Friday, December 31, 2010

Now, here's the proper job for the TSA

A 50-year-old Florida man has been arrested after an Idaho girl reported the man exposed himself during a flight from Salt Lake City to Lewiston.

The 17-year-old girl says she switched seats when the man sitting next to her began masturbating aboard the Skywest flight.

The Lewiston Tribune reports the girl told her father what happened and he reported it to the Transportation Security Administration. TSA officials notified Lewiston police, who arrested the Gulf Breeze, Fla., man while they investigate him on suspicion of misdemeanor indecent exposure.

Police say the man told them he spilled Tabasco sauce on himself, which caused his crotch to burn and itch.

Is this what burning love is all about?


Tonight's the Sixth night of Kwanzaa.

Tonight celebrates Kuumba (Creativity) - To do always as much as one can, in the way one can, in order to leave their community more beautiful and beneficial than one inherited it.


December 31, 1907-
For the first time a ball drops at Times Square to signal the New Year on this date.

The New Year’s Eve Ball first descended from a flagpole at One Times Square, constructed with iron and wood materials with 100 25-watt bulbs weighing 700 pounds and measuring 5 feet in diameter.


December 31, 1958-
Rebels forces lead by Fidel Castro march triumphantly into Havana, Cuba. Cuban dictator Juan Batista flees the country with 180 of his supporters and personal fortune of more than $300 million dollars amassed through graft and payoffs.



Michael grasps Fredo tightly by the head and gives a kiss, telling him "I know it was you Fredo; you broke my heart." Michael appeals to his brother to join him in leaving the country, but Fredo runs away, frightened.

But that's another story ...


December 31, 1995
Cartoonist Bill Watterson ends his Calvin & Hobbes comic strip on this date. Calvin and Hobbes debuted in 1985 and featured the adventures of Calvin, a hyperactive, overly imaginative, bratty six-year-old, and his best friend, the stuffed tiger Hobbes.

Other regularly appearing characters included Calvin's stressed out parents; Susie Derkins, the neighborhood girl; Miss Wormwood, the much put-upon school teacher; Mo, the school bully; and Rosalyn, the only baby-sitter willing to watch Calvin.


Hope you all have wonderful plans for this evening. The only advice I can give you is - Drink til you drop and drop where you drink - Don't drink and drive.

Here’s a brief overview of New Years Celebrations



Although the new year has been celebrated since prehistoric times, it was celebrated on the vernal equinox rather than what we now consider the first of the year. The Romans were the first to recognize New Years Day on January first. Rather than tie the day to some significant astronomical or agricultural event, in 153 BC the Romans selected it for civil reasons. It was the day after elections in which the newly elected assumed their positions.

Years later, Julius Caesar wanted to change the date to a more logical date but that year, January 1, 45 BC was the date of a new moon. To change it would have been bad luck. He did, however, change the calendar system from the Egyptian solar calendar to the "Julian" calendar, named for Caesar. July, the month of Caesar's birth, was also named after him to recognize him for his calendar reform. And look what it got him.



Up unto 1582, Christian Europe continued to celebrate New Years Day on March 25. Pope Gregory XIII instituted additional calendar reforms bringing us the calendaring system of the day. The Gregorian calendar was adopted by Catholic countries immediately while the reformists, suspect of any papal policy, only adapted it after some time. Today most countries around the world have adopted this calendaring system.



From primitive man to today, it has been recognized as a day in which rites were done to abolished the past so there could be a rejuvenation for the new year. Rituals included purgations, purifications, exorcisms, extinguishing and rekindling fires, masked processions (masks representing the dead), and other similar activities. Often exorcisms and purgations were performed with much noise as if to scare away the evil spirits. In China, Ying, the forces of light fought Yang, the forces of darkness with cymbals, noisemakers, and firecrackers.



Early European-Americans adopted the New Year celebrations from their homelands. However, it was noted by early settlers that native Americans already honored News Years Day with their own customs. Their rituals coincided with those around the world including fires, explosions of evil spirits, and celebrations. Today many of the New Year celebrations actually begin with a countdown to the New Year on the evening prior. It is customary to kiss your sweetheart when the clock strikes midnight as one of the customs of these New Years Eve parties.



