You've got to love Barbra Streisand, who has sued a man who takes photographs of the entire California coast for scientific purposes. Streisand, however, says that he took pictures of her home and showed people how they could get onto her property. The suit was revealed on The Smoking Gun, and they recommended that Streisand file a couple more lawsuits while she's at it. Ah, good amusement.
So I was crusing around the Sacramento section of Craig's List and clicked on the personal ads, just for kicks. (I think personal-ad-crusing must be hereditary.) This one was funny: "I've recently ended a relationship with a lunatic who wanted to get married after a few days and had threatened to kidnap my cat." He went on to say that he drinks lots of coffee and doesn't have voices in his head.
I quoted some of it to a friend, who thought it was funny, and then I decided that I should just post a link to the ad here, so that all of my millions of weblog readers may also enjoy it.
This is the best lead (or lede, depending on where you work -- I stuck with the spelling most readers will probably know, since you're not all psycho journalists) I've read in a long time. The article is about the movie "Bruce Almighty," which I saw this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed.
"And on the fourth day the Lord said: Let there be an $86.4 million opening weekend for the God-comedy "Bruce Almighty," which will top the Memorial Day box office.
"And there was, and it was good for Universal Pictures."
Why have I never heard that rain can actually be prevented? Unless Russia's president isn't to be believed, he has ordered that rains be kept away from some festivities. They'll do it with planes loaded with chemicals.
Hmm, on second thought, the idea of throwing chemicals out a plane sounds a bit worrisome. A bunch of head honchos including George Bush and Tony Blair will be in attendance, and evil people could do all sorts of things with that opportunity.
No wonder we got a notice at work saying that health insurance rates had gone up: Our insurance company just agreed to shell out $470 million to doctors it ripped off. This doesn't affect me, since my insurance is paid for, but people who have dependents now have to pay more each month if they want health insurance for family members.
I've never liked insurance companies, and I've never liked going to doctors. But I'm with the doctors on this one, because they spend a lot more on their educations than do the suits at big insurance companies. I bet the bigwigs in the insurance companies have better health insurance than the doctors, too.
Yes, I've been watching "American Idol," the show on which people compete in singing contests and are gradually eliminated by nationwide telephone votes until one person is left standing. Why do I watch it? Two reasons: First, I love music of just about any kind. Second, Simon Cowell.
Simon Cowell is the British guy who started the show, and of the three judges on the show, he's the negative one who says things like, "That is quite possibly the worst thing I have ever heard in my entire life." Is it belittling? Yes. Does it give these wanna-be stars a taste of real life? Yes. He's just so incredibly funny, and while people rant about how horrible he is, I wonder how they can miss seeing the twinkle in his eye throughout the show. I guess they just misunderstand his sense of humor.
Anyway, the final show is tonight, and it's come down to Ruben Studdard, a 350-pound black guy from Alabama, and Clay Aiken, a scrawny redhead from South Carolina. Here is my prediction: I think Clay will win. BUT. Though I like Clay's voice better, I actually want Ruben to win. I want Ruben to go sign the record deal that's the grand prize, and I want Clay to go to Broadway. He belongs on Broadway. And that, folks, is my opinion on the show.
I'm sure anyone and everyone who reads this weblog wants to know that I got two kittens last night. Since I have a new digital camera, I will now subject you to pictures. I'll add more later, but this will do for now: http://www.thesmudge.com/pictures/cats/
I must gloat just a little bit about my accurate prediction that my cousin would soon be reporting about the Scott Peterson case. Her first Peterson article moved on the Associated Press wire today. Less than three weeks after I posted about it, it happened. Granted, I did not predict (or imagine) that it would come about because Scott Peterson's mistress hired a big attorney, but stranger things have happened.
It all comes full circle, though, and this latest event makes me even more certain that my cousin will wind up covering the case. But I'm going to stop before I mention O.J. Simpson and Princess Diana's boyfriend, because I have two new kittens.
I wonder if anyone has ever noticed that if you type "DOG" instead of "DOJ," it provides a mental picture that is quite different from one of the Department of Justice.
