A: Besides my Mars Lumograph 3B pencil, kneaded rubber eraser and Rapidograph pens, the most important tool I keep at the drawing table is a lovely, hand-held mirror. It has proven invaluable when it comes to developing really dumb-looking people. Sometimes I don’t even have to alter my facial expressions.

Q: Because great minds think alike, comics occasionally do variations on the same idea. Do you regularly check out other cartoonists’ work and, if so, sometimes ask yourself either “Why didn’t I think of that?” or “Hey, I already did that joke”?

A: “Great minds?” … That’s a good one! I really don’t read many other cartoonists work other than what’s in my local paper. Occasionally, I will spot a cartoon eerily similar to one I have done and that’s when I call my high-priced Beverly Hills attorney (That’s redundant, isn’t it?). Honestly, when it does happen, all you can really do is shrug it off. Hey it happens.

I was recently reading through my Dad’s coffee table book of New Yorker cartoons and there were some in there, particularly a few by Charles Addams, that I really wish I had thought of.

Q: What would you be doing if you weren’t a professional cartoonist?

A: I will let you know just as soon as I retire. But I can tell you right now, being on “Dancing with the Stars” is out of the question.

Q: Just as fans might expect a stand-up comic to always be “on,” always funny, I suspect the same is true for a “sit-down” comedian like you. Put humility aside for a moment: Does the humor you present in “Rubes” translate into you being a naturally funny guy, the life of the party, or are you a disappointingly normal fella?

A: OK, now that I’ve put my humility aside, first of all, in order to answer that question, we must define the word “normal.” Exactly what is “normal”? Being normal sounds average and average is just so, well, average. I don’t think people want to listen to an average musician or see an average movie (there are plenty of below-average movies out there, just visit Rottentomatoes.com) or read an average cartoon. So to paraphrase the hit song, “If being abnormal is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.”

Say, can I have my humility back now?

Q: With your “Rubes” app and animated e-cards, you appear to be pretty tech-savvy. Where do you see “Rubes” in the future as people continue to migrate more toward online and mobile platforms?

A: Why, I am so glad you noticed! Did I ever mention how I gave Steve Jobs the idea for the iPhone? He’d often call me when he needed someone tech-savvy to solve a particularly difficult problem. I’m surprised that wasn’t mentioned in his biography. As far as the new “Rubes Zoo on the Go” app goes (shameless plug alert!), isn’t it cool? I went out and bought an iPhone just to see it.

Article source: http://www.modbee.com/2012/05/18/2206277/cartoonist-plans-some-funny-business.html

Beckman used a quicker reaction time to edge Capps in the final round, finishing in 4.158 seconds at 303.09 mph in a Dodge Charger. Capps had a run of 4.107 at 304.39.

Following the Las Vegas event in early April, Beckman and Capps switched cars and crews. Since then, Capps has been to four consecutive finals and Beckman struggled until this weekend.

“It’s a big win for us,” Beckman said. “We’re right back in the hunt. So much has transpired since Las Vegas. We switched cars, we switched trailers, we switched teams. It’s great to know that we have a car that we can win with again. That was my 13th win, and I try to appreciate every win because you never know when it can be your last.”

“It’s a big win for us,” Beckman said. “We’re right back in the hunt. So much has transpired since Las Vegas. We switched cars, we switched trailers, we switched teams. It’s great to know that we have a car that we can win with again. That was my 13th win, and I try to appreciate every win because you never know when it can be your last.”

David Grubnic won the Top Fuel division, and Allen Johnson topped the Pro Stock field.

Grubnic edged Spencer Massey at the finish line for his third career victory and first since 2006. Grubnic had a run of 3.893 at 319.07, while Massey finished in 3.910 at 309.98.

Johnson raced to his second Pro Stock victory of the season and 11th of his career, powering past series points leader Greg Anderson in the final round. Johnson covered the distance in 6.587 at 210.54 in his Dodge Avenger. Anderson trailed at 6.696 at 210.21 in his Pontiac.

Article source: http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/df96242e813f43b196dcbb4b0d51a52d/CAR--NHRA/

Article source: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/20/3619809/beckman-gets-nhra-funny-car-win.html

That’s the path fifth graders of the Horizons program at Saltzman East have forged the last few months, as part of the Odyssey of the Mind competition. It is an international program whose mission is to provide creative problem solving opportunities for students.

The Saltzman team is taking part in the Weird Science category. They won the Long Island regionals, and placed second in the NY state finals. Now, it’s on to the World Finals, as they compete against teams from countries across the globe on the campus of Iowa State University.

“I was really excited and proud that we made [world finals],” said team captain Alissa Kevan. “I felt all the hard work paid off.”

