T minus 20

It's a death match for the ages and you get to decide... Who performed the best miracle? Mother Theresa healing the sick in Calcutta or David Blaine who spent 44 days in a perspex box without having a poo. 

We discuss the beatification of Mother Theresa from an ailing Pope John Paul II, and look at her career from her training in Dublin to caring for the destitute and dying in the streets of Calcutta. We'll also look at some of the controversy surrounding her methods. 

David Blaine did a fantastic job of raising the ire of the British this time 20 years ago when he spent 44 days in a perspex box suspended from a crane just outside the tower bridge. News reporters were particularly annoyed at having to be on site covering a story that featured a man in a box doing bugger all. 

The concorde makes it's final flight back in 2003 and the age of supersonic air travel grinds to a halt. However, could there be plans to revisit supersonic travel in the modern era?

In sport the Florida Marlins perform a robbery in the Baseball World Series when they beat favourites the New York Yankees. We discuss in amazement how Americans can call themselves world champions of a sport that only they play (with the exception of a few other countries and some social leagues)! 

In tech news we dicsuss the Apple launch of Panther OSX. In music the Australian Idol final 12 put out their single 'Rise Up' and we plmb the depths of the Australian Music Industry at the Annual Aria Awards (spoiler alert, Delta wins everything!).

Plus so much more! 

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China launches it's first manned space mission this time 20 years ago and nobody finds out until after the fact. 

The Staten Island Ferry collides with the pier at the St George Ferry Terminal in Staten Island NY killing 11 people and injuring dozens more. 

MIcrosoft discusses a merger with Google and Google plays hard to get. 

And it's a week of releases, MTV had Room Raiders. Yunbloodz has Damn. Trivium with Ember to Inferno and Quentin Tarantino with Kill Bill volume 1. 

Plus we take a peek at The Five People You Meet In Heaven as it tops the New York Times Best Seller list and gets lambasted by the critics. 

All that and loads more. 

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Democrat Grey Davis was recalled and Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes the governor of the State of California on October 7 2003. That's right, just like the intro says, The Terminator became the Governator! Rising to the top of a field of candidates that included Gary Coleman from Diff'rent Strokes, Larry Flynt from Hustler Magazine and porn star Mary Carey.

In tech news, still in California, company Android Inc is founded by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears and Chris White. The early intentions of the company was to develop an advanced operating system for digital cameras that would make it easier to manage and share photos. However, as they worked on their project, they recognised the potential for a more versatile operating system for various mobile devices.

In music we've got new albums from Aussie band Jet, Sevendust and in music news P.Diddy is in court for threatening someone with a baseball bat. We discuss whether or not you've really been threatened if the assailant's name is 'Puffy'.

At the movies Jack Black classic 'School of Rock' goes to the number one spot in the US box office, while here in Australia Sean Connery makes his final live action movie appearance with 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' or 'LXG' according to the marketing edgelords. 

If that's not enough, we've got the TV debut of Bridezillas, a fire starting dog and the worlds greatest eater. We're talking 68 hard boiled eggs in 8 minutes people!

Download us! You know you want to! 

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Roy from Las Vegas institution Sigfried and Roy is attacked by one of their tigers, Montecore, live on stage, thus ending their run as one of sin city's most popular show. Find out what happened and why Roy did not blame the tiger for biting off his hard and tearing out his throat! 

In other news. Italy is plunged into darkness as a blackout leave around 56 million people without power. Thankfully no one was hurt and our European friends took the whole thing in their stride. 

We also look at the launch of the website 4Chan, which became responsible for a large part of what is wrong with the internet. 

Delta goes to the top of the charts in Australia with 'Not Me Not I', Toxic Holocaust release their debut album and Holly Valance gets sued by her manager, cimplete with testimony from LIbby Kennedy fo all you neighbours fans. 

And that is all wonderful but the BIG news this week 20 years ago belongs to Shaun Falkner who was the only successful contestant to guess who The Mole was in the show's fourth season 'The Mole In Paradise'. We discuss what paradise is to a mole but also reveal our connection to the winner! 

There's heaps more too! Have a listen! 

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The  2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake rocks the eastern coast of Hokkaido, in the Tokachi region of Japan while David Hempleman-Adams embarks on a trans-Atlantic flight in a wicker basket balloon. 

Meanwhile Dido goes to number one in the Aussie charts with 'White Flag' the lead single from her album 'Life for Rent. We think it may have had something to do with a fella called Slim Shady! 

We've got albums from Obie Trice, Outkast, Limp Bizkit, Morbid Angel and Nickelback and in music news Max Cavalera from Soulfly faces industrial action from his entire band. 

At the movies we've got sexy vampires and werewolves when Underworld takes the top spot at the US box office, NCIS debuts on the small screen and the Sopranos dominate the 55th Annual Emmy Awards. 

Plus we break down, in detail, the premiere of One Tree Hill thanks to a website called 'Television Without Pity'... and heaps more! 

