alocispepraluger102

Given the date of that footage, the "one missing tooth" would fit De Valk's "Chet didn't 'lose all his front teeth,' as some journalists have claimed, or even just one tooth -- but only a part of one tooth," if that partial broken off tooth later led to the loss of the whole tooth, then to the eventual removal of the whole deteriorating mess. has mosaic included dental exrays in any releases?

what an idea!

"Everything is media." - Geoffrey Moore Monday, February 28, 2005 From Ringtones to .....What? Singing Toothbrushes Got a Song Stuck In Your Head? Try Brushing By JOSEPH PEREIRA Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL February 25, 2005; Page B1 Toy maker Hasbro Inc. has been trying for more than six years to find a use for its clever invention of a pea-size device that transmits sound through enamel and bone. At first, the company tried marketing the technology in a lollipop that, when sucked, would play a catchy tune. But parents choked on the $10 price tag, and the product was discontinued. Unwilling to give up, Hasbro considered spoons, forks -- even pens -- that would play a musical ditty in the mouth. Those ideas never made it out of the lab. Now, Hasbro has a product it thinks it can take to the bank: a musical toothbrush. When pressed to the teeth, the toothbrush renders a recorded riff from a pop star that lasts two minutes -- precisely the amount of time dentists say children should spend brushing their teeth. Hasbro plans to highlight that advice in marketing for the new toothbrush, which also has a suggested retail price of $10. Called "Tooth Tunes," it's getting a thumbs-up from dentists. Children tend to brush their teeth for only a few seconds, says Ed McLaren, associate professor of dentistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. "Most kids have no idea how long two minutes is." Hasbro is in talks with several recording artists about getting rights to their recordings. Many artists would probably consider a gig in a toothbrush beneath their talents. But others might welcome the daily exposure in their young fans' lives. Hasbro says it got a green light from Vivendi Universal SA's Universal Music Group, a major hip-hop publisher, to approach some of its artists. Among the "upbeat" songs Hasbro says it is considering are "What a Wonderful World," "Wild Thing," "Walking on Sunshine" and a new rendition of the 1960s classic "Do You Believe in Magic" now getting a lot of play on the Disney Channel. Among the recording artists Hasbro is currently talking to are the actor-singer Will Smith, rhythm-and-blues band Black Eyed Peas and pop-music queen Hilary Duff. Mr. Smith hasn't signed a long-term agreement but Hasbro has requested a license to use his hit song "Switch," says Dave Capper, a Hasbro project manager. A lawyer for Black Eyed Peas confirmed that negotiations are ongoing, but declined further comment. Andre Recke, Ms. Duff's music manager, was initially skeptical but now says it is "likely" his 17-year-old client will strike a deal. "When Hasbro came to me, my reaction was 'Yeah, Yeah, so it's just a toothbrush,' " Mr. Recke says. "But then, I listened to it, and I went like 'wow.' " He says he may even persuade Ms. Duff to write an original, two-minute composition to help with the Tooth Tunes launch. "Hilary's into clean living," he says. "She would like to convey to kids that, 'Hey, I may be Hilary Duff, but I have to brush my teeth too.' " Modern computer technology makes the Tooth Tunes possible. The two-minute recording is stored on a microchip no bigger than a dot atop the letter i. Push a button on the toothbrush, and a minicomputer starts playing the song. Sound waves are transported through the transducer to the front teeth, traveling from there to the jawbone and then to the inner ear. In 1998, Andrew Filo, an inventor-consultant to Hasbro working with a crew of six company engineers, devised and promptly patented a "dental mandibular sound transducer." When pressed against teeth, the tiny contraption powerfully propels sound waves through the incisors and mandibles into the inner ear. "The human jaw bone is a great conductor of sound," says Mr. Filo, who says he has long been fascinated by the movement of sound through the facial structure. As a child, he says, he used to close his ears and wonder how he could hear himself hum. He came up with the idea for Tooth Tunes one morning while brushing his teeth. The sound produced by Tooth Tunes is, for the person brushing, a cross between the sound of music coming out of a stereo speaker and the sound of humming to oneself. The transducer's sound waves don't travel efficiently through air, so someone standing near the person brushing hears only a hum, similar to the sound of the Walkman on a fellow passenger in a train. As currently envisioned, each Tooth Tunes brush would come with just one song. When the brush wears out, the whole thing must be replaced at a cost of another $10. The launch of Tooth Tunes is planned for later this year, in time for the back-to-school shopping season. But Hasbro will find itself competing in an increasingly crowded oral-care aisle. Its top rival will be Procter & Gamble Co., which has agreed to acquire Gillette Co., maker of the top-selling toothbrush line, Oral-B. P&G and Gillette together had about 49% of the total toothbrush market in 2004, according to retail sales tracker Information Resources Inc., whose data don't include figures from Wal-Mart stores. Still, retailers are interested in Hasbro's Tooth Tunes. CVS Corp, the nation's largest pharmacy chain, sells 116 different types of toothbrushes, including 88 manual and 28 battery-powered models. It says it would like an exclusive on the product. It is negotiating with Hasbro but exactly how much lead time CVS can get ahead of rivals hasn't been determined. "We plan on putting Tooth Tunes in all 5,300 of our stores," says Mike Bloom, senior vice president of merchandising. "That's a big risk, but I really feel this brush is here for the long haul." Hasbro's first crack at commercializing the technology began in 1999 with "Sound Bites," a sugar-free lollipop that played a tune when pressed against the teeth. For an additional $3, music fans could get a mini FM radio to attach to the end of the lollipop stick. Hasbro discontinued the products after selling a combined total of about two million. Engineers canned the next idea -- putting the transducer into forks and spoons -- after it occurred to them that the music would stop between bites and so discourage normal eating. The pen idea, too, seemed a little impractical. "Expecting a kid to suck on a pen for the duration of an entire song was asking much," says one company insider. Tooth Tunes is an opportunity for Hasbro to diversify out of the shrinking toy industry. Instead of going to toy stores, Hasbro is hoping to sell the toothbrush through drugstores, supermarkets and discount retailers. One of the company's Asian suppliers is making the product, which Hasbro is aiming at children age three through teens -- a demographic group it knows well. But success is by no means assured. The youth toothbrush market is already chock full of character-themed and battery-powered electric products. P&G had a substantial hit with its Crest SpinBrush that retails for around $5. A kiddie version featuring Spider-Man scaling a building rang up nearly $4 million in sales, according to Information Resources Inc. Another Crest brush, featuring cartoon character Dora the Explorer, logged retail sales of $3.3 million. --Charles Forelle and David Armstrong contributed to this article. posted by Bruce at 12:41 AM Comment (1) | Trackback Shortlist

