Liberal_in_LA
Liberal_in_LA's JournalFox's Utopia set to become the biggest flop in TV history
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/11089363/Utopia-set-to-become-the-biggest-flop-in-TV-history.htmlUtopia set to become the biggest flop in TV history
Fox's new "social experiment" reality show has cost the network $50 million but is already struggling in the ratings
Fox’s latest reality show, Utopia, is facing a serious drop in ratings after the network spent $50 million on the show, making it potentially the biggest flop in TV history
Utopia is billed as a “social experiment”, which sees 14 strangers thrown into a remote location in the hills of California with no heating, electricity or plumbing and asked to survive for a year on their own skills and the skills of their fellow pioneers. Hidden cameras are placed all over the five-acre compound and the pioneers will be filmed round the clock for the next year. Viewers can watch live for $4.99 a month, while highlights are being aired throughout the week for free.
Before the show even began, Utopia had a few dramas. Security had to restrain a contestant following an altercation and another contestant was revealed to be pregnant. One contestant has even been removed from the show altogether for breaking the terms of the show after having smuggled in a mobile phone to research the other contestants.
Yet viewers are still not interested. Having drawn 4.63 million viewers for its September 7 premiere, the show saw a drop of around 55% for the September 9 show, with only 2.48 million tuning in. It probably isn’t in the show’s favour that it currently airs at the same time as CBS’s Big Brother, which was also created by Utopia creator John De Mol.
Reviews of the premiere have not been in the show's favour. The AV Club stated that: “Utopia is as deep, concise, and enlightened as a drunk diner conversation—that is to say, not at all. Despite potential, anthropological or otherwise, Utopia fails to deliver on almost every one of its lofty promises.”
plenty of support for "the switch" over at free republic
To: xzins
My father used to hit me with a switch ... a Cisco 6509. Never hurt me.
21 posted on Fri Sep 12 2014 19:53:16 GMT-0700 (PDT) by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: xzinsu
I was raised by good, decent, loving parents who used a switch that we had to break off a tree or bush ourselves, among other things ranging from a hair brush to the back of a hand to discipline a house full of boys. Everyone of us are now retired, had successful careers, all married with children, none divorced, all attend church most every Sunday. And when we have family gatherings we often talk about how we were raised. I recommend the switch for disciplining boys.
22 posted on Fri Sep 12 2014 19:53:29 GMT-0700 (PDT) by elpadre (AfganistaMr Obama said the goal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-hereQaeda" and its allies.)
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: xzins
Amen! I thank my parents that they took me to the woodshed (paddled my behind) once in a while. Cause me no permanent harm and helped me understand the error of my ways. LOL!
9 posted on Fri Sep 12 2014 19:50:09 GMT-0700 (PDT) by doc1019
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To: xzins
Did you see the pictures of the cuts that were supposedly from a week later and the fact that he got him on the scrotum? I don’t know man, a four year old? If all that is legit then it’s waaaaay beyond the pale, at least in my opinion.
FReegards
10 posted on Fri Sep 12 2014 19:50:09 GMT-0700 (PDT) by Ransomed
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To: ltc8k6
Let me guess, you didn't go through childhood in the '60s.
/johnny
11 posted on Fri Sep 12 2014 19:50:14 GMT-0700 (PDT) by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: xzins
Geeze man, I got hit by 70’s era Phone handsets, curtain rods, ping pong paddles, broom handles, belts, shoes, flashlights, hair brushes, wooden spoons, salad bowl tongs ... almost everything but a switch ... whatever my Irish mother could find.
12 posted on Fri Sep 12 2014 19:51:08 GMT-0700 (PDT) by Usagi_yo (I don't have a soul, I'm a soul that has a body. -- Unknown)
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Http://goo.gl/o8ulOH
‘Do you know who I am?’ George Zimmerman threatens to kill driver in road rage incident
‘Do you know who I am?’ George Zimmerman threatens to kill driver in road rage incident: Florida cops
Do you know who I am?” the 30-year-old asked the man, identified by police as Matthew Apperson, during the incident Tuesday in Lake Mary, Fla., the driver told cops.
Zimmerman’s passenger asked Apperson why he was shaking his finger at their truck, Apperson told police.
But Apperson said he’d been listening to music with his windows rolled up in his Honda Accord and unaware of the gold Honda Ridgeline following him.
“I looked over - George Zimmerman was the driver - and they were threatening to kick my ass and to shoot me,” Apperson told a dispatcher. “I said, what are you going to do, shoot me? I’m not messing with you.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/george-zimmerman-threatens-kill-driver-road-rage-incident-police-article-1.1937738
little girl thrashes burly marine in push-up competition
folks are saying she had less weight to push up.
Little girl embarrasses burly U.S. cadet by thrashing him in push-up competition
Girl manages around 84 push-ups after entering strength competition
Beaten cadet looks at friends in disbelief as crowd cheers on challenger
Formidable female is believed to be Kaylyn Mintz, a Junior Olympics hopeful
Event in North Carolina was organised by charity, Active Heroes Foundation
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2753305/Hooahhhh-Small-slender-female-challenger-embarrasses-burly-cadet-thrashing-push-competition.html#ixzz3D8GpEYTW
At several points, the cadet stops to catch his breath and look to his comrades in disbelief as the indefatigable young woman, believed to be Junior Olympics hopeful, Kaylyn Mintz, persists on.
As the crowd cheers the girl to victory, the loser can be heard saying 'oh my God'.
