Melissa Mosley works at Recon Engineering, where two of the staff have been personally affected by Huntington\u2019s Disease. The company\u2019s created a committee that\u2019s intended to increase area awareness of the disease.<\/p>\n
Part of this awareness effort is a walk that will take place on March 22 at the Grove in Sulphur.<\/p>\n
The group is in need of sponsors, volunteers and participants for the walk. If you\u2019d like to help or participate, call 337-309-7819 or email mmosley@recon-group.com.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If You Lie, I\u2019ll Tell!<\/strong><\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t long ago we learned that Rep. John Bel Edwards would be running for governor of Louisiana.<\/p>\n Of course, it was shocking news. After the story broke, it was no longer possible to deny that there\u2019s at least one Democrat in Louisiana.<\/p>\n Edwards continued to shock when he recently gave the public a hint of the direction his campaign might take. He did this by making some unorthodox comments about Mitch Landrieu\u2019s victory in the New Orleans\u2019 mayoral race. Landrieu promised he\u2019ll be mayor for four years, which would mean, of course, that he couldn\u2019t run for governor.<\/p>\n What Edwards said was, \u201cI can tell you that when I make a promise, I keep it.\u201d The Associated Press reported that Edwards \u201cexpects the Democratic mayor to keep his promise to serve a full, four-year term.\u201d<\/p>\n I know there are some people out there who think politicians are dumb. I don\u2019t know about that. But I do know politicians sometimes say things that are a little complicated and hard to understand.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take Edwards\u2019 statement as an example. Here\u2019s my interpretation of what it says about the direction his campaign may take. It\u2019s as if he were saying, \u201cIf you don\u2019t vote for me, I may call one of my opponents a liar. I may also say, \u2018Liar, liar, pants on fire,\u2019 to him. And if you still don\u2019t vote for me, I may say \u2018nanny nanny boo boo\u2019 and \u2018nyah nyah nyah\u2019 and \u2018cho mamma\u2019 to him.\u201d<\/p>\n I guess I would have preferred it if Edwards had made a comment about one of the really big issues. For instance, I might have been more pleased if he\u2019d said something like, \u201cI have a plan that will enable Louisiana to give 50 cents to its institutions of higher learning.\u201d But I\u2019ve got to admit that if he\u2019d said that, I probably wouldn\u2019t have written about it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nagin Trial Boring<\/strong><\/p>\n Considering how interesting Louisiana politics is, I feel the Nagin trial should have been a lot more interesting than it was. As it was, I thought the constant stream of not very exciting Tweets from reporters covering the trial diverted media attention from the usual freaks and geeks of Louisiana politics.<\/p>\n If only the news from the trial had been more dramatic. I kept wanting to walk into the courtroom and yell out, \u201cMake it more interesting, damn it!\u201d<\/p>\n The Tweets went on and on about whether Nagin asked Home Depot to support Stone Age or might have asked Home Depot or might have wanted to ask Home Depot. I looked all over the place for a Frapaccino to give and no matter how hard I looked I just couldn\u2019t find one. Not one Frapaccino anywhere.<\/p>\n Sometimes it was confusing to read the Tweets. These two came right after each other:<\/p>\n \u2014 \u201cOn redirect govt asks Price if any other public ofc ever did what Nagin did. \u2018No.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 \u201cYes, and that was my main concern.\u201d<\/p>\n The first Tweet came from David Hammer of WWL-TV and the second from Gordon Russell of The Advocate.<\/p>\n Louisiana political bloggers were having a lot of fun with the idea that came out in the testimony that if you receive a bribe, the IRS wants you to report it as income. (FYI \u2014 I don\u2019t know for sure that is the case. I\u2019m just the reporter.) Also an especially funny moment in the generally tedious coverage was a C.B. Forgotston post that referred to the \u201cHeh, Heh, Heh Ethics Board.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let\u2019s Keep Twitter Sort Of Pure<\/strong><\/p>\n As long as I\u2019m writing about Twitter, let me send out a special request to KPLC-TV. Please tell me you\u2019re not going to keep posting your gigantic Winter Olympics ads on Twitter just as if they were regular Tweets. Twitter isn\u2019t an advertising forum \u2014 not yet, anyway.<\/p>\n And if NBC should happen to have any popular shows in the future, please don\u2019t run enormous ads for them on Twitter either.<\/p>\n In return for your cooperation, I promise that if I get a hankering to watch the Winter Olympics for the first time in my life, I will go to a place that has KPLC-TV and watch them on KPLC-TV.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The State Of Journalism<\/strong><\/p>\n It ran in the New York Times \u2014 the once great newspaper of record for the United States. It\u2019s true, it was only a blog. But what a fancy, New York Times-style name the blog had: \u201cArtsBeat.\u201d ArtsBeat! Well, la di da.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s follow the beat of the arts as the Times reported it:<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Girls\u2019 Recap: Kicked Out of a Funeral<\/p>\n \u201cBy CARA BUCKLEY<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Solipsistic? Navel-gazing? Vainglorious?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThus read an email from an esteemed colleague, trying to help out as I moaned about having run out of adjectives to describe the unrelenting egocentricity on \u2018Girls.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cBut alas my problem remained unsolved, and not just because I\u2019d already used the word \u2018solipsistic\u2019 last week in the recap of the episode, \u2018Dead Inside.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cPart of the issue was that little of note seemed to happen this week in the episode \u2018Only Child.