Georgia run-off between Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Democratic challenger Jim Martin, Limbaugh stated: "At this point, people in Georgia have gotta take this very seriously. Because the Democrats are trying to steal Minnesota, and they're gonna, they're -- he's [Chambliss] gotta win this runoff in Georgia." Chris Baker: On the November 13 broadcast of his Minneapolis-based radio program, Baker asserted that "the left" have "become the fascists that they have claimed to be the watchdog to protect people from." He added: "And it's really frightening, especially with the coming political situation. I mean, once the Norm Coleman election is stolen, and they get rid of [Sen.] Ted Stevens [R-AK], and they maybe get rid of Saxby Chambliss, with a supermajority, these people are gonna run amok, and it's all over and we're all gonna be in irons." From the November 11 edition of ABC Radio Networks' The Mark Levin Show: LEVIN: Well, speaking of the spiteful troll, aka Al Franken, I see he and his fellow hoods are trying to steal the election in Minnesota. May I say a brief prayer out loud? Dear God, I think we've had about all we can take in this last election. Please, please, not a Senator Al Franken. What would the Founding Fathers say? My God, please. All right, now, I would be remiss if I didn't thank our new affiliate in Nacogdoches, Texas -- KSFA. There we go. Let's go to Katie, Oxford, New Jersey. From the November 12 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' Rush Limbaugh Show: CALLER: I'm a little frustrated. Well, that's not true; I'm very frustrated. I kind of feel like my vote is being extorted down here. You know, Georgia conservatives screamed bloody murder over the bailout, and Saxby Chambliss refused to vote with us. He went up there and -- and did what he wanted to do -- whatever he wanted to do, which is, you know, even come clean down here and admitted -- LIMBAUGH: I know, I know. I know it. He voted for the gang of whatever on the offshore drilling. He made a tactical mistake there. At this point, people in Georgia have gotta take this very seriously. Because the Democrats are trying to steal Minnesota, and they're gonna, they're -- he's gotta win this runoff in Georgia. If -- if -- if we lose these two they're up to 59. CALLER: I know, Rush. I am -- I'm in total agreement with you there. And I continue to write and write and write letters over to their campaign begging them for just one humble moment to admit that the bailout was a really bad idea, and that it's down the tubes further than anybody could have imagined, and just to admit that he's in Washington to represent me. LIMBAUGH: Not gonna do it. He's not gonna -- he's not gonna do it. From the November 13 broadcast of KTLK's The Chris Baker Show: BAKER: See, we've -- we've come to a point where if you have an opinion that opposes the left, sorry, you must be silenced and shut down. LANGDON PERRY (KTLK host): Right. BAKER: I don't hear conservatives asking for people to be thrown out of their job on a regular basis. I don't hear conservatives on a regular basis say that people should be ostracized, culled from the herd. But, man, you get these people all wound up, and they, you know, they burst into a church over the weekend. PERRY: The left, I think, has become much more the party of "you can't say that" or "you can't do that." BAKER: They have become the fascists that they have claimed to be the watchdog to protect people from. And it's really frightening, especially with the coming political situation. I mean, once the Norm Coleman election is stolen, and they get rid of Ted Stevens and they maybe get rid of Saxby Chambliss, with a supermajority, these people are gonna run amok, and it's all over and we're all gonna be in irons. From the November 12 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes: HANNITY: And this is a "Fox News Alert." The recount has not even started in Minnesota, and somehow Al Franken has already shaved off more than 500 votes off the incumbent lead. That's Norm Coleman. Now, Republican Coleman was up by 725 votes last Wednesday morning, but as of yesterday that difference has now shrunk to just 206. Coleman's vanishing lead came during a week when Minnesota election officials were required to check their initial results. Under normal practices, both candidates would expect a bump, but these strange circumstances have seen only Franken's vote totals swell. Now, the Minneapolis director of elections claims to have found 32 absentee ballots hiding in the trunk of her car -- all of them conveniently going to Al Franken. Liberal-leaning precincts in Two Harbors, Minnesota, and Partridge Township threw Franken another 346 votes combined, claiming that wrong numbers were initially submitted. Again, Coleman's vote total -- it remained unchanged. Plus, Franken's changes are nearly three times the gains for Democratic candidates statewide. So, the question is: Is the fix in? Joining us now is Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. Governor, as I describe that -- I'm sorry, no reasonable person can conclude there's not funny business going on here. What is your