Show Prep #6

Greetings and Salutations, people. This is Vertically Striped Radio brought to you by VerticallyStripedSocks.com. I am your host, Craig Dodge, or if you are slightly more daring, you may refer to me as “O Captain, my Captain.” I’m so glad you’ve decided to join us on this crazy audio shindig we like to call Vertically Striped Radio.
And now for the weekly game that I like to call, “Did our co-host Bruce call in this week? A quick look at the switchboard reveals that…”
Today on Vertically Striped Radio: Who creates the crop circles? We’ll present an alternative possibility to aliens; Assault with a deadly Cheeto; Philadelphia basketball goes Back to the Future; We’ll briefly (and I do mean briefly) recap the NBA draft, We’ll wish a Melancholy farewell to the king of pop, the world’s greatest second banana, and the poster model for one of the best selling and longest lived posters of all time; we’ll have this week’s music recommendation, and a great sound bite from the craziest college football coach I’ve ever heard. All of that, plus your calls…

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Give out the phone number - (646) 716-6831
Email address: radio@verticallystripedsocks.com

But before we get to all that goodness, let’s get to the news…

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1. SYDNEY (Reuters) – The mystery of crop circles in poppy fields in Australia's southern island state of Tasmania has been solved -- stoned wallabies are eating the poppy heads and hopping around in circles.
"We have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles," the state's top lawmaker Lara Giddings told local media on Thursday.
"Then they crash. We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high," she said.
Many people believe crop circles that mysteriously appear in fields around the world are created by aliens.
Poppy producer Tasmanian Alkaloids said livestock which ate the poppies were known to "act weird" -- including deer and sheep in the state's highlands.
"There have been many stories about sheep that have eaten some of the poppies after harvesting and they all walk around in circles," said field operations manager Rick Rockliff.
Australia produces about 50 percent of the world's raw material for morphine and related opiates.
All this time everyone has thought that crop-circles were the work of aliens, when really, it’s a much more sensible explanation like stoned wallabies.

2. BERLIN (Reuters) – A thief in Germany was arrested after he tried to sell a garden mower online to the man he had stolen it from, police said Wednesday.
"The owner went to inspect the goods and recognized the mower as his own," said a spokesman for police in the southern town of Tuebingen. "Then he left and told police."
Officers confronted the 46-year-old suspect, who confessed to stealing the mower from a shed in February. He later put it for sale on internet auction site eBay, the spokesman said.


3. SHELBYVILLE, TENNESSEE (Shelbyville Times-Gazette) – A local couple arrested on domestic assault charges Sunday had an unusual choice of alleged weaponry -- Cheetos.
Warrants filed by Cpl. Kevin Roddy, of the Bedford County Sheriff's Department, stated he responded to a call at a home on Pass Road, where 40-year-old James Earl Taylor and Mary S. Childers, 44, were allegedly involved in an argument.
According to Roddy's report, the pair became "involved in a verbal altercation" with each other "at which time Cheetos potato chips were used in the assault."
"There was evidence of the assault," the report read, "however no physical marks on either party and the primary aggressor was unable to be determined."
Both Taylor and Childers were charged by Roddy with domestic assault. Both posted a bond of $2,500 and will appear in Bedford County General Sessions Court on July 15.

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I’m Craig, and that’s the news…
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Our big discussion this week involves sports uniforms. This week on VerticallyStripedSocks.com I did a breakdown of the Uniform changes I’d like to see. This post came about because the Philadelphia 76ers went back to their old logo, and there are several teams I would like to see move in this direction. Discuss the Sixers move and the suggestions that I made. I wasn’t the only one intrigued by this story (Play the Clip 07 - PTI clip 1:26) I swear I posted by blog story before I ever heard Wilbon and Kornheiser discuss this topic, and I have to disagree with Wilbon, the Broncos should NOT go back to their prior uniforms. (Check the message board for comments) I posted this topic on Dameshek.com and got a few suggestions…

(Check the phone lines to see if you have any calls)

Talk a bit about the Deaths of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. The old axiom is that great people die in groups of 3. My friend Doug and I got into a discussion on whether or not David Carradine is in this group or not. What would be the biggest group of three people that could pass away today? (Check out the message board)

(Check the phone lines to see if you have any calls)

It is now time for a brief review of the NBA Draft (and trades):
- What is Minnesota doing?
- Shaq in Cleveland
- Vince Carter in Orlando
- Spurs get Richard Jefferson and then get DuJuan Blair. Good week for San Antonio
- Is Hasheem Thabeet going to be a bust?
- Is Blake Griffin doomed? (Simmons article)


(Check the phone lines to see if you have any calls)

A link to this next sound clip was posted on dameshek.com this week, but in case you missed it, I really felt you needed to hear this goodness. The clip mostly sets itself up, but basically this is a collection of sound clips from a season with the head coach of the Montana Tech football team, Bob Green. The team plays in the Frontier Conference of the NAIA, and the name of their mascot is the Orediggers, so you can tell he’s pretty much big time. The greatest thing about this coach is that there is every chance this guy is nuts. Let’s listen. (Play Clip 06 – The Bob Green Clip 2:42)



www.centsports.com – Best bets of the week – I won 1.25 this week off of a ten cent bet on the American soccer team to beat Spain.



