Ontario Empoblog

Normally the songs that pop in my head are professionally produced opii from major recording organizations. But on Tuesday afternoon (Moody Blues reference), a song popped in my head that comes from high school marching band days, as the band returned from an away football game. Song In Head: Hail to the bus driver Bus driver Bus driver Hail to the bus driver Driving the bus. He drinks and he cusses And wrecks all the buses Hail to the bus driver Driving the bus. From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here )

The Sheep's Crib links to a potentially damaging tale : More than five years after President Bush created the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, the former second-in-command of that office is going public with an insider’s tell-all account that portrays an office used almost exclusively to win political points with both evangelical Christians and traditionally Democratic minorities. The office’s primary mission, providing financial support to charities that serve the poor, never got the presidential support it needed to succeed, according to the book.... “Tempting Faith’s” author is David Kuo, who served as special assistant to the president from 2001 to 2003. A self-described conservative Christian, Kuo’s previous experience includes work for prominent conservatives including former Education Secretary and federal drug czar Bill Bennett and former Attorney General John Ashcroft.... [Kuo] says some of the nation’s most prominent evangelical leaders were known in the office of pres...

Me continue followup from hot book woman post and comment after . Bad buttery? Sparta have history : Sparta had the best army in ancient Greece; and was the most powerful state before the rise of Athens, a naval power, after the Persian Wars (during these wars the Spartans would become legendary for their stand in the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC). Sparta and Athens were reluctant allies against the Persians, but became rivals thereafter. The greatest series of conflicts between the two states, which resulted in the dismantling of the Athenian Empire, is called the Peloponnesian War. Athenian attempts to control Greece and take over the Spartan role of 'guardian of Hellenism' ended in failure. But feather that fly in air must come down to earth: The first ever defeat of a Spartan hoplite army at full strength occurred at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. By the time of the rise of Alexander the Great in 336 BC, Sparta was a shadow of its former self, clinging to an isolated...

Annika reports that Freddy Fender has died. Several of his 70s hits can be found on this album. And yes, I realize that these probably aren't the original ABC/Dot releases, but heck, his 70s "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" wasn't the original release, either. More : Born Baldemar Huerta...Fender was born in 1937 in San Benito, the South Texas border town credited for spawning the Mexican-polka sound of conjunto. The son of migrant workers who did his own share of picking crops, he also was exposed to the blues sung by blacks alongside the Mexicans in the fields. Always a performer, he sang on the radio as a boy and won contests for his singing — one prize included a tub full of about $10 worth of food. But his career really began in the late '50s, when he returned from serving in the Marines and recorded Spanish-language versions of Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" and Harry Belafonte's "Jamaica Farewell." The recordings were hits...

So how about a swimsuit competition for Tibetan independence ? Three years ago, at the tender age of 17, Metok Lhazey sat in solitary confinement in a pitch dark, filthy and horribly cramped Chinese prison cell in the Tibetan capital Lhasa. This weekend, the nervous 20-year-old is dreaming about being crowned Miss Tibet in a small but controversial beauty pageant held by Tibetan refugees in northern India.... The Miss Tibet beauty pageant is in its fifth year, a budget contest in small town of McLeodganj that attracts only a handful of contestants but plenty of controversy.... The reigning Miss Tibet was forced to withdraw from medium-level beauty pageants in Zimbabwe and Malaysia last year after objections from the Chinese, organizers say. It has also irked conservative Tibetan Buddhists -- the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile here once famously called it "un-Tibetan" and "aping Western culture." This year it even managed to irritate the Indians --...

From Reuters/Yahoo : Croatia, already a popular holiday destination for sunseekers, is now tempting tourists with the offer of dental services at less than half the prices paid in western Europe. Zeljko Popadic and his sister Jelena Nedeljkovic started a modest dental practice in the northern Adriatic town of Rovinj in 1997.... "Some 10 percent of our patients are foreigners and we're confident the number will grow. Most of them are Italians, but there is also a rising number of queries from the United Kingdom," Nedeljkovic, who is in charge of the administrative side of the business, told Reuters. She said their services were twice as cheap as in Italy and three or four times cheaper than in England, while quality was the same. From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here )

Yes, we baby seal clubbers come up with the stereotypical headline for an article , don't we? The French wine-growing area of Alsace officially surrendered to Hungary the label "Tokay" which has been used for several hundred years to designate a local variety of white. Hungary -- where the Tokay wine region is a UNESCO-designated world heritage site -- has been pressing for decades for the sole right to use the name for its range of dry to ultra-sweet white wines, and finally won the case when the country joined the European Union in 2004. From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here )

From the Gallaudet University website : Dr. Jane K. Fernandes, Gallaudet University Provost since 2000, was introduced on May 1, 2006, as Gallaudet’s ninth president. She will take office in January 2007. Celia May Baldwin, Interim Chair of the university’s Board of Trustees made the announcement at a campus convocation this afternoon after the full board elected Dr. Fernandes president over the weekend.... “Gallaudet is extremely fortunate to have Dr. Jane Fernandes as our next president,” said Celia May Baldwin, chair of the University’s Board of Trustees. “Jane has a deep understanding of how this university works, having served in senior leadership positions here for more than a decade. It would be difficult, if not impossible, for the Board to find anyone with greater breadth or depth of experience. The executive positions she has held at both the K-12 and University levels – and the notable accomplishments she has made in these positions - make her uniquely qualified to lead...

