April Fools Day Trivia

April Fools' Day (that's this Monday), a day where people trick each other with elaborate pranks or simple jokes, has a colorful history. And while it may seem like the kind of made-up holiday from the whoopee cushion industry, the holiday actually dates back centuries.

According to Snopes.com, most experts believe April Fools' Day began with the creation of the Gregorian calendar in the 1500s by Pope Gregory XIII. In 1562, the new calendar moved the first day of the year from April 1 to Jan. 1, a rather big change for the masses to adjust to.

These being the days before text messages and tweets, it took a little while for the news to make its way around. In the interim, folks who hadn't yet heard that April 1 was no longer the start of the year were called "April fools" by those who already knew. Bullying: It's been going on for centuries.

These days, an April Fools' Day prank can be as simple as asking if somebody's refrigerator is running or as complex as a mass media hoax. In 1957, the BBC told viewers that Swiss farmers were growing spaghetti. Apparently hundreds of people called in asking how they could acquire their own noodle-growing bush. And in 1998, Burger King boldly announced that it was planning a Whopper specifically for left-handed people. Sure enough, customers showed up in droves seeking the south-paw special.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/april-fool-day-don-t-fooled-again-201113671.html

All Star Celebrity Apprentice Mar 31, 2013

All Star Celebrity Apprentice Mar 2013 Lightning Strikes Mr Hang Brain.

The all star has been cast will have to create three dimensional artwork.  Gary Busey probably does not know what three dimensional means and Amarosa is still a bitch, maybe she will sue someone else this week.  More fundraising will be at hand with one team having difficulty.  Stay tuned...

Final Gold Tally for Bering Sea Gold Season Two

Christine Rose                700 ounces      $1,156,960
Wild Ranger                      84 ounces      $   138,835
The Edge                           46 ounces      $     76,028
Anchor Management          3 ounces       $      4,354


As Christine Rose owner Steve Pomrenke put it, "Got a hundred people come to Nome Alaska, about two out of 100 might make more money than what they thought.  Three or four might make ends meet.  But the others didn't make nothing."

End of season

The cold begins to freeze the harbor and the season fast approaches an end.   An oncoming storm churns up the bottom of the ocean killing visibility for everyone.  Emily in her brilliance cannot believe how fast the harbor has froze.  Her dad's fate after he got fired was to get hired on Zeke's other boat  The Clark..  Does he really want to get laid or what.   Steve blames Vernan the captian for all the problems.    He states he did not think Emily has a future being on a dredge.  You think?????   She is afraid to dive!!!  She should stick to opera.

The  pump hose blows out and Emily calls Zeke to say "  the uh,  the uh,  the uh, blue hose fell off."  She then proceeds to watch the other guy on the boat fix the hose.

The Wild Ranger without Steve Riedel gets back to work with the new diver Dan.  He produced as much gold in ten days as Steve has the whole season.  The morale to the story,  do not have a Riedel on the boat if you expect them to work.  Discover channel attempts to make a competition between The Clark and The Wild Ranger.  Of course Steve's regulator freezes up. Steve gets back after it.  Of course he comes up immediately saying he can't breathe.  Maybe the third times a charm?  He stays under four hours then quits.  What a loser.

On the Anchor Management, Scott has no gold and no money to pay investors.  Who the hell would loan this guy money?    He keeps saying he is better than all the guys mining there.  Maybe drinking he is but not mining.

Big storm heads in but The Christine Rose needs gold to pay the crew.  Shawn stays sober this episode and looks at a test pan.  Lots of gold so dig dig dig.  The need 80 ounces to break even and pay the crew.  Is there gold in the box?  Who knows.  Tune in to see who made what.

Zeke attempts to get rid of Emily next year but blames it on the death of his friend.  He should grow some balls and tell Emily she is worthless

Amazing Race Apologizes

At the beginning of yesterday's Amazing Race, the show displayed text read by host Phil apologizing for the previous week's show in Hanoi, Vietnam.


I had last written that I thought the criticism was not warranted, but of course I misjudged the situation. (See previous blog post.)

I have to give CBS a lot of credit for doing the apology properly.  They didn't hide it or underplay the apology -- instead put at the beginning of the show and had the host read the text.  It was not too long and it did not try to explain why they did it.  They didn't make the mistake of describing or repeating what was offensive. And most of all, they didn't do the usual fake apology of "sorry if anybody found it offensive".

Instead CBS made a model apology that admitted the error was insensitive, then directly apologized, then made a positive declaration of support.  That is a great apology.

I would bet that CBS had been talking with the American Legion and they had negotiated the wording and placement of the apology.  Today the American Legion National Commander James Koutz accepted the apology, saying he believed the apology was sincere and heartfelt.

The CBS apology read:

"Parts of last Sunday's episode, filmed in Vietnam, were insensitive to a group that is very important to us -- our nation's veterans.