thoughts on this? PAWLENTY: Sean, in the practice of law, there's a phenomenon called disparate impact, which means when something is so out of proportion to what the norm or the trend would be, it at least raises a concern or a suspicion. In Minnesota, we don't have any evidence of wrongdoing, but these patterns that you've just described cause us concern, because even if you're in a part of the state that's overwhelmingly Democrat, Norm Coleman should be getting some of the votes, not losing 100 percent or 90 percent to Al Franken. So, it's cause for concern for sure. [...] HANNITY: But here's the problem. We did not have a uniform system in terms of the day after Election Day to protect those ballots. So, in other words, the different precincts -- so, in other words, my fear is that the fix may already been in, and during the recount, we're going gonna discover, oh, there's another 500 votes for Franken. When you look at these changed votes so far, Governor, you know, we see that, for example, the Senate gains for Franken were two and a half times that than the gain for Barack Obama, and Barack Obama way outperformed Franken in the state of Minnesota; 2.9 times the total of the Democrats across the congressional races; and five times the net loss that Democrats suffered for all statehouse races. So, he's outperforming every single solitary measure. So, I'm asking -- I guess, Governor, I guess my question is honest: Do you suspect there's been cheating going on? PAWLENTY: Sean, we don't have any direct evidence of that, and when you make an allegation -- not you, but anybody -- of fraud in an election, it's a very serious matter, so you gotta have specific evidence to back it up. What we do know is the statistics that you're citing and the patterns that you're citing are suspicious. They seem to defy probability theory; they seem to defy common sense. Even in an overwhelmingly Democratic area, Norm Coleman would be getting some of those votes -- 20, 30, 40 percent. That's not happening, so it raises a red flag. From the November 12 edition of ABC Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show: HANNITY: Well, here's what I read. John Lott wrote a very frightening piece about what's happening here, and he chronicled how we've gone from 725 votes -- what are we, down to 206 votes separating the two in Norm Coleman's favor? PAWLENTY: Correct. HANNITY: OK. So he points out that, for example, the Senate gains for Franken were two and a half times the gain for Obama in the presidential race count. In other words, these ballots "oops" that we found -- now here's a state where Barack Obama won fairly handily. But yet, these ballots that we're now finding, you know, are favoring Franken two and a half times than that of the gain of Obama; 2.9 times the gain of the Democrats and what they got all across Minnesota in congressional races; and five -- five times the net loss the Democrats suffered for all state house races. PAWLENTY: Yeah, those -- those are definitely a concern, Sean. I want to be clear. You know, Minnesota has a tradition of clean elections, and good election systems, and there isn't any actual evidence of wrongdoing or fraud yet. But the pattern that you just described, as long as -- and as well as the ballots in the trunk and some other things -- raise concerns, and we need to make sure that the ballots are secure, the process is transparent, that there is a uniform standard, and that all these things are looked into and make sure that they are fully legitimate -- and that's gonna happen. HANNITY: Does Norm Coleman have operatives or -- or members of his campaign now, 24 hours a day around these voting machines, et cetera? PAWLENTY: Yeah, the news accounts suggest that he has dispatched people to watch the room, and there -- most of the counties' administrators, you know, have a room that's locked -- and this county that issued the court order, they actually only have two people can have access to it. People have to sign in or sign out; they have to explain why they would even go in the room in the first place. The campaign's gonna have monitors as to who would go into the room or out of the room. That's the kind of uniform standard we'd like all the counties to use, I know that those -- HANNITY: Has that been implemented? Here's the problem, though. Because there hasn't been a recount yet. Has that been implemented from -- from the day after election or no? PAWLENTY: Day -- no. But -- HANNITY: That's a problem, Governor. Because that means it could have already happened. PAWLENTY: That's also true. But there is no actual evidence, Sean. I wanna be clear. There's no actual evidence that there's been any fraud or problems there. There are these patterns of concern, and again, Norm's campaign and Franken's campaign were close as of a day ago to have an agreement about how to handle all this. HANNITY: All right, Governor Tim Pawlenty. Appreciate you, updating on us -- updating for us these -- these goings-on in Minnesota. But it's somewhat frightening to me. All right, we gotta -- PAWLENTY: I understand. HANNITY: Well, we'll stay on it. Appreciate it, Governor Pawlenty. Thank you.
