The Apprentice

Africana’s Reality TV Recap has the best take on last night’s The Apprentice:

The Apprentice didn’t do much better in the category of interesting television. With Omarosa gone, the rest of the apprentices’ flaws seem to shine. It’s kind of hard to cover your butt after your scapegoat makes an exit. Among the things we learn now that Omarosa is no longer there: Kwame is worthless (absolutely lovely to look at, but worthless, nonetheless); Amy is a terrific contestant, but so arrogant and full of herself that she makes Omarosa look like a nun; Heidi couldn’t buy class if it was on sale at Goodwill; Nick is an utter jerk; Troy speaks a type of English that needs to be taught in schools (Africana’s Quote of the Week: “…like looking up the ass of a dead dog with fleas…”); and Katrina is a whiner. Actually, I noticed all of that weeks ago, but all everyone seemed to care about was Omarosa, so it feels good to be able to dump on some other people, for a change.

This week’s project involved managing a fleet of rickshaws and Team Versacorp won, mainly because all Team Protégé could come up with in the way of brilliant ideas was…hang on, now…charging folks for rides! Woo hoo. Versacorp, on the other hand, sold advertising on the backs of the pedi-cabs, which led to Katrina screeching to Bill that he used her likeness in order to make money, and that was unethical. I agree. After all, the only person who should be able to flaunt her body and pretty face in order to wrangle men into spending money is Katrina!

A twist leads to Troy (the losing project manager) sending someone back to the suite (of course, he picks Kwame — why is it when the men stick together it’s seen as normal but when the women do, Trump comments on it?), and loser Heidi shows that she lacks not only class, but common sense as well, backtalking to Trump and Company that their thoughts of her are nothing but their opinions. As Carolyn reminds Heidi, their opinions are the only ones that actually matter. The icing on the cake was Heidi departing with an attitude of “Well, I wanted to go home anyway.” Sure you did, Heidi. Sure you did. That’s why you called Troy an a–hole for bringing you into the boardroom, right?

Ex-“Apprentice” Contestants Ereka, Omarosa Face Off

NewMexiKen wants you informed. Here’s the latest on Omarosa. This report is from FOXNews.com:

“I’m just going to move on,” she [Omarosa] said. “Ereka has no press, and I see this as a way she’s trying to get back out in the press and exploit it. Ereka doesn’t have a job or any job prospects on the horizon – she lives in her mother’s basement, for crying out loud.”

“She’s at home clipping articles about me. Her obsession with me is going to continue, and I don’t want to feed into it,” she said.

NewMexiKen can’t wait until newly fired Heidi mixes in. Wrestle Mania meets The Apprentice.

Save the Sabino lions

Read the latest on plans to kill up to four mountain lions in the foothills near Tucson from The Arizona Daily Star:

Since the fall, the lions have reportedly growled at visitors, stalked people twice and lost their natural fear of humans, officials have said.

State and federal officials announced Tuesday that they would keep Sabino Canyon closed to the public for up to two weeks out of concern that a lion attack on humans is imminent. They also said professional trackers would be sent in to hunt down and kill the lions.

Read more detail on the lions here.

FDR’s First Fireside Chat…

was on this date in 1933.

President Franklin Roosevelt spoke to the people on the banking crisis just eight days after taking office. He began:

My friends:

I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking — to talk with the comparatively few who understand the mechanics of banking, but more particularly with the overwhelming majority of you who use banks for the making of deposits and the drawing of checks.

You may read the the entire talk here or listen to it here [RealAudio].

In all, Roosevelt gave about 30 Fireside Chats. The National Archives describes them:

During the 1930s almost every home had a radio, and families typically spent several hours a day gathered together, listening to their favorite programs. Roosevelt called his radio talks about issues of public concern “Fireside Chats.” Informal and relaxed, the talks made Americans feel as if President Roosevelt was talking directly to them. Roosevelt continued to use fireside chats throughout his presidency to address the fears and concerns of the American people as well as to inform them of the positions and actions taken by the U.S. government.

New road hazard

From CNN.com:

Andrea Carlton hadn’t planned on telling her daughter about the birds and bees until she was 8 or 9. But that changed the night 4-year-old Catherine spotted a porno movie flickering on a screen in a minivan nearby. …

More and more Americans are buying vehicles with DVD players, usually to keep the kids entertained. But an increasing number of other people on the road are catching a glimpse through the windows of more than just “Finding Nemo” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

Update: NewMexiKen thought this was interesting, but the more I think about it, how could anyone possibly see that tiny DVD screen in another car well enough to tell what was actually going on?

No show

NewMexiKen is so distraught that Ann Coulter was cancelled in Albuquerque tonight (laryngitis), that I thought some Coulterisms were called for.

