The Silver State Chronicles

What a moron…

Harry Reid is evidently an amateur scientist, along with being an amateur-level politician. As fires rage in nearby Southern California, forcing over 500,000 residents to flee, Ole’ Harry decided to inject a good dose of politics in a completely nonpolitical situation.

Worldnet Daily reports…

HEAT OF THE MOMENT
Global warming to blame for fires, says Harry Reid
To astonishment of reporters, Senate majority leader makes link
Posted: October 23, 2007

Is there a political angle to the wildfires raging through Southern California?

You betcha – at least according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who said global warming is at least partly responsible for the blazes.

“One reason why we have the fires in California is global warming,” the Nevada Democrat told reporters, emphasizing the need to pass the Democrats’ comprehensive energy package.

Pressed by astonished reporters on whether he really believed global warming caused the fires, he appeared to back away from his comments, saying there are many factors that contributed to the disaster.

I should hope so.

In fact, just a casual look at most news accounts reveals that the fires have strictly non-environmental causes.

The causes of the different fires raging throughout the state varied, with a fallen power line believed to be the cause of a blaze in Malibu and arson blamed for a fire in Orange County that torched 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres).

Apparently the senator has lost his marbles, but Nevadans like me who have kept an eye on him know that he lost his marbles several years ago.

Indeed, a recent poll shows that his negatives among Nevadans have crept over 50% (to 51%), and his approval rating is at an all-time low of 32%, 2 points lower than President Bush’s statewide approval ratings.

Get on the ball, Harry, and don’t let your eagerness to make everything political get in the way of what’s left of your credibility. We all know that global warming had nothing to do with these fires. And the thing is, you probably do, too. It just didn’t stop you from running your mouth.

Deplorable.

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Pen pal with a comedy legend
Cinema comedy legend Stan Laurel is in the news today, as the Scotsman.com News reports. I am sure this collection of letters is filled with fascinating information and insights from one of the true icons of silver screen comedy.

Read on…

A COLLECTION of 18 personal letters sent by comedy legend Stan Laurel to an Edinburgh housewife who became his pen pal have sold for £2900 at auction.Walterina Hunter first wrote a fan letter to Laurel, one half of Laurel and Hardy, in 1952.

For ten years they exchanged letters, discussing everything from the weather to Laurel’s poor health and the death of his comedy partner Oliver Hardy.

Among the bundle there were 18 letters and three photographs, most of which were signed by Laurel, with one photograph also signed by Hardy.

The letters were written on headed notepaper from luxurious hotels where the comedian was staying while on tour, with others on Laurel’s own paper from his California home.

English-born Laurel suffered a nervous breakdown after Hardy’s death, and later confided in one of the letters: “I don’t visit the studios anymore because I don’t know anyone there and would feel like a stranger.”

Alex Dove, book specialist at auctioneers Lyon and Turnbull in Edinburgh where the letters were sold yesterday, said:

“Quite a friendship was built up and that was reflected in the content of the letters. He made a lot of time to sit down and write to her wherever he was.”

The pair met only once, in 1954, when Laurel and Hardy toured the UK and sent tickets to Mrs Hunter for their Edinburgh show.

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The Power Cosmic – All In Color For A Quarter

I’ve been following the story of 20th Century Fox’s publicity stunt, in cahoots with The Franklin Mint, to put 40,000 altered quarters into the stream of commerce to promote the upcoming film “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.’

When I first read about this a few days ago, it struck me as strange since defacing US currency for such a stunt is a crime. I figured they weren’t real quarters but rather commemorative coins or something like that.

Turns out that they are real quarters that the grapchics wizards at The Franklin Mint doctored up. MSNBC reports…

The U.S. Mint said
in a news release Friday …

“The promotion is in no way approved, authorized, endorsed, or sponsored by
the United States Mint, nor is it in any way associated or affiliated with the United States Mint,” according to the release. The federal mint did not say whether the studio or the private Franklin Mint would face a penalty.

The altered coins are quarters honoring the state of California that entered circulation in 2005. They feature George Washington on the front, as usual, but a colorized version of the character on the back. All 40,000 are slated to be in circulation throughout the country by the end of Memorial Day weekend, and about 800 were released in each state.

The coins appear to be fetching a high price on ebay, with winning bids over $100 common. I’ll just be happy if the movie is good! :-)

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“When things get nut & crazy!”

Tan Nguyen, the GOP candidate for California’s 47th District, had an awesome political rally in his neighborhood, featuring “Stand By Our Tan,” by a rising Vietnamese singing sensation!

I say inspirational because it has inspired me to either move to the 47th district and vote for Tan (‘because after all, he’s a good man’), or to alternately become Vietnamese myself!

I wrote to his campaign and suggested some new lyrics, “Stand by your tan, but don’t stay in the sun for too long….” What do you think?

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Going back to where no man has gone before!

Looks like the original Star Trek series is getting a special effects makeover to appeal to a whole new generation of young video game zombies!

The press release with all sorts of details is reprinted at the end of this entry. I can’t say I am happy with this: I like the originals just the way they are. Paramount has figured out that they can keep tweaking and repackaging the same old stuff and people will keep buying it. Just greed at work here.

Also, something that hasn’t been broached yet is what will be edited out of the original series. Late 1960s tv programs were formatted for fewer commercials than the 21st century television world. While I am sure the packaged DVD version will have no substantive edits, the televised version will almost certainly have scenes cut to fit into the 44 minutes of modern 1-hour programs.

Wait and see.

Read more…

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