GA Russell

I'm not sure I knew that you could bet on an NFL game with odds instead of a point spread. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home Sports books hit by Super loss Associated Press February 5, 2008 at 8:26 PM EST LAS VEGAS — Nevada sports books lost a record US$2.6 million on Super Bowl bets when the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots on Sunday. The sports books handled just more than $92 million on the game, the third-highest amount ever but down for the second consecutive year. The record was set in 2006 when $94.5 million was bet. The last time the books lost money was in 1995, when the San Francisco 49ers blew out the San Diego Chargers, 49-26, and Nevada books lost $400,000. Nevada Gaming Control Board analyst Frank Streshley says large amounts were bet on the money line that the Giants would win outright. The payouts on those bets were as large as four times the original bet because New England was such a huge favourite. The game ended with the Giants winning 17-14.

The Riders have hired their offensive coordinator Ken Miller to be their new head coach. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home ***** Here's a good commentary from the Globe's Stephen Brunt about the Argos' and the Ticats' positions vis a vis the Bills. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ory/GlobeSports

Happy Birthday BW!

I have quite a number of Greatest Hits albums of people I have no interest in getting more of. As far as jazz samplers go, I used to like them a lot when new jazz CDs were $18.99 and the samplers were $4.99. Now that we have Your Music, the cheap samplers don't seem so attractive anymore! Still, I enjoy listening to the samplers I have. It's just been a while since I have bought one.

Thanks Kenny!

My dad always used to read Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Magazine. I remember seeing Hoch's name often, but it never occurred to me that he was in every issue of EQ. Here's his LA Times obituary: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...1,6810111.story Edward D. Hoch, 77; short-story mystery writer By Dennis McLellan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer February 4, 2008 Edward D. Hoch, a prolific short-story writer who was known as a master of the puzzle mystery and for more than three decades was a monthly fixture in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, has died. He was 77. Hoch, a past president of Mystery Writers of America, died of a heart attack Jan. 17 at his home in Rochester, N.Y., said his wife, Patricia, his only immediate survivor. After his first story appeared in 1955 -- in Famous Detective Stories -- Hoch went on to write more than 940 published short stories. He wrote so many that former Mystery Writers of America Executive Vice President Bill Chambers said several years ago that before he met Hoch he used to think "he was a corporation -- a whole bunch of writers working under one name." "There were some really prolific short-story mystery writers in the '30s, but I think Ed beat them all," said Doug Greene, a mystery scholar and owner of Crippen & Landru Publishers, which has published six of Hoch's short-story collections. There was no mystery as to how Hoch (the name rhymes with "oak") wrote so much. "I never have writer's block," he told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in 2001, the year Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master for his career achievements. Hoch's first short stories were published near the end of the pulp magazine era, and his work appeared in dozens of them, as well as in digest-sized monthlies such as The Saint Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. Hoch first wrote for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1962, and since 1973 he had one of his stories published in every monthly issue. "In his early writing, he did a bit of science fiction, but mysteries were his thing, really," Patricia Hoch said. He wrote every day, she said, turning out 18 to 20 mystery short stories a year. "He was working on a story for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine the night before he died," she said. The magazine, which has four Hoch stories that have yet to be published, plans to include a tribute to its longtime contributor in the June issue. "As a writer, I think his inventiveness is the most notable quality of his work," said editor Janet Hutchings. "He created some memorable characters, and fans of his write to us all the time." Over the years, Hoch created more than two dozen series characters. One of his most popular was Nick Velvet, a crime-solving thief who would be hired to steal objects of seemingly little or no value -- a used tea bag, a ball of twine, a dead houseplant. The character wound up on French television in the 1970s, Hutchings said. Hoch wrote eight novels, including three science-fiction books featuring a futuristic team of "Computer Cops": "The Transvection Machine," "The Fellowship of the Hand" and "The Frankenstein Factory." He also was ghost writer for a 1972 Ellery Queen mystery, "The Blue Movie Murders." But Hoch, who won a 1968 Edgar Award from Mystery Writers of America for "The Oblong Room," considered short stories to be the most satisfying form of writing. "Writing a novel has always been, for me, a task to be finished as quickly as possible," he once said. "Writing a short story is a pleasure one can linger over, with delight in the concept and surprise at the finished product." Greene said Hoch "continued the tradition of Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen and John Dickson Carr of challenging the reader to guess who the culprit would turn out to be. He emphasized puzzle, but within that he also emphasized atmosphere. He loved setting his stories in exotic places. And he loved introducing esoteric lore into his stories." Greene said Hoch's "Simon Ark stories are about someone who may be an Egyptian Coptic priest who claimed to be 2,000 years old, and they're wonderful stories." And Hoch's popular series character Dr. Sam Hawthorne, he said, "is a country doctor in the 1920s up to the 1940s who always faces what we call an impossible crime: Someone is murdered in a locked room that no one else could have entered, for example." Greene said Hoch wrote more than 100 impossible crime stories, "every one with different solutions." "He wrote a story one time about a victim in a revolving door," Greene said. "The guy was walking into the store and he's murdered within the door. I mean, it's completely sealed. No one is there." Born Feb. 22, 1930, in Rochester, N.Y., Hoch attended the University of Rochester from 1947 to 1949, then went to work as a research assistant at the Rochester Public Library. After a two-year stateside stint in the Army, he worked for Pocket Books in New York City, and from 1954 to 1968 he was a copy and public relations writer for Hutchins Advertising Co. in Rochester. Hoch began writing fiction full time in 1968. "He had a brilliant mind; he loved puzzling things out," Greene said.

