Great laugh to start the week

This gets funnier as you mull it over in your head



Think of all of the possiblities - Spongebob as Cpt Kurtz in Apocalypse Now.


January 11, 1958 -
Lloyd Bridges starred as Mike Nelson, an ex-Navy frogman who became an underwater trouble shooter in Sea Hunt on CBS-TV. The show ran for four years.



The underwater sequences, for those wondering, were filmed in Silver Springs, Fla. The above-water sequences were filmed at Marineland of the Pacific .


January 11, 1971 -
Mary Jane Blige, eight-time Grammy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated American R&B singer-songwriter rapper, record producer, and actress, was born on this date.








Today in History -
Harry Gordon Selfridge was born on January 11, 1864. Though American-born, he is best known as the founder of the British store Selfridge and Co., Ltd (think Macy's, for those of you unfamiliar with the store). He receives little or no attention here in the United States. His name does not appear in any textbooks, he is not honored with any holidays, his image does not appear on any currency, and his biography has never aired on A&E. And yet Mr. Selfridge’s philosophy has had more impact on western civilization than a dozen Aristotles.

His great maxim is uttered carelessly by a million voices every day, is enshrined in the halls of commerce and government alike, and has permeated our culture to the point where it has become a cliché. Like most successful ideas, we can hardly imagine that his concept was ever new or controversial; we must strain our imaginations to conceive a world unilluminated by his wisdom.

It was Mr. Selfridge’s philosophy that "the customer is always right."

This was an unorthodox, even heretical proclamation to the ears of nineteenth century merchants, who had been operating--like their parents and grandparents and scores of generations before them--under the assumption that the customer was an idiot who didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground.



Prior to widespread acceptance of Mr. Selfridge’s theory, exchanges between merchant and customer often went something like this:

Customer: This is a terrible shirt. There’s no hole for my head, the arms are too long, and it barely comes down over my shoulders.

Merchant: That’s because it’s a pair of pants, you jackass.

After the revelation of consumer infallibility, however, the same exchange was more likely to go something like this:

Customer: This is a terrible shirt. There’s no hole for my head, the arms are too long, and it barely comes down over my shoulders.

Merchant: You’re absolutely right, of course. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. You can rest assured we’ll have our seamstresses taken out and shot.



Consumer infallibility changed the face of commerce because instead of producing goods and then trying to force them upon the public, merchants began appraising the public’s needs and trying to provide products and services that met them. Merchants became less inclined to insult, spit at, or strike their customers, and more inclined to take them out to dinner.

This shift dovetailed nicely with the growth of political pluralism, which saw governments becoming more responsive to their electorates based on the premise that "the voter is always right." (It has been argued, however, that whether they are made love to or raped, most electorates still end up screwed.)

Mr. Selfridge’s birthday should be celebrated throughout western civilization as a holiday of emancipation, no less significant than the signing of the Magna Carta, the drafting of the U.S. Constitution, or the invention of microwave popcorn.


January 11, 1878 -
Milk was first delivered in bottles by milkman Alexander Campbell, in New York on this date.



Previously, one had to keep a cow in a spare room of their apartment making taking out the trash a mandatory daily occurrence.


January 11, 1940 -
The classic newspaper comedy, His Girl Friday, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, premiered in New York on this date.



One of the first, if not the first, films to have characters talk over the lines of other characters, for a more realistic sound. Prior to this, movie characters completed their lines before the next lines were started.


Did you know?
...that the nipples of the Ancient Greek statue Victorious Youth (In the Getty Museum) were cast in copper to contrast with the bronze of the torso.

You never know, this might come up.


And so it goes