April 2004

There were 73 posts published in April 2004 (this is page 2 of 13).

American Idol Racism

Elton John says the voting on a recent American Idol was “incredibly racist” because three black female performers received low scores.
I’ve only watched a few minutes of American Idol ever, and I haven’t see any of these performers. So I can’t comment on this issue other than to note that I thought this was a subjective contest. At any rate, I’m somewhat confused by this graf in the article:

The New York Post reported it was deluged with calls complaining that the voting was racially motivated. (The Post is owned by News Corp., which also owns Fox TV.)

Why are viewers calling the Post to complain about a TV program? Is the Post involved in the production or promotion of the program? Even though the two entities are both part of the same corporate body, it strikes me as odd that people would think to call a newspaper to complain about the results in a reality TV series.

Blustery Resolve Reaps Results

According to new intelligence estimates, President Bush’s name-calling policy toward North Korea has limited the growth of the rogue state’s nuclear arsenal to 400%. That’s steady leadership for you.
No need to worry about some pesky little nukes, however. The real threat to our shores–Iraq’s aerial drones–have been safely secured.

Blogging Woes

No, I’m not talking about comment spam or broken Blogger permalinks.
Justene at Calblog has been served with a legal petition (from Quebec, of all places) demanding she reveal information on a comments arising from this post on Infotel Publications. The motion demands the name, address, zip code, and telephone number for a commenter on the blog, information Justene claims she doesn’t have.
I’m not technically savvy enough to know if there is a way for a blogger to track down this personal information using an e-mail and IP address. And frankly, there have been a few comments on this site which make me not want to find out.
At any rate, the legal system is still attempting to come to terms with the Internet, and the blogosphere must keep a close eye on it.

Out with a Splash

A contestant makes a splash in a belly-flop contest but never makes it back to shore to claim his prize:

Dorl Gates, 52, was the fourth contestant Saturday in the Diamond Jim bar’s World Belly-Flop Contest. The bar, on Illinois 51 by the Beloit/Townline Bridge, had advertised the contest with fliers and promised the winner $300. Rock County Sheriff’s Department Commander Tom Gehl said the contest originally was supposed to take place on the pier at the back of the bar, but some of the contestants wanted to jump off the bridge.
Gehl said the bridge is about 20 feet above the river, which is about 15 feet deep along that stretch of the river.
There were no boats ready to pick up contestants, he said, and the first three managed the jump and got to shore. But Gates jumped, bobbed up a couple of times and disappeared.
. . .
He said the department has conflicting information about how much Gates might have been drinking, and it also is still trying to determine if he could swim.

Not to make too much light of the tragedy, but if you can’t swim and are drunk, it’s probably not a good idea to jump into a river. Organizers of the next World Belly-Flop Contest might want to point that out.

Broadcasting Prayer

The Hamtramck, Michigan City Council is expected to approve an amendment which will allow houses of worship to broadcast religious announcements over outdoor speakers. The move will allow Islamic mosques to broadcast their calls to prayer five times a day. Currently, most American mosques have their calls inside, though the tradition in much of the world is to do it outside.
Local residents are threatening to challenge the amendment in court.