A woman who was robbed and beaten nine years ago became completely deaf from the attack, but she has truly conquered it: She just earned her master's degree in music composition. She deserves so much more than an entry in my weblog, and even though I read the story about 10 minutes ago, I'm still in awe. That has to be one of the most meaningful acts of justified defiance. Ever.
In less than five hours, the Sacramento Kings will be playing the seventh and last game of the semi-finals that will determine whether they will move on in an attempt to prove that they are the best basketball team in the country. The Los Angeles Lakers are surprisingly out of the running, and I'm not the only one who is quite happy about that. Even a Milwaukee, Wisc., columnist is cheering for the Kings.
At least one state in this country has a little bit of common sense and isn't making laws that will further thwart adoptees and their families. (California, on the other hand, is doing the opposite, and Governor Gray Davis forever lost my support and vote because of it.)
In the past four years, the number of autism cases in California has nearly doubled. And it's not a one-time thing, either: Over the past 15 years, the number of autism cases in California has risen 634 percent. "That compares with a 79 percent increase in mental retardation cases, a 57 percent increase in epilepsy and a 66 percent increase in cerebral palsy," writes Bee reporter Dorsey Griffith.
What causes it? Researches think it might be a combination between genetics and environmental factors. One study found high levels of a natural protein in newborns who developed autism, but that study won't be complete for another three years.
The natural tendency is to automatically begin thinking of possibilities, and since I've been covering a monster of a groundwater contamination lawsuit, I'm thinking, "What if it's this chemical or that chemical?" And since I still secretly want to go into genetics (though I know I won't, and am instead planning to live vicariously through my sister), I'm even more intrigued by such topics. In other words, I'm curious.
My opinion of Texas just got a hefty boost, because anything that makes me laugh out loud gets points. The state's Department of Public Safety has issued a press release "asking the public for assistance in locating 53 Texas legislators who have disappeared." In other words, it's a type of Amber Alert for missing politicians.
The first two paragraphs of this CNN story add immensely to the humor value. But it gets better: In the eighth paragraph, a spokesman for the House Speaker says of the non-missing politicians: "The important thing is that they don't drive off to the hill country and have a picnic."
This sounds like a case for Encyclopedia Brown, the kid detective who solved mysteries in three to five pages' worth of children's books.
The United States appears to have caved in and gone the route of colored money. Now we're more like the rest of the world. OK, not really; we're still uniquely psychotic. I want one of these $20 bills.
Anybody who reads or watches any amount of news has heard such phrases as "sources close to the investigation" and "unnamed governmental sources." Having worked in journalism long enough to know that getting information can be a challenge that occasionally leads to dead ends, I know that sometimes such anonymous sources work. In nearly all cases, though, they simply make the news agency appear less credible.
On at least four different news broadcasts (on four different networks) last night, it was reported that investigators working on the Laci Peterson murder case had found pliers with Laci's hair attached on her husband's boat. The Modesto Bee mentioned it today, also citing anonymous sources, and even the New York Post has picked up on it, saying simply that "it was reported yesterday," and citing NBC News as the source.
I believe there are times when stories that use anonymous sources are more accurate than they would otherwise be. When anonymous sources are used by reporters, the editors often -- and should -- look more closely at the story and question the reporter. But there's no way to prove that, and from all other appearances, the story looks weak and suspicious. That's why the use of anonymous sources is generally considered a Bad Idea.
This Scott Peterson/pliers incident is an example of an anonymous source taking advantage of eager reporters and editors. That source obviously talked to several news organizations, knowing this latest tantalizing bit would be snatched up by people who just can't get enough of the Laci Peterson story. I think the news organizations were lazy and let this source take advantage and make a mockery of them.
A San Francisco (yes, that part fits) lawyer is suing Nabisco in an attempt to force the company to stop selling Oreo cookies to children. Absurd, yes. Stupid, maybe not.
The argument is that "trans fat," made of partially hydrogenated oil, is more dangerous than people realize. According to the article, studies are showing that it's in about 40 percent of the food in American grocery stores and is linked to heart disease and blocked arteries.
