January 02, 2001 - Trademark for the
"Frownie" Emoticon Announced :-( -
DALLAS, TX - January 2nd, 2001 - In a move that has
millions across the Internet community frowning,
Despair, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO) had awarded them a registered
trademark for the 'frowny' emoticon which serves as
their logo...
January 25, 2001 -
Video
Games get improved rating from Senators, Family Institute
- By Richard Stenger, CNN.com
Writer, (CNN), "With support from numerous U.S.
senators, the National Institute on Media and the
Family released a video and computer game report card
Thursday. The watchdog group credited the industry for
adopting some of its recommendations but criticized
retailers for selling violent games to children..."
January 24, 2001 -
Instant
replay gets 'Matrix'-like view of key plays - By
Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY, TAMPA — In the fall of 1999,
two CBS engineers were given a mission: develop new
technology for the 2001 Super Bowl that will pop the
eyeballs of viewers. "They did what all engineers do
when they formulate ideas," CBS Sports senior vice
president of operations Ken Aagaard says. "They went to
a bar." At Planet Sushi in Manhattan, N.Y., Craig
Farrell put down his sake, grabbed a napkin and began
drawing a football field. "I think we can do a
stop-action move like in the movie The Matrix ," the
technical manager told CBS director of field operations
Larry Barbatsoulis, "but from video as a live
replay." ...
January 05, 2001 -
Mysterious
monolith reappears on Green Lake island - Copyright
© 2000 KING-TV, "A group took responsibility Thursday for
erecting a 9-foot monolith in Seattle’s Magnuson Park,
but members said they were surprised to see the sculpture
at its new location..."
January 05, 2001 -
Monolith
disappears from Seattle park - By MIKE LEWIS,
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER, "Seattle's
newest anonymous art -- a 9-foot-tall smooth steel block
planted atop Kite Hill in Magnuson Park -- has disappeared
just as mysteriously as it appeared on New Year's
Eve. The
disappearance was discovered Wednesday morning. Park
officials said they have no idea how or when it
disappeared. All that's left in its place is a large
rectangular indentation, some candle wax and
flowers..."
January 15, 2001 -
Cartoonists
learn skills in a Flash -
By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY,
"Art Leonardi started his animation career in 1957.
He worked for legendary director Friz Freleng at Warner
Bros. on such cartoons as Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird
before moving on to Pink Panther in the '60s and Tiny
Toons Adventures in the '80s. Now, at age 70, he sees
animation going digital..."
October
30, 2000 -
New book details Salem witch trials
- BOSTON (AP) - The voices behind the Salem witch trials
have come alive, but they aren't meant to conjure up a
Halloween haunting. British author Frances Hill has
written a book that provides a genuine historical
perspective on the witch hunt by using first-person
accounts from the infamous 17th century trials that led
to 20 people being executed and hundreds of others sent
to prison. Hill also discusses the fears of white
settlers in the Massachusetts Bay colony that led to the
trials, and he examines their impact on pop culture. The
book relies heavily on the sermon notes of the Rev.
Samuel Parris, who made the first allegations. Not once
does Parris ever show any doubt or remorse about ruining
entire families, she said. Hill also modernizes the
language in the writings of Parris and other
first-person accounts, which are stored at local city
archives and museums.
October
30, 2000 -
Stars dedicate paralysis center -
MIAMI (AP) - Christopher Reeve, Gloria Estefan and
retired Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf helped dedicate a $37
million center dedicated to finding more effective
treatments - and ultimately a cure - for paralysis. The
Lois Pope Life Center is the new home for the
15-year-old Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at the
University of Miami. NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw emceed the
event Thursday and was joined by Reeve, paralyzed in a
riding accident; singer Estefan, who recovered from a
spinal cord injury she suffered in a bus crash; and
Schwartzkopf, who has helped raise more than $3 million
for the Miami Project. "The resources are in
place," Reeve said. "Every scientist should
think about the sense of urgency. Research is not made
for research alone but to ease human suffering."
The facility, with a staff of more than 120, was named
for the philanthropist wife of the late Generoso Pope,
former owner of the National Enquirer.
October
30, 2000 -
Publicist: Liza Minnelli to go home
- FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Liza Minnelli was to be
released Monday from a hospital where she has been
recovering from viral encephalitis, her publicist said
Sunday. The 54-year-old singer was hospitalized about
three weeks ago after contracting the disease, a
potentially deadly inflammation of the brain that had
left her in serious condition. Publicist Michael Hartman
said Sunday that Minnelli is "still a little weak
but feeling well enough to go home." "She will
spend the next few months recovering from home with
attendants," he said. Cleveland Clinic Hospital
spokeswoman Jackie Weder said Sunday that she had not
received official notice from Minnelli's doctor that she
was to be released. Paramedics were summoned to
Minnelli's Fort Lauderdale home Oct. 8 after an aide
told them she had been found unconscious. Encephalitis
is rare in the United States, with about 1,500 cases
reported annually. Symptoms include muscle weakness or
paralysis, seizures and unconsciousness.
October
27, 2000 -
Van Dyke: No retirement yet - LOS
ANGELES (AP) - He was just kidding, folks. Dick Van
Dyke, the star of CBS' "Diagnosis Murder,"
said he was taken too seriously when he said he planned
to retire. "I've been talking about retiring for
years," the 74-year-old actor said Thursday.
"It's my standard answer to the question, 'What are
your future plans?' The truth is I'll always be
interested in things that are worthwhile and fun."
In an interview earlier this week with AP Radio, Van
Dyke said: "It's time for me to go to
pasture," adding he planned to retire from TV after
this season of "Diagnosis Murder." It was
nearly 40 years ago that he starred in "The Dick
Van Dyke Show," which ran from 1961 to 1966.
October 25, 2000 - Millennium Dome to close quietly - LONDON (AP) - The Millennium Dome opened with great fanfare. It will close with considerably less. Organizers of the beleaguered attraction announced Tuesday that they have chosen not to make any money Dec. 31, the dome's final night. Instead, the grounds of the huge exhibition arena will be offered free to a London club called Ministry of Sound for a 12-hour party. The arena itself will close quietly at 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve with a final performance of its regular "Millennium Show." The Millennium Dome opened last Dec. 31 with a party that brought thousands of high-powered guests, including Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair. Since then, it has struggled to attract visitors and has needed infusions of cash to keep going. Organizers originally budgeted for 12 million visitors, but the dome passed the 5 million mark only last week.