(Check the phone lines to see if you have any calls)
It’s time once again for the Twitter update:

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Twitter update: Apparently Twitter is now saving lives in Iran, so that’s a plus
Update my twitter stats:


Following people - 31
Followers people - 38

The followers number continues to grow (Even if a large bit of the growth comes from XXX trolls, but if you’re not already following me, you really should start. Come on, I’d like to get up to 50, that’s my meager goal.
www.twitter.com/socnorb777

You are on twitter as well, now, right Bruce? Follow Bruce at www.twitter.com/bdodge60

The Vertically Striped Radio Music recommendation of the week…
Gary Jules – Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets (2002) – Rootsy urban folk rock. It is both beautiful and haunting, depressing and inspiring, lonely and welcoming – delicately crafted folk music of the highest order.” –Benjamin Friedland, Rolling Stone The Album features the remake of the Tears for Fears song “Mad World” featured in the movie Donnie Darko but that song while very good, is not even close to the strongest part of the album.

Sounds a bit like: Cat Stevens, Paul Simon, Simon and Garfunkle, Nick Drake.
It’s some mellow but beautiful music, and I highly recommend giving it a listen. “Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets” is my recommendation of the week.


Thank you for listening to Vertically Striped Radio. Vertically Striped Radio has been brought to you today by VerticallyStripedSocks.com, it has also been brought to you by the letter C and by the number 8. (Both C and 8 have been advertising for years on Sesame Street, but they are looking for a slightly more mature demographic, and Vertically Striped Radio was happy to oblige.)

I’d also like to thank our guests… (Rundown who we had call, if anyone) Until next week…


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Shalom and Good evening to you all!
(Play Clip 01 - Outro Music)
Backup Material: If needed
Revisit best superhero power to have: I have done more soul-searching and determined that mind control would probably lead to me being an evil criminal, I am now throwing my support behind the power of teleportation.

Dad’s blood pressure story. Hasn’t been to doctor since 1992. His blood pressure was at 258/149. I looked up a blood pressure stages chart, and his was 20 points higher than the highest level on the chart. Thankfully he is now doing a bit better, and he is taking his health more seriously.


Text messaging – The whole country is turning into morons. How hard is it to spell a whole word? We may be saving time by not typing out the Y and the O when we spell you, but the end result is that our methods of communication are devolving into a retarded stew of stupid.


Sames and Opposites – Demitri Martin (Clip 08) (6:24) – From the Album “These are Jokes.”

D.A.M.N. Network – Dameshek Amalgamated Message-board Network.
D.A.M.N. Network – Name everybody
1. Dave Dameshek – Message Board at www.Dameshek.com and www.710espn.com
2. The Ed – www.theedssuperdeluxewebsite.com and www.blogtalkradio.com/lcs
3. LCS Boys - Mike Dell and Jerry Fairish – www.lcshockey.com and www.blogtalkradio.com/lcs
4. Barnstable Broadcast – www.blogtalkradio.com/umassjsp
5. Elevation Radio with John Klein – www.blogtalkradio.com/lordelevation
6. Microserf – www.wrecklessconjecture.blogspot.com
7. The No Name Show - www.blogtalkradio.com/No-Name-Show






Supplemental News Items:
1. BERLIN (Reuters) – A Polish couple living in Germany fell out after tying the knot and decided to end their marriage on the same day.
"He said he never wanted to see her again and wanted an immediate annulment, and she said the same thing," a spokesman for police in the northern city of Hanover said Thursday.
Right after the civil ceremony Wednesday, the 50-year-old man began arguing with his bride and tried to cut her hair with a kitchen knife, police said.
The 34-year-old woman called police, who issued the man with a restraining order, which he readily accepted, police said.
Two attempts at a rapprochement later that evening by telephone ended in more shouted exchanges before the man went to spend his wedding night in a local shelter for homeless people.

2. NEW YORK (Reuters) – Operators of an unauthorized New York airport van service that took five French tourists on a high speed chase in an attempt to evade police were charged Wednesday with unlawful imprisonment.
Tuesday, the operators of the van service -- Khaalif Preacher, 27, and Ian L. McFarlane, 57 -- were approached by police for "hustling" travelers outside the Air France terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport, prosecutors said.
Preacher, the van's driver, and McFarlane drove off, ignoring pleas by the tourists to be let out, prosecutors said. Police followed the van "in a marked vehicle with their lights flashing and sirens blaring," prosecutors said.
The van swerved through traffic, sped though stop signs and red lights, and traveled at speeds of 60 miles per hour on crowded residential streets, prosecutors said.
The men were also charged with assault, reckless endangerment, and resisting arrest. If convicted, they face up to seven years in prison.
Lawyers for the men could not immediately be reached for comment.
"As tourism, one of New York's most revenue-producing industries, continues to grow, the need to provide a safe and welcoming environment requires stronger penalties for those who engage in unlawful solicitation of ground transportation," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.

3. BUDAPEST (Reuters) – An overeager crowd in the Hungarian capital thwarted low-cost airline Wizz Air's attempt to release 1,000 balloons for its fifth anniversary celebrations when they caught wind of the freebies attached.
Onlookers spied coupons worth 10,000 forints ($49.45) attached to each balloon and a free-for-all of popping and grabbing commenced before the balloons could be officially released from a giant net in the center of Budapest.
"Someone popped one of the balloons, hoping to get the gift coupon that was attached to it," Wizz Air communications director Natasa Kazmer said. "As if on cue, the entire crowd attacked the net."
Members of the crowd scrambled about chasing balloons and collecting as many coupons as they could. One young woman kneeled over a grill in the gutter, furiously trying to pick as many coupons as she could out of the rainwater underneath.
"The idea was that the balloons would spread far and wide, so we did not place a limit on how many vouchers they could use for a single purchase," Kazmer said.
Wizz Air had planned to release the vouchers after a press conference in a nearby hotel, where Eastern Europe's largest airline had planned to outline its long-term vision.
The crowd and the vouchers were mostly gone before most of the press sent to cover the event had arrived or CEO Jozsef Varadi could finish his speech.