Another great column from the Home News Tribune's (NJ) Rick Malwitz, about Rutgers grad James O'Keefe, who appears to have moved from conservative gadfly to accused felon after he and three others posed as telephone repairmen at the offices of US Senator Mary Landrieu, allegedly entering government property under false pretenses.
I wonder if Mr. O'Keefe has a picture of G.Gordon Liddy on his nightstand?
Christmas (Part 2) comes in February for college football fans! Its "National Letter of Intent Day" for next season's freshmen. Rutgers had a late surge, and pulled together a pretty solid recruiting class....maybe not as impressive as last year's, but it addresses several needs.
"Let's play ODDBALL".....Keith Olbermann takes us through the Wonderful World of Groundhog Day"....and goes "Down Undah" for a new potential anchor for Faux Noise.
Saturday I was going to catch up on some of the latest news, including Presidents Obama's amazing performance on Friday.....but my cable modem had other ideas.
So lets catch some "brain droppings" in this new edition of "Quick Hits".
(1). On Friday we were given some remarkable theater when President Obama went to a meeting of 140 Republican House members with cable news channels covering the event live- that is, until FOX News broke away when it became apparent that the GOP was getting an old fashioned ass kickin'. This reminded me of a classic western movie when the sheriff (played by Henry Fonda) stands in front of his jail, alone except for his trusty shotgun, and stares down the angry lynch mob and wins the day for truth and justice in America. Amen!
Some Republican leaders told media members off the record that allowing live cameras at the meeting was a huge tactical blunder on their part. The odds were 140 to one but Obama again showed why he is the President- with the camera's rolling and the nation watching he again demonstrated that he was the smartest guy in the room. President Obama confronted critics from the GOP who spend much time, energy, and campaign contributions attempting to demonize him....and laid his cards on the table.
(2). And about FOX NEWS breaking away from the President and the GOP's meeting on Friday. Sunday morning on ABC's This Week Fox News chief Roger Ailes was asked by roundtable panelist Ariana Huffington why Fox stopped their live coverage and switched over to studio commentary. Ailes asnwered "Because Fox is the most trusted name in news".
Its not about news or trustworthiness.....its about ratings.
(3). And speaking of FOX...."the most trusted name in news" even found its way into the Miss America Pageant, where current FOX AND FRIENDS host and former Miss America Gretchen Carlson served as an on stage co-host. Sitting on the panel of judges was a man who has openly rooted on the President of the United States to fail, who has told his listeners not to contribute to Haitian relief, and has questioned climate change and global warming.
That's right. Rush Limbaugh was a Miss America judge.
One of the Miss America platforms is "going green". And there was a call during the broadcast for contributions for the relief of earthquake ravaged Haiti.
Does anybody else see just a little irony here?
When the Miss America Organization signed on Limbaugh, it might as well be for life. Could you imagine the verbal pounding they would get if they ever tried to dump him? He'd be calling them the biggest Bolsheviks since 1917, and a threat to truth, justice and his version of the American Way.
Oh yeah, I forgot....its about ratings.
Again.
(4) Rex Ryan.....the New York Jets head coach has apologized for flipping the bird to razzing Miami Dolphin fans when Ryan was in South Florida recently. Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams was fined $250,000 for doing a two handed flip-off of Buffalo Bills fans by Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Adams was guilty of multiple two handed flips while Ryan, to the best of our knowledge, only gave a single solitary flip. I counted six flips for Bud, only one for Rex. So if six flips costs 250K, I guess Ryan's Birdie is worth....rounding off....call it 50 grand.
(5). Finally....Punxsutawney Phil was awakened by those idiot humans with top hats, with cameras rolling , and saw his shadow.
The "Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators" has spoken.....well sort of.
I was pondering how I had managed, since Christmas Eve, to only post ink-spotted tattoos only twice. Some days over the summer I easily eclipse that total on my lunch break.
But this is the heart of winter and, when the temperatures haven't been cooperating, things go slowly.
I was passing through the New Jersey Transit section of Penn Station and was about to head back to the office when I spotted Markjames.
He had tattoos on his hands, neck, and head and answered affirmatively whenI asked if he was a tattoo artist.
After taking a picture of his knuckles to share with the good folks at KnuckleTattoos.com, he offered up this wonderful neck piece:
He wanted a bird of some sort on his throat and collaborated with the artist Matt Rosenthal at Tattoo Nation in Wayne, New Jersey. Work from Tattoo Nation has appeared previously on the site here.
The owl as a symbol of wisdom is a popular tattoo motif, as is evident from the folks over at Owl Tattoos and their site dedicated solely to owl ink.
Markjames works out of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and will be tattooing at Triple VI Tattoos, beginning in April.
Thanks to Markjames for sharing his amazing tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!
So, ladies and gents.....before we were so rudely interrupted............
Saturday I was about to log on and say something earthshaking.....and I was unable to do so. I kept getting an "error" page from COMCAST. My connections were OK. Obviously I had power. The cable bill was paid. No viruses had knocked out the old Black Box. The computer passed every last diagnostic test known to mankind.
I would get online everytime, but always to an "error" page. Changing browsers didn't help either. So on Saturday I decided to give it a rest and try again Sunday.
And on Sunday I said "I'll do it on Monday" because I didn't want to call the weekend shift at COMCAST with my problems.
So this morning I tried one last time.....multiple times.....until I tried the using the COMCAST DESKTOP DOCTOR 's FAQ to see if they had any answers.
"Push the RESET BUTTON on the back of the modem", they said.
Duh!!!! Just like magic. So simple a cavem....., oh never mind!
A colleague has recently been successful in persuading OHIM/OAMI to allow a priority claim to a PCT application in a RCD application. "How?", you ask.
PCT applications are applications for patents and other rights, and therefore include an application for a utility model in Germany. Keen readers of the Paris Convention will be aware that design applications can claim priority from utility model applications. Hey presto ... a valid priority claim.
This leaves open the questions of what 'design' is disclosed in a PCT application, and what if the PCT claimed priority from an earlier patent application ....
It does show the powers at OHIM/OAMI can be persuaded.
