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SINCE 1994 and reaching 109,810 subscribers (up 847 from last week) in over 200 countries, this is the 742nd weekly issue of... THIS is TRUE: 31 August 2008 Copyright http://www.thisistrue.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- OH, WHAT THE HECK: In an interview on CNBC months before being picked as Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate, Alaska's first-term governor Sarah Palin seemingly had no idea what the job might entail. Asked then whether she would consider an offer to be vice president, Palin replied, "I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the V.P. does every day." (Los Angeles Times) ...Of course, most Americans wonder exactly the same thing. SOMEONE CALL THE POLICE: Wellston, Mo., police chief Robert Cossia was demoted by the city to assistant chief, and Brian Gillmore was named to replace him. A few days later, the two men ran into each other and had a "discussion" in city hall. It became heated and, Gillmore says, Cossia shoved and choked him. Both men drew their guns, but no shots were fired. Cossia has been dismissed from the department, and faces assault charges. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) ..."Anybody can become angry; that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way -- that is not within everybody's power; that is not easy." --Aristotle. ----------==========**********O**********==========---------- Voice your opinion and win a trip to Copenhagen, Denmark! For the first time in the history of Olympic Congresses, The public can voice their opinions on the future of the Olympics. The Virtual Olympic Congress is a website that allows you to submit Your contributions to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Register and make your opinion count: http://tinyurl.com/6mx2c4 ----------==========**********O**********==========---------- INTERCEPTED! For the football game against McNeese State, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill had a special stunt planned: two men would parachute into the stadium to deliver the game ball. But as officials scanned the sky, nothing came: the skydivers had instead landed at the Wallace Wade Stadium eight miles away, where Duke was getting ready to play James Madison University. "In about five years, maybe this will be funny," groaned UNC associate athletic director Rick Steinbacher. (Raleigh News & Observer) ...No, it was funny immediately. WOMAN, SCORNED: A woman only identified as "Anna" in Queensland, Australia, says she came home and found a pair of women's panties at the foot of her bed -- and they're not hers. She put a photograph of the "offending knickers" -- and an empty condom wrapper -- up for sale on eBay. She noted the underpants are "size humongous" and the condom, "size small". The auction notes she had been married to her "soon-to-be ex-husband" for 22 years. Anna had to settle for selling a photo since eBay has a policy against selling used underwear. "eBay does connect colorful buyers with colorful sellers," an eBay spokeswoman said, "and I wouldn't be surprised if someone did buy these items." The auction started at 69 cents, and ended at A$353 (US$303). (Brisbane Courier Mail) ...The world's only marriage to end in a photo finish. THAT'S WHAT I WOULD DO: "Drunk in Court? Blame it on Karaoke" -- Ocala (Fla.) Star-Banner headline DID YOU FIND an error? See http://www.thisistrue.com/errata.html RATHER THAN CONTINUE TO PUSH to get the TRUE videos out "as soon as possible" each week, my "heart scare" has convinced me that I can relax on that self-imposed deadline. I've decided to release them each Monday, which gives us a full week to do the shooting, editing, and other work. Plus, that gives the Premium readers an earlier jump at them. Our latest effort is now up, featuring a story you haven't seen, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvcKkUpEtuE -- and feel free to send that URL to others; half the idea is to expose a new audience to TRUE. So send it to friends who like videos, but maybe you think would never bother with an e-mail newsletter. By the way, the latest on my heart "problem" is, it keeps coming back, trying to break through the medication. I thought I had traced the cause, hyperkalemia (excessive serum potassium), to a nutritional supplement, but that wasn't it. So I've done a bunch of research on hyperkalemia and *think* I have it figured out; it'll take a few days to see for sure. And if you have no idea what this is about, see http://www.thisistrue.com/blog-missing_in_action.html RICHARD IN LOUISIANA wrote after hurricane Gustav blew through: "Gustav has hit my area hard (early estimates put property damage at almost ten times of what Katrina did). I was lucky, very lucky. Only some roof tiles and a portion of my fence was lost. Many others are worse off. One of the last things I was able to do before I lost power was to read the last Premium issue to my family. It helped keep my kids and wife at ease while the wind raged. My wife and I have always enjoyed This is True, which is why we went Premium so long ago (I honestly can't remember what year, but I know it was before the year 2000). Through the years, as my family has grown, the enjoyment has grown as well. For that, I give you a big thank you. As long as you are able (and willing) to do this, you have a family of loyal subscribers here in Louisiana." Thanks for taking the time to write, Richard, and I'm glad your family is safe -- and gratified if TRUE helped ease things for them in any way. (I checked: Richard, a