Media Matters - Conservative radio hosts accuse Dems of "trying to steal" MN Senate election -- but there's no evidence, according to GOP governor {...} Several conservative talk radio hosts have accused Democrats of "trying to steal" the Minnesota senatorial election for Democratic challenger Al Franken over incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman (R). They offer no evidence for the accusation; indeed, the state's Republican governor has said there is none. {...}
Published: November 14, 2008, 1:11 am - Indexed: November 14, 2008, 12:50 pm - Page Size: 29KB
Category: Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance

]]> Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance {ARTS > PEOPLE} - Which 'national treasure' said this? http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/people/which-national-treasure-said-this-20081145413.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/people/which-national-treasure-said-this-20081145413.htm Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT IN YEARS gone by he would have been clapped in irons and sent to the tower. Edward Stourton, one of the BBC's most respected broadcasters, has claimed that the Queen Mothe News.Scotsman.Com Which 'national treasure' said this? {new window}   News.Scotsman.Com - IN YEARS gone by he would have been clapped in irons and sent to the tower. Edward Stourton, one of the BBC's most respected broadcasters, has claimed that the Queen Mothe
Which 'national treasure' said this? - Scotsman.com News {...} Which 'national treasure' said this? - IN YEARS gone by he would have been clapped in irons and sent to the tower. Edward Stourton, one of the BBC's most respected broadcasters, has claimed that the Queen Mother was a "racist" and "ghastly old bigot".
{...}
Published: November 9, 2008, 12:00 am - Indexed: November 9, 2008, 8:59 am - Page Size: 49KB
Category: Arts > People

]]> Arts > People {LITERATURE > CYBERPUNK} - Black man dragged to death 200 miles from site of Byrd murder 10 years ago. http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/cyberpunk/black-man-dragged-to-death-200-miles-from-site-of-20081074333.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/cyberpunk/black-man-dragged-to-death-200-miles-from-site-of-20081074333.htm Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:47:34 GMT Brandon McClelland, 24, was dragged to death beneath a truck driven by two white men in Paris, Texas last month. McClelland was black. The site of his death is about 200 miles from the location where James Byrd was murdered in a similar manner ten years ago. (Image at left: Jacqueline McClelland, Brandon's mother; photo courtesy Jesse Muhammad.) McClelland's murder took place on September 16, 2008. Parts of his mangled body were found strewn along the highway at great distance. First responders treated the case as a hit and run. The county district attorney's office denied the possibility of racist motivations, and said comparisons to the Byrd lynching were "preposterous." The incident was reported in the local newspaper, which later followed with this editorial. Some bloggers and news sites associated with the Nation of Islam [ * ] have been discussing the killing as a hate crime for weeks, and claim local law enforcement ignored key forensic evidence at the crime scene. Howard Witt at the Chicago Tribune, who has covered related stories about racial injustice and hate crimes in this region, wrote about the case as a possible hate crime earlier this month. The story of McClelland's death -- and allegations the investigation by (white) local police investigators was botched -- seems to be gaining broader attention after having been picked up by AP today: Another Dragging Death In Texas (Associated Press). Snip from a related story about racism in Paris, Texas, also from Witt at the Chicago Tribune: The public fairgrounds in this small east Texas town look ordinary enough, like so many other well-worn county fair sites across the nation. Unless you know the history of the place. There are no plaques or markers to denote it, but several of the most notorious public lynchings of black Americans in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries were staged at the Paris Fairgrounds, where thousands of white spectators would gather to watch and cheer as black men were dragged onto a scaffold, scalded with hot irons and finally burned to death or hanged. One of the most widely-publicized lynchings of a black person in American history took place there 115 years ago. On February 1, 1893, former slave Henry Smith was tortured to death in front of a crowd of ten thousand (mostly or entirely white) people. Here is the New York Times article from that day, documenting the brutal details of his death in explicit detail. The child?s father, her brother, and two uncles then gathered about the Negro as he lay fastened to the torture platform and thrust hot irons into his quivering flesh. It was horrible?the man dying by slow torture in the midst of smoke from his own burning flesh. Every groan from the fiend, every contortion of his body was cheered by the thickly packed crowd of 10,000 persons. The mass of beings 600 yards in diameter, the scaffold being the center. After burning the feet and legs, the hot irons?plenty of fresh ones being at hand?were rolled up and down Smith?s stomach, back, and arms. Then the eyes were burned out and irons were thrust down his throat. Another snip from that century-old NYT story, which presumed Smith was guilty, and deserved the lynching: Whisky shops were closed, unruly mobs were dispersed, schools were dismissed by a proclamation from the mayor, and everything was done in a