aloc was chagrinned to note that dashboards are no longer real chrome, like his 54 and 62 chevys, nor are the the bumpers metal with shiny shiny chrome. aloc buys a car every 10 or 15 years, so he isnt very up to date on things. the aloc was offering encouragement to his michigan friends.

thank you.

any fans of messrs. rosen, duvall, mcphee here?

Four Preludes On Playthings of the Wind Carl Sandburg "The Past Is a Bucket of Ashes" 1 The woman named Tomorrow sits with a hairpin in her teeth and takes her time and does her hair the way she wants it and fastens at last the last braid and coil and puts the hairpin where it belongs and turns and drawls: Well, what of it? My grandmother, Yesterday, is gone. What of it? Let the dead be dead. 2 The doors were cedar and the panel strips of gold and the girls were golden girls and the panels read and the girls chanted: We are the greatest city, the greatest nation: nothing like us every was. The doors are twisted on broken hinges. Sheets of rain swish through on the wind where golden girls ran and the panels read: We are the greatest city, the greatest nation: nothing like us ever was. 3 It has happened before. Strong men put up a city and got a nation together, And paid singers to sing and women to warble: We are the greatest city, the greatest nation, nothing like us ever was. And while the singers sang and the strong men listened and paid the singers well and felt good about it all, there were rats and lizards who listened ... and the only listeners left now ... are ... the rats .. and the lizards. And there are black crows crying, "Caw, caw," bringing mud and sticks building a nest over the words carved on the doors where the panels were cedar and the strips on the panels were gold and the golden girls came singing: We are the greatest city, the greatest nation: nothing like us ever was. The only singers now are crows crying, "Caw, caw," And the sheets of rain whine in the wind and doorways. And the only listeners now are ... the rats ... and the lizards. 4 The feet of the rats scribble on the doorsills; the hieroglyphs of the rat footprints chatter the pedigrees of the rats and babble of the blood and gabble of the breed of the grandfathers and the great-grandfathers of the rats. And the wind shifts and the dust on a doorsill shifts and even the writing of the rat footprints tells us nothing, nothing at all about the greatest city, the greatest nation where the strong men listened and the women warbled: Nothing like us ever was.

ascertaining umpires to be human is a significant accomplishment.

