Sunday reading

The good reads that caught my eyes over the last couple weeks ...

Baseball ...
a Cubs' selection Sunday fast approaching
a Piniella settles on batting order
a Wrigley Field sale to state looking like latest Cubs loser
a Lasorda and the Dodgers say goodbye to Vero Beach
a Emotional day at Dodgertown for Lasorda
a Do-it-all Bill Hall returns to infield for Brewers' new defensive look
a Brewers slugger Prince Fielder now eating a Field of Greens
a Q & A with Brewers' owner Mark Attanasio
a Brewers owner: Yost dynamic leader who gives stability to club
a Japan Trip on for Red Sox, Athletics ... an extraordinary move indeed.
a Keeping up with Jones: Aside from closer, Tigers' bullpen is a big concern ... Not good.
a Why it's so Grand to be Tigers' Granderson
a Nobody's calling for Barry Bonds, and the phone won't start ringing soon
a Suspicion lingers in wake of Report
a Nats' Food Will Tag More Home Bases

Other sports ...
a Knight's ESPN gig could provide a bleeping good time ... From what I've seen, it has been.
a Rodgers ready to play for Packers

TV ...
a TV series alter time

Music ...
a Apple Said to Weigh Unlimited Music Deal
a Nine Inch Nails scares up sales with 'Ghosts'
a Judge Portrays McCartney's Ex As 'Out of Control'
a Judge says Heather Mills 'her own worst enemy'

Politics ...
a '3 a.m. call' Clinton-ad actress gets rude awakening
a What we don't know about Obama hurts him

Media & the Internet ...
a Wikipedia starts to look a bit less wiki
a In a newspaper war, we must mind our p's and q's ... an update from the Trib's big contest win.

Travel ...
a Mount St. Helens' booming history
a Restoring the Mall From 'Disgrace' to Showcase

Life & other stuff ...
a Hey, It's Your Funeral
a Dump the penny
a Starbucks tips ruling is made to order for baristas
a Neighbor 'ghosts' haunt drama on deadly summer ... I remember that summer -- and the heat -- well. It was the first time I'd ever been to Chicago, and every night on the news there were reports of more deaths ...

Sunday reading

Here's some good reads that have caught my eyes the last couple weeks ...

Baseball ...
a A squeeze at Wrigley
a Multiple firms may be part of rights deal
a Steroids In America: The Godfather

Politics ...
a Pro-Clinton? ‘SNL’ Says You’re Joking
a Decriminalize prostitution

a Spitzer's Troubles Ready-Made for Jokes

TV ...

a Britney Spears meets Barney, plus much more on 'How I Met Your Mother'

Media & the Internet ...
a Facebook is doomed
a Virtual friends too much like work
a Wikipedia's tin-cup approach wears thin

a Signing Off at XM: Radio Innovator To Try His Hand At Tribune Co.
a Black TV Crew Attacked While Filming ... and in case you haven't seen it, here's the video.

Life & other stuff ...
a Former president gave campus new identity ... This one was personal. A man who's legacy I really admired and the chance I had to interview him and his wife on Valentine's Day in 2001 was a big highlight for me ...
a Kansas woman sat on toilet for two years
a Parent-teacher talks can get heated
a We Really Need a Staycation

Internet fun

... So my cohort, Laura, was doing some research this week for a project we were woking on about different tree species and their leaves ...

When she logged on to Wikipedia and searched for white poplar, the first paragraph read like this ...

The White Poplar (Populus alba) is a species of poplar, most closely related to the aspens (Populus sect. Populus). It is native from Spain and Morocco through central Europe (north to Germany and Poland) to central Asia. It grows in moist sites, often by watersides, in regions with hot summers and cold to mild winters.[1][2]One time i saw someone humping a white poplar ...

Ok. So typing it now makes it seem pretty moronic and juvenile ... But we tend to be a loopy bunch, and when Laura pointed it out to me, we both burst out laughing. And by the time we could show it to our podmate, the wiki page had already been edited. It was pure luck that we caught the prank at the right moment ... ah, the joys of Wikipedia.