business-like manner. ANOTHER NEGRO BURNED; HENRY SMITH DIES AT THE STAKE. DRAWN THROUGH THE STREETS ON A CAR -- TORTURED FOR NEARLY AN HOUR WITH HOT IRONS AND THEN BURNED -- AWFUL VENGEANCE OF A PARIS (TEXAS) MOB (NYT) Update: BB commenter JWB nails it: This must be viewed in light of the Ashley Todd incident this week. Todd made up a false story that a black man attacked her and carved a "B" in her face, ostensibly because she supports John McCain. In Paris, Texas, a hundred years ago, a charge like that would get a black man burned alive. Today it doesn't go quite that far but you could see the shadow of the lynch mob forming in the darker corners of the right-wing blogosphere when the Todd story first circulated. The Southern Poverty Law Center has an interactive map of racist organizations and businesses (think: White Pride record stores, KKK branches) in this part of Texas, which you can view here. [ * ] Incidentally, SLPC also categorizes the Nation of Islam and the New Black Panther Party as "hate groups." Previously on Boing Boing: The Last Lynching: Ted Koppel documentary on Discovery tonight... Boingboing.Net Black man dragged to death 200 miles from site of Byrd murder 10 years ago. {new window}   Www.Boingboing.Net - Brandon McClelland, 24, was dragged to death beneath a truck driven by two white men in Paris, Texas last month. McClelland was black. The site of his death is about 200 miles from the location where James Byrd was murdered in a similar manner ten years ago. (Image at left: Jacqueline McClelland, Brandon's mother; photo courtesy Jesse Muhammad.) McClelland's murder took place on September 16, 2008. Parts of his mangled body were found strewn along the highway at great distance. First responders treated the case as a hit and run. The county district attorney's office denied the possibility of racist motivations, and said comparisons to the Byrd lynching were "preposterous." The incident was reported in the local newspaper, which later followed with this editorial. Some bloggers and news sites associated with the Nation of Islam [ * ] have been discussing the killing as a hate crime for weeks, and claim local law enforcement ignored key forensic evidence at the crime scene. Howard Witt at the Chicago Tribune, who has covered related stories about racial injustice and hate crimes in this region, wrote about the case as a possible hate crime earlier this month. The story of McClelland's death -- and allegations the investigation by (white) local police investigators was botched -- seems to be gaining broader attention after having been picked up by AP today: Another Dragging Death In Texas (Associated Press). Snip from a related story about racism in Paris, Texas, also from Witt at the Chicago Tribune: The public fairgrounds in this small east Texas town look ordinary enough, like so many other well-worn county fair sites across the nation. Unless you know the history of the place. There are no plaques or markers to denote it, but several of the most notorious public lynchings of black Americans in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries were staged at the Paris Fairgrounds, where thousands of white spectators would gather to watch and cheer as black men were dragged onto a scaffold, scalded with hot irons and finally burned to death or hanged. One of the most widely-publicized lynchings of a black person in American history took place there 115 years ago. On February 1, 1893, former slave Henry Smith was tortured to death in front of a crowd of ten thousand (mostly or entirely white) people. Here is the New York Times article from that day, documenting the brutal details of his death in explicit detail. The child?s father, her brother, and two uncles then gathered about the Negro as he lay fastened to the torture platform and thrust hot irons into his quivering flesh. It was horrible?the man dying by slow torture in the midst of smoke from his own burning flesh. Every groan from the fiend, every contortion of his body was cheered by the thickly packed crowd of 10,000 persons. The mass of beings 600 yards in diameter, the scaffold being the center. After burning the feet and legs, the hot irons?plenty of fresh ones being at hand?were rolled up and down Smith?s stomach, back, and arms. Then the eyes were burned out and irons were thrust down his throat. Another snip from that century-old NYT story, which presumed Smith was guilty, and deserved the lynching: Whisky shops were closed, unruly mobs were dispersed, schools were dismissed by a proclamation from the mayor, and everything was done in a business-like manner. ANOTHER NEGRO BURNED; HENRY SMITH DIES AT THE STAKE. DRAWN THROUGH THE STREETS ON A CAR -- TORTURED FOR NEARLY AN HOUR WITH HOT IRONS AND THEN BURNED -- AWFUL VENGEANCE OF A PARIS (TEXAS) MOB (NYT) Update: BB commenter JWB nails it: This must be viewed in light of the Ashley Todd incident this week. Todd made up a false story that a black man attacked her and carved a "B" in her face, ostensibly because she supports John McCain. In Paris, Texas, a hundred years ago, a charge like that would get a black man burned alive. Today it doesn't go quite that far but you could see the shadow of the lynch mob forming in the darker corners of the right-wing blogosphere when the Todd story first circulated. The Southern Poverty Law Center has an interactive map of racist organizations and businesses (think: White Pride record stores, KKK branches) in this part of Texas, which you can view here. [ * ] Incidentally, SLPC also categorizes the Nation of Islam and the New Black Panther Party as "hate groups." Previously on Boing Boing: The Last Lynching: Ted Koppel documentary on Discovery tonight...