"We want to apologize to veterans -- particularly those who served in Vietnam -- as well as to their families and any viewers who were offended by the broadcast.

All of us here have the most profound respect for the men and women who fight for our country."

Marker at B-52 pond in Hanoi.  The pond was a waypoint on The Amazing Race.

Gold Tally reported on Bering Sea Gold

Gold Tally this week on Bering Sea Gold:

Christine Rose              194.1 ounces      $320,775  
Wild Ranger                   20.3 ounces       $  33,554
The Edge                        11.3 ounces       $  13,503
Anchor Management       2.5 ounces        $    4,132

These must not be cumulative for the season because they are less than reported two weeks ago, except Anchor Management has the exact same amount and didn't get any gold on the show the last two weeks.

Fox News Show blasts "The Amazing Race"

Fox News's show "The Five" spent several minutes criticizing "The Amazing Race" for showing "anti-American" places and events while the The Race traveled through Hanoi, Vietnam.

The Fox News video can be seen here.

Bob Beckel, the liberal co-host of Fox News’ “The Five,” had some harsh words for the executives at CBS over the network’s “idiotic” decision to air what some are calling communist propaganda disrespectful to Vietnam veterans.

CBS’ “The Amazing Race” had its contestants travel to Hanoi, Vietnam where they learned communist anthems and were subjected to state propaganda. The contestants also traveled to Vietnam’s B-52 memorial, the site of a downed U.S. B-52 bomber.

“I am so outraged by this, I can’t believe it,” Beckel began. “CBS is idiotic, they’re stupid. The idea that they would put something like that on the TV — don’t blame it on young producers. It had to go through somebody at the executive branch at CBS.”

He went on: “If CBS can’t do any better than that, to go to a memorial where Americans died, then you ought to get off the network. Take that show and shove it!”  Beckel also said CBS executives should apologize for the segment.

I watched that episode of "The Amazing Race" and it never struck me as something inappropriate to show a "shotdown B-52 wreckage" park in Hanoi, Vietnam.  While I can see how it is sort of a memorial against the United States forces during the Vietnam War, it strikes me that the war has been over for a long time and the nations are not enemies anymore.  It would be like Japanese tourists visiting the Pearl Harbor Memorial.

I thought the communist propaganda shown in the show was a funny farcical parody, not real.  There was a show of people singing lyrics and dancing girls in cheerleader type uniforms -- which is funny when done by a former foe of the US.  The lyrics are just a funny parody on their own, aren't they?

“Vietnam Communist Party is glorious.
Long live freedom and independence of our Nation,
Our land does not forget the truth in your name.

[Chorus]

Vietnam, we are going to the century of light.
Socialism is growing more beautiful with time.
Follow the party’s step. Be loyal. Be pure.
Although the path has been muddy with rain and dusty with sun,
Vietnam, spring has come (repeat chorus). 
Glory to our young generation.” 

Emily and Zeke talking about the death of their friend.

Emily and Zeke talking about the death of their friend.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/chattininmanhattan/2013/03/16/emily-zeke-of-bering-sea-gold-show

The show on the 15th started out with Zeke and Emily having a disagreement over just about everything and Emily stating she is sick of living there.  Discovery channel loves the tension especially since they have pulled in only 20 ouncesof gold.

The Dui jail serving Pomrenke returns to the Christine Rose and returns to work.  Only weeks left to get the 652 ounces the need for expenses.  'Those days cost the company tens of thousand of dollars', he said.  So he keeps the dredge out in bad weather.

The show takes a serious and dark turn with the suicide death of Zeke's best friend John Bunce.  Discover walked a fine line in emphasizing the with commercials and promos.  This is not suprising since the show is produced by Thom Beers,  the Alaska reality show icon who also created Deadliest Catch.  When captain Phil of the Cornelia Maria passed away,  he milked that through multiple episodes and into another season.  It got great ratings so he follows that winning formula.  

Pathetic Gold Mining on Bering Sea Gold

Season gold tally to date on Bering Sea Gold:

Christine Rose             369.0 ounces      $609,883
Wild Ranger                   33.8 ounces      $ 55,865
The Edge                        22.6 ounces     $  37,353
Anchor Management       2.5 ounces      $   4,132

Considering the cost of gas and operating in Nome, Alaska, all but the Christine Rose must be losing their shirts.

Rules of the Amazing Race

The Amazing Race Wiki lists the rules of the race which have been revealed on the show.   The show does not release a complete list of rules.  Some are very interesting.

• Teams must purchase economy class tickets for airfare. Teams are allowed to be upgraded to first or business class by the airline, as long as they only paid an economy fare. Airline tickets must be purchased using the team's credit card (provided by the show), rather than money on hand. The credit card cannot be used for any other purpose. 