The most interesting part about this case is the attorney's reasoning for the suit. He says it's different than cases like the ones where fat people sue McDonald's for contributing to their obesity. Under California law, companies aren't liable for products that are commonly known to be unhealthy -- like cigarettes. But, the attorney says, people don't know about trans fat, so they don't know that it's dangerous.
The other difference between this and the McDonald's and tobacco suits is that, so far, this attorney isn't seeking a landmark-sized settlement. He's going after these "trans fats," and has even started a nonprofit organization called Ban Trans Fats. At least he's currently got a few more scruples than some other lawsuit-happy citizens in this country.
As some people know, I've been digital camera shopping for several months now, and I even took a trip to Fry's to check them out in person, since other stores didn't have as many choices. I had it narrowed down to the Minolta DiMage F100, but when I went to actually buy it, the prices had gone up by about $30. I thought that was silly, since products should generally decrease in value, so I waited. And kept waiting, checking out other cameras and watching pricegrabber.com.
I hadn't looked at other options recently, so I poked around the Internet today, since it was much more interesting than cleaning house. Lo and behold, Nikon is offering rebates. The Minolta was going to be about $300 for a refurbished one, or about $375 for a new one, but then I discovered that I could get the Nikon Coolpix 4500 for $400 after the $200 rebate.
I'm not a huge fan of rebates, but with the insane number of options this camera offers, I finally took the plunge: I just ordered the camera. Professional photographers think highly of the Coolpix line, and while the 167-page manual ought to be an interesting endeavor, I decided it's better to have a steep learning curve than a camera that might fall short of my expectations.
Conclusion: It won't be too long before I'm bombarding you with photos, and again lamenting the fact that I only have a 15GB hard drive.
The Sacramento Kings have the loudest fans in the United States, and even military troops in Iraq are following the semi-finals, hoping to make it home in time for the finals. A photo of the fans is making the e-mail rounds, and I think that must have been a fun story to write.
(If, for some very strange reason, you don't know who the Kings are, they're only one of the Best Basketball Teams in the Country.)
Reporters hate to be scooped. I think they hate it even more if it merely looks like they were scooped, when in fact they weren't. I've known about a case for a good while now, and as far back as April 11, I referred to it as "that police/molestation/explosives story" in an e-mail. But I couldn't do much with it because there were no court papers to back up the allegations.
Now a search warrant has been released, and I have it on good authority that my competition was sure I knew nothing about the whole case. And a big article about the subject ran in the competitor's paper today.
I won't berate people and detail all that transpired yesterday, because I never intended this weblog to be a place where I would gripe about people who could read it, but I will say that yesterday was very frustrating for me. I had someone almost yelling at me when I didn't use the word "alleged" IN CONVERSATION about this damn story. That's how the whole thing went as this story was being tossed about yesterday, and I won't be surprised if I'll soon be blasted for not beginning conversations with a proper lead detailing the five W's in 25 words or less. (I won't even go into pots calling kettles black.)
I'm not going to even link to the story because it makes me so mad. I just knew that story would be there when I looked at the competitor's paper today, and if I get to work today and am told to play catch-up, that will add insult to injury.
I had something else to post here, but as I was reading the news this morning, things changed. I learned that New Hampshire's rock formation known as the Old Man in the Mountain is now gone, having tumbled to the ground last night.
That landmark is not just another landmark. It's featured on every highway sign in the state, it's on the state's new quarter and it is literally the symbol that represents the state. I'm so glad I got a chance to see it when I was in New Hampshire for 18 days, but it's a sad feeling to know that the landmark is now gone.
Frivolous lawsuits
You've got to love Barbra Streisand, who has sued a man who takes photographs of the entire California coast for scientific purposes. Streisand, however, says that he took pictures of her home and showed people how they could get onto her property. The suit was revealed on The Smoking Gun, and they recommended that Streisand file a couple more lawsuits while she's at it. Ah, good amusement.Meanwhile, the California Coastal Record Project is standing its ground and even posting a link to the picture in question and offering it for sale. I love it.
Posted by Layla at 9:34 PM, May 30, 2003. Comments (0)