College Gymnastics Lists (2 of 4): The All-Stars

Here is a list of NCAA gymnasts who have been stand-outs all year or all during their respective collegiate careers. The order presented here by no means suggests where each gymnast stands nationally. It's interesting that both Bridget Sloan and Samantha Peszek who competed as Olympians for Team USA are from Indiana:

1) Bridget Sloan. Florida. Sophomore (pictured top)

2) Samantha Peszek. UCLA. Senior (pictured center)

3) Emily Wong, Nebraska. Senior (pictured bottom, she will compete for her third straight Big 10 all-around this weekend)

4) Nicolette McNair.. Stanford. Freshman.

5) Diandra Miller. Alabama. Senior.

6) Brittany Rogers. Georgia. Sophomore. (Rogers competed for Canada in the 2012 London Olympics)

7) Joanna Sampson. Michigan. Senior

8) Nansy Damianova. Utah. Senior (The Canadian gymnast's parents were gymnasts in Bulgaria)

9) Jessie Jordan. LSU. Junior.

10) Haley Scaman. Oklahoma. Sophomore.

http://www.collegegymfans.com

College Gymnastics List (1 of 4): The Seniors

This week we are posting lists for college gymnastics; the other sport where March Madness is underway as conference meets begin this upcoming weekend.

Here are ten seniors who are completing their college careers soon:

1) Shona Morgan, Stanford (pictured top; she's from Australia)

2) Mary Beth Lofgren, Utah (pictured center)

3) Olivia Courtney, UCLA (pictured bottom)

4) Audrey Harrison, Kentucky

5) Kristen Aloi, UNC

6) Hannah Fallanca, North Carolina State (Aloi and her both went to Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem, NC).

7) Mackenzie Caquatto, Florida (The Gators are the defending NCAA champions; we didn't spell her first name right in the tags section)

8) Lindsey Fowler, Alabama

9) Sarie Morrison, LSU

10) Katie O'Rourke, Pitt

http://www.collegegymfans.com

Comic Strips Survey from Sunday Washington Post: We Love Keith Knight and Clown Gags

Greetings to those of you reading this blog in Turkey, New Zealand and Canada. And, "Gunaydin" (Good Morning in Turkish) to those of you in Baku, Azerbaijan as well.

It was a very close survey this week, and we had a number of comic strips from "The Washington Post" that we adored this week, including "Lio," "Judge Parker" and "The Argyle Sweater" which just missed making our top ten.

But, the following comic strips did make the cut:

"Rhymes with Orange:" This week, Hilary B. Price's comic had a brilliant clown gag which would have made Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman proud as the clown finds out that the man knocking at his door is a much more unsettling figure than a Jehovah's Witness.

"Sherman's Lagoon:" Once again, a great comic strip from Jim Toomey revolving around a Galapagos turtle and a shark about what they should have for dinner.

"Knight Life:" Keith Knight's strip features a vintage play on words, and a crustacean, which one might likely find more often in "Sherman's Lagoon." And, it is the one of the funniest strip episodes to take place in a bath tub.

"Reply All:" Hmmm....to talk with a friend sitting beside you at Starbucks or showing Instagram photos of your pet poodle to your friends back home in Vermont. Donna A. Lewis' strip illustrates a problem which is not just one confronting Millennials.

Here is our survey:

1. Rhymes with Orange (image #1)

2. Sherman's Lagoon (image #2)

3. Knight Life (image #3)

4. Pearls Before Swine

5. Reply All

6. Foxtrot

7. Agnes

8. WUMO

9. Dustin

10. Big Nate

http://www.galapagos.org/about_galapagos/tortoises/

http://rhymeswithorange.com/

http://shermanslagoon.com/

http://www.gocomics.com/theknightlife#.UyZ6JelOWUk/

On Stage: Boy George is Back

Yes, Boy George, the lead singer of Culture Club, a new wave pop band from the 1980s which is also going to tour this year, will be coming to a venue near you, unless you live in rural Kentucky.

The show which caught our attention is his scheduled April 21st performance at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, which will assuredly be attended by Cong. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va), Cong. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Cong. Jason Chaffetz (R-Va), which reminds of the old Frank Zappa saying: "When God invented Republicans, he showed he has a sense of humor."

Culture Club, which is known for a number of top ten hits including "Karma Chameleon," has actually toured as well in recent years, including a 2011 concert in Dubai!

Boy George also sang with Bono, the lead singer of U2, on "Do They Know It's Christmas Time at Home?"....amazingly enough, both singers cite David Bowie as a major influence on them.

The lead singer of Culture Club is actually on tour with solo shows in Europe, we think he played somewhere in Belgium last night.

