Ontario Empoblog

Hayley McQueen Kevin and Bean Christopher Nance Let's to to France If you like that, I have others . Speaking of Hayley McQueen, here's part of an interview : Do you enjoy working for Sky Sports, and is it as fun as it looks? It's more fun than it looks! I worked really hard for my degree & specialised in Journalism. I've worked behind the scenes reporting & producing elsewhere for 5 years, 3 of those at 'Boro TV, I'm very lucky as I'm doing something which I truly love & getting paid to do it. The next best thing would have been to actually play football - I'm quite tall so I reckon If I'd have been a boy I'd have made a cracking defender! OK, let's check on The Bean : Clyde Tombaugh's proud little pebble has received more press coverage this month than at any time in the past 76 years. I am happy to see so many people not just taking the planet demotion decision lying down. It turns out I am not alone and there are many, man...

I have two Jennifers who are both bloggers and MySpace friends, and I've managed to work both of them into a single post. I really need to bookmark stuff before I throw it away and spout off about it anyway . When the New York Jennifer wrote about Google's effort to protect its trademark with media organizations, I immediately thought of Google's sudden self-interest in copyright and trademark protection. Although I can't find the original link that discussed this, here comes another one (and yes, that is the title of a Monty Python song, and George Harrison was probably somehow associated with the song, he's so fine, don't you know?). Google has been pooh-poohing authors and publishers, who are suing Google for violating their copyrights by scanning copyrighted books without the copyright holders' permissions. But at the same time Google ignores copyright law, it has developed its own digital-rights-management scheme for protecting copyrighted data downlo...

There are so many angles via which the Katie Couric photo retouching story can be approached - the responsibility of a news organization, the proper control of low-level workers, etc. First, the Couric story : No, Katie Couric didn't suddenly lose 20 pounds. The incoming "CBS Evening News" anchor appears significantly thinner in a network promotional magazine photo thanks to digital airbrushing. The touched-up photo of Couric dressed in a striped business suit appears on the inside of the September issue of Watch! which is distributed at CBS stations and on American Airlines flights.... Gil Schwartz, executive vice president of communications for CBS Corp., said Wednesday in a phone interview the photo alteration was done by someone in the CBS photo department who "got a little zealous." But he dismissed any notion of heads rolling over the matter. "I talked to my photo department, we had a discussion about it," Schwartz said. "I think photo under...

Followup . Here's the latest : A fugitive polygamist leader who was on the FBI's Most Wanted List was found with cell phones, laptop computers, wigs and more than $50,000 in cash when he was arrested, authorities said Tuesday. Warren Steed Jeffs, 50, was arrested without incident and no weapons were found when he and two others were pulled over on a routine stop and taken into custody late Monday, said FBI special agent in charge Steven Martinez. Jeffs, who was not driving, was stopped in a 2007 red Cadillac Escalade by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper on Interstate 15 just north of Las Vegas. He was being held in Clark County jail and faces sexual misconduct charges in Utah and Arizona for allegedly arranging marriages between underage girls and older men. From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here )

At times I have commented on the common misuse and overuse of the term "fascist." In fact, I wrote about this ad nauseum back in January 2005. Some lowlights: I've talked in the past about how certain people like to apply the term "fascist" to anyone with whom they don't agree, and I've also noted that the "Not One Damn Dime" people, who apparently want a complete pullout from Iraq, probably disagree with John Kerry's views on how the war should be prosecuted. In fact, I alleged that they would have no problem chanting "John Kerry is a fascist." It turns out that there really ARE people who label Kerry as a fascist - which again proves how the term "fascist" is so often misused.... But it's not only the right that is calling Kerry a Fascist. The far far left is also using the term (note that they also use the term "Amerika," but with only one K rather than three; "U.$." is also a nice touch).... ...

On the wire : Prosecutors abruptly dropped their case against John Mark Karr in the slaying of JonBenet Ramsey, saying DNA tests failed to put him at the crime scene despite his repeated insistence he killed the 6-year-old beauty queen.... Karr, 41, will be kept in jail in Boulder until he can be sent to Sonoma County, Calif., to face child pornography charges dating to 2001, authorities said. From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here )

I stumbled on a story and didn't know it. A little over a week ago, I reproduced part of a MySpace profile that I found: John Mark Karr II "Bay Area Metal" Male 15 years old PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA United States Last Login: 8/16/2006 At the time, I figured that the name of this MySpace profile resulted from one of two things: "An unfortunate coincidence." In this case, I assumed that some poor unfortunate guy just happened to have the same name as an alleged killer. "A purposeful choice." In this case, I assumed that some sicko death metal dude decided to adopt the name of an alleged killer for his MySpace profile. Afterwards, I noticed that Blogpatrol was recording a number of search hits on my blog for the search term "John Mark Karr II," but thought nothing of it. In addition, I noticed that the profile had been deleted. My internal reaction at the time? "Serves the metal dude right for adopting the name of an alleged killer." (W...

