John Oliver's Video Helps Crash the FCC Website

The incredibly great John Oliver video explaining why you should care about Net Neutrality (see a few posts below this one) has gone viral and apparently crashed the F.C.C. website.

That's a beautiful thing. Just when you thought America had gone completely insane, it does something that gives you hope.

Joke for a Tuesday Morning

Thanks to "JH" for this one...

A priest meets a drunk outside a bar. The drunk claims to be Jesus.

The priest says, “prove it.”

The drunk brings the priest inside the bar.

The bartender says, “Jesus Christ, not you again.”

Today's Best Tweets--June 3

Here are some tweets that caught my eye today...




Brett Taylor ‏@BleacherNation 6m
2014 MLB Draft Primer: The Schedule, the Coverage, the Order http://www.bleachernation.com/2014/06/03/2014-mlb-draft-primer-the-schedule-the-coverage-the-order/ … #Cubs

Slate ‏@Slate 18m
Here is everything Louie's Hungarian girlfriend said to him, translated--WATCH: http://slate.me/1rHwKhX #youarewelcome pic.twitter.com/AJxJl9YTYr

David Kaplan ‏@thekapman 10m
R.A. Dickey on overcoming sexual abuse at age 8. “You cannot keep quiet. Otherwise you are insuring that it happens to someone else."

steve rosenbloom ‏@steverosenbloom 14m
One big reason the Bears offense will be better. The RosenBlog: http://trib.in/1o4lI25

Vox ‏@voxdotcom 30m
A day after Obama's new climate rule, China hints it may cap its own emissions: http://vox.com/e/5539561

David Frum ‏@davidfrum 17m
ICYMI My Atlantic post on why Putin should not have been invited to D-Day commemoration http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/05/should-vladimir-putin-be-invited-to-normandy/371574/ …

BillMoyers.com ‏@BillMoyersHQ 20m
#MorningReads: @joshtpm thinks Mitch McConnell may have spun himself into a corner w/ the ACA. http://bit.ly/1pOW7cQ

Rolling Stone ‏@RollingStone 54s
Watch Ricky Gervais and Jimmy Fallon get ridiculous playing "Word Sneak" on #FallonTonight: http://rol.st/1iPpO8X

ChicagoNow ‏@ChicagoNow 2m
The Blackhawks ruined my sex life, so there's one good reason they lost. Not really. http://www.chicagonow.com/chi-town-mommy-mayhem/2014/06/the-chicago-blackhawks-ruined-my-sex-life-and-other-hit-i-like-to-tell-myself/ …

NY Daily News Sports ‏@NYDNSports 10m
David Beckham hints he could come out of retirement and play for his Miami MLS team - when he's 41 or 42. http://nydn.us/1osCTZy

Study: Stephen Colbert More Effective Than Journalists At Explaining Campaign Financing During Last Election Cycle

Non-viewers will mock this story, but I'm here to tell you that it's true. At least for me. I learned all about the ridiculousness of campaign finance reality by watching Colbert. He started up a Super PAC and had an attorney on the show to explain what was and wasn't legal to do as a Super PAC, and his answers were simply jaw-dropping.

Sometimes comedy writes itself.

Deadline Hollywood has the full story.

Just One Bad Century--June 3

The Cubs are back in action today against the hated New York Mets.

Meanwhile at Just One Bad Century, we've got some highlights from previous years. Today in Wrigley History goes back to 1975 and 2003. That 2003 entry involves a corked bat. Instead of showing the video of the corked bat affair today, the A/V Club has video of Ken Holtzman's no-hitter from 1971. Today was the day he tossed that gem in Cincinnati. (Don't worry, we'll feature the corked bat tomorrow)

Today's Cubs birthdays include the only Molina to wear a Cubs uniform (Yes, we had one of the catching brothers at one time), plus a cup of coffee from 1902 and 2002. There's nothing like obscurity from the turn of two different centuries.

Today's Historical Event goes back to 1989, and the famous Tienanman Square crackdown in China. Where were the Cubs?

Tonight, they are in Chicago, facing the Mets at 7:05. This homestand will celebrate the 1940s.

John Oliver Perfectly Explains Why Net Neutrality Is So Important

This has been one of my pet issues. John Oliver explains it so much better than I ever have...

Danielle Tufano

My latest media column has been posted in the Illinois Entertainer. This month I feature The River's Danielle Tufano

You can read it here.

Next month: Bob Stroud talks music

Gangnam Style Hits 2 Billion Mark

As in 2 billion views on YouTube.

That's nearly a billion more than the next closest competitor.

I'm not sure what it says about our society, but the facts are the facts.

Casey Kasem Update

This is getting weirder and weirder every day. From Radio Ink this morning...

NBC News is reporting that Jean Kasem threw raw meat at stepdaughter Kerri Kasem when she arrived with an ambulance for her father on Sunday. Kerri Kasem testified at a Friday hearing that a doctor told her that her 82-year-old father had developed infections in his lungs and bladder and has bed sores. A judge ruled Kerri could take the radio icon to the hospital if necessary. NBC reports that Jean Kasem said, "In the name of King David, I threw a piece of raw meat into the street in exchange for my husband to the wild rabid dogs."

RIP Ann B. Davis

Bummer. Alice from the Brady Bunch has passed away.

The Today Show had a piece on her passing this morning.

