news of the day

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paddyinthepub
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news of the day

Postby paddyinthepub » Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:04 pm

A thread to touch on current news. It occurs to me that news keeps me connected to a world of hurt. Too few good news stories on tv.
I'm sitting here, enjoying my morning coffee, and just generally enjoying my life, while just across the kitchen CNN is airing the coverage of the devastation caused by tornados in Florida.
The company my wife works for has offices in some of the towns most directly affected. It's a small world sometimes.

I once helped a friend try to "salvage" his mom's place after a "100 Year Flood." Close to 14 feet of San Jacinto River in her home for several days. When the river receded, the call went out for help, and I was able to recruit about seven of my coworkers on the night shift to head 30 miles north of the city to help try and save the place before water damage took permanent hold. Now this is nothing compared to what I see in Florida today on tv...but the feeling of arriving on the scene where little is like it was just days before is very unsettling.

And trying to figure out where to move even one pile of debris, let alone this type of destruction.

It occurs to me that this sort of thing has always happened, only that we, the general population, were not privy to round the clock coverage. We caught small bits from Walter Cronkite or local news covering just enough to let you know things were bad. You could read about it in the papers for days and weeks. But your own life went on. That's changed.

This kind of news stops us in our tracks. My wife was travelling yesterday and I set up Tivo to record 5 hours of CNN coverage that she would have otherwise missed. It's hard to watch this kind of devastation. It's hard not to watch.

These folks likely had watching the Super Bowl on Sunday as top priority and plan for the weekend. It's really something how things can change so suddenly.

I'd be happy to discuss "good news" stories, too.
Last edited by paddyinthepub on Mon Feb 05, 2007 2:28 am, edited 6 times in total.
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

paddyinthepub
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Postby paddyinthepub » Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:37 am

On the local scene.....Eagles Head Coach Andy Reed has been in the headlines this week, some trouble his two teen aged sons got into involving car accidents and police. Tonight, it was revealed that the boys are Heroin users.

I learned a few years ago how BIG an issue Heroin had become in the lives of affluent teens. I was shocked to be honest. I mean, the old image of teens strung out was no where near the zip codes these kids live in. It was a problem for poor kids with very little choice but to go with the flow. But this? This is a strange and sad new trend, isn't it?

Are parents just too busy? Blind? Disconnected?

Too sad. :?
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

paddyinthepub
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Postby paddyinthepub » Mon Feb 05, 2007 2:46 am

One last thought tonight......in the news.

Just saw an interview with the girl recently crowned Miss USA. You know, the one Donald Trump decided to give a second chance to after it was revealed she had a problem with alcohol abuse.

Kudos to Mr. Trump on this one. There is much to say about the issue and how it can take over a young person's life. It's apparent to me that this young lady has a great deal to offer in the way of educating young people everywhere. I know it's been fodder for fluff news stories, but this is a serious subject. Her reign as Miss USA will forever be connected to her addiction, and her attempt to get help. Good for her, and for those just like her.

I'm hoping this remains a good news story.
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

JennyLevE
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NOLA!

Postby JennyLevE » Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:01 pm

Paddy--

If I can I would like to touch upon your first topic. Last spring (when I was a jr. in high school) my grade decided that we wanted our class trip to be to New Orleans to help with the Katrina recovery effort. It was among the most amazing experiences of my life. Seeing how much had been done and yet how much more work still needed to be done was astonishing.

Though we (my classmates and I) weren’t able to make a huge difference in the grander scheme of things, the trip left me feeling empowered. When we reached a sight that we were to clean we would mark off a certain area and work until that area was clean. When we left it felt good to know that the area which we had designated was completely clean and that without out us there that day it would have gone untouched.

As empowering and energizing of an experience as it was, it was also emotional and at times devastating. When cleaning out some woods near Biloxi, Mississippi, we found family pictures and other personal items. Seeing the baby pictures etc. really made the experience personal. Instead of pulling sheetrock and toilet bowls out of the woods it felt much more like we were pulling someone’s house out of the woods (after all that was what we were doing).

Another story that I think illustrates the point well…
One night we were eating our pre-packaged, self-cooking dinners in a parking lot. The parking lot looked dirty and my friends and I looked around for a spot that we thought was clean enough to sit on. We found this odd part of the parking lot that looked much cleaner than the rest. We were sitting, eating, remarking that the pavement looked remarkably like tile when one of the chaperones told us that we were eating in a “Waffle House”. We were very confused by her comment and she just pointed towards the sky. There it was, the outline of the Waffle House sigh (they are quite distinctive) with all the letter missing. The building was completely gone; all that remained was the flooring. That was when I truly understood just how devastating the damage really was. I had had no idea that there used to be a building where I was sitting until it was pointed out to me.

Just wanted to chime in, I’m sorry to bring a downer to everyone’s day.
--Jen
<3
“Tell me which part
Is it the CASTLE, or the SAND
That you miss when the TIDE comes along?”
-- Ellis Paul

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bonuela
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Postby bonuela » Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:40 pm

Not to spark a debate Paddy, but I think our own Jenny is a far better role model for our youth then Miss USA. While I do understand that addiction is an illness, and staying sober is a huge accomplishment, that was not her platform. She did not go into this as a recovering alcoholic. She got caught using. She was lying about her lack of sobriety, not acting as an advocate for seeking help when needed.

