Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Muppets on the news NBC
I heard the headline “Muppets” on the Today Show, but missed the story, so I went to Google and found several stories. See Below.
The Muppets take Washington D.C. in new exhibit
September 25, 2013 7:57 AM
Jim Henson's Muppets are now residing in the nation's capital, part of a new exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Jan Crawford reports on the new home for the iconic characters.

The woman with a phobia of muppets
Started by Still Waters , Oct 03 2013 08:16 PM
Most parents take pleasure in choosing toys and gifts for their children.
But for one mother, even stepping foot in a toy store is a struggle - because she is terrified of The Muppets.
Lindsay Broom has suffered from a rare form of automatonophobia - a phobia of puppets - since she was five years old.
The 37-year-old solicitor - who is mother to three-year-old daughter Liesl and newborn Martha, two months - often breaks down when reminded of Jim Henson’s universally-loved characters.–MOL
Lindsay Broom has suffered from the rare malady since she was five years old and her case is is somewhat unique.
She’s deathly afraid of Muppets.
Yep, she can’t handle being in the same room with or even seeing Kermit the Frog or Miss Piggy.
Even Burt and Ernie are to be feared.
For Lindsay, the situation is paralyzing and affects her family.
Lindsay told The Daily Mail she has three young kids and one is old enough to choose her own toys. That, she said, could be a disaster.
“She can have whatever she wants, of course. But I'm terrified she'll choose a Kermit the Frog doll, because I know I won't be able to live with it.”
Lindsay explained further “I'm fine with most puppets. It's only The Muppets, Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock I can't stand.”
There isn’t a “cure” for automatonophobia but doctors say they can treat patients with hypnosis, medication and at times psychoanalysis therapy.

'Muppets Most Wanted', 'Last Days on Mars' and 'Can a Song Save Your Lifec' In Today's MPAA Ratings
8 October 2013 4:00 PM, PDT | Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news »
Well, I don't know about you, but I was a little surprised to see the sequel to The Muppets is already completed and the MPAA has officially offered a PG rating for Muppets Most Wanted. They didn't waste any time getting that made. Additionally we have Can A Song Save Your Lifec starring Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo, which premiered in Toronto and was quickly snatched up by the Weinstein Co. Personally I sort of hated the film, but there were plenty of others that fell for the schmaltz, but I can't help but wonder how it's going to do with an R rating


Move over Miss Piggy: New generation of 'Muppets' take over BBC1 for Saturday night show
“It’s time to play the music, It’s time to light the lights.” The muppets return to television screens tomorrow night with a madcap new series which will introduce a family of new characters hoping to seize the spotlight from Kermit and Miss Piggy.
In That Puppet Game Show, an ambitious collaboration between the BBC and the Jim Henson Company, original creators of the Muppets, celebrity guests take part in a series of bizarre games invented by a team of puppet experts.
In the first episode, Jonathan Ross and Katherine Jenkins have to place a line of kilted singing hot dogs in the correct order for the sausages to perform a Proclaimers song.
Like the original Muppet Show, which ran for five years until 1981, the front-of-house action is linked by comic sketches and a running backstage narrative starring the puppet characters who are trying to keep the show on the road.
The new muppet stars include Ian, a jaded, tipsy Armadillo, Udders McGhee, a crusty media kingpin who began his career working in Rupert Murdoch’s post room and Amber O’Neill, a shallow showbusiness expert whose desire for fame makes her a distant cousin to Miss Piggy.
The seeds of the series lie in Puppet Up!, an improvised 2006 Edinburgh Festival show staged by Brian Henson, who inherited the puppeteering business from his father Jim Henson, who died in 1990
After experimenting with a late-night chat show format, in which Stephen Fry performed alongside a puppet version of himself in a “taster” tape, the BBC decided to gamble on returning a muppet-based comedy series to prime-time, with an added game show element.
That Puppet Game Show is filmed on the same Elstree studio stage that the Hensons used for the Muppet Show. “All the sets are built above the ground on 3ft stilts,” Ormerod said. “It looks like the desks and doors are floating. We had to create room for the puppeteers to stand up and hold the puppets above their heads and watch video-feeds.”
That Puppet Game Show will be judged on the strength of its furry ensemble. Tom Leopold, an American satirist who has written for Seinfeld and Cheers, contributed gags. “We spent a lot of time working on the characters with the writers,” the producer said. “You need to give the puppets real problems and personalities to make them three- dimensional.”
The BBC series will not refer to the new puppets as “Muppets”, since that brand is now owned by Disney. “They are two completely different sets of characters,” a BBC spokesman said.