\u2019 Did the characters seem to be flailing in a vacuum?\u201d<\/p>\n Alas. Did the New York Times seem to be flailing in a vacuum as you read the preceding paragraphs? What you just read was from a review of a TV series \u2014 a review of a TV series for James Reston\u2019s sake. That counts for \u201cthe arts\u201d in the cyber New York Times of 2014.<\/p>\n As I said, the Times calls the thing ArtsBeat. The newspaper promises that readers can go to ArtsBeat \u201cfor breaking stories about the arts, coverage of live events, interviews with leading cultural figures, critical reviews, multimedia extravaganzas and much more.\u201d<\/p>\n For years, I assumed that by the time the New York Times got around to writing about high art that was once new the art in question had already become old hat. But I never dreamed the Times would use words such as \u201csolipsistic\u201d to write about plain old everyday TV shows.<\/p>\n Since I haven\u2019t used the word \u201csilly\u201d in any of my recent reviews, I\u2019m free to say the recent edition of ArtsBeat is silly. I guess it might seem a little less silly if the arts gurus at the Times decide to start reviewing televised cage fights.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The State Of Journalism, Part 2<\/strong><\/p>\n On Feb. 4, the Opinions page of the Washington Post let loose with this throw down: \u201cCNN needs to stop trivializing serious stories.\u201d<\/p>\n Woah! CNN \u2014 you have been called out, sir!<\/p>\n I sympathize with what the Post is saying. But my question is this: Wouldn\u2019t the best time to have made this assertion been June 2, 1980 \u2014 the second day CNN News broadcast? Of course, I don\u2019t guess it would have been possible to Tweet the tagline at that. Back in that age, one would have written what was called an \u201cop\/ed piece.\u201d And op\/ed piece had more than 140 words and took at least half an hour to write.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Miley, Could You Check My Work?<\/strong><\/p>\n Miley Cyrus was in the news when she pointed out that the magazine Cosmopolitan wrote the name \u201cJustin Bieber\u201d (instead of \u201cJustin Timberlake\u201d) in a Tweet meant to honor Timberlake\u2019s birthday. The original Cosmopolitan Tweet said, \u201c50 literally perfect photos in honor of Justin Bieber\u2019s 32nd birthday.\u201d Of course, Justin Bieber is not 32. He\u2019s 4, or something like that.<\/p>\n Cyrus tweeted, \u201cBieber on the brain @Cosmopolitan.\u201d<\/p>\n Hey, I feel Cosmopolitan\u2019s pain. I\u2019ve made very similar mistakes in the past.<\/p>\n For starters, there was the disastrous Nov. 31, 2013, \u201cUp Front\u201d in which I confused the popular singer will.i.am with the writer William Shakespeare.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s not all. In a Feb. 30, 2012 File 13, I confused singer Bruno Mars with the Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno. In an April 31, 2011, feature (\u201cCould Shale Drilling Spur Praline Production?\u201d), I confused Jay Z with Jay and Silent Bob. And in a June 31, 2010, File 13, I made the especially confusing mistake of confusing Beyonce with the then-90-year-old British writer Doris Lessing. I still can\u2019t figure out how I mixed those two up.<\/p>\n Another embarrassing episode was a Nov. 31 feature (\u201cLSU Prof Sees Robotic Alligators On Horizon\u201d) in which I reported the absolutely incorrect information that Nelly was \u201ca really effeminate interior designer who runs a Christopher Street bar called The Powderpuff.\u201d That one\u2019s still in mediation.<\/p>\n I need to get a lot more conscientious about my fact-checking as I\u2019m about to start work on a File 13 about Lil\u2019 Wayne, the classic American actor who starred in such cinematic standards as The Searchers and True Grit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Experimental Music Really Is Torture<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the forms of torture pioneered by the United States at Guantanamo Bay was to play music by Skinny Puppy at loud volumes in an effort to disturb or disorient prisoners. So reports the BBC.<\/p>\n Skinny Puppy says it wasn\u2019t asked if its music could be played. If it had been, the answer probably would have been no. Band member Cevin Key told the CTV (Canadian TV) network, \u201cI am not only against the fact they\u2019re using our music to inflict damage on somebody else but [also that] they are doing it without anybody\u2019s permission.\u201d<\/p>\n Skinny Puppy sent the U.S. Army a bill for $666,000. When asked about the matter by the BBC, the Army said it hadn\u2019t received the invoice.<\/p>\n Skinny Puppy was one of the best known experimental bands that sprang up in the post-punk era of the late \u201870s and early \u201880s. Its music, which ranged from 20-minute-long sound collages to short cuts with poppy electronic beats, was variously called industrial, noise or experimental.<\/p>\n Of the ensembles of this type, Skinny Puppy was one of the few that enjoyed some popularity, and the band still has a loyal cult following. In fact, it learned about the Guantanamo situation because a guard at the torture prison was a Skinny Puppy fan and endeavored to contact the band about the matter.<\/p>\n According to the BBC, music the U.S. Army has used to torture people in both Guantanamo and the Middle East includes \u2014 believe it or not \u2014 Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Queen and Sesame Street Soundtracks. I\u2019m sorry, but if the U.S. Army is trying to torture men with the song \u201cFat-Bottomed Girls,\u201d it\u2019s fighting a losing battle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Melissa Mosley works at Recon Engineering, where two of the staff have been personally affected by Huntington\u2019s Disease. The company\u2019s created a committee that\u2019s intended to increase area awareness of the disease. Part of this awareness effort is a walk that will take place on March 22 at the Grove in Sulphur. The group is [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[38,37],"yoast_head":"\n