Black man dragged to death 200 miles from site of Byrd murder 10 years ago. - Boing Boing {...}
Published: October 25, 2008, 3:47 am - Indexed: October 27, 2008, 3:05 pm - Page Size: 154KB
Category: Arts > Literature > Genres > Cyberpunk

]]> Arts > Literature > Genres > Cyberpunk {NORTH AMERICA > LODGING} - **Time-share rental: 4 Nights in Las Vegas for Oct. 9-13** (danville / san ramon) $75 1bd http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/north-america/united-states/california/metro-areas/san-francisco-bay-area/travel-and-tourism/lodging/time-share-rental-4-nights-in-las-vegas-for-oct-9-13-2008101262.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/north-america/united-states/california/metro-areas/san-francisco-bay-area/travel-and-tourism/lodging/time-share-rental-4-nights-in-las-vegas-for-oct-9-13-2008101262.htm Thu, 02 Oct 2008 04:44:22 GMT I own a time-share at Grandview Casino in Las Vegas: http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-6609965-the_grandview_at_las_vegas-i I had a last minute change of plans and I'm unable to go but I can't make a refundable cancellation at this time. I'm offering the 4 nights at only $75 per night (Travelocity rate is $140). If you're only able to go 3 nights- then you only pay for the nights that you use. The room has a separate bedroom, living room, and kitchenette. It sleeps four adults. The Grandview at Las Vegas is located approximately five miles from McCarran International Airport and the Las Vegas Strip. Lake Mead is about 25 miles from the property. Hotel amenities include 24-hour front desk, gift shop, newsstand, storage room for sports equipment, playground, heated outdoor pool, and Jacuzzi. All rooms feature kitchenettes, refrigerators, microwaves, coffeemakers, sofa beds, irons and ironing boards, cable TVs, in-room movies, clock radios, safes, voicemail, and dataports. Please email Angela if you're interested. Sfbay.Craigslist.Org **Time-share rental: 4 Nights in Las Vegas for Oct. 9-13** (danville / san ramon) $75 1bd {new window}   Sfbay.Craigslist.Org - I own a time-share at Grandview Casino in Las Vegas: http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-6609965-the_grandview_at_las_vegas-i I had a last minute change of plans and I'm unable to go but I can't make a refundable cancellation at this time. I'm offering the 4 nights at only $75 per night (Travelocity rate is $140). If you're only able to go 3 nights- then you only pay for the nights that you use. The room has a separate bedroom, living room, and kitchenette. It sleeps four adults. The Grandview at Las Vegas is located approximately five miles from McCarran International Airport and the Las Vegas Strip. Lake Mead is about 25 miles from the property. Hotel amenities include 24-hour front desk, gift shop, newsstand, storage room for sports equipment, playground, heated outdoor pool, and Jacuzzi. All rooms feature kitchenettes, refrigerators, microwaves, coffeemakers, sofa beds, irons and ironing boards, cable TVs, in-room movies, clock radios, safes, voicemail, and dataports. Please email Angela if you're interested.