Oh boy : BOMBAY, India - The owner of a restaurant named after Adolf Hitler said Thursday he will change its name because it angered so many people. Puneet Sablok said he would remove Hitler's name and the Nazi swastika from billboards and the menu. He had said the restaurant's name — "Hitler's Cross" — and symbols were only meant to attract attention. Here comes another one : VIENNA (Reuters) - A would-be robber was arrested after he tried to hold up his local town hall, mistaking it for a bank, Austrian police said Wednesday. Wearing a mask and waving a toy pistol, the unemployed man burst into the town hall in the village of Poggersdorf, southern Austria, and shouted: "Hold-up, hold-up!" But this one is my favorite : NEW YORK (Reuters) - A woman stole $2.3 million (1.2 million pounds) from her employers and spent the money on lottery tickets, buying as much as $6,000 worth of tickets a day in a bid to hit the jackpot, prosecutors said on Thursday. If...

In my previous post on the changing fortunes of Pluto over the last couple of days, someone thought that I was criticizing Jennifer for her Tuesday post about 12 planets. (By Thursday, the planets had been reduced to 8.) It was not my intent to criticize Jennifer for her Tuesday post, which was based upon knowledge that was available at the time. ON TUESDAY, ABC News reported the following: A committee formed by the International Astronomers Union (IAU) has proposed that to be called a planet, a celestial body must be in orbit around a star while not itself being a star. It also must be large enough in mass for its own gravity to pull it into a nearly spherical shape. The new definition — the first time the IAU has tried to define scientifically what a planet is — means three new planets will be added to the current nine, and opens the door to dozens more which are seen fitting the description. Based on that article, Jennifer reported on Tuesday that there were going to be three new...

On Tuesday, Jennifer wrote the following: For the first time ever, we now have a definition of the word “planet” universally accepted by astronomers: "A celestial body in orbit around a star while not itself being a star, and large enough in mass for its own gravity to pull it into a nearly spherical shape." This definition means that three new planets will be added to the current nine!!!! Jennifer based this statement on the following article : A committee formed by the International Astronomers Union (IAU) has proposed that to be called a planet, a celestial body must be in orbit around a star while not itself being a star. It also must be large enough in mass for its own gravity to pull it into a nearly spherical shape.... Reaction to the proposal, which will be voted on this Thursday by some 2,500 astronomers and scientists, has hit the IAU's annual conference in Prague like a meteor. "The desire to put everything in neat little boxes is admirable but can be ove...

Wikipedia now links to an entry in this blog . (If I had a Wikipedia account, I'd trouble myself to correct the "empblog" spelling.) The entry itself has dated information. For the latest information, go to this page at laradio.com and click on the appropriate letter at the bottom of the page. No updated information on Michael "the Maintenance Man" Burton, by the way. P.S. Richard Blade's real name is Richard Sheppard. Who knew? From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here )

I've been meaning to talk a bit about southern California radio, but haven't gotten around to it until now. Let's start off with the nice - specifically, a very nice email that I received from Jeff Pope of KGGI . It read, in part: Let me start off by saying I only found your blogs after a listener of mine asked if I was ever at X 103.9, and when I confirmed, I replied, "Did you used to listen?" "No, I got bored, did a google search on your name and found you on some guy's blog." ??? After further research, I found the blog.... Pope went on to say some nice things about my writing, but I'm not going to reproduce that because I'm proud of my humility. I've never met Pope , but I did meet Michael the Maintenance Man (real name Michael Burton) once, back when he worked for KROQ. He was happy, smiling, joking around - all in all, a pretty good guy. Of course, Burton was not all that happy by the time he left KROQ, having gotten into a disp...

On Friday, I posted the following survey question at http://oemperor.blogspot.com/2006/08/oemposurvey-please-participate-in.html as well as at http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=61035679&blogID=157292758 : Do you remember where you were on Christmas Day, 1996? If so, where? Some of the respondents were able to recall exactly where they were on Christmas Day, 1996, while other weren't sure. I fall into the latter category. I lived in Upland at the time, but I can't remember whether the 1996 Christmas was spent at home, or if we took a trip to the east coast that Christmas. I can tell you that I went to South Africa in early 1997, that I moved back to Ontario in the spring of 1997, and that I went to Brazil in late 1997, and if I thought harder I could recall some other events from that time, but I cannot honestly remember where I was during Christmas 1996. Needless to say, you all know why I asked this particular question, about this particu...

This survey (which is being reproduced elsewhere) is open to all who read this blog, whether you're Blogger users or not. Anonymous comments also accepted. Please answer the following survey question in the comments area: Do you remember where you were on Christmas Day, 1996? If so, where? Some of you have already figured out why I'm asking this question, but play along anyway. After I considered my response (which I'll post later) to the question above, I began wondering about the responses of others. More later. From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here )

From a news conference earlier today. Statement from Mary Lacy: Good morning. As you are now aware, John Mark Karr, 41 years old, was arrested for the murder of JonBenet Ramsey yesterday morning at approximately 6:00 am in Bangkok, Thailand. Mr. Karr was living in Bangkok. He began his employment as a second grade teacher in a Bangkok international school on Tuesday of this week. Mr. Karr has traveled extensively since leaving the United States several years ago. The District Attorneys’ Office in conjunction with many other law enforcement agencies have spent the past few months locating, identifying and yesterday, arresting Mr. Karr. Much work has been done in those efforts. There is much more work that needs to be done now that the suspect is in custody. Our preference would have been to complete that work out of the public eye. That is obviously not possible this morning. You all have many questions that you are anxious to have answered. John Karr is presumed innocent. ...