Around the world, different cultures have their own traditions for welcoming the new year. The Japanese hang a rope of straw across the front of their houses to keep out evil spirits and bring happiness and good luck. They also have a good laugh as the year begins to get things started on a lucky note. Iraqis like to hang evil bastards to try to keep bad luck out of their country.



In West Bengal, in northern India, the people like to wear pink, red, purple and white flowers. Women favor yellow, the color of spring. Hindus also leave shrines next to their beds so they can see beautiful objects when they wake up to the new year.



In Vancouver, British Columbia, Canadians enjoy the traditional polar bear swim. People of all ages don their swim suits and take the plunge, an event that is sure to get you started in the new year with eyes wide open.



In Scotland, they celebrate Hogmanay, the Scottish New Year, usually with great exuberance. Both Edinburgh and Glasgow host street parties for 100,000 people. At midnight, there is the celebration of "First Footing," where gifts are exchanged.



New Year Resolutions is simply another way to wish away the past in exchange for hopes of the future. It is where the phrase turning over a new leaf originated.

I hope 2011 brings good health and better luck to all.




So everyone turn the wheel of your life. Make complete revolutions. Celebrate every turning. And persevere with joy!!!


Thursday, December 30, 2010

Just a couple of pages left

Here's another year end review - Google's 2010 Year in search



Did you find everything you were looking for in 2010?



Eldrick Tont Woods
(Tiger to his friends and Blond bimbos everywhere) turns 35 today.



I'm guessing that he would like to see this year in the rear view mirror. At least he has more time on his hands for whore mongering.

I'm guessing this is the corollary to it's good to be the king.


December 30, 1942 -
Frank Sinatra opened at New York's Paramount Theatre for what was scheduled to be a 4-week engagement (his shows turned out to be so popular, he was booked for an additional 4 weeks). An estimated 400 policemen were called out to help curb the excitement.



It is said that some of the teen-age girls were hired to scream, but many more screamed for free. Sinatra was dubbed 'The Sultan of Swoon,' 'The Voice that Thrills Millions,' and just 'The Voice.' Whatever he was known as, it was at this Paramount Theatre engagement that modern pop hysteria was born .


December 30, 1949 -
Stanley Donen/ Gene Kelly wonderful take on the Comden and Green musical, On the Town, starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, opened nationwide on this date.



Frank Sinatra, who was very thin, had to wear prosthetic padding to fill out the seat of his uniform. In a TCM interview, Ann Miller said that Sinatra was extremely sensitive about his padding and did not appreciate the usual movie set horseplay involving his lower half.


Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith, singer-songwriter, poet, artist, Godmother of Punk, Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was born on this date.








December 30, 1970 -
Paul McCartney sued the other three Beatles to dissolve the partnership and gain control of his interest. The suit touched off a bitter feud between McCartney and the others, especially his co-writer on many of the Beatles compositions, John Lennon.



The Beatles were legally disbanded, four years to the day after Paul McCartney sued his bandmates to dissolve the partnership.


December 30, 1980 -
The longest-running series in prime-time television history, The Wonderful World of Disney, is canceled on NBC after more than 25 years on the air. The Government, wanting to honor this momentous occasion, had the Selective Service System sent a warning to Mickey Mouse at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. The Selective Service said that Mickey was in violation of registration compliance.

Of course, Mickey, age 52 at the time, sent in his registration card proving that he's a World War II veteran .


Tonight is the Fifth night of Kwanzaa.

Tonight celebrates Nia (Purpose) - To make collective vocation the building and developing of community in order to restore the member's of the community to their traditional greatness.


Today in History -
December 30, 1853 -
Kids, follow along, it gets bumpy.

After the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, border disputes continued between the United States and Mexico. Land that now comprises lower Arizona and New Mexico was part of a proposed southern route for a transcontinental railroad. U.S. President Franklin Pierce (considered one of the worst Presidents) was convinced by Jefferson Davis, then the country's Secretary of War, to send James Gadsden (who had personal interests in the rail route) to negotiate the Gadsden Purchase with Mexico. Under the resulting agreement, the U.S. paid Mexico $10 million (equivalent to about $230 million in 2006 dollars, 2010 dollars are just not worth that much anymore) to secure the land.