Those of you who enjoyed The Fugitive will remember Barry Morse fondly. Here's his LA Times obituary: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...1,2249096.story Barry Morse, 89; played Lt. Gerard on 'The Fugitive' By Valerie J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer February 5, 2008 Barry Morse, an actor best known for portraying Lt. Philip Gerard, who relentlessly pursued David Janssen's Dr. Richard Kimble on the hit 1960s television series "The Fugitive," has died. He was 89. Morse, who maintained homes in England and Canada, died Saturday at University College Hospital in London, his son, actor Hayward Morse, told the Canadian Press news agency. A cause of death was not announced. In the 1963 series debut of "The Fugitive," Kimble is falsely accused of murdering his wife and escapes from Gerard. Kimble spends the next four years eluding the detective and hunting the one-armed man he believed was the real killer. The finale, broadcast Aug. 29, 1967, made TV history -- the ABC show was seen by more than 72% of viewers, a record that stood until "Dallas" eclipsed it 13 years later. In the climactic scene, Gerard shoots the one-armed man to save Kimble's life. Some viewers were so wrapped up in the melodramatic morality play that they had trouble distinguishing Morse the actor from his cop-as-villain character. "Elderly ladies bashed me across the head with their handbags, or some hulking great man would come up to me in a bar and say: 'Don't you understand? The guy's innocent!' It was an enormous compliment -- and quite dangerous," Morse told the London Daily Mail in 1993. He considered the part groundbreaking because the character was "carefully designed to be disliked. . . . I was the most hated man in America, and I loved it," Morse said in the Daily Mail article. His son told the Canadian Press that his father believed "The Fugitive" was "one of the best things television had produced." The widely syndicated show failed to provide him "one thin dime" in recent years, Morse often said, because residuals from the series ran out after five years. Morse was born June 10, 1918, in London, and grew up poor. At 14 he left school, partly to escape beatings the left-hander said he received for refusing to write with his right hand. While working as a messenger, Morse happened upon a public performance by students of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. The discovery led him to attend the school on scholarship from 1935 to 1937, and he was soon acting in West End theaters and appearing in British Broadcasting Corp. productions. After moving to Canada in 1951, he was such a force on Canadian Broadcasting Corp. shows that at least one critic referred to him as "test pattern," claiming the network put him on when it had nothing else to air. In the early 1950s, Morse created "A Touch of Greasepaint," a radio program about the history of acting that aired for a decade. The show was the genesis of his one-man play "Merely Players," which he performed to help establish a show-business retirement home in Toronto in 1993. Over seven decades, he played more than 3,000 roles on stage, radio, television and film, according to his website. His television work included miniseries such as "The Martian Chronicles," "The Winds of War" and "Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story." He also portrayed professor Victor Bergman in the syndicated mid-1970s series "Space: 1999." A role on the police drama "The Untouchables" led to his being cast in "The Fugitive." Because he did not appear in every episode, Morse regularly traveled to Canada in 1966 to serve as artistic director of the Shaw Festival, established in Niagara-on-the-Lake to honor playwright George Bernard Shaw, whom Morse regarded as "a great hero." His wife of 60 years, actress Sydney Sturgess, died in 1999. Their daughter, Melanie Morse MacQuarrie, also an actress, died in 2005. In addition to his son, Morse is survived by four grandchildren and several great-grandchildren, the news agency reported.

