BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
JUNK SCI: Airborne Toxic Event
FAREWELL TO HARMS: U.S. Military personnel toss everything from unexploded ordinance to amputated limbs onto the burnpit at Balad Air Base in northern Iraq, creating a near-constant toxic plume that can be seen and smelt for miles. BY ELIZABETH FIEND LIVING EDITOR Balad, the largest military base in Iraq is home to about 25,000 U.S. military personnel as well as several thousand civilian contractors. In December 2006, Air Force Lt. Col. Darrin Curtis, a bioenvironmental flight commander for the base, reported that there is an acute health hazard with possible chronic implications associated with the disposal of waste, via a […]
PIT AND THE PENDULUM: Turns Out We DO Torture
WASHINGTON POST: The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, interrogating him with techniques that included sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, leaving him in a “life-threatening condition.” “We tortured [Mohammed al-]Qahtani,” said Susan J. Crawford, in her first interview since being named convening authority of military commissions by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in February 2007. “His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And […]
WORTH REPEATING: Inhale To The Chief
THE HILL’S CONGRESS BLOG: Voting ended late last week on the President-Elect¹s website Change.gov. As was the case in December, questions from the general public pertaining to marijuana and drug policy reform proved to be extremely popular. Of the more than 76,000 questions posed to Obama by the public, the fourth most popular question overall called on the incoming administration to cease arresting and prosecuting adults who use cannabis. And in the sub-category “National Security,” the most popular question posed by the public pertained to amending U.S. drug policies as a way to try and halt the ongoing violence surround […]
THE EARLY WORD: Carnival Of Sorts
* MEDIA: Gannett Orders Week Long Furlough Of All Employees NEW YORK TIMES: The Gannett Company, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, said on Wednesday that it would force thousands of its employees to take a week off without pay in an effort to avoid layoffs. Gannett, which owns 85 daily newspapers across the United States including its flagship USA Today, said it could not say exactly how many people would be required to take time off, or how much money the company would save. But it said it would require unpaid leave for most of its 31,000 employees in this […]
RIP: Ricardo Montalban Dead At 88
ASSOCIATED PRESS: A Los Angeles city councilman says Ricardo Montalban has died. He was 88. The Mexican-born actor, who became a star in splashy MGM musicals and later the wish-fulfilling Mr. Roarke in TV’s “Fantasy Island,” died at his home in Los Angeles, City Council President Eric Garcetti (gar-SET’-ti) said Wednesday. Montalban lived in Garcetti’s district in Los Angeles. MORE WIKIPEDIA: Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán Merino KCSG (November 25, 1920 – January 14, 2009) was a Mexican television, theatre, and film actor. He had a career spanning decades and multiple notable roles. During the late 1970s, he was the spokesperson […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Rolling Stone contributing editor Steve Knopper chronicles the rise of the record industry — and its subsequent digital-age collapse — in his new book, Appetite For Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash Of The Record Industry In The Digital Age. Knopper’s work has also appeared in Spin, Esquire, The Washington Post and Wired. RADIO TIMES WITH MARTY MOSS-COANE Hour 1 A look back at President George Bush’s eight years in office. How will he be judged? An analysis of the high and lowpoints with Vanderbilt University historian GARY GERSTLE and Bush biographer, ROBERT DRAPER. Listen to the mp3 Hour 2 […]
SIZE DOES MATTER: Dork Side Of The Moon
[Click to enlarge] Sure, a case could be made that the dude who made this could have better spent his time, like, trying to kiss a girl or something. But then how the hell would we ever know that the Borg Collective Tactical Sphere from Star Trek: The Next Generation is actually smaller than the Doomsday Machine from the original Star Trek? Because, if you don’t know that, you don’t even know what you don’t know. * WEEZER: Pork & Beans (Remix) This long rumored, recently unearthed alt-version of the vid is sorta like the Year In Review for people […]
LOVE IS A DRUG: Cupid’s Hypodermic Needle
NEW YORK TIMES: In the new issue of Nature, the neuroscientist Larry Young offers a grand unified theory of love. After analyzing the brain chemistry of mammalian pair bonding — and, not incidentally, explaining humans’ peculiar erotic fascination with breasts — Dr. Young predicts that it won’t be long before an unscrupulous suitor could sneak a pharmaceutical love potion into your drink [according to the results of] Dr. Young’s research with prairie voles at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University. These mouselike creatures are among the small minority of mammals — less than 5 percent — who […]
BREAKING: Missing Pilot Who Faked Death Found
CNN: Marcus Schrenker, the financial manager who officials say faked his own death in a plane crash after scamming his customers, has been found after an apparent suicide attempt, Florida and federal authorities said Tuesday. Schrenker was found at a campsite near Quincy, Florida, with “deep cuts on his wrists,” according to a statement by a Florida-based U.S. Marshals Service task force. Schrenker was bleeding profusely when about 20 officers approached his tent, said Deputy U.S. Marshal John Beeman. PREVIOUSLY: GHOST OF D.B. COOPER — On The Verge Of Financial Collapse, Man Fakes Death In Spectacular Plane Crash THE OBAMACONS: […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
Radiolab [HIGHLY RECOMMENDED] Why so many sperm? We turn to the animal kingdom to answer that question, which lands us on a tour of sperm battles in ducks, flying pig sperm, and promiscuous whippoorwills. We ponder the necessity of males in a world where sperm can be frozen and kept for all eternity. And we sit quietly in a stark sonic space with a widow struggling to keep some essence of her husband alive. Why So Many Sperm? Matthew Cobb takes us back to 1677, when Anton Van Leewenhoek first identified sperm and there was much talk of souls and […]
HOT DOC: Why I Can’t Stop Giving Obama My Money
[War Is Over by SHEPARD FAIREY] Dear Jonathan, To celebrate Barack Obama’s historic inauguration, graphic artist Shepard Fairey has created an unforgettable limited edition poster. Make a donation of $20 or more to receive your official inauguration poster. This will be the most open and accessible Inaugural in our nation’s history. And thanks to supporters like you, it’s happening without donations from Washington lobbyists or big corporations. Celebrate this historic moment and our first step toward change. Get your limited edition Shepard Fairey poster today. Thank you for your support, The Presidential Inaugural Committee P.S. — Shepard Fairey also designed […]
GAYDAR EXTRA: Taking The ‘Gay’ Out Of Gaming
BY AARON STELLA GAYDAR EDITOR Hey pals and gals. Got a quick one here for ya. Editor-in-chief JV shot me an email the other day (thanks boss) alerting me to a new development in the Christian coteries: apparently, it’s not enough now to censor the sex (nudity), violence, substance abuse, and demonic images (oh lord) in video games, homosexual content is now on the chopping block. According to Tumeroks, a blog dedicated to covering the development and growth of online games (Warhammer online, World of Warcraft, Diablo 3, etc) a Christian conservative investment firm called The Timothy Plan has just […]