**Time-share rental: 4 Nights in Las Vegas for Oct. 9-13** {...}
Published: October 2, 2008, 4:44 am - Indexed: October 2, 2008, 9:57 am - Page Size: 5KB
Category: Regional > North America > United States > California > Metro Areas > San Francisco Bay Area > Travel and Tourism > Lodging

]]> Regional > North America > United States > California > Metro Areas > San Francisco Bay Area > Travel and Tourism > Lodging {LITERATURE > CYBERPUNK} - Political "crop circle" http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/cyberpunk/political-crop-circle-20080989517.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/cyberpunk/political-crop-circle-20080989517.htm Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:40:00 GMT Every year, Lebanon, Ohio farmer Bill Irons creates a design in his corn field. This year, it's a 12-acre maze with an election theme. From the Cincinnati Enquirer: Irons creates his design the old-fashioned way. He draws it out on graph paper, then enlarges it on 16 to 20 pages of graph paper that he tapes together and mounts on a board. The corn field gets special attention, too. It's planted in two directions - like the intersections on a grid, he said. The corn comes up extra thick that way. When the corn starts growing, Irons gets out his tractor, and sometimes a hoe. He grooms his creation the entire growing season. Irons chooses not to use a GPS device, a piece of technology that would guide him more easily through the cutting process. "I use my head and my hands," he said. Corn maze takes election theme (Cincinnati.com, thanks Charles Pescovitz!)... Boingboing.Net Political "crop circle" {new window}   Www.Boingboing.Net - Every year, Lebanon, Ohio farmer Bill Irons creates a design in his corn field. This year, it's a 12-acre maze with an election theme. From the Cincinnati Enquirer: Irons creates his design the old-fashioned way. He draws it out on graph paper, then enlarges it on 16 to 20 pages of graph paper that he tapes together and mounts on a board. The corn field gets special attention, too. It's planted in two directions - like the intersections on a grid, he said. The corn comes up extra thick that way. When the corn starts growing, Irons gets out his tractor, and sometimes a hoe. He grooms his creation the entire growing season. Irons chooses not to use a GPS device, a piece of technology that would guide him more easily through the cutting process. "I use my head and my hands," he said. Corn maze takes election theme (Cincinnati.com, thanks Charles Pescovitz!)...
Political "crop circle" - Boing Boing {...}
Published: September 15, 2008, 11:40 pm - Indexed: September 16, 2008, 9:14 am - Page Size: 68KB
Category: Arts > Literature > Genres > Cyberpunk

]]> Arts > Literature > Genres > Cyberpunk {LITERATURE > CYBERPUNK} - Extreme ironing, an adventure sport for people who like laundry http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/cyberpunk/extreme-ironing-an-adventure-sport-for-people-who-20080833019.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/cyberpunk/extreme-ironing-an-adventure-sport-for-people-who-20080833019.htm Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:47:45 GMT Extreme ironing might be the coolest sport that didn't make it into the Olympics this year. Started over a decade ago by UK knitwear factory worker Phil Shaw, it requires four simple criteria: a man, an iron, an ironing board, and a crazy natural environment that makes people think, holy crap I can't believe he's ironing on that thing! Shaw calls extreme ironing "the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt." I know it sounds silly, but some people take it very seriously, training for competitions by lifting irons like dumbbells and bench-pressing ironing boards. Not only do you have to have the stamina and athleticism to reach extreme conditions, but when you get there, you have to iron with finesse?it's a performance art, like dancing or gymnastics. Can you focus on a tiny crease in a shirt sleeve while balancing on one leg on a tree branch jutting out over a cliff? Didn't think so. The guy who runs Extreme Ironing Japan has promised to let me witness a session next time I'm there, so I'll let you guys know when that happens.... Boingboing.Net Extreme ironing, an adventure sport for people who like laundry {new window}   Www.Boingboing.Net - Extreme ironing might be the coolest sport that didn't make it into the Olympics this year. Started over a decade ago by UK knitwear factory worker Phil Shaw, it requires four simple criteria: a man, an iron, an ironing board, and a crazy natural environment that makes people think, holy crap I can't believe he's ironing on that thing! Shaw calls extreme ironing "the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt." I know it sounds silly, but some people take it very seriously, training for competitions by lifting irons like dumbbells and bench-pressing ironing boards. Not only do you have to have the stamina and athleticism to reach extreme conditions, but when you get there, you have to iron with finesse?it's a performance art, like dancing or gymnastics. Can you focus on a tiny crease in a shirt sleeve while balancing on one leg on a tree branch jutting out over a cliff? Didn't think so. The guy who runs Extreme Ironing Japan has promised to let me witness a session next time I'm there, so I'll let you guys know when that happens....
Extreme ironing, an adventure sport for people who like laundry - Boing Boing {...}
Published: August 25, 2008, 4:47 pm - Indexed: August 26, 2008, 8:16 pm - Page Size: 50KB
Category: Arts > Literature > Genres > Cyberpunk

]]> Arts > Literature > Genres > Cyberpunk