Question of the week

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Today is the 201st anniversary of one of the strangest chapters in American history-when the American vice president killed a former secretary fo the treasury on a bluff in Weehawken, New Jersey. For those who don’t know, Aaron Burr is one of my favorite characters in American history. So close to becoming famous as a Founding Father, instead he became infamous as a murderer and traitor. Anyways our question of the week is this: Who had died in a duel at Weehawken in 1801, two and a half years before Alexander Hamilton did?

We’re sick of the lies, Johnny

Yeah, I know I said that I would have the Beat the Champs stuff up a few days ago. I’m still waiting on a rough estimate from World Cafe Live as far as when tickets will go on sale before I set people loose throughout the city. Hopefully I’ll hear something soon, and will then post your initial assignments. If you don’t have anything else to do tonight, play this game called Diner Dash. Highly addictive, especially if you’ve ever waited tables before.

Awesome!!!

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I really want to thank everybody who donated $1 to play quizzo this week. We raised $248!!! A number of people questioned whether or not the UN was the best choice to send the money, due to high cost of administration and questions after Annan’s son’s “Oil for Food” scandal. I did some more homework, and found a charity that I think will make better use of our money. It’s called Action Against Hunger, it received an “A” grade from the American Institute of Philanthropy, and over 90 cents of every dollar goes directly to its programs. Thanks again for your generosity, and I hope you won’t mind if we make the “Dollar Week” an occasional part of quizzo. There are a number of great local charities I think it would be kool to help out as well. As far as the “Is this money REALLY going for charity, Johnny?” question I received, oh, I’d say 248 times this past week, I’d just like to say this: First of all, thanks for having so much faith in my morality. Really, I’m touched. Also, YES, 100% of the money raised is going to charity.

Happy Birthday Toby Keith!

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And what I mean by “Happy Birthday” is that on this, your special day, I hope you fall off of a cliff. A big one. Oh, by the way, check out the new poll question. Let’s find out once and for all what you people think about Dave Matthews.

Happy Birthday Satchel Paige!

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Baseball legend Satchel Paige was born on this date in 1906. He was as well known for his homespun wisdaom as he was for his fastball. Here’s a few of his famous quotes.
I interviewed one of his former catchers a few years ago (seriously!) and will try to get that interview up on the website soon. Also, there are some pretty good debates brewing under the two Live 8 stories, one about Dave Matthews, the other about aid to Africa. Please feel free to add your two cents.

It was on this date…

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…in 1947 that aliens were found at Roswell. Well, maybe. The official Air Force report says that the “aliens” were mannequins. Here’s some of the alien photos and some basic information, as well as some good links.

My thoughts about aliens? Well, I remember when the show Sightings used to come on, and they always had sort of trashy families on the show. And every episode, the families were eating pizza. Finally, I put two and two together and realized that talking about their encounters with UFOs got them free pizza. So after a while, I felt like people were just making stories up to get free pizza. That’s my alien conspiracy theory.

The Bad News First

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The bad news is that a federal judge is ordering a reporter to jail for not divulging sources, which is absolutely horrifying, since it seems like the kind of thing that happens in North Korea, not in the United States. The lone silver lining is that evil human being Karl Rove (see “racist attacks on McCain, 2000”) could find himself in hot water because of it. Also, can anyone tell me why Robert Novak isn’t in any trouble? That’s the part I really don’t get.

The Haps

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The Man in Black will be in concert tonight at Fergie’s at 10, raising money for the most ridiculous cause in the history of the world. Tommorrow night, a Midsummer Night’s Madness will be taking place, with Belgian band the Present and quizzo member KiaRash’s band the Red Masque performing at the Allens Lane Art Center in Mount Airy. Show time is 8 pm and tickets are $20. If you have an upcoming music, stage, or comedy event, I would be more than happy to post it on the website. Just shoot me an email.