- From claiming he invented to Internet to serving to unremarkable terms as vice president, from growing a butt-ugly beard to packing on the pounds while serving as a guest instructor at an Ivy League institution, Al Gore seems to catch a lot of flack for everything he does - often with good reason. The beard alone was enough to merit a five-year mocking free-for-all, but the criticism hasn’t deterred Gore from attempting to make positive changes in the world or from pursuing his true passion: protecting the environment. His quest continues to this day and will add a new fact as Gore launches a new campaign to urge action against climate change with a daylong Internet broadcast from around the world. The name may be a poor choice, as "24 Hours of Reality" is a more apt description of MTV’s regular programming schedule or the general viewing habits of the average American TV lover, but Gore’s project is still interesting. It will feature a multimedia presentation viewable online that aims to highlight recent scientific research on climate change and unearth the reality of money’s influences on the beliefs of those who deny global warming’s existence. The scope of the project is massive, with hourly broadcast set to take place in various locations around the world, including Beijing, New Delhi, Jakarta, London, Dubai, Istanbul, Seoul and Rio de Janeiro. Mexico City is the launch point for the effort, which commences at 0000 GMT Thursday and ends with a sure-to-be-riveting final presentation by Gore starting at 7:00 pm (2300 GMT) in New York. In a statement released on the project’s website, Gore explained that the overall goal is to "focus the world's attention on the full truth, scope, scale and impact of the climate crisis." The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner for his efforts on climate change will bring his (possibly located by now) charisma to the screen to cap the day and his hour on screen will also include information on how viewers can help in their area. "Today, climate change is no longer a prediction: It's a reality," Gore said. "Yet around the world, we are still subjected to polluter-financed misinformation and propaganda designed to mislead people about the dangers we face from the unfolding climate crisis." This is not Gore’s first major venture into the media world; in fact, far from it. His slideshow about the dangers of climate change was the basis of the popular 2006 documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," which grossed $49 million worldwide. As for whether there is any actual need for this sort of project……a Gallup poll released in March showed Americans have become less concerned about global warming over the past two years, with 48 percent saying they think "the seriousness of global warming is generally exaggerated." How they were able to say that with their head firmly buried in the sand, no one is sure………..
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Yemen is where it’s at right now, dissidence-speaking, and the uprising continued Tuesday as hundreds of thousands of Yemenis scoffed at the latest weak-ass peace offer from President Ali Abdullah Saleh and took to the streets of cities and towns across the country to protest what they consider just one more futile attempt to avoid stepping down. "No deal, no maneuvering, the president should leave," proclaimed protesters in the capital Sanaa. The protest followed Saleh’s decision earlier in the day to authorize his vice president to negotiate with the opposition and sign a transition plan on his behalf. Opposition members are adamant that the president sign the power transfer plan himself. That will be difficult as long as Saleh remains in neighboring Syria, where he has resided since June for treatment of wounds he suffered in an attack on his compound in Sanaa. For now, each day will likely be marked by angry protests and resulting uses of excessive force by security forces. The nation has endured many acts of violence since nationwide pro-democracy protests broke out in February and Saleh’s absence has done little to slow them. Activists continue to call for an end to Saleh's 33-year rule and the United Nations and many of its member nations have joined in calling for a resolution to an "increasingly violent struggle" that has killed hundreds and injured thousands in Yemen this year. The U.N. continued to pile on Saleh’s regime by releasing a report Tuesday condemning the excessive use of force by the government's security forces while conceding that, "All sides may be guilty of using and abusing peaceful protesters and the civilian population in this increasingly violent power struggle." The 23-page report was compiled by a team of three UN human rights investigators and included citations of allegations that the government had disrupted telecommunications, power and fuel supplies as a "form of collective punishment.” Additionally, the report reiterated claims that government officials blamed the opposition for having sabotaged an oil pipeline and power line. Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, released the report while calling on the Yemeni government to "take immediate action to end attacks against civilians and civilian targets by security forces.” That won't actually happen, of course, but it’s a nice thought. The violence will rage on and now that al-Qaeda fighters are involved in the battle, expect the situation to remain tenuous and bloody for quite a while…………