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On this day 20 years ago, President Bush said that he had seen "no evidence" that Saddam Hussein was involved in the September 11 terrorist attacks

While The White House has never formally charged that Mr. Hussein was part of the Sept. 11 plot, President Bush had wondered immediately after the attack whether Saddam Hussein’s regime might have had a hand in it.  We discuss that and the testimony from National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-Terrorism, Richard A Clarke, who claimed the government had failed the American people. 

IN other news Hurricane Isabel made landfall in the USA this week 20n years ago, which was a welcome distraction for the president amidst all the political turmoil. It forced evacuations right across the east coast of the USA, shut down major infrastructure and did billions of dollars worth of damage.

Thank goodness for sport hey? In the NFL Jamal Lewis set the single-game rushing record of 295 yards in the Blatimore Ravens 33-13 victory over the Cleveland Browns. 

In music Pharrell's 'Frontin'' debuts on the bilboard charts, we've got new albums from David Bowie, Starsailor, DMX and The Darkness give us Permission to Land. Also Billy Corgan announces that Zwan have broken up and diverts his attention to poetry and wrestling. 

At the box office we've got Robert Rodriguez' 'Once Upon a Time in Mexico. In TV Sharon Osbourne gets a talk show and Australia's Hi-5 celebrates their 200th episode thanks to a bunch of dads who couldn't keep their eyes off the telly.  

Bennifer, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are forced to delay/call off their wedding this time 20n years ago because they were getting too much attention. 

We also say a sad goodbye to a legend as Slim Dusty passes away on the 19th of September 2003. 

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The title says it all, a week of political significance and a low point for art. 

Libya accepts responsibility for the Lockerbie Bombing in 1988. This leads to sanctions against the country being lifted and the victims of the disaster are finally compensated. 

Meanwhile Lil’ Jon unleashes Get Low on an unsuspecting society, thus committing one of the biggest crimes against music since The Black Eyed Peas got it started.

In more news the world is shocked when Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh is fatally stabbed while out shopping. The crime may have had an affect on the outcome of the upcoming referendum to adopt the Euro as Sweden’s national currency.

In sport Andy Roddick wins the US Open. In entertainment The Ellen DeGeneres show premieres and David Spade makes a movie.

And we break down another book we didn’t read as Lies and Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken tops the New York Times best seller list this week 20 years ago.

Plus loads of other shenanigans and hi-jinks.

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Group sex and drug use, it's all in days work when you're running for governor of California. That's exactly what happened to Arnold Schwarzenegger this time 20 years ago when his opponents did some muckraking as part of their campaign efforts. 

In other news religion rallied against a sports bar in Iowa because they chose to use the most famous of all virgins as their name sake. Hail Mary's Last Chance Sports and spirits invoked the wrath of the largest Catholic civil rights in America, the Catholic League, who pushed for a name change, and penance. 

In music we've got a new number one single in the UK from Elton John and we discuss the latest release at the time form the mighty Iron Maiden.

On the screen we've got scarecrows going above and beyond in Jeppers Creepers 2 and the Joe Schmoe Show debutrs on the telly.

Plus we break down the latest New York Times bestseller from Tom Clancy and much more!

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It's the kiss that MTV pinned a bazillion promos on and it happened this week in 2003. The VMAs opened with Britney, Christina Aguilera and the undisputed queen of pop herself, Madonna. What was to follow was a tiny kiss on the lips that set tabloids and forums ablaze. Well played MTV.

Also...

On August 28, 2003, Brian Douglas Wells entered a PNC Bank branch with a bomb strapped around his neck. The bomb appeared to be a sophisticated and consisted of a hinged collar that worked like a large handcuff to go around the neck, four keyholes that went under the chin, and a rectangular housing containing two pipe bombs and two kitchen timers. The incident gained significant media attention and became known as the "Pizza Bomber" case.

In more optimistic news Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, coming in hot at around at a rate of 22,000 miles an hour (36,000 kilometres an hour) to get just 55 million kms or 34.6 million miles away from us - a long way by Earth standards, but only a short distance on the scale of the solar system.

On the tech front the SoBig computer virus used spoofing via spam emails to then send emails on your behalf, clogging networks and disrupting processes worldwide. 

Plus a whole bunch of other stuff that's worth hanging around for... 

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This week 20 years ago One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson is sentenced to three years in the slammer for electoral fraud. The right wing populist politician allegedly breached electoral laws by falsely registering the party and providing false documentation. We discuss the finer points of the case and also offer some team building advice that may have prevented the party from imploding at the time. 

And while we're on politics we take a large step even further right and land in Alabama where their Chief Justice Roy Moore gets suspended for refusing to comply with a court order to remove a monument of the 10 Commandments from the state judicial building rotunda! 

We geek out in tech news over the release of our favourite audio editing software from Adobe and explain why subscription models for software sucks for the end user. 

In the charts we shake tailfeathers with P Diddy and the rest of his Bad Boy buddies as well as look at album releases from Alien Ant Farm, The Neptunes, Rancid and Bow Wow.

Plus we do a deep dive on Jessica Simpson and the show Newlyweds...

All that and LOADS more!

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