I was sick in bed and missed the whole thing. From Howard Bloom : For the third time in two years, and the second in two weeks, Lyons embarrassed Fox Sports Friday night. Fox Sports reacted immediately, firing the now former national broadcaster before game four of the American League Championship Series at Detroit’s Comerica Park, for what network officials deemed racially insensitive remarks. Two years ago, Fox Sports suspended Lyons for racially insensitive remarks for one game. Last week, Lyons and broadcast partner Thom Brennaman ridiculed a fan attending an NLDS game at Shea Stadium against the Los Angeles Dodgers.... Fox Sports said enough was enough following remarks Lyons made during Friday’s game three coverage from Comerica Park. Brennaman and Lyons where joined in the broadcast booth Friday night by former major league manager Lou Piniella. In the second inning of the broadcast Piniella was talking about Oakland's Marco Scutaro, and the success Scutaro had enjoyed in th...

This post did it for me. Not because of his anti-Malkin comments, but because of the title. All Your Tube Are Belong To Us If you're groaning, don't read further. If you're saying that I use big words that are incomprehensi- hard to understand (heavy on the sarcasm, by the way), then read these posts from September 28, 2005: Make Your Time - Meme Zig Meme Ed Sent Me Jeffery or Jeffrey? And, for old times' sake, listen to [UPDATED LINK] this again. From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here )

While checking my Blogpatrol stats, I found out that a lot of people Googling for Tallil Abdellatif are ending up at my May 23, 2006 post on Hamshahri's Holocaust cartoons contest . (Whatever happened to that contest, by the way?) To put the searches in context, here are excerpts from that post: IranCartoon.com has published a list of participants, by country, in their contest: The list of Participants in International Cartoonet Festival About Danish Cartoons and Holocaust... Morroco Derkaoui-Abdellah khalil Khay Brahim Bougharraf Naji Benaji AASSID Houcine Tallil Abdellatif Brahim BOUGHARRAF Abdelmalek Lahlali Abdelghani Jekki Tallil's contributions to this contest are here , here , and here . The most popular of the three cartoons is this one: Here are some of the comments that have been received on this particular cartoon: From: Brigitte Meier USA (Sat 16 Sep 2006 03:02:24 AM EDT) Civil war is universal when you hit a people down again and again and give it no hope for jus...

There's an ongoing conversation regarding whether 17 year olds are adults. From my parental perspective, here is evidence that they are not . Of course, some of these "young adults" may be 18 or older: The [United Kingdom] Home Office has tried to frighten people into taking its identity plans seriously by publishing a marketing survey it said proved their passports were easy targets for ruthless criminals. People care more about their iPods and mobile phones than their passports, according to an Identity and Passport Service (IPS) survey, making passports an easy target for criminals. The IPS survey found that, "when put on the spot" by government-commissioned inquisitors, half of all young adults had no idea where their passport was. "Only half...could say where their passport was without having to think or look for it," an IPS statement said. Yet 72 per cent of young adults knew exactly where their iPods and mobile phones were. IPS director Bernard...

I thought that you weren't supposed to be able to profit from crime, and technically the Runaway Bride was guilty of several crimes. However, she's now suing her ex, claiming that he claimed the money from the notorious episode : The "runaway bride," who took off days before her lavish wedding in 2005, is suing her former fiance for $500,000, claiming he defrauded her out of her share of their assets. Jennifer Wilbanks is seeking $250,000 as her share of a home she says John C. Mason purchased through the partnership with proceeds from $500,000 received for selling their story to Regan Media in New York. She also wants $250,000 in punitive damages for alleged abuse of the power of attorney she granted for Mason to handle their financial affairs. In addition, letters included as exhibits in the lawsuit show that the former couple has been in dispute over personal property Wilbanks claims Mason has kept. The items include a ladder that belonged to her father, a gold-col...

