Well, it looks like CNN must really be struggling in the Cable News War..Why?
Cause Ted Turner just breached Godwin’s law:
Turner Compares Fox’s Popularity to Hitler
Ted Turner called Fox a propaganda tool of the Bush administration and indirectly compared Fox News Channel’s popularity to Adolph Hitler’s popular election to run Germany before World War II.
On Fox News: While Fox may be the largest news network [and has overtaken Turner's CNN], it’s not the best, Turner said. He followed up by pointing out that Adolph Hitler got the most votes when he was elected to run Germany prior to WWII. He said the network is the propaganda tool for the Bush Administration. “There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s certainly legal. But it does pose problems for our democracy. Particularly when the news is dumbed down,” leaving voters without critical information on politics and world events and overloaded with fluff,” he said.
I guess Turner should read the book about how Fox News overcame his channel. The book is: Crazy Like a Fox: The Inside Story of How Fox News Beat CNN
And for those not familiar with it, this is Godwin’s Law
Woah! I (for a change) was actually busy most of the day here in the lab. I had to sort my brain slices out in order and then mount them on slides. It’s a lot more difficult than it sounds–trust me on that one. It was often tedious.
I”m just now finished, and I’m killing a bit of time till I head over to my Neurobiology class at 4pm (I’ve got class from 4-6; what a wierd time slot).
But the posts promised earlier will come…do not fear!
Managed to get the car out of the driveway today…not without a bit of a struggle to get over some of the snow (still have yet to be plowed…damn you landlord!)
So I’m just sitting in the lab waiting for the others to show up so I can resume my experiment.
The latest issue of the Justice is out…and it looks like this week’s issue has good material for me to comment on–both in the news and the forum sections–so I guess I’ll do those in seperate posts
(plus I need something to do to kill time while I’m here on campus for 8 hours today).
And of course I’ll see what else I come across as the day goes on…
Letter to the Editor: Seeing fit to verify the voting facts
Kudos to The Plain Dealer for documenting the facts regarding voter machine distribution and, more important, how many people actually voted per machine (“Delays at polls weren’t a scheme: Voting machines distributed evenly,” Jan. 17).
It’s a shame that my showboat congresswoman [Tubbs-Jones] didn’t take the time to do the same.
[no this isn't about taxes]
Rather, I must ask the Federal Gov’t why, oh why are you mandating that us future scientists take a course in “Scientific Ethics”. Why must we suffer through the boredom?
That is all.
[Taxes still suck too]
This story caught my eye, as Brandeis hasn’t fielded a football team since 1959…
Former Brandeis coach among candidates for Pro Football Hall of Fame
It’s hard to miss the symmetry: Benny Friedman, who popularized the forward pass, and Dan Marino, the most prolific passer in pro football history, are each on the ballot for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year.
Yet Friedman, a pro star in the 1920s and ’30s who later became football coach and athletic director at Brandeis, is considered a longshot for enshrinement while Marino is viewed as a shoo-in when the media gathers Feb. 5 to select the class that will enter the hall next summer.
….
Friedman, who died in 1982 at the age of 77, twice passed for more than 1,500 yards in a season – an unheard of total for that era. In 1928, he was truly Michael Vickian, leading the NFL in both rushing touchdowns and passing TDs.
“There are those who say Friedman is the greatest passer of all time,” legendary Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne once said of the College Football Hall of Famer. “They are not far wrong. He could hit a dime at 40 yards; besides being a great passer, he hit the line, tackled, blocked, and did everything – no mere specialty man – that a fine football player should do.”,
At Brandeis, Friedman served as football coach from 1950 until the program was disbanded after the 1959 season. He doubled as athletic director and was known as a fundraiser without peer. Friedman was inducted into the inaugural class of the Brandeis Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993.
“Benny Friedman’s hope was to make Brandeis the Jewish Notre Dame of college football,” said Ed Manganiello’54, a two-time captain under Friedman.
I especially love that last quote….the guy is a longshot….but the story is still amusing
Update: More on Benny Friedman from the Cleveland Jewish News
A lot of buzz is being made about this story in the Palm Beach Post: Sen. Clinton decries leadership lacking resolve, inspiration
Now enough other people will be discussing the Senator’s comments. Captain Ed does a good job of it. Personally, I’m not a fan of the Senators, just because I’ve never really liked her. It’s just a bad vibes thing.
But there’s something most people are going to overlook in this story, so as Paul Harvey would say, and now for the “rest of the story”:
Clinton, D-N.Y., spoke at the Kravis Center before a gathering of Brandeis University alumni and the public, charming the crowd with her views on a Bush administration whose strategy, she says, is to turn a blind eye when it doesn’t have an answer to a serious question.