What we need are people like Jenny showing that instead of getting drunk in Mexico on spring break, teens can accomplish something positive in their own backyard.
I let my music take me where my heart wants to go. ~ Cat Stevens

paddyinthepub
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Postby paddyinthepub » Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:35 am

No debate here......very good points.

How's this? Miss USA can help those in need of help get sober enough to see that their time can be spent in more meaningful ways.

Such as lending a helping hand.
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

JennyLevE
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Valentines Day

Postby JennyLevE » Wed Feb 14, 2007 12:22 pm

Happy Valentines Day to all! :wink:
--Jen
<3
“Tell me which part

Is it the CASTLE, or the SAND

That you miss when the TIDE comes along?”

-- Ellis Paul

paddyinthepub
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Postby paddyinthepub » Wed Feb 14, 2007 12:32 pm

Thanks Jen.....very sweet sentiment. The news here is the weather, a wintry mix closing many schools and businesses. Last minute shoppers of cards, candy, and flowers (like me) are in big trouble. :shock:
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

paddyinthepub
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Postby paddyinthepub » Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:20 pm

Tennis anyone?

Wimbeldon has announced they will pay the same amount of money to the Women's Champion as the Men's Champion.

They have long contended the Men's Champion prize money should be more since they play longer matches.
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

paddyinthepub
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Postby paddyinthepub » Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:20 pm

Music news...fresh from my Folkwax eletter. I always love hearing from the old greats and their slants on the state of the music biz today.


Joni Mitchell Returns With No Apology:
Joni Mitchell has talked about her first new album in almost a decade, managing a trademark swipe at the modern music biz in the process.

Speaking to Britain's Guardian newspaper, Mitchell discussed her upcoming new album, tentatively titled Shine. It is her first album since 1998's Taming The Tiger, and marks her return to music after her disillusioned “retirement” in 2002.

She told the paper of her disdain for the "pornographic pigs" at the upper echelons of the post-millennial music industry, those who only care about "golf and rappers."

Speaking of the "joyous music" of the past, she cites artists such as Debussy, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and Louis Jordan as conceiving music "in such terrible times – and it was such a great relief to the culture at the time." But she continues, "That's the trouble with now. Now we've got a horrible culture, horrible times, and horrible music."

Her new music emanates "bruised and unbroken optimism" according to journalist Paul Sexton, shifting from Jazz to Classical to Pop.

"A real artist is going to like a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and it's going to take an entire life to assimilate them into something new," continues Mitchell. "It's not going to happen when you're young, and this is a youth-driven market. It's like painting: everybody knows, or they used to, that it takes a long time to distil all this. You don't become a master until you're in your 50s and 60s."

The 63-year-old Mitchell is set to release her new album in the autumn.
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

paddyinthepub
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Postby paddyinthepub » Tue Apr 24, 2007 9:59 am

David Halberstam, a name unknown to me until just a few minutes ago, died in a car accident yesterday in San Francisco. David felt journalists should be able to show Americans the real story during the Vietnam War.

A real pioneer it's safe to say.

This link will tell you more about this amazing man.

http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a ... 0000000001
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

paddyinthepub
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Postby paddyinthepub » Fri May 18, 2007 4:59 pm

Every single time I go to Aol to check emails they entice with some spectacular news story or another. Sometimes I bite, sometimes I don't.

This story caught my attention right away...and here's a link to the story.

It's a story of a gorilla that managed to escape it's confinement at a zoo in the netherlands and from there injured four patrons and of course scared several others before zoo employees were able to get a tranquilizer dart to sedate the 400 lb gorilla....the photo of the gorilla over near the restaurant and family of four with small children with the mother covring her stroller aged daughter is a picture you just don't see everyday.

Just today someone I know recommended the Highland Park Zoo in Pittsburgh as an entertainment option this summer next time we travel there as a family. Two weeks ago our son was on a school field trip to the Philadelphia Zoo....uneventful, of course. These photos are not gruesome at all.....but scary nonetheless.

http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a ... 0000000001
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

paddyinthepub
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Postby paddyinthepub » Mon Sep 03, 2007 2:51 pm

People magazine has actor Owen Wilson on the cover:

After the lovable star's shocking suicide attempt, friends open up about the dark side of a funny man who had it all.

Ya know...stories like this remind me the grass ain't always greener....

Godspeed Owen Wilson.
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

Mtn Gal
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Postby Mtn Gal » Mon Sep 03, 2007 5:04 pm

One of my life mottos is: If the grass looks greener over there, it's time to fertilize mine! :wink:
"Nobody can dim the light which shines from within." ~ Maya Angelou

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bonuela
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Postby bonuela » Mon Sep 03, 2007 5:26 pm

Mtn Gal wrote:One of my life mottos is: If the grass looks greener over there, it's time to fertilize mine! :wink:


I've been a little down in the dumps lately and I needed to hear that.

What a great motto.
I let my music take me where my heart wants to go. ~ Cat Stevens

paddyinthepub
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Re: news of the day

Postby paddyinthepub » Fri Aug 29, 2008 11:19 am

Presidential candidate Senator John McCain has chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate.
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

annieb
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Re: news of the day

Postby annieb » Fri Aug 29, 2008 1:01 pm

I wonder if she will celebrate at Alice's Champagne Palace? 8) :mrgreen:

Annie

paddyinthepub
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Re: news of the day

Postby paddyinthepub » Fri Aug 29, 2008 2:02 pm

"raise a glass...lift a chalice.....welcome to Sarah Balin's White House malice!" :P
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy


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