cgator

Woah! Its a RATW sighting on the Fish board. Nice to see you making the rounds. This round is on me :drunks

The dispute is finally over and stations have returned. link Viacom, EchoStar End Dispute Updated 3:08 AM ET March 11, 2004 NEW YORK (Reuters) - Viacom Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp. said on Thursday they ended a contractual dispute, restoring CBS broadcasts to 1.6 million EchoStar viewers. Viacom said that more than 9 million EchoStar viewers nationwide will be able to watch Viacom-owned cable networks including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central again. The agreement follows EchoStar's removal of CBS in 16 local markets and 10 Viacom national channels from its service on Tuesday as the companies had failed to reach an agreement on contract terms by a particular deadline. The new long-term agreement means that EchoStar will also air a new Viacom channel Nicktoons this spring. The satellite television provider had previously balked at what it described as Viacom's demands it carry channels such as Nicktoons in exchange for rights to broadcast CBS. The companies also extended the term for EchoStar to carry channels such as Spike TV, CMT and TV Land. The pair, which have disputed for months, have also settled all litigation between them, according to a release issued by Viacom. They did not disclose the terms of the new pact. EchoStar sued Viacom in January, charging it with illegally forcing it to carry newer cable networks it did not want in exchange for the right to retransmit CBS television stations in 16 local markets.

Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday to you Cows like to go moo Happy Birthday to you Or as they sing in my family: Happy Birthday to you You belong in a zoo With the monkeys and the donkeys Happy Birthday to you. Have a great one!

99

While reading this, I couldn't help but keep remembering the Monty Python Spam Restaurant skit. "And now for something completely different..." link Sunday, March 07, 2004 All-Spam restaurant is serious business for the Philippines (11:01 a.m.) MANILA -- It may sound like a bad comedy sketch but a restaurant specializing in Spam -- the much maligned tinned pork product -- has opened in the Philippines and is doing a roaring trade in variations on pressed meat. Located at the upscale Ayala Center shopping mall in the financial district of Makati, "Spamjam" has been a rousing success since its soft opening in December and looks to do even better since its formal opening in late February, says managing director Philip Abadilla. He already been approached with numerous requests to franchise Spamjam. Hormel Foods, the US firm that originally produced Spam, hopes to eventually set up branches in other Spam-eating regions like South Korea and Southeast Asia. "It only shows that people really like Spam, whether they are at home or outside," Abadilla says. Located not far from a restaurant offering California nouvelle cuisine, Spamjam is decorated to resemble a moviehouse snack counter to appeal to the mall's cinema crowds. The menu is definitely one of a kind: there is a Spam hero sandwich, Spam club sandwich, Spam spaghetti, Spam macaroni, Spam potato chowder, bean soup with Spam, Spam Ceasar salad, Spam poppers and Spam meals with rice for the Filipino palate. The only items not containing Spam are the French fries and the hotdogs, which use Hormel's "Wrangler" brand instead. Abadilla says the restaurant's menu and decor were all approved by Hormel first. He hopes to introduce even more Spam-oriented dishes but he notes that their biggest seller so far is the "Spamburger," a simple hamburger sandwich using a patty of Spam instead of ground meat. Spam has spread around the world since it was developed in 1937. It was a source of protein for Allied soldiers in World War II and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was quoted as saying "without Spam, we wouldn't have been able to feed our army." But Spam has also garnered an unfavorable reputation as a poor substitute for fresh meat, and jokes circulate about Spam being used to repair the soles of shoes. The biggest insult came when the ubiquitous unsolicated e-mail advertisements that clog the Internet were labelled "spam" -- without the consent of Hormel. Yet Spam is highly valued in some countries. The Philippines is one of three nations outside the United States that produce Spam, and cans of the product are a staple in any Filipino cupboard. Ernie Tan, a Filipino migrant to Canada, says that even there, the ethnic Filipino community keeps itself well stocked with Spam. "Most Filipinos love Spam. It tastes good, even when cold," he says, giving Spamjam high marks for its imaginative use of the product. A life-long Spam eater, manager Abadilla says he came up with the idea of a Spam restaurant on his own, only to find that Hormel had been considering the same project. "When I approached them, they decided to let me be the one to launch it," he recalls. He believes his restaurant is a testbed for possible Spam restaurants abroad. He licensed the name from Hormel, which approves the recipes and presentation, provided some input on quality and supplies the meat -- a lighter uncanned version with less preservatives -- to the restaurant. Spamjam, named after an annual festival that Hormel holds in its corporate headquarters, will eventually expand the variety of Spam products on its menu, Abadilla says. The restaurant will hopefully counter the negative connotations that have been attached to the word 'spam' he says. "We will show the world the opposite: that Spam can be a good thing." He has heard of the infamous skit by the British comdey troupe Monty Python about a cafe where all the food on the menu contains Spam but he has never seen it. So don't expect to see men in Viking costumes, singing "Spam, Spam, lovely Spam..." AFP