And, in addition to his 9:30 Club show, which costs $35, he will be at Irving Plaza in New York on the following night, April 22nd.

http://www.culture-club.co.uk

http://www.930.com

http://www.boygeorgeuk.com

When It's 8:00 p.m. in New York, It's (now) 2:00 a.m. in Istanbul (until March 30th)

Yes, we know: "Always use people in photographs" is the conventional wisdom of journalism, but we are a bit rebellious and unconventional here at "The Daily Vampire."

On a serious note, we are saddened to hear about the death of Berkin Elvan, a Turkish youth who was hit in the head by a tear gas canister during street riots over the summer protesting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Putin act (and, we are a bit subjective here as well). Elvan's death has triggered new protests all over Turkey, but it seems that a change in power in Ankara seems unlikely even though it is assuredly what is needed now.

Here are our looks at the times in other parts of the globe as Daylight Savings Time is in effect for both the United States and Canada and perhaps elsewhere.

We are going to assume the time is 8:00 p.m./20:00 in New York, which is the reason for the Brooklyn hot dog (top image) that might get us blocked in Internet cafes in Karachi, Pakistan, or Tel Aviv, Israel, but c'est la vie say the French, and when it is 8:00 p.m. in New York, it is this time in the cities listed below:

1) Chicago/Dallas 7:00 p.m.

2) Amsterdam 1:00 a.m.

3) Dubai 4:00 a.m.

4) Buenos Aires 9:00 p.m.

5) London (pictured center) 12:00 a.m./midnight

6) Sydney 11:00 a.m.

7) Istanbul 2:00 a.m. (pictured bottom, a horse carriage driver in Burgaz Island, Istanbul)

8) Mexico City/Salt Lake City 6:00 p.m.

9) Seoul 9:00 a.m.

10) Los Angeles/Vancouver 5:00 p.m.

11) Cape Town, South Africa 2:00 a.m. (same time as Istanbul and Athens)

12) Baghdad 3:00 a.m.

http://www.visitbrooklyn.org/

http://www.visitlondon.com/

http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/home/au/en

http://www.turkishairlines.com

Republicans Who Might Run for President in 2016: The Sane Ones Vs. The Tea Partiers

In a very fascinating well-directed documentary film entitled "Mitt," produced by Netflix, about the presidential campaign on Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee states that it was amazing he got a chance that he got to run against President Barack Obama given that the GOP is now more of a Southern Baptist populist party while Romney was a New Englander Mormon wealthy man.

So, conventional wisdom is that the Republicans will go South in 2016, which may cost them in the general election in swing states, such as Wisconsin, New Mexico and Colorado, but hey I'm no Dan Balz ("Washington Post" reporter who is a veteran at covering politics).

Nevertheless, with CPAC2014 happening over the weekend in Washington, DC, last week, here we offer a look at which possible candidates will run: Some will attract the establishment (Jeb Bush) while other will attract the Yosemite Sam/ Tea Party types (Sen. Ted Cruz) who think every six-year-old boy should carry a Glock (one thing I like about blogging as opposed to reporting is being allowed to be subjective, when it's called for).

Here is the list:

1) Jeb Bush (Florida, pictured top)

2) Sen. Rand Paul (Kentucky, pictured middle) 

3) Gov. Bobby Jindal (Louisiana, pictured bottom)

4) Rick Santorum (Pennsylvania)

5) Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas)

6) Sen. Marco Rubio (Florida)

7) Gov. Nikki Haley (South Carolina)

8) Gov. Chris Christie (New Jersey)

9) Sen. Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire)

10) Cong. Paul Ryan (Wisconsin)

http://www.c-span.org/

http://www.nationalreview.com/

http://www.thenation.com/#

http://thehill.com/

http://www.netflix.com

Top 10 Sunday Comics from The Roanoke Times: Funky Winkerbean Delivers

Yesterday's touching "Funky Winkerbean" comic strip which featured a father having a dream about his son in the military who is in Afghanistan in the form of a vintage comic book cover with a young soldier on it, is our top Sunday comic strip of the week from "The Roanoke Times," a newspaper in Roanoke, Va.

Second place went to the very hip one panel comic strip "Speed Bump" where a couple visiting a bed and breakfast like the one in Vermont that was on Bob Newhart's sitcom "Newhart" in the 1980s who are being approached by bed bugs!!!

And, "Agnes" came in third as the title character goes to church with her grandmother and has a funny take on the service which does not share with her grandmother.

Here is our top ten, which includes a return of Mister Butts to "Doonesbury:"

1) Funky Winkerbean

2) Speed Bump

3) Agnes

4) Doonesbury

5) Zits

6) Get Fuzzy

7) Pearls Before Swine

8) Dilbert

9) Jump Start

10) Non Sequitir

http://www.funkywinkerbean.com

http://www.gocomics.com/speedbump

http://www.dilbert.com