It was a decision that could have cost Mick Jagger his life, according to a new BBC documentary.
The documentary, which aired Monday, featured former FBI Special Agent Mark Young telling how a group of Hells Angels decided to retaliate against the Stones by assassinating their lead singer at his vacation home in the Hamptons on Long Island.
According to Young the bikers set out in a small boat, intending to land at Jagger's place from the ocean side to avoid the security at the front gate. But they weren't as good at handling a boat as they were at handling Harleys - a storm came up, the craft capsized and all the Angels ended up in the drink. Although they survived, they gave up the idea of killing Jagger.
Leading Upfront to muse on whether the Angels might have had the opening lines of "Gimme Shelter" going through their heads as they floundered in the Atlantic:
Oh, a storm is threatening
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away
Comparing Apples, Oranges and Candidates
It's a study in contrasts. On one side, an earnest, hard-working but rather drab and dowdy individual. On the other, the cool, casual, with-it hipster.
Are we talking about those familiar Mac vs. PC ads ... or are we talking about the two leading Democratic presidential candidates? Could be both, according to a blog post on the New York Times site headed: "Is Obama a Mac and Clinton a PC?"
Based on an analysis of the two candidates' websites, the answer seems to be yes.
"Mr. Obama's site [barackobama.com] is more harmonious, with plenty of whitespace and a soft blue palette," writes blogger Noam Cohen. "Its task bar is reminiscent of the one used at Apple's iTunes site. It signals in myriad ways that it was designed with a younger, more tech-savvy audience in mind - using branding techniques similar to the ones that have made the iPod so popular."
On the other hand, Hillary Clinton's site (hillaryclinton.com) "uses a more traditional color scheme of dark blue, has sharper lines dividing content and employs cookie-cutter icons next to its buttons for volunteering, and the like."
Emily Chang, cofounder of a Web design and consulting firm, summed it up concisely: "His site is more youthful and her site is more regal."
On the basis of the primary election results so far it looks like "youthful" is more appealing to Democratic voters than "regal." But Cohen cautions that Obama's adoption of the Mac persona could be a two-edged sword:
"While Apple's ad campaign maligns the PC by using an annoying man in a plain suit as its personification, it is not clear that aligning with the trendy Mac aesthetic is good politics. The iPod may be a dominant music player, but the Mac is still a niche computer. PC, no doubt, would win the Electoral College by historic proportions (with Mac perhaps carrying Vermont)."
DR. ORGASMATRON'S AMAZING WHOOPEE MACHINE
File under "Too Good to Be True, But It Is": A North Carolina doctor has invented a device that can deliver orgasms literally at the push of a button.
It seems Dr. Stuart Meloy, an anesthesiologist and pain specialist, was operating to implant electrodes in a woman's spine to relieve pain one day in 1998 when the patient "suddenly let out something between a shriek and moan," Meloy told the Los Angeles Times.
Meloy asked the patient what happened, he recalled, and she replied: "You'll have to teach my husband how to do that."
Meloy gave the incident no further thought until a gynecologist colleague happened to mention that many women have trouble experiencing orgasms. Meloy started a pilot study to see if the pain-relieving device also could help them.
The results were highly encouraging: Ten of 11 women who had the device implanted experienced "pleasurable sensations" from it, and four out of five who had lost the ability to have orgasms regained it.
Meloy has patented the implant under the name "Orgasmatron," an allusion to a device used in the futuristic world of Woody Allen's science fiction / comedy Sleeper. The device is positioned on the back in the waist area, and two small electrodes go from it into the space between two spinal vertebrae. A woman or her partner can deliver a charge by using a remote control, and can even vary the timing and intensity.
Guys, there may be hope for you too: Meloy has tried the Orgasmatron on a couple of impotent men and reports that they were able to experience erections and ejaculation with it.
The Orgasmatron has the potential to raise tough moral issues, however. Meloy says one female patient asked him, "Would it be considered adultery if I gave the remote control to someone other than my husband?"