Does it make for more even 'fair' coverage, or are we entering a phase of government run television? Iraq-Pentagon's News Pentagon to offer direct news service from Iraq and Afghanistan Email to a Friend Printer Friendly Version (Kuwait City, Kuwait -AP, Feb. 28, 2004 11:30 AM) _ The U.S. military will launch its own news service in Iraq and Afghanistan to send military video, text and photos directly to the Internet or news outlets. The $6.3 million project, expected to begin operating in April, is one of the largest military public affairs projects in recent memory, and is intended to allow small media outlets in the United States and elsewhere to bypass what the Pentagon views as an increasingly combative press corps. U.S. officials have complained that Iraq-based media focuses on catastrophic events like car bombs and soldiers' deaths, while giving short shrift to U.S. rebuilding efforts. The American public "currently gets a pretty slanted picture," said Army Capt. Randall Baucom, a spokesman for the Kuwait-based U.S.-led Coalition Land Forces Command. "We want them to get an opportunity to see the facts as they exist, instead of getting information from people who aren't on the scene." The project, called Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System or DVIDS, will also give the Pentagon more control of the coverage when calamities do happen. Army camera teams will be able to use their access to battle zones or military bases to film the aftermath of rebel attacks on U.S. troops _ or U.S. raids on insurgent targets _ then offer free pictures to news outlets within two hours. At times civilian media are kept away from such events. "We have an unfair advantage," Baucom said. "We're going to be able to get closer to the incident and provide better spokespeople to give the right information. The important thing is that we provide the public with accurate information." But media analysts argued that the military has a vested interest in making sure its viewpoint is heard. "The Army wants to get their view across and they are using a technique as old as any public relations maneuver ever devised," said Aly Colon, an ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute, the journalism research and education center in St. Petersburg, Fla. "I would view the Army's decision, in the same way that I would view OPEC creating a communications system to help the American public understand what it means when prices go up," he said. "This is the kind of news that people get in countries where the government controls the media. Why would anybody here want to buy into it?" Mac McKerral, president of the Society of Professional Journalists, told The Associated Press. The Army is in the midst of contracting to outfit five Mobile Public Affairs Detachments with a suitcase-sized reporting kit containing digital video and still cameras, a laptop computer and a Norsat NewsLink 3200 satellite broadcast terminal. Four teams will be based in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. Much of the effort is aimed at packaging and shipping locally focused stories to small and medium-sized newspapers and TV stations in the United States, said Army Col. Rick Thomas, who heads the effort. Most small U.S. media outlets can't afford to send a reporter to Iraq to cover a local military unit, Thomas said. Since the ongoing troop rotation involves several Army National Guard and Reserve units from communities across the United States, there are small media outlets who might never get news of their neighbors' work in Iraq. "The vast majority are dependent on other news organizations to get their products," Thomas said. "We think we can give them some more focused copy. We can shoot video of someone from, say, Tupelo, Miss., and they've got what looks like a very good hometown piece." The military brass was surprised and impressed with the speed and immediacy of the coverage of journalists embedded with U.S. combat units during the war, and wanted to develop the same capabilities, Thomas said. Television crews demonstrated their equipment for Army public affairs teams, and Thomas said his staff compiled a list of equipment needed to cover breaking news. The Army already has dozens of its own reporters in Iraq and Afghanistan writing for internal newsletters and magazines. Thomas said he hopes civilian media can reuse the same stories, or at least the Army's photos and video. The military's reporters will transmit their stories and video to servers at Third Army headquarters in Atlanta, and allow access to them over a password-protected Internet site, Baucom said. Accredited news organizations will be allowed to register for free access, he said. Thomas said the military also plans to use the equipment for internal video, such as beaming pictures from an aircraft's gun camera to a Pentagon briefing. The DVIDS units will also make it easier to get positive stories published, Thomas said. "There are numerous good news stories that aren't told that do provide a better balance on the overall successes we achieved in Iraq," he said. "We'll be able to provide the option for those types of stories. They're not going to lead in a major daily newspaper, but they'll play well in smaller daily papers and especially weekly papers." There is no doubt that we only hear about the worst things happening in these places. Do you think this will create a more balanced view, or skew it toward the 'teddy bear' version of what is happening?