Take your pick of the Muppets stories copied here. I think the Smithsonian story is what they were telling on the news this morning. The phobic woman is a BBC story. I did see a very scary horror movie about a ventriloquist's dummy that had a life of its own and began killing, so I can see how effigies of humans could look frightening. In one article the woman said that her imagination goes wild when she sees a Muppet and she sees its facial features distorting and moving. She had a traumatic early experience of being left in a dark room with an old lady that she didn't know who was wheezing loudly when she breathed, and the Muppets were playing on television at the time. The whole frightening experience, she was only five at the time, became focused on the Muppets.

Phobias often seem very irrational to me, but of course I have a phobia about spiders, bats, sharks, and rabid dogs. When I was young in the south there were stories every summer about rabid animals. It's a problem here in Jacksonville, too. The wild animals come into the city because we have a number of swampy waterways and woodlands scattered around, and there are always foolish pet owners who try to save a few dollars by not vaccinating their animals.

More important news – NBC


The New American Center: Why our nation isn't as divided as we think

At the center of national sentiment there’s no longer a chasm but a common ground where a diverse and growing majority - 51 percent  - is bound by a surprising set of shared ideas.

“Just because Washington is polarized doesn’t mean America is,” says Robert Blizzard, a partner at Public Opinion Strategies, the lead pollster for Mitt Romney in 2012. His firm co-created the survey with the Benenson Strategy Group, pollsters for President Obama, and the result is a nation in eight distinct segments: two on the far right ("The Righteous Right" and "The Talk Radio Heads"), two on the far left ("The Bleeding Hearts" and "The Gospel Left"), and four in the middle that represent nothing less than a new American center ("Minivan Moderates," "The MBA Middle," "The Pick-up Populists, and "The #WhateverMan.")

The people of the center are patriotic and proud, with a strong majority (66 percent) saying that America is still the greatest country in the world, and most (54 percent) calling it a model that other countries should emulate. But the center is also very nervous about the future, overwhelmingly saying that America can no longer afford to spend money on foreign aid (81 percent) when we need to build up our own country.
Take an interactive quiz to find out where you stand. 
Pluralities believe that the political system is broken (49 percent), and the economy is bad (50 percent) and likely to stay that way a while (41 percent). Majorities fear another 9/11 or Boston-style bombing is likely (70 percent), and that their children’s lives will be more difficult than their own (62 percent), which are either stuck in place or getting worse (84 percent) — while the rich keep getting richer at the expense of everyone else (70 percent).   
The new American center has a socially progressive streak, supporting gay marriage (64 percent), the right to an abortion for any reason within the first trimester (63 percent), and legalized marijuana (52 percent). Women, workers and the marginal would also benefit if the center had its way, supporting paid sick leave (62 percent); paid maternity leave (70 percent); tax-subsidized childcare to help women return to work (57 percent); and a federal minimum wage hike to no less than $10 per hour (67 percent).
But the center leans rightward on the environment, capital punishment, and diversity programs. Majorities support offshore drilling (81 percent) and the death penalty (90 percent), and the end of affirmative action in hiring and education (57 percent). Most people in the center believe respect for minority rights has gone overboard, in general, harming the majority in the process (63 percent). And just one in four support immigration reforms that would provide a path to citizenship for those who came here illegally.

But Washington beware: The people of the new American center aren’t united by easy labels. Some are Republicans (28 percent). Others are Democrats (36 percent). Still others are Independents (36 percent). The people of the center self-describe as liberals (20 percent), conservatives (25 percent), moderates (55 percent) — and 15 percent support the Tea Party.
Culturally, the center could be the butt of any joke in America, with lives that encompass Duck Dynasty and NPR, baby arugula and all-you-can eat Fridays. The center includes suburban mothers, rural working class men, rich city-dwelling business-people and relatively disaffected young people.
Yes, the center is mostly white (78 percent) but so is most of the American voting public (72 percent) — and the center is changing. Already it contains a fifth of African-American voters, one in two Latino voters, and half the women in America. The center is roomy, or in other words, welcoming.