Translation: The Senator basically spoke before an “Amen Chorus”…especially speaking before a group of alumni from a school that was once ranked #14th in the nation in an (unscientific) Princeton Review ranking for “Most Nostalgic For Bill Clinton”
So the Senator’s comments and the warm response they apparently received don’t suprise me in the least…
Driveway still hasn’t been plowed…
The drive to school which normally takes no more than 10 minutes in the morning today took 30 minutes.
The main road was bumper to bumper…you’d think most of the people out there had never seen snow before!
Rush through the poorly plowed parking lot to the Life Sciences building to get to class (whcih I’m running late for).
Get there, find 3 of my (5 other) classmates…we wait…no one shows after 30 minutes, so we just call it quits.
Then come over here to the health sciences building, to the lab, find it locked. Go downstairs for (an overpriced) cup o’ coffee…which doesn’t taste very good…sigh.
Well on the bright side of things, at least there wasn’t class today….and my experiment is looking good still!
Classes are scheduled to resume tomorrow, that is if the campus is dug out enough.
I dug out my car this evening….digging out the car itself wasn’t too bad…the real problem was shoveling a path for the car to travel through. It’s not easy to shovel 2+ feet of snow out of the way. (Hey landlord–whatever happened to having the driveway plowed? It’s part of the lease….just like the washing machine you’ve yet to fix!)
Sorry about that slight digression. But yes, I spent a good 20 minutes at least shoveling out my car from the snowand clearing a path for it. Now I’ll be able to get it started up and out onto the road for school tomorrow.
Class is from 9-10:30AM, then I’m going to be heading over to the lab where I’ve got some tissue samples which are ready to be soaked in other antibodies and rinses, basically meaning I’ve got a few little things to do and a lot of time which I’ll spend waiting…probably doing nothing.
Then at 5:30pm I”ve got an “Ethics in the Sciences” course…so I’ll be on campus all day till who knows how late. Sigh. It’s a Monday.
Something interesting is occuring at the alma matter…just take a look a this “Communiversity Course”:
” This course, taught by Michael Goldman, will study the concept of an American foreign policy based around the promotion of democracy abroad: its justifications, practical applications, and ultimate goals. Historical examples like the world wars and the fall of the Soviet Union will be examined, and special attention paid to the modern Middle East. Will cover various authors and public thinkers, to include Churchill, Sharansky, Netanyahu, Barnett, Palmer, Ledeen, Frum, Podhoretz, Fukuyama, Hanson. The course will be in the form of a discussion seminar. Students of all political stripes welcome.”–Link
Look at the authors! Wow! That sounds like it could be really interesting
This week’s issue of The Hoot is online, and the lead story is:
“Former [Brandeis] Provost received over $300k in severance”
Former Provost Mel Bernstein, who left Brandeis after a sudden falling out with the University, received $335,363 in “employee benefits” during his only year at Brandeis, according to the University’s 2002-2003 tax forms recently obtained by The Hoot. This amount, over $300,000 more than the next non-officer staff member, includes “costs allowed in severance agreement,” the tax return says.
So is this what Brandeis tuition money goes towards? Tuition is high enough as is, and the University keeps raising it annually…but if it’s paying for packages like this…something needs done.
Kudos to The Hoot for blowing the whistle on this story
The snow has tapered off
but the wind was blowing like crazy all night, waking me up quite a few times
Looks like we got a rather substantial snowfall…wonder if the snow plow guy is gonna come. If so, I may even be able to get my car out!
(The perks of living on a street that’s right next to the intersection of two major roadways)
I’m heading back to bed now
Now for a diversion from the snow, and for entertainment, some ingenious insights from the commenters over at IndyMedia:
(more…)
I’ve got the CBS2 on right now, and they’ve got the Suffolk County Executive on…and apparently we’ve got a declared “State of Emergency” here in the County since 1:30pm today!
Woohoo!
The guy is telling everyone to stay home and off the roads (duh!) It’s not like the newscasters haven’t been saying the same thing over and over for how many days now? And do people really not have any common sense?
While the snow keeps falling (now they’re saying the real blizzard won’t start till midnight), I’m cooking myslef some chicken soup…so why not blog the experience.
I’ve acomplished steps 1 and 2–getting the chicken and veggies prepared and into the pot…
More to come
Update: I have detected the trademark aroma of chicken soup
Update 2: I have succeeded! I made Chicken soup all by myself!
It tasted good–I need to tinker with the seasoning a little, but that’s par for the course. Granted, the taste was nowhere near as good as grandma’s chicken soup, but to replicate that would be virtually impossible!
What a lame blizzard outside…it looks like just any other snowfall!
the snow has been falling for about an hour or so here, out in Suffolk County. It’s snowing…nothing too exciting yet.
I’m staying indoors for the day (obviously), and seeing that there’s nothing good on TV right now, it’s Movie time!
For more Blizzard coverage from the Island, Michele at ASV is “live blogging” the storm from over in Nassau County (and she’s got pictures too!)
BBC : Alcohol-free beer ‘stops cancer’
But is the taste of most non-alcoholic beer worth it?