The Maharishi has died. Here's his AP obituary: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...1,4208394.story Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 91; taught Beatles meditation Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, died Tuesday at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop, a spokesman said. Maharishi, who was thought to be 91 years old, saw his movement take off because of his association with the Beatles in the late 1960s. From the Associated Press 4:29 PM PST, February 5, 2008 THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, died today at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop, a spokesman said. He was thought to be 91 years old. "He died peacefully at about 7 p.m.," said Bob Roth, a spokesman for the Transcendental Meditation movement that the Maharishi founded. He said his death appeared to be due to "natural causes, his age." Once dismissed as hippie mysticism, the Hindu practice of mind control that Maharishi taught, called transcendental meditation, gradually gained medical respectability. He began teaching TM in 1955 and brought the technique to the United States in 1959. But the movement really took off after the Beatles visited his ashram in India in 1968, although he had a famous falling out with the rock stars when he discovered them using drugs at his Himalayan retreat. With the help of celebrity endorsements, Maharishi -- a Hindi-language title for Great Seer -- parlayed his interpretations of ancient scripture into a multi-million-dollar global empire. After 50 years of teaching, Maharishi turned to larger themes, with grand designs to harness the power of group meditation to create world peace and to mobilize his devotees to banish poverty from the earth. Maharishi's roster of famous meditators ran from The Rolling Stones to Clint Eastwood and new age preacher Deepak Chopra. Director David Lynch, creator of dark and violent films, lectured at college campuses about the "ocean of tranquility" he found in more than 30 years of practicing transcendental meditation. Some 5 million people devoted 20 minutes every morning and evening reciting a simple sound, or mantra, and delving into their consciousness. "Don't fight darkness. Bring the light, and darkness will disappear," Maharishi said in a 2006 interview, repeating one of his own mantras. Donations and the $2,500 fee to learn TM financed the construction of Peace Palaces, or meditation centers, in dozens of cities around the world. It paid for hundreds of new schools in India. In 1971, Maharishi founded a university in Fairfield, Iowa, that taught meditation alongside the arts and sciences to 700 students and served organic vegetarian food in its cafeterias. Supporters pointed to hundreds of scientific studies showing that meditation reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, improves concentration and raises results for students and businessmen. Skeptics ridiculed his plan to raise $10 trillion to end poverty by sponsoring organic farming in the world's poorest countries. They scoffed at his notion that meditation groups, acting like psychic shock troops, can end conflict. "To resolve problems through negotiation is a very childish approach," he said. In 1986, two groups founded by his organization were sued in the U.S. by former disciples who accused it of fraud, negligence and intentionally inflicting emotional damage. A jury, however, refused to award punitive damages. Over the years, Maharishi also was accused of fraud by former pupils who claim he failed to teach them to fly. "Yogic flying," showcased as the ultimate level of transcendence, was never witnessed as anything more than TM followers sitting in the cross-legged lotus position and bouncing across spongy mats. Maharishi was born Mahesh Srivastava in central India, reportedly on Jan. 12, 1917 -- though he refused to confirm the date or discuss his early life. He studied physics at Allahabad University before becoming secretary to a well known Hindu holy man. After the death of his teacher, Maharishi went into a nomadic two-year retreat of silence in the Himalayan foothills of northern India. With his background in physics, he brought his message to the West in a language that mixed the occult and science that became the buzz of college campuses. He described TM as "the unified field of all the laws of nature." Maharishi's trademark flowing beard and long, graying hair appeared on the cover of the leading news magazines of the day. But aides say Maharishi became disillusioned that TM had become identified with the counterculture, and he spent more time at his ashram in Rishikesh in the Himalayan foothills to run his global affairs. In 1990 he moved onto the wooded grounds of a historic Franciscan monastery in the southern Dutch village of Vlodrop, about 125 miles southeast of Amsterdam. Concerned about his fragile health, he secluded himself in two rooms of the wooden pavilion he built on the compound, speaking only by video to aides around the world and even to his closest advisers in the same building. John Hagelin, a theoretical physicist who ran for the U.S. presidency three times on the Maharishi-backed Natural Law Party, said that from the Dutch location Maharishi had daylong access to followers in India, Europe and the Americas. "He runs several shifts of us into the ground," said Hagelin, Maharishi's closest aid, speaking in Vlodrop about his then-89-year-old mentor. "He is a fountainhead of innovation and new ideas -- far too many than you can ever follow up."

