The crazy lady strikes again

It's Labor Day here in America, and that means only one thing: it's time for the MDA Telethon, hosted by comic Jerry Lewis. For the past few decades, this telethon has been Lewis' major claim to fame in America. In France, his comedy is widely appreciated, and he has even won the Legion of Honor award from the French government because he is so highly respected there. However, he hasn't really done much in the way of entertainment lately, sticking to his work with the Muscular Dystrophy... Sign in to see full entry.

Normally, I don't mention celebrity gossip items in any of my blogs. Most such items are utterly irrelevant, or real time-wasters, or worse. I don't have time to waste on such "fluff," given my medical history. (I've had two life-threatening illnesses this year. My life is too precious to God to waste on such trivial garbage.) One "gossipy" item, however, has definitely gotten my attention. It seems as if Brooke Shields has accepted an apology from Tom Cruise. Cruise made some very intemperate... Sign in to see full entry.

At least it's convention time for the Islamic Society of North America. This organization has elected its first female president, who has given at least one press conference here in Chicagoland. (The ISNA is having its convention in Rosemont, Illinois, at the Stephens Convention Center.) This serves as a convenient excuse of sorts for me to talk about Islam yet again. (I did an entry a few minutes ago, as of this writing, in From Death Into Life, about similarities between Islam - as practiced... Sign in to see full entry.

I understand that Kyra Phillips, the CNN anchor whose lavalier mike was left open so that her remarks (made while using the lavatory) were heard across the country on CNN, was on David Letterman's late-night show recently. She did a top-ten segment, which I believe listed the top ten reasons for leaving one's mike open while using the loo. At least she has a sense of humor about the incident which gained her instant notoriety. Other people in her situation might have had problems with all the... Sign in to see full entry.

This website offers Internet surfers the opportunity to vote for Pluto - as in, whether or not you feel that Pluto is a planet. (Yes, I did the "Pluto for President" thing in order to gain attention for this blog entry. It sounded like a humorous title at the time I thought of it.) Although the website asks for a name of some sort, you don't have to give your real name if you don't want to do so. People have signed on using various "handles" - Confused, "anonymous," even foo@bar.com. (For those... Sign in to see full entry.

It's official - the contract to build the spacecraft called Orion has been awarded to Lockheed Martin. This is, to quote the comic-strip namesake of my feline nurse Garfield, a "big, fat, hairy deal" to those of us who grew up with the space program. I imagine such space geeks as actor Tom Hanks are very excited right now; we are officially going back to the moon when it comes time to retire the space shuttle. I first caught my love of the life sciences from the space program. Chemistry and... Sign in to see full entry.

Editormum - you can link to her Member Profile on the left side of this blog - has a good point in her blog Editormum's Oddments. All the recent Katrina coverage has focused almost obsessively on the New Orleans area. Trust me on this one: Other areas of the Gulf Coast were affected last year when Katrina made landfall. One of my in-laws - my late father-in-law's sister - lived in Biloxi, Mississippi until Katrina hit. Her son (my husband's cousin) insisted that she evacuate to a place near him,... Sign in to see full entry.

Many of you may remember a picture taken at the site of the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001, hours after terrorists ran two planes into the Twin Towers, in which a photographer snaps a shot of a group of New York firefighters hoisting a flag at what is now known as Ground Zero. (This photograph is reminiscent of one taken at Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal during World War II, by the way. Rosenthal's photograph showed a group of GIs hoisting another American flag.) This AOL story tells readers that... Sign in to see full entry.

The choice cuss-word substitutes in the title were inspired by a thread on Cyberkat about music. We have been talking a great deal about Paul McCartney and other popular artists. Someone - or, more accurately, somekitty - posted about "my future daddy and Meowmie's future husband" or something to that effect, referring to his human's great love for Paul McCartney. (This human has been saying for years - I believe in all seriousness, because she does not use emoticons when she talks about... Sign in to see full entry.

Remember when CNN billed itself as "the most trusted name in news"? Well, news anchor Kyra Phillips is trying to make CNN the most trusted name in bathrooms, too. This TV Squad story describes her recent trip to the ladies' room - in graphic detail, because someone left her lavalier mike wide open, leaving literally no sound to the imagination. Perhaps my transplant team should use this technique to monitor our posttransplant kidney function. All joking aside, some who commented on this story... Sign in to see full entry.