Bean has written about John Mark Karr, and a comment from one of his commenters struck me. [W]e really owe Mrs. Ramsey an apology for living with the loss of her daughter and then dying at only 49 with her name still smeared. However, while I'll acknowledge that the Ramseys' names were smeared, don't forget that they also did some smearing of their own. Now that John Mark Karr has apparently confessed to the crime, maybe it's worthwhile to see who the Ramseys falsely accused : Chris Wolf, Boulder journalist Chris Wolf, a freelance journalist, sued the Ramseys in 2000 claiming that he'd been libeled by the Ramseys' book, "The Death of Innocence." He was included in the book among those the Ramsey's considered suspects in their daughter's murder. And here's another one: Bill McReynolds, former journalism professor Bill McReynolds, a former University of Colorado journalism professor, portrayed Santa Claus at the Ramseys' home in 1996, t...

...check this out. Pucca, singing, eating, dancing, writing, acting, love songs, lyrics, Hollywood gossip, reading, web-designing, blogging, dogs and cats, babies, shopping, loud laughter, spontaneity, total sweetness, daydreaming, carebears, what we know as love, moons and stars, nature trips, the beach, cheerleading, performing on stage, teatro, plays, kisses, hugs, cuddles, peace sign, smiles, small things to treasure, maltese puppies, flowers, natural scents, caresses, stuff toys, baby talk, pizzaymada, massages at Palm garden(THE BEST), foot spas in Nature's Way, having my hand and hair played in my definition, soft sandals, 3-4inches, poems, silly phrases.. loving you.:) Much more peaceful. From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here )

An unfortunate coincidence, or a purposeful choice? We report, you decide : John Mark Karr II "Bay Area Metal" Male 15 years old PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA United States Last Login: 8/16/2006 But there are 137 Adolf Hitlers on MySpace, including one who can't even spell "Mein Kampf" . Feel the love. From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here )

HistoryMike links to this press release : Press Release: JonBenet Ramsey Homicide Mary Lacy, Boulder District Attorney confirms that there has been an arrest in Bangkok, Thailand for the December 26, 1996 murder of JonBenet Ramsey. The suspect was arrested on August 16, 2006 following several months of a focused and complex investigation. John and Patsy Ramsey both were consulted during the course of the investigation. The Ramsey family has been notified of the arrest. The District Attorney’s Office has scheduled a news conference at 10 am Thursday, August 17, 2006 at the Justice Center, 6th and Canyon Blvd., Boulder, Colorado. The location of the news conference will be outdoors in the southwest corner of the public parking lot across the street from the Justice Center. Parking at the site is limited and members of the media are encouraged to prioritize the vehicles at this location. In order to disseminate information that may be ethically released and handle inquiries from the ...

But the Ramsey family is apparently off the hook : A former schoolteacher was arrested Wednesday in Thailand in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey — a surprise breakthrough in a lurid, decade-old murder mystery that had cast a cloud of suspicion over her own parents. Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, a 42-year-old American, and one law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Boulder police had tracked him down online. The Ramsey family's attorney in Atlanta pronounced the arrest vindication for JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey. Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer on June 24 .... The attorney said the Ramseys learned about the suspect a least a month before Patsy Ramsey's death. "It's been a very long 10 years, and I'm just sorry Patsy isn't here for me to hug her neck," Wood said. Karr was a teacher who once lived in Conyers, Ga., according to Wood....

I was tagged by Jennifer. To be fair, I did not include the Bible in my answers below (although it would be a valid answer to 1, 2, 4, and 8). 1. One book that changed your life. The Insider's Guide to Colleges, late 1970s edition. This book's description of Reed College appealed to me, and I ended up on the West Coast, and things haven't been the same since. 2. One book you've read more than once. Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States 3. One book you would want on a desert island. The first one that popped into my mind was Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons . However, that probably wouldn't help me on a desert island. 4. One book that made you laugh. The part in Gerald Ford's A Time to Heal that involved a sheep in a hotel room. And no, I'm not kidding . Jim Naughton of the New York Times is credited with masterminding the "Peoria sheep caper." Encamped in that town after Ford addressed a group of farmers, Naugh...

Doing some research , in case I spend a very long day at LAX this Saturday. The Encounter restaurant is situated within the famous Theme Building located at the center of the Los Angeles International Airport. 209 World Way Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles, CA 90045 Telephone Number: 310-215-5151 for reservations and general information... Encounter's hours are: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (last dinner hour); Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. (last dinner hour). The Bar closes nightly at 10:00 p.m. It is located at 209 World Way at LAX. To get there, be sure to enter at the airport lower level (arrivals) and proceed past the third signal until you see the Encounter signage. Valet parking is available. For more information and reservations, call 310-215-5151. Here's some more background : At the center of Los Angeles International Airport stands the landmark Theme Building which is home to the spectacul...