The matter about the money was to be very contentious: even though the agreement specified $10 million, the US Congress agreed on only $7 million ($163 million in 2006 dollars). When the money finally arrived in Mexico City $1 million ($23 million in 2006 dollars) was missing, thus resulting in a total of only $6 million (oh, you do the math.) The treaty included a provision allowing the U.S. to build a transoceanic canal across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, though this option was never exercised. With a few exceptions, such as the resolution of the Chamizal dispute, acquisition of land in this purchase defined the present boundaries of the continental United States.


December 30, 1862 -
The Union ironclad ship USS Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras, N.C., during a storm.



While the design of Monitor was well-suited for river combat, her low freeboard and heavy turret made her highly unseaworthy in rough waters. Sixteen members of the crew were lost.


The Iroquois Theater Fire in Chicago, Illinois, claimed 627 lives on December 30, 1903. It was the single-building fire in U.S. history with the most fatalities, claiming over 100 more fatalities than the Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston. The Iroquois Theater, at 24-28 West Randolph Street, was advertised as "absolutely fireproof." The theatre opened on November 23rd and burned 37 days later on December 30th. Over 1,900 people were in attendance at a matinée showing of the popular musical Mr. Bluebeard.



Of the 300 or so actors, dancers, stagehands, etc., only an aerialist (Nellie Reed), an actor in a bit part, an usher, and two female attendants died. The aerialist's role was as a fairy. She flew out over the audience on a trolley wire, showering them with pink carnations. She was trapped above the stage while waiting for her entrance. Comedian Eddie Foy was hailed as a hero for attempting to calm the crowd. Foy's role in this disaster is recreated by Bob Hope in the film The Seven Little Foys.

After the fire, it was revealed that fire inspectors had been bribed with free tickets to overlook code violations. Accusations began to appear that the asbestos curtain was not asbestos. The curtain had disappeared, which meant it was either viewed as incriminating evidence and removed or had burned, in which case it could not have been asbestos, which does not burn.

A result from the Iroquois fire was the development of the first panic exit device by the Von Duprin exit device company, now a part of Ingersoll Rand. Panic exit devices are now required by building codes for high-occupancy spaces.


December 30, 1916 -
Kids, you know I love discussing early 20th Century Russian history as much as the next person, but this item is so good, it has to span over the course of two days (but it will reside on December 30th - you'll see why shortly.

Grigory Rasputin, a self-fashioned Russian holy man, whore monger (I got to use whore monger twice in the same post), very unbathed and alcoholic was a very unpleasant man. And yet he held tremendous influence over the royal family (which probably hastened their downfall).

On December 16, 1916 O.S. ( Old Style, i.e. - Julian Calendar, so it's really December 29), having decided that Rasputin's influence over the Tsaritsa had made him a far-too-dangerous threat to the empire, a group of nobles, led by Prince Felix Yusupov and the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich (one of the few Romanov family members to escape the annihilation of the family during the Red Terror), apparently lured Rasputin to the Yusupovs' Moika Palace, where they served him cakes and red wine laced with a massive amount of cyanide. According to legend, Rasputin was unaffected, although Vasily Maklakov had supplied enough poison to kill five men. Conversely, Maria Rasputin's (one of Rasputin's four children) account asserts that, if her father did eat or drink poison, it was not in the cakes or wine, because, after the attack by Khioniya Guseva (she stabbed him in the gut - no surprise - he survived), he had hyperacidity, and avoided anything with sugar. In fact, she expressed doubt that he was poisoned at all.