Want to have the same experience as a probe bouncing to a Mars landing? I'm not sure if this guy is a genius who can foresee the thrills of the new era, or a few fries short of a Happy Meal. You decide: Far-out fantasies of a suburban thinker

There may be intelligent life after all:

Why do guys do anything? There's only so much blood flow...... and alcohol only slows it down more

Nah, I'm still waiting for the first ones I ordered. I think a mail carrier jacked them.

Saw this post at another forum, but thought it was fitting for just about any board you visit. 1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed 14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently 7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs 27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs 53 to flame the spell checkers 41 to correct spelling/grammar flames 6 to argue over whether it's "lightbulb" or "light bulb" ... another 6 to condemn those 6 as Pedantic 2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is "lamp" 15 know-it-alls who claim *they* were in the industry, and that "light bulb" is perfectly correct 156 to email the participant's ISPs complaining that they are in violation of their "acceptable use policy" 109 to post that this group is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a lightbulb group 203 to demand that cross posting to hardware forum, off-topic forum, and lightbulb group about changing light bulbs be stopped 111 to defend the posting to this group saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts *are* relevant to this group 306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty 27 to post URL's where one can see examples of different light bulbs 14 to post that the URL's were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL's 3 to post about links they found from the URL's that are relevant to this group which makes light bulbs relevant to this group 33 to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add "Me too" 12 to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy 19 to quote the "Me too's" to say "Me three" 4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ 44 to ask what is a "FAQ" 12 to say "didn't we go through this already a short time ago?" 143 to say "do a Google search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs" 1 forum lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now and start it all over again....

more and more, i'm dying to see castro in a full season of action So is the PA Penal League

Just out of curiosity, what kind of discretion are you looking for them to show? Should they look the other way because we are talking about college students, or are you referring to something else? Are the police suppose to show discretion since the underage drinkers obviously didn't? Guess I need to know what type of specific discretion you are looking for.

During this wave of media censorship, CBS has decided to introduce it's new logo: :deadhorse

Looks as though someone got into the News 14 computer system in the Carolinas. Check out the info at the bottom of each screen capture. News 14

Thank God for the date change. I would not have been able to make it for the other date. I can't make it for the new date either, but at least I can pre-rank my choices.

Oh so many to name........ but I did join this site :nogood :

I'll make this REALLY easy. Anyone who wants to clog the lines of this survey (and give them the info they are looking for,) here is the survey link: SURVEY Go get 'em!