• When teams need to purchase their own tickets, they may not travel on airlines or air routes that have been blacklisted by production, or may be only allowed to fly on airlines within a given white list; this is generally for safety and security reasons, but has also been used to prevent teams from finding routes not previously identified by the race planners that would gain considerably more time than expected and leading to teams potentially being more than a day apart.

• Teams are not allowed contact with known friends, family, and personal acquaintances during the race. However, teams are allowed to stay in contact with and receive help from people they meet during the race, such as a travel agent or locals. 

• When stated, teams may not help other teams in challenges.  Otherwise, teams may assist one another in completing tasks. When there is an Intersection, teams are forced to work together.

• Racers are prohibited from smoking during the race. This results in the sometimes cantankerous attitude of some contestants, such as Ian (Season 3) who quit smoking just prior to the race.

• Each team is accompanied by a two-person audio/video crew for the duration of the leg. The A/V crews rotate after each leg. For filming purposes, team members are generally required to stay within 20 feet of each other, unless one person is performing a Roadblock, and must also stay close to their A/V crew unless otherwise instructed. The A/V crew must be able to accompany the team when they use a form of transportation unless otherwise indicated; in other words, there must be room in a car, taxi, bus, train, or plane for both members of the team and the two crew members, otherwise, the team is then unable to use that form of transportation.

• Teams are forbidden from bringing maps, guidebooks, language books, and many electronic devices including cell phones, GPS units, and PDAs, though maps and guidebooks may be purchased during the race from the money they have been given. The teams are otherwise free to carry as much or as little as they deem necessary. Generally, teams will be provided with winter clothing if they reach cold climates, and are not required to include these articles within their bags. Each team is also given a fanny pack. Teams are to use this pack to keep their passports and official Race documentation and travel forms, and it cannot be left behind as with personal belongings.

• Teams may be forced to submit their backpacks and possessions to searches by production staff at any time and are checked just prior to the start of the race.

• Additional rules specific for a leg or for a task may be given along with the normal clue that is seen by the audience, provided to racers as one or more sheets of standard typewritten notes that are often seen on the show; these rules are generally not explained to the audience unless a violation of these rules occurs, but teams are required to abide by these additional rules until told otherwise. These rules typically outline driving and air travel restrictions.

Most distinctive movie theme song ever

Remember Jimmy Dorsey from Gold Rush Season One?

Jimmy Dorsey

Jimmy Dorsey was one of the original miners on the first season of Gold Rush.  He was the one they portrayed as a goof-ball and who eventually left the mine after getting into a fist fight with another miner.

Thanks to the magic of the internet, Jimmy Dorsey has been trashing the Gold Rush show on his own blog.

Among other things, Dorsey says that he was supposed to be paid $1000 per episode in the first season, that Discovery Channel offered him $80,000 to come back for season two ($5,000 per episode).

He also says that the Hoffmans' own partial rights to the show and between their appearance fees and ownership have made over $1 million off the show.  No wonder they keep getting bigger even though they don't make any money from the actual gold mining.

Here is Dorsey's "Sizzle Reel" or "Demo Reel" pitching a new gold mining show starring Dorsey.

Gold Rush Todd Hoffman

Todd Hoffman became a miner for gold in Alaska after running his failing aviation business in Oregon.  Todd had the idea of getting all his unemployed friends to go up to Alaska and gold mine while being filmed for a television show.  Sounds crazy!  First year was a total failure gold mining but a jackpot for Discovery Channel.  In its first season, Gold Rush was the most watched Friday night program in all of US television for men 18-49 and 25-54.  Year two was the same.  Gold Rush held Friday's top rating in the demographic of men 18-49.  Year three with all new equipment and double the miners, Todd has one goal this year - find 1000oz of gold.  In Season 3 at just under 5 million total viewers per episode.  The Season 3 two hour finale was 2 hours of hype.....YAWN just to find out the Hoffman’s yielded only 30 ounces on their last clean out.   They finished shy of 1000 ounces.  Thus....the Hoffman’s were awarded the motherlode trophy for most gold.....YAWN. They Achieved this with five times the equipment and manpower of the other crews.  Discovery should be ashamed of this made for TV event.

Whale Wars' Stars Called Pirates By Federal Judge, As Anti-Whaling Advocates Dealt Blow
A group of anti-whaling advocates was dealt a harsh rebuke Monday after a United States federal appeals court labeled them pirates.

Read full article.   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/whale-wars-captain-labeled-pirate-federal-judge-anti-whaling_n_2774520.html

Bering Sea Gold March 8th

In the March 8th, episode, Shawn Pomrenke is finally going to jail to serve his time.  Pomrenke, who is the co-owner of the biggest gold dredge on the show — was arrested on December 9th in Nome, Alaska and subsequently booked on four counts … DUI, failing to return to the scene of an accident, driving without insurance, and assault in the third degree.  Last season Pomrenke got stabbed in a bar room brawl in Nome, Alaska. Instead of going to the bar he should be saving his money to spend on his five kids with four mothers.  Dad Steve Pomrenke still keeps working to come up with money to pay pending bills.  

