Talk of the Town for week of Sept. 30

The Fall 2013 East Tennessee Plant Swap will be held at
New Harvest Park
4775 New Harvest Lane, Knoxville, TN 37918
on Saturday, October 5, 2013

Setup will begin at 9:30am
Swapping starts at 10:00am
Lunch will be at 11:30am or noon


The cruise liner Costa Concordia, that capsized nearly two years ago on the rocky shore of the Tuscan island of Giglio killing 32 people, was finally raised from the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Although the ship will be dismantled and sold for scrap, it was placed upright by a feat of engineering marvel. It was lifted by several huge cranes using metal ropes and placed on a make-shift barge. The ship was towed away. There has been no mention of finding the bodies of those who died in the accident.

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On August 04, 2013, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, addressed the Duma,

(Russian Parliament), and gave a speech about the tensions with minorities in Russia:

"In Russia live like Russians. Any minority, from anywhere, if it wants to live in Russia, to work and eat in Russia, should speak Russian, and should respect the Russian laws.

If they prefer Sharia Law, and live the life of Muslim's then we advise them to go to those

places where that's the state law. Russia does not need Muslim minorities. Minorities need Russia, and we will not grant them special privileges, or try to change our laws to fit their desires, no matter how loud they yell 'discrimination'.

We will not tolerate disrespect of our Russian culture.

We better learn from the suicides of America, England, Holland and France, if we are to survive as a nation. The muslims are taking over those countries and they will not take over Russia. The Russian customs and traditions are not compatible with the lack of culture or the primitive ways Sharia Law and Muslims. When this honorable legislative body thinks of creating new laws, it should have in mind the Russian national interest first, observing that the Muslims Minorities Are Not Russians,” said Putin.

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Breaking Bad, the television show on AMC that finished season 5 on Sunday night, thus ending production of the program, went out with a bang. Although millions of viewers could not watch the show because the protagonists (the characters who should be the good guys) happen to be manufacturers of meth. One of the quirks of this unique premise is that the antagonists (the characters who should be the bad guys) are DEA agents and law enforcements in general.

All in all, it is a quirky show that required the audience to take major leaps of faith in order to believe the action. Are drug dealers really that lucky? Are law enforcement officials really that dumb? However, it was voted as the best television show in a drama series at the recent Emmy Awards.