Harold, 22, an opera singer from Urbana, Ill., wowed judges with "Habanera," an aria from the opera "Carmen," and performed ably on a newly-added contemporary culture pop quiz given to the five finalists.
She gasped, covered her mouth and bent her knees in disbelief when her name was announced as Miss America 2003, then ducked her head to receive the crown from outgoing Miss America Katie Harman.
If you’re a fish lover like I am, you probably enjoy eating fish delicacies, or maybe you prefer to go fishing, catch your own fish and cook it over an open fire in the great outdoors ... Dude, that is just effin wonderful!
I’ve been a fish lover all my life. My earliest recollection with fish dates to when my mother forced a daily dose of cod liver oil down my throat. Years later, I thanked her for torturing me with those spoonfuls of vicious slime extracted from the liver of a healthy cod.
So, imagine how I felt after reading the Federal fish consumption advisories and contaminant data. How can I think of fishing as a wholesome endeavor anymore? What does the future hold? If the EPA does not aggressively pursue this problem, instead of standing hip deep in a cold stream waiting for a fish to slash its mouth on my hook, my future as a fisherman may involve casting my angler in a sludge filled stream containing mutant fish, this is disturbing.
You have to strip them,
take their skins off:
tongue them slow and tender.
You have to strip them.
they're as ticklish as young brides.
Tongue them slow and tender;
appreciate their new color.
Red, yellow, green, unripe.
mix them with lime and swallow.
appreciate their color
tell them they're pretty.
Mix them with lime: and swallow.
take their skins off,
tell the mangoes that you love them-
mangoes should be eaten. Naked.
Written by Eve Stern
(Via NY Newsday)
At least seven Mets have been suspected of using marijuana this season, part of an alleged pattern of drug use that reaches from the team's minor league system right up to the major league roster, sources close to the team have told Newsday.
Manager Bobby Valentine acknowleged he worried about the drug problem on his team as early as spring training and said he spoke to general manager Steve Phillips about his concerns, although Phillips yesterday said he didn't recall such a conversation.
I'm just not one of those people. I may embrace an idea only to discard it later. I tend to be a devil's advocate, I can easily convince myself that completely opposing arguments are both correct. Perhaps this is because I believe that there is value to be derived from both sides.
However, there are certain things that I have learned. some I've learned by accident, others on purpose. Over the years, whenever I've learned something significant, I have made a note of it. Sometimes, I will look over my notes and hope that I will see a past entry or a quote that would be helpful to me as I start my day, today I found this:
Don't take yourself too seriously, don't take anything personally and don't take anything for granted.
Of u and I engaged in a kiss
The sweat of your body covers me
Can u my darling
Can u picture this?
Dream if u can a courtyard
An ocean of violets in bloom
Animals strike curious poses
They feel the heat
The heat between me and u
Touch if u will my stomach
Feel how it trembles inside
You've got the butterflies all tied up
Don't make me chase u
Even doves have pride
-The Artist (excerpt from when doves cry)
In this picture from a fashion show in Beirut Lebanese model Nathalie Fadlallah wears a Palestinian keffiyeh while displaying a dress designed by Saudi Yahya al-Bushairy. The dress design shows mock blood stains, an Israeli tank and a picture of Palestinian boy Mohammed Aldura, who was shot dead in his father's arms at the outbreak of the Palestinian intefadeh. The dress was part of al-Bushairy's spring collection for 2003.
Of course, the above is an extreme but In some instances, I'm forced to ask myself, has fashion become the reflection of our times?
I remember last fall, there was a fascination with camouflage and permutations of the American flag. I wondered whether its architects might actually be modern-day prophets or maybe just ordinary business folks taking advantage of the world's future ebbs and flows.
Could the length of a skirt or the pleats on a pair of pants reveal more about our political affiliations? maybe not, but I think the question it's worthy of inquiry.
(AP Photo,Via Newsday)
It depicts a naked woman, limbs flailing, face contorted, at the exact moment her head smacks pavement following her leap from the flaming World Trade Center.
The sculputure was designed by artist Eric Fischl. There is a plaque featuring a Fischl-authored poem that reads, in part:
"We watched,
disbelieving and helpless,
on that savage day.
People we love
began falling,
helpless and in disbelief."
Eric, I respect your creativity and freedom of expression, but I think your choice of timing and display location should have been given more consideration.
Lately things just don't seem the same
Actin' funny, but I don't know why
'Scuse me while I kiss the sky
Purple Haze all around
Don't know if I'm comin' up or down
Am I happy or in misery?
What ever it is, that girl put a spell on me
YEAH!
Purple haze was all in my eyes
Don't know if it's day or night
You've got me blowin', blowin my mind
Is it tomorrow or just the end of time?
-Jimi Hendrix
The show is attacked as a sexist cattle market and defended as harmless entertainment (I'm one of the defenders), but its organizers believe weary viewers will switch away with relief from wars and disasters to the less demanding sight of smiling models.
In a related story...
BBC News has this article.
Nigeria seeks to calm Miss World row
The Nigerian Government says it is totally opposed to the stoning of a woman found guilty of adultery. It has also promised to guarantee the security of all those connected with the Miss World contest due to take place in Nigeria.
This comes as the organisers of the Miss World beauty pageant are coming under increasing pressure to change the venue for this year's contest, according to the BBC's Dan Isaacs in Lagos.
In a letter published on the Miss World website, Nigeria's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dubem Onyia says " no woman has ever been punished in such a dastardly manner...and this will not be an exception".
I think that is what life is all about, striving to make a difference in our lives as well as the lives of others.
The real teacher in life is not experience, the real teacher is you. The best life can do is present lessons. The real learning is up to us.
So the goal should be to have the legal tools necessary to enjoin and shut down spammers quickly and, where appropriate, obtain major monetary judgments against them in civil courts. We need to make sending spam so expensive that it's no longer a viable business plan for anyone, anywhere.
National Geographic, using the same kind of robot used to search for survivors in the ruins of the World Trade Center, is trying to solve a mystery that lies deep in the bowels of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza.
Up a tiny square tunnel is a stone hatch with copper handles that was discovered in 1872. No one knows the purpose of the shaft, and no one knows what lies behind the hatch.
LONDON (Reuters) - An exiled Iraqi nuclear scientist believes Baghdad is closer to building an atomic bomb than previously thought, according to The Times.
The newspaper said Dr Khidir Hamza, described as a top Iraqi nuclear researcher who fled to the West in 1994, believed that Iraq was able to make copies of a German-built centrifuge and use them to enrich uranium to produce a nuclear bomb.
The German-built centrifuge was dismantled by international arms inspectors before they were withdrawn from Iraq in 1998. But Hamza told the Times that Iraqi scientists had studied how the centrifuge was built and learned how to copy it.