I think this story is very interesting. Our political parties are polarized and don't include all of the ideas and positions that exist. I wonder if it's time for an Independent to be president? Every now and then a candidate runs who is neither Democrat or Republican. They tend to have some kind of extreme position that I can't agree with, however, and the Independents I have heard talk don't agree with each other enough to form a government of united leaders. The Independents usually skew the election so that either the Democrat or the Republican can't get enough votes to win. They're “spoilers.” I always go with the Democrats, but I don't usually agree on the whole platform. The problems we face are too many and too complex to solve in any perfectly clear-cut way. I do hate it when things like this government shutdown occur, because we can't really afford this amount of financial insecurity. It's time they made a rule (or a law?) that Congress or the Senate cannot shut down the government, especially when it's just a political ploy to force some political change to occur.

I couldn't resist copying this reader's response to the poll above:

“Dave Wing · Top Commenter · Butte, Montana
I took the poll. According to pollsters I am among the 10% of the population who are "bleeding hearts". What the hell does that mean? Is it supposed to mean that I am not a realist about how things are supposed to work in this world? I agree that this poll is a load of crap. But I do admit to being curious as to whether the pollsters would identify the people who might answer the questions exactly opposite from myself as "sociopathic assholes."

Madeleine McCann Update

Police 'extremely pleased' with new tips after Madeleine McCann appeal

LONDON -- Police said late Monday they were “extremely pleased” after a television appeal about the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann that prompted two separate tipoffs giving the same name for a suspect.
More than 300 calls and 170 emails were received from viewers after the BBC aired a reconstruction about the girl, who vanished from her parents' vacation apartment when she was three years old.
Two witnesses independently provided police with the same name in response to a computer-generated image shown on the broadcast, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said during the show.
The image represents a man seen carrying a child towards the beach near the the Praia da Luz resort in Algarve, Portugal, where Madeleine went missing at around 10 p.m. local time on May 3, 2007, London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement.  
The suspect is described as being white, aged in his 30s, with short brown hair, of medium build, medium height and clean shaven, cops added.
"We are extremely pleased with the response,” Detective Chief Inspector Redwood said. “We will now take the time to follow up these lines of inquiry.”
"Our appeal continues and later today I will be travelling to Holland, and tomorrow Germany, to continue the appeal for information,” he added. "Madeleine remains at the heart of everything we do and I will continue to update the McCann family as more information is received by the incident room."
Portuguese police closed the investigation in 2008, but after two years of reviewing case documents, London cops reopened the case which has transfixed Britain in July, saying there was a good chance Madeleine was still alive.

For years attention was focused on a man whom a friend of the McCanns said she saw carrying a small girl near the McCanns' apartment but investigators said they had effectively ruled out this sighting. 
Instead Metropolitan Police released new descriptions and electronic images Monday of a different man, saying the man who was seen carrying the girl is now believed to have been a resort guest who likely had nothing to do with Madeleine's disappearance.
In an earlier interview on the BBC program "Crimewatch," DCI Redwood said  the resort where the McCanns were staying on vacation had a nighttime child-care center where eight families that week were boarding 11 children. He said investigators had tracked down the families — one of which told them that they believed they were seen taking their daughter to the child-care center for the night.

Teri Blythe / Metropolitan Police / EPA
A file photograph showing an age-progression image released by the Metropolitan Police showing Madeleine McCann on the approach to her 9th birthday in May 2012.
"I would say it was a revelation moment," Redwood said.
Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, put Madeleine and her twin siblings to bed about 8:30 p.m. in May 3, 2007, and went to have dinner with friends at the resort's tapas bar.
Because Kate McCann reported that she'd discovered that Madeleine was missing at 10 p.m., the investigation has focused on events that might have occurred during that 90-minute window, when the man carrying the child was spotted by one of the McCann's friends, Redwood said.
With that man now largely ruled out, police have widened the timeline they're examining, Redwood said, and in the last few months they have opened two other investigative trails.
"We're able to allow the clock to continue moving forward and allow things that have not been quite as significant or received quite the same degree of attention to be the center of our focus," Redwood said on "Crimewatch."

I do hope they find the person who abducted this little girl. This is probably the worst type of crime I ever hear about. All too often they aren't found alive. Torturing or killing an adult is bad, but to do it to a little child is much worse. I wish it carried a penalty of life in prison. In many cases they only get a few years, and don't even serve their whole sentence. Maybe this case will turn out better if they have some new clues.