Students select a photo from among those provided by NASA, showing an aerial view of a scientific occurrence. In this case, Saltzman students picked a photo of a volcanic eruption in an African desert.

Why did it happen? What was the result of this? These are all questions that no doubt have answers based in science. That’s part of the equation here as well, but with a creative twist.

Team members produce an eight-minute performance, giving their own, alternate version of what caused the eruption. In this case, it’s due to a scientist who had been dabbling with explosive magnets. Characters in the ’science play’ include mad scientists and government agents, and there’s even a working, mechanical device used on the ‘expedition’.

Performances are graded on style, humor, and the device itself. According to team coach and Horizons teacher JeanMarie Papillo, problem-solving and creativity come down to one thing: teamwork.

“It’s never truly about the competition, but more about working together and relying on each other and solving problems, because that’s life-long,” Papillo said.

Papillo leaves most of the work to the students, and guides them along their journey. Writing the skit, costume design, building the device: it’s all handled by the students.

The World Finals are the centerpiece of an exciting weekend in Iowa, featuring Olympic-like opening ceremonies and a carnival, along with opportunities to develop friendships with competitiors from dozens of countries.

“I’m happy cause I’m going to meet new people, it’s more about the fun,” said team member Nick Demers.

This is the second straight year Saltzman has sent a team to World Finals. Papillo says the whole thing is an invaluable experience for the students, and something they can carry with them through the odyssey of life.

“When they’re in the work field, in their families, things are not going to always go right,” she said. “Don’t get depressed about it, don’t try to think of it as an obstacle, [say] what’s the different ways to get through it and rely on those around you to help you through.”

The Saltzman ‘Weird Science’ team will have a send off next Tuesday morning at the school as they get set to fly out for the World Finals in Iowa.

Article source: http://farmingdale.patch.com/articles/saltzman-students-weird-science-odyssey-to-iowa

CHERYL BALKAN finds it slightly odd that Phil Denmeade has never let go of her sister’s disappearance.

But as the 32nd anniversary of when the trainee nurse was last seen alive approaches – July 12 – Mrs Balkan believes that ”if someone is still looking for answers, it has to be a good thing”. Mrs Balkan first met Mr Denmeade in the late 1990s, after the young police officer was handed the cold case files relating to both her sister Deborah and a fellow trainee nurse, Gillian Jamieson.

”He made contact, asked us to meet him and bring anything we had which might assist – so I copied everything I had relating to the girls, … and I just left it all with him at Parramatta police station,” she said.

Mrs Balkan confirmed that even after Mr Denmeade left the police force in 2001, he kept in contact. ”Sometimes I don’t hear from him for a few years and then he phones out of the blue with a mysterious comment or two,” she said.

”He’s always told me not to say anything to anyone, so I’ve talked to nobody. He even told me not to let anyone in the police force know I was still in touch with him, which I thought was a bit weird.”

While more than 30 years have passed, Mrs Balkan’s determination to uncover the truth remains as strong as ever. When National Missing Persons Week rolls around every August, she’s always on hand to drum up publicity in the hope someone might step forward with an anonymous phone call or a faint memory. While she has never truly understood Mr Denmeade’s passion, she gained comfort from knowing someone else was quietly chipping away. ”Although he never said it, I did gain the impression he was writing a book. But I just came to the conclusion that if he is trying to help, and if he can get into places that others can’t, then carry on, because the girls remain missing and someone must know something.”

Apart from Mr Denmeade’s prison visits, Ivan Milat has been officially quizzed several times about the disappearances of the two women.

In 2004, Milat signed a statement that he had never met the nurses, nor visited the Tollgate Hotel in Parramatta, where they were last seen.

In 2006, the NSW deputy state coroner Carl Milovanovich declared both girls were dead, but ”as to the precise date of death, place of death and manner and cause of death, from the evidence adduced, I am unable to say”.

Article source: http://www.knoxweekly.com.au/news/national/national/general/one-mans-weird-but-wonderful-passion-to-solve-cold-case/2562034.aspx

Saturday night during Lakers-Thunder Game 4, there was something wrong with the court. The most notable example came before the half, when Russell Westbrook, a pretty agile guy, turned to run up the floor with the half winding down, and just slipped and fell. His right leg slipped out from under him. He lay on the court for several minutes holding his hip before getting up and going to halftime. He returned and everything was OK. And if it was just that, that’s not a big deal. But Ramon Sessions flat out slipped on to his stomach in the first quarter for no apparent reason. There were multiple slips.