I was wondering who would bring this up. There may always be debate about whether he belongs in the Hall (Marty will tell you many reasons why he should) there is no way in hell he belongs in the broadcaster's area of the Hall. I mean, that's ludicrous. I've never been sure about his qualifications as a player but there's no doubt it didn't hurt that he had friends on the Veteran's Committee. likewise kirby. Actually, no, because Kirby Puckett was elected by the writers, not the Veteran's Committee, and furthermore, if he hadn't been forced to retire when he did, he was well on his way to achieving the lifetime statistics that make you a lock for the Hall. That's why he was elected in, I believe, his first year of eligibility. respectfully disagreeing. if exceptions were made for all the great players whose careers became tragically shortened, the hall would have many more members. tony conigliaro and thurman munson come to mind. Tony C. had his career ruined when he was way too young - a classic case of what could have been, especially playing in Fenway (he was the youngest to 100 home runs, iirc). This is hardly equivalent. Munson is a tougher case but the fact is that he was eligible and didn't get the votes. Again, I don't think that Kirby got in because of the eye problem, he got in because at that point he was already a hall of famer. your knowledge of baseball facts far exceeds mine. thanks very much for your knowledge and input.

I was wondering who would bring this up. There may always be debate about whether he belongs in the Hall (Marty will tell you many reasons why he should) there is no way in hell he belongs in the broadcaster's area of the Hall. I mean, that's ludicrous. I've never been sure about his qualifications as a player but there's no doubt it didn't hurt that he had friends on the Veteran's Committee. likewise kirby. Actually, no, because Kirby Puckett was elected by the writers, not the Veteran's Committee, and furthermore, if he hadn't been forced to retire when he did, he was well on his way to achieving the lifetime statistics that make you a lock for the Hall. That's why he was elected in, I believe, his first year of eligibility. respectfully disagreeing. if exceptions were made for all the great players whose careers became tragically shortened, the hall would have many more members. tony conigliaro and thurman munson come to mind.

I was wondering who would bring this up. There may always be debate about whether he belongs in the Hall (Marty will tell you many reasons why he should) there is no way in hell he belongs in the broadcaster's area of the Hall. I mean, that's ludicrous. I've never been sure about his qualifications as a player but there's no doubt it didn't hurt that he had friends on the Veteran's Committee. likewise kirby.

thanks. phil broadcast for the padres, as well. Surely, you must be thinking of Jerry Coleman, the old Yankee second baseman? error on aloc.

thanks. phil broadcast for the padres, as well.

holy cow! the scooter has passed away. thanks, phil.

Toyota's customer satisfaction takes a hit U.S. automakers still trail but make strides against foreign rivals in study By Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch Last Update: 12:01 AM ET Aug 14, 2007 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Car buyers, in a surprising shift from a year ago, are more satisfied with their American-made Buicks and Lincolns than they are with their Toyotas these days, according to a University of Michigan study published Tuesday. But the turnabout isn't indicative of quality and reliability improvements up and down model lineups at both General Motors brand, which has suffered from recalls and other uncharacteristic hiccups, dropping from first place and allowing offerings like Buick and Lincoln-Mercury to climb the list. "What goes up must come down, but it remains to be seen whether this is just a stumble for Toyota or a sign of something more serious," said Claes Fornell, who heads the study. "But Detroit automakers would be making a huge mistake if they think the Asians will keep falling back to them," he added. "They have to do it on their own." Domestics have made gains in the American Customer Satisfaction Index in prior years based on price promotions, which tend to erode profits and sully the brand, Fornell said. Lately though, improvements from General Motors and Ford have come on the crucial quality side. Still, Lexus owns the top spot with a score of 87 out of 100, up from 86 last year and easily topping the industry average of 82. The high-end brand dethroned parent Toyota's namesake brand, which fell all the way to sixth. Toyota's score of 84 now trails GM's Buick and Cadillac, Ford's Lincoln-Mercury, and BMW (DE:519000: news, chart, profile) , all of which came in at 86. A Toyota spokesman, without having seen the full report, declined to comment on the findings. Toyota, like most high-growth companies, is just dealing with the growing pains that come with rapid expansion, Fornell said. "I'm a little bit skeptical on their approach to fixing their current problems," he said. "But in the long run, Toyota will find a way to handle it." Ford, which has been closing plants, cutting jobs and shopping some of its luxury brands, has dealt with the opposite problem. The Blue Oval brand has recently improved quality more than any other on the survey, up 7% over the past two years. Still, at 80, it lags the benchmark. Chrysler's Jeep brand brought up the rear yet again with its score falling to 75. Mazda and Kia were next from the bottom at 78 each. The University of Michigan index is based on interviews with more than 65,000 consumers a year and has been released quarterly since 1994. Specific sectors are updated annually. Last week, J.D. Power's closely watched dependability survey reported similar results, with Buick joining Lexus as the most reliable brand. Lexus had ruled the roost all by itself for 12 straight years. See full story. But while it's true the Big Three are making some headway against the Asian manufactures, as a group, they still rank last. And it'll likely take more than a few positive study results to make a measurable difference in car buyer preferences. End of Story Shawn Langlois is a reporter for MarketWatch, and the editor of its community message boards.