* * *

Last night I was surfing through videos on MySpace and came across this one. Pretty amusing ...

Funny Bathroom Mirror Prank


And then there was this one, whch features a kid who's not very bright ... But man, did I enjoy it! As I was downloading the video it stalled at a point where I could see exactly what was about to happen, and I burst out laughing before even seeing the outcome. Then the video resumed, of course, and I couldn't stop laughing ... I proceeded to watch it multiple times. Continued to laugh. Showed it to my loopy cohorts this morning. All of us watched it multiple times together. And laughed until we had tears in our eyes.

Sunday reading

The headlines and stories that caught my eye this past week ...

Politics ... and the Internet ...
a On Wikipedia, Debating 2008 Hopefuls' Every Facet

Sports ...
a Cubs would be about ready to clinch had they not lost 10 killer games
a NFL Spy Games: The Biggest Loser
a CSN ignores Cuban, but Lee likes his style
aRecalling king of Cub fans: Mike Royko

TV ...
a How do you spell Emmy miscue? S-P-A-D-E-R

Other stuff ...
a Students Can Rest Easy Now: Demand Has Colleges Ditching Twin Beds for Doubles
a A family slows the pace for a tour of London
a Logo gets star treatment

Sunday reading

Some of the good reads I stumbled upon this week ...

Life stuff ...
a Awesome auto does 1,000,000 miles, retires ...awesome in deed.
a Don't be 404 about latest buzzwords
a When you reach the half-century mark, almost anything goes

Music ...
a Bye, bye, bye: Music scene no longer dominated by teens ... Thank goodness! ... Have I mentioned that I can't stand Rihanna?
a Ray LaMontagne, Finding His Place
a Going own ways brings Fleetwood Mac back ... Listening to Fleetwood today, I Googled the band and stumbled across this story from the jsonline. It's 3 years old and written prior to their Summerfest stop, but a worthy read nonetheless. I mean, c'mon, it's Fleetwood Mac! ...

The screens ...
a Animal house: Fanning navigates farm life in ‘Charlotte’s Web’
a 'Charlotte's Web' returns
a Need to sell? Hire a penguin
a Rx for Success: How 'St. Elsewhere' Influenced Today's Top Medical Dramas
a Teaching an old series new tricks ... I still don't get why people are so ga-ga over "Ugly Betty."
a Networks: Listen Up for New Year's resolutions ... I'm a strong supporter of "Brothers & Sisters" and "The Class." But I'm not buying the push for NBC's struggling shows ...
a On Wikipedia, Oblivion Looms for the Non-Notable
a Video Visionaries Meld Traditional TV and the Web

Baseball ...
a Who's the Evil Empire now?
a Incessant talk about money has him green around the gills ... me too.
a Spare the morality play: McGwire deserves induction ... Some good points here.

Sunday reading ... and relaxing

... Nothing like a lazy, rainy Sunday afternoon -- and some good baseball -- to ease your mind ... With our lawn mower still in the fix-it shop, combined with some rather unhospitable weather, my usual weekend yard puttering has been shut down -- forcing me to relax like I haven't in a long, long time ...

First, the baseball. So I discovered earlier this week, by accident, how to use the picture-in-picture feature on our TV. Whoah nelly, am I having fun now!! ... Now, on all those nights where I have three, four baseball games to choose from on the tube, I've got a way to watch at least two of them at the same time ... With the Brewers-Cards, Cubs-Pirates and Mets-Phillies all on yesterday, I took advantage of it and didn't move an inch from the couch for like four hours. ... And now we're doing it again! The rain falling outside has canceled our plans to partake in some of the community activities today, so here Kates and I sit, reading our books, newspapers and magazines, sprawled out in front of our big picture windows ... and on the TV, of course, the Cubs-Pirates and the Reds-Pirates ...