college professor, upgraded to Premium in May 1999, and also still gets the free edition.) o o o AND AMONG THE LATEST postings to Jumbo Joke: Three tourists are sentenced to Five Years in Solitary. http://www.JumboJoke.com ----------==========**********O**********==========---------- ONLY ONE AD THIS WEEK But it sure is cool having the International Olympics Committee be that one advertiser! For details on reaching TRUE's huge audience, see http://www.thisistrue.com/ads.html ----------==========**********O**********==========---------- COMING UP ON GROXX: Iowa man asks for refund of all Federal taxes he has paid in the past because the US is a "fictional entity" and he is a "citizen of Heaven" rather than the U.S. Submit stories and vote on what submissions are best, register for free at http://Groxx.com FIVE MORE STORIES: Police set up hidden camera to find out who is messing with city parking meters. Man steps back to watch when a train smashes his pickup truck. Burglar leaves insulting note for his victims, suggesting that maybe they should actually turn their burglar alarm on. Things are so bad in Detroit that many dead people are even moving out. Sheriff department applicant takes lie detector test, and he probably should have lied. All this and more was in the Premium edition this week. You can still read all these stories if you ask for your upgrade to start with the 31 August issue, and get a full year of expanded issues for just $24. http://thisistrue.com/upgrade.html TEN YEARS AGO IN TRUE: When her client gets sentenced to life for murder, lawyer files appeal to insist that he get the death penalty instead. http://www.thisistrue.com/suicide_is_painless_6120.html BONZER WEB SITE OF THE WEEK: http://www.FlightAware.com -- FlightAware. "A free flight tracker that will change what you think about live flight tracking and aviation information," the site says. If you're waiting for grandma to arrive, you can watch her flight (flight number, location, track, altitude, and speed) all the way from her home airport to yours. You can view airport activity in real-time to see flights due to arrive or depart now and in the near future. If you're a pilot there are a number of time-savers, such as viewing the recent history of IFR routes between two airports (you might as well file that route, since you're probably going to get it anyway!) You can even get history information on flights going back months (free) or years (paid). (EK) -- Bonzer Sites archive: http://www.BonzerSites.com THIS WEEK'S HONORARY UNSUBSCRIBE goes to Don LaFontaine. In a world where something special is needed to rise above the din and get attention, LaFontaine was called upon often. As a voice-over artist, he narrated promotional spots on TV and for the movies. A lot of them: since his voice-over start in 1965 (for the trailer for "Gunfighters of Casa Grande"), he has recorded an estimated 350,000 television commercials and 5,000 movie trailers. His deep baritone led him to be known as "the VOG" -- the Voice Of God. He "understood the dynamics of each word and gave each word a musical note that was intuitive," said Joan Baker, author of "Secrets of Voice-Over Success", "which is why he could perform in so many genres -- action, drama, comedy, romance, horror films, science fiction." LaFontaine wrote most of his own scripts, and would write what sounded best. That led to quite a few familiar phrases, including "a one-man army", "from the bedroom to the boardroom", and the now-cliche "In a world where..." (such as, "In a world where a one-man army goes from the bedroom to the boardroom..."). He died September 1 at 68. NOTE: For a video interview with LaFontaine so you can see the face behind the voice (and examples of his work), check his entry in the H.U. archive: http://www.HonoraryUnsubscribe.com/don_lafontaine.html AND SO LONG to Michael Hammer, co-author of "Reengineering the Corporation", whom I studied under in my aerospace days, dead from a massive stroke on September 3 at 60. -- Honorary Unsubscribe archive: http://www.HonoraryUnsubscribe.com YOU CAN REALLY HELP TRUE: Send this issue (in its entirety, please) to a friend with your personal recommendation. A friend told YOU about this newsletter, right? Pass the favor on! Thanks. TIRED OF BEING TOLD WHERE TO GO? "Get Out of Hell Free" with our popular and (in?)famous cards, created in response to a reader telling Randy he was doomed. http://www.GOOHF.com SUBSCRIPTIONS to "This is True" are free at http://www.thisistrue.com Published weekly by ThisIsTrue.Inc, PO Box 666, Ridgway CO 81432 USA (ISSN 1521-1932). TRUE is available to newspapers as a regular feature column. "This is True" is a registered trademark of ThisIsTrue.Inc COPYRIGHT 2008 by Randy Cassingham, All Rights Reserved. All stories are completely rewritten by Randy Cassingham using facts from the noted sources. ALL broadcast, publication, retransmission to e-mail lists, WWW or any other copying or storage, in any medium, online or not, is STRICTLY PROHIBITED without PRIOR written permission from the author. MANUAL FORWARDING by e-mail to friends is allowed IF 1) the text is forwarded IN ITS ENTIRETY, from the "Since 1994" line on top through the end of this paragraph and 2) NO FEE is charged. We REQUEST that you forward no more than three copies to any one person -- after that, they should get their own FREE subscription. We ALWAYS appreciate people who report violations of our copyright to us. TO COMMENT to the author, see http://www.thisistrue.com/contact.html -- Please include
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