Here's a link to what ESPN considers the ten greatest upsets in sports history. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=354871 I didn't know that the origin of the use of the term "upset" to refer to a surprise sports victory was the name of a horse!

It looks like a case of a Svengali controlling a mentally ill millionaire. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8...;show_article=1 Spears' Manager Accused of Drugging Her Feb 5 03:46 PM US/Eastern By LINDA DEUTSCH AP Special Correspondent Spears' Dad Still in Charge of Her Affairs Paparazzo Boyfriend Visits Britney Bearing Gifts and Cameraman LOS ANGELES (AP) - A restraining order aimed at Britney Spears' sometimes manager Sam Lutfi alleges that he took over her life and finances, drugged her and controlled the paparazzi who pursued her for months. The order, based on a lengthy declaration from Spears' mother, Lynne, says that Spears met Lutfi in October 2007 and "Mr. Lutfi has essentially moved into Britney's home and has purported to take control of her life, home and finances." The documents released by the court Tuesday ordered him to stay away from her and stop harassing. In a section of the order that detailed previous harassment, Lynne Spears said "Mr. Lutfi drugged Britney, he has cut Britney's home phone lines and removed her cell phone chargers. He yells at her. He claims to control everything—Britney's business manager, her attorneys and the security guards at the gate." Spears' father has been granted control of her finances until Valentine's Day by a judge who also barred the troubled pop star from contacting Lutfi. Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz also appointed a physician Monday to evaluate whether Spears, who is in a psychiatric ward, is competent to make decisions. Her father, James Spears, and an attorney were granted conservatorship last week after the 26-year-old was hospitalized for the second time in two months following increasingly bizarre behavior. The commissioner extended that conservatorship until Feb. 14. It allows Spears' father, and attorney Andrew Wallet, to make decisions involving the singer's assets and even who enters her home. The commissioner also tried to further distance Spears from Lutfi, who sometimes spoke on her behalf and had been seen escorting her about town. Spears was ordered to have no contact with him by phone, texting, or any other means. The commissioner extended a restraining order against Lutfi that was issued last week, although court spokesman Allan Parachini said the original order had not yet been served. In a Monday text message to The Associated Press, Lutfi said: "I have no problems with anyone writing anything negative against me. My image is not of concern, hers is." A police motorcade helped shepherd Spears to UCLA Medical Center last Thursday for a 72-hour mental evaluation. She was originally to be released Sunday but doctors and a ward medical officer decided to keep her for two more weeks. They cited a state law that allows holding patients for treatment if they are found to be gravely disabled or a danger to themselves or others. The question of Spears' competency came up again Monday as an attorney, Adam Streisand, unsuccessfully argued that the pop star told him by phone that she wanted her father removed as conservator. "She has expressed to me very strongly (her wish) that her father not be the conservator," Streisand said. "There has been an estrangement for quite some time. With him as conservator, that is causing her more agitation and more distress." Streisand, who placed Spears' estate assets at $40 million or more, also said he believed he had been authorized to represent Spears. But court-appointed attorney Samuel Ingham said he interviewed Spears on Sunday at the hospital and determined she didn't understand the court proceedings, and "she lacks the capacity to retain counsel." Attorney Vivian Thoreen, who represents Spears' father, said her client should continue to be conservator because "his daughter is in great distress." "He's not here to take over her assets," Thoreen said. "He's here to get her medical help. He's here to take over while she's healing."