To prove that we aren't just merely a couple of bums who sit around watching baseball, we did get out last night to Prairie Family Days. Had mongo plates of Mexican Food. Took one of the free pontoon boat rides. Walked around the lake. And joked about all the teenie boppers beginning to congregate as the sun set ... I was most excited, however, to hear Wingspan -- a highly-touted Wings tribute band from Chicago -- but when they took too long to get through their sound checks and started 45 minutes late, eventually opening with a terribly loud, blown-out song to which no one could've possibly understood the vocals, Kates and I got up and walked away ...

We got home in time to catch the Saturday Night Live re-run featuring Natalie Portman -- in my opinion, the best and funniest of the season ... which is probably why NBC re-ran it ...

... And now, I'm presenting to you another edition of some of my favorite reads from this past week ...

Film ...
a Oliver Stone's 9/11 is a Tale of Courage ... I'll admit I was a little skeptical at first, but the more I read and see of this one, the more intrigued I am. I talked on here before about my fascination with 9/11. What's more, this film has it's own tragic story and it has an appeal to all ages...
a It Pays to Be a Print Journalist -- in Films

Techy stuff ...
a Why Wiki Can Drive You Wacky ... I've said it before and I'll say it again: Wikipedia is one the best, coolest sites on the Web. It's just too bad pranksters, politicans and vandals are so amused by wrecking it ... although Stephen Colbert's little prank was funny, I'll admit -- but it also goes to show how relentless and careful the Wiki-people are about their site ...
a Downloading firm settles global suits ... And another one bites the dust. I never thought I'd say this five years ago, but thanks iTunes for making us realize legal downloading can be just as fun ...

Music ...
a Marie Claire Editor, Readers Lash Out At Ashlee Simpson ... I don't care what kind of nose she has, to me, she's always seemed fake and too concerned about her image ...
a A Backstage Pass to Intimate Moments in Rock's Odyssey ... a downright fascinating read.
a MTV won't say how old it is (but it's 25) ... I still wish they would just play music.

Sporting news ...
a ESPN Should Return to Its Roots: Broadcasting Sports ... Can I get an amen!?! E$PN (as I saw it written on another blog today ...) seems to be growing further out of touch with its fans every time I turn it on ...
a Rodriguez's sloppy defense hurts Yanks ... The Yankees are getting what they deserve.
a It's still mostly downhill for Cubs' Wood, Prior ... Nothing shocking here. And as much as it hurts this Cubs die-hard to say, I'm not surprised either. With all the hype that surrounded both of them coming up, I laughed everytime someone inferred they were future hall of famers ... I hate it when the sports people do that. Now, Wood's career is as good as over with the Cubs, and unless Prior starts winning he'll be right behind ...
a It's time to tell all, for everyone ... Seriously. As if it's not breaking my heart enough to see the steroid news coming out now about the guys I idolized all through the 90s, I see today that McGwire is refusing to cooperate with MLB's investigation. These guys just don't get it; they're only making it worse by not talking ...
a This Artist Doesn't Paint by Numbers ... Lucky number or not, Maddux waz amazing the other night. It sucked to see him leave Chicago, but, hey, I still have my soft spot for the Dodgers, too! Go Dodgers!!
a A Decade Ahead of the Rest ... and just for kicks, I'm throwing in this one which I stumbled across while perusing the Post archives. It's a good read -- about the days when the Yankees actually won respectably, and not by simply paying top dollar to top talent ...

Life in general ...
a Are You a Toxic Parent? ...lessons in parenting.
a Daughter, Can You Spare a Dime? ... a great, funny read from the Post's Joel Achenbach. If only I had been so smart ...

Sunday reading

Lots of good reading this week. Here they are, some of the stories that fascinated me, captivated me and intrigued me from the past week ...