I refuse to sign up... :chair Well if you put it that way, I'm in. :nogood :

A young punk gets on the cross town bus and sits down in the only vacant seat, directly across from an old man. The young punk has spiked, multi-colored, green, purple, and orange hair. His clothing is a tattered mix of leather rags. His legs are bare and he's without shoes. His entire face and body are riddled with pierced jewelry and his earrings are big, bright red, yellow and green feathers. The old man glares at the young punk for him for the next ten miles, as the bus travels across the city. Finally, the punk looks across at the old man, and yells, "What are you looking at, old man! Didn't you do anything wild when you were young?" Without missing a beat, the old man replies, "Yeah. Back when I was very young and in the Navy, I got really drunk in Singapore and had sex with a parrot... I thought you might be my son."

Already responded to survey part 1, but several people here said they did not receive a response from you. Maybe this time it will work.

link Updated 9:35 PM ET February 25, 2004 By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Radio station giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. said on Wednesday it was dumping nationally syndicated shock jock Howard Stern from its stations under a new "zero tolerance" policy toward indecency. In dropping Stern from its six radio outlets that carry his show, Clear Channel cited his interview on Tuesday with Rick Salomon, the man who was filmed having sex with hotel heiress and TV reality star Paris Hilton in a video widely distributed on Internet porn sites. According to a transcript of the show released by San Antonio, Texas-based Clear Channel, Stern asked Salomon if he engaged in anal sex and referred to the size of his penis. Using a racist term, a caller to the show asked Solomon if he had ever had sex with any famous black women. The action against Stern came a day after Clear Channel fired Florida radio personality "Bubba the Love Sponge," after federal regulators accused him of airing sexually graphic material on Tampa's WXTB-FM and three other Florida stations. Stern's New York-based show is syndicated by Infinity Broadcasting, a unit of Viacom Inc., which also owns television networks CBS and MTV. A spokesman for Infinity was not immediately available for comment and a Viacom spokesman declined comment. Neither Stern's agent nor producers of his show were immediately available for comment. Viacom president Mel Karmazin reportedly has imposed a crackdown on sexually explicit material on Infinity stations, declaring in a recent company-wide conference call: "This company won't be a poster child for indecency." The action against Stern came after Clear Channel announced what Chief Operating Officer Mark Mays called a "zero tolerance" policy toward material deemed in violation of federal decency standards for broadcasting. "Clear Channel drew a line in the sand today with regard to protecting our listeners from indecent content, and Howard Stern's show blew right through it," Clear Channel Radio president John Hogan said in a statement. "It was vulgar, offensive and insulting, not just to women and African Americans but to anyone with a sense of common decency." The San Antonio-based company, the largest U.S. radio station operator with more than 1,200 outlets, said it will amend contracts with all on-air personalities to hold disc jockeys financially responsible for indecent comments on-air. The Stern show was carried by Clear Channel stations in six markets -- Fort Lauderdale, Rochester, Orlando, San Diego, Pittsburgh, and Louisville. The policy changes are the latest taken by broadcasters to address decency concerns following the Feb. 1 Super Bowl half-time show, when pop diva Janet Jackson's right breast was exposed on live television. Said Hogan: "If a DJ is found to be in violation of FCC rules, there will be no appeals and no intermediate steps. If they break the law by broadcasting indecent material, they will not work for Clear Channel." Hogan and other broadcast executives are slated to testify Thursday before Congress about broadcast standards. (Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Jeremy Pelofsky in New York and Sue Zeidler in Los Angeles) Reuters/VNU

Ron 'Tater salad' White? Probably out right now getting arrested for being 'drunk in pub-lik.' That show was fantastic!

Depends who I'm with... Oh wait, I'm married. Strike that first comment. Work nights...11-12 non work nights...whenever I finally can't stay awake anymore.

Wendy's, although I wish they had Steak and Shakes in Miami. There are a few of them around. I'm not sure what area of the county you live in, but here are 2 that I see on a regular basis: In the Wal-Mart supercenter complex at Okeechobee Road and SR 826. In a complex on the NE corner of Kendall Drive and SW 157 Avenue, behind the Firestone Tire Service Center.