hearing someone in an official capacity state it, however, is news.

Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned By Jeremy Grant in Washington Published: August 14 2007 00:06 | Last updated: August 14 2007 00:06 The US government is on a ‘burning platform’ of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country’s top government inspector has warned. David Walker, comptroller general of the US, issued the unusually downbeat assessment of his country’s future in a report that lays out what he called “chilling long-term simulations”. These include “dramatic” tax rises, slashed government services and the large-scale dumping by foreign governments of holdings of US debt. Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr Walker warned there were “striking similarities” between America’s current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including “declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government”. “Sound familiar?” Mr Walker said. “In my view, it’s time to learn from history and take steps to ensure the American Republic is the first to stand the test of time.” Mr Walker’s views carry weight because he is a non-partisan figure in charge of the Government Accountability Office, often described as the investigative arm of the US Congress. While most of its studies are commissioned by legislators, about 10 per cent – such as the one containing his latest warnings – are initiated by the comptroller general himself. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Walker said he had mentioned some of the issues before but now wanted to “turn up the volume”. Some of them were too sensitive for others in government to “have their name associated with”. “I’m trying to sound an alarm and issue a wake-up call,” he said. “As comptroller general I’ve got an ability to look longer-range and take on issues that others may be hesitant, and in many cases may not be in a position, to take on. “One of the concerns is obviously we are a great country but we face major sustainability challenges that we are not taking seriously enough,” said Mr Walker, who was appointed during the Clinton administration to the post, which carries a 15-year term. The fiscal imbalance meant the US was “on a path toward an explosion of debt”. “With the looming retirement of baby boomers, spiralling healthcare costs, plummeting savings rates and increasing reliance on foreign lenders, we face unprecedented fiscal risks,” said Mr Walker, a former senior executive at PwC auditing firm. Current US policy on education, energy, the environment, immigration and Iraq also was on an “unsustainable path”. “Our very prosperity is placing greater demands on our physical infrastructure. Billions of dollars will be needed to modernise everything from highways and airports to water and sewage systems. The recent bridge collapse in Minneapolis was a sobering wake-up call.” Mr Walker said he would offer to brief the would-be presidential candidates next spring. “They need to make fiscal responsibility and inter-generational equity one of their top priorities. If they do, I think we have a chance to turn this around but if they don’t, I think the risk of a serious crisis rises considerably”. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007 "FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. Privacy policy | Terms © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2007.

