AUSTIN – While President Bush’s advisers were taking offers on an ideal spot for his library and museum, they probably should have paid more attention to the virtual real-estate market.
Officials finally settled on Southern Methodist University in Dallas to house the $250 million complex.
But online, some of the very best addresses are gone — snapped up for a mere fistful of dollars by squatters who have no connection to the library yet hope to make fun of the president, protect him or simply cash in on his name.
At one time, the Bush Library Foundation owned the easiest Web site to remember: www.GeorgeWBushLibrary.com.
But whether on purpose or because of an oversight — foundation spokesman Taylor Griffin wasn’t sure — it lost that domain name last year. Illuminati Karate, a Web company in Raleigh, N.C., picked it up for less than $10.
Since then, offers have come in to buy it, although company officials won’t say who or how much. And they’re coy on what they plan to do with such a recognizable site.
Having lost such an obvious choice, the foundation is hunting in other e-territories for accessible and memorable Internet brand.
The group has registered a few, such as GWBPresidentialLibrary.com, and is “looking at other options†before making a final decision, Mr. Griffin said.
GeorgeWBushLibrary.gov might work, since government sites aren’t open to the public, as well as sites ending in “edu.†That’s what his father’s library at Texas A&M University uses, BushLibrary.tamu.edu.
Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner.
But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn.
He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.
“He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, ‘Here you go,’” Diaz says.
As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.”
The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, “like what’s going on here?” Diaz says. “He asked me, ‘Why are you doing this?’”
Diaz replied: “If you’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me … hey, you’re more than welcome.
“You know, I just felt maybe he really needs help,” Diaz says.
Diaz says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth.
A Royal Marine who threw himself onto an exploding grenade to save the lives of his patrol has been put forward for the UK’s highest military honour.
Lance Corporal Matt Croucher, 24, a reservist from Birmingham, survived because his rucksack and body armour took the force of the blast.
He was part of a reconnaissance troop in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in February, when the incident happened.
The Ministry of Defence said he could be considered for the Victoria Cross.
A spokesman said L/Cpl Croucher’s comrades had made a citation to their commanding officer and officers were now considering whether to put his name forward for the honour.
L/Cpl Croucher, a member of 40 Commando, had been searching a compound south of Sangin which was suspected as being used for making bombs to attack British and Afghan troops.
When a Taleban booby-trap grenade was tripped, L/Cpl Croucher jumped on to the device to absorb the force of the explosion with his backpack as his comrades dived for cover.
The blast blew his rucksack more than 30ft away but he remarkably suffered only severe shock and a bloodied nose in the incident.
At the Death House Door is a personal and intimate look at the death penalty in the state of Texas through the eyes of Pastor Carroll Pickett, who served 15 years as the death house chaplain to the infamous “Walls” prison unit in Huntsville. During Pickett’s remarkable career journey, he presided over 95 executions, including the world’s first lethal injection. After each execution, Pickett recorded an audiotape account of his trip to the death chamber.
Now playing on the Independent Film Channel (IFC).
The newspaper industry has experienced the worst drop in advertising revenue in more than 50 years.
According to new data released by the Newspaper Association of America, total print advertising revenue in 2007 plunged 9.4% to $42 billion compared to 2006 — the most severe percent decline since the association started measuring advertising expenditures in 1950.
The International Edible Book Festival is held annually around April 1st. To date, the following countries have held this festival: Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, United States of America, Russia. Hong Kong has just announced its participation in 2007.
April 1st is the birthday of French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), famous for his book Physiologie du goût, a witty meditation on food. April fools’ day is also the perfect day to eat your words and play with them as the “books” are consumed on the day of the event. This ephemeral global banquet, in which anyone can participate, is shared by all on the internet and allows everyone to preserve and discover unique bookish nourishments. This festival is a celebration of the ingestion of culture and a way to concretely share a book; it is also a deeper reflexion on our attachment to food and our cultural differences.
Al Gore and his organization, the Alliance for Climate Protection, are hoping that a campaign pairing unlikely couples will generate more support for their cause.
The commercials, scheduled to begin on Wednesday, will team up offbeat celebrity couples who may not have much in common but share a belief that it is important to address climate change.
The first spots will bring together a prominent Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, and a prominent Republican, Newt Gingrich; a clergyman on the left, the Rev. Al Sharpton, and a clergyman on the right, the Rev. Pat Robertson; and country singers with sharply differing ideologies, the Dixie Chicks and Toby Keith.
The campaign is being created by the Martin Agency in Richmond, Va., part of the Interpublic Group of Companies. Martin’s work is familiar to TV viewers because the agency also produces campaigns for Geico insurance and Wal-Mart. The campaign will also include ads online and in print.
Announcer: “There have been many presidents who have thrown out first pitches, but I don’t now that anybody’s ever done it better than this particular president.”
ALTOONA, Pennsylvania (AP) — While Democrats increasingly worry about winning ugly, Barack Obama was losing beautifully at a bowling lane in this central Pennsylvania city.
“My economic plan is better than my bowling,” Obama told fellow bowlers Saturday evening at the Pleasant Valley Recreation Center.
“It has to be,” a man called out.
Obama dropped by the bowling lanes as part of his new emphasis on low-key, face-to-face campaigning during a six-day bus tour through the state. So for the time being, he is scaling back on the big, raucous rallies that have been his calling card.
The Illinois senator said he wanted to “take time for the retail politics that I enjoy and think helps people know me better…. We’ll probably save the rallies toward the end of the campaign.”
Saturday night, it was Obama Bowl-a-Rama.
And it was clear from the start that Obama was way out of his league, certainly any bowling league.
As Obama laced up his size 13 1/2 two-tone bowling shoes, he let everyone know he hadn’t bowled since Jimmy Carter was president.
He shared a lane with Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr., who endorsed him Friday, and local homemaker Roxanne Hart. As the game went on, several small children bowled with Obama as well.
On his first warm-up ball, Casey rolled a gutter ball. Obama’s first ball flew gracefully off his hand but also ended up in the gutter. On his second try, he knocked down four pins.
The crowd of regulars pressed in to take pictures, get autographs, and rib him on his poor skills.
Obama did improve, nearly getting a strike in one frame, and in the seventh, picking up a spare, giving him a score of 37. Casey had a score of 71 after getting a strike, and Hart, with one less frame, racked up a score of 82.
“I was terrible,” Obama laughed as he shook hands with a crowd that had gathered outside the building once word spread he was there.
Asked about his game, Hart sounded like a politician, saying: “He has potential.”
In case you didn’t know, my roommate and I were intramural bowling champions in college. I even have the t-shirt to prove it. It may be about ten years old and is so worn and thin that is leaves nothing to the imagination, but I still love wearing it. However, WifeGeeding has a different opinion about the shirt.
Springtime is here, and it was time to mow the lawn for the first time in a long time. First on the agenda was to fill up the empty gas can, which cost me about $16 bucks – geeeeesh, back in the day it would cost less that five buck to fill that sucker up. After filling up the old mower and about 15 pulls of the cord on a hibernating lawn mower I was off and mowing on a beautiful North Texas late afternoon.
I finished in good time and made my way back to the shed I built last year to get some lawn tools and there to my astonishment was a decapitated little bunny. It must have run from the shed and I must have accidentally and unknowingly hit the poor little thing. All that was left was a small little bunny body. I really felt sad. I remember as a 16 year old kid driving home from a friend’s house back in the woods (that would be you, Tim) and making a little rabbit my first roadkill. It appears I’m no friend of the bunny.
I buried the little fella next to the shed. Rest in peace little buddy.