On the Wild Ranger Captian Vernon Adkison, figures out one of his divers Steve Riedel is is not carrying his weight.  He could have watched last season to figure this out.  Will he be fired??

On the Edge,  Emily still has done no work and Zeke’s sister ship ,The Clark, the crew forgets to tie down their $10,000 skiff and it drifts towards shore.  Zeke needs to fiend better friends.  Emily sure loves to yell at Zeke when he is on the bottom of the ocean,

On the Anger Management, oh I forgot Scott Masterheim went to rehab and the crew left.  The shows producer must have loved losing their villian.

NY Times Reviews Jungle Gold Shows

January 17, 2013 - NY Times
A Rumble in the Jungle

The new reality TV series “Bamazon,” on the History Channel, along with already established shows like “Gold Rush” and “Jungle Gold,” have elevated the global mining bonanza into living-room entertainment. Each focuses on a different group of Americans seeking their fortune in distant, ostensibly dangerous locales: “Bamazon” in Guyana, “Gold Rush” in Alaska and Guyana, and “Jungle Gold” in Ghana. But while these shows claim to depict “reality,” they gloss over the most awful truths of gold mining, particularly as it is practiced in the tropics.

It is estimated that up to a fourth of global gold production now originates not from licensed, regulated and monitored mines, but from often illegal, unregulated artisanal, or informal, mines — much like those dramatized in these series. In South America, artisanal gold production, which churns out nearly 450,000 pounds of gold a year, involves millions of people — about four miners and support labor per pound.

But to get even an ounce of that gold, miners have to upend tons of river sediment. They pump a continuous slurry of sediment and river water over mats that trap minute fractions of gold-enriched dust, discharging their tailings back into the river.

Periodically, the accumulated gold dust is separated, and the gold isolated by amalgamating it with mercury. Invariably, the mercury is burned off into the atmosphere or, like the tailings, poured into waterways. Over 1,000 tons of mercury is dumped or burned off annually, and several large rivers have been so exhaustively mined that they simply disappear into vast mud pits that make parts of the Amazon look like the Somme.

Much of the gold being sought by the stars of these shows — and by millions of poorer artisanal miners throughout the tropics — is buried beneath remote and biodiverse pockets of primary rain forest. In some places, like the boomtown of Puerto Maldonado, Peru, regional gold rushes are fueling mass demographic shifts and unchecked urbanization.

Read the full NY Times article

Information about ACTS

The worst part of the "Chopped" TV show is the dessert round

I generally like the Food Channel TV show "Chopped".

The show first challenges four chefs to make an appetizer in just 20 minutes using four "mystery" ingredients from a basket.  All four ingredients must be used to some extent in the dish.  Then the appetizers are tasted by the judges and the worst dish gets a chef "chopped".

The second round is the entree round with another 4 mystery ingredients and 30 minutes.  Another tasting, and another chef gets "chopped".  The third round is the dessert round between the final two.  The judges then decide the winner based upon all three dishes.

I give up on the show in the last 10-15 minutes.  I find the dessert round to be boring because the final two are usually given four non-dessert mystery ingredients.  So inevitably they end up making strange weak desserts as either:

1. Bread pudding
2. French toast
3. Ice cream (only one ice cream machine)
4. Fruit medley with random ingredients

Those desserts are so forced that it is not interesting.  

The Amazing Race in New Zealand

The Amazing Race was funny, but not that exciting.  It ended with the injured team winning the leg, but then cut away before they said whether or not they would continue in the race.

Good idea to give them the express pass, because they won't last long.

'Whale Wars' TV star-activist resigns after court injunction

(CNN) -- "Whale Wars" TV conservationist Paul Watson quit his conservation society Tuesday because of a recent federal court injunction against him and his group's anti-whaling activities.

Last month, the Japanese research foundation Institute of Cetacean Research and the Japanese firm Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd. secured a U.S. District Court injunction against Watson and his Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, according to the institute's website.

The injunction prohibits Watson and his group from coming within 500 yards of the plaintiffs on the open sea, according to a copy of the court document on the institute's website.

Watson has become renowned for his attempts to disrupt Japanese whalers on the open water through Animal Planet's "Whale Wars" TV show.

Read the whole CNN Story

Probably the best line of the show.  Emily sure gets a lot of attention from the Discovery Channel for being almost the only woman on the show.  She sure doesn't find much gold.

Don't bother watching fridays' Gold Rush show. It is a Fake.

 

The "Gold Rush: The Dirt" is not a new show on Friday.  They just added stupid pop-ups.