NEW YORK TIMES: BEIJING — Michael Phelps has caught Mark Spitz, 36 years after his record haul of seven gold medals at the Munich Games. Now it may take only a day for Spitz to be left behind. Phelps won the 100-meter butterfly Saturday morning here, coming from behind to out-touch Milorad Cavic of Serbia by one-hundredth of a second and claim his seventh gold medal of the Beijing Games. Cavic led almost the entire race, but as Cavic glided in to the wall, Phelps took another stroke to grab the victory with a time of 50.58 seconds. Phelps will […]
HOAX: This Stinks Worse Than Bigfoot’s D*ck
EDITOR & PUBLISHER: This afternoon at 3 pm, Eastern time, a police officer named Matt Whitton plans a news conference with California resident Tom Biscardi and former corrections officer Rick Dyer in Palo Alto to show photographs and the results of DNA testing. They say it all will prove the existence of the legendary man-ape found in north Georgia [pictured, above]. And for once this week, we mean the state, not the battleground over in Europe. Whitton tells the Clayton News Daily that people who call the creature a hoax are just jealous. According to the newspaper, “Whitton and Dyer […]
SHADY: Dog Clone Lady Mystery Deepens
ASSOCIATED PRESS: A woman who made headlines by having five pups cloned and was linked to an abduction case in England is also wanted in Tennessee on charges she tried to plan a burglary in 2004, a defense attorney and prosecutors there said. Joyce Bernann McKinney was charged in Carter County with criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and failure to appear in court, said attorney David Crockett, who represented her in the Tennessee case. Authorities there said she instructed a 15-year-old boy to break into a house, and Crockett said she needed […]
JUNK SCIENCE: Confucius Say
BY ELIZABETH FIEND LIVING EDITOR “You peng zi yuan fang lai, bu yi yue hu?” “Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?” To the thunderous beat of 2,008 Xia Dynasty drums, 2,008 voices chanted this classic greeting from Confucius in welcoming the 100,000 spectators to the opening of the Summer Olympics in Beijing. The games are now well underway, and it’s impossible to ignore thinking about China, especially after that dazzling opening ceremony. Are the Chinese scary task masters, or did that display show the wonders of a large group of people working together in harmony? […]
RIP: Legendary Producer Jerry Wexler Dead At 91
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Legendary record producer Jerry Wexler, who helped shape R&B music with influential recordings of Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and other greats, and later made key recordings with the likes of Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, has died, says his co-author, David Ritz. He was 91. Wexler earned his reputation as a music industry giant while a partner at Atlantic Records. Atlantic provided an outlet for the groundbreaking work of African-American performers in the 1950s and ’60s. Later, it was a home to rock icons like Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones. He later helped Dylan win his first […]
JUDGE: You Can’t Sue Saudi Arabia For 9/11, Even If…
INQUIRER: An ambitious lawsuit by the Philadelphia firm of Cozen O’Connor blaming the government of Saudi Arabia for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was dealt a sharp setback yesterday when a federal appeals court ruled that the desert kingdom could not be sued for acts of terrorism. The ruling followed years of hard-fought litigation in which lawyers for Cozen and other firms representing Sept. 11 victims traveled the globe tracking down witnesses with information about how Saudi money found its way to al Qaeda. Yet, in a stinging setback for Cozen and other plaintiffs’ lawyers, the U.S. Court of Appeals […]
HEAR YE: Monkey Journey To The West
Now playing on Phawker Radio! Why, because we love you! JOURNEY TO THE WEST, an album conceived and created by Damon Albarn (music) & Jamie Hewlett (visuals) under the guise of MONKEY, is performed by an assortment of European and Chinese musicians and singers and was produced by Albarn. Similarly, the Hewlett’s album artwork moves beyond his stunning design work on the opera MONKEY: JOURNEY TO THE WEST and exploring to the fullest its characters, storylines, themes and inspirations.
OLYMPIAD: Here Comes The Strokes
BY ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH OLYMPIC CORRESPONDENT Yesterday, I wrote about Dara Torres and the slant-eye scandal. I promised I’d write about Crocker and Lochte today, but I’m feeling sorta “ehh…” about them, so we’re going to talk about strokes instead. For the swimmers among us, this will be Remedial Swimming 101. I apologize. Everyone else, listen up. (And double apologies for the vids, which are of course as campy as I could possibly find.) There are four competitive strokes currently swum in the Olympics today – the freestyle (i.e., the crawl stroke), the backstroke, the breaststroke, and the butterfly. Of […]
LYING LIARS: Fox News Is LYING To America
[Brave New Films: When It Comes to Obama, The FOX is WRONG! • FOX ATTACKS • Season 1 – Ep.6] Really, it’s astonishing any of these people draw a paycheck from broadcasting. How do they sleep at night? Jesus Christ on a crutch, has the bar really been set this low?
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
DOG DAYS: Dr. Dog, Rittenhouse Square, Last Night [Photo by TIFFANY YOON] THE WORLD CAFE Dr. Dog David Dye welcomes Dr. Dog for a special session mixed by the celebrated producer, Steve Lillywhite, at Avatar Studios in New York. Fate, the fifth album from this Philadelphia based five-piece is already drawing stellar reviews. As the band’s national recognition continues to grow, they’ve remained true to their bouncy rock style, mixing intricate harmonies with ’60s pop beats driving each song forward. They also aren’t afraid to come back with another concept album, manifesting the theme of fate creatively throughout the record. […]
BLUE HAWAII: What, Me Worry?
BLOOMBERG NEWS: The U.S. presidential race is a tossup as Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has lost what was once an eight-point lead over Republican rival John McCain, according to a new poll. The Washington-based Pew Research Center for the People and the Press said today that Obama now leads McCain 46 percent to 43 percent among registered voters, down from June when the Illinois senator enjoyed a 48 to 40 advantage. His lead narrowed to five points in July, the survey said. MORE WASHINGTON POST: An analysis of political contributions from soldiers on the battlefield has produced some unexpected […]
CENSUS BUREAU: Whites Will Be Minority By 2042
NEW YORK TIMES: Ethnic and racial minorities will comprise a majority of the nation’s population in a little more than a generation, according to new Census Bureau projections, a transformation that is occurring faster than anticipated just a few years ago. The census calculates that by 2042, Americans who identify themselves as Hispanic, black, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander will together outnumber non-Hispanic whites. Four years ago, officials had projected the shift would come in 2050. The main reason for the accelerating change is significantly higher birthrates among immigrants. Another factor is the influx of foreigners, rising […]
OLYMPIAD: Meet Dara Torres — Mom, Medalist, MILF
BY ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH OLYMPIC CORRESPONDENT Well, hopefully this is not news to you – if it is, my columns have not sparked the appropriate level of US Olympic Swimming ardor that I’m looking for from all of you. Phelps won his fourth and fifth gold medals yesterday, in the 4×200 free relay and the 200 butterfly. The relay was the fun race to watch because the US team didn’t so much as beat their opponents as they did spank them silly. USA! USA! So Phelps took the lead over the four Olympians who were tied for the most golds […]