Determined to finish the job, Yusupov became anxious about the possibility that Rasputin might live until the morning, which would leave the conspirators with no time to conceal his body. Yusupov ran upstairs to consult the others and then came back down to shoot Rasputin through the back with a revolver. Rasputin fell, and the company left the palace for a while. Yusupov, who had left without a coat, decided to return to grab one, and, while at the palace, he went to check up on the body. Suddenly, Rasputin opened his eyes, grabbed Yusupov by the throat and strangled him. As he made his bid for freedom, however, the other conspirators arrived and fired at him. After being hit three times in the back, Rasputin fell once more. As they neared his body, the party found that, remarkably, he was still alive, struggling to get up. They clubbed him into submission and, after wrapping his body in a sheet, threw him into an icy river, and he finally met his end there on the morning of December 17th O.S. (December 30th) - as had both his siblings before him.



Three days later, the body of Rasputin, poisoned, shot four times and badly beaten, was recovered from the Neva River and autopsied. The cause of death was hypothermia. His arms were found in an upright position, as if he had tried to claw his way out from under the ice. In the autopsy, it was found that he had indeed been poisoned, and that the poison alone should have been enough to kill him.



Yet another report, also supporting the idea that he was still alive after submerging through the ice into the Neva River, is that after his body was pulled from the river, water was found in the lungs, showing that he didn't die until he was submerged into the water. So, apparently, you can't keep a very bad man down.



And so it goes

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

The days are dwindling down to a precious few (again)

Another impressive 2010 review of films



Very well done, indeed


And if that wasn't enough - A Mashup of Top 25 Billboard Hits of 2010 -



DJ Earworm - United State of Pop 2010 (Don't Stop the Pop)


Tonight is the Fourth night of Kwanzaa.

Tonight celebrates Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) - To build and maintain the community's stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.


December 29, 1959 -
Paula Poundstone, comedian, was born on this date.



One of the funniest working comedians today.


December 29, 1967 -
Star Trek first aired The Trouble with Tribbles episode - arguably one of their most famous episodes - on this date.



The storyline greatly resembles The Rolling Stones, a 1952 novel by Robert A. Heinlein. Gene Roddenberry and Heinlein made an undisclosed copyright agreement before The Trouble With Tribbles aired.


Today in History -
December 29, 1170 -
Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is slashed to death by four of King Henry II's knights at the altar of the Virgin Mary. "Is there no one who will rid me from this turbulent priest", cried Henry in frustration earlier that month.



It was apparently not a serious demand for Becket's death, but that did not stop his brains from being splattered in Canterbury Cathedral.

So kids, remember, don't ask for things that you don't really want.


December 29, 1851 -
It's fun to stay at the YMCA. Formation of the first YMCA in the United States in Boston, on this date.



No, I'm not going to play that song.


December 29, 1890 -
The Wounded Knee Massacre took place in Wounded Knee, South Dakota as over 200 Sioux were killed by US troops sent to disarm them.



Another proud moment in American history.


December 29, 1939 -
The classic Western comedy, Destry Rides Again, premiered on this date.



This film was considered a "comeback film" for Marlena Dietrich after she was labeled as "box office poison" for two years.


December 29, 1946 -
Baroness Sacher-Masoch (Marianne Evelyn Faithfull), an English singer, songwriter, actress







and inventor of the Mars bar tampon, was born on this date.


December 29, 1965 -
Thunderball - the best James Bond title - premiered in US on this date.



James Bond does not drink a vodka martini shaken not stirred in this movie but he does order a Dom Perignon 55 champagne.


December 29, 1993 -
Former child star Todd Bridges (who played Willis on Different Strokes) arrested for transportation of methamphetamine.

What the hell was in the water on that set.



And so it goes.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

In memorium

Some people we lost in 2010

January 14 - Teddy Pendergrass, R&B Singer -

January 22 - Jean Simmons, Actress, -

January 24 - Pernell Roberts, Actor -

January 27 - JD Salinger (AKA Thomas Pynchon), Writer & recluse -

February 17 - Kathryn Grayson, Actress / Operatic Singer -

February 20 - Alexander Haig, Career Military -

March 10 - Corey Haim, Actor and Lost Boy-

March 11 - Merlin Olsen, NFL Player/ actor/ broadcaster -

March 14 - Peter Graves, Actor (Joey, have you ever been in a, in a Turkish prison?)-

