Melange

Cats on Stage
For all that this will get some laughs out of people, reading the whole article is touching. It sounds very humane and all that peaceful stuff.

The idea of performing cats came to Mr. Kuklachev in 1971, he said, when he found a stray begging for food by performing on its hind legs and doing somersaults for onlookers. Mr. Kuklachev, the son of a truck driver and a factory worker, had attended clown school. He realized he and the cat might be able to do something together. He named her Strelka, and soon she was performing with him at the Moscow State Circus.

I’m starting to think that the hurricanes have something against New Orleans. Not only did Katrina lash out her vindictive sentence, Rita has managed to rupture the levees yet again. That city is about done; hit twice in the same year is news to relocate.

The storm brought chaos even far from its path. Rain in New Orleans re-ruptured levees that were broken by Hurricane Katrina, bringing renewed flooding to that city. South of Dallas, a bus of Rita evacuees from Houston caught fire in gridlocked traffic, killing as many as 24 nursing home residents who thought they were getting out of harm’s way.

Ninja!More equality in Oriental culture for the sexes.

Most of the fresh female faces were elected...to reform the traditionally male-dominated LDP and boot out its anti-reform old guard...dubbed the "female ninja" strategy.Japanese women are...underrepresented in Japanese politics, there is now real hope that...[the] country [is] on the road to becoming a slightly more gender-equal democracy.

Koizumi proudly presented...the LDP to the public. Standing in front of his 83 first-time-elected lawmakers, a third of whom were women, the prime minister told them, "I hope you will bring new life and new blood into the party."

Sellouts, with great disgust I read the following:

“Farriss believes Hutchence has already given the concept his approval. Farriss said that since they arrived in LA to make the TV show, it had not rained once. That is, until yesterday morning. The storm recalled the thunder and rain at the funeral of their "beloved brother" Hutchence, Farriss said. "We think he let us know," he said.

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For Don Adams the espionage spoof was his big break. As Agent 86 of the government intelligence agency, Control, Maxwell Smart captured audiences with his silly antics, frustrating "the chief" and turning the show into a cult classic. There were the sight gags, the shoe telephone and the "cone of silence", but it was his delivery of signature phrases that made the show an overnight sensation. Don Adams won another generation of fans providing the voice for the cartoon series Inspector Gadget.

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2005/s1469532.htm
Thanks for the memories, Don.