thanks berigan

.S. Lags Behind 41 Nations in Life Span By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER 08.11.07, 2:53 PM ET WASHINGTON - Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries. For decades, the United States has been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve health care, nutrition and lifestyles. Countries that surpass the U.S. include Japan and most of Europe, as well as Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands. "Something's wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries," said Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics. Andorra, a tiny country in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, had the longest life expectancy, at 83.5 years, according to the Census Bureau. It was followed by Japan, Maucau, San Marino and Singapore. The shortest life expectancies were clustered in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that has been hit hard by an epidemic of HIV and AIDS, as well as famine and civil strife. Swaziland has the shortest, at 34.1 years, followed by Zambia, Angola, Liberia and Zimbabwe. Researchers said several factors have contributed to the United States falling behind other industrialized nations. A major one is that 45 million Americans lack health insurance, while Canada and many European countries have universal health care, they say. But "it's not as simple as saying we don't have national health insurance," said Sam Harper, an epidemiologist at McGill University in Montreal. "It's not that easy." Among the other factors: _ Adults in the United States have one of the highest obesity rates in the world. Nearly a third of U.S. adults 20 years and older are obese, while about two-thirds are overweight, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. "The U.S. has the resources that allow people to get fat and lazy," said Paul Terry, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Emory University in Atlanta. "We have the luxury of choosing a bad lifestyle as opposed to having one imposed on us by hard times." _ Racial disparities. Black Americans have an average life expectancy of 73.3 years, five years shorter than white Americans. Black American males have a life expectancy of 69.8 years, slightly longer than the averages for Iran and Syria and slightly shorter than in Nicaragua and Morocco. _ A relatively high percentage of babies born in the U.S. die before their first birthday, compared with other industrialized nations. Forty countries, including Cuba, Taiwan and most of Europe had lower infant mortality rates than the U.S. in 2004. The U.S. rate was 6.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births. It was 13.7 for Black Americans, the same as Saudi Arabia. "It really reflects the social conditions in which African American women grow up and have children," said Dr. Marie C. McCormick, professor of maternal and child health at the Harvard School of Public Health. "We haven't done anything to eliminate those disparities." Another reason for the U.S. drop in the ranking is that the Census Bureau now tracks life expectancy for a lot more countries - 222 in 2004 - than it did in the 1980s. However, that does not explain why so many countries entered the rankings with longer life expectancies than the United States. Murray, from the University of Washington, said improved access to health insurance could increase life expectancy. But, he predicted, the U.S. won't move up in the world rankings as long as the health care debate is limited to insurance. Policymakers also should focus on ways to reduce cancer, heart disease and lung disease, said Murray. He advocates stepped-up efforts to reduce tobacco use, control blood pressure, reduce cholesterol and regulate blood sugar. "Even if we focused only on those four things, we would go along way toward improving health care in the United States," Murray said. "The starting point is the recognition that the U.S. does not have the best health care system. There are still an awful lot of people who think it does." Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Hi everybody, Here’s an update on shows I have coming up. Check them out if you can! Thanks! Jeff Friday, August 17 with Tatsu Aoki’s Miyumi Project @ The Velvet Lounge 2 sets. Music starts at 9pm 67 E. Cermak, Chicago Cover: not sure… I think it might be $15 Every Monday in August with Yoko Noge and Jazz Me Blues @ Cuatro Restaurant 2030 S. Wabash, Chicago 7-10p No cover charge. This is a very nice restaurant. Stop by for dinner, or just have drinks/appetizers and enjoy the music! http://www.cuatro-chicago.com/ (this website says there’s no music on Monday, but trust me… we’ll be there) Saturday, September 15 The Jeff Chan Trio plus One featuring Jimmy Ellis (saxophone), Tatsu Aoki (bass) and special guest Ed Wilkerson (saxophone and more) @ The Velvet Lounge 2 sets. Music starts at 9pm Cover: still not sure… I still think it might be $15. Save the Dates: the 12th Annual Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival takes place throughout October. 2pm, October 6 @ The Claudia Cassidy Theater of the Chicago Cultural Center 1pm, October 13 @ The Hyde Park Art Center 9pm, October 13 @ The Velvet Lounge More AAJF info to come. Stay tuned!

Make that a double! MG actually was gargling the peroxide for a sore throat. Ah, so you have platinum blonde tonsils now. MG beauty is both inside and out. same in music.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=pr...p;categoryid=14

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/11/ap4010790.html what troubles aloc most about this article is facts and commentary mixed in a straight news article. aloc wants just the facts, but that doesnt happen anymore.

after badly injuring his foot the day before. it is remarkable, too, after hearing the laments of pianists who had to follow dave into clubs in the past. dave used to beat pianos to death.

Ah, but it was OFFICIALS who did it. Had it been POLITICIANS who had taken the decision, it would have been subject to all sorts of sabotage by anarchists in black hats in the 1890s. Unlike politicians, officials over here are permanent, so what they do lasts. MG used to listen to lots of bbc newspats and hearing ben live on the hour a couple times a day was sweet music, like at new years and other times. seen this, goldy? http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articl...e_feature.shtml