The life surrounding us ...
a Inspector: Homeland Security database flawed ... a good laugh. Seriously!? 8,591 potential terrorism targets in Indiana!? Seriously!?
a Wolves in Blazers and Khakis ... an excellent op/ed piece from the Washington Post regarding the boys involved in the Duke LaCrosse episode ...
a Where did all the kids go? ... A HA-larious, sarcastic look at kids playtimes thes days ...
a Even now, Gumby has that special dimension
a Death by Wikipedia: The Kenneth Lay Chronicles ... Hey, I'm not gonna lie -- Wikipedia is one of my favorites sites to read and surf around on it. But you've always gotta double-check your facts ...
a Vidgames can help you switch to sudoku
a Dave Barry talks about his Peter Pan ventures
a The YouTube way to fame and fortune (maybe)
a Music Blogs Try -- Futilely, Thus Far -- to Generate Radio's Communal Spirit

Entertainment stuff ...
a SHeDAISY pulls in sibling to continue sister country act
a After decades of bonding, disbanding and reforming, these women have nothing left to prove ... ah, the Go-Gos! ... I'm still glowing from seeing them a couple weeks ago, and a majority of their catalog had since been added to my iPod ...
a 'Clerks' Filmmaker Nurtures His Fans, and Himself, Online
a Pee-wee back on TV

Bonds and baseball ...
a Ex-friend accuses Bonds of ‘roid rages’ ... why I oughta ...
a Attorney says friend implored Bonds to stop using steroids
a Mantle, Campanella, Greenberg and Ott honored on new stamps

Sunday reading

A collection of good, intriguing reads from this last week and beyond about some of my favorite personalities and subject matter ...

Baseball...
a Eleventh heaven for Joe Torre
a Cubs begin 97th season without title
a Larry Walker serves as instructor at spring training for Cards
a Court Battle With Apparel Firm Threatens Nats Merchandise
a Garciaparra was shadowed by controversy in Boston and injury in Chicago; now, with Hamm in his corner, he relishes a fresh start with Dodgers, his 'home' team
a Johnny Damon changes sides, but still a fan favorite
a Miguel Tejada's words tangled in spin
a Steinbrenner Was Right in Picking Sheffield
a For Curt Schilling, clothes really do make the man
a Frank Robinson at large: Pearls of wisdom from a Hall of Famer

Entertainment...
a Ombudsman Keeps Watch Over ESPN Empire
a New Video Technologies Free TV Viewers From Couch
a Redford remembers ‘All the President's Men’
a `The Office' Growing On Viewers - And iPod
a Is ‘a la carte’ cable a good idea?

And in other news...
a Wikipedia's Help From the Hill: Edits Lead Site to Block Some Lawmakers' Offices
a Bottom line: Nude actresses sell magazines

Author of false Wikipedia entry apologizes

I linked to a story in my 'good reads' last week from USA Today regarding a false Wikipedia entry for John Seigenthaler Sr., and the subsequent debate about online references.

Well, here's the follow-up about the dummy who posted the false material. Why on Earth ....!?

Good reads.

Five Deer Leap to Deaths From W.Va. Garage ...Here we go again! The Animal Kingdom has got to be reeling about this. After the summer's tragic sheep deaths, animal suicides are climbing at an alarming rate ...

It's online, but is it true? ... an interesting spin from USA Today on the Wikipedia concept. I caught onto the site several months ago and it has since become one of my favorite Web sites out there. Seriously, I can spend hours on it just typing in random people, terms or whatever, and learn a ton of things I didn't know before or hadn't thought about. In my opinion, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has definitely achieved his goal of putting all the world's knowledge in one place, but, yes, you do have to take it with a grain of salt ...

When murder hits the blogosphere ... A few more reasons to be mindful of the Internet's public domain ... but the more gripping isssue is where anyone gets crazy ideas like these two teens, I'll never understand.

Back Atop the Charts, Her Way ... Admittedly, I was (I still am) a fan of pre-breakdown Mariah. ... but I also was one of the people who scoffed at the idea she could return to her previous popularity after the epic breakdown and bomb that was 'Glitter.' I can't say I see what most people have in her new release this year, but this story may convince you to believe she really is one of the all-time greats ...

Review: 'King Kong' ...After my rant the other day about how blah Kong looked, this review actually makes it sound worthwhile to see ...

In a puzzling development, kakuro beckons ... great. As if my morning Sudoku wasn't addicting enough. Another puzzle for me to spend hours on. Although, I'm not a math man ... so maybe not.