Harry Caray's Diary

Neil Steinberg got his hands on Harry's diary from 1972. Turns out that Harry lived pretty much exactly the kind of lifestyle you thought he did.

Read Steinberg's take on it here.

Phil Collins Performed 'In The Air Tonight' With Son's Middle School Band

This would be pretty cool, wouldn't it? It happened in Miami, Florida...

100 Years Ago

William Harley and Arthur Davidson, 1914. The tattoos are obviously covered by their starched white shirts.

Just One Bad Century--June 2

The Cubs are off today after losing their 14th consecutive road series over the weekend.

Over the weekend we also posted a few gems on JOBC in case you missed it. This Week in 1945 features Nazi loot, the second tallest building in Chicago (in 1945), Marilyn Monroe before she was Marilyn, and a real life Stooge. This Week in 1908 is about white slavery and a Cub who only got one at-bat during a championship year.

Today's Cubs birthdays include a 24-game winner, the poster child of the Dusty Baker era, and cups of coffee from the 60s and 90s.

Tdoay in Wrigley History goes back to 1956, and the A/V Club is a great video about the 1970 Cubs.

And finally, today's Historical Event is President Grover Cleveland getting married in the White House. Where were the Cubs?

Proud Moment

I got a little verklempt...

Back on Monday

It's crazy time here at the Kaempfer homestead. We're getting ready for high school graduation (and a host of other related things).

I'm taking a few days off from blogging to attend to those matters. Back on Monday!

Keep the Day Job, 50 Cent

The Rapper Ain't a Pitcher...

Just One Bad Century--May 28

I have been trying to process the news that the Cubs hired Manny Ramirez to be a minor league player/coach at Iowa. On the one hand, it seems like a completely crazy idea. Here is a guy who was kicked out of the league for using PEDs, and was such a notorious Diva even before he got caught that they coined the phrase "Manny being Manny".

And yet, if there's anyone who would know Manny's foibles it would be Theo Epstein. He was his general manager in Boston. Jed Hoyer was there too. He knows Manny well. Those two guys seem to believe that Manny has something to offer to young players in the Cubs minor league system. I'm willing to withold judgement for the time being. I really hope these guys know what they are doing (and flickers of doubt are beginning to emerge), because if we get burned by them, I don't think Cub fans will ever trust anyone again.

We posted a whole new week's worth of Wrigley field history today. Today's entry goes back to a bench clearing brawl in '36, a fire in '61, and a couple of very dramatic games in '66 and '70.

Today's Historical Event is the creation of Volkswagen by the German (Nazi) government. Where were the Cubs?

Today's Cubs birthdays include a first round draft pick from the 70s, plus cups of coffee from the '60s, '80s, '90s, and '00s.

The A/V Club goes back just two years and reminds us why things are slowly but surely getting better.

As the Sumner Turns

From today's Tom Taylor column. Read between the lines here and it sounds like the end could be near for Sumner...

Sumner Redstone has sold $300 million in CBS and Viacom stock this year. The real flurry of activity came in the last two weeks, says the Wall Street Journal, which quotes people close to him saying he’s “clearing up his estate to take advantage of tax benefits.” That's the standard answer in these cases, but there might be more to it. Sumner’s the executive chairman of both Viacom and CBS (the company he carved out of Viacom in 2006). The Journal values his holdings in the companies at around $6 billion, and last year he took salary and bonus of $10.2 million from Viacom and $11.75 million from CBS. The survivor of a famous hotel fire in Boston just turned 91 years of age. Sumner’s voice has sounded particularly strained on the last couple of quarterly calls. There's more along those lines - the Journal says that at last Thursday’s CBS annual meeting, “a curtain was pulled back to reveal Mr. Redstone already seated alongside other executives on the stage.” Sumner famously said back in 2010 that “I will never, never sell Viacom or CBS.” Selling off about $300 million of a $6 billion holding could well just be estate planning. But folks around the two companies have to be thinking about a post-Sumner world. CBS and Viacom are controlled by the Redstones through their National Amusements Inc. Sumner has 80% of it and daughter Shari (a corporate lawyer) 20%. Years ago, Sumner reached a separate arrangement with Shari’s brother. The Journal ends the story like this – “potential acquirers have long believed that at least Viacom would end up on the block, in part to pay down the family’s tax bill.”

Steve Perry Re-Emerges

From today's RAMP Newsletter...

One of the major pop culture highlights of the three-day Memorial Day weekend turned out to be the surprising (and much welcome) reemergence of Steve Perry from his nearly two-decade public performance hibernation. Fans of the former Journey frontman are still buzzing after the reclusive Perry made a surprise appearance at an Eels show in St. Paul, MN, of all places. Much to the shrieking delight of the crowd filling the 1,000-seat Fitzgerald Theatre, Perry was invited onstage during the band's encore. After quipping, "Where have you been all my life?" Perry performed the Eels' poignant hit, "It's A Motherf***er." After that, Perry (who was in great voice) and his temporary back-up band switched gears and ripped into a couple of familiar Journey classics, "Open Arms" and the crowd participation fave, "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin.'" It was awesome. It's no secret that Perry, now 65, has suffered some health issues over the past few years, including chronic arthritis and a hip replacement, but according to those in attendance, he looked and sounded great.

Here's a video I found of it on YouTube. His voice sounds pretty good...