March 18 - Fess Parker, Actor and little old wine maker-

March 24 - Robert Culp, Actor -

April 1 - John Forsythe, Actor -

May 2 - Lynn Redgrave, Oscar nominated Actress -

May 9 - Lena Horne, Singer/ Actress/ Dancer -

May 26 - Art Linkletter, Author and Radio and TV Personality -

May 28 - Gary Coleman, Actor -

May 29 - Dennis Hopper, Actor, Filmmaker and Artist -

June 3 - Rue McClanahan, Emmy Award winning Actress -

June 13 - Jimmy Dean, Singer, Actor, Little Old Sausage Maker -

June 28 - Sen. Robert Byrd, Politician and former clansman -

July 6 - Harvey Fuqua, Singer / Song Writer -

July 13 - George Steinbrenner, Businessman, Convicted Felon -

July 31 - Mitch Miller, Musician, Conductor, Son of a bitch -

August 8 - Patricia Neal, Actress -

September 11 - Kevin McCarthy, Actor -

September 22 - Eddie Fisher (AKA Tony Curtis), Singer, legendary Hollywood cocks man -

September 26 - Gloria Stuart, Actress -

September 29 - Tony Curtis (AKA Eddie Fisher), Actor, artist, legendary Hollywood cocks man -

September 30 - Stephen J Cannell, Screen Writer, Producer, Novelist -

October 16 - Barbara Billingsley, Actress -

October 19 - Tom Bosley, Actor -

October 28 - James MacArthur, Actor -

October 31 - Ted Sorensen, Lawyer, Writer -

November 5 - Jill Clayburgh, Actress -

November 10 - Dino DeLaurentis, Movie Producer -

November 28 - Leslie Nielsen, Actor (... and don' t call him Shirley) -

December 5 - Don Meredith, Athlete, Actor -

December 7 - Elizabeth Edwards, Author and health care activist -

December 15 - Blake Edwards, Writer, Director, Producer -

December 20 - Steve Landesberg, Actor -

requiescat in pace


Tonight's the third night of Kwanzaa.
Tonight celebrates Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) - To build and maintain the community together and make the members of the community's problems, everyone's problems and to solve them together.

Today in History:
December 28, 1869 -
Patent for chewing gum granted to William Semple (patent number 98,304), on this date.



Does YOUR chewing gum lose it flavor on the bed post overnight?


December 28, 1895 -
Auguste and Louis Lumiere opened the first movie theater at the Grand Cafe in Paris, on this date . Other inventors, including Thomas Edison, were working on various moving picture devices at the time. But most of those other devices could only be viewed by one person at a time. The Lumieres were the first to project moving pictures on a screen, so that they could be viewed by a large audience.

The first film they showed to a paying audience was called Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory. It was a short, single shot with an immobile camera and it showed a concierge opening the factory gates from which dozens of workers walked and bicycled into the street. It ended with the concierge closing the gates again.



It wasn't a movie in the modern sense. It had no characters, no storyline. It was just an animated photograph. Much like most French New Wave films. The Lumiere brothers went on to make more than 2,000 films like this, each one less than a minute long depicting various scenes of human activity with titles like The Arrival of a Train, Boat Leaving the Harbor, and Baby's First Steps. They didn't call these "movies" or "films," they called them "views."

It took other filmmakers to turn movies into a medium for storytelling. The Lumieres were primarily documentary filmmakers. But in their film Demolition of a Wall they added a reverse loop to the film so that after the wall falls to the ground it miraculously picks itself back up. It was the first special effect ever uses in the history of motion pictures.

The Lumieres' movie house was a big success. Within a few months of its opening, more than 2,000 people lined up every night to buy tickets. But the Lumieres themselves thought that movies would be a passing fad. They told their cinematographers not to expect work for more than six months. Auguste went on to become a medical scientist and Louis went back to working on still photographs.


December 28, 1983 -
Dennis Wilson, original drummer of the Beach Boys, drowned while diving from a boat near Marquesas Pier. He was rather drunk at the time.



You would think that someone in the Beach Boys could swim.


December 28, 1991 -
Jack Ruby's pistol, used to kill Lee Harvey Oswald, sells at auction at Christie's for $220,000.



The perfect gift for the man who has everything.


And so it goes.