At the end of the bout, the man can only look on in admiration as his pony-tail sporting opponent attempts to record a final few push-ups.
mother nature batters the rich and powerful in California (because of rising sea levels)
Celebrities and billionaires powerless as their multimillion-dollar Malibu homes are mercilessly battered by huge waves dragging fences, glass panels and furniture into the sea
Rising sea levels and beach erosion mean the celebrities and billionaires who live along the exclusive stretch of beach of Malibu Colony are powerless to protect their guarded houses from the forces of nature.
As these photos show the power of the waves have smashed through glass panels, pulled down fences and destroyed many beach side balconies which are owned by some of the most wealthy and powerful people in the United States.
In recent years, winter storms and rising high tides have reduced the size of the famously long and impressive beach and now the high tides threaten to erode the foundations of the homes along the coast - despite millions already having been spent on a sea wall further along the coast and sand bag defenses.
Last year it was revealed that Hollywood mega-stars Steven Spielberg, Dustin Hoffman, Goldie Hawn and one-time James Bond actor, Pierce Brosnan, face losing their exclusive multi-million dollar beach-front homes along Broad Beach unless a $20 million scheme to cure the erosion of the shoreline is approved.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2753877/Celebrities-billionaires-powerless-multimillion-dollar-Malibu-homes-mercilessly-battered-huge-waves-dragging-fences-glass-panels-furniture-sea.html#ixzz3D8E6euhr
Teen petitions school to allow Embarrassing Cat-Themed Yearbook Photo He Will Regret in 6 Months
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/09/teen-petitions-school-for-cat-yearbook-photo.htmlpetitions school to allow Embarrassing Cat-Themed Yearbook Photo He Will Regret in 6 Months
majority of American adults are now single
Bloomberg reported Tuesday that singles now make up the majority of the adult population in the United States. Economist Edward Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research Inc., first noticed the change when looking over the BLS’s jobs report for the month of August. In that month there were 124.6 million unmarried Americans over the age of 16, meaning 50.2 percent of the nation’s adult population identifies as single.
In contrast, only 37.4 percent of the population was unmarried in 1976, when the U.S. government first started keeping track. That percentage has been creeping upwards ever since, lingering just below 50 percent since 2013.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/single-youre-not-alone/
online campaign funds billboard in Topeka Kansas, westboro church responds
In response, Westboro tweeted a photo of an alternative billboard.
Http://news.yahoo.com/god-loves-gays-billboard-westboro-142428993.html
Http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/gK.MbDyEWVHZ52Yp42GT4w--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTI3MDtweG9mZj01MDtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz00ODA-/
Pistorius is going to get away with murder
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/09/11/4341567/pistorius-arrives-in-court-ahead.htmlPRESS
PRETORIA, South Africa -- During his trial, Oscar Pistorius sometimes retched and sobbed. The double-amputee Olympian sobbed again on Thursday, this time in apparent relief as a judge said the evidence did not support a murder conviction for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
The judge could still convict Pistorius of a negligent killing — a crime that can carry a lengthy jail term or just a suspended sentence and fine — when she likely finishes reading her lengthy conclusions in court on Friday. Some legal analysts were surprised, saying the runner could at least have been convicted of a lesser murder charge, rather than the premeditated murder charge leveled by the state.
The Pretoria courtroom was packed for the ruling in the case against 27-year-old Pistorius, once a globally admired celebrity who competed against able-bodied athletes at the 2012 Olympics in London. His brother, Carl, was there in a wheelchair because of injuries suffered in a recent car crash. So were Steenkamp's parents, June and Barry.
Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, had been seeing the star athlete for only a few months before he killed her by shooting four times through a closed toilet door in his home in the pre-dawn hours of Valentine's Day last year. Pistorius said he thought an intruder was in the toilet and about to attack him; the prosecution said he intentionally killed her after an argument.
Judge Thokozile Masipa, wearing a red robe, unveiled her analysis of the case after saying little throughout the sensational six-month trial as lawyers argued and witnesses testified about the shocking killing. South Africa does not have a jury system, and judges customarily issue verdicts only after explaining their reasoning.
"The accused cannot be found guilty of murder," the judge said, noting there were "just not enough facts" to support the finding of guilt for premeditated murder, which carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison, or an unplanned murder, considered a less severe crime.
Quebec Cops Hit Cyclist, Arrest Him as He's Dyin
Cops Hit Cyclist, Arrest Him as He's Dying: Witnesses
Blood reportedly leaked from man's mouth as Quebec police pinned him to ground
(Newser) – Witnesses say Quebec City police trying to pull over a bicyclist for going the wrong way down a one-way street ended up hitting him with their car instead, but what allegedly happened next is even worse: People on the street say cops ran the 48-year-old man over again, then pinned him to the ground to finish their arrest as he lay bleeding and dying, the Toronto Sun reports via Gawker.
When the police started pursuing Guy Blouin around 1pm yesterday, "he went under the wheels," one witness tells the Sun, adding that the police then shifted gears and ran Blouin over again. "For an entire 15 seconds, he was under the tire in a fetal position," another witness tells Radio-Canada, via CBC News. Police then allegedly pinned Blouin to the ground and told him he was under arrest, even though witnesses say the bicyclist was yelling "I'm hurt!" and spitting up blood; he died a few hours later at a local hospital. Protesters held a vigil last night at an area church. Provincial police are investigating the incident and witness claims that cops also tampered with evidence by removing the bike and the patrol car from the scene.
http://www.newser.com/story/193757/cops-hit-cyclist-arrest-him-as-hes-dying-witnesses.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=united&utm_campaign=rss_topnews
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