I hope that the donations are appropriate : The Amish community grieving the loss of five girls shot in a schoolhouse say they have been overwhelmed by gifts from the outside world — about $700,000 in donations so far. The money is expected to go toward short- and long-term medical bills, transportation costs, counseling and other needs. At the request of Amish leaders, a fund has also been set up for the gunman's family.... Members of the Amish have not sought the gifts, in part because their religion teaches them to care for themselves. But they also believe that giving is a way of grieving and say they do not want to deny others that experience. They believe "it would be un-Christ-like to deny other people the blessing that comes from giving," said Herman Bontrager, a Mennonite businessman who is serving as a spokesman. From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here )

From Reuters/Yahoo : The 57-year-old was sentenced to 15 years in jail for killing her 29-year-old son with a garden hoe in April 2005 while he was sleeping. Last month, authorities judged her to be in the final stages of cancer and let her go home, where she stabbed her husband in the throat with a knife. "It was established she was in the last stage of cancer, she had it all over her body," said a spokeswoman for the Bourgas regional police. "They presumed she was feeling bad and she would treat herself and rest. But nothing of the kind. She got aggressive and ... she killed her husband." Regarding remorse: "She threatened that, if she is released again, she will kill her second son as well," the police spokeswoman said. From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here )

To the delight of baby seal clubbers everywhere, Barbra Streisand proved that she can dish it out, but she can't take it : Streisand endured jeers as she interjected a political skit into Monday night's show, exchanging zingers with a celebrity impersonator playing George Bush as a bumbling idiot. Though most of the crowd offered polite applause during the slightly humorous routine, it went on a bit too long, especially for those who just wanted to hear Streisand sing. "Come on, be polite!" the well-known liberal implored. But one heckler wouldn't let up. And finally, Streisand let him have it. "Shut the (expletive) up!" Streisand bellowed, drawing wild applause. "Shut up if you can't take a joke!" From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here )

From InfoWorld : Former Hewlett-Packard chairmen Patricia Dunn and Carly Fiorina each cited board member Thomas Perkins as an instigator behind their ousters from the technology company, according to interviews the two gave on a U.S. TV news program Sunday night. Dunn and Fiorina made their comments in separate segments on the CBS News program "60 Minutes." Dunn responded to felony charges filed against her and four other defendants in a California court last week for the alleged use of illegal tactics to probe boardroom leaks to news media. Fiorina commented about her book on her HP tenure, "Tough Choices: A Memoir," which is being published this week.... Dunn told correspondent Lesley Stahl that Perkins, of the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, launched a campaign to force Dunn off the board over how she conducted an investigation of boardroom leaks.... Dunn initiated an investigation of leaks to the media in 2005 and a second one in 2006, in w...

I'm a Google user (duh, I'm on Blogger) and a YouTube user. Now the two are one : Internet search leader Google is snapping up YouTube for $1.65 billion, brushing aside copyright concerns to seize a starring role in the online video revolution. The all-stock deal announced Monday unites one of the Internet's marquee companies with one of its rapidly rising stars. It came just a few hours after YouTube unveiled three separate agreements with media companies to counter the threat of copyright-infringement lawsuits. And I have to rethink something that I said earlier. In response to all of these names that people were proposing for the new YouTube, I responded that the new name of the company would be "Google." But I forgot about Blogger, which (as of today) is still being maintained as a separate brand. YouTube will continue to retain its brand, its new headquarters in San Bruno and all 67 employees, including co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. Meanwhile, Googl...

There's a MySpacer named Mary Ska who is on vacation and hasn't seen a TV in two days. Lucky woman. Even though I've been trying to avoid some of the news lately, it's pretty much unavoidable. North Korea claims to have conducted a nuclear bomb test, and that is leading to all sorts of reactions, including the chance that the United Nations might...hold the presses...DEPLORE something. Meanwhile there's a new round of...deploring...over some new Danish cartoons. And if anyone here in the U.S. didn't notice, it's election season, so you have all of the wonderful "informative" commercials: John Smith wants to be mayor of Metropolis. But John Smith wants to murder your children. John Smith wants to give your backyard to Satan worshippers. And John Smith believes that Adolf Hitler was a great man. Do you want John Smith to run YOUR city? So there's not a lot of happiness and joy in Mudville, or Guasti, or Amsterdarn, or any other town you can think...

[29 Jan 2007 - my Kiira Korpi del.icio.us tags are here .] Ironically, this just happened within the last several hours. From Turun Sanomat : Kiira Korpi voitti Finlandia Trophyssa Kiira Korpi voitti Vantaalla sunnuntaina päättyneen taitoluistelun Finlandia Trophyn. Kilpailun kolminkertaisen voittajan, Susanna Pöykiön oli tyydyttävä kakkossijaan. Kolmas oli Unkarin kahden vuoden takainen Euroopan mestari Julia Sebestyen ennen Suomen Alisa Dreita. Miesten kilpailussa Ari-Pekka Nurmenkari oli seitsemäs ja toinen suomalaisedustaja Valtter Virtanen kahdeksas. Miesten kilpailun voitti Yhdysvaltain Jeremy Abbot. OK, let's find something in English : 2006 Finlandia Trophy Results... 2006 Finlandia Trophy Senior Ladies Final Results 1 Kiira Korpi FIN 146.94 3 1 2 Susanne Poykio FIN 144.05 1 4 3 Julia Sebestyen HUN 142.79 4 2 4 Alisa Drei FIN 142.57 2 3 5 Elena Glebova EST 127.94 5 5 6 Margarita Tertichnaia RUS 116.99 6 6 7 Erica Archambault USA 105.78 9 7 8 Niina Laksola FIN 95.80 8 9 9 El...