12:09 PM It's lunchtime, and then I will start reading my mystery. We're having a thick cloud cover so far today. Maybe it will rain. I need to go to the grocery store soon, so I'll try to do that before it gets too wet. 1:36 Went to the store. I was sorry I didn't put on a sweater, but it didn't occur to me until I was already out and moving. I made it okay, though. Reading now.

This author is making up words, and I can't find them on the Internet. I'll just have to guess at the meaning. She has just used “supe” and “twoey” to mean, I think, a type of supernatural being. “Supe” sounds like it's short for supernatural, and she earlier referred to her “shapeshifter” boss as being of two parts in his nature. So maybe a “twoey” is a shapeshifter. I'll just plow on. The fun thing about this story is the way all these different supernatural beings get along as though they were all one. They understand each other and cooperate. They are equally accepting of humans. It's very humorous the way she draws her characters. I'm enjoying it thoroughly!

Louisiana words:
la·gniappe  (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a storeowner to a customer with the customer's purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot2. See Regional Note at beignet.

[Louisiana French, from American Spanish la ñapa, the gift : la, the (from Latin illa, feminine of ille, that, the; see al-1 in Indo-European roots) + ñapa (variant of yapa, gift, from Quechua, from yapay, to give more).]
Regional Note: Lagniappe derives from New World Spanish la ñapa, "the gift," and ultimately from Quechua yapay, "to give more." The word came into the rich Creole dialect mixture of New Orleans and there acquired a French spelling. It is still used in the Gulf states, especially southern Louisiana, to denote a little bonus that a friendly shopkeeper might add to a purchase. By extension, it may mean "an extra or unexpected gift or benefit."

Catahoulas

The Catahoula Cur is an American dog breed named after Catahoula Parish, in the state of Louisiana, in the United States. Its name was officially changed to Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog after it became the state dog of Louisiana in the 1970s. The Catahoula is believed to be the first dog breed developed in North America. The breed is sometimes referred to as the "Catahoula Hound" or "Catahoula Leopard Hound", although it is not a true hound, but a cur. It is also called the "Catahoula Hog Dog", reflecting its traditional use in hunting wild boar.
In general, modern contexts, the term Cur is a slang term for mongrel dogs with a distinct negative connotations.
Orignally, however, the word "cur" referred to a certain British purpose-bred, short-tailed cattle droving dog known only from historical records, the cur dog.[1]:459–460
Among dog experts, "curs" are any of several closely related North American purpose-bred treeing hounds, some of which have since achieved breed recognition.[2]

About the author, from Wikipedia:
“Charlaine Harris (born November 25, 1951) is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing mysteries for thirty years.[2] She was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area of the United States. She now lives in southern Arkansas with her husband and three children.[3] Though her early works consisted largely of poems about ghosts and, later, teenage angst, she began writing plays when she attended Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. She began to write books a few years later. Her later books have been in the urban fantasy genre. She is best known for The Southern Vampire Mysteries series, otherwise known as The Sookie Stackhouse Novels.[4]
Harris was born in Tunica, Mississippi. After publishing two stand-alone mysteries, Harris began the lighthearted Aurora Teagarden books with Real Murders, a Best Novel 1990 nomination for the Agatha Awards. Harris wrote several books in the series before the mid-1990s when she began branching out into other works.[5] She did not resume the series until 1999, with the exception of one short story in a Murder, She Wrote anthology titled "Murder, They Wrote".
In 1996, she released the first in the Shakespeare series featuring cleaning lady detective Lily Bard, set in rural Arkansas. Harris "lives in small-town Arkansas", according to a New York Times interview.[5] The fifth book in the series, Shakespeare's Counselor, was printed in fall 2001, followed by the short story "Dead Giveaway" published in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in December of the same year. Harris has stated on her website that she has finished with the series.
After Shakespeare, Harris created The Southern Vampire Mysteries series about a telepathic waitress named Sookie Stackhouse who works in a northern Louisiana bar.[5] The first book in the series, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001. Each book follows Sookie as she tries to solve mysteries involving vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures.[5] The series has been released in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Spain, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Argentina, Poland, Serbia, Brazil, Great Britain ....
In her personal life, Harris is married and the mother of three children.[5] A former weightlifter and karate student,[10] she is an avid reader and cinemaphile. Harris resides in Magnolia, Arkansas, where she is the senior warden of St. James Episcopal Church.[5][11]”