04th May 2002
Wait Wait Weird News Listening
Wait Wait Weird News
Listening to NPR today (as ~80% of all waking hours), I caught one of my many favorite shows, “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me,” the humorous news quiz. Was immediately struck to hear they had an old-standby guest comedian on the show, Paula Poundstone. When news struck last year of Paula’s arrest for child endangerment and “lewd acts,” I knew her only from was this show. I had lost track of her drama in the wake of Sept. 11, understandably, as it turns out, b/c she copped a plea on Sept. 12, admitting to driving drunk with her adopted kids, and one count of “injury” to a child. This interview with her from MSNBC.com tells the full story of her challenging rehabilitation. I applaud Wait Wait for giving her a second chance.
Other tidbits I picked up from tuning in to Wait Wait this week:
- Scientists have outfitted rats with brain-controlling devices to send remote electronical signals commanding the rats directional movements, for use in search and rescue situations (proven more effective than search robots).
- Former Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh in an interview with The NY Times, claims to have inserted subliminal messages into recordings he has made recently for TV ads, including, according to the article, “a subliminal voice saying ’sugar will rot your teeth’ into a commercial for Gummi Savers…’avoid conspicuous consumption’ to a campaign for BMW and ‘biology is destiny’ to a cosmetics commercial.”
- A former hair stylist in San Francisco (where else?) has founded Hairogenics, a facility that will keep your barber clippings in cold storage until there is a cure for baldness; $50 up front plus $10 per year. According to The SF Chronicle, the place already has 200 customers since its April 29 launch.
- And finally, my favorite story, the Governor of Montana (shout out to my almost alma mater U of M), Judy Martz, is alleging she has developed carpal tunnel syndrome as a result of too much constituent handshaking, and she is considering suing the state for damages. Apparently she has twice in years past successfully collected damages from businesses for personal injury. While I haven’t found online validation of this, my friend Paul Montgomery, in Montana, says he’s heard the story there. Here is a commentary from Paul on alleged corruptions of the governor, on Paul’s blog TheOutrider.com.
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