The natural question was to ask if the fact the arena had to be constantly flipped from Lakers court to Clippers court to L.A. Kings rink had something to do with it. The arena had to be flipped from Clippers to Lakers in the same day Saturday, a double-header due to the back to backs being played because of the compressed schedule (on account of the lockout). But arena officials deny that there were any issues with the court. Hmmm. From the Orange County Register:

The unusual number of on-court slips and spills by both the Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder during Saturday’s Game 4 was not because of the ice rink beneath the court, according to Staples Center officials.

The ice has been there since September and there have not been any previous complaints about slipping.

Michael Roth, spokesman for Staples Center, said the referees deemed the court safe.

The referees didn’t have any complaints with the court,” Roth said. “And everything was done as usual in these circumstances.”

via Ice not to blame for unusual number of falls – Lakers blog : The Orange County Register.

So they say there was no concern. But I’ve seen players slip on a court enough to know that what was going on Saturday night was not normal slipping. It was on multiple spots on the floor, and too consistent for there to have been nothing fishy going on.

The answer here, as usual, is to blame hockey, regardless of any actual impact from the ice.

Article source: http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/05/20/something-weird-was-up-with-the-court-at-staples-saturday-but-the-arena-says-situation-normal/

An amusing letter from former President Ronald Reagan in response to a 13-year-old boy’s request for disaster relief funds to clean up his room is making the rounds again on social media, thanks to a blog writer.

Shaun Usher of Letters of Note tweeted the classic correspondence. Seventh-grader Andy Smith from Irmo, South Carolina, wrote Reagan in 1984: “Today my mother declared my bedroom a disaster area. I would like to request federal funds to hire a crew to clean up my room.”

Reagan’s reply:

Dear Andy:

I’m sorry to be so late in answering your letter but as you know I’ve been in China and found your letter here upon my return.

Your application for disaster relief has been duly noted but I must point out one technical problem; the authority declaring the disaster is supposed to make the request. In this case your mother.

However setting that aside I’ll have to point out the larger problem of available funds. This has been a year of disasters, 539 hurricanes as of May 4th and several more since, numerous floods, forest fires, drought in Texas and a number of earthquakes. What I’m getting at is that funds are dangerously low.

May I make a suggestion? This administration, believing that government has done many things that could better be done by volunteers at the local level, has sponsored a Private Sector Initiative program, calling upon people to practice voluntarism in the solving of a number of local problems.

Your situation appears to be a natural. I’m sure your mother was fully justified in proclaiming your room a disaster. Therefore you are in an excellent position to launch another volunteer program to go along with the more than 3,000 already underway in our nation—congratulations.

Give my best regards to your mother.

Sincerely, Ronald Reagan

—From Reagan: A Life in Letters

The tweet has been viewed 189,500 times in the past few days. It is unknown if the letter remedied the situation.

Article source: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/13731001/hilarious-president-reagan-letter-resurfaces/

PETALING JAYA – As the rising political temperature in the country continues to fuel hatred and anger, a group of artistes are offering humour as the antidote.

Using the old adage laughter is the best medicine, they have produced a series of black comedy clips to make Malaysians see the funny side of the countrys politics and politicians.

Actor-cum-comedian Afdlin Shauki said the group had already uploaded several videos on YouTube.

He said the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28 which ended in violence had prompted his friends to create the clips to urge the public to chill and laugh it off.

We were all shocked to see such hatred, anger and violence portrayed during the Bersih rally.

Such behaviour has never been part of our culture. We created these videos to let Malaysians look at things from the funny side, he said yesterday.

All the clips were uploaded under the title Bangkang Dari Longkang (Opposing from the Gutter).

The clips include Special Offer which pokes fun at the mush-rooming of massage parlours in Selangor and Bila Pilihanraya which shows the Prime Minister throwing darts to decide on the date of elections.

The Dulu Lain Sekarang Lain clip takes a swipe at government servants who appear efficient only when their superiors are around while Demo Anti Demo makes fun of protests held to oppose other demonstrations.

Denying claims by certain quarters that the videos were sponsored by Umno, Afdlin said the fact that they ridiculed both sides of the political divide was proof of their impartiality.

We just want to help ease the growing tension and laughter is the best option, he said.

He said the group would release more of such clips soon.

We are producing more because the response so far has been overwhelming, he added.

Article source: http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20120520-347020.html

Playing very well at the time, he took himself out of contention in one hole. He kept his sense of humor about the debacle and even returned this year armed with a chain saw to presumably trim the thicket that caused his demise. It was an interesting golf story and to be truthful, I thought it would be the only time I gave him some ink. I was, quite simply, wrong.

If you watched the Players Championship last weekend, Na was front and center again. No gigantic scores this time. In fact, Na played very well. He was the 54-hole leader of the tournament and finished with a respectable tie for seventh place. Neither his score nor his finish caused his name to be uttered again and again all weekend long.