“My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building.”
– Ann Coulter, New York Observer, August 26, 2002

“We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too. Otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors.”
– Ann Coulter, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, February 26, 2002

“While there is indisputably nothing cooler than having fought for your country, John Kerry’s status as a Vietnam veteran is unlikely to change a single vote. Military guys will support Bush, and liberals don’t admire bravery.”
– Ann Coulter column, February 4, 2004

“Finally, all the candidates are willing to sell out any of these other issues in service of the secret burning desire of all Democrats: abortion on demand. If they could just figure out a way to abort babies using solar power, that’s all we’d ever hear about.”
– Ann Coulter column, January 21, 2004

Douglas Adams…

was born on this date in 1952.

Adams died of a heart attack in 2001. His obituary from BBC included this background:

Adams was born in Cambridge in 1952 and educated in Essex before returning to Cambridge to study at St John’s College.

His career included work as a radio and television writer and producer before his life was changed by the publication of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in 1979.

The satirical tale chronicled the journey of alien Ford Prefect and his human companion Arthur Dent throughout the Universe after the destruction of Earth.

It centred around the search for an answer to life, the universe, and everything – which turned out to be 42.

The novel went on to sell more than 14 million copies worldwide and was followed by the sequels The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything; and So Long and Thanks For All the Fish.

The Writer’s Almanac has this:

…The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a series of satiric science-fiction novels that begins when the main character, Arthur Dent, is yanked from Earth just before the planet is demolished to make space for an interstellar highway. The book begins: “Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea. This planet has–or rather had–a problem, which was this: most of the people on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time . . . lots of the people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with digital watches.”

Great stuff — at least it was 25 years ago.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs…

was established in the Department of War on this date 180 years ago. The Bureau moved to the newly established Department of the Interior in 1849.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) responsibility is the administration and management of 55.7 million acres of land held in trust by the United States for American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives. There are 562 federal recognized tribal governments in the United States. Developing forestlands, leasing assets on these lands, directing agricultural programs, protecting water and land rights, developing and maintaining infrastructure and economic development are all part of the agency’s responsibility. In addition, the Bureau of Indian Affairs provides education services to approximately 48,000 Indian students.

The BIA website as well as the BIA mail servers have been made temporarily unavailable due to the Cobell Litigation. Please continue to check from time to time. We have no estimate on when authorization will be given to reactivate these sites.

Able to leap tall vehicles in a single bound

Via Open Season in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Lexus leaper: Joey Gathright, an outfield prospect with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, could be the fastest player in the big leagues if he makes the team. He stole 69 bases in the minors last year and is so athletic that he had to promise the Rays to stop jumping over cars — yep, he can do it front to back. “It’s in my contract,” he told the St. Petersburg Times. “I’m not allowed to jump over cars anymore. Can’t jump fences, either.”

Good way to look at it

Via Morning Briefing in the Los Angeles Times:

Stanford’s Matt Lottich found a silver lining in the Cardinal’s loss to Washington on Saturday at Seattle, where pandemonium broke out after the game.

“To see a team so happy when they beat you, you must be pretty good,” Lottich said.

Quips

Via Sideline Chatter in The Seattle Times:

• NBC’s Jay Leno, on commissioner Bud Selig announcing his latest hardline stance against muscle-building drugs in baseball: “This coming season, sales of steroids will be cut off after the eighth inning.”

• Angels reliever Brendan Donnelly, to the Los Angeles Times, after his first warmup pitch during a spring-training game whizzed past an umpire standing about eight feet to the side of home plate: “It looked like Nuke LaLoosh was making a comeback.”

• CBS’s Craig Kilborn, with a little-known nugget from Oscars night: “Did you know that all the jewelry worn by the actresses was on loan from Kobe Bryant’s wife?”

The Day Cinderella Vanished

Good article on the Yellowstone wolf pack from the Los Angeles Times. It begins:

A grim chorus of howls shattered the predawn stillness. As darkness gave way to dim light, a wolf emerged in a clearing.

He was charcoal gray, with a splash of black fur marking his snout and eyes. He sat up tall, his head thrown back in a long, desolate moan. His hot breath froze when it hit the air, leaving shards of ice dangling from his muzzle.

Two miles to the southwest, two other wolves howled excitedly from the crest of 9,000-foot Specimen Ridge. Their calls were answered by another group whose voices echoed from the direction of Tower Junction, near the Yellowstone River.

“There are three packs out there,” said wildlife biologist Greg Wright as he watched the animals through a high-powered lens. “You don’t usually hear this much howling. It could be a territorial dispute, but I’m not sure what’s going on.”

Soon, it would be clear. The gray lady — the Cinderella wolf — was missing.