- Uh-oh. Somebody (Major League Baseball) is not happy about having a truly indefensible and ridiculous decision on uniform policy made public. As the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks approached, professional sports leagues decided how to honor the occasion. The NFL had tributes at every stadium, complete with massive American flags unfurled on the field and players wearing uniform patches. Some players received special permission to wear 9/11-themed gloves and shoes. In MLB, teams sported a small American flag emblem on the side of their hat and teams held tributes prior to their games on Sunday. Obviously, some teams were more directly impacted by the day than others and perhaps none more so than the league’s two New York franchises, the Mets and the Yankees. The Yankees were on the road in California for the weekend, so the Mets were left to mark the day baseball-wise for New York. Mets players reportedly wanted to wear hats honoring Sept. 11 first responders (NYPD, N.Y. firefighters) as they had done for their first home game following the attacks. MLB czar of discipline Joe Torre informed the Mets they would not be allowed to wear the hats and would be restricted to the same tribute as every other team in the league. Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey had tweeted Sunday night that the players planned to defy MLB and wear the hats during the game against the Cubs, but MLB officials reportedly confiscated the hats following a pregame ceremony on the field. In the aftermath of the hat brouhaha, commissioner Bud Selig was reportedly irate that said the team threw the league "under the bus" on the issue. He reportedly called the Mets on Sunday night, livid that news of the issue had gone public. The perception that he and his cronies had prevented the Mets from paying tribute to the heroes of 9/11 was too much to take and a Mets official told the New York Post that "Selig got embarrassed by it." The Mets have been reluctant to speak about the issue - other than Dickey’s tweet and other assorted comments by players - and manager Terry Collins was dismissive when pressed on the issue. As for Torre, he insisted in a radio interview that "Nothing was ordered," pertaining to the hats. “I think they were sent a memo, but in no way was it heavy-handed. I don't think money was ever an issue or they were ever threatened with a heavy-fisted fine. If that's the case, I have no knowledge of it," Torre claimed. Still, all of the uproar could have been avoided if MLB had removed the stick from up its ass and allowed the Mets to just wear the hats…………
- This is the sort of artistic dedication, brilliance and passion music lovers want to hear from their favorite artists. In a time when too many crappy, mainstream pop singers crank out personality-free, cookie-cutter albums full of over-produced tracks handed to them by professional songwriters and have said albums massaged by auto-tuning producers, an artist who is truly dedicated to his or her craft and loves making music is to be celebrated. To hear former Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher speak about the Manchester, England natives’ fourth album 'Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants' is to truly feel that passion and love of making music…….assuming that by passion and love, you mean a rote, calloused and detached approach that basically ruins any further listenings of said album. Gallagher, who has feuded incessantly with brother and former Oasis lead singer Liam since the band’s split two years ago, was asked in one of the countless interviews he has given of late about the album and the process of making it as the band was experiencing some of its trademark turbulence. Noel Gallegher said that after the release of the band's hugely successful second album, 1995's '(What's The Story?) Morning Glory?', he lost the desire to write music and believes the band lost its way. “We should have never made 'Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants'. I'd come to the end. At the time, I had no reason or desire to make music. I had no drive,” he lamented. “We'd sold all these f**king records and there just seemed to be no point. He continued: I went ahead and did it, even though I had no inspiration and couldn't find inspiration anywhere. I just wrote songs for the sake of making an album. We needed a reason to go on a tour. But at the time, I wasn't thinking like that. We all thought the song 'Go Let It Out' was good.” Well, then…….go ahead and erase that album from your iTunes collection if you mind listening to songs the artist himself things were utter crap. If the nonstop bickering and bitching of the brothers Gallagher hadn't fully ruined fans’ enjoyment of Oasis’ music, this verbal gem should do the trick…………
- Pot luck dinners are a hazard to one and all who take part in them. Trusting not one, but many people you either do not know or do not know well to cook various dishes involving meats, dairy products and other potentially sickening ingredients (if not prepared properly) is a blatantly unnecessary risk. Yet many organizations, especially old-timey churches, love the idea of asking members to cook up their best green bean casserole, pasta salad or cured ham and bring it in for a get-together. Perhaps members of Solid Rock Ministries in Monroe, Ga. will think differently when it comes to this tired tradition in the future after dozens of them became violently ill at a Sunday pot-luck service. “Five o’clock, everybody started dropping like flies,” Edwin Smith told a local TV station. “Last night was the most awful pain I ever had in my life. I thought I would die.” Smith and his wife were both sickened by something they consumed at the gathering. Church members met in a room at Criswell Park in Monroe and not long after eating, attendees began complaining of stomach pains and digestive discomfort. Volunteers drove them to the hospital, but the scene spiraled out of control quickly. Some attendees ran outside and began vomiting and those who were there but not ill marveled at just how many sickened people there were. Walton Regional Medical Center in Monroe treated 24 people and admitted seven and has sent cultures and samples to a state lab for analysis. Thus far, health officials have declined to comment about the incident or the subsequent investigation. Meanwhile, those who were at the pot-luck dinner believe the number of people who became ill could be much higher because not everyone who was sick went to the emergency room. Some family members of those who fell ill have since complained that the hospital did not take their concerns seriously enough and attributed the mass illness to a bug that everyone somehow caught. No matter what the culprit may be, the most valuable lesson to be learned from this debacle is the danger posed when a large group whose members include some of questionable intelligence levels and cooking skills gathers and eats food with origins and ingredients unknown…………
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