No, this time it was his pre-shot routine that made people cringe, including the golfer himself. If you are a golfer and you watched him on Saturday or Sunday it was painful indeed. Considered one of the slowest players on the tour, Na attempted to speed up his play only to get what has to be called the yips.

The yips are normally associated with putting, but are not restricted to that part of the game. Actually, they are not exclusive to the game of golf. It is a situation where the brain refuses to give the signal to complete the task at hand. When you are preparing to strike a golf ball and the yips set in, you simply can not pull the trigger.

Most golfers have a triggering mechanism that must be utilized before they are comfortable hitting the ball. It could be a simple tapping of the club on the ground to an elaborate ritual, kind of like former Cleveland Indian Mike Hargrove (the human rain delay) before he could step into the batter’s box.

For Na, the triggering mechanism could not be located and his slow play became laborious. He would pull the club back an inch or so, reset and then do it again and again. He would then pull the club back a foot or so, but actually swinging at the ball just didn’t happen. It happened primarily on the tee while attempting to hit his driver, but it also happened in the fairway, and of course, on the green.

He took the club back about three-quarters of the way and started his downswing a few times, but still no swing. His playing partners (Zach Johnson on Saturday and eventual champion Matt Kuchar on Sunday) both started walking only to have to put on the brakes when they realized Na hadn’t swung yet. It got so bad that Na even swung over top of the ball a couple of times, which had to send some golf fans to the rule book to see if the swing counted.

Na even resorted to chastising himself verbally when he couldn’t force the swing he wanted so much to make. It was very difficult to watch and any true golf fan had nothing but compassion for the man.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Na’s malady was how well he hit the ball when he finally did swing. On Saturday he shot so well that he was the leader of the tournament at the end of the day. He struggled Sunday, but not as much as one would think given his inner turmoil and the reaction of a few so-called “fans.”

I found it incredible that people in the gallery would actually yell rude comments while Na was obviously dealing with a serious problem. Someone would holler “hit the ball” or “pull the trigger” as the time consuming ritual continued. I have a difficult time considering these folks golf fans. The term idiot seems more appropriate.

The worst behavior took place on Sunday when Na hit his tee shot into the water on a par-3 on the front nine. Some more than likely alcohol-fueled bozo started singing the na, na, na, na song. Some may consider that funny. Don’t count me among them.

Na was willing to face the music after each round. He did not shy from the media as many might do. He knows he has a problem and is going to try to rectify it. This problem normally happens to older athletes and Na is still very much a young man.

Here’s hoping that he conquers the problem because Kevin Na is a good golfer and a good guy.

As promised here’s an update on my gobowlfing proposal. Many people were amused by my suggestion that to make the day a true triathlon, I would sandwich golf and bowling around a nap. One fellow suggested a euchre tournament for the third event.

If you want to have a card party to wrap up the festivities, go right ahead. I still like the nap idea.

For those who only play one sport, I would not rule out part timers. Just bowl or just golf I’m fine with that. If it means more money for charity, we’ll make the arrangements.

I have many more thoughts on the idea. I will share them weekly until a final decision as to whether the event will be staged is made. Until then, hit em straight and try to keep the yips at bay.

Al Stephenson is The A-T’s golf columnist.

Read his blog at:

www.advertiser-tribune.com.

Article source: http://www.advertiser-tribune.com/page/content.detail/id/546793/Nothing-funny-about-watching-a-pro-with-the-yips.html?nav=5012

WACO — Haden Mattke was a picture of patience Saturday night, all smiles, insisting that he and his Troy teammates had simply taken what the Teague Lions had given them.

Even when that was a breaking ball in the back.

“I wouldn’t say they were giving us runs,” the Trojans’ sophomore designated hitter said. “I would say our offense was really working together, taking what they did give us and just putting it all together.”

Mattke went hitless in the decisive game of Troy’s best-of-three Class 2A Region II quarterfinal series but reached base three times and scored on a wild pitch in the middle of a four-run second inning that helped the fourth-ranked Trojans cruise into the next round by way of a 7-2 victory at Veterans Field.

“It’s been a crazy week,” said Troy coach Steve Sebesta, who missed Friday night’s game to welcome a baby girl. “Now, we get to go play the No. 1 team in the state of Texas.”

Troy (30-4) will play No. 1, undefeated Brock — which beat No. 5 Melissa 4-2 in a single-game playoff — in the regional semifinals.

Article source: http://www.tdtnews.com/index/sports/show/88015?title=Weird+four-run+second+helps+No.+4+Troy+beat+Teague,+advance+to+2A-II+semis+vs.+No.+1+Brock