I had a hunch it was 15%, not 15$! I can recommend a few: Miles Davis Plays for Lovers Bill Evans Plays for Lovers (listened to it just yesterday) Dianne Reeves - Good Night and Good Luck Stan Getz Plays for Lovers Tony Bennett Plays for Lovers and Chet Baker Plays for Lovers are so-so. I can recommend against: Doris Day - The Love Album Dave Brubeck Plays for Lovers

The Ticats are not signing off on the idea of having the Bills play in Toronto. Bob Young wants all of the issues the CFL has with the NFL resolved before agreeing to any one of them. This means that for the time being Ticats season ticket holders will not have the right to purchase the Bills tickets. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home ***** Here's an article that says that Sean Fleming has retired. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Edm...809187-sun.html

TTK, I'm pretty sure I have used the word "dark" more than once. Can you think of a better word that means the same thing?

Looking at their monthly catalogues, I get the impression that they haven't issued any CDs with black and white covers since 2000, to pick a round number. Unlike BMG, whose items are routinely discontinued, I get the impression that they continue to carry the CDs made for them until they sell every one; and that they have been selling many of their currently-available CDs for over ten years. For example, I bought last year a copy of Getz/Gilberto whose cover design was part of a series Verve released about 2000. I have one black and white CD which bothers me, even though I know it is silly to allow it to do so. It is the Cal Tjader/Eddie Palmieri album El Sonido Nuevo. That album has a beautiful cover with orange and yellow, and the black and white photo puts a damper on the mood. But the CD itself sounds great on my system.

FU, FFA!

I put Quiet Kenny on tonight for the first time in a few months. It really is a good, simple album. Really enjoyed it. Everyone should have it!

The best! I thought this was overrated though there were some classic sequences. I'm glad you mentioned this, Bruce. I taped it off the TV many years ago and never got around to watching it. I still have a VCR hooked to my TV, and I'll have to dig it out and watch it. Although this doesn't really qualify as an action movie in the normal sense, those of you who like the Bullitt and French Connection chase scenes will probably also enjoy the Steve McQueen movie Le Mans.

Tomorrow is not only Super Tuesday, it is also Mardi Gras! Here is a link to a website that broadcasts nothing but New Orleans music: http://www.nola.com/new_nolaradio/index.ss...7_mardigras.xml

I have it, but never warmed up to it. I pull it out once a year to give it a listen. John, I once saw a cassette of Pontius Pilate's Decision at a dollar store for 99 cents! I wasn't in the mood to wait in the checkout line just for that one item, so I left without getting it. I've always sort of regretted that!

Congratulations! I would recommend something Mel Torme did, arranged by Marty Paich. You can find those albums on the Bethlehem and Verve labels.

Mine went from 13 to 2, keeping #s 1 and 4. The dates did not change.

Hillary Clinton thinks that the Giants' win is a good omen for her. It doesn't take long for the politicians to get in the act! http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/New...4822678-ap.html

Great game. If the NFL had more games like that, I'd be an NFL fan. The Giants on that last drive showed a lot! I stepped into my car to listen to the various Sirius broadcasts a little bit. I heard the BBC, Flemish, Japanese, German and Russian broadcasts, as well as the Westwood One, the Patriots' and the Giants'.

It's halftime now. I have watched the TV a little bit, but for the most part have listened to the radio. I can't pick up the local station that is carrying the game, but I am getting the Giants